The High Street: 100 Years of British Life Through the Shop Window

by Philip Wilkinson

BBC One brought the story of the great British high street to life in a series in which five modern-day shopkeepers and their families were challenged to run their shops exactly as they would have been run in six key eras of British history, from the 1870s to the 1970s. This book accompanies the television series, telling the remarkable story of how the rise and fall of the high street transformed daily lives, touching on the history of technology, family relationships, work, food, fashion, and community that make Britain what it is today. Each chapter vividly retells the story of the evolving high street at that period in time, with special emphasis given to changes in food, fashion, attitudes, jobs, and family life. Illuminated with human interest stories from the programs and illustrated with hundreds of archive photographs, this is the truly fascinating story of British society over the last century as well as a lavish photographic record of the great British high street in its heyday.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2010

About the author

Philip Wilkinson (born 1955) is the author of non-fiction books for children and adults. He was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He worked as an editor prior to becoming an author.

He specializes in works on history, the arts, religion, and architecture and has written over forty titles.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the first time I have expressed my regret at not knowing more about what my school used to called "modern" history. That regret linked to televisions simplified look at the subject made the TV series and this accompanying book fascinating to me. Living in a market town does bring a lot of the details in to focus for me and it gives a new depth to the stories I hear from my parents and their friends.

The book however is more than just a companion it provides more information and facts than the show presented and in an informative and creative way. I really enjoyed the book although I did find that the amount of information it covered did mean some aspects were only briefly touched upon, although there is a very extensive further reading list at the end of the book.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the TV series of Turn Back Time, I know it's a cliché but it genuinely brought history to life, and the book provides some very interesting background to accompany the series.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the Victorian high street, back when the retail trade required real hands-on skills and knowledge, such as learning to blend teas and make cheese and butter from scratch.
I also liked the chapter on the wartime high street, the 'Dig for Victory' campaigns and the 'make do and mend' ethos, rationing and of course there was the black market in bananas as well as other difficult to obtain products!

There are some great photos and illustrations featured, a history of the high street is also inevitably a history of advertising too; from the Victorian posters urging housewives to check the bread they were buying was not adulterated, the promotion of veggies for wartime children via 'Dr Carrot' to the hard-sell of the seventies persuading people to buy the newfangled appliance that was the microwave.

But my personal favourite has to be a photograph from the early 1960s of a woman examining a shiny new refrigerator in a bustling department store, salesman helpfully pointing out useful features, as she casually holds a cigarette in one hand. And no-one is trying to beat her with sticks or anything. I probably only noticed this as an ex-smoker who now notices cigarettes EVERYWHERE!

Anyway, great book, and one that kind of makes you yearn for a return to ye Olde style shoppes (instead of impersonal clone-shops of today), where there was a real relationship between shop-keeper and customer and when people felt a genuine connection with where their food and other produce came from and how it was produced. Just be a nice change from 'beep ... beep ... £25.99 please. Have you got a nectar card?' ...

[Alan Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting social history.

[Kentishbookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good popular history of the British High Street. Easy to read and very interesting.