Booklet 1: 1951-64

Question 1

Results of the 1951 election:

Answer 1

• conservatives 321 seats and 48% vote
• labour 295 seats and 48.8% vote

Question 2

Results of the 1955 election:

Answer 2

• conservatives 345 seats and 49.7% vote
• labour 277 seats and 46.4% vote

Question 3

Results of the 1959 election:

Answer 3

• conservatives won 365 seats and 48.8% vote
• labour won 258 seats and 44.6% vote

Question 4

Social reform acts under the Conservatives:

Answer 4

• Clean Air Act 1956 (smog)
• Housing and Factory Acts
• Homicide Act 1957

Question 5

What did the Homicide Act 1957 do?

Answer 5

It restricted the use of the death penalty for murder.

Question 6

Inflation

Answer 6

The increase in the price of goods and services which occurs when people have more money to spend than there are good available.

Question 7

Deflation

Answer 7

A fall in the prices of goods and services.

Question 8

When did rationing come to an end?

Answer 8

July 1954

Question 9

Population numbers in 1961

Answer 9

51 million people - 5% more than in 1951.

Question 10

When was full employment reached and how many remained unemployed

Answer 10

1955 - only 200,000 unemployed

Question 11

How many people were employed in service industries by 1960?

Answer 11

5 million - 1 in 5

Question 12

Why did Thorneycroft resign in 1958?

Answer 12

His proposals for drastic spending cuts were overruled by Macmillan

Question 13

Balance of trade

Answer 13

the difference between the goods that a country imports and what it exports

Question 14

Balance of payments

Answer 14

the difference between the goods that a country imports and what it exports, but includes invisible exports and imports i.e. services such as shipping, banking

Question 15

What was the Festival of Britain?

Answer 15

was intended to mark Britain’s recovery from the war and to look forward to the future celebrating new design, culture and industry

Question 16

Examples of new towns built:

Answer 16

• Harlow in Essex
• Kirby in Merseyside

Question 17

What was the increase in men’s weekly wages?

Answer 17

£8.30 in 1951 to £15.35 ten years later

Question 18

When did ITV launch and what were the impacts?

Answer 18

1955
people saw more advertisements

Question 19

How much did TV ownership increase?

Answer 19

• between 1957-59 rose by 32%
• by 1960 there were 10 million tv sets in use
• estimated 50% of population watched TV in the evening

Question 20

What was the increase in car ownership?

Answer 20

25% between 1957-59

Question 21

How much road was upgraded or built?

Answer 21

1200 miles between 1957-1963

Question 22

How many working class voters voted Labour in 1951?

Answer 22

65%

Question 23

How many middle class voters voted conservative in 1951?

Answer 23

80%

Question 24

Satire

Answer 24

• Beyond the Fringe
• Private Eye magazine 1961
• That was the week that was 1962 BBC

Question 25

How significant was marriage considered for women?

Answer 25

- average age of marriage was 21 - 75% women married

Question 26

How many women were in work in 1951?

Answer 26

only 1 in 5

Question 27

What was the family allowance and what did it aim to do?

Answer 27

a weekly benefit paid for each child in a family - was supposed to ensure that women did not need to work.

Question 28

Improvements for women in work:

Answer 28

- equal pay for teachers 1952 - equal pay for civil servants 1954

Question 29

The Empire Windrush

Answer 29

Sailed from Jamaica to London in 1948, carrying 492 migrant workers seeking a new life in Britain. Became a symbol of a new period of African-Caribbean immigration into Britain.

Question 30

How many Commonwealth immigrants had settled in Britain by 1958?

Answer 30

210,000 - 75% male

Question 31

Number of immigrants vs number of people leaving Britain:

Answer 31

676,000 immigrants and 1.32 million Britons left

Question 32

Notting Hill Riots 1958

Answer 32

Violent outbreaks in Notting Hill, which had a large African-Caribbean population. Large mobs of white youths attacked African-Caribbeans. The police response was discriminatory.

Question 33

Beliefs of the Bevanites (left-wing of Labour)

Answer 33

- anti-nuclear weapons - pro-EEC - anti-NATO - pro-nationalisation - anti-prescription charges

Question 34

Beliefs of Gaitskellism (right-wing of Labour)

Answer 34

- pro-nuclear weapons - anti-EEC - pro-NATO - anti-nationalism

Question 35

When did the economy peak?

Answer 35

between 1960-64

Question 36

What was the 1963 Beeching Report?

Answer 36

Announced massive cuts in railway networks which caused a public outcry with 67,000 rail jobs lost

Question 37

What were the 4 features of the post-war consensus?

Answer 37

- mixed economy - working with trade unions - full employment - upholding the NHS and welfare state

Question 38

What was the education system in the 50s and early 60s?

Answer 38

Tripartite system: had to take an 11+ exam to determine what school you would go to. Grammar school, secondary modern, technical schools.

Question 39

What was the ‘night of the long knives’?

Answer 39

Macmillan’s 1962 reshuffling of the cabinet where he sacked 1/3 of it.

Question 40

Spy scandals in the early 1960s:

Answer 40

- George Blake convicted of being a Soviet double agent in 1961 - John Vassall (civil servant) was discovered to have been blackmailed on the basis of his homosexuality to pass information onto the Soviet Union in 1962 - Profumo Affair 1963 - sleeping with Christine Keeler who was also sleeping with a soviet spy

Question 41

When was National Service stopped for boys?

Answer 41

1960

Question 42

How many teenagers were in Britain by 1959?

Answer 42

5 million (10%)

Question 43

Examples of breaking down censorship and social taboos in the film/tv industry:

Answer 43

- ‘Victim’ 1961: first English language film to use the word ‘homosexual’ - ‘Taste of honey’ 1958: play that told the story of a young unmarried woman who became pregnant from a black sailor

Question 44

What are some reasons that Britain did not join the EEC when it was established?

Answer 44

- The left were suspicious of free-market principles behind the common market - The right preferred the traditional trade links with Australia, Canada and New Zealand - There was an assumption that Britain was still a great world power - Wanted to balance its involvement with Europe and maintaining the ‘special relationship’ with the USA

Question 45

What did Britain think it would gain from joining the EEC when they applied in 1961?

Answer 45

- boost industrial production for a large-scale export market - increase industrial efficiency with greater competition - stimulate economic growth with the rapid economic expansion already seen in the EEC

Question 46

When were Britain’s first tests of the atomic bomb?

Answer 46

1952

Question 47

When was Britain’s H-bomb tested?

Answer 47

1957

Question 48

When was CND formed?

Answer 48

1958

Question 49

How many people took part in the Aldermaston march (CND) in 1958?

Answer 49

8000

Question 50

How many soldiers did Britain send to the Korean War?

Answer 50

90,000

Question 51

How man British troops died in the Korean War?

Answer 51

Over 1000

Question 52

When was the Mau Mau rebellion and why was it significant?

Answer 52

1952 Kenya Was one of several violent nationalist uprisings against British colonial rule. The difficulty to contain the rebellion demonstrated the problems with Britain’s colonial policies.

Question 53

What was the first African colony to be declared independent and when?

Answer 53

Ghana 1957

Question 54

When was Kenya declared independent?

Answer 54

1963

Question 55

What was the National Economic Development Council (Neddy)?

Answer 55

Was responsible for long-term economic planning. Consisted of government representatives, academics, employers and trade unionists. Set up in 1962.

Question 56

What was the National Incomes Commission (Nicky)?

Answer 56

Kept an eye on wages and prices. Added in 1962.