1. Popular culture in Britain since 1945 1 : The historical background http://johncmullen@wanadoo.fr

2. 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

3. Winston Churchill, Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955

4. The Blitz

5. The effects of the Blitz in Manchester

7. Dresden

8. 1942 : Publication of the Beveridge report 1945: Overwhelming Labour victory at the general election. Clement Attlee becomes prime minister

9. Aneuran Bevan, who founded the National Health Service in 1948

10. 1947

11. 1947: Indian Independence 1956 The Suez Crisis 1960 « The Wind of Change » speech by Macmillan.

12. The Chinese quarter in London

13. The Windrush, carrying Caribbean immigrants to England, 1948

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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

17. High Rise flats built in the 1960s

18. The Wolfenden report 1957

19. 1960

20. Macmillan is perhaps best known for the electoral slogan attributed to him: « You’ve never had it so good! » He was Conservative prime minister until 1964

21. London 2011

22. 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.

23. 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

24. The Campaign for nuclear disarmament – the first wave,

25. Harold Wilson, elected Prime Minister in 1964

27. 1967 Legalization of abortion 1968 Decriminalization of homosexuality 1968 Founding of the Open University 1970 Equal Pay Act

29. Edward Heath PM 1970-74 1971: Industrial Relations Act 1972: « bloody Sunday » 1973 Britain joins European Economic Community 1974 Miners’ strike

30. 1972 in Northern Ireland

31. Bloody Sunday

33. James Callaghan Prime minister 1976-1979 (after Wilson’s second term 1974-6) 1975 arrival of North Sea oil 1976 IMF crisis 1976 Race Relations Act 1978 Winter of discontent

34. 1977 The Silver Jubilee 1977 The Sex Pistols

35. 1979-1997 Conservative government (Margaret Thatcher 1979- 1990; John Major 1990- 1997)

36. Privatizations: British gas, British Aerospace, British Telecom, Electricity board etc.

37. Laws about trade union activity are passed in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1993 1980 Steel strike Strict limitations are gradually placed on picketing, on solidarity strikes, on strike ballots and on the closed shop.

40. March 1984 to March 1985: The Great Miners’ Strike

43. 1990 : the Poll Tax and the Poll Tax Revolt

45. 1997 : after eighteen years of Conservative government, Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister with his « New Labour » party

46. 1997 : Referendums decide on much more autonomy for Wales and Scotland

47. 1998 Minimum Wage Act2000 Freedom of Information Act

48. 1999: important reform of the House of Lords

49. 2004 Demonstration against the war in Iraq

50. 2010 : A second inquiry into Bloody Sunday

53. Scottish Independence referendum 2014

54. 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