the 1940s House e1

one British family is volunteering to go back in time their destination an ordinary home during the dark days of the Second World War this country is at war with Germany [Music] here they will face the hunger these are our cards the uncertainty the day-to-day hardships of millions of British civilians living through the war on the homefront [Music] it's been magical history tour every day is has brought more surprises [Music] nineteen forty's house was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you thank you in this London suburb eleven miles from Buckingham Palace many still remember the Battle of Britain being fought overhead but it's the civilian experience of war rather than the military one that brings us here over the next nine weeks we'll be finding out how ordinary people survive the years of conflict and paying tribute to the courage they brought to the war effort today seventeen Braemar Gardens looks like many other semi-detached homes in the London suburbs but it's about to become a time machine inside and out all traces of the 21st century are being removed this won't be a film set or museum but a fully functioning home equipped just as it would have been in pre-war Britain a modern family is coming to live here for nine weeks like the family who lived here in wartime they'll have no phone car refrigerator or television this is the perfect middle-class home of the 30s really a very nice home I've had to pull it all back together again bringing all the things they need from the cooker down to the toothbrush everything that a home needs over 300 family is applied to travel back to live in wartime hello with me this family with Granger family we're the love our family I want to be able to smell the smells I want to be able to use the everyday items that normal people use it's that feeling of living on the edge as well of having having to survive how did they feed their animals I mean do you get to such a stage where if you look at the dog because you're getting hungry after a five-month search we found the perfect family I personally would like to do this project because my husband throughout our marriage has had I think an obsession with the 1940s as you'll see perhaps from the room he would like to step back in time it has been his boyhood dream I have a very deep interest in the 1940s particularly the home front during the wartime period and the hardship and rationing and everything else that went with it and and austerity not an obsession as limbs just said stuffed full of every kind in trust is not enough so he has to a floor full of books about it with the job of restoration now well underway the nineteen forties house begins to reveal the secrets of its own wartime story we have the survey done we discovered there was some bomb damage to the back of the house I was searching under the stairs and I found a black bag and inside the black bag I found this family Bible which looked quite often quite interesting inside I found a note which read this Bible was left under the stairs of 17 Bremen Gardens by the widow of George Dixon who died as a result of a heart attack following the efforts to put out a fire bomb in the back garden in 1942 it ties him very nicely with the period and everything and it's it's just extremely interesting to to find such a piece of history three generations of the Hymas family from the north of England will be our time travelers it's daddy Michael an engineer his wife Lynne their daughter Kirsty a divorcee and her son's Ben who's 10 and 7 year old Thomas [Music] the Hymas journey back to wartime Britain begins with radical haircuts have you ever heard of a head pack called a puddin basin well that's what you're gonna have voice cassettes the way it was in those days [Music] while the Hymas are being groomed for their wartime experience the 1940s house garden is also being transformed the wartime government needed people at home to produce their own food Provence gave way to vegetable plots all over the country as Britain responded to the call to dig for victory what we've set out to achieve is to take the garden back to the late 30s and 40s the war town garden know today were encouraged to enjoy our gardens as an extension of the house but for leisure and pleasure but in the wartime it was very much about it was going to feed the larder in the kitchen with fruit and veg and that was very important have a look at the cabbage now it's a very old variety called flora spring know the qualities of that one is that the Wharton gardener would have used all the leaves they were they were not wasteful we are wasteful people today we pick the best for them made the best of what they had so all those big leaves on the outside that would have been harvested and used as greens I think one of the most valuable things were the onions many young is very important but in wartime no imports so the onions were very important at the top of the garden they're gonna find some new inhabitants some rabbits and in the library they're gonna find this book so I wonder how the rabbits will fare [Music] at home in the north of England the Hymas family are finally ready for their journey back to the 1940s come in whatever you are [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the time has come for the family to say goodbye to friends and neighbors and embark on the journey south to their new wartime home as I came out to the door I realized that this was it now that I couldn't turn back the too many people involved all the rooms have been set in motion here we'll go for better or worse as it were this is what I imagined was the hardest thing for the people who lived through the war people saying goodbye it must have been so so hard at the outbreak of war in September 1939 two and a quarter million British citizens had to pack up and leave their homes they didn't know if they would ever return Ben was acting grown up and try not to let you know bother him but Thomas did actually get quite upset I can't even begin to imagine what it must've felt like so you know where the husband are far even where he children off but people have to do it [Music] on arrival at the 1940s house the homers are greeted by Marguerite Patton an authority on wartime food and lifestyle [Music] [Music] here at Number 17 Braemar gardens the clock has been wound back to the day war was declared all three generations of the Hymas family have never lived together before the nine weeks in the 1940s house looked set to test them on all fronts outside the world might have moved on but in here everything is just as it was in wartime Britain when danger was never far away that is your own that is one which will warn you of an air raid and when it sounds please and this is terribly important get moving quickly I've worked out your first week's menus in 1939 that is a typical menu of what we would have had and cooked for a family I'm sure you can no Yorkshire horn make a cake am i right a bit she's good I've never known I'm for 29 years I've never known as a beggar cake well then you'll have to explore all the possibilities I've never seen two ladies well I think we've got a suspended family a ready to work hard and by Jove we worked hard during those years the family haven't quite the same emotional problems people in danger and worrying all the time about the news but they have the other problems of making do and they've suddenly stemmed from a life where they had all the labor-saving appliances to a life where we really didn't have them we had support from everyone around us but they're doing it all by themselves yes it's twin beds right I've always had an interest in the home front during their forties I'm often wondered what it would have been like to live through that time so this is a bit of a dream come true really well you've hit the jackpot yeah whether I'll still feel the same in eight or nine weeks I don't know they don't know it yet but life for the Hymas in the 1940s House will be strictly controlled there's a war on and they're going to feel the impact of a strong government [Music] to recreate the strict wartime regime we have established a committee of scientists and historians to be our War Cabinet and dictate the terms by which the family will live their headquarters will be the bomb-proof bunker of Winston Churchill's war rooms now a museum during the Second World War civilians in Britain came more under government control than they ever had before in fact this was probably the most controlled nation outside the Soviet Union now let's start with the big question how do we set about giving this family an authentic experience of wartime life as the cabinet we're going to have to say there were regulations there were rules no authority that governed your life in wartime and these are going to have to govern your life too you're not going to be able to have consultation rationing is going to affect you various emergency powers are going to affect you and this is how you're going to have to live let's get their neighbors denounced to the air raid precautions people let's get them fined let's get them let's see the psychological impact of the war on the homefront I'm here because it's a challenge for me I'm a person that lacks in confidence I think it's gonna make me a stronger person and because I live on my own it's gonna make me be able to cope with things you better at home oh nice room isn't it single visitors [Music] pregnant says youngsters will be ready in approximate six to eight weeks hang on how many rabbits that we got five Rapids and homeless and one of them with child food rationing was introduced in 1940 but for their first week the family are allowed a taste of pre-war cookery using their 1940s coloring book they make a typical dish of the time mincing leaf to make whistles the early war diet was rich in fat and carbohydrate and the average daily intake was 3,000 calories a thousand more than is recommended today having been a full-time working mother for 15 years or so I relied totally on prepackaged foods or takeaways or restaurant meals it was just easier because I never have time to think with you what I'm housewife is she never had time but she makes time and that's what I'm gonna have to learn to do green salad [Music] compared to another half the results really nice better than any takeaway better than anything granny would get from packets it was it was nice I like homemade meals the homers should make the most of these early meals when shortages kick in food like this will be a rare luxury if available at all mom's rub it blond is really nice it was creamy and light and just sadly there he could had feel when he put it in your mouth it's just a perfect the government have given instructions for the placing of places of entertainment they are being closed because if they were hit by a bomb large numbers would be killed or injured keep off the streets as much as possible the radio will be a vital link to the war years every day the family will receive an hour of original BBC broadcasts early on the government urged civilians to prepare for war although it would be six months before bombs actually started to fall it's the family's first night in the house and Lyn discovers that her nineteen forties beauty regime is not only time consuming but unrewarding it was literally going to bed in the house because we put her literally nighties on and you spent another are doing our pork now curlers in it take so long to this ugly I mean celibacy is the order of the day because I don't feel like woman and Michael don't fancy his granny so perhaps at 50 he you were done for he just crawled into your twin bed and died [Music] day two and so far everyone's in good spirits Michael's taking a break from work and the boys are on school holidays giving the family time to adjust to their wartime lifestyle already there's a problem with the rabbits there's two showers the family have been provided with rabbits to fatten up for food in the lean times ahead however some members of the family have no stomach for rabbit farming of course you're thinking of now or a family from now the children have been brought up exactly that's the point every other house where I live has got rabbits in the backyard yeah everything you eat meat wise and we are meat eaters yeah I miss in the pond wait that's a breathing Center it's distasteful it's disgusting and I can't live with it that's how it would have been before the children get too attached to them the government was actively encouraging people to keep rabbits for food domestic rabbit clubs were springing up all around the country and people were even offered extra rations of concentrated rabbit food to encourage them to keep and to breed the rabbits a lot of people kept rabbits and then when the crunch came decided that they couldn't bear to kill them more I know instances of people actually killing a rabbit and then finding they couldn't eat it even when it was on the table and or sitting there eating it with tears streaming down their cheese I think after this his family were rather sensible in anticipating the problem they were going to face when the ghastly moment came from having to kill the rabbit I wanted to be interested in taking them some rabbits off my hands how many of this for quite young one one big rabbit be prepared to give you anything we've got to take them please take our rabbits oh yes that's about that term yes well you're the easy one wait till we go tell your brother [Music] rabbits were not the only pets to suffer in the first four days of war 400,000 Londoners had their cats and dogs destroyed they feared they might not be able to feed them or keep them calm when bombs began to fall happily resolved resolved the rabbits have gone off to a good home the pet shop man is delighted with his his bundles and the children I help you my happy so onto the wall as well as a 1940's house we've also provided the Hymas family with a 1940 shop tucked away at the back of a modern delicatessen shop owner Nigel Lovegrove will be their wartime shopkeeper loved groves will only start products and produce that were available during the war [Music] my current caste are not just here to buy food they also need to prepare their home against air raids [Music] by law each household had to black out all windows and doors at night a of light could attract enemy aircraft and put a whole street at risk have you had a chance to measure up the windows at all not not accurate below estimated 10 euros basically they used lining material and made up a frame stretch the cloth of the frame and then they would use some rabbit skin glue and some black pigment have you thought about your tape for taping up your windows as well as blacking out their windows householders put tape on each pane of glass to prevent them shattering in a bomb blast [Music] [Applause] the government advice urged ahead of each household to take responsibility for protecting his family just as in wartime the homers have an air raid warden coming to inspect their blackout arrangements they need to get going everyone dreaded bombs government estimates of the day predicted that one in every 25 city dwellers would be killed in air raids supplies of cardboard coffins were distributed to neighborhood centers in readiness at the same time many homes were supplied with an Anderson shelter named after the minister responsible for home security Sir John MC family are excited about the prospect of having their own bomb shelter in the garden but putting it together when we quite so much fun for weeks now Michael and 1940s enthusiast has been telling his grandsons how he wants to build an Anderson shelter it's been his dream since boyhood but he'll have to pay seven pounds for the pleasure that's more than his weeks earnings Anderson shelters were only free to those on low wages [Music] was involved in what it is this it's supposed to be a big pan of soup which will last as a couple of days what it actually is a big kind of grease when I did the onions I did them in lard so one when I put all the stuff and everything in and the onions the lads just made it this greasy mess not used to manual labor with all the excitement of building the shelter the more urgent Java finishing the blackout has been delayed an inspection by an air raid precautions or ARP warden is imminent I think somebody needs to write a letter to the ARP to ask if we can postpone tomorrow night's blackout check because I won't get this done in time well let's give another hour and if you haven't finished the Anderson Bay then one penny to the swear box captured the files in the hole to dig five times more further down this I'd be on my knees and another of ours I just can't do this and dad can't do it on his own you might like to think you can Thomas it's not helping with you son little bit I'm trying to take this is your fault I'm not even the foot down yet got four of them to go well three three of what the deep the depths it is now three people joking dad I can't over I'll do it but you'll perhaps yes you know why we're not gonna be able to do this yeah no no we are we've got to keep up the spirit that made England great you couldn't just in the wall time sit back posing on the heap of soil like a girly postcard and say we're not gonna be able to do this we will do it skimmed all the fronts of it so disgusting it's just a mass of salt because it was a bacon joint there are so salty so as its reduced it's got salt and salt a good god mom no children what I would say is it some bottle it's very very salty it's like drinking them having a mouthwash in whatever you do okay it's back to the old stuff is the shelter is proving a bigger job than expected on the surface when that's finished digging in there it's not want to come in here and stop faffing about my right hand I think Michaels panicking a bit now he's got what he's always wanted he's got the blackout's blinds to do and the island isn't make so hmm brushes back on and as we keep pointing out and he wanted to live in the 1940s so he is [Music] realistically big I would imagine people in 1940 were a lot of sister than we are now wartime diarists recall how the job of building a shelter helped break down English reserve many had to call on their neighbors for help the Hymas 21st century neighbors are showing a bit of the old wartime spirit I did feel that we did need help over I do feel as though it's looked upon us if we sort of like cheated in a way but then again I'm of the opinion that in the world time neighbors would all help each other I know ok the neighbor offered to come in and help my dad dig the hole I think that's what they would have done in the world although he hasn't gotten understand for us to return the favor and go you know building we could offer in something else like perhaps vegetables that fact garden are something I'm sure that's what people did that's the rumor that's all we've got ready in our garden three pieces of real bomb just as she feared Lynn is discovering that she's not a natural-born old-fashioned cook and pastry is definitely not her strong suit what does that mean Kirsten it's too dry it means you need more water water our boots are allowed Austen's minute can't waste it's got to get I've got to get it right I mean every nineteen forty's housewife knew how to make basic poster everyone especially the housewife was expected to play a part in the war by exercising economy to control the supply and distribution of food a government minister of food was appointed Lord Wilton took charge of Britain's wartime kids good evening it is to you the Housewives of Britain that I want we have a job to do together you and I tell me that you never waste on the floor oh oh there may be difficult days ahead us are more difficult than we've seen yet we shall still need feeding things are going to get tougher and I just hope I can cope with it we have to get organized and especially as things start to go wrong which I'm sure they will the war progresses not easy very well oh we're living on bread and jam their only proper meal of her today was probably our Weetabix that's the only thing apart from bread and jam that we've had I would nearly had a frozen jam again because graphic grannies spill Olaf yeah but she didn't I've got a casserole which take forever to cook and if any they have to 9 o'clock at night not be past my bedtime [Music] worried the spring rains will flood the shelter making it impossible for him to finish it Michael carries on building ignoring his deadline for the blackout inspection later today unlike her father thirsty is anxious that the family will be penalized if their black out isn't complete I think we should find them actually if they contravene black out regulations I think the social pressures are absolutely huge people took the black out very seriously they thought that if a of light was showing or you lit a cigarette in the street then you really were likely to bring the bill German bombs down on that particular area in that particular house the the enforcement of these regulations restriction it's not just a matter of blacking out the windows they have to make sure that every of light is is is stopped and 80% of middle-class households during the first weeks of the war failed in this task so it's a really testing operation [Music] [Music] as we starting to get more and more of the blackout material up at the windows that I am beginning to feel as though we're gonna feel trapped in and pending or whatever and I don't know how women coped with our house is not black to help sufficiently right I think you should be on some debt to get it blacked out I've got to feed the children well coming up all hands on deck for half an hour if the house isn't sufficiently blacked out we're gonna get really really I have to find her she wants you to come and do a blackout in half an hour then we start back up and I'll get the to you on your father will get change which make it half past 6:00 well I'll just carry on then you manage a slum I want to go home living in total squalor now can't make this pretty just gets darker by the minute it's got now on ten minutes it's been a holiday and it's all fallen to pieces of it now don't care guest he's had enough Michael's absolutely exhausted I've done a load of washing I'm really tired I'm concerned about my family's health my husband particular is overweight in over 50 and he's had to work harder physically than he's had to work in a lot of years and we're now waiting for a visit from their RP ladies turn the light on please [Music] it took months for Britain's wartime population to adapt to the oppression of living with the blackout but the growing threat of bombers in the skies made them increasingly vigilant in some cases neighbors stoned the windows of homes persistently showing lights we haven't had time to do it properly so I probably got fine and no so it's missing the cake time today really this is what we agreed to do our blackout inspector is Patricia Nolan who was what have you done about upstairs yes that's done I think you'll get away with it the homers family have passed the test for now we will keep an eye on you of course [Music]

Channel: william aucott

Views: 613,899

Rating: 4.9008746 out of 5

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Id: t2196tud8Yc

Length: 42min 16sec (2536 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 25 2018