Knowledge

What do you think Britain was like in 1956 (less than a decade after WW2)? Story by @GeoffWicken

20 Nov 2023 | Research & Business Knowledge

For anyone researching specific topics, the reports AMSR – The Archive of Market and Social Research –  provide insight into a huge range of subject-matter. Additionally some of the documents offer fascinating portraits of Britain at given points in time.

One example is the 1956 #Hulton Readership Survey report, which recently appeared on eBay. (Bidding was not hotly contested😃 )

The report itself is lovely, still smelling faintly of leatherette, and offering an intriguing picture of Britain in 1956, via its reading habits study.

✓ WW2 was still a fairly recent memory in 1956.

✓ Food rationing had finally concluded just two years earlier

✓Car ownership stood at 11%, whereas 24% of people were categorised as cyclists.

✓ Media:

✓ TV sets were present in 42% of homes

✓ ITV had been launched as the first commercial channel in September 1955

✓ Print was the major advertising medium and this survey existed to support it

It’s a fascinating read, to get the full story, and to access the Hulton report, click on the below to continue 👇

https://www.amsr.org.uk/a-picture-of-britain-in-the-1950s/

 

AMSR: Making History

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