The 1940s House: The Living Room

this is the living or sitting room of the 1940s house it's decorated in the style that was very popular in the late 1930s Art Deco the family would have kept the same furniture and decoration throughout the war because furniture like everything else was in short supply the focus of the room was the fireplace and the open coal fire was the main source of heat when the room would have been cozy and warm when the fire was alight however fuel was in short supply during the war time and a fuel saving scheme was introduced in 1942 which encouraged household has not used their fire at all in the summer months and to turn off the lights when not necessary children would use the living room or sitting room as a play area rather than their bedrooms during wartime pride a place in the living room was the wireless set or radio the 9 o'clock news was the focus point of the family's listening day in the radio but they will also comedy programs like it ma happy drom and hi gang and more serious programs like the brains trust the family would have also had a record player or as they were known at the time grammar phones you had to wind them up yourself and they played records that were very very easy to scratch or to break the records of the time featured stars like Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller and his band from June 1941 onwards clothes were rationing and the public were given sixty-six coupons to buy their clothes clothes rationing continued for the next eight years but even before the war many people had made their own clothes they were now encouraged by the Board of Trade the government department that oversaw clothes rationing to make even more and to use and alter old clothes a lot in a make due amends scheme and many found the making of clothes knitting darning a sort of an exercise to wile away the long nights of the blackout the blackout began in Britain on the 1st of September 1939 and continued in some places until VE Day May 1945 the idea of course was to black out all the windows of a house so no lights could be seen by German bummers you

Channel: Imperial War Museums

Views: 167,920

Rating: 4.9255953 out of 5

Keywords: Imperial War Museum, Second World War, home front, 1940s House, World War II (Event)

Id: bhdxmKcmVzw

Length: 2min 42sec (162 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 07 2012