1954: The END of RATIONING | BBC News | Classic News Report | BBC Archive
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- Опубликовано: 4 мар 2023
- "The ration book has done its job. It's been a long job. Indeed, children up to school-leaving age have never known life without the ration book."
On the fourth of July, the rationing of meat in Britain came to an end, the final step in dismantling Britain's whole wartime system of food distribution. After fourteen long years, Britons can at last tear up their ration books.
Richard Baker looks back at some of the key moments in the story of rationing and de-rationing.
Originally broadcast 5 July, 1954.
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The size of the Mars bar of 1953 was truly planetary.
Mum always cut up Mars Bars in slices- they were a luxury.
@@terenceretter5049... I wasn't around during rationing, but I used to love to cut up Mars bars into slices after putting them into the fridge for a while, yum yum.
@@Tidybitz we didn’t get a refrigerator till the 60s, I think it was a Frigidaire or some such make. It was still in working order until we replaced it in the mid 80s.
@@terenceretter5049 ditto that memory.
And they had real substance. Today's version is a pale imitation. They'll blow away in a light breeze.
My late mum used to fondly reminisce about sweets coming off rationing living in Barnet. there was a “find the animal“ competition to win 10 penny bars of Cadbury chocolate and my mum won 11 by finding a worm as an extra animal, she was given the choice of getting all 11 bars at once but chose 1 a week instead to avoid sharing
Smart girl to do the one a week plan.😊 (Made me chuckle.)
"was given the choice of getting all 11 bars at once but chose 1 a week instead to avoid sharing" - quintessential Britishness, in a nutshell
How incredibly selfish.
@@TheMusicalElitist You're judging a woman who is of no relevance to you whatsoever and who lived a long time ago. You are a fool.
@@TheMusicalElitist its 2023 communism died off years ago, why should she share what she earned
My grandmother saved her last ration book. Amy time we didn't clean our plates, or refused to eat something we didn't like, out came the ration coupons, and the lecture.
Thanks for sharing :) Do you still have the ration book?
I'm 80 and lived through all this. Our house in Exeter was the first to be built on a bombsite. Central Exeter was a rubble strewn vista with a few surviving buildings propped up with shores. With rationing the word 'obesity' was not on the agenda. We left our grocery book on the steps with the money and all was delivered to our door as was the milk, papares and laundry. Later when other houses got finished around us we had play pals. We did not have bikes or toys just our dogs, a packet of fairy cakes and an admonition not to get in to truble as we kids went off on our own to play next to the Exe river and the canal. The rag and bone man was a horse drawn cart and the knife sharpener came on a bike with sharpening stone attached to his back wheel. No television. No central heating. No telephone. The cinema and the library were our places of choice. School was six days a week. My uncle was the last horse drawn milkman in Leicester. His horse knew the round and all my uncle had to do was walk to the doorways as his horse moved along. When they gave him an electric truck it trebled his work. The bus fare for kids thoughout Exeter was one penny - half a p - if I ran everywhere I could buy two halfpenny buns. My grandfather, who I met, was born in 1871 in a village 30 years before the motor car. My father in 1908 - a year before Bleriot flew the Channel. My only son is 25 and has known nothing but cars, iPads, computers and international flying. I had the best years - and I do remember the day rationing came off and queing outside Topaz, Exeters only sweet shop, to but a 1/4 of wine gums.
I grew up in Rural Ireland and I heard many of these stories from my grandparents generation after I was born in Rural Ireland in 1970, where they had similar during “the emergency” under Eamon De Valera as the Irish Free State was neutral during WW2, much to the frustration of Sir Winston Churchill following the Irish Civil War of 1922 and the Easter Rising of 1916 with the “black and tans” where Ireland was very much a Catholic country - at age 53 now and 22 years living in Manchester U.K. with extended family still living in the same Irish village where I grew up, I sometimes wonder if we should return to those times given the current state of both our countries now, especially since Covid
I have grown up in another part of Devon, hearing this is wonderful, thanks for sharing
Thankyou for a glimpse into our recent history. My Nanna told me stories of the war and rationing and the odd purchase from the black market. She worked at the BBC and lived in London with 2 little girls, while my Grandfather was in Burma. God bless.
I too am 80. The film dd not mention furniture, they had a special sticker on the furniture. I remember powdered egg. Mum would make an omelette, and I really liked it. One day mum bought a real egg on the black market, instead of making an omelette with it she made a fried egg with the yoke in the middle, I did not eat, and to this day i won't eat one. I don't like to days world, there's too much of everything. Yes i like the technology, I have all of it, but things were simpler then, and slower, every one wants faster, and faster, heading straight to oblivion, very fast.
@@mordachiapeargut It was the kite mark - utility furniture and we even had it on our underpants! Like you I have fond memories of a simpler life.
kind of mind blowing to think it lasted so much longer than the duration of the war...
And for a lot of families because of the lack of money the situation didn’t really improve until about the mid sixties..you just didn’t need a ration book after 54…
Yep. Germany embraced free markets and ended all rationing in 1950. And their country had been leveled during the war. The UK embraced communism, rationing, price setting, and nationalization of major industries, and had chronic shortages of everything from sugar to electricity from the 1940s all the way through the 1970s. The UK was a chronic economic underperformer for the entirety of their dabbling in communism.
@@gregorymalchuk272 the young left want this now
@@gregorymalchuk272 The UK was never Communist and the Communist Party never exceeded 3 seats in parliament out of more than 600. Britain was Socialist however in the period of 1945-79, a time of rising prosperity, near constant economic growth until 1973, ubiquity of housing, almost no unemployment, and constantly rising real wages.
One of the reasons Labour lost in 1951 was because they did not want rationing to end. The Conservatives under Churchill promised the people they would bring it to an end.
My grandmother still has her ration books, including a special one just for young kids, allowing them extra sweets
😢
Did you tell her they don't work anymore?
@@stephenlyon1358 im pretty sure she knows that.
@@atinofspam3433 its 2024, dont assume.
The Daily Express asked children to write in and say what they thought about sweets coming off ration. I’d just been diagnosed diabetic and told them I’d been ordered ‘No sweets!’ They kindly sent me a postal order for 10/6d (half a guinea). A king’s ransom! 71 years ago.
If I hadn't taken the time to learn about pre-decimal currency in response to govt's 2022 plans to force us all onto Imperial, I'd think that _Half a Guinea_ (Read in the literal sense) would be the *last* thing you'd ever give to a child! 😳
2:10 "Mars bars are the same size they always were". This frame says different.
Don’t be daft. The Mars company employed extremely small children to give off the illusion of size.
@@thewotsit :-))
Totally, that one was huge
It's not a large Mars Bar, it's a very small boy
Marianne Faithful declines to comment
That little girl will be about 70 by now.
My late father told me about sweets coming off ration. There was such a rush for them that they had to be temporarily put back on ration. The other problem was that people overindulged resulting in many suffering from stomach acres being sick.
well, there's a protip: don't revenge-indulge, your body won't like it
cheers to you and your late father! ❤
correct. I thought it a swiz
I've read the same thing happened to western POW'S when they were liberated from the Japanese camps. They got so much food on the troopships going home , they had stomach trouble .
Thanks for that. My Dad (born 1942) said the same thing about sweets. Always wondered about that as I never could find much evidence to support what he said.
14 years of rationing! Hard to believe.
My sister was born in 1945. Our mother tells the story how the baby increased their coffee ration (in the US).
Rationing ended in 1945 in USA except for sugar
Liar
@@CarlJohnson-wk3rv they couldve been born before June
Back in 1969 I visited an exhibition in Orange County that showed US rations during the War - my Mum asked about the items not on display and was told they hadn't been rationed. The tour guide asked my Mum about rationing in the UK during the War - I think she regretted it a little as my Mum rattled off the UK ration amounts (which were tiny compared to the US equivalents). Back then English tourists were still a bit of a novelty in California and we often got shop assistants shout "Dad, come on out, there are a couple of British people here" - and that would be followed by a conversation with the father about where he'd served in the UK. After all, it was only 25 years after the war ended.
boring, who cares. yawn.@@user-fm6ns5nb4j
War started in 1939 so that's 15 years of food having limited availability. An entire generation grew up knowing of nothing else.
Rationing started a bit later, 1940 I think.🤔Also not everything came under rationing all at the same time.
@@kiwitrainguy my mother and siblings were lucky the had a Jersey ,cow and poultry in Australia so plenty of eggs butter. Milk, home grown vegetables and being a semi rural suburb of Melbourne access to plenty of rabbits for meat.
Bloody madness only needed rations
On imports during the war because of
The u boats. They should have left it
To the free market in 45. Typical Atlee
Labour government stuffed the British
Economy for 40 years.
Yes that is so, and it got worse after the war , we had to feed the Germans
Because something was rationed it did not mean it was available. Fruit was never rationed but very few people ever saw or ate a banana.@@kiwitrainguy
Holy cow--look at the size of that Mars bar at 2:11 !!!!! All the sweets got smaller, sweeter and less tasty so they could make even more money.
Haha, yes I immediately spotted that!
Yeah, I don't know how they managed to wreck the flavour of chocolate but Mars, Cadburys etc certainly managed to do just that. I'd love to be able to taste fresh 50's recipe chocolate bars.
Chocolate now costs 20x as much, half the size and tastes crap.
@@Kie-7077 Cocoa butter is much more expensive than vegetable fat or palm oil so it's been reduced in the recipe and replaced with those fats. I'd say milk has been reduced too but I'm not 100% on that. Kraft bought Cadbury's and I think the only original recipe left was Dairymilk.
Much smaller, less tasty and still look what's happened to the size of people 😬
amazing how slowly the auctioneer talks when he's being interviewed compared to burbling quickly the cattle price
Also absolutely incredible how unhelpful what he says is! Very slow and generic answer
Fast talker smooth operator,i wonder if you get 14 days cooling off period….?yeh right..
That got me too! What an inefficient way of running an auction... Looks like they did things casually
I'm far more amazed at his accent - pure UCT (Upper-Class Twit) - although I suppose a lot of middle-class and working-class people would have faked that accent at the time for business purposes.
@@drscopeify Inefficient for the buyers, very efficient for the sellers and it's the sellers who pay the auctioneer.
My mum still has her ration book!
The unmistakable RP voice of Richard Baker.
Born in 1950 and I can *just* remember rationing; at least, I remember getting in terrible trouble through doing something dire to my mum's ration book.
Probably vomiting on ration book, or spilling milk on it, it wiping the dog's bottom with it.
@@TomiTapio I _think_ I might have torn out the coupons. We certainly didn't have a dog, so that possibility is out.
I have two scary admissions to make at this point... 😳
📖1. I have *three* ration books and also the same number of ration cards.
👶2. I was born in the early 80s, 35 years after the war *ended.*
At least I'm already set-up for when the UK _next_ introduces rationing again. Even had them out ready during Covid! 🫖🇬🇧😋
@@dieseldragon6756there going to issue new ones lol
@@KennyVibes465 Are you sure? We do have a _Conservative_ government, and you know the rationing will *only* apply to non-Conservatives. They'll bring out all the old '53 books just to keep the cost down... 🛂🥘🇬🇧😉
I remember queuing up for sweets and couldn’t understand why they could sell them without points having known nothing else since I was born in 1940
3:53 that 'during the war' takes me back, to talking to old people in my childhood, they are no longer with us rest in peace.
Or uncle Albert from Only fools and horses...😂😂😂
I was only a baby, but I am still around!
As a young American man in college during the 1980s, I remember learning about the rationing system in the UK in a modern history class. One particularly affecting video showed an elderly man during the war commenting that when he felt hungry he "just had another cup of tea and kept going." We call people who lived in that era "the greatest generation" here in America and rightly so!
In 1954 our family didn’t have the money to buy stuff anyway..
I was born in Feb 1950 and as a kid I used to go to the local grocery shop for my mum. I remember taking ration tickets with me to buy the usual spam and corned beef. I remember being confused when the ration tickets were no longer required. I don't think many of today's four year olds would be sent to the shops (especially when it involved crossing a very busy street).
not wiyhout a guarddog and a stun gun
I was born in 1952 and never saw a sweet till 1956 ! or a banana.The Co-op milk lad used to come round every day with the horse and cart.The horse often had 4 young kids on his back pretending to be the Lone Ranger or Davy Crockett. Now they would steal the milk and eat the horse !
In fairness roads are busier now and cars are faster. Four is still very young though.
I wouldn't let a 4 year old into the back garden without supervision lol
Only with a sibling, but my daughter would go to the local shops when she was 7 or 8 on her own. And she's only 30 now, different times.
I am still in awe that the British people stayed strong not only through the horrors of the war, but also for the nine long years after that.
The Stiff Upper Lip Game 🇬🇧💂
Mad respect for the British people and to all those who had to endure it all.
Sweets were first de-rationed in April 1949
I remember that well. Huge excitement and queues
Are you quite sure? I don't recall that at all, and I was 8 years old in 1949, and quite often bought sweets with my pocket money, and ration book, by that time. I do remember being able to buy sweets without coupons early in 1953, though. I was in secondary school by that time.
Unfortunately money was still in very short supply. So no, we didn't eat 16oz steaks !
Bloody hell look at the size of that mars bar
Picture my nan's reaction when I showed her the latest '70s trend: recycling
I wanna picture her reaction to today's society
@@terrymurphy2032 Absolutely, and it stays with you. Dad learned draughting in the RAF, made a decent living and housed three generations of us in what we considered a toff area. And we still kept a brick in the toilet cistern, a pot of soap shavings below the sink, and on the drying line, a hole with four corners that was once a J-Cloth. Mum's kettle plug had been replaced so often, the cord was about four inches long. I didn't mean to go Four Yorkshiremen, but it's remarkable how to this day I break into a sweat when I throw anything out.
@@terrymurphy2032 I don't think your generation got blamed for climate change, it was those who came after you - with their gas guzzling cars, plastic-wrapped foods, and even today many people I know in that generation don't recycle because it's too much effort. I think the following generations had a good deal of respect for yours, because even decades after rationing ended your lot were still able to stretch what they had so much further than anyone else could manage, and that requires a good deal of skill and creativity.
@@danmayberry1185 I was born in 61 and my parents did the same. I see advice today about only heating the main room you live in to save energy and money and all the other little tips - and I'm shocked that people need to be told what seems to me to be bloody obvious. Having said that my wife moved to the UK when she was in her thirties from a hot country - in Winter our house is a constant battle between me keeping doors closed "to keep the heat in" and my wife's preference for open doors "it's claustrophobic in here". And that Mars Bar - even in the 80's I remember buying a Mars Bar for lunch when I was hard up and it filling me until I got home, I couldn't do that now.
@@danmayberry1185 And when the elements went in the kettle or toaster dad would replace them (though they had to be posted out from the UK first as you couldn't buy them in NZ). Well remember those days.
I remember it well. Occasionally my mother would send me to the local shops to buy a loaf of bread. I had to cross our road (she would see me over), then walk down a narrow alleyway to the local recreation ground (the 'rec'). After crossing the rec, there was a 200 yard walk to the local shops. As a favour for running the errand, she would usually give me an extra 3d to buy some sweets for myself at Mr. Evans' sweet shop next to the general store/grocer's, who sold the bread. In those days you didn't worry about sending a 6-year old kid out on his own. They were quieter and safer times. Better times.
I shall always remember the occasion when I returned with the loaf and told my mother that I couldn't get any sweets because she hadn't given me a coupon. "Oh, sorry", she said, "I should have told you, we don't need coupons for sweets any more". Recalling those days brings a tear to my eyes, as does the fond recollection of dear Mother, who passed away in 2012 in her ninetieth year.
If it cheers you any, there are places where it's still safe and common for children to be out on their own. I grew up in Hong Kong, and children generally walk from school to extracurricular classes to the grocery store and then back home on their own from the age of six or seven. I was an exception, both because my school was quite far from where I lived and because my father grew up in the States and didn't trust that I'd be safe. I've heard that Japan and Korea are the same, and I assume China must be.
Can you imagine that first non ration meal after 14 years... Heaven
It didn't really work like that. There were still dreadful shortages despite rationing ending. Remember 2020 when you couldn't buy toilet rolls? - toilet rolls weren't rationed.
Just to put this into perspective, the rationing in West Germany was ended in early 1950, with the last ration measures ending on May 1 1950. The then economics minister of West Germany famously declared on the radio that the "only ration card henceforth would be the D-Mark".
Indeed, I just posted a similar comment. Germany won the war economically in the end.
Rationing of food ended, but rationing of television hours and radio hours continued - In 1954, BBC Television was limited by the government to just 5 hours of television per day - this increased to 7 hours in 1955 when commercial television arrived.
When I was fifteen the local TV station came on at seven pm ang finished at midnight, and that was in 1975.in Australia
@@adriaandeleeuw8339 Now context - I have archive TV schedules from Australian television and I might be able to call out BS as in 1975 all main networks in Australia had daytime television - in Melbourne in 1975, ABC was on air from 8am until Midnight, Network 7 from 10am until Midnight, Network 9 from and 10 from 7am until around 12.40am. So I think your memory is wrong or you are not telling the truth. I have the archive schedules at hand right now. Even western Australia channels started around 8am or 10am. Tasmania were usually the latest to start around 2pm in 1975. So you are lying, or your memory is wrong. As come 1975, all of Australian television was having proper daytime television.
Unless there were concerns over excess demand being placed on power distribution networks¹ by the few folk fortunate enough to own TV sets, why on earth would gov't ration television broadcasts? I don't think the UHF bands set-aside for television were ever needed for anything else, even back in those days... 📺⏱😳
(¹ - I know balanced power distribution was a headache in the 60s to the early 70s, hence the creation of the National Grid. Smartmeters are a modern accessory to this, and much for the same reasons.)
@@dieseldragon6756What a communist dump postwar UK must have been to limit television hours because the few people who owned television sets risked collapsing the recently nationalized electrical grid.
If you have something like a sky subscription. There are hundreds of channels broadcasting 24hrs a day. But it's all repeats or cheap filler content. when you have limited hours of TV the quality has to be better as the shows compete for the showings.
Love this channel :)
That very food rationing effectively killed the British culinary heritage until the 1990's, when we saw the return of many old British culinary traditions. No wonder why many felt British was boring and bland--a perception that still exists.
Reminds me of how the Great Depression affected cooking in the US
i watched a series of stories on "forgotten weapons" about the rationing in the u.k. Although the diet became monotonous and bland the government's effort to keep the people healthy actually improved the fitness of the population. Nevertheless let us hope such efforts never become necessary again. Bring back home ec and shop classes to our schools.
I remember in 1954, I was a 5 year old just started school in September 70years ago & the rationing book
😊me too I was 5 in 1954
Imagine a society civilised enough to try to make sure everyone got a fair share. Now we would just jack up prices, and the goods would go to whoever can afford them.
A society civilised enough to make sure everyone got a fair share?
Sounds like communism to me! Let's get him!
@John Broward wow, you just came barelling in completely unprompted with the racism
@John BrowardCouldn't have said it better myself
@John Broward the bit where you brought up "multiracial" and "multicultural" into this conversation regarding resource distribution and allocation. A diversion from discussing the merits (and flaws) of what OP was talking about.
Yeah.. imagine the black market.
I remember this and the fact that rationing of sugar and sweets was temporarily halted to celebrate the coronation. What I remember most is Lyons Corner House having huge bars of almond chocolate for sixpence. I have never had any chocolate since as good tasting as that product.
That last steak was huge! Clearly that chap had craved one for a very long time 😂
I wish I could afford that now!!!! that's enough to feed a family of four!
The "man in the house" would get such a steak as he was the only one earning money and had to be kept healthy and strong. Housewives and children had to manage with much less.
he must have been in a food coma for DAYS after eating all that!
The small detail, at 2:05, of the police holding the children back from the candy truck, struck me.
I was trying to imagine any similar such situation happening in our modern society without massive outrage and lawsuits, and I couldn’t.
That small detail reveals a society with great internal trust, and in that way it was so different from ours today, where almost any public interaction between people is routinely taken as cause for offense.
Hmmmm i wonder what could have happened to make people low trust. Couldnt be letting in tonnes of ravaging foreigners
I mean look at the face of both the kids and the officer smiling looks to me like a playful calm atmosphere
The chap at the end cutting into a steak with a butter knife - how times have changed.
I thought it looked very overcooked! But can't argue with the quantity I guess 🙂
That was a large portion of meat, good for him 👍
@@margin606 she burned it. silly moo!
did you see the "chips"?
@@Boobypoppop I wonder if these are potato chips, too smooth. And as there is a slice of bread also. Or is that a slice of cake ?
I remember going shopping with my mother in about 1953 and she paid with her ration book !!!!
I love how the auctioneer speaks very slowly when interviewed.
That actually irritated me.
He was trying to use long words so he sounded intelligent on the TV. He even managed to get himself muddled up when he couldn't think of a better word than 'orders'... "in order to fulfill their... orders for customers".
We are SO immensely lucky.
Well said.
To be frank, if we can't sort out food supplies, when enjoying 70+ years of peace, we'd be 100% sh1t. The Tories are trying to bring back that ration book feeling though, for nostalgic purposes, nothing to do with criminal incompetence, or anything.
Well, perhaps, but I think at this point there are perfectly reasonable cases to be made against each party.
With that said, our society has progressed massively over the past 100 years, largely because of British innovation.
I'm not entirely sure that they're trying to bring back the ration book, but I do feel that it's time for a Labour government.
I say this as a conservatively minded fellow.
@@BinnyBongBaron_AoE I left the country when Bliar got in and I still remember when Labour were voted out, their lovely little note to the incoming treasury saying ''sorry, we've spent all the money'' and the ensuring years of austerity to try and regain some savings (not great here but definitely better than staying under Bliar).
With all the obesity and immigration? Grow up!
Rationing ended in Germany 1950 an old soldier friend of mine that was in Germany after the war told me it was nearly life as usual with very little rationing
Yes, strange how Germany lost the war but came out better than the rest, just shows how dishonest Germany still was.
@@suzannehaigh4281 yeah Suzanne ignore how the allies had literal EMPIRES where they were subjecting colonies to much worse.
@@PikaPluff Pass the bucket too avoid facing up to the truths, cowards.
@@suzannehaigh4281 It just shows how overpowering the will of the German people is that even after such a crushing defeat they are still thriving.
@@kanzlerross1565 No, just shows how they conned the Allies after the war, all bloody Hitlers in disguise.
My mom's memory of rationing during WWII was that lipstick was only available in one color -- black. As a teenager then, I'm sure she considered that an unfair sacrifice.
This programme was broadcast about three weeks before my mother's 18th birthday. She had taken her A Levels and started teacher training within three months!
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Can remember we would buy Spanish wood to chew instead of sweets during rationing. Mick gee.
We also got dried eggs from the USA, no beef, mainly lamb as kids we ate bread and dripping , I.e. meat fat., we ate what we were given, no waste.
I'm surprised to learn rationing went on for so long in Britain
In the US it ended when the war did except for sugar,which came to an end in 1947.
I have an ancestor who was a WW2 soldier stationed in Britain. He married a lady who was a member of the Royal Air Force. Before coming to America her family used rationed sugar to make them a wedding cake
The US spent the first couple of years of the war selling military equipment, britain spent it buying, Britain was flat broke after the war and had to rebuild everything that was bombed. Shouldn't be that surprising..
Post-war US had less of a labour shortage, less infrastructure damage, less import-dependence, and less debt
@@ChartreuseDan they also didn’t have a socialist government either.
@@wessexfox5197 Truman and Roosevelt weren't overly rightward of Atlee fiscally speaking, being new dealers, and they were arguably a little left of Churchill so I don't really take your point.
@@ChartreuseDan yes but the American public and even FDR and Truman were more to the right by British standards than Churchill, who soon very quickly accepted the “post-war consensus” created by Labour.
In France the black market for food was so huge that rather than fight it the authorities ended rationing shortly after the war.
Wow, look at the size of that Mars Bar! Chocolate bars have gotten smaller these days, a Mars is just a little larger than a match box now as back in the day they really were a BAR of chocolate.
What kind of gargantuan match boxes are you buying
Ok boomer
@@TheMusicalElitistOK Zoomer.
that auctioneer wasn't used to being asked to speak slowly
It's 2024. Rationing is still plaguing the UK. Although it is disguised as food banks, the raise of Victorian deceases has increased among the population ie vitamin deficiencies not just in the lower classes the middle classes are showing early warning signs the food we are given from super markets is low quality all for maximum profits
I remember part of the docks in London being a mess in the early 60s.
Grown ups oftem mentioned the rationing period.
I knew it lasted longer than the war, but I was surprised the first time I heard it was 1954. In Canada all rationing ended here in 1947.
Britain is an island. They don't have vast quantities of land, and much needed to be imported. So to stabilise the economy, some rationing had to be done.
54?! Damn! It lasted longer than I thought!
Britain was cut off from trade during most of the War. It took almost an entire decade to recover.
Imagine how hard the Petrol ration would be if that happened today. Luckily back then, people walked more and didn't drive as far as they do today.
There was about one car for every dozen people back then. The destruction of the rail network branch lines hadn't started yet though.
Well we were issued ration books for fuel in November 1973 with the oil crisis. Fortunately they were never needed but we were restricted in most petrol stations to the amount of fuel you could purchase in one go
@@steveosborne2297 I remember it well
Today's 500 yard school run
Not as far people used to travel more and also people used to be a lot healthier because they used to walk
This is on my bbc news 50th anniversary dvd this is!
Fascinating stuff :)
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Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void.
The Holy Spirit can lead you guide and confort you through it all
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
My parents wrapped us up and we went to Australia in 1955. Best decision they ever made. I love it here. Been back to the ole Blighty, and travelled around the world. Australia is the lucky country.
DITTO.
The Aboriginals beg to differ.
@@ekspatriat didnt ask
Tough.@@TheBucketSkill
@@ekspatriat Well, they had a few thousand years to invent the printing press and steam engine, discover electricity, build homes with plumbing,, schools, universities, factories, road networks, develop a reliable food supply, a reasonable system of law and order, a good healthcare program ... the list goes on. And all they could come up with was a stick that when thrown sometimes came back to its owner. Indeed, they BEG, i.e. free money, to differ.
That auctioneer went from 2x to 0.25x in less than 20 seconds.
Nice video thanks
How much longer before we get Good News like This!
My Nan told us a story when we were children of when she was a little girl growing up postwar and rationing was still in effect.
She and her friends were playing in a ditch by the side of the road as they normally did, but on this occasion she had an enormous bag of sweeties, but was under strict instruction from her mum to not share it with any of her friends - I presume because they were on ration.
She embarrassedly recalled that she scoffed the entire lot while her friend looked on enviously, not once entertaining the thought of sharing because she was under *instruction* to not share, so it must be alright. Kids are selfish little buggers aren't they?
Even at that age I had a rudementary understanding of what went on in WW2, so I was shocked that rationing continued so late. Imagine growing up your entire childhood knowing only rationing - what a world it must've been when it finally ended!
Don't forget that rationing in Germany and Japan ended around 1948-1949...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Because they embraced free markets. They ended rationing the minute the occupiers got off their backs. The UK dabbled in communism during and after the war and had shortages of everything all the way up through the 1970s.
@@gregorymalchuk272 They didn't have a shortage of free health care though.
@@gregorymalchuk272 “Communism”, LOL. Are all policies that have social benefits or “socialist” like communism to you? Are Finland/Sweden/Norway “communist” in your opinion?🙄
I don't think you know what communism even means, and things like the NHS, a social program, was created after WW2, and that had to be funded somehow. And we still have free healthcare and schooling and such to this day. The fact that you think we "dabbled in communism" tells me you haven't got an actual clue@@gregorymalchuk272
05:52 I'm lost for superlatives big enough for that piece of meat that is surely larger than a house brick.
I was born in 1949 in holland
Even in late 50’s real butter was a Christmas treat
Most dairy went to Germany to make them ready to fight the communists
Lots of smuggling of coffee and butter took place across the border.
And the rules changed constantly
So one month butter was more expensive in Germany but coffee cheaper.
So in train compartments bulgy overcoats hid the smuggling booty.
Sometimes both side smugglers had coffee and got confused like hell
I was born 1954. As a child I can remember the dried baby milk tins in my mums larder.
And nowadays we have countless "breadlines" to the food banks... how the UK has fallen...
2:09 When a Mars bar was four times bigger...
2:13 What kind of chocolate bar is that boy eating? It looks just like a Mars bar to me! Man I bet it's way better than the modern version.
I remember it well. I was 11 years old at prep school.
2:08 look at the size of the mars bar back in 50s compared today's mars bar? they are the size of midget gem in 2020s
Salutary. I never knew that rationing ended in stages over 7 years. My mum arrived ito this country from the far east September 1946 as a 23 year old war bride with a one year old baby. She spoke about rationing sometimes in a neutral way - I suppose for her and the millions of others affected It was simply a fact of life like the weather. By the time rationing ended in 1954 she was the mother of 4 young children between 2 and 9. With the acute housing shortage it would be another 4 years before she lived in her first permanent (Council) house. If you look at photos or film of ordinary people around this time they often seem to me to be astonishingly slim. Now I know why. The film doesn't mention it but the end of rationing would also have marked the end of the black market.
Actually, the average civilian gained a size in clothing during the war. Pre-war nutrition was pretty bad, and the National Loaf - despite its horrible taste - was packed with vitamins and was a mainstay. The diet was also very high in carbs.
That woman at the end absolutely does not want to be there.
Born and lived through that. Remember even in a few years after my mother coming home shouting that she had managed to get two peaches which would be preserved for future boirthday parties. We still do not waste a thing as a result and use the carcase of a roast chicken to produce a delicious broth. I was lucky in being raised on a farm.
Kind of heartbreaking really. The cost of war. The US of course, escaped such consequences. It could be argued in many ways, we went through rationing to pay the US for the Lend-Lease scheme. The UK lost everything and America became the richest nation on Earth.
The US here had rationing too. It started in 1942, and one big product that was rationed was coffee, and as a coffee loving country, the US had to make do with limited supplies. Restrictions ended in August 1945, however sugar rationing continued until 1947
Completely wrong. The U.S. also had rationing, it's just that the United States had and still has massive (and I mean MASSIVE) agricultural output, being a huge country with a favorable climate and moderate population (for its size), while the UK was and still is a densely-populated island that limits its agriculture. The United States also did not rely on food imports that were subject to U-boat attacks.
The UK lost everything because it was more focused on pissing away money on nationalizations and wasteful imperial adventures in the 1945 - 1979 period. Germany started out in a far worse position than the UK, it also had to import a large part of its food and even today still imports 30% of its needs, Germany got less aid than the UK, and had to pay back a far larger amount in reparations to the Allies than the UK had to pay back to the U.S., and yet by 1960 the average West German was richer than the average Brit. Germany also did not have a colonial empire it could loot for decades afterwards. It's entirely the fault of the poor decisions of UK governments, as we continue to see today with things like housing policy, industrial policy, over-reliance on finance and real estate bubbles, Brexit, regional planning, etc. and yet Brits always play the victim.
@@clarko95What wasteful imperial adventures between 1945-1979 were we involved in? You still asked for help with your Vietnam war even though we had lost everything and paid you with anything we had at. Your country were the ones involved with imperial adventures. You also caused 9/11 with your meddling in Afghanistan and Iraq over oil. The USA also never saw aerial bombardment like Europe did during the war and what you had us both do as your lapdog to the Middle East. Where’s our money for the mess you have left in that the past of the world and the countless resources that have effectively been handed over to our enemies free of charge due to Bidens rapid withdrawal. The good old US of A leading the way again. Your country has never seen a true decline yet. God help you when it does.
@@clarko95We didn’t loot anything for decades following the war either so your arrogance towards Britain is just biased nonsense. Do you Irish heritage by any chance?
Probably should have just let Germany have Russia and made a good trade deal with them instead of making a mess of Europe and ruining our finances.
This is why my dad is so healthy and wouldnt less us kids put sugar on our porridge as kids. He was sugar rationed until he was 13 years old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mum 'solved' our sugar rationing problem- we - the 3 children still at home had glass jars with tops with small holes in, acted as 'shakers' so in effect each child 'competed' to see how long 'their' share would last- worked too!
As a child of an American Air Force sergeant , I lived in Sheringham England when there was rationing.I remember going to the butcher with my mother and getting meat. Americans had access to more luxury items through the military commissary system, but I still remember being given a milk ration when attending school. Everyone in the British school I attended ( St Joseph's ) would be given a little glass bottle of whole milk to drink and encouraged to drink it all. We were also given rations occasionally of sweet syrup (treacle) on bread. I think they were just trying to fatten up some of the skinny kids. I wonder what happened to Ms Vipond?
Thatcher stopped the milk ration!
Rationing is the part of the stingy British mindset. I was flying with Virgin Atlantic at an intermediate class between Executive and Economy. It was twelve years ago. I was very hungry and during my meal I asked for a second small bread. The attendant said NO. It made me feel like a beggar. I had the same experience in many other situations.
Why would anyone have to ration cod liver oil? Like there's a huge demand for it?
Try google!
Not for bananas it wasn't. They were still on ration until about 1958. Sounds like a very young Richard Baker (Mary, Mungo & Midge)
Jesus Christ saves
He had mercy on me he can save all who all seek him today He made away through calvery repent of all sins today
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Holy Spirit can give you peace purpose and joy and his will today
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
That steak and chips at the end ❤
My grandfather traded his fuel ration points for marks in school.
He gave the teacher 9 gallons and got "half mark per gallon" in return.
There was one good thing about the silly British post-war rationing. My mother got fed up with it and emigrated in 1950 to Australia. That meant I grew up in a country that had the sense to end rationing as soon as it was evident that Japan was loosing the War, boosting the economy, and we had plenty of cheap food of all kinds, better quality than sold in Britain.
I hated as a little boy queueing with my mother for what seemed to be hours !
Remember this so well …we even had toy ration books that we so enjoyed cutting out the squares !
Sweets on ration meant we didn't have any .. dad use to swap the sweets for his smokes ... mum use tto make toffee out of treacle and some black stuff in the oven..As far as coffee is concerned I never saw coffee.. we use to have camp chicory essence in a bottle ..
We were still on rationing. When it had ended in Germany years before. One of the reasons the Labour government lost the next election after only one term.
Weather was also the reason for rationing
Dog ate my homework excuse
Labour did not lose the next election. Labour won in 1950 with a much reduced majority and they went back to the country in 1951 in the hope that they could increase their majority. Unfortunately for them, this enabled Churchill to achieve his only GI win and it took his government another 3 years to end rationing.
@@keithfrost1190by the time Churchill returned Britain was at war again and the soldiers needed food
@@jonathanwilliams1065 But, because of our undemocratic election system, the Tories were elected with over 200,000 fewer votes. It could therefore be argued that Churchill never actually won a single general election.
Now I'm back to self rationing in the cost of living crisis.
Though I suppose 'self-rationing' has always been a feature of transactions, given finite resources.
Cost of living crisis doesnt exist. live within your means
@@insomecc I have always lived within my needs but even that is getting more expensive. If you deny the cost of living crisis you are blind as even living cheaply is more expensive than it was.
@@melgrant7404 Im not denying prices have risen, Im denying theres a crisis. People need to manage their money better and stop spending it on shite, notice how there are still new builds propping up everywhere, people are still buying houses, people are still buying cars, economy is booming, hell you go to your local city on a weekend, its full of people spending money.
When youre poor you are poor noo matter what year it is, living on the breadline has never been any different, theyve done it each decade and will continue to do so 'CRISIS' or not..
@@RobinoftheHod Wake up, stop letting the BBC control your mind. Think can think for yourself you know.
3:19 I wouldn't gather round the auctioneer's ring too long...
We had rationing in New Zealand from 1943 until 1950. This was because our allies thought we had "too much food" whereas Britain had not enough, & our allies in the Pacific War needed food supplies also. Kiwis didn't like rationing (who does or would?) but we wanted our "mother country, the UK," as then it was, was the centre of the Commonwealth. Before King Charles III, the Commonwealth meant something, especially under her majestyQE II. Today, the UK has shown us that it is not the genius centre of the empire that the elder among us had believed, what with Brexit, so many more nations leaving the Commonwealth are likely, but our country, New Zealand may well be the last to do so if Charles &William don't make a big Commonwealth push. But, back in WWII, we supported all allied troops on the Pacific War, including American, with food & troops. My grandfathers went to war at the beginning of WWII in 1939, & didn't come home until late 1945/1946 - thus missing the earlier childhoods of children like my mother(née 1940) & my father (née 1939). Terrible for the children. So, not just food was rationed in MZ, but so also were parents of my parents and of everyone else my age (60). For 6-7 years.
This was the end of a period of good health in Britain and the onset of diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver and heart disease to name but a few. I remember it well. I started work as a family practitioner in 1959 and witnessed all these diet related diseases we rarely saw in Medical School!
Could the onset of free health care have brought to light medical conditions that might previously have remained unreported (due to the expense?)
I wonder if it's not also true that the health of the poorest in society was likely to have been the worst, and was brought into focus disproportionately by the provision of free health care?
@@margin606 nah, you cannot become diabetic in a calorie restricted environment. it's near impossible
@@-_-j you cant have high blood sugar if you're being rationed, unless your rations are just pure carbs. diabetes is just advanced insulin resistance, and you cant be resistant to insulin if its never high.
@@-_-j "I'm pretty sure insulin resistance and diabetes are different things"
i had to stop reading after this sentence. We're not on equal footing. Adios
So what you are saying Rhiannon Williams is that Post-War prosperity killed more people through disease then Hitler did with bombs.....interesting...
That was one strong generation they lived through a war and rationing long after the war's end. Our generation is an embarrassment covid was in its infancy and we were fighting over toilet rolls 🤦♂️
This is what happens when society reject Christ these things because more and More common
Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Romans 6.23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
I was born 1947, dont remember sweets rationed, simply because couldn't afford them anyway. Any sweets we had were always a special treat. Not looking for sympathy, that's just how it was!
There was still rationing when I was born in 1954 it went on for a few years afterwards.
2023 and the supermarket shelves are not exactly full and farming is now unfashionable unless you are mr gates.
americans dont know how hard the brits had it post war
...
Do you know Jesus Christ can set you free from sins and save you from hell today
Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world no other gods will lead you to heaven
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
Romans 6.23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
Interesting
And now people panic when red peppers are in short supply in January……how spoilt we are nowadays but people think they are hard done by…….this film should be compulsory at university’s
During the war years and in the fifties you didn’t see any fat children and my mother said
although there was strict rationing during those years the babies and children all seemed
to thrive and we’re healthy.
With everyone in a mandatory diet at the time, why would you see fat people at the time?
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Quite.
That certainly wasn't the reality. Infant mortality was significantly higher than it is today. Things like TB were still rife, and many of the vaccines we have today (such as measles) weren't available then.
@@th8257 I was talking about nutrition not disease or lack of vaccinations.
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 Ask the fatlogic types, who claim to eat nothing for weeks and yet are morbidly obese.
Worst mistake in history entering the war
Mmmm how good is your German?
Or in your case, guessing you are in India……Japanese.
The guarantee given to Poland was a huge mistake, everyone in the Cabinet knew this a few weeks later lol.
After doing so however, and the war breaking out, even then Chamberlain, like Palmerston in 1866, could have said "woops sorry mate".
Luckily for the Commies and American businesses Daladier was PM of France and Chamberlain had no spine to back down from starting the most pointless and destructive war in British history.
@@wiliammound7942German would be preferable to the gibberish people converse in today
@@wiliammound7942 Not as good as the German royalty!
That cattle seller sounded like a bond villain
I was born in january 1947 but I remember the end of rationing ....everything was sweet!