One of the things we looked at was a bit of fun and entertainment using old photos of ourselves to guess who is who and also to do a review of the History that took place on our birthdays.
I was born in 1953 and an interesting quote from British History For Dummies for the time was:
You may have won the war, but you can not have any sweets
Fortunately for me on 5 February just before my birthday sweet rationing was taken off and sugar was eventually taken off rationing in September 1953. Meat, the last item to remain rationed, became freely available again in July 1954.
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| By Rathfelder - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76432091 |
Churchill became prime minister in 1951 but was too old and ill being replaced by an ambitious Anthony Eden who turned out to do very little. Lord Harold Macmillan took over in 1957 to the upbeat tune of 'You have never had it so good'
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| By BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives - https://www.flickr.com/photos/28853433@N02/19086236948/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41991931 |
Britain's desire to be come a Nuclear Power saw the testing of nuclear weapons between 1952 and 1963 with the agreement and support of Australia at three sites in Australia in the Monte Bello islands. An unknown number of British Australian servicemen and native Aborigines died as a result of radiation poising and contamination.
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| By U.S. Department of Defense - U.S. Department of Defense, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92616 |
On the 27 July 1953 the Korean war came to an end with a cease-fire armistice. It started 25 June 1950 with around 100,000 North Korean soldiers poured across the 38th parallel into South Korea with. President Harry S Truman authorising the US Military to engage North Korea under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. It would be a proxy war fought between the the two superpowers - the Soviet Union and the United States.
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| https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Korean_War_Montage_2.png |
National Service continued and the call up continued until 1960 because of problems with our failing Empire which plagued the government. Some of the problems were giving up India, Partitioning and the problems with Pakistan. There was also trouble brewing in Kenya where the Kenya nationalist guerrillas called the Mau Mau killed fellow Africans in 1953 massacring ninety seven Africans in the village of Lari this gradually lost the support of ordinary Keyans. Followed by the Suez Canal fiasco the failing empire kept our 'Young Men busy'. Eight years down the road from Berlin disenfranchised, disillusioned and marginalised in threadbare demob suits; they provide plenty of bleak fuel for playwright and film makers such as John Osborne 'Look back in anger (1956),' .The Entertainer (play 1959, film 1963).
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| By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55925744 |
Things were not all that bleak with the nations spirits being uplifted with the Coronation, a new young Queen Elisabeth, displayed on the even newer TV sets that everyone rushed out to buy inviting neighbours to watch the occasion.
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| By Cecil Beaton - http://data2.archives.ca/e/e092/e002282631.jpgThis image is available from Library and Archives Canada under the reproduction reference number DAPDCAP82719 and under the MIKAN ID number 3242153 |
The time line for conquering Everest finally came to an end May 29 1953 when news reached London that Hilary and Tenzing of the British Everest Expedition had conquered Everest. it had been a long journey from 1922 when the first attempt had been made and failed however there was a first for the British expedition who became the first humans to climb above 8,000m (26,240ft)
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| Jamling Tenzing Norgay [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Shelagh came up with some interesting facts for her birthday in March 1953
- The US president was Dwight D. Eisenhower
- In the UK She Wears Red Feathers by Guy Michell was in the top 5 hits
- Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 29 1953
- June 2 1953 Coronation of Elizabeth II
Moira had quite a comprehensive list of events that happened during the month of May 1946 when she was born:
- Ist May - At least 800 indigenous Australian pastoral workers walk off the job in Pilbara Western Australia for human rights recognition and payment of fair wages and working conditions. The strike did not end until August 1949. It is one of the longest industrial strikes in Australia.
- 2nd May- Six inmates unsuccessfully tried to escape from Alcatraz Prison, leading to a riot, later recalled as the so called 'Battle of Alcatraz'.
- 3rd May
- 4th May- First class cricket returns after being suspended during world War II.
- 6th May- Native American veterans of World War II were denied the vote in the 1946 elections. They challenged this and in 1948 for the first time the residents of New Mexico's Indian reservations were allowed to vote.
- 20th May- House of Commons votes to nationalise coal mines.
- 23rd May- Terence Rattigans drama The Windsor Boy premiers in London.
- 31st May-London Heathrow Airport opened fully for civilian use.
Maureen came up with some interesting Football facts:
29th June 1950 USA beat England 1-0 in the Fifa World Cup. England had a reputation of being King of Football. Past record:-23 wins 4 losses 3 ties. The odds for England were 3:1 for USA 500:1. There were no subs allowed in those days. Team England: Captain Billy Wright among them Alf Ramsey, Tom Finney, Stanley Mathews-resting on the benches. USA - Amateurs- postmen, mill worker, Funeral Director.
Irene had some interesting dates for 1949:
- September 16th 1949-Lone Ranger premiered on A.B.C T.V in U.S.A Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger.
- September 19th- British government de-valued the pound by 30%, chancellor Sir Stafford Cripp said it was a necessary move to bring in more foreign dollars in exchange for British exports.
- September 20th- Nineteen countries followed Britain and de-valued their currencies.
- September 26th-Moscow radio broadcast a statement saying that for the first time USSR had an atomic weapon.
- September 28th- Mau Zedong was elected chairman of the new Central Government of the Peoples Republic of China. The flag of the Peoples Republic of China was adopted.
- September 30th- The Berlin airlift was terminated after 277,264 flights had delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies since June 1948.
- November 2nd- SS Brynmill cargo ship, Blth to London was sunk By German aircraft off East Dungoen Buoy
- November 3rd-SS Marie Dawn on a voyage from Middlesbrough to London, was bombed by German aircraft and sank in the Humber
- November 3rd -Sedgefield Co. Durham two Heavy Explosive bombs fell in field at Mordon Moor Farm no casualties. Bombs dropped in Middlesbrough area some damage to houses and shops at South Bank.
- November 4th-Yorkshire Unexploded Bomb in blacksmiths's shop of the Recar Iron Works necessitated some delay in production.
- November 7/8- Northumberland, Sunderland and Durham all report High explosive bombs bieng dropped causing seven killed and fifteen seriously wounded at British Ropes Sunderland, A male, two females, two boys killed and four people injured at Hordon. For the first time since the war began, mixed teams of men and women manned anti-aircraft batteries this night.
- November 8/9-Five people missing presumed dead two die in hospital and twenty were injured in a high explosive bomb drop at Alnmouth
- November 9th-The auxiliary patrol vessel Lettie was sunk of St Abbs Head, cause unknown.
