Popular%20culture%20in%20Britain%20since%201945

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Popular culture in Britain since 1945

• 1 The historical background
• http//johncmullen_at_wanadoo.fr

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Curriculum 1 General historical background 2
What is popular culture? What is British popular
culture ? 3 The history of British cinema 4 The
history of British popular music 5 Art,
Photography, street art 6 Ways of studying and
theorizing popular culture
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Winston Churchill, Prime Minister from 1940 to
1945 and from 1951 to 1955
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The Blitz
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The effects of the Blitz in Manchester
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Dresden
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1942 Publication of the Beveridge report 1945
Overwhelming Labour victory at the general
election. Clement Attlee becomes prime minister
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Aneuran Bevan, who founded the National Health
Service in 1948
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1947
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1947 Indian Independence 1956 The Suez
Crisis 1960  The Wind of Change  speech by
Macmillan.
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The Chinese quarter in London
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The Windrush, carrying Caribbean immigrants to
England, 1948
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George Orwell Down and Out in Paris and London
(1933) Burmese Days (1934) Keep the Aspidistra
Flying (1936) The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)
Homage to Catalonia (1938) Coming Up for Air
(1939) Animal Farm (1945) Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1948)
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C S Lewis The Screwtape letters 1942 . Voyage to
Venus 1943 will move onto Narnia in the 1950s   J
R R Tolkien begins his writing of the Lord of the
Rings during the second world war
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  Universities 1900 20 000 undergraduates ( one
third at oxford or Cambridge)  1950 85 000 1954
82 000 1956 90 000  1962 120 000 8 of age
group  1961 7 new universities founded  1963
Robbins Report said needed to multiply by five
the number of students at university   1968 56
universities in total  
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High Rise flats built in the 1960s
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The Wolfenden report 1957
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1960
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Macmillan is perhaps best known for the electoral
slogan attributed to him  Youve never had it
so good!  He was Conservative prime minister
until 1964
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London 2011
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1950s vacuum cleaners washing machines electric
cookers    in 1964 52 had washing machines in
1964 there are six million cars on the road
(today there are 32 million)   Consumer spending
rose in real terms by 45 between 1952 and
1964 In 1956 there were 216,000 unemployed and
400,000 job vacancies.
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 Samuel Becket Waiting for Godot in 1955 1958
Endgame 1962 Happy Days   Harold Pinter 1958 The
Birthday Party 1960 The Caretaker   Brendan
Behan 1958 Borstal boy   N F Simpson A
resounding tinkle 1958   Novels Kingsley Amis
1953 LUCKY JIM   Alan Silletoe 1958 Saturday
night and Sunday morning
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The Campaign for nuclear disarmament the first
wave,
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Harold Wilson, elected Prime Minister in 1964
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1967 Legalization of abortion 1968
Decriminalization of homosexuality 1968 Founding
of the Open University 1970 Equal Pay Act
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Edward Heath PM 1970-74
1971 Industrial Relations Act 1972  bloody
Sunday  1973 Britain joins European Economic
Community 1974 Miners strike
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1972 in Northern Ireland
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Bloody Sunday
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James Callaghan Prime minister 1976-1979 (after
Wilsons second term 1974-6)
1975 arrival of North Sea oil 1976 IMF
crisis 1976 Race Relations Act 1978 Winter of
discontent
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1977 The Silver Jubilee 1977 The Sex Pistols
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1979-1997 Conservative government (Margaret
Thatcher 1979-1990 John Major 1990-1997)
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Privatizations British gas, British Aerospace,
British Telecom, Electricity board etc.
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Laws about trade union activity are passed in
1980, 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1993
Strict limitations are gradually placed on
picketing, on solidarity strikes, on strike
ballots and on the closed shop.
1980 Steel strike
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March 1984 to March 1985 The Great Miners
Strike
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1990 the Poll Tax and the Poll Tax Revolt
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1997 after eighteen years of Conservative
government, Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
with his  New Labour  party
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1997 Referendums decide on much more autonomy
for Wales and Scotland
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1998 Minimum Wage Act
2000 Freedom of Information Act
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1999 important reform of the House of Lords
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2004 Demonstration against the war in Iraq
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2010 A second inquiry into Bloody Sunday
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Scottish Independence referendum 2014
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Popular culture / mass culture contested
definitions Circus Trade union
banners Cinema Radio Television Street
singers Rock music Rap music Folk
music Photography Street art Sport Street
sports Football cricket