British Culture
This third edition of British Culture is the complete introduction to culture and
the arts in Britain today. Extensively illustrated and offering a wider range of
topics than ever before, David P. Christopher identifies and analyses key areas in
language, literature, film, TV, social media, popular music, sport and other fields,
setting each one in a clear, historical context.
British Culture enables students of British society to understand and enjoy a
fascinating range of contemporary arts through an examination of current trends,
such as the influence of business and commerce, the effects of globalisation and
the spread of digital communications. This new edition features:
•
•
•
fully revised and updated chapters analysing a range of key areas within British
culture;
new chapters on cyberculture, cultural heritage and festivals;
extracts from novels and plays.
This student-friendly edition also strengthens reading and study skills through
follow-up activities, weblinks and suggestions for further research, available on
its companion website.
David P. Christopher’s book is an engaging analysis of contemporary life and arts
and, together with its companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/christopher), is
essential reading for every student of modern Britain.
Formerly Associate Professor at the University of La Rioja, Dr David P. Christopher is a researcher and author in culture, media and language, and collaborates with universities and arts organisations worldwide.
British Culture
An introduction
Third Edition
David P. Christopher
Third edition published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 David Christopher
The right of David Christopher to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1999
Second edition published by Routledge 2006
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Christopher, David, 1958–
British culture : an introduction / David P. Christopher. – Third edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Great Britain—Civilization—20th century. 2. Great Britain—
Civilization—21st century. 3. Popular culture—Great Britain—
History—20th century. 4. Popular culture—Great Britain—
History—21st century. I. Title.
DA566.4.C46 2015
941.082—dc23
2014042160
ISBN: 978-0-415-81082-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-81085-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73724-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Alex
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Contents
List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Timeline
1 The social and cultural context
viii
xii
xiii
xix
1
2 Language in culture
31
3 Cyberculture
48
4 Newspapers, magazines and journalism
66
5 Literature
85
6 Theatre
115
7 Cinema
138
8 Television and radio
165
9 Art, architecture and design
194
10 Popular music and fashion
231
11 Sport
264
12 Cultural heritage
285
Glossary
Index
309
315
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 A souvenir from English football’s greatest day, the 1966 World
Cup Final. A final united ‘hurrah’ before the strife of the 1970s
and 1980s.
1.2 A view of the Docklands financial district; temples of Mammon
and symbols of the 1980s, seen across the River Thames from
the ship Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
1.3 ‘Tent City’, which was set up outside St Paul’s Cathedral to
protest against economic inequality and the lack of affordable
housing in the UK in 2011–12.
1.4 The Sun newspaper, possibly Mrs Thatcher’s greatest ally during
her time as Prime Minister, says goodbye in April 2012.
2.1 A cartoon in the satirical magazine Punch of 1932 illustrates
sociolinguistic change in rural areas following the advent of radio.
Some villagers have begun copying the ‘BBC accent’, believing it
superior. The elderly man in the chair is depicted as comfortably
un-aspirational! Text under the cartoon reads: ‘Tourist. “I suppose
that’s your oldest inhabitant?” Village Schoolmaster. “Yes, Sir.
Quaint survival; quite a period-piece, in fact. The village’s sole
remaining exponent of a pre-B.B.C. accent.”’
2.2 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: the last word in punctuation – and an
unexpected bestseller in 2003.
2.3 Language can be an emotive subject. In 2014 members of the
Welsh Language Society protested in Aberystwyth, Wales,
demanding better promotion of Welsh.
3.1 Anxiety about the effects of mass media, particularly on women
and children, is not new. This cartoon appeared in the satirical
magazine Punch in 1906, soon after the development of radio
communications. Text under the cartoon reads: ‘IV.–Development
of Wireless Telegraphy. Scene in Hyde Park. (These two figures are
not communicating with one another. The lady is receiving an
amatory message, and the gentleman some racing results.)’
8
15
22
25
35
42
44
55
Illustrations
3.2 The lurid colours and content of the GTA cover designs
recall fairground and pinball art of the 1960s.
3.3 Lara Croft ready for action.
4.1 Many people still buy their press at a newsagent’s or have it
delivered to the home, despite the availability of most papers
online.
4.2 Men’s magazines – a new phenomenon in British publishing
which for some commentators indicates masculinity in crisis.
5.1 Martin Amis taking part in an interview.
5.2 Creating a distinctive book cover has become a fine art.
5.3 Poet, playwright and author Benjamin Zephaniah receives an
honorary doctorate.
5.4 A child attempts ‘Potteresque’ magic on the legendary Platform
9¾, a popular tourist spot at King’s Cross Station in London.
6.1 The Gate Theatre, in Notting Hill, the smallest ‘off West End’
theatre in London.
6.2 A scene from Romans in Britain.
6.3 The Palace Theatre in London’s West End, built in 1891 as
an opera house.
6.4 The Edinburgh Festival on a chilly August day in the Scottish
capital.
7.1 The latest incarnation of James Bond, Daniel Craig, with the
traditional Aston Martin DB5.
7.2 In praise of pop: the Preacher (Eric Clapton) parades pop culture
icon Marilyn Monroe before the disabled congregation. A scene
from the Ken Russell film Tommy.
7.3 The Screen on the Green, a place to see independent films
in Islington, London.
7.4 The Coronet, an independent cinema in Notting Hill, London.
8.1 TV has become a less communal and more individual activity.
But unlike in the picture, young people are today more likely to
be alone in their rooms while simultaneously viewing two or
three screens.
8.2 A TV licence. This unremarkable document is said to ensure
political and commercial independence, high-quality programmes
and the cultural centrality of television in Britain.
8.3 Broadcasting House, old (on the left) and new – the BBC
headquarters in Portland Place, London.
8.4 The Rovers’ Return in Coronation Street – probably the best
known pub in Britain.
8.5 A Dalek, enemy of Doctor Who and the stuff of nightmares for
a generation of young Britons.
9.1 A Bigger Splash – one of David Hockney’s best-known works,
completed in 1967.
9.2 Sky Mirror, Nottingham, by Anish Kapoor.
ix
61
64
69
82
101
105
110
113
116
121
124
135
145
148
153
157
166
168
171
174
178
200
202
x
Illustrations
9.3 Urban art in Whitecross St., London, depicting Samuel Baylis,
a founder of the Radical Club, the forerunner of the Liberal Party.
9.4 Art enhances public spaces – a boy attempts to decorate a figure
amid the office blocks in the City of London.
9.5 Buildings in the City of London. The older, neo-classical Royal
Exchange building is in the foreground, while (left–right)
Tower 42, the ‘Gherkin’ and the ‘Cheesegrater’ jostle for
attention at the back.
9.6 A residential area of the Barbican complex, in the City of London.
A Brutalist design for living, with its own cinemas, art gallery,
library and conservatory.
9.7 The ‘iron cage’ offices of 1 Finsbury Avenue, London, by Arup
Associates. Completed in 1984, they recall George Orwell’s
dystopian novel set in the same year.
9.8 The London Eye, with the Royal Festival Hall to the right.
9.9 The headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)
at 85 Albert Embankment, London. Architect – Terry Farrell.
10.1 A poster for the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival of 1967. By the
mid-1960s, rock bands were displacing jazz combos and beginning
to dominate the festival scene, as the line-up indicates.
10.2 Over 50 years after their first gig in London, the Rolling Stones
continue to break records for their performances and record sales.
10.3 Fashionable footwear for the man-about-town, c. 1973. Boots for
the stage went several inches higher.
10.4 A commemorative plaque in Heddon St., London marks the
location of the cover photo for the iconic Ziggy Stardust album.
10.5 A Sex Pistols tour poster from 1976 – many gigs were cancelled
by the local authorities.
10.6 Record sleeves – the working man’s art collection. Records are
popular with collectors, and some artists still release their work
in vinyl as well as in digital formats.
10.7 Concert tickets were once dull and stubby, but by the 1990s had
colour, holograms and more detailed designs, to help prevent
forgeries of increasingly expensive items.
11.1 Football clubs seemed to grow organically out of the small,
terraced communities they represented.
11.2 Tossing the caber – a traditional sport at the Highland Games.
12.1 The Lloyd’s Building in London – a machine for working in – was
given a Grade I listing in 2011.
12.2 A blue plaque in the City of London, close to the Church of
St Bartholomew.
12.3 Heritage of the imagination. The address is 221b Baker St., London,
residence of Sherlock Holmes, the man who never lived and never
died. Yet, his fictional home is now a major attraction for overseas
visitors. Note there is even a blue plaque on the wall.
209
211
215
217
220
227
228
237
239
245
248
250
257
262
269
273
290
291
293
Illustrations
12.4 A battle scene is re-enacted at the Honourable Artillery Ground,
surrounded by the bastions of modern business in the heart
of London.
12.5 Chinese New Year in Soho, London.
12.6 A scene more usually associated with medieval barbarism, yet
this could be a garden in suburban Britain on Bonfire Night.
12.7 Glastonbury Festival – the largest event of its kind in the world.
12.8 Morris men and women in action.
xi
294
297
300
304
306
Table
4.1 British daily newspapers, their circulations and owners.
68
Acknowledgements
This book describes some of the most significant features of cultural and artistic
life in modern Britain. Such a work is indebted to a wide variety of descriptive
and analytic texts, and some of those used in its compilation can be found in the
sections on further reading on the companion website.
A large number of people have made this third edition possible in different
ways, and I am also extremely grateful to all at Routledge for their commitment to
the book, to Amy Welmers for her persistence, and especially to Dr Eve Setch for
her assistance, patience and enthusiasm beyond the call of duty. Finally, I would
like to express my special gratitude to Nargis, who helped all along the way.
Introduction
For the student of British Studies, British Culture and Civilisation, English Philology, English, Media and Communications, or merely the interested reader,
there are many textbooks, journals and articles which analyse and comment on
different aspects of cultural life; for example, the feminist novel, ethnicity in
television soap opera, or the status of BritArt. However, it is often difficult to
acquire the basic knowledge on which the debates are founded without carrying
out extensive research in texts that assume background knowledge and that are
mostly written for British-based specialists.
This book aims to meet that need by introducing the reader to the latest
debates and developments in society and the arts, and linking them to selected
texts and authors from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Thus,
developments in language, journalism, literature, theatre, music, film, television,
sport, art and architecture, cyberculture and heritage are presented, in order to
show how they have often mirrored social trends, and sometimes have contrasted
with them in surprising and unexpected ways. In this respect the book presents
a contextual history, which illustrates how different texts and practices from the
UK connect to the broader patterns of social and cultural life.
To overseas students, the question of differences between ‘English’ and ‘British’
and the UK may be confusing. England, Scotland and Wales together constitute
the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom refers to Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. ‘British’ is the nationality of people from the United Kingdom,
and ‘English’ is the language predominantly spoken there.
A related matter is the question of what is meant by ‘English’, when referring
to a particular subject area, for example literature. Although textbooks on the
topic refer primarily to the literature of England, they frequently extend their
coverage to literature written in English from other home countries, for example
Scotland. They may also include literature written in English from Commonwealth countries, such as South Africa. The term ‘English’ is therefore used flexibly, but for the purposes of this book, the main focus is on texts and practices
created by people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A similar question may arise over what constitutes a ‘British’ film. In order
to receive government or lottery funding, there has to be ‘substantial British
involvement’ in the sense of using British actors, crew and locations. But many
xiv
Introduction
other films considered to be quintessentially British are financed jointly between
US and UK companies; for example, the James Bond films are financed by
MGM, Warner pays for Harry Potter, while the production company Working
Title (which made Love Actually, Bridget Jones and Billy Elliot) is financed by Universal. As with the literature chapter, the main focus of the chapter on cinema
is on films created in and about people in the UK, even though some or all the
finance may be from elsewhere.
A separate issue is that any text about ‘British culture’ must immediately recognise the problematic nature of a concept containing numerous differences as well
as similarities. Since the 1950s the expression and experience of cultural life in
Britain has become fragmented and reshaped by the influences of youth, gender,
ethnicity and region, and in more recent times has been made more diverse and
plural by the advent of digital communications. Production and distribution have
become quicker and easier and cultural material of all kinds has proliferated. But,
at the same time, many kinds have become less profitable. Thus, for example,
the industries of print, film, music and broadcasting are currently undergoing sea
changes, faced with falling profits due to alternative digital formats, free access
and increased competition from other sources. Apart from these constrictions,
there has been a major international recession which has hit demand for British
cultural products at home and abroad. Consequently, major producers are much
more cautious about what gets made, played and shown.
The term ‘culture’ also deserves some discussion. Precise definitions of the term
have always been elusive and frequently elitist. However, at the present time
in British society trends point towards a more inclusive notion that embraces
a broad range of texts and practices. This is reflected in public administration,
with the government’s own Department of Culture, Media and Sport, headed by
its own Culture Secretary, as well as in arts criticism, with comment and reviews
within the British media frequently appearing under the heading of ‘culture’.
Thus, it may be said that culture is about ways of living, and the arts are expressions of it, which take the form of texts, such as books, films etc., and practices
such as sport, drama, music and so on.
Furthermore, selection of material for this book does not make a clear distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, reflecting a trend in western society to see
the arts as existing on a continuum or scale from traditional, staid, more ‘difficult’
or conservative forms, for example opera, ballet and classical music, through to
popular forms that connect more closely with the times in which we live.
Moreover, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ examples exist within all categories of arts, and
while some examples, such as a Beatles song, may be more easily accessible than
others, this does not imply their inferiority. Indeed, such a dichotomy of culture is further problematised given that the status accorded to different authors
and works evolves over time, as indeed do boundaries between high and low
forms. Thus, for example, in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
Shakespeare’s plays were regarded as part of folk or popular culture, especially
overseas, and were performed in ways and places that would be highly unlikely
today.
Introduction
xv
A similar tendency can be observed across the arts in music, theatre and other
fields, where art forms evolve and survive through variation, competition and
selection. At the same time, the status accorded to them changes, in a process not
of great leaps, but of gradual modification. For example, more recently in architecture, some examples of municipal modernism of the 1960s, which were once
derided as actively ugly and brutal, have been similarly subjected to a process of
aesthetic re-evaluation. This has resulted in the status of some buildings, from
shopping centres to car parks, being completely transformed from stains on the
urban landscape to listed historic landmarks – architectural visions of the future
to be respected and admired as part of Britain’s architectural heritage.
The selection of material in this book is obviously bound by a degree of subjectivity. Although there are important works and writers who have not been given
the attention they might deserve, the choice here is not significantly out of step
with the main trends of the period. Similarly, trends do not change simultaneously, and any particular ‘scene’ is always plural and varied, with many earlier
styles co-existing with more recent ones. But it is hoped that the reader will be
aware of these inevitabilities and will consider the cited works, and read some of
the suggested material in the chapter booklists. In this way they can form their
own opinions about different types of material, and their relevance to particular
areas of critical and cultural interest.
Aims of the book
The main aim of this book is to provide readers with a map of the terrain: to offer
signposts and co-ordinates to the people, places and events that make up substantial and evolving areas of cultural life, and from where they may go on to examine
the broader, theoretical issues involved in their research.
A subsequent concern is the study of change. Many textbooks consider
aspects of cultural life as if they were inert or static. But as the rhythms of social
and cultural change continue to quicken, it is possible that, having entered
the third millennium, we stand before a period of transition as fundamental as
those of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The evolution of digital communications attests to this, where only ten years ago, the patterns of
production, distribution and consumption of cultural products were very different to those of today, which has brought profound and unstoppable changes
to political, social, cultural and economic life. Thus, the book reflects on the
main changes that have taken place in the recent past and identifies the major
developments taking place in Britain today.
Third, the book recognises the need to provide a historical context for its subject matter. This involves more than just a chapter on the cultural context created by recent social and political events. Such information is certainly necessary,
given that students’ knowledge of even relatively recent history may be limited.
But it is also included because an important development in the recent study of
culture has been the importance now accorded to historical analysis, which contributes to our understanding of society and the arts past and present. Creative
xvi
Introduction
material is produced in a particular social, political and economic context, and
these are examined in detail and presented along with discussion of the work.
A fourth aim is to give particular attention to changing expressions of ethnicity and gender. The period under review has coincided with the break-up of the
British Empire and an expansion of the Commonwealth, which has led to the
immigration of people of numerous nationalities, languages, cultures and heritages, whose expression increasingly contributes to the themes and trends found
in cultural and artistic life.
Similarly, the second wave of the feminist movement, which started in the
1960s, has brought about fundamental changes in the position of women in society, their relations with men, and the consequent changes in men’s identity, roles
and relations with women. At the same time, issues of sexuality have also undergone periods of accelerated change. Until the 1980s it was difficult for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT) to gain any form of recognition and
acceptance, but in 2014 freedoms and rights have become enshrined in law, and
same-sex marriage is now permitted in the home nations with the exception of
Northern Ireland. This period has therefore witnessed the impact of social movements of race, ethnicity, multiculturalism, gender and sexuality, and their subsequent transition from the margins into the mainstream of cultural expression.
A fifth focus of attention is that of the recent withdrawal of public support for
artistic works, and the consequent need for patronage and profitability. Since the
1980s there has been an increasing trend away from publicly funded arts, towards
private sponsorship and profitability, which has profoundly affected what gets
made and how. Similarly the advent and widespread availability of broadband
communications and digital media have meant there is now much greater competition for audiences, as well as a change in audience preferences, due to the proliferation of digital platforms, channels, social media and a much wider spectrum of
home entertainment. These issues are given special attention in the first chapter
on the social and cultural context, as well as in the chapter on cyberculture, and
their impact on separate fields is discussed throughout the book.
To the British reader, a sixth aim is to keep alive the increasingly short popular
memory, to provide a ‘defence against forgetting’ where this is due to the regular
inundation of images and news through television, radio, newspapers and the
internet. For readers outside Britain, the study of another culture may provide
a useful comparison with one’s own. It should be a liberating experience which
improves understanding and imagination, and helps to provide new perspectives
and thoughts.
The book is also intended to strengthen study skills, through follow-up activities
and suggestions for further reading provided in the book’s website, for exploitation
in pairs, small groups and individual research (see also ‘Using this book’ below).
Using this book
The book is designed to be flexible, for use either at home or in class, and can
easily be adapted to the needs of particular courses. Chapters can be studied in a
Introduction
xvii
different order or omitted, as each one is written as an independent unit. However, the reader may find the first chapter on social and political change particularly relevant to an understanding of thematic chapters, since it provides a
context for their study. A timeline, glossary and index are also provided to assist
the reader.
For classroom use, it is suggested that teachers assemble their own archive of
material to supplement the text, which can be developed and exploited according to the aims of the course, the level of the students, their interests and so on.
Material widely available on the internet on sites such as YouTube and elsewhere
might include video recordings of films, plays and television programmes; audio
recordings of music, radio news and reviews; as well as books, pictures and other
visual aids. Photocopies of old newspapers also make interesting documents for
exploitation in and out of class. BBC Television’s Learning Zone offers another
good resource.
Almost all the material mentioned in the text is available on video or sound
recordings and is often broadcast on terrestrial and satellite television channels.
Websites of all the major television stations offer archives which can be searched
for relevant audio-visual material, as do those of the major newspapers, and the
British Council has substantial web resources. Other material may be obtained
from literary or pictorial sources (see below for more information), and sociology
and media/cultural studies textbooks can also provide a rich source of contemporary material.
The website for this book provides a substantial number of discussion topics
and activities related to the themes of each chapter. These can be chosen and
dealt with in class according to students’ particular interests or needs, and may be
used for subsequent projects or essays. Alternatively, it may be necessary to obtain
more information before beginning a longer piece of work and some suggestions
on further reading are provided in each relevant section.
Sources of information
For those beginning to explore a particular topic related to the study of Britain,
the internet is an essential tool which students and teachers can use to consult
a variety of topics and terms. Major encyclopaedias and dictionaries – online or
otherwise – contain many relevant entries, although reliable online sources will
usually be more up-to-date. Similarly, reference texts and online material provide
useful sources, along with short lists of books and articles to guide further reading.
Students may wish to prepare a longer piece of work such as a dissertation, and
for such research the sites mentioned above offer a wealth of information. Students are always advised to read widely, as different sources may report the same
stories in different ways.
With regard to other sources, such as books, films, plays and music, most if not
all are easily obtainable from university or public libraries in Britain, or from larger
bookshops, or may be found online. Films, television series and sound recordings
are also available in video and compact disc format from many stockists, or on
xviii
Introduction
loan from the British Library (which incorporates the National Sound Archive),
the British Film Institute, the BBC or the British Council. The scripts from many
plays are also available from good bookshops and can be ordered or downloaded
online.
Students should also become familiar with the main journals relevant to their
field of interest. They usually appear three or four times a year, and the information and debates contained in them are usually more up to date than those in
books, which take longer to write and publish. Although journal articles can
be technical and difficult to understand for someone new to the field, many of
the leading journals publish articles of general interest that are accessible to the
reader with only a limited knowledge of the subject.
Finally, for selected statistical information on many aspects of cultural and
social life in Britain, Social Trends, the Annual Abstract of Statistics and the
General Lifestyle Survey are good starting points. They appear every year, are
easily found on government websites, and can be downloaded with commentary.
Timeline
1939–45 Second World War.
1944
The Butler Education Act greatly improves the opportunities for university education and social mobility among the post-war generation.
1945
Labour government elected. Churchill and Conservatives rejected.
1948
Labour’s grand strategy to reshape society is introduced, based around
a comprehensive welfare system, the nationalisation of key industries
and free health care for all. The first immigrants arrive from the West
Indies to help a growing economy, a key moment in the evolution of
Britain’s ethnic profile.
1951
Conservative government elected. Festival of Britain takes place, the
centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
1953
The Coronation of Elizabeth II. Panorama current affairs programme
starts on BBC.
1954
Rationing finally ends.
1955
Conservative government re-elected. Independent commercial television begins broadcasting. Rock and roll music comes to Britain in
the film The Blackboard Jungle. First English-language performance of
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
1956
Egypt takes control of the Suez Canal, and for the first time in recent
history, Britain makes a politically embarrassing withdrawal, which
is widely seen as a weakening of British influence abroad. Pop Art
receives its first major exhibition, This is Tomorrow, at London’s Whitechapel Gallery. John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opens at the
Royal Court Theatre in London. Public anxiety about youth culture,
as ‘Teddy Boys’ are increasingly reported as anti-social and violent in
the popular press.
1957
The Uses of Literacy by Richard Hoggart published, expressing
anxiety over popular culture, especially commercial television and
xx
Timeline
popular music. The affluence – rather than poverty and deprivation –
of young people is said to be partly to blame.
1958
Political dissent grows – the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
founded. Race riots in Notting Hill.
1959
Conservative government re-elected.
1960
National Service (military service) ended. The contraceptive pill
introduced and made available from 1961, but mainly to married
women. Gambling legalised. Following a test case of the Obscene
Publications Act, Lady Chatterley’s Lover published in the UK, more
than 30 years after D.H. Lawrence wrote it. First episode of the longrunning TV soap opera Coronation Street (ITV) broadcast.
1961
The UK applies for membership of the European Economic Community (now the EU). Amnesty International established by British
lawyer Peter Benenson. Political satire now well established in television and radio; The satirical magazine Private Eye launched.
1962
The Commonwealth Immigration Act restricts immigration to the
UK. The Rolling Stones play their first gig in London. The James
Bond film Dr No released, starring Sean Connery. Social realism is
well established in British film, drama and TV.
1963
Youth culture emerges. New ideas take hold across the arts and particularly in music, promoting freedom and hedonism and sexuality.
‘Beatlemania’ breaks out, a year after the release of the Beatles’ first
single. Oh, What a Lovely War! staged by Joan Littlewood’s Theatre
Workshop at Theatre Royal Stratford East in east London. The BBC
ends its ban on mentioning politics, royalty, religion and sex in comedy programmes.
1964
Labour government elected with Harold Wilson as Prime Minister. BBC2 begins broadcasting. ‘Baby boom’ peaks in the UK. More
public anxiety over youth culture, as hysterical reports appear in the
popular, tabloid press over youth subcultures Mods and Rockers.
The pirate radio station Radio Caroline begins broadcasting types of
music not played by the BBC.
1965
Capital punishment suspended. Cigarette advertising banned from
British television. The Post Office Tower in London the tallest building in Britain. The Greater London Council established. Mary Quant
launches the mini-skirt.
1966
Documentary drama about homelessness Cathy Come Home shown
on BBC and brings changes in the law. Student rebellion at the
London School of Economics. First Notting Hill Carnival in London.
Feminist movement gathers pace. England hosts and wins the football World Cup.
Timeline xxi
1967
The Abortion Law Reform Act allows legal terminations. Sexual
Offences Act legalises homosexual acts between consenting adults
over 21. First mass demonstration against the Vietnam War. Marine
Broadcasting Act forces many pirate radio stations to close, while
the BBC launches the new stations Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4. The Beatles
release Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. BBC2 starts transmitting in
colour. The Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall open at the
South Bank arts complex.
1968
Enoch Powell makes controversial ‘rivers of blood’ immigration
speech. Hair musical opens in London. The Beatles’ film Yellow
Submarine. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick). Theatres Act
removes the need to license individual plays.
1969
Divorce Reform Act makes divorce easier to obtain. Death Penalty
abolished. British troops patrol the streets of Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of an armed struggle which will kill more than
2000 people. Oh! Calcutta! by Kenneth Tynan. Gilbert and George
begin as ‘living sculptures’. Film Kes (Ken Loach) released. Last public performance of the Beatles on the roof of the Apple Corps building in Saville Row, London.
1970
Conservative government elected with Edward Heath as Prime
Minister. The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer published, to great
acclaim by the movement for women’s liberation, which holds a
major conference at Oxford. Equal Pay Act introduced (not to take
effect until 1975).
1971
The divorce rate remains low, with only six divorces per 1000 people.
First women’s liberation march. First Gay Pride march. A Clockwork
Orange (Stanley Kubrick) released. Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew
Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice. Bleak Moments (Mike Leigh). Metric
‘decimal’ currency replaces pounds, shillings and pence.
1972
Miners’ strike and a coal shortage results in a three-day working
week. Prime Minister Edward Heath capitulates to the miners and
abandons confrontation with the trade unions. Cosmopolitan magazine goes on sale in Britain. David Bowie releases Ziggy Stardust album
to popular acclaim.
1973
A state of emergency is declared in Britain, following a second miners’ strike, a power workers’ strike, power cuts and reduced TV transmissions. Oil prices quadruple. Unprecedented levels of inflation.
UK joins the European Economic Community (now the European
Union). Ecology Party founded, which later becomes the Green Party.
Skinhead youth subculture and football hooliganism. Glam rock at
its peak. Independent local radio begins. Equus by Peter Schaffer,
Magnificence by Howard Brenton, Freedom of the City by Brian Friel.
xxii
Timeline
1974
Unemployment over one million, inflation peaks at 25 per cent. Stock
market collapses and coal-miners still on strike. Three-day working
week introduced to save electricity. Narrow election victory for Labour
with Harold Wilson as Prime Minister again. A repeat election held
soon afterwards establishes Labour’s majority. First summer solstice
festival at Stonehenge. IRA bombing campaign comes to mainland
Britain, with bombs in London, Guildford and Birmingham. The oral
contraceptive known as ‘the Pill’ is freely prescribed to single women.
1975
Economy in crisis with 1.25 million unemployed and inflation at 21
per cent. The Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act introduced, aiming to end discrimination over offers of work and pay to men
and women. Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first party leader, as
leader of the opposition Conservative Party. Pressure (Horace Ové),
the first full length feature by a black director, released. No Man’s Land
by Harold Pinter. Love Thy Neighbour (BBC). The Sweeney (ITV).
1976
Car giant British Leyland bankrupt and taken into public ownership,
exemplifying the decline of British industry. Harold Wilson resigns
as Labour Prime Minister, replaced by James Callaghan. Jeremy
Thorpe, leader of the Liberal party, resigns following allegations of
homosexual relationship. Race Relations Act makes it unlawful to
discriminate on grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic origins.
Political violence claims 296 lives in Northern Ireland. Rock Against
Racism movement starts. Prostitution exhibition opens at ICA. Punk
rock explodes onto the music scene.
1977
Economic crisis continues. Severe spending cuts imposed on health
and education following bail-outs by the International Monetary
Fund. Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee celebrating 25 years on the
throne. Sex Pistols’ alternative ‘anthem’ ‘God Save the Queen’
Number 2 in the charts. The Clash release ‘White Riot’. 55 per cent
of women between 15 and 65 now in the UK labour force.
1978
Winter sees many strikes by low-paid public sector workers, which
the press dubs the ‘winter of discontent’ (after a line from the beginning of Shakespeare’s play Richard III). The film Jubilee (Derek Jarman) released, a punk satire on the Queen’s Silver Jubilee year. BBC
bans Tom Robinson song ‘Glad to be Gay’. Space Invaders machines
appear in pubs and clubs.
1979
A watershed year, as Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister.
Trade-union membership peaks at 13.3 million. Privatisation programme begins with BP oil company. New, ‘alternative’ comedy
shows appear. Barbican Estate in London completed.
1980
John Lennon murdered in New York. Inglan is a Bitch and Bass Culture by Lynton Kwesi Johnson. Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton.
Translations by Brian Friel. Yes, Minister (BBC) political satire.
Timeline xxiii
1981
Unemployment rises quickly to almost three million. Riots break out
in cities around Britain. Prince Charles and Diana marry. Chariots
of Fire (Hugh Hudson). Brideshead Revisited (ITV). MTV launched.
Salman Rushdie wins the Booker Prize for Midnight’s Children. Burning an Illusion (Menelik Shabazz). Maeve (Pat Murphy and John
Davies).
1982
War with Argentina over the Malvinas/Falkland Islands. Boys from
the Blackstuff (BBC drama). The Great Fire of London by Peter Ackroyd. New classification system for films introduced. Gandhi (Richard Attenborough). Pink Floyd – The Wall (Alan Parker). Channel 4
begins broadcasting. Annual WOMAD (World of Music and Dance)
festival begins.
1983
Conservatives win second election under Thatcher. Waterland by
Graham Swift. The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde by Peter Ackroyd.
Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert). The Ploughman’s Lunch (Richard Eyre).
1984
Nationwide miners’ strike in 1984–5. IRA bombers hit Conservative Party conference in Brighton. Turner Prize for contemporary art
introduced. Money by Martin Amis. A Passage to India (David Lean).
Another Country (Marek Kanievska). Territories (Isaac Julien). Spitting Image (ITV).
1985
More rioting in cities around Britain. Miners’ strike collapses. Pravda:
A Fleet Street Comedy by David Hare and Howard Brenton. A Room
with a View (James Ivory). The screenplay of My Beautiful Laundrette
by Hanif Kureishi is nominated for an Oscar. EastEnders (BBC).
Edge of Darkness (BBC). Live Aid shows. Saatchi Gallery opens in
London.
1986
A three-year economic boom starts. The year of ‘Big Bang’ as
London’s Stock Exchange closes and online trading begins. Major
national industries are privatised. The futuristic Lloyd’s Building
completed (Richard Rogers). Einstein’s Monsters by Martin Amis.
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro. Insular Possession by Timothy Mo. Remembrance (Isaac Julien). Yes, Prime Minister (BBC).
1987
Conservative government wins election for a third time. Serious
Money by Caryl Churchill. Maurice (James Ivory). The Belly of an
Architect (Peter Greenaway). Prick Up Your Ears (Stephen Frears).
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (Stephen Frears). Secret Society (BBC).
1988
Warehouse parties around Britain spread ‘rave’ music subculture.
Warehouse exhibition Freeze in London’s Docklands organised by
Damien Hirst. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie leads to death
threats against the author. Inna Liverpool by Benjamin Zephaniah.
High Hopes (Mike Leigh).
xxiv
Timeline
1989
Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web. New satellite TV stations broadcasting to the UK. Acid House youth culture. The Cloning of Joanna May by Fay Weldon. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo
Ishiguro.
1990
An economic recession sets in until mid-1990s. Thatcher resigns;
John Major becomes new Conservative Prime Minister. Riots follow
the introduction of the Poll Tax. The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif
Kureishi. Racing Demon by David Hare. Have I Got News for You
political satire panel game begins on BBC.
1991
First Gulf War. Canary Wharf tower finished. Murmuring Judges by
David Hare. Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis. The Famished Road by
Ben Okri. Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh). BBC World Service TV begins
broadcasting. The 1991 Broadcasting Act exposes broadcasting to
market forces.
1992
John Major leads the Conservatives to a fourth election victory.
Department of National Heritage created. Church of England votes
in favour of women’s ordination. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby.
1993
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. The Remains of the Day (James Ivory).
Gaelic television begins broadcasting. Paul Ince is the first black
footballer to captain England.
1994
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act is introduced to counter growing public disorder, despite strong opposition. The homosexual age of
consent lowered from 21 to 18. First women priests ordained by the
Church of England. The Acid House and How Late it Was, How Late
by Irvine Welsh. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. Riff Raff and Raining
Stones (Ken Loach). Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle). Bhaji on the Beach
(Gurinder Chadha). Channel Tunnel rail link opens. National Lottery introduced, which contributes to arts and sport projects. Blur
release Parklife and Oasis debut with Definitely Maybe.
1995
Disability Discrimination Act introduced. Michael Collins (Neil Jordan). Land and Freedom (Ken Loach). Braveheart (Mel Gibson). The
Madness of King George (Nicholas Hytner). Trainspotting (Danny
Boyle). Damien Hirst wins Turner Prize for Mother and Child Divided
(1991).
1996
Euro ’96 football tournament in England. Britpop reaches its zenith,
with 2.5 million applications for Knebworth pop festival. Out first
gay TV drama. Propa Propaganda by Benjamin Zephaniah. Jude
(Michael Winterbottom). Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh). Brassed Off
(Mark Herman).
1997
A feeling of social and cultural renewal as Labour government elected
with large majority. Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister. Hong Kong
Timeline xxv
handed back to China. Scotland and Wales vote in favour of devolution. Princess Diana dies in car crash. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo). About a Boy by Nick Hornby. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen
Fielding. Mrs Brown (John Madden). Nil by Mouth (Gary Oldman).
Success of the exhibition Sensation confirms high levels of interest in
new British art. In television, Channel 5 begins broadcasting. Grand
Theft Auto video game launched.
1998
Belfast (‘Good Friday’) Agreement in Northern Ireland results in
Northern Ireland Assembly elections. Angel of the North sculpture
(Antony Gormley); England, England (Julian Barnes); My Name is
Joe (Ken Loach); My Son the Fanatic (Udayan Prasad). Introduction of digital television. Media talk of ‘Cool Britannia’ following a wave of successful, distinctively English creative projects in
mid-1990s.
1999
The first Scottish Parliament since 1707 elected. National Assembly
for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly assume devolved powers.
House of Lords Act reduces number of hereditary peers entitled to sit
in Parliament from over 750 to 92. A former High Court judge finds
‘institutional racism’ in the Metropolitan Police. Britain decides not
to join the euro.
2000
Millennium Projects around Britain. In London, the Dome is the
focal point. Big Brother ‘reality’ television show launched. Ban on
homosexuals in the armed forces lifted. The homosexual age of consent lowered to 16.
2001
Second election victory for the Labour Party under Tony Blair. Terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York, now known as 9/11.
The government takes military action in Afghanistan. A new ‘morning after’ pill (a female contraceptive) made available in shops. New
comedy series The Office shown on BBC2 to popular acclaim. BBC
Director-General Greg Dyke describes the BBC as ‘hideously white’,
and not representative of the people it serves.
2002
Immigration and Asylum Act. The House of Lords passes measures
allowing gay couples to adopt children. Gurinder Chadha’s lowbudget film Bend it Like Beckham is a major commercial success. Commonwealth Games held in Manchester. Queen Elizabeth’s Golden
Jubilee celebrates a 50 year reign, with celebrations around the
country.
2003
Invasion of Iraq. Anti-war march the largest ever, with over 2 million people on the streets. Unemployment remains low at around
1.5 million. England wins Rugby Union World Cup. Popular ‘reality’
television shows I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here!, Pop Idol and
Fame Academy attract huge audiences.
xxvi
Timeline
2004
First citizenship ceremony in the UK – new citizens take the traditional oath of allegiance to the Queen and pledge to uphold UK
democratic values. Gender Recognition Act gives transsexual people the right to seek legal recognition in their acquired gender. The
Higher Education Act introduces variable tuition fees from 2006.
The Office wins the award for the best comedy at the Golden Globes
in America. Fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the first two
parts of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. UK première of
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Liverpool awarded UNESCO
world heritage status.
2005
Labour Party wins historic third term under Tony Blair. The IRA
announces a formal end to its armed campaign. Suicide bombers
attack London in July, 52 are killed. Freedom of Information Act
brought into force establishing a public right of access to information held by public bodies. Civil partnerships approved for same-sex
couples, giving them equal rights. Fox hunting made illegal. Doctor
Who returns to British TV after 16 years.
2006
Unemployment falls. Climate change and sustainable energy legislation introduced. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell) sees a ‘reboot’ of
the James Bond franchise. Rock n Roll (Tom Stoppard)
2007
Gordon Brown succeeds Tony Blair as Prime Minister. British troops
begin withdrawal from Iraq. Leaders of the Northern Ireland Assembly take up post. SNP becomes the largest party in the Scottish Parliament. This Is England (Shane Meadows) portrays youth culture of
the 1980s. Atonement (Joe Wright) wins Golden Globe Award. David
Hockney shows the landscape painting Bigger Trees Near Warter.
2008
Financial crisis hits. Government part-nationalises three UK banks
and supports the financial system after record stock-market falls.
Economy enters recession after 16 years of growth. Church of England
votes to allow women bishops. Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle)
wins eight Oscars.
2009
Scandal over MPs’ expenses claims. Chilcot enquiry into the Iraq
War opens. Coldplay and Adele win Grammy Awards.
2010
Coalition government formed between Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats, with David Cameron as Prime Minister and Nick Clegg
as Deputy. Large-scale cuts in public spending announced. The King’s
Speech (Tom Hooper) wins four Oscars. Glastonbury Festival 40th
anniversary.
2011
British forces begin to withdraw from Afghanistan. News of the
World, one of the biggest-selling newspapers in the UK, closes following phone-hacking allegations. Riots and looting in many cities
Timeline xxvii
following the killing of Mark Duggan by police in London. Occupy
London tent city outside St Paul’s Cathedral. Referendum on changing the voting system. Plans to change to ‘AV’ system are rejected.
Amy Winehouse dies, aged 27.
2012
Britain hosts the Olympic and Paralympics to international acclaim.
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Britain comes out of recession, The ‘Shard’ in London opens, Europe’s tallest building. Rolling
Stones 50th anniversary tour.
2013
Rupert Murdoch appears at the Leveson Enquiry into press standards. Crisis of trust in major institutions of Parliament, press, police
and financial institutions. A soldier, Lee Rigby, murdered by Islamic
extremists in a south London street. Derry–Londonderry is UK City
of Culture.
2014
Internet access available to around 90 per cent of adults. Same-sex
marriage is legalized in England and Wales.
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1
The social and cultural context
Introduction
Since the 1950s, Britain has experienced a period of accelerated social and cultural change. This has coincided with the disintegration of the British Empire,
the expansion of the Commonwealth, and the immigration of people of numerous nationalities, languages and cultures, producing an ethnically diverse country with a plurality of identities and heritages. It has also been transformed by
the women’s movement. The entry of women into the labour market and their
increasing independence has brought about fundamental changes to their position in society, and their relations with men. Similarly, the emergence of youth
as an identifiable group with attitudes, values and beliefs different to those of the
previous generation has helped shape the characteristics of the country since the
mid-twentieth century.
The impact of ethnicity, feminism and youth in Britain has been felt across
the arts. From 1948 and the founding of the Arts Council, their expression was
actively encouraged with funds for experimental and even counter-cultural styles,
as artists, writers and others sought inspiration from these transformational social
movements. The sense of progress, change and renewal continued until the mid1970s when, economically and socially, the country began to stagnate amid high
inflation, strikes and rising unemployment, and there was enthusiasm for change.
The Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher was elected in 1979. This
marked a key turning point. For the next 18 years, Thatcherism brought about
the greatest political, economic and cultural shift in Britain of the twentieth
century, as free-market economics, a ‘culture’ of individualism, private enterprise
and the values of the market place came to replace the socialist ideals of nationalisation and attempts to redistribute wealth through high rates of taxation. In the
arts, as in almost every area of society, state subsidies and benefits were reduced or
disappeared. Plays, films and exhibitions were seen as products for consumption by
consumers in a competitive market place, while it was left to a culture of improvisation and home-brew to create challenging new works outside the mainstream.
The consensus politics of the post-war era disappeared under Thatcherism,
and for 18 years the country became politically polarised between the Tory Party
and its laissez-faire philosophy of free markets, and the socialist ideals of the
political left. Paradoxically, this resulted in some key works and movements in
2
The social and cultural context
literature, art and music, film and other fields, as the inequalities, violence and
greed of the Thatcher years served as potent sources of inspiration.
But, by the mid-1990s the Conservative government was suffering from weak
leadership, corruption and profound internal divisions among its leading members, particularly over Britain’s relationship with Europe. There was enthusiasm
for change, and the victory of the Labour Party in 1997 provided the country
and its cultural life with a sense of renewal and self-confidence, and in the years
that followed there was a period of relative prosperity and stability, characterised
by record levels of low unemployment, low inflation, rising living standards and
investment in public services.
The Labour Party had changed, and redefined itself for modern times. Under
its new leader Tony Blair, it was no longer the party of nationalisation or high
taxation, and its agenda was supportive of businesses large and small. But unlike
the previous Conservative administration, it sought to work with all sections of
society, seeking mutual agreement for public benefit. However, in the arts, there
was no return to the levels of patronage, investment and encouragement of previous Labour administrations, and the spread of business values in their production
and management became the norm, as practices once found only in the private
sector continued to be expressed in most areas of the economy.
There were many turbulent episodes during Labour’s time in office, for example
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But throughout, the economy remained stable
with low unemployment and low inflation. The cultural field was reinvigorated
with a series of measures to support equal opportunities for minorities of all kinds,
and official support for the British arts, which enjoyed their highest profile since
the 1960s.
In 2007 Tony Blair resigned and his Chancellor Gordon Brown became Prime
Minister. But, despite the promise of renewal, an international economic crisis
began to take hold. In 2010 an election was held, but no party emerged with an
overall majority and a coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats was formed, with Tory leader David Cameron as Prime Minister.
Faced with the greatest and longest economic crisis for many decades, a crisis of
public trust in major institutions and widespread uncertainty about the future, a
programme of cuts in public spending was announced, with the cultural industries among those worst affected.
New Jerusalem
Economy, politics and society
During the first half of the 20th century, for the majority of people most of the
time in Britain, there was poverty and profound social inequality. Food was scarce,
unemployment was common, most houses had no bathroom or indoor toilet, and
children left school in their early teens. Most areas of the economy were left to
private enterprise, and there were no pensions, health service or social insurance.
It was not until the late 1940s that conditions began to substantially improve
The social and cultural context
3
for the majority, following a programme of social and economic reconstruction
which would redefine the country until the 1980s.
Planning for the new society began during World War II, when the coalition
government aimed to introduce more equality and progress in key areas such as
health, education, transport and housing. Significantly, it was widely believed on
both the political left and right, that the way to achieve this was not with private
enterprise, but with centralised planning by experts, along rational, scientific lines.
In 1942 a manifesto for social change arrived with the Beveridge Report. A
former director of the London School of Economics, William Beveridge identified several areas for reform. In a key passage, he wrote: ‘Want is one of only five
giants on the road to reconstruction, and in some ways it is the easiest to attack.
The others are Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.’ A sixth giant – ‘the
poverty of aspiration’ – was identified by economist John Maynard Keynes. As
president of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and Arts (CEMA),
Keynes advocated their funding on the same level as health and education, as it
was felt that the arts offered an important means of social improvement.
In education, reform quickly began with the 1944 Butler Education Act, which
made education free of charge in state grammar schools for children aged 11–18,
as long as they passed the ‘11-plus’ examination at age 11. This was an important
measure, as it was widely believed that education was key to promoting social
mobility, and the new exam offered all children the same opportunities to reach
university, regardless of their parent’s financial circumstances.
After the end of the Second World War, industry was in ruins, homes were
destroyed and many people struggled to survive. In 1945 the coalition government was disbanded and a general election was held. Despite his success as a wartime prime minister, Churchill and his Conservative Party were firmly rejected in
favour of a Labour Party led by Clement Attlee, who introduced further plans for
a more equal and open society.
There was consensus among the main parties that the state had to provide
jobs, homes and decent living standards in a way that it had never done before,
and after the reform of education came the nationalisation of all key industries,
such as coal, transport, iron and steel, to secure efficiency and mass employment.
This was followed in 1948 by the setting up of the ‘welfare state’ and the National
Health Service (NHS), which provided social security and health care free of
charge to all citizens. It was a brave attempt to build what the Labour government called the ‘new Jerusalem’, in which the poverty of generations would be
abolished, and people of all classes, incomes and races would be cared for by the
state from the cradle to the grave.
Abroad, reform continued with the gradual dissolution of the British Empire,
which had begun with the granting of independence to India in 1947. But,
despite the progress made on many fronts, it was still a time of austerity, with
queuing, shortages and inconveniences in most areas of the economy. The generation that had won the war also wanted fun and consumerism, which the government had conspicuously failed to deliver. Consequently, despite some of the most
progressive social measures ever introduced in Britain, the Labour government
4
The social and cultural context
was rejected in the election of 1951. But, instead of reverting to a free-market
economy, the incoming Tory Party continued the style of patrician government
set by the outgoing Labour Party; it governed not only in the interests of landowners, factory owners and other business people, but in the interests of society
as a whole. This way of managing society became known as the ‘post-war consensus’, and characterised the way in which the country was governed by both main
parties until the late 1970s.
In 1951 the Festival of Britain was organised to improve the country’s morale.
It marked the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which had been held
in London’s Hyde Park to celebrate imperial achievements. Amid the post-war
gloom, it was a rare moment of national self-expression, with parties, parades,
speeches and optimism. It was a modest beginning to a decade in which production rose, consumerism increased and crime rates fell. The rationing of foodstuffs
and other goods, which had been introduced at the beginning of the war in 1939,
was finally removed in 1954. The economy was booming, and between 1955 and
1960 average industrial earnings rose by 34 per cent. With their new prosperity
many ordinary people were able to discover cars, fashions and foreign holidays.
Greeting this new wave of prosperity, Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
famously announced in 1957 that ‘[British] people have never had it so good’,
which was particularly true of the young, white working class, who were becoming the first generation of consumers, and who had the choices, finance and free
time to be able to create a culture of their own.
Social change and public anxiety
Economic affluence and the socialist policies of the post-war Labour government led to rapid social change. Britain’s economic growth created high levels of demand for manual labour, particularly in low-paid areas of work such as
transport, health and catering. But there was a shortage, so the British municipal
authorities began to offer jobs to Commonwealth citizens in the West Indies,
India, Pakistan, Africa and Hong Kong. Members of Parliament from the two
main parties went to the Caribbean territories on a recruitment exercise, and on
21 June 1948 the ship Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, to the east of London,
bringing 492 Commonwealth citizens from the West Indies to Britain. As the
country attempted to rebuild its shattered economy, many found work in the
newly nationalised essential industries, for example the health service, the railways, and in important manufacturing sectors such as textiles and automobiles.
The initial motive for migration was usually to work and save money before
returning to the country of origin. But economic realities meant that, within a few
years, the family and relatives also migrated to join their menfolk in cities around
the UK. However, the process of immigration did not go smoothly. Britain was
a strange, cold, alien country compared with the ones they had left behind, and
large immigrant communities grew in poor, inner-city areas where housing was
cheap and menial jobs plentiful. The latter was particularly important, as many
immigrants had to accept jobs for which they were overqualified; medical staff
The social and cultural context
5
were cleaning hospitals, bus drivers were cleaning the streets. But the presence
of large immigrant communities disturbed the local population. Daily lives began
to change, and as immigration increased, race became a source of social conflict.
Prejudice and discrimination from employers, workmates and landlords became
a regular feature of the immigrant experience, and several areas became the focal
point for racial tensions, most infamously the Notting Hill area of London, where
rioting broke out in 1958.
While immigration was mostly a working-class concern, middle-class worries
centred on the increasing danger of nuclear war. Britain had successfully tested
a nuclear bomb in Australia in 1953, but there was a strong feeling among the
political left that the country would be safer without such weapons. A group of
leading writers, musicians, artists and others formed the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND), some of the founder members including the philosopher
Bertrand Russell, the composer Benjamin Britten, the sculptor Henry Moore,
the historian A.J.P. Taylor, and the novelists E.M. Forster and Doris Lessing. At
Easter in 1958 some 5,000 protesters marched from London to Aldermaston, the
site of a nuclear research establishment. Bands and folk singers accompanied a
mixture of pacifists, Christians, trade unionists, young parents and children. The
movement captured the public imagination and became increasingly influential.
The following year some 50,000 took part, and the march became not just an
annual event, but marked the beginning of a trend towards popular, organised
protest that has since become a common feature of the British political landscape.
The idea of communism was still attractive to many middle-class intellectuals,
and the decade witnessed the exposure of a notorious spy ring, involving Kim
Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, who had met at Cambridge University and subsequently passed Western secrets to the Soviet Union.
Maclean, Burgess and Blunt were also gay, but at that time homosexuality was
illegal and still seen as deeply subversive and taboo. Politically and socially, homosexual men had to be deferential, conformist and skilled at leading a ‘double life’
of sexual and political ambiguity. Between 1950 and 1954 the annual prosecution
rate of gay men rose by 50 per cent, amid a belief that homosexuals could well be
spies, and therefore a security risk for the government and country.
The debate about popular culture
In a decade that witnessed the decline of deference to authority and an apparent increase in lawlessness among young people, the marches at Aldermaston
were symptomatic of much larger social changes to come. Due to the post-war
‘baby boom’, by 1959 there were over four million single people aged between
13 and 25. Society was younger. It was also richer and more image-conscious.
Moreover, with full employment, it was easy to achieve financial independence
at an early age, and businesses began to market their products to teenagers who
now had enough money to create a new world of their own. During the 1950s
electronic goods such as televisions, small radios and record players had become
cheap and widely available, and by 1960 most homes contained at least one.
6
The social and cultural context
Cultural material was increasingly created for mass audiences in the form of television programmes, popular music and films. The sale of popular novels, women’s
magazines, sensational newspapers and comics also increased to meet demand
for light entertainment. Coffee bars and ‘melody’ (music) bars opened, providing
meeting places for a generation with money to spend on leisure and pleasure.
Record players, radios and clothes were essential equipment in this increasingly
classless, hedonistic demographic. A ‘youth’ culture was emerging.
Around 1953 one of the most visible signs of change could be seen on the
streets with the appearance of ‘Teddy Boys’ or ‘Teds’, urban working-class gangs
dressed in colourful suits which recalled the Edwardian era of the early twentieth century, mixed with elements of the American rock ’n’ roll culture. More
seriously, their behaviour was said to be threatening and brutal, and there were
frequent newspaper reports of violent confrontations. The mass media, especially
the tabloid press, began to report incidents involving the ‘Teds’, and presented a
scary, shocking image that succeeded in its aim of frightening people and selling
many newspapers.
Youth crime became a major cause of public concern. Even though unemployment was low, crimes by offenders under 21 rose from around 24,000 in 1955 to
over 45,000 in 1959, prompting frequent debates about the relationship between
affluence and crime. While politicians generally ignored the new commercial
culture, social commentators and academics were concerned about the mass
consumption by newly affluent youth of music, films, comics and other forms
of entertainment that had been created simply to make profits. They believed
that if standards and quality in the arts fell, so would standards of education and
behaviour in society.
The influence of television was often blamed, especially the content of the
newly created commercial television channel (ITV), with its adverts, game shows
and other cheap, populist programmes. It was believed that the displays of affluence and conspicuous consumption of goods in advertisements and game shows
were likely to excite feelings of envy, and make impressionable young men more
likely to become violent and steal goods that they could not afford. There was also
widespread public anxiety over the negative influence of rock ’n’ roll music whose
suggestive rhythms and lyrics were thought to encourage teenage promiscuity.
Like many earlier critics such as Matthew Arnold and T.S. Eliot, F.R. Leavis
argued that great works of art carried a moral, civilising message, which was educational and served to improve the individual and society. But mass-produced
forms of music, art and popular entertainment did not and could not do this.
Instead, they only encouraged individualism, hedonism, laziness and decadence.
For those holding such beliefs, the connection between mass, popular culture
and rising crime was clear. Moreover, while the study of crime had previously
been concerned with individual pathology, levels of intelligence and the role of
poverty, the idea that affluence could be responsible was difficult to understand
or appreciate.
Other commentators blamed rising rates of divorce and abortion on increasing
equality for women, while rises in juvenile crime, violence and sexual promiscuity
The social and cultural context
7
were said to be the result of a lack of discipline in schools and in society. However, studies showed that the sexual behaviour of young people in fact changed
very little, and that it was stories circulating in increasingly competitive and
sensationalist newspapers that tried to frighten people and increase their sales by
suggesting otherwise.
Public anxiety over the spread of popular culture produced several influential
books which pontificated over the probable consequences. In The Uses of Literacy
(1957), Richard Hoggart argued that the absence of moral content in popular
literature and the arts made it more difficult for the ordinary person to become
educated, wise and cultured. In The Long Revolution (1961) Raymond Williams
considered the collective, social consequences, believing it would lead to an
increase in materialism and self-interest, a reduction in the importance of the
social services such as education and health, and a less radical, more individualist
Labour Party. But he also believed that the negative effects could be combated
with education and strong, left-wing government.
In spite of the worries about moral decay and cultural decline, by the end of
the 1950s the consumer society had become firmly established, and society was
about to be transformed. Its ethic of individualism and pleasure-seeking contrasted sharply with the collectivism and austerity that marked the beginning of
the decade.
Progress and pop (1960–70)
In spite of the material gains of the 1950s, by the mid-1960s there was a feeling of disappointment with a Conservative Party that had been in power for
13 years. The country had changed greatly, developing into a dynamic consumer
society, but the old-fashioned speech, manners and dress of the Macmillan government identified them with a much earlier age. The party had also
begun to appear disorganised and out of touch with politics and people. In the
mid-1950s there were stories of top civil servants defecting to Russia. In 1956
there was a major government failure in the handling of the Suez Canal crisis, which resulted in a brief war and an embarrassing retreat. Later in 1963 the
Minister for War, John Profumo, resigned from government after admitting he
had lied to Parliament about his affair with a prostitute. As a result, the public was beginning to lose respect for the government, its institutions and the
ruling class.
In 1964 the Labour Party won the election with Harold Wilson as its leader.
With the rapid advances in science and industry, the Prime Minister famously
spoke of ‘the white heat of the technological revolution’, and, with a television in nearly every home, the new revolution could be seen by all. There was
optimism and confidence in the future, a consumer boom and rising aspirations.
Demand grew for secretarial, clerical and administrative skills, creating posts
that were frequently taken by women. Tall, modernist offices and apartment
blocks, cars, supermarkets, domestic appliances and a commercial mass media
all became part of everyday life. There was work, wealth and welfare, on a scale
8
The social and cultural context
never seen before. In sport, the 1966 football World Cup was held in cities
around Britain, with England emerging triumphant against West Germany in
a thrilling final at Wembley Stadium in London. The sun shone on Britain in
every sense, and the country was proud and united in victory, but faced with
gathering economic problems and social divisions, it was a final cheer of glory,
Figure 1.1 A souvenir from English football’s greatest day, the 1966 World Cup Final. A
final united ‘hurrah’ before the strife of the 1970s and 1980s.
© David Christopher
The social and cultural context
9
togetherness and patriotism in a shared national history, the like of which would
perhaps never be seen again.
In spite of material improvements in the standard of living, dissent flourished.
Numerous groups began to demand new freedoms – political, economic and
personal – as rights. The government responded with a retreat from strict social
controls and punishments, many of which had been introduced in the Victorian
era. Capital punishment was suspended in 1965 and never returned, and criminal
law was reformed in areas affecting private morality such as obscenity, homosexuality, abortion and gambling. In 1960 gambling was legalised, and many betting
shops, bingo halls and clubs appeared on British high streets. Homosexuality was
legalised in 1967, and in 1969 18-year-olds were given the right to vote, nine
years after the abolition of compulsory military service.
However, not everyone approved of the changes that the 1960s brought. The
Church of England, other Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic churches
remained firmly traditional, but their influence gradually declined. Similarly,
the political right opposed liberal reform, and when economic growth began to
slow down around 1966 the Tory politician Enoch Powell began stirring up antiimmigrant sentiments. With almost half a million West Indians in Britain, in a
speech to the Conservative Party Conference in October 1968 Powell warned
that integration was impossible. In another speech in Birmingham the same
year, his inflammatory rhetoric used lines from an epic poem by Virgil, ‘Like the
Roman, I see the River Tiber foaming with much blood’, a stance which was to
be exploited by racist organisations such as the British National Front. Although
he was sacked from the shadow cabinet by the party leader Edward Heath, it was
a sharp warning of the increased polarisation of society that would characterise
Britain in the 1970s.
But significant advances were achieved in the position of women. To fight for
equality of opportunity and against discrimination, the British women’s movement modelled itself on the women’s movement in America, with the holding
of marches, sit-ins and strikes to achieve their aims. Soon, a mixture of effective
campaigns and public support resulted in new laws that gave women the rights
they had demanded. In 1967 the Abortion Act permitted legal terminations
for social and health reasons. The same year, the Family Planning Act enabled
women to obtain contraceptives on the NHS, and in the 1974 the oral contraceptive known as ‘the Pill’, was prescribed free of charge to single women. The
Divorce Reform Act of 1969 also made divorce easier to obtain, by allowing married women to break away from violent and abusive relationships.
Before the advances of the 1960s many women’s lives were conditioned by
their reproductive abilities. But on taking control of their fertility, they could
begin to control their lives. They could decide if they wanted to become wives
and mothers, or if they wanted to plan or postpone family life to fit in with their
work. These measures helped to ensure that women could take control of their
lives and their futures in a way never seen before.
As well as demands for more personal independence, the 1960s also witnessed
demands for greater regional autonomy, as Scottish, Welsh and Irish nationalists all began to demand political freedom. In 1968 there were riots in Northern
10
The social and cultural context
Ireland where the Civil Rights Association demanded equal treatment for Catholics and Protestants. In 1969 the British government sent troops to suppress the
rebels, where they remained into the twenty-first century.
While public opinion over Northern Ireland remained divided, the major
reforms that took place were largely regarded as positive. Moreover, although
some commentators said the fun and freedom of the 1960s were only characteristic of ‘swinging London’ and rarely happened ‘north of Watford’, many
social reforms of the period were both national and liberating for millions of
people. Before the 1960s it was rarely possible to challenge the decisions taken
by the police and magistrates. There was capital punishment. Theatre censorship was implemented by ex-military gentlemen with an office in St James’s
Palace. Gay men were often blackmailed, as homosexuality was a punishable
offence. In schools there was beating and caning, and secret files were kept
on students. The position of women was particularly unjust and often precarious as there were no equal rights in law and discrimination was widespread.
Divorce was difficult to obtain, and required witnesses to sexual misbehaviour.
Contraception was not easily available, and illegal abortions were dangerous
and often went wrong. Single mothers and the children of the very poor were
routinely separated from their parents, as were the blind and disabled. However, by the early 1970s all that had changed.
Anger and division (1970–79)
In 1970 the Conservative Party was returned to power with Edward Heath as
its leader. In contrast to the optimism, hedonism and progress of the 1960s, it
was the beginning of a decade marked by social division, strikes, high inflation,
unemployment and political violence. The period was also characterised by steep
immigration: between 1968 and 1974 a final, major phase took place when over
70,000 Kenyan and Ugandan Asians arrived as refugees, and by 1974 there were
over one million Afro-Caribbean and Asian immigrants in Britain. Later, at a
time of growing unemployment, high inflation and social anxiety, the National
Front began openly to provoke black communities and their supporters. Conflict intensified following the ‘Spaghetti House siege’ in 1975, when three AfroCaribbeans attempted a robbery and took hostages in a restaurant in the Brixton
area of London. The National Front was able to exploit the growing tension,
and for a short time it became a significant force in British politics, beating the
Liberal Party in several contests.
In a climate of demands for personal and political rights on every side, Scottish
and Welsh Nationalist parties began to press home their demands for independence with vigorous campaigns, marches and forms of direct action, while the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) began a bombing campaign in several British cities
with the loss of many lives.
Apart from the political troubles, the economy was stagnating. By 1973,
unemployment was still very low at around 3.5 per cent, but inflation was accelerating to over 20 per cent, provoking even more strikes. Economists believed
The social and cultural context
11
the long-term decline of mining, shipbuilding, steel production and motorvehicle manufacture were all significant contributors to the economic malaise.
Heavy industries were no longer competitive in global markets. The resistance
of the trade unions to industrial change, the tendency of management to think
and plan only for the short term, as well as high rates of inflation and the oil
crisis of the mid-1970s were all said to be contributory to Britain’s economic
performance.
Nevertheless, for the early part of the decade there was still a sense of living in
prosperous times. Sales of houses and cars continued to rise, and sleek new modernist flats, houses, shops and offices changed the face of Britain’s cities. Women’s
rights had made progress, and by the mid-1970s around half of all women were
employed, although despite the Equal Pay Act of 1970, they were still earning
around 25 per cent less for the same work, and in mainstream entertainment
women were still portrayed as playthings for men, and sexism was commonplace.
Greater affluence allowed more people to take holidays abroad, with Spain the
preferred destination. Most visitors had little interest in the culture, but were
attracted by the weather, the pleasure to be had, and the assurance that fish ’n’
chips, a pint of Watney’s Red Barrel and a copy of the Daily Mirror could be all
bought within a stone’s throw of the hotel. The new affluence made Britons more
confident and individualist. Youth was experimenting with a sexually ambiguous
look, long hair, eye make-up, glitter and platform shoes. Space travel was becoming commonplace, and a sense of being in new, alien territory applied as much to
the British high streets, as it did to the moon.
But, as the decade progressed, the economy took a rapid downturn. Fuelled
by rising oil prices, inflation escalated quickly, and strikes became numerous.
In Downing Street, the Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath had been unable to
steer the economy effectively through troubled economic waters, and in 1974
with inflation at 25 per cent and prolonged strikes by the mineworkers’ union,
the lights went out around the country in a series of national power cuts, which
quickly forced an election. The result showed a narrow victory for the Labour
Party with a minority government. Its leader Harold Wilson was able to settle the
miners’ strike, and in a second election the same year Labour won with a small
majority. Disillusion with mainstream politics and an increasing public interest in
the environment saw the creation of the Green Party in the UK in 1973. But its
message of recycling and pacifism in rural enclaves was slow to catch on in heavily
urbanised Britain, as political tension continued. International Marxists became
more numerous, and various anarchist groups were visible, vocal and violent.
Towards the end of the decade social fragmentation across Britain was increasingly obvious. The tension was amplified by the popular press, as the Sun, the
Daily Mirror and others carried sensational stories about racial violence, robbery,
football hooliganism, pornography and rape. Punks appeared on streets, their
shocking appearance reflecting a sense of disgust with a society that seemed to
have abandoned its youth and its future. Confrontation appeared to be everywhere, and towards the end of the 1970s there was an acute sense of public
desperation.
12
The social and cultural context
The end of consensus: Britain under the Tories (1979–97)
Following the Conservative Party defeat in the 1974 election, Margaret Thatcher,
a grocer’s daughter from the market town of Grantham in Lincolnshire, became
the first female leader of a British political party. Her early publicity depicted
her as a happily married suburban housewife, cheerfully washing up in her semidetached house. But at the same time she was developing economic ideas that
were guided by the fashionable theories of monetarism. These involved reducing
inflation with high interest rates, and submitting all aspects of the economy to
free-market economics and the laws of supply and demand.
The late 1970s were times of strikes and confrontation, and many electors
were attracted by her forceful personality and the simple certainties of her freemarket ideology. It recalled a Victorian Britain when nation and Empire were at
their height, but conveniently forgot the inequality, exploitation and suffering
on which imperial success was based, and the need to police and control it with
tough laws and punishments. Moreover, in a decade when the political and economic achievements of feminism had been remarkable, she would be Britain’s
first woman prime minister. Yet Thatcher would do little to help the situation of
women, and many argued she set back the movement by ten years.
Thatcher went on to lead the Conservatives to victory in the election of 1979,
and the party remained in power until 1997. But in the early 1980s, as Thatcher
began to implement her policies of withdrawing state support for nationalised
industries, Britain’s economic crisis worsened. Manufacturing declined, and the
shipbuilding, mining and steel industries practically disappeared. The regions of
Scotland, the north of England, Wales and the West Midlands had traditionally
depended on this kind of industry, and were economically devastated. Unemployment rose to over 13 per cent, and with more than three million people out
of work the government became deeply unpopular. There was civil and industrial conflict in most areas, and in April 1981 rioting broke out in the streets of
Brixton, south London, and in other cities around the country. It was spontaneous and anarchic, directed against the police and the local environment. The
crisis seemed to deepen on 2 April 1982, when Thatcher led Britain into war
with Argentina over the occupation of the Falklands Islands. However, when the
British forces emerged victorious on 14 June, Thatcher was able to exploit the
moment and distract attention from the economic crisis at home.
Next, the government forged a closer alliance with the USA to develop a
Cold War strategy that involved holding nuclear weapons as a deterrent. A central element of policy was that of mutually assured destruction (MAD) of both
parties in case of a strike by the forces of the Soviet Union. The government’s
policies were supported by virtually all the daily newspapers except the Guardian,
the Daily Mirror, and from August 1982 The Voice, a new weekly paper aimed at
young black Britons. With the press on its side, in spite of record unemployment,
riots and a war, the Conservatives emerged victorious in the general election of
1983, and the economic and political ideas that came to be known as Thatcherism began to be fully expressed and implemented. These included an even greater
The social and cultural context
13
reduction of public spending, and measures to privatise industries in the public sector, such as gas, steel, transport and telecommunications. The measures
were highly unpopular with the working class and unemployed, and resulted in
more violent industrial disputes. They were also expensive to implement, being
at great cost to the welfare state, but the discovery of oil in the North Sea in the
1970s helped to finance Thatcher’s project.
To cement the government’s authority, she next addressed those she called
‘the enemy within’: the powerful trade unions, the miners, left-wing local governments, the IRA and its supporters, immigrants, the ‘greens’ and ‘unreliable’
members of her own party. The most notorious confrontation was the miners’
strike of 1984–5, which Thatcher saw as part of her plan to break the power of
the trade unions. She became known as the ‘Iron Lady’ and passed legislation to
weaken the unions’ power permanently.
The trade unions showed their opposition to Thatcher in their readiness to
strike, while many other protest groups also emerged composed mainly of middleclass activists. The most notable was the establishing of a women’s ‘peace camp’
outside Greenham Common air base in 1981 against the stationing of nuclear
weapons there. Other protest groups were more concerned about the environment, such as Greenpeace, the Ramblers’ Association, Friends of the Earth and
Hunt Saboteurs Association, which all increased their memberships.
The Arts Council was created to support the arts in 1946 under the chairmanship of the economist John Maynard Keynes, and had never interfered with the
work of artists and performers, even when their work was critical of government.
Its ideology was supported by parties on the left and right, and helped to support
British theatre, music and the visual arts in its mission to bring a civilising influence to society. But in the 1980s its funding was sharply reduced, and the arts
were treated as any other area of economic activity. The effects were widely felt.
For the first time, many museums and galleries began to charge admission prices,
while to attract subsidies, arts productions became less critical and adventurous and more populist, for example by showing Shakespeare’s plays in ways that
removed their social content and stressed their sentimental aspects.
While the expression ‘Thatcherite’ was being applied (often pejoratively)
from 1979, the term ‘Thatcherism’ only began to be heard after the British general election of 1983 following Thatcher’s re-election. Her majority was large
enough for the party to reject the ‘middle road’ consensus politics that had characterised the post-war period. The party increasingly spread the view that state
management and regulation of the economy was wrong; that large government
bureaucracies and nationalised industries were inefficient; and that subsidies for
business and industry promoted poor practice and laziness, a view that recalled
the thinking of early nineteenth-century economists.
But implementing Thatcherism came at a high social cost. Industrial strife
increased, reaching a bitter, violent peak with the miners’ strike of 1984–5.
Crime rose dramatically, and during 1985–6 there were more riots in cities around
Britain. Burglary, car theft, violent crime and vandalism all increased. Football hooliganism became a serious social problem, and relations between the police and
14
The social and cultural context
public were tense. Commentators on the political right blamed the permissive
society of the 1960s, which had allowed the young to grow up with no respect
for the police, teachers or authority. In contrast, those on the left blamed high
unemployment (almost four million), homelessness (around one million) and
the loss of community, which an ethos of economic individualism had promoted.
Moreover, the withdrawal of state support for nationalised industries had decimated communities, particularly those who depended on mining and shipbuilding; and as with the British involvement in the Iraq war some 30 years later, there
was no plan for withdrawal, no exit plan to deal with the human casualties of lost
economic support. The social and economic aftershocks are still reverberating.
Tory policies had the most severe consequences for the poorly educated and
least skilled, who were unable to obtain manual work as they had done in previous generations. Some of the major casualties were immigrants and their families, and there were riots in many poor, racially mixed inner-city areas in 1979,
1981 and again in 1985. Many women also suffered, in particular those who
transferred from manufacturing work to low-paid, part-time service industries
in which there were no company pensions or union benefits. However, those
on a different social level were beginning to occupy posts in traditional maledominated areas such as business, law and banks. Many could enjoy the benefits
of financial and personal freedom, and were postponing marriage and children
until much later in life.
In the mid-1980s, towards the end of the Tories’ second term in government,
restrictions on moneylending and share-dealing were lifted, and the financial
sector boomed. Credit was easy to obtain and taxes were cut. Share prices rose
quickly, especially those of newly privatised public industries such as British Airways, British Steel, and all the public utilities including gas, water and telecommunications. The dominant economic influences in Britain changed from heavy
industry and manufacturing to financial services and North Sea oil revenues. By
1986 the economy was stronger, and house prices were rising sharply. There was
an air of excitement and optimism as a new society emerged. Britain became
more affluent and competitive; spending on restaurants, clothes, cars, homes and
holidays reached record levels, fuelled by a new generation of aspirational, stylish
and image-conscious consumers. But, the benefits were felt chiefly in the south.
In the north, the traditional heavy industries of steel, mining and shipbuilding
were being closed down, with the resulting widespread, long-term unemployment, and little or none of the benefits of the economic boom being experienced
in the south-east.
Advertising and publicity became fine arts, even in politics. The Conservatives
employed the services of the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency to promote
the party, creating their logo of a flaming blue torch, a symbol closely associated
with the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. Meanwhile, Labour adopted a red
rose as its logo, and hired the services of Hugh Hudson, the director of Chariots,
to make a publicity film of the leader Neil Kinnock.
Following a third election victory in 1987 Thatcher claimed she had cured
Britain of its strikes, low productivity and low investment for ever. But the same
year the economy began to stagnate again when share prices crashed. In a brief
The social and cultural context
15
Figure 1.2 A view of the Docklands financial district; temples of Mammon and symbols of
the 1980s, seen across the River Thames from the ship Cutty Sark in Greenwich.
© David Christopher
phase of recovery, house prices continued to rise dramatically, as did inflation. But
government spending was further reduced, resulting in greater poverty and insecurity for the unemployed and sick. Homeless beggars appeared on the streets, the
use of illegal drugs increased, the numbers of sufferers from HIV and AIDS grew
alarmingly, and warnings about sexual behaviour were broadcast on television.
16
The social and cultural context
The spread of AIDS prompted more open, public discussion of gay lifestyles,
but this was opposed by the Tory government, who in 1987 introduced the Local
Government Act with its infamous Clause 28, which prohibited state schools
from ‘promoting homosexuality’, in other words from teaching students that
it is acceptable or normal. To counter this, groups promoting gay rights began
campaigning for a better understanding of homosexuality with more widespread
publicity, a high-profile annual Gay Pride march, and membership of pressure
groups increased such as Stonewall, Act Up and Outrage. Gay men and women
in public life were still reluctant to openly declare their homosexuality, fearing it
would lead to criticism and censure, and some tactics involved public exposure
(‘outing’) of those in politics and the media, which guaranteed high levels of
public interest.
By 1990 it was becoming increasingly difficult for Thatcher to keep her party
united, particularly over the issue of closer political and economic integration
with Europe, an issue that she had always opposed, and that would go on to
divide the party into the next century. The same year, violent rioting broke out
in London when the Tory government introduced the ‘poll tax’. Eventually, a
combination of recession, antipathy to Europe and the universally unpopular poll
tax dislodged Thatcher after 11 years in Downing Street, and one of the most
controversial periods in British politics. To replace her, John Major was elected
as the new leader of an increasingly divided party and a fractious nation. He managed briefly to reverse the Conservatives’ fortunes with an unexpected victory in
the 1992 election, bringing a record fourth consecutive Tory victory.
For the first half of the 1990s there was an overwhelming sense of public disillusionment. Studies repeatedly showed that public confidence in all the major
institutions had fallen, especially in Parliament, the legal system and the press.
And throughout the decade, the monarchy looked increasingly fragile and irrelevant, amid the devolution of power to Scotland, the plans of the Labour government to abolish the House of Lords and the increasing popularity of the pressure
group Charter88 with its demands for the introduction of a British republic.
By the middle of the 1990s there were more internal divisions in the Major government over weak leadership, an uncaring attitude towards more vulnerable sections of the community and doubts over closer European integration. In response,
Major attempted a nostalgic appeal to traditional values under the banner of
‘Back to Basics’. But the press saw this as an opportunity to expose Tory hypocrisy
with frequent allegations of ‘sleaze’ – financial and moral impropriety – within
the party. As a result, several high-profile politicians such as Jeffrey Archer and
David Mellor were arrested or forced to resign, amid high levels of public interest,
incredulity and amusement. There seemed to be no end to the hypocrisy when
it later emerged that Major himself had departed from his own ‘family values’ in
having an affair with married Tory MP Edwina Currie, who subsequently served
as a junior minister in his government.
The decline in popularity of the Conservatives continued, and gave the Labour
Party an opportunity to reorganise. Tony Blair was elected the new leader following the death of John Smith. Young and charismatic, he set about transforming
The social and cultural context
17
the party, leaving behind the traditional socialist beliefs about stronger unions,
nationalisation of the major industries and redistribution of wealth. Many of
Labour’s traditional supporters worried that the party was becoming too much
like the Conservatives, but Blair repeated his message about party principles
being futile without power.
Forward with ‘New’ Labour (1997–2007)
Economy, politics and society
As the Tory Party faltered in a storm of sleaze and incompetence, the opinion
polls swung strongly in favour of Labour, and in May 1997 the party gained a
historic electoral victory, with a massive majority of 179 MPs. The early days of
Blair’s rule brought important political changes in terms of devolution at home
and intervention abroad. In 1997 Hong Kong was handed back to China. Then
plans were made for a devolution of power to Scotland, an assembly to aid regional
autonomy for Wales and a peace treaty with Northern Ireland, which diminished
political violence in the home nations. The theme of devolution continued with
a return of power to the London area and the establishing of the Greater London
Authority with its own mayor and assembly. Labour supporters saw devolution of
power as a democratic response to people’s needs but critics said Blair was presiding over the break-up of the UK.
Since 1945 the Conservative Party had presented a strong challenge to Labour,
but now it was divided and weak. In its place, the press repositioned itself as the
‘unofficial’ opposition, subjecting the government to intense, critical scrutiny.
Consequently, there was a need to maintain order to ensure party unity, which
was often reported as Blair’s obsession with centralisation and control. However,
changes in the landscape of British politics now meant that government was subject to more external controls than internal ones. These came in the form of the
European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World
Bank, the press, big corporations and business tycoons, which now limit more
than ever what government can do.
As the Cold War disappeared, so did political ideology in the Labour Party,
which was no longer committed to programmes of nationalisation and high levels of taxation for the richest earners. With pragmatic economic management
the economy showed steady improvement, and the persistent post-war worries of
inflation, unemployment and nuclear war diminished. Economic stability continued, and by 2004 inflation was low at 2–3 per cent, and there was almost
full employment for the first time since records were kept. Some 70 per cent of
people owned their own homes, although between 1997 and 2002 house prices
doubled, making it more difficult for people to buy for the first time, or to buy a
larger house.
New issues of education, health and social security came to dominate the
domestic political agenda. In 1975 only 7 per cent of the population went to
university, but in 2005 the figure was 33 per cent and rising. But education came
18
The social and cultural context
at a price, as for the first time university fees were introduced, and students were
offered loans from the government, except for Scots studying at Scottish universities, whose education remained fee free. Public health in particular was a
major concern, as the government attempted to modernise and improve the
NHS. Although hunger and malnutrition had once been the problem, in 2004 it
was obesity, as 67.6 per cent of men and 56.4 per cent of women were classed as
overweight. Food standards also become a public issue and the risk posed by eating ‘fast’ food such as burgers and frozen meals, and ‘junk’ food such as sweets and
chocolates which exacerbated the problem, especially among school children.
Alcohol consumption was also increasing, especially ‘binge’ drinking where large
amounts of alcohol are consumed in a short time, often leading to anti-social
behaviour and juvenile crime. The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and
cancer also rose, while the traditional pleasures of sex, smoking and sunshine
were revealed to carry greater health risks than had earlier been suspected.
Despite greater economic stability and material prosperity, political participation continued to decline. In the election of 2001 only 39 per cent of people under 25 voted, and the total percentage of voters was the lowest since the
election of 1918 (59.4 per cent). Public trust in politicians and institutions was
falling, and would shortly get worse. The royal family was one of the first institutions to be affected in this way. The best of British family values were said to be
exemplified by the House of Windsor, and were accentuated by the glamour, style
and romance of the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in
1981. But in giving confessional interviews to the media, Diana was said to have
damaged the public image of the royal family, as had many press intrusions and
‘confessions’ by former employees. However, Queen Elizabeth remained highly
respected, and the movement for a British republic weak. There had been no
discussion of a different head of state, and in 2003 research by ITV and YouGov
showed that 80 per cent of Britons wanted the monarchy to stay.
The Anglican Church also became less influential. The public felt it had been
unable to give clear guidance on many issues from abortion to genetic research,
and had problems accepting women and gay clergy, especially to senior positions.
In 1997 over 90 per cent said they did not attend church regularly, a statistic
which has risen to around 94 per cent in 2014.
Abroad, the absence of any obvious foreign enemy gave Blair a greater certainty
about Britain’s role in the world. When controversial wars erupted, his sense of
moral outrage led to several overseas interventions and his advocacy of the use
of force around the world, initially for humanitarian reasons. In his first six years
in office Blair ordered British troops into battle five times, more than any other
prime minister in British history. This included Iraq (1998 and 2003), Kosovo
(1999), Sierra Leone (2000) and Afghanistan (2001). The attacks on New York’s
World Trade Center in 2001 – commonly known as ‘9/11’ – convinced Blair to
support American president George W. Bush in the ‘war on terror’, which in
2003 involved the invasion of Iraq, despite a demonstration against it by over two
million people in Britain. The strength of US arms technology ensured the country was swiftly overrun, but almost every day since, there have been deaths and
The social and cultural context
19
injuries of Iraqi civilians and British and US army personnel, as well as questions
about Blair’s judgement and honesty over the reason given for the intervention –
that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction, which has since been shown to be
untrue.
The art of ‘Cool Britannia’
In the mid-1990s it seemed as if the country was emerging from a cultural ice age,
as Britain became more self-confident, diverse and expressive. The rapid changes
in society and politics of the late 1990s, and the establishing of the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) reinvigorated the creative industries of
fashion, design, architecture and pop music. After years of popular discontent
with the Conservative government, many felt the time was right to express feelings of national pride again, a feeling heightened in 1996 when England hosted
the Euro ’96 football championship, the national team playing with character
and spirit before passionate crowds. The flag of St George (rather than the Union
flag) had been adopted by numerous England fans and was ubiquitous not only
in the stadiums, but in cars and houses around the country, in a show of national
unity rarely seen since the country held the football World Cup in 1966.
The Euro ’96 tournament was the prelude to a powerful sense of renewal across
the country, which was emphasised by the size of Labour’s victory in the election
of the following year. Blair’s interest in the music scene (he had once played in
a band called Ugly Rumours) helped create a sense of expectation across the
arts, and in 1997 musicians and designers were invited to a reception in Downing Street, echoing a similar gesture by former Labour Prime Minister Harold
Wilson in 1964, who invited the Beatles and others to a reception there. Like
Wilson, Blair was keen to present a new image of Britain as a youthful, progressive, dynamic place for pop, fashion, film and design.
The cultural ferment drew much press attention. In an article in the Independent on Sunday, 15 March 1998, entitled ‘The Cool Economy’, the journalist
Peter Koenig referred to ‘Cool Britannia’, a pun on the patriotic song ‘Rule Britannia’. The name quickly became used to label almost any cultural activity that
renounced American influences, and stood proud and alone in splendid isolation.
This brief but significant period for the arts has since come to be understood as
an expression of many things: a celebration of youthful communality; a reassertion of national identity through the arts and sport; a joyful reaction to 18 years
of Tory rule and the class divide; a time when people seemed to express a desire
to be part of a larger community, which since the 1980s had almost been lost.
On the other hand, the new trends were sometimes criticised as elitist, on the
grounds that in a multicultural country they were mainly embraced by white,
middle-class males, while the more ethnically diverse arts such as the sounds of
British club culture went relatively ignored by the press. Moreover, the terms
‘Britpop’ and other ‘BritArts’ were inaccurate, as almost all the styles and trends
were made in England, indicating a clear trend towards the centralisation of
creative activity.
20
The social and cultural context
Britpop provided the background to the millennium celebrations, which centred around the construction of an enormous dome at Greenwich in London,
while a programme of other public-sector projects including arts buildings, sports
stadiums and transport schemes was created to greet the new century. In the area
of arts administration, the Department for National Heritage was replaced by the
DCMS, which took responsibility for policy and expenditure on museums and
galleries, the Arts Councils of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,
plus regulation of the film industry, broadcasting and the press.
But despite many centrally directed initiatives for the development of creative
activity, public funding of the arts has declined, being replaced by an individualistic entrepreneurial ethic. Most projects are now largely self-funded, using
online fund-raising, or ‘crowdsourcing’, schemes such as Kickstarter, although
some projects are assisted by funds from the National Lottery, which began in
1994. Camelot – the company contracted to run it – pays 28 pence in every
pound towards a variety of health, education, environmental, sports, arts and
heritage projects around Britain. Critics argue that a decline in centralised funding has necessarily led to a commercialisation of the arts, and to a ‘dumbing
down’; that trying to attract large audiences leads to a reduction in quality and
variety. However, others argue against a ‘patrician’ model of funding that only
funds those projects that a small number of official ‘specialists’ think are good for
‘the people’. Instead, they believe that limited funding enables works to be more
responsive to public wants and needs, in turn leading to greater access and wider
public involvement, as well as the freedom to be critical of officialdom.
The age of insecurity (2007– )
By the mid-2000s, it seemed the years of economic boom and bust had been
cured for ever. The threat of a nuclear holocaust largely disappeared with the
collapse of communism in the early 1990s, which in turn prompted the disappearance of ideology in the political parties. The divide between left and right,
which characterised politics and society since the 1970s, had vanished, and by
2007 the Labour Party was often being accused by its own supporters of resembling the Tory Party, and vice-versa. The ‘tribal’ identities of the main parties
and their supporters had also weakened. Home owners and business people no
longer automatically voted Tory, while those who cared about a more equal and
tolerant society did not automatically vote Labour, and in many cases did not
even bother to vote at all, as political participation and electoral turnouts fell,
and people felt the boom years would continue for ever. Society was also more
secular and ethnically diverse, and less hierarchical, more liberal, tolerant, with
higher living standards and improved levels of health and education than at any
other time.
The British were said to be richer and more tolerant than ever before. They
were pro-capitalist, pro-social solidarity, secular, individualistic and libertarian
about personal behaviour. However, research also revealed the British to be
depressed, apathetic, celebrity obsessed and, in an age of uncertainty about the
The social and cultural context
21
future, badly in debt. Moreover, surveys persistently showed that social inequality
was still extensive.
In 2007 Tony Blair resigned and Chancellor Gordon Brown took over as Prime
Minister. The government was looking tired and unimaginative after ten years in
office, and there was growing dissatisfaction among the electorate, fuelled by an
anti-Labour press. Politically, storm clouds also seemed to be gathering, following
terrorism in London with the bomb attacks of 7/7 and increasing tension with
Muslim communities. But, despite the promise of renewal as Brown walked into
Downing Street, an international economic crisis began to take hold. Britain was
about to become the latest victim of the raw power of global economic forces, as
reverberations from America’s troubled financial sector spread out around the
world which would put an end to New Labour’s years of abundance.
In 2010 an election was held, but no party emerged with an overall majority.
The electorate had lost confidence in Brown’s leadership and ability to deal with
the new economic problems, and a coalition government was formed between the
Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, with Tory leader David Cameron as Prime
Minister. Shortly afterwards, and faced with the greatest economic crisis for many
decades and widespread uncertainty about the future, a programme of cuts in public spending took effect, with further reductions in subsidies and grants to the arts,
in order to repay government debts.
The economic crisis had many consequences for Britain, with unemployment
almost 10 per cent (2.7 million), the highest since 1994, with homelessness,
‘payday’ loan shops, pawnbrokers, food banks, and the spectre of international
terrorism on the streets of Britain’s cities. The crude visibility of the recession’s
consequences stoked a crisis of public trust in major institutions. The banks and
financial services were the first to suffer, when in 2008 the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS had to be bailed out by the government. At the
same time, leading executives in these and other banks were shown to be receiving huge salaries and bonus payments, despite their conspicuous lack of success.
Public anger was expressed most notably in the Occupy London protest, a nonviolent encampment organised to protest against economic inequality. Set up for
nine months in 2011–12 outside St Paul’s Cathedral and close to the London
Stock Exchange, the campers and their issues attracted much public interest and
media attention.
In 2009 and subsequently, public trust in politicians fell even further when
many politicians on both sides of Parliament were exposed by the press for making exaggerated or non-existent expenses claims. In a time of public austerity this
was seen as particularly serious, especially as some were advocating harsh punishments for those caught falsely claiming social security benefits. Many resignations
followed. Also accused by the public were the utility companies of gas, electricity
and water, which had been privatized during the Thatcher years. Prices rose by
almost 100 per cent between 2002 and 2012, while the government did nothing
to change the situation, which further intensified public anger and disgust in a
time of economic hardship, cuts in social security benefits and unemployment
running at 2.6 million.
Figure 1.3 ‘Tent City’, which was set up outside St Paul’s Cathedral to protest against
economic inequality and the lack of affordable housing in the UK in 2011–12.
© Tony French/Alamy
The social and cultural context
23
For the British press it was also a turbulent time, as circulations and profits fell
dramatically, due to a number of causes. The presence of free, online content was
blamed, as was the presence of rolling, 24-hour news on the radio and television.
But the emergence of a major scandal in the house of News International (now
known as News UK), the company founded by Rupert Murdoch, was also said to
have a major effect, particularly as NI held a big percentage of sales in the UK.
This involved serious accusations and a police investigation (Operation Weeting) into how reporters had illegally listened to the phone messages of celebrities,
politicians, the royal family, a murdered schoolgirl and the families of deceased
British soldiers and others, as well as the payment of bribes to police to obtain private information. A powerful, weekly tabloid newspaper, the News of the World,
was closed down, and in 2011–12 the Leveson Inquiry, a judicial inquiry into
press standards, took place. Many resignations followed and Murdoch appeared
to answer questions, amid high levels of public interest.
Media scandals continued at the BBC, which became the butt of frequent
public criticism, following a police inquiry (Operation Yewtree) into allegations
of sex abuse against children and sexual harassment in general, by many of its
light entertainers of the 1970s and 1980s, including Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris,
Stuart Hall and Dave Lee Travis, amid high levels of public disgust and revulsion. In a time of recession and cuts, the amounts paid by the public through
the TV licence to attract and retain its ‘top talent’ were also criticised, and in
2012 the Director-General George Entwistle was forced into a humiliating public
resignation.
The year 2012 brought some light relief, with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations
of Queen Elizabeth II in Britain and the Commonwealth, as well as the Olympic
and Paralympic Games in London. The former was marked by pageantry, a river
parade, music and fireworks on a scale rarely seen, while the Olympics showed
that, despite the parlous state of the economy, Britain could still put on a show
which was the envy of the world.
But domestically the problems continued with a lowering of public confidence
in the police, following a number of high-profile incidents. In particular, there
were allegations of racism, and the treatment of young black people in large cities
has become a major cause of public concern. In 1999 the Macpherson Report had
made similar allegations of racism in London’s Metropolitan Police Force, but
more recently the policy of ‘stop-and-search’ has allowed police to randomly stop
suspects on the street and search them, and this has resulted in a disproportionate
number of young black men being detained, often without reason.
Tensions with ethnic communities worsened in 2011 when a young man, Mark
Duggan, was shot and killed in a police operation in London, which led to rioting and looting in the capital and around the country. On a previous occasion,
a young Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, was shot and killed on a
London Underground train, in a case of mistaken identity. Other issues followed,
including violent and provocative tactics when dealing with peaceful demonstrators, collusion by officers attempting to incriminate an innocent government
minister, the behaviour of some undercover officers who had started personal
24
The social and cultural context
relationships with those they were investigating and the sale of information to
journalists from the national press.
Even the reported crime rates could not be trusted. Despite the impact of the
recession, overall crime rates fell by 25 per cent between 2007 and 2013, figures
that went completely against public expectations. However, an inquiry found
police officers to have been failing to record crime in some areas, in order to
reach ‘targets’ set by senior officers. Consequently, in 2014 the UK Statistics
Authority declared it could not approve the crime figures submitted by police in
England and Wales.
It seemed the state was not only impotent in the face of global economic
forces; in a free society it was virtually powerless to regulate the police, banks,
media and energy companies, many of whom had powerful public relations
departments to defend their interests. Democracy itself seemed under threat,
and there was a public mood of quiet anger, frustration and despair, memorably reflected in the popular wartime slogan of ‘Keep calm and carry on’, which
became a popular slogan adorning T-shirts, coffee mugs and office walls around
the country. It also seemed the ideal political moment to hold the scheduled referendum on Scottish independence. In September 2014 Scots went to the polls
to answer the question ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ With a
turnout of almost 85 per cent, the highest for any election in the UK since the
introduction of universal suffrage in 1918, 55.3 per cent said ‘No’ compared with
44.7 per cent who said ‘Yes’, effectively silencing the question of home rule for
the foreseeable future.
Despite the stoical mood of the British public, when Mrs Thatcher’s death was
announced in April 2013, old divisions briefly re-emerged in the media and on
the streets between Tory Party loyalists and those for whom Thatcher was the
most divisive and damaging prime minister ever to occupy Downing Street. In
the mining communities of the north there were parties and bonfires, and it is
said not a bottle of champagne could be bought anywhere. Meanwhile, in London crowds lined the route from Westminster to St Paul’s, as Thatcher received a
controversial ceremonial funeral.
The multicultural society
In most successful countries immigration increases when the economy is strong.
In previous centuries population movements took place from rural England, Ireland and Scotland to the industrial cities. In the early years of the new millennium the success of the British economy attracted the ambitious and the
dispossessed from around the world. The census of 2011 showed that in England
and Wales 7.5 million (around 4.5 per cent) were born abroad, with approximately half arriving between 2001 and 2011. India, Poland, Pakistan, Ireland and
Germany were the main countries of origin. Of these, 80 per cent said they were
white British, 5 per cent fewer than in 2001. London has become the most international city in Britain, and of a resident population of around 7.5 million, only
around 5 million were born in the UK. The other 2.5 million constitute almost
half the total minority ethnic population of Britain, of which Indians (around
The social and cultural context
25
Figure 1.4 The Sun newspaper, possibly Mrs Thatcher’s greatest ally during her time as
Prime Minister, says goodbye in April 2012.
© Kathy deWitt/Alamy
200,000), Bangladeshis (around 115,000), Irish (around 113,000) and Jamaicans
(around 108,000) are the most numerous foreign-born groups.
In terms of religious faith, 59.3 per cent (33.2 million) of the British population identified themselves as Christian, while some 4.8 per cent (2.7 million)
said they were Muslim, the most significant minority. The Muslim population is
26
The social and cultural context
mostly of Pakistani and Kashmiri descent, and live mostly in London, Bradford,
Birmingham, Leicester and Oldham. There are mosques in most towns, and halal
shops and restaurants are easy to find. Many Kashmiris came to Britain in the
1960s with the aim of earning money before returning. But due to the unstable
politics of their home region they were unable or unwilling to do so and stayed
on, forming communities in deprived areas where unemployment is high. Today,
many have settled and formed young families; around 50 per cent of the community are aged under 25. But levels of achievement are often low; around a
quarter of families have no qualifications, and around a fifth earned their living
from taxi driving.
After the devastating events of 11 September 2001 in America, when the
country was attacked by suicide bombers, the subsequent wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq, as well a second wave of mass asylum-driven immigration into Britain,
fear of terrorism increased, and immigration and asylum seeking became controversial issues. Tension rose in communities with large populations of Muslims,
and continued following the ‘7/7’ suicide bombings in London on 7 July 2005.
The question of how to successfully integrate Muslims into British society is
frequently raised, yet studies show a mismatch between how Muslims are perceived by white British and others, and how Muslims perceive themselves. A
report by Essex University in 2012 showed many non-Muslims assume Muslims
struggle with Britishness and loyalty to their homeland. Yet it was found that
Muslims identify with Britishness more than any other Britons, with 83 per cent
describing themselves as ‘proud’, compared with 79 per cent of others, and 77 per
cent strongly identifying with Britain, compared with only 50 per cent of the
wider population. However, the study found that 47 per cent of Britons see Muslims as a threat, and only 28 per cent thought Muslims wanted to integrate into
British society. The small number who view British society with contempt frequently explained their disaffection as the result of being labelled outsiders in the
first place.
Acts of Parliament and other measures to promote equality of opportunity
and facilitate integration and assimilation appear to have been largely successful
in the UK, since a new demographic trend is the growth of the mixed-race population. The 2012 census revealed over one million people were born of interracial parentage, although it has been estimated this figure could be closer to
two million, due to many of those with parents of different ethnicities describing themselves as ‘black’ or ‘white’ rather than ‘mixed’ or ‘other’. Current
evidence therefore seems to suggest there is an increasing amount of mixing
and assimilation taking place, which has led to a gradual disappearance of the pronounced racial boundaries that characterised British society between the 1960s
and 1990s. In the arts, ethnically distinctive forms of expression have diminished, while an increasing number of leading figures such as the athlete Jessica
Ennis, racing driver Lewis Hamilton and singer Leona Lewis are all of mixedrace families.
Nevertheless, during the recession years of the late ‘noughties’, immigration
was frequently said by some political parties to be the cause of many of Britain’s
The social and cultural context
27
economic and social problems. The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)
campaigns to take Britain out of the EU and severely restrict immigration, policies that have contributed to its growing popularity among disillusioned voters
of all parties. But others argue that the issue of immigration is used by UKIP
and others as an easy target, when the real causes of current problems such as
unemployment, unaffordable housing and declining public services are far more
complex and difficult to deal with.
Gender issues
In spite of the progress made by the women’s movement since the 1960s, Britain’s
institutions remain largely male dominated. Within Parliament there are still
relatively few female MPs, with 24 in 1945, 41 in 1987, and of the 650 representatives in the 2010 election, there were only 143 women, with 81 in the Labour
Party and 49 in the Conservative Party. The former has recognised the need to
recruit more women candidates and has used all-women shortlists as means to
achieve this. Although it was initially in breach of the Sex Discrimination Act
(1975), the law was changed and the Equality Act (2010) allows an exemption
until 2030. In contrast, the Church has been less responsive to social change.
Within the Church of England, women were first ordained in 1994, but were
excluded from becoming bishops. However, this was due to change in 2015, following pressure to promote females into the rolecapa.
Despite the resistance in some traditional quarters of politics and the Church,
compared with only 20 years ago many women have been able to make considerable advances in their chosen careers, although, mostly, those who do so
are white, middle-class, university graduates. However, in 2013 women earned
approximately 20 per cent less than men in business, industry and government,
even when doing similar types of work. In 2012 almost 20 per cent of company
directors of the UK’s 100 largest listed companies, 20 per cent of university professors and 20 per cent of judges were women. Despite progress being made during
the past ten years, there were still concerns that not enough progress was being
made, leading to allegations of a ‘glass ceiling’ for women – the illusion of the
possibility of progress.
Within the domestic sphere, divorce rates have continued to rise, and in 2004
some 45 per cent of marriages in Britain ended in divorce. The figure increased
from one in three in 1994 to almost one in two in 2013, leaving many women
in single-parent households. Divorce, separation, delayed parenthood, work and
job insecurity mean women tend to marry later and have children much later.
Yet growing equality and liberation do not seem to equal happiness, and in 2012
it was estimated that around one in four women require treatment for depression
at some time. One conclusion is that an incompatibility exists between home
and working lives; that for many women, ‘having it all’ means doing it all, and
frequently doing it alone.
The progress of the last decade in gender equality extended to lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. Only 35 years previously these had
28
The social and cultural context
been largely ignored or marginalised, but in the mid-2000s they had become
increasingly accepted and mainstream, and a series of laws were introduced to
promote equality in relationships and the workplace. The age of consent was
reduced from 18 to 16 in the year 2000, the same as for heterosexual relationships. With greater public tolerance, and employment law that makes discrimination illegal, more individuals publicly declared their sexuality, even in traditional
fields, such as Parliament, the armed forces, the police and the Church. In 2004,
MPs voted to give same-sex couples the same property, taxation and pension
rights as married couples, and gay civil partnerships and marriages were officially
recognised in the Civil Partnership Act (2004) and the Marriage (Same Sex
Couples) Act (2013), which gave gay and lesbian couples the same rights and
responsibilities as married, heterosexual couples in the UK. Around 8000 ceremonies per year are conducted, around half with male couples.
The Equality Act (2007) also made it illegal to discriminate in the provision
of goods and services to same-sex couples, from rooms in hotels to fertilisation
treatment. Although most people welcomed the legislation, and were much more
understanding of gay and lesbian sexuality, it has been more problematic for the
Church of England, which has been divided over the issue. Some ministers are
in favour of holding same-sex marriages in church, while others are against it,
claiming it contradicts biblical teachings and canon law.
The arts in an age of insecurity
From the 1950s to the 1990s the artistic realm had been closely connected to
the political. Advances made by the political left regarding inequalities of class,
ethnicity, gender, sexuality, demands for women’s rights, abortion, divorce and
promotion of alternative lifestyles all inspired many cultural works, which in turn
helped to force change. But, by the twenty-first century there was a growing disconnection. With social progress supported by new legislation, many issues that had
once spurred creativity were increasingly considered to have lost much of their
potency. They had either diminished in importance, become mainstream, or had
become impossible to present to a mass audience. And, even though new challenges emerged, for example an international economic recession, global warming, terrorism, overseas wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rapacious nature of the
financial services industry, a crisis of trust in politics, government and media, as
well as concerns about new diseases and the role of the food and tobacco manufacturers in obesity and smoking, there were few clear lines of creative expression
over how to engage with or solve what were often complex, global problems.
Unlike in previous decades, there was less optimism or certainty about the future,
and less of a belief that politics, science and progressive government could deliver
a better society.
Just as contemporary social issues have become more complex and diverse, so
have British audiences. The traditional working class has fragmented and largely
disappeared, through loss of heavy industries, the reduction in the need for manual work, and the rise of retailing and financial services. Increased educational
The social and cultural context
29
opportunities and fewer social distinctions have also created a more diverse and
generally better educated population, with a variety of tastes and preferences. The
presence of many established ethnic communities and new immigrant groups has
also resulted in new audiences with disparate political and social attitudes.
The presence of diverse populations with varied attitudes, values, preferences
and interests creates a problem for both politicians and the creative industries, as
it becomes more difficult to address them collectively. Thus, it has become much
harder to find large, profitable audiences for creative works. Nevertheless, in
2012 the UK’s creative industries outperformed all other sectors of the economy.
They are said to be worth £71.4 billion per year, employing 1.68 million people,
5.6 per cent of the workforce.
At the same time, the trend away from publicly funded arts has continued,
and amid a global economic recession the coalition government has continued
to make cuts to arts funding. Consequently, to finance most professional projects,
the support of a major organisation is needed, or private financial support from
sponsors and investors has to be found. All these demand project profitability,
and therefore less risk-taking, and there is currently a reluctance to fund critical
or experimental new works. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the need for audiences and
profitability has sometimes led to accusations of ‘dumbing down’; that is, making
cultural material that is simplified and lacking in intellectual content or rigour,
in order to appeal to a mass audience.
The online abundance of free or low-cost books, films, music, newspapers and
information of all kinds has also intensified the situation, and made profitability
harder to achieve. Therefore, there is now much more caution about what gets
made, played and shown. Today, the route is open for almost anyone to become
a film-maker, photographer, musician, writer, citizen journalist, critic and so
on. But, while the processes of production, distribution and consumption have
become much more affordable, democratic and fun, they are frequently less profitable unless they are done with the financial support of a major organisation.
In the new millennium the arts are increasingly used for instrumental purposes. Public and business organisations regularly sponsor projects, exhibitions
and awards in order to gain publicity, earn cultural capital and enhance their
image. For example, Bailey’s Irish Cream sponsors the Women’s Prize for Fiction,
and the car manufacturer Chevrolet sponsors Manchester United’s kit. Similarly,
architecture by famous architects is often used to draw attention to a company,
city or region, such as Richard Rogers’ Lloyd’s building in London, or the Sage
Cultural Centre and Baltic Gallery in Newcastle/Gateshead. On a smaller scale,
sports and community arts projects are also used to foster social cohesion, bringing people together around a shared interest, such as photographic projects,
drama or creative writing. Overseas, British arts are given platforms in exhibitions, festivals and shows curated by the British government and others as part
of ‘soft’ diplomacy, to win friends, cement cultural credibility and attract people
to Britain.
But perhaps the most convincing evidence of the power of the arts to influence
people and move minds is that, despite the difficulty of developing a lucrative
30
The social and cultural context
career in many creative fields, subjects such as television, drama and media studies continue to be some of the most popular courses in British higher education.
Popular culture in the twenty-first century
Around 1960 the word ‘culture’ referred to ‘the best’ that had been thought,
said, written, painted, played. It was patronised by the state, and was something
closely associated with education and improvement. The term was generally used
in what today would be called an ‘elitist’ sense. This is known as the ‘Arnold position’, after Matthew Arnold, which sees culture as works and practices of artistic
and intellectual activity,
However, today the term is used more broadly to refer to a diverse range of tastes
and entertainments – both popular and specialised – and to all the media and
signifying practices of different communities, as well as those of the country as a
whole. As such, the term is used in a more descriptive, anthropological sense. In
this view, culture is everything which isn’t nature; culture is made by humans and
defines us as humans. Critics argue that the difficulty with this is that it includes
everything and excludes nothing. Nevertheless, such a view currently prevails in
most areas of arts education, in community arts and in most areas of academia. In
contrast, the ‘Arnoldian’ view is sometimes considered to be controversial, apart
from in some traditional cultural fields such as ballet, opera and classical music.
Ways of discussing culture have also changed since the 1960s. Instead of citing
canonical works and showing deference towards them, discussion now involves
asking questions about how works emerged in the past, whose interests they
served, how the public reacted, why popular entertainments and practices were
frequently marginalised, derided and ignored, as well as understanding that traditions are not fixed and immutable, but have always been subject to evolution
and change. Consequently, debates about ‘high’ and ‘low’ forms are rarely heard
today, and there is greater emphasis on the role of the arts as entertainment and
information, rather than as a source of improvement, as well as a recognition that
both good and bad examples exist of different cultural forms.
As in the 1960s, there is still some concern expressed among the public and
critics about the political and moral emptiness of some modern works. This is
perhaps unsurprising, given that the great common causes of religion, war and
political ideology, which inspired writers and artists in the twentieth century,
have diminished or disappeared altogether. Moreover, many of Raymond Williams’s predictions of 1961 have some true, as has his wish for a broader education
in schools and universities. Today many courses include studies of society, the
press, film, television and drama, and cultural studies, media and communications are among the most commonly taught subjects in universities, and wide
public and scholarly interest has led to their being the most rapidly growing fields
of employment in Britain.
2
Language in culture
Introduction
The past 400 years have seen an exponential growth in the number of English
speakers worldwide. As fields such as education, entertainment, business, science, technology and the internet have become globalised, knowledge of English
has become essential, and today around two billion people, or almost one third of
the world’s population, have some knowledge of the language. It is the official or
semi-official language of government in 60 countries, and has a significant role
in 28 more.
However, use of English is not uniform. Within Britain diversity is widespread,
particularly in speech. Many dialects co-exist, and differences are apparent even
after travelling just a few miles. Regional accents can also be heard on radio and
television, but standard English grammar and vocabulary is retained for most
kinds of broadcasting.
The British Isles are also home to Welsh, Irish, Scottish-Gaelic and Scots,
which are separate languages with long histories and considerable literatures.
Linguistic diversity has also increased due to immigration, particularly over the
past 70 years. In 2011 the national census revealed that Polish had become the
most commonly spoken foreign language in the UK, with 546,000 speakers, followed by Tamil with 420,000 speakers. London remains the most international
and multicultural of UK cities, with 53 main languages and 107 varieties spoken there. But perhaps the most surprising fact is that 62 per cent of the British
population have absolutely no knowledge of any language other than English,
even though some 76 per cent said they thought having another language was
useful.
Despite its diversity and perhaps because of it, there has never been an official,
regulatory body to standardise the language, and make official pronouncements
about it, either nationally or internationally. Dictionaries such as the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED) tend to reflect how words are actually used, rather than
how they should be used, and grammar books tend to also reflect current usage
and habits. This is known as a descriptive approach to linguistics, rather than a
prescriptive one, and contrasts markedly with the approach of many other countries to matters of correctness and authority in language.
32
Language in culture
A brief history of English
Like many of the world’s languages, English is a hybrid, a linguistic ‘stew’ which
has absorbed varied elements of speech brought by ancient conquering tribes and
nationalities. Latin is one of the most influential, which was introduced by the
Romans around 2,000 years ago. From approximately 500–1200 AD, it was the
official language of the Church, government, education and the law, co-existing
with dialects spoken by other settlers and conquerors from northern Europe. In
the area of Anglia, English was commonly spoken by the Anglo-Saxons, which
was based on the Germanic dialects of Angle, Saxon and Jute invaders who had
crossed the North Sea from lands which now form part of Holland, Germany and
Denmark.
As the population grew and spread, English gradually mixed with other dialects
to become Old English. Few documents survive from the period, but Beowulf,
an epic poem written around the year 1000 in what today seems like an exotic
foreign language, is widely recognised as the earliest surviving literary work in
English. Its theme is a man’s heroic battle against a monster, which attacks his
mead hall, or pub, in a tale of high excitement and violence that would not be
out of place in a modern video game.
Around the twelfth century population movements increased, and dialects from
around the country mixed with Norman French, which was spoken in England
following the Norman conquest of 1066 from northern France. This language was
known as Middle English. Over the next three centuries thousands of new words
were created, adopted and absorbed by government, Church, the law and the military, as well as in education, the arts and at all levels of society, to form the basis
of the modern English language. At the same time, political and religious power
became more centralised in London, and there was a trend towards standardisation of the written language, particularly for legal and religious texts, and by 1500
written English was beginning to resemble the language of today.
The next three centuries brought the international spread of English. On voyages of trade, discovery and invasion, the language was exported to the continents of North America, Africa, Asia and Australasia, where it became the
language of the ruling class, the voice of authority. But due to both its relative
isolation and contact with local languages, neither speech nor writing remained
standardised, and different varieties emerged, such as ‘Singlish’ in Singapore. In
the Caribbean islands of the West Indies, English mixed with African dialects
brought by slaves to form exotic hybrids known as ‘pidgins’. These subsequently
evolved into linguistically standardised ‘creole’ forms of language which would
eventually return to Britain with post-war immigration, and influence English
literature, theatre, popular music and other fields.
In Britain meanwhile, the influence of Latin declined, although until the
mid-twentieth century it was still widely taught in grammar schools. These were
so-called because they provided instruction in Latin grammar which until the
1960s was important for university entrance, particularly for the study of religion,
medicine, law, science, music and foreign languages. In this way, Latin became a
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33
symbol of culture, education and professional aspiration, and many universities,
schools and colleges retained Latin mottos such as ‘Alta Pete’ (‘Aim High’), to
express their ideals and convey a sense of classical tradition.
Today, Latin is not usually required for higher education, and is rarely taught
in schools, even though it is still used for some ceremonial purposes at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. However, the launch year of many artistic
works such as films, books, television programmes, and the year of completion of
public buildings and monuments, still tends to be written using Latin, or Roman
numerals. Latin abbreviations can also be seen on some British coins, and the
use of Norman French for some formalities still persists in Parliament, in a tradition which began soon after the conquest of 1066, when it became the official
language of government.
Speech and social background
The way English is spoken varies around the world, but some of the greatest
variety can be heard in the regions of Britain. Among the most distinctive are
the dialects of Glasgow, Liverpool, the West Midlands, Northern Ireland, Yorkshire, Newcastle and east London. They contain many non-standard words and
their intonation and distinctive pronunciation of vowels makes them easy to
recognise. In Liverpool the dialect is known as Scouse – a mixture of Lancashire,
Irish and Welsh speech – while the vernacular form of east London is Cockney, a
dialect famous for its rhyming slang.
The dialect speech of London’s black communities is also highly distinctive.
In the late twentieth century, forms of speech used by some Afro-Caribbean
immigrants and their descendants mixed dialect speech from the West Indies
(Caribbean creole) with the English accent of the locality. This distinct form of
language was known as black British English or black English vernacular (BEV).
But in recent times there has been a more pronounced trend towards multicultural London English (MLE), a dialect originally spoken by working-class youth
in predominantly black neighbourhoods of London such as Tottenham. Known
locally as ‘Jafaican’, MLE is composed of many elements of creole from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, Trinidad and others, as well as diverse elements from
South Asian languages, African American English and Cockney. A common feature is that question tags, for example ‘doesn’t it’, ‘won’t you’ and ‘aren’t I’ and so
on – which for foreign learners are usually difficult to acquire – are spoken only
as ‘is it’ or ‘innit’, even by native speakers themselves. It has spread out via contact with speakers from other areas, as well as through local radio and internet
stations, and become widely adopted by young men and women of varied social
backgrounds outside London and around south-east England.
MLE is commonly used in performances by many black-British hip-hoppers and
grime MCs such as Dizzee Rascal and Akala, probably in imitation of Jamaican
hip-hop and ragga music stars, such as Beenie Man and Vybz Kartel. But research
indicates the growth and spread of MLE is more likely to be the consequence of
growing up in a culturally diverse city, and exposure to ‘second-language’ English;
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that is, the non-standard English spoken by the city’s diverse overseas population
mixed with local London English.
Received pronunciation
Clearly, accent and dialect give the listener clues not just about a speaker’s geographical background, but also their social hinterland. Non-standard features are
commonly present in the speech of people who have had less formal education,
and who have spent most or all their lives in the same locality. They are also
more common in male speech. Since the eighteenth century this characteristic
has often been exploited by novelists and dramatists who used dialect to create
characters, express their identities and make social comment. For example, in
his novels of London low-life, the Victorian storyteller Charles Dickens made
frequent attempts to re-create Cockney, as did American novelists Herman Melville and Jack London during their time in Britain. The classic works of Thomas
Hardy (Dorset), William Wordsworth (Cumberland) and later D.H. Lawrence
(Nottinghamshire) are all well known for their use of plain, everyday speech of
the regions in which they lived and worked, and link language to the manners,
morals and class of their characters.
The trend in Victorian literature to represent accents of the locality contrasted
with growing public interest in establishing common standards of English. An
increasing demand for education, as well as the need to administer an expanding
British Empire required clear standards of language which would be intelligible to
all foreign subjects. A number of acts were introduced around the mid-nineteenth
century, making education compulsory between the ages of 5 and 13. Class sizes
grew, and the number of public schools expanded, where children of the aristocracy, gentry and of wealthy merchants from around Britain were brought together
and taught a standard form of written English, based on a variety used in government documents around the mid-fifteenth century.
But the most significant development was that educators also desired a standard not only of written English, but of pronunciation, to eliminate what they
considered to be a cacophony of regional accents. Grammarians recommended
the speech of London and the Court as the most correct and desirable. This carried many regional features found in the speech of the south-eastern counties of
England, as far north as Cambridge and as far west as Oxford. But it was selected
because it was the variety spoken by the ruling class – by the aristocracy and
Court – and therefore carried authority. It was sometimes called ‘Queen’s English’
and later became known as ‘received pronunciation’ (often abbreviated to RP),
which everyone could be expected to ‘receive’, that is, understand.
The British Empire and its army, Church, government and administration,
and later the BBC, all recruited the products of the British public schools, many
of whom went on to occupy positions of power and influence. In this way, RP
became the voice of the ruling class, and for many it was and still is synonymous
with power, privilege and authority. Consequently, RP can now be described not
as a regional accent, but a social one.
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35
Figure 2.1 A cartoon in the satirical magazine Punch of 1932 illustrates sociolinguistic
change in rural areas following the advent of radio. Some villagers have begun
copying the ‘BBC accent’, believing it superior. The elderly man in the chair is
depicted as comfortably un-aspirational!
© World History Archive/Alamy
A high degree of social significance came to be attached to RP, whose prestige
and authority implied the inferiority of regional accents and vocabulary. Dialect speakers became socially stigmatised as rustic, provincial, poor and uneducated. What had previously been considered as linguistic differences came to
be seen as linguistic errors, and the socially ambitious began to modify their
speech towards that of their betters. This phenomenon was noted as early as
1912 when George Bernard Shaw observed, ‘It is impossible for an Englishman
to open his mouth without making another Englishman hate or despise him’.
Shaw later wrote the play Pygmalion (1913), in which the language teacher
Professor Higgins (based on the British phonetician Henry Sweet) convinces
poor flower-seller Eliza Doolittle that, with pronunciation lessons, he can make
her appear sophisticated and aristocratic. The play was later adapted into the
musical My Fair Lady.
The arrival of public broadcasting in 1922 helped to extend the social prestige
of RP. Although it was spoken by only 2–3 per cent of the population, it was
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Language in culture
preferred by the BBC because it was widely understood and respected. An advisory committee was appointed to resolve any doubts about pronunciation. Their
judgements on correctness helped to make the broadcaster an unofficial authority
on language, and helped create ‘BBC English’. Moreover, RP’s clear vowel sounds
and exaggerated intonation aided voice projection in large theatres and over the
airwaves, and it was later adopted in drama schools as a standard for teaching purposes. When the ‘talkies’ replaced silent films in Britain during the 1920s some
actors had to retire because their untutored accents were not suitable.
Due to the dominance of RP, for many years non-standard regional speech was
rarely heard on television, radio or at the cinema, except in the roles of ‘character’ actors: players and performers who were spontaneous and open, but usually
had minor parts as poor, comic or deviant characters, such as rural farmworkers
or petty criminals. Similarly, in popular entertainment the success of ‘figures of
fun’ such as Tommy Trinder (a Cockney) and George Formby (from Lancashire)
largely depended on the comic effects produced by their strong regional accents.
During the Second World War their unconventional speech was even used to
fool the enemy. For a brief period the BBC radio news was read by the comedy
actor Wilfred Pickles, whose strong Yorkshire accent could not be easily understood by German Intelligence.
However, a number of post-war education reforms, in particular the Butler
Education Act of 1944, greatly improved educational opportunities for a generation of working-class and lower-middle-class children. There was an expansion of
the university sector and improved access for students from all social backgrounds
and regions, which led to greater social mobility and less deference based on traditional prejudices, such as the way someone spoke.
Speech and the arts
In the post-war period there was a greater openness and authenticity in the arts,
and from the mid-1950s authentic representations of regional speech could be
heard in theatre, television and film. Writers such as Harold Pinter and Joe Orton
accurately used regional dialects to make their plays more realistic, as did television drama series such as Armchair Theatre, soap operas such as Coronation Street
from Manchester and crime series such as Z Cars from Liverpool. All of these
helped to present a more honest and complete view of British life, characters and
accents to audiences around the country. In film, adaptations of ‘realist’ novels
and plays, for example Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of
the Long Distance Runner, accurately portrayed working-class life, and to play the
leading roles, well-known actors such as Albert Finney and Tom Courtney had to
rediscover the northern accents they had lost at drama school.
The emergence of popular culture brought a wider acceptance of regional
speech, particularly as it suddenly become possible for less formally educated individuals to obtain social advancement in new professions such as popular music,
photography, art, design and fashion. In the 1960s, the Beatles from Liverpool,
together with the Rolling Stones and the Who from London showed the way,
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37
and attracted intense public and media interest. New radio stations dedicated to
popular music, such as BBC Radio 1, and television shows such as Ready Steady
Go! and Juke Box Jury provided new stages for the amplification of accented
speech in interviews and comment. Later in the decade, Sean Connery (Scottish), Richard Burton (Welsh) and Michael Caine (from London) became some
of the most popular actors of the time, playing glamorous, sophisticated roles with
non-RP accents. Their talent, status and self-confidence helped regional speech
become fashionable and frequently imitated, especially among the young.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, attitudes to language became more
tolerant, relaxed and less prejudiced. With greater social convergence and less
deference, the RP voice has become less influential and is no longer widely
regarded as the ‘best’ pronunciation. Indeed, the ‘marked’ or ‘advanced’ RP
that linguists associate with the royal family and with high-ranking members of
the armed forces, civil service, Church and so on tends to mark the speaker as
being old fashioned, detached and remote from mainstream society, and is even
rejected by some young people who see it as an unfashionable symbol of traditional values and authority. One consequence is that some speakers, including
the Queen herself, are noted to have modified their accents. After watching the
Queen’s Christmas broadcasts between the 1950s and the 1980s, one study found
that her pronunciation of vowels tended to shift towards more modern and less
old-fashioned forms. Comparable shifts were also noted in the speech of the former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who, it was said, modified
her pronunciation in order to broaden her appeal to a larger number of voters.
Similarly, although marked RP was used some years ago by BBC newsreaders and
commentators on prestigious cultural and artistic events, such as coronations,
Wimbledon tennis, equestrian events and arts programmes, it is now considered
antiquated, and is rarely heard except as the object of satire in comedy shows.
Despite a wider acceptance of regional accents studies show some still have
more positive connotations than others, particularly where a high degree of
credibility is required, such as in advertising, public relations and news reporting. Research suggests that the most desirable accent within England is a mild,
‘moderate’ RP accent, especially among those who speak with marked regional
accents. People claim to prefer the sound of it, and associate it with intelligence,
ambition, occupational status and even good looks! Next to RP, the English are
said to prefer the accent of an educated Scot over the accent of an educated
Welshman or Irishman. Within Scotland, the educated Scottish accent is preferred over RP, while within England the accents of Yorkshire and Newcastle are
highly rated, as are accents from rural areas such as Somerset and Devon. Among
the least liked are those associated with large inner cities, especially those of Birmingham, Liverpool and London.
Preferences over accents are reflected in how businesses and other organisations speak to their public in advertisements. For example, Glasgow has some
of the most distinctive voices in Britain, and in the 1990s many companies
located their call-centres there because they thought that the softer version of
the accent is one of the most friendly and trustworthy in the country. On the
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other hand, advertisers on national radio and television stations rarely choose
local accents to promote their products, and generally prefer a mild RP accent.
In contrast, if the goods have strong traditional or regional associations, such
as beer or bread, they are sometimes promoted with accents that identify the
product with the locality, for example Warburton’s bread (Bolton, Lancashire),
or Foster’s beer (Australia).
Today, a more moderate RP accent is still widely used as a model for teaching English to foreign students, but it is still only spoken by around 3 per cent
of the population (approximately half the percentage of Britons who attend
public school). This sometimes causes confusion for overseas visitors, who may
have studied English for many years, yet still have difficulty understanding many
British native speakers.
Taboo words and political correctness
Despite the mass acceptance of regional accents, in the 1950s the use of swearwords was still considered taboo not only in the mass media, but also in literary
works. This changed in 1960, after Penguin Books published the D.H. Lawrence
novel of 1928, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Previously, the novel had not been openly
available, mainly because the frequent use of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘cunt’. But
social attitudes were becoming more liberal, and a number of legal reforms had
reflected this, including the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. This permitted
the publication of previously prohibited works, as long as they could be shown
to have literary merit. A legal challenge was made to Penguin Books, and the
author E.M. Forster and the academics Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams
gave evidence defending publication of Lady Chatterley. Finally, a verdict of ‘not
guilty’ was delivered, ensuring that literary works containing swear-words could
be openly published without fear of prosecution. However, the offending words
remained absent even from the OED until 1972.
Swear-words remained absent in the public media of television and radio until
1965, when, amid public outrage and anger, the theatre critic and author Kenneth Tynan uttered the word ‘fuck’ in a live television interview. In response, one
Tory MP said he should be hanged. The next decades saw a gradual relaxation of
broadcasting standards, and the public gradually became more accepting of the
use of expletives, whether late at night on TV, or in the cinema. In the film Four
Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Hugh Grant utters the word ‘fuck’ ten times in
the first three minutes, and appears to make it a characteristic of English charm.
In the award-winning BBC4 political satire The Thick of It (2005) the protagonist Malcolm Tucker, in his role as director of communications, is seen swearing
heroically throughout the show. By 2012 the Guardian newspaper was printing
the word ‘fuck’ several hundred times each year, while several other tabloid press
still timidly printed the word as ‘f***’, supposedly to preserve the delicate sensibilities of its readers.
Today, it is not unusual to hear occasional profanities in dramatic works shown
on television after 9 p.m., and there are no limitations on language in literary
Language in culture
39
works or cinema films intended for adults only, while even films for under-18s
may contain some swearing if the context and type are considered appropriate.
In contrast to more liberal attitudes shown towards the use of swear-words in
literary works and the mass media, concern about politically correct language
has increased. This is broadly defined as using words (or behaviour) that will
not offend any particular groups who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated
against, particularly due to differences of race, gender, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or physical disability. Since the late twentieth century the importance of
political correctness in the UK has grown, largely in response to society becoming more plural, multicultural and inclusive. Today, it is observed in most areas
of public life, and is supported by anti-discrimination and equal opportunities
legislation.
With regard to political correctness and gender, linguistic aspects involve attempts
to make language more neutral. Thus, as women have fought to obtain equality
with men in employment, many job titles and advertisements have changed. So,
for example, chairman has become ‘chair person’ or ‘chair’, headmaster has become
‘head’ and fireman has become ‘fire-fighter’. It has also become illegal to advertise a
job specifically for a man or woman, except in a very small number of cases.
In a similar way, making distinctions in language that may marginalise or insult
different racial groups has also become illegal, particularly in the media and other
public and professional communications. Use of the word ‘nigger’ is considered
extremely offensive, and in recent years the public use of such words has led to
disciplinary action against those caught using it. In 2014 a BBC employee was
dismissed for playing a version of the song ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’ from
1932. The song contained the word ‘nigger’ since at the time the song was written,
its usage was considered acceptable on the radio. Even so, the BBC considered
it unacceptable for radio broadcast, and although many newspapers reported the
story they declined to print the word, using the expression ‘n-word’ instead.
Similar attitudes exist when referring to people with disabilities; for example,
the use of words such as ‘cripple’ have become taboo, while the more moderatesounding ‘handicapped’ or ‘disabled’ are no longer considered appropriate to
describe a person (although public signage may refer to ‘disabled parking’, for
example). Instead, those who cannot see or hear, may be described as ‘vision
impaired’ or ‘hearing impaired’, while ‘dumb’ – meaning people who cannot
speak – is also taboo, and is replaced by ‘without speech’.
Most people in Britain respect political correctness. It is embedded in the law,
and restricts those who may discriminate against, insult and marginalise others.
However, some consider it has become too extreme, and argue that a person
being described in official documents as ‘vertically challenged’ instead of ‘short’
is plain silly. They claim ‘normal’ free speech is being restricted, and sometimes
offer non-existent examples or ‘urban myths’ in their defence, such as the (fictitious) local authority that renamed its blackboards as ‘chalkboards’ to avoid
offending black people, or a city council that banned Christmas to avoid offending Jews, Muslims and Sikhs. A third position is taken up by those who argue
that the most extreme examples of racism, sexism and homophobia can be found
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Language in culture
among the communities of ethnic minorities. They point out that challenging
minorities over their intolerant or politically incorrect beliefs or behaviour is
necessary, and is not the same as oppressing them. Thus, the situation is clearly
an intricate one, and even though political correctness receives support in law,
there are many complexities to its expression.
Authority in English
Given the amount of variety in English at a local, national and international
level, it may appear strange that there has never been an academy or legislative body to exercise control over the language. During the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, proposals for an academy regularly came from leading
poets and authors such as Pope, Swift, Dryden and Defoe. However, they were
gradually abandoned when substantial, authoritative dictionaries began to
appear, such as Dr Samuel Johnson’s. Unlike earlier works Johnson’s dictionary
included many everyday words and used literary quotations to illustrate current usage and word meaning. This technique is still used in the compilation
of dictionaries today; for example, the OED records how language is actually
used, and the meanings words hold for people. This is known as a descriptive
approach to recording pronunciation and word meaning, and contrasts with a
prescriptive approach, which gives ultimate, fixed meanings to words, describing how they should be used, rather than how they really are used when people
communicate.
The foundations of the English language include around 1500 words that a
foreign learner needs to communicate at an intermediate level, compared with
estimates of approximately 20,000 active words and 40,000 passive ones for an
educated native speaker, even though Fabio Capello, the Italian ex-manager of
the England football team, famously claimed that he could manage on just 100.
However, the full version of today’s OED consists of around 750,000 words, covering the period from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day.
Once a word has entered the dictionary, it stays there as part of the history of
the language. Until the mid-1970s mainly English and American-English words
were recorded, but today many different forms are recognised, such as Australian,
Indian, South African, and even slang words and internet English. For example,
in 2004 the OED recorded a number of Hindi words entering general use, including many new ones related to food, such as ‘balti’ and ‘masala’, as well as more
vulgar forms such as ‘chuddies’ (underpants), which is claimed to have entered
usage from the TV comedy series The Kumars at No. 42 and Goodness Gracious
Me. However, this process of adoption and assimilation is not new, and illustrates
how Asian speech is currently influencing British English, just as the speech of
the Vikings, Normans and Irish did in the past.
To celebrate the creativity of English speakers when confronted by social,
political or technological change, the OED announces a ‘word of the year’.
Words need to have become prominent or notable in the year in question, and
are selected from around 150 million on the web each month, with software
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41
which can also track changes in geography, register and frequency of use. Recent
winners include ‘chav’ (2004), ‘credit crunch’ (2008) and ‘selfie’ (2013).
The OED also includes words commonly used in professional fields such as
sport, advertising and marketing. Since the 1980s Britain has become increasingly
business-oriented and many organisations in the public and private sector have
introduced American-style management practices. This includes a special kind of
vocabulary used in fields such as advertising, marketing and management in order to
ape their supposed professionalism. ‘Management-speak’ is one such example, and
typically involves unusual elaborations of what is being said in the form of ‘buzzwords’ or neologisms, sometimes to conceal the real meaning. Thus, expressions
such as ‘awaydays’, ‘dotted-line management’ and the ‘deliverance’ of ‘performance
management training’ are now common. Problems become ‘challenges’, patients
and passengers become ‘customers’, and ‘360 degree thinking’ becomes normal
‘going forward’. In the UK, studies show that many employees would prefer needless
jargon to be removed, and even that it could be damaging for business, indicating
that some management practices characteristic of American organisational culture
may not be appropriate for many British working environments. Such jargon has
also proved an entertaining source of television satire, in series such as The Office
(on daily office routines at a paper manufacturers), Twenty-Twelve (on the organisation of the Olympic Games) and W1A (on managerial culture at the BBC).
Although spellings and word meanings are covered by the OED, it is not
always clear or obvious what constitutes good and bad grammar. Arguments in
the media about split infinitives and grammatical structures are common, while
the use of the grocer’s apostrophe – so-called for its frequent appearance in fruit
and vegetable shops advertising ‘apple’s’, ‘pear’s’, ‘green’s’, and so on – along with
the issue of whether or not it is correct to end a sentence with a preposition, has
exercised the public’s imagination since poet John Dryden first mentioned it in
the seventeenth century. Despite its superficial aridity there is clearly a fondness
for punctuation among the British public, which was demonstrated by the unexpected success of Lynn Truss’s bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves, an entertaining
account of the ‘zero tolerance approach to punctuation’ in 2003.
Just as the RP accent generally produces a positive attitude in listeners, the
same appears to be true of those writing with formally correct English. One study
into online dating examined 500,000 first contacts, and concluded that ‘netspeak’, consisting of bad grammar and non-standard spelling such as ‘ur’, ‘r’, ‘u’,
‘ya’, ‘cant’, ‘luv’ and ‘wat’ are all damaging when used in communications with
potential online partners. On the other hand, correct use of apostrophes and
grammar made the author more appealing. It appears that one way of ‘filtering’
applicants is observing how they use language, and formally correct use of grammar is attractive. The study concluded that the use of formally correct grammar
indicates that knowledge has been acquired and care taken, which makes them
potentially more desirable to a partner.
Nevertheless, rules of English grammar can sometimes be unclear and ambiguous, and while some argue for the clarity and elegance of formal, standard English,
others argue that it is often dictated by a series of archaic rules, which have little
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Language in culture
Figure 2.2 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: the last word in punctuation – and an unexpected bestseller
in 2003.
© David Christopher
connection with how people really communicate when they use clear, idiomatic ways. Formality also ignores Americanisms, and the widespread use of social
media, which requires more memorable, pithy writing. Instead, they argue that
the key to both speaking and writing successfully is to use forms that are suitable
for their purpose, whether an academic essay, a legal text, an advert or a poem.
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Linguistic diversity: the Celtic connection
It is often imagined that Britain is a linguistically homogeneous country, but
there are several other indigenous languages that have been present in Britain
for over 2,000 years. Most are varieties of Gaelic, the language of the Gaels,
a Celtic tribe who came from the continent of Europe. Gaelic is a separate
language from English, which it predates by several hundred years. Most
accounts begin around the fourth century BC, when the Gaels settled in
Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and later in southern England and parts
of Wales.
Some 800 years later, around the fifth century AD, invading Anglo-Saxon
tribes from northern Europe forced British Celts to flee west and north to the
safety of the hills and mountains of Cornwall, Devon, Wales, Scotland, and to
the Brittany region of France. The geographic isolation of groups of Gaelic speakers led to linguistic and cultural differences, as Welsh, Irish and Scottish-Gaelic
all developed independently. Others varieties existed too: Cornish was spoken
in the counties of Cornwall and Devon, and Manx in the Isle of Man. Cornish
largely disappeared in the early nineteenth century and Manx during the late
1940s, but in recent years there has been a revival of interest in minority languages, and today there are educational opportunities to learn them, as well as
cultural events which aim to practise, promote and celebrate their heritage in the
areas where they were once spoken.
Welsh
For almost 1,000 years until the Act of Union with England in 1536, Welsh was
the only language spoken in Wales. But from then until the mid-twentieth century, it became marginalised as English became the language of government, education and trade. Welsh was only spoken at home and in church and the number
of speakers slowly declined. But not everyone was willing to adopt English ways,
and in 1865 a party of 165 men and women emigrated to Patagonia in Argentina,
where Patagonian Welsh is still spoken by their descendants.
In the twentieth century use of Welsh continued to decline until the 1960s,
when a growing sense of political nationalism and Welsh identity led to demands
to revive the language. The British government assisted with the establishing
of BBC Wales in 1964, the first regional service in Britain. Local newspapers in
Welsh appeared in the 1970s, and official support for the Welsh language was
firmly established with the Welsh Language Act (1993), which stipulated that
Welsh and English should be considered as equal languages in public affairs and
the administration of justice. Welsh is now studied in all Welsh schools, and
several offer a Welsh-medium education.
Efforts to revive the language have been successful, and in 2011, of a population of around 2.9 million, almost 600,000 were Welsh speakers. The language
is widely used for official purposes, for example in most place names, road signs,
job advertisements and public-information documents. Its literature is among
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Language in culture
the oldest in Europe, and is celebrated each year during a national festival of
music, literature and drama known as the Royal National Eisteddfod, an event
which originated in the twelfth century. It is held each year during the first
week of August, and alternates between North and South Wales. A separate
international festival of music and folk dancing known as the International
Music Eisteddfod attracts people from all over the world to recite poetry, sing
and dance in the Welsh town of Llangollen. Numerous radio stations and the
television channel S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru – Channel 4 Wales) broadcast in
Welsh, and today the country is comparatively well served by a Welsh-language
mass media.
Irish
Irish is a Celtic language, and is also known as Irish Gaelic, or Erse. It was widely
spoken in a united, independent Ireland until the country became part of the
United Kingdom with the Act of Union of 1801. Then, its use in urban areas
began a rapid decline as English came to dominate Irish affairs. Following
the death and emigration of millions of Irish speakers from rural areas during the
catastrophic famine of 1845–8, there were even fewer speakers. But towards the
end of the nineteenth century a Republican movement for independence from
Britain emerged, whose supporters adopted Irish as a distinctive symbol of their
culture and identity. In 1921 the south of Ireland gained partial independence,
Figure 2.3 Language can be an emotive subject. In 2014 members of the Welsh Language
Society protested in Aberystwyth, Wales, demanding better promotion of Welsh.
© Keith Morris News/Alamy
Language in culture
45
and its new government began to organise a revival of Irish. Today, Irish is the
first official language of the Irish Republic, and of some 3.5 million inhabitants,
over one million speak both Irish and English. It is now taught in schools as a
second language, and there is a small Irish media.
While Irish has become mainstream and readily accepted in the Republic, in
Northern Ireland use of the language remains strongly politicised and closely
linked with nationalist politics. Until 1972 the British government excluded
it from radio and television broadcasts, but since then there have been official
efforts to encourage its use. In 1981 an Irish daily newspaper La (meaning ‘Day’)
was founded, and in 2004 the British government set up a fund to support Irishlanguage film and television production in Northern Ireland. In 2006 the British
government gave an undertaking to encourage the language in education, place
names, media and cultural activities, and today there are bilingual schools in
Belfast, while the BBC and independent stations broadcast television and radio
programmes in Irish.
However, as Irish still has no official status, it is difficult to obtain reliable data
on the number of speakers. But the 2011 Census found that over 10 per cent
of the Northern Irish population (184,898) had some knowledge of Irish, with
large numbers around Slaghtneill in southern Londonderry, and in the Gaeltacht
Quarter (An Cheathru Ghaeltachta) of Belfast. There are also Irish-speaking
primary schools, secondary schools and crèches, as well as Belfast’s Raido Failte,
Northern Ireland’s only full-time Irish-language station.
Scottish Gaelic and Scots
Scottish Gaelic has a similar turbulent history, beginning around the fifth century AD when tribes of Gaels from Ireland and the north of England arrived in
the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. But over the years the number of
speakers declined, as many left their isolated farms and villages in pursuit of more
prosperous lives in the expanding cities. More tragically, others were forced to
leave, as landowners cleared their tenants off their lands to make way for sheep
farming in what were known as ‘the clearances’, one of the darkest chapters in
the history of the British Isles. This gradual depopulation of the countryside has
left Scottish-Gaelic speakers in steady decline from 250,000 in 1891, to fewer
than 58,000 in 2011 (around 1 per cent of the Scottish population), with fewer
than 200 monoglot speakers.
Until very recently Scottish Gaelic was neglected, and seen as a language spoken only by the rural poor, but today it is taught in schools, broadcast on television and radio, and receives financial support from the British government.
There are many festivals, or Feisean, celebrating Gaelic music, dance and drama,
the oldest and largest being the curiously named Royal National Mod, an annual
event held in October in different locations each year. However, the literary corpus remains small, and is most noted for its eighteenth-century poetry, a tradition which Sorley Maclean and other writers continued into the mid-twentieth
century.
46
Language in culture
In contrast to the Highlands where Scottish Gaelic is spoken, the Lowlands
is home to the Scots or ‘Lallans’ (‘lowlands’) language, which is closely related
to a dialect of Old English. Although Scots became associated with the rural
poor, prestigious literary figures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries such
as Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson frequently wrote in
Scots. In their view it was the authentic voice of the oppressed poor, and deserved
to be heard. Robert Burns remains one of Scotland’s best-known literary and historical figures. His birthday is celebrated each year on Burns Night (25 January),
which typically features readings of his poetry and a haggis supper. His ‘Auld Lang
Syne’, a song written in Scots about nostalgic reunion, is sung by British people
around the world at midnight on 31 December. It has become one of the most
traditional of British anthems, even though it is written in words which, to most
English speakers, resemble a foreign language.
In the twentieth century the best-known exponent of Scots poetry was Hugh
MacDiarmid, a passionate Scot who founded the Scottish Nationalist Party
(SNP), while Tom Leonard is one of the leading playwrights who continue to
write in various forms of Scots and promote the language today. In 2004 the
new Scottish Parliament elected its first national poet or ‘Scots Makar’, who
represents and promotes Scots poetry, a post currently held by poet and dramatist
Liz Lochhead. But in spite of attempts to aid and assist the language, its position
remains precarious. Some critics argue it is a dialect of English, while others claim
it is an artificial form that is only exploited for literary purposes. And, because it
is not recognised as an official language, it is not recorded in national censuses.
Therefore, data about the number of speakers is unreliable and few funds are
available for its support.
Non-indigenous languages
Although Britain is a predominantly Anglo-Saxon country, ethnic diversity is
a major characteristic of many large towns and cities. Britain’s global expansion over the past 500 years has resulted in a steady flow of immigration, which
increased substantially in the twentieth century. Since the 1930s Jews, Russians
and Italians have settled in Britain following persecution, war and poverty in
Europe. Later, during the 1940s and 1950s the government invited Commonwealth citizens to fill job vacancies in the major towns and cities, and several
periods of immigration followed. The new immigrants arrived mainly from West
Africa, the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong, settling in areas where
work was plentiful and housing cheap, for example in the central parts of London,
Leicester, Slough, Birmingham and Bradford, as well as in the major ports of Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool.
With people of Asian descent being the most numerous minorities of British
cities, the most widely spoken foreign languages are those of the Asian subcontinent, such as Urdu from Pakistan, and Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Gujarati from
India. They are well protected by an educational policy which provides tuition
Language in culture
47
in the native language, and an established mass media of newspapers, radio and
television programmes.
However, many Asians have a complex relationship with English, where ability often varies according to age: for example, in 2011 the inner London borough
of Tower Hamlets was 37 per cent Bangladeshi, but less than two-thirds of these
spoke English. The most proficient speakers of English are children, the majority
of whom grow up speaking both English and the community language. In contrast, the community elders often have a poor command of the English language.
In recent times many workers from European countries have also migrated to
the UK in search of work and a better standard of living. After the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, many Poles settled and found work in the UK, and
in 2011 there were over half a million, making them the third largest foreignborn community in Britain after Irish and Indian-born people. Polish has become
the second most spoken language in the UK, with approximately the same number of speakers as Welsh. Unlike many migrants from the sub-continent and
Caribbean, Poles often settled in quiet rural areas and provincial towns of East
Anglia and the East Midlands, working in light industry and agriculture. Despite
their numbers, the cultural impact has been small, with the possible exception of
Polish delicatessens which have become an increasingly common sight on many
British high streets.
3
Cyberculture
Introduction
Britain has become one of the most digitally connected societies in the world,
and for many people of all ages smartphones, mobile devices and computers
with internet access have become essential accessories of everyday life. Today,
almost 90 per cent of the population have access to the internet, and the average user spends an average of 43 hours per month online, or 1 in 12 waking
minutes. The amount of time spent online and the use of computers not just for
communication, but for education, business and entertainment, has facilitated
the development of a culture, often referred to as cyberculture. The consequences have been profound – in less than a decade it has come to influence
how we think, read, write, live, work, play, shop, consume, socialise, gamble
and much more.
In the arts, spectacular changes have taken place, as digital media has facilitated a shift in production away from the specialists and towards the amateurs
and casual enthusiasts. Consequently, the cultural industries have been remade,
and almost anyone can be a photographer, broadcaster, film-maker, publisher,
singer, citizen journalist or critic. On the one hand, production costs have fallen,
and the variety of available material increased. But on the other, there is an
increasing amount of competition, and this, together with the downloading –
often for free – of music, films, books and other media, has led to falling profits. Major investors in traditional media such as television, film and music have
become less willing to invest, and there is now more caution about what gets
made, played and shown.
Online retailing has become a significant area of growth. The British are now
the biggest online shoppers in the world, with six out of every ten adults regularly
buying products such as books, music, films, food and flights on their gadgets. The
trend towards home shopping is mirrored by the growth in home entertainment,
and attendances at cinemas, theatres and concerts have declined. In contrast,
demand for video games has significantly increased and some of the best-known
and most successful in the world are made in Britain, such as Grand Theft Auto
and Tomb Raider. Games are now on a par with film, television and animation in
terms of sales, revenue, popularity and cultural influence. Most newspapers carry
Cyberculture
49
reviews of new releases and versions, and there is an established awards ceremony
each year, hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA).
As online domestic services and entertainments have grown, socialising in pubs
and clubs has fallen, and the number of dating websites has increased. Currently,
there are over 1400 sites and online dating is the most common way to meet a new
partner. At the same time, Facebook has become the most popular social medium
in Britain, providing an easy accessible way to find old friends, keep in touch and
form new relationships. The popularity of social media has also led to the creation
of a number of communications awards, such as best use of Twitter, YouTube and
Facebook, Best Business Blog, Best Low Budget Campaign, and so on.
But, as the internet has expanded, creativity flourished and individual opportunities grown, the powers of the Orwellian Big Brother have also increased. The
British government and private, commercial organisations can readily gather and
monitor personal communications; consequently there is growing concern about
the loss of privacy and civil liberties. Citizens are increasingly anxious about the
ways different organisations can watch, photograph, monitor and obtain private
information and ‘metadata’ about them, effectively tracking their lives from the
cradle to the grave.
How did we get here?
For anyone born after 1990 it can be difficult to imagine how much the panorama
of communications has changed in Britain. In the early 1980s computers were still
large, expensive, highly specialised business machines, which were rarely seen outside large organisations. Phones were still simple gadgets that needed a landline,
and only around 65 per cent of homes had one. They took several weeks to install
and were expensive to use. The idea of mobile phones and video technology were
still the preserve of science fiction, and telecoms were tightly regulated by the Post
Office. The expression ‘are you on the phone?’ meaning ‘do you have a phone at
home?’ was still common, and many people relied on public call boxes, patiently
queuing outside the small red kiosk, keenly clutching a handful of coins to ‘feed’
the machine inside. The alternative was to write a letter, usually by hand, put the
paper in an envelope, seal it, moisten the stamp with the tongue and walk to the
post box, in a ritual unchanged since the advent of the penny post in 1840.
Despite its proximity to the present, the procedure can now seem antiquated
and remote for many young Britons, such has been the speed of change. This is
largely due to major advances in communications and their importance for business, particularly since the early 1980s. It was at that time, as part of the Conservative government’s privatisation programme, that telecoms were deregulated. In
turn, many new companies emerged, offering a wider range of cheaper, quicker
telecom services.
Despite the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989 by British scientist Tim
Berners-Lee, it was not until the early 2000s that its influence began to be felt in
Britain with the arrival of broadband, which offered faster communications and
more reliable downloading of music, television shows, films and other files. After
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Cyberculture
several years of rapid expansion, in 2013 there were some 21.7 million residential broadband connections in Britain, with 75 per cent of adults having access,
either at home or from their mobile devices.
Gadgets such as smartphones and other mobile devices have proliferated in the
UK and today many people seem to live their lives through them, which have
become a kind of umbilical cord with the rest of society. In trains, pubs and many
other public places, people stare into small devices, oblivious to the world around
them. But the versatility of devices has allowed them to do much more than
make calls, write texts and keep up appearances. Phones have simultaneously
become a mailbox, a business aid, a tool for media production, distribution and
consumption, a fashion accessory, and a statement of modernity and aspiration
for conspicuous display on tables and desks.
As a consequence of frequent use, attention spans also appear to have shortened, and many users are unable to read or listen to a text for more than a short
period without feeling the need to produce one. And while taking and making
calls was previously confined to an office or dedicated space in the home, such as a
hallway, today it is common for calls to be made and texts checked and sent while
simultaneously talking with others. This can be to their irritation and annoyance,
as no rules of etiquette appear have emerged over how to use the phone politely.
The novelty and dynamism of social media means that trends in usage are constantly evolving. The more affluent social groups spend more time online than
the less affluent, and emailing, banking, researching goods and services, social
networking and gazing at images of the unattainable in an ‘escape attempt’ from
the routine world of work are among the main usages. Among ethnic minorities,
there is an even higher level of households with internet access and/or a smartphone, compared with the UK population as a whole, as well as higher levels of
downloading music, uploading photographs and developing social networking
profiles, particularly among Indian and Pakistani communities, as a globalised
world strives to keep in touch.
Smartphones are ubiquitous in the UK, and almost 60 per cent of British adults
own one, with 63 per cent of users accessing social networks on their phones. As
the cost of broadband has fallen, usage has increased, in some cases to an almost
pathological level of consumption. In 2011, a study of users in the UK found that
81 per cent have their phones switched on at all times, 51 per cent of adults and
65 per cent of teenagers admitted using their phones when with friends or family,
and 23 per cent of adults and 34 per cent of teenagers admitted to using them at
meal times. Waking at night to check emails and even log on, as well as checking
mail on waking, affects between a fifth and a third of users. Many also report watching two or more screens at the same time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, addiction to the
internet and especially social media has become a recognised medical condition.
Social media
The presence of social media and the low cost and extensive availability of the
internet has led to significant changes in how the British communicate. In 2012,
Cyberculture
51
of a total population of 63.7 million, around 33 million adults accessed the internet every day, with almost half (48 per cent) using social networking sites such as
Facebook and Twitter. This makes the UK the second most prolific users of social
media in Europe after the Netherlands.
Of all British adult internet users in 2014, some 50 per cent have a Facebook
account, 26 per cent have a Twitter account, 19 per cent are on GooglePlus,
18 per cent on LinkedIn, 13 per cent on Instagram, followed by 8 per cent on
Flickr and 6 per cent on Pinterest. Use of social media is most common among
the 18–24-year-olds, with 91 per cent of internet users in this group owning a
Facebook account. The least engaged are the over-65-year-olds, with 18 per cent
of users owning a social media account. Approximately equal numbers of men
and women contacting social media sites, although more men have accounts
with LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter, and more women hold Facebook and Pinterest accounts.
Today, almost all organisations, individuals and companies understand the
need to represent themselves on social media. Many communicate directly with
the public by blogs, and use multiple sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
and YouTube. In politics, the parties regularly ‘listen’ to conversations on media
such as Twitter, and the government attempts to respond quickly to media news
and action occurring in real time. British businesses also understand key social
media themes of self-promotion, competition, brand equity, sustainability and
social responsibility, and, from small pubs and restaurants to large transnational
corporations, almost all have a presence on Facebook.
Facebook has become the most important and popular social medium in the
UK. It is particularly important for making contact with younger consumers. In
2013 there were some 2.5 million 13–17-year-old users, with almost 26 per cent
of UK Facebook users in this age bracket, the largest concentration of users of
any social media platform. The opportunity to publicly demonstrate style, status,
taste and consumption influences many to sign up, and research has found that
most organisations and individuals try to present themselves online in the way
they think society expects, so profiles tend to be expressed in a conformist way,
emphasising personal happiness, material success, leisure and physical attraction.
Its ‘like’ function also offers an insight into British popular preferences, which
also tend to be conservatively expressed. In February 2014, two of the top three
most ‘liked’ British products are Cadbury brands of chocolate, EastEnders is the
most popular television soap opera page with three million likes and Mr Bean has
the fastest growing Facebook page. Rihanna is the platform’s most liked celebrity,
and Manchester United the UK’s most liked sports page.
Although statistics about Facebook ‘likes’ and preferences can appear useful
for business marketing, the opposite may be true. Just under half the UK online
population who use social media state that they do not like seeing adverts that
are based on their profile and their ‘likes’ and so on, on sites such as Facebook.
Additionally, just under half (44 per cent) of the British online population say
they would not be more positive about a product simply because their friends
have followed it and/or liked it, and 43 per cent said they would be unlikely to
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Cyberculture
talk about a brand on a social media site even if they heard something positive
about it.
After Facebook, the second most popular social media site is Twitter, with
around 15 million UK users, the fourth largest number of Twitter users in the
world after the USA, Brazil and Japan. However, not all users are active, and
around 40 per cent prefer to absorb content, that is follow rather than tweet. One
of its main functions is that it enables people and organisations to have direct
contact with the public, effectively ‘broadcasting’ to them and keeping them up
to date with their thoughts on current issues, new product launches and so on. As
with other social media, Twitter can also offer insights into consumption patterns
of young Britons. The singer Adele currently has the most followed account in
the UK with almost 20 million followers worldwide, while the footballer Wayne
Rooney is the most followed sportsman with 7.5 million followers. The most
popular brand is Rockstar Games who make the video game Grand Theft Auto,
with around 2.2 million followers. In contrast, the British monarchy has around
650,000 followers and the British prime minister has around half a million.
The most popular site for networking is LinkedIn, which had over 10 million
UK users in 2013. It was once seen as a place for aspirational young professionals
to deposit their CVs in the hope of getting a lucrative job offer, but today more
people are using it for business knowledge and keeping in touch, since it now
offers an alumni search and has a lower minimum age limit of 13.
Mumsnet
Of the most popular Twitter sites, the ‘Twitter 100’, over 75 per cent are
created and run by men. It is sometimes argued that the male sites encourage competitive behaviour, aggression and showing off, which discourages
women from participation. But in response to the perceived need for a site
dedicated to mothers and parents, Mumsnet was started in 2000 by Justine
Roberts, a former sports journalist. It aims to provide advice and information
on parenting and products, and has since become one of the most influential sites in the UK with a membership of around 4.5 million. Most members
are aged 25–45 and many are expatriates seeking information from British
sources, and around 75 per cent are educated to degree level or equivalent.
Its membership is highly active, and the site gets some 60 million hits per
month, with around 30,000 posts a day to forums within the site. Mumsnet
also has a Bloggers’ Network with 3,500 registered bloggers and a network
of 200 local sites run in partnership with local editors.
There is a strong sense of solidarity among Mumsnet members, which
has helped the organisation to campaign successfully in many fields. One
notable campaign involved an advert that used the slogan ‘Career women
make bad mothers’. But after Mumsnet members complained and lobbied
the advertising agency and their clients, the slogan was changed to ‘Sexist
ads are bad for business’. Later in 2010, the campaign ‘Let Girls Be Girls’
demanded that newsagents removed or covered ‘lads’ mags’ – magazines
with images of topless young women on the cover – which could easily
Cyberculture
53
be seen by children. In turn, many major retailers responded by ensuring
the magazines were not on public view. Other campaigns have included the
advocacy of better care for women who miscarry during pregnancy, and a
Respite Care campaign that calls on local authorities to provide adequate
short breaks for families with disabled children. In 2013 the site also launched
a campaign to prevent sales representatives gaining access to women in
hospital maternity wards.
Their organisation and activity has also attracted the attention of politicians seeking to influence women and gain their support at election time.
The 2010 election was nicknamed the ‘Mumsnet election’ as many politicians
believed they could influence a significant number of women by communicating through Mumsnet online forums. In consequence, the site became
a target for political advertising and live webchats with party leaders, in an
attempt to influence a significant percentage of the electorate.
Despite their positive image and campaigning, Mumsnet has sometimes
attracted criticism. In March 2012 the pressure group Fathers 4 Justice
launched a campaign against the kind of comments and language used in
some forums, alleging that it was anti-male, and that if used in this way
against other races and sexualities, it would be considered unacceptable or
illegal. This included a naked protest at Marks & Spencer (which advertises
on Mumsnet), in which protesters took off their clothes to draw attention to
their cause. But in spite of occasional criticism, the site remains one of the
most active, informative and popular in the UK, capable of generating news,
comment and political action.
Trends in social media
Social media plays a significant role in people’s online activity, and Facebook is
the most popular site. But, although it continues to expand globally, in the UK
it is experiencing a decline with 1.5 million fewer active users in 2013 than in
the previous year. Those switching to other sites express concerns about digital
legacy as the main reason. Digital legacy refers to the way in which content, such
as photos and comments, have been posted online and may come back to trouble
and embarrass the user later in life. The main beneficiaries have been sites such
as Snapchat, which allow users to set a time limit for the availability of each post;
once the limit has expired, content is deleted from the app’s servers. Teenagers
are the core audience, and 70 per cent are female.
Facebook is also popular among parents, and this appears to be another reason for
younger users to leave. It appears that while parents used to worry about the possible
consequences of teenagers using social media, teenagers are now concerned about
their parents becoming active users. This results in children often switching sites,
as Facebook is no longer seen as ‘cool’. One study showed that mum sending son or
daughter a ‘friend’ request was the key moment that influenced them to leave.
Additionally, another recent study showed that around two in five of UK users
are becoming bored with traditional social media, with users switching away from
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Cyberculture
sites that only connect people, such as Facebook and Friends Reunited, to those
that have a specific purpose, for example sports, consumer, technical and medical forums and political campaigns. Among the most popular are Mumsnet.com,
and moneysavingexpert.com (a consumer financial advice site), which now has
as many active users as Twitter in the UK. Similarly, sites that originally offered
only limited functions, such as information about music, cars or football teams,
are now offering social media functions too, such as the music site Spotify, whose
UK users currently spend around 14 hours per week accessing its services.
One of the areas most affected by the arrival of social media has been politics
and political communications. In the 2010 election, close attention was paid by
researchers to how election campaigners, commentators and voters would respond
to new digital campaigns set up by the parties. These involved studies of Twitter,
Facebook, crowdsourced advertisements, sentiment tracking (of expressed ‘likes’
in Facebook) and internet polling. It was found that 18–24-year-olds were the
most active social media users in terms of election discussion, with 25 per cent
posting election related comments on Facebook and Twitter, and of those 81 per
cent felt ‘engaged’ in the election. The election witnessed 600 candidates on
Twitter, together with several hundred journalists, party workers and ‘spin doctors’, and it was at this time that Twitter became an essential source of real-time
information, enabling journalists to be in constant contact with political representatives. In 2010, 198 members of the new Parliament and five members of
the cabinet were active on Twitter, a figure which is constantly rising and which
illustrates just how important digital communications have become to politics.
Just as political choices are influenced by social media, so are choices about
what to listen to, buy or download. The influence of professional critics is diminishing, as online reviews written by ‘citizen critics’, for example the Rotten
Tomatoes forum for film, have come to influence public perception of cultural
products. Similarly, recommendations ‘tweeted’ by celebrities who have millions
of followers on Twitter can be enough to ensure the financial health of a production, and have become more important than a positive review by a professional
critic in a low-circulation quality newspaper. Review sites for many other goods
and services, from garages and dentists to local restaurants and pubs, are also
increasingly popular, and enable readers to make more informed choices. However, critics argue that not all reviews are genuine, and sometimes there is ‘foul
play’ as positive ones can be posted by the manufacturer or service provider, and
negative ones by their competitors.
The allure of internet shopping and obtaining goods more cheaply has proved
attractive to many British households, and some 13.5 per cent of all purchases
were made over the internet in 2010, which is projected to rise to 23 per cent by
2016. The increased amount of time Britons spend in the home has led to retailers offering a home delivery service for all manner of goods and services. This
includes groceries from the large retailers such as Tesco and Waitrose, many of
whom offer a home delivery service. The impact has been widely felt, and shops
in many high streets around Britain have been forced to close due to the pressure
of competition online.
Cyberculture
55
Figure 3.1 Anxiety about the effects of mass media, particularly on women and children,
is not new. This cartoon appeared in the satirical magazine Punch in 1906,
soon after the development of radio communications. Text under the cartoon
reads: ‘IV.–Development of Wireless Telegraphy. Scene in Hyde Park. (These
two figures are not communicating with one another. The lady is receiving an
amatory message, and the gentleman some racing results.)’
© The Art Archive/Alamy
Perhaps unsurprisingly, with people spending less time outside the home,
the UK online dating market is an area of rapid expansion. In Britain there is
a long history of meeting partners through the media. One of the first advertisements appeared in 1695, and was placed in the publication A Collection of
Letters for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade by a ‘gentleman of about 30 years
of age’ seeking a ‘good young gentlewoman with at least £3000’. It is unknown
whether the request was successful, but today, of an estimated 5,000 dating
services in Europe, almost 1,500 are UK based. In 2012 the online dating
market grew by approximately 6 per cent, and is now worth £170 million, and
today approximately one in four relationships begin online. Over nine million
people have used online dating sites, and a full spectrum of services is available, from exclusive membership sites with personal agents to assist clients
seeking company, friendship and marriage in Britain or around the world, to
smartphone apps such as Grindr, which connect gay men looking for casual
encounters in the local area.
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Cyberculture
Adult entertainment
The British adult entertainment industry continues to experience phenomenal
growth. Pornographic ‘tube’ sites (where viewers can upload content and watch
films free) have multiplied, as have ‘live’ streaming services. In 2012 the Adult
Industry Trade Association (AITA) estimated there were at least 5000 individuals working on adult webcams in the UK, who charge for performances, chat
and other professional services. Escorts can also legally advertise their services
online. This is said to make sex workers safer, since street prostitution is illegal
and dangerous in Britain, and running a brothel is prohibited. The shift online of
adult entertainment and services has also led to falling sales of adult DVDs and
men’s magazines as a direct line is created between producer and consumer, and
the ‘middleman’ is effectively eliminated.
The abundance and availability of online pornography and its possible effects
on young adults has been frequently debated. Although some argue that the
internet is important in providing education, choice and free speech, others argue
that it is having a negative impact on the relationships of young people. A 2012
study suggested that many children get information about sex not primarily from
school teachers or biology books, but the internet. It also points out that boys primarily use material for arousal, while girls use it more for education. Research in
the UK has also shown that more than a third of 16–24-year-olds admitted pornography had caused problems in their relationships, primarily because exposure
to depersonalised and sometimes violent sexual encounters can distort what ‘normal’ sexual behaviour should involve, and what should be expected. However,
others argue that such studies are flawed, and that such personal problems among
young adults are not unusual, particularly in cases where there has been little or
no communication between parents and children about appropriate behaviour in
relationships.
The law requires websites to keep pornographic images out of reach of under18s, while the regulator of online pornography in the UK (the Authority for TV
on Demand – ATVOD) has the power to close UK-based sites if they do not
put up barriers to hard-core content. Currently, most sites comply and very few
are banned, but it is powerless to regulate those based overseas. However, the
Internet Watch Foundation has introduced a content-blocking system known as
Cleanfeed with some success, to prevent access to child pornography sites. But
technology advances quickly, and the current availability of ‘darknets’ (which
require special software to access them) and deep websites (which are password
protected and not accessed by search engines) remain problematic areas, both to
regulate and to block.
The web and the law
The rise of social media and an open cyber-world, in which much can be seen
and little is forbidden, sometimes leads users to believe it is a free speech zone,
a digital free-for-all, where users can say and show whatever they wish, without
Cyberculture
57
fear of legal sanctions or punishment. Consequently, ‘trolling’ or the making of
provocative comments, insults and even threats in online forums is common. For
some internet users, they are harmless, humorous and mischievous, but for many
others their aggression and personal nature make them a form of hate speech.
So, in recent years laws have been introduced to control abuse of social media
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and others. These sites are now subject to the
same laws as the British mainstream media. For example, when threats are made
against individuals, or photos and films have been posted online without the
agreement of those featured in them, there is a strong possibility of harassment
charges against the poster. It is also illegal to discuss criminal cases that are in
progress in the UK, and anyone who makes comments that could influence a trial
may be prosecuted for contempt and imprisoned.
In recent times there have been heavy punishments for those caught breaking
the law. In 2010, a man was fined £1,000 for tweeting a ‘joke’ about blowing up
an airport in Sheffield. In 2012, a young man was sentenced to 56 days in prison
for racist tweets about footballer Fabrice Muamba. In 2014 a 31-year-old man was
sentenced to 18 weeks in prison for retweeting and sending indecent, obscene or
menacing messages to Stella Creasy, a British politician, and Caroline CriadoPerez, a feminist activist, after the two women successfully campaigned to put the
image of Jane Austen on new British banknotes.
Other high-profile cases have involved the breaking of injunctions. These are
legal measures, preventing, for example, the reporting of a story or the naming of
individuals online or in print media. This is usually because it is not considered
to be a matter of public interest. But, in recent times it has been impossible to
enforce this law. For example, in 2011 the television presenter Jeremy Clarkson
used an injunction to prevent the British media from reporting a story that his
ex-wife had had an affair with him after he had married another woman. However,
the names of those involved began to appear on Twitter and other sites. As it was
clearly impossible to arrest the thousands of people discussing the matter, Clarkson removed the injunction amid high levels of public interest and amusement.
Twitter was also blamed for its role in the riots of 2011; following the police
shooting of Mark Duggan, it was said to have aided rioters in co-ordinating their
movements, as well as inciting others to join in. But, an LSE–Guardian study
‘Reading the Riots’ of some 2.6 million tweets, which included allegations of
tanks assembling at the Bank of England, the London Eye on fire and a tiger on
the loose from London Zoo (all untrue), found that most were by those trying to
find out news, or updating others on their safe arrival home, as well as requests for
assistance to clean up the city after the riots. They were not, in the main, created
by or for those intent on criminal activity.
Therefore, it appears that if small numbers of individuals commit criminal
acts online, they will be prosecuted, even though legal action is often difficult,
complex and expensive. But if hundreds or even thousands tweet or say online
what should not be said, it seems nothing can be done. Research also shows that
despite comments by politicians and some newspapers to the contrary, anxiety
about Twitter’s role in promoting public disturbances is unfounded.
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Cyberculture
Online surveillance
The freedom of the internet has, on the one hand, promoted openness of thought
and free speech, but at the same time there is growing public concern in the UK
about the ways in which communications are being monitored and data mined.
Until the 1990s, available data was simply limited to who phoned, when and
for how long, with all the information appearing in the telephone bill. Today,
however, the situation is very different, with the government, police and private organisations commonly monitoring online social contacts, web searches
and social media postings (such as tweets or messages), while mobile phone data
is routinely gathered. Sometimes this is to obtain profiles of individuals for commercial purposes, and sometimes it is said to be for national security, protection
from terrorism and so on.
Private organisations in particular are often interested in information gathered
from an iPhone, Gmail or Facebook account. They then proceed to ‘mine’, that
is create banks of information about users, which are analysed to find out about
individual tastes, preferences, habits and so on. The accuracy of such profiling
was confirmed in a recent study by neuroscientists from Cambridge University in
which it was shown that a range of Facebookers’ characteristics such as the age,
gender, sexuality, ethnicity, political and religious views could all be accurately
assessed from the ‘likes’ expressed in their Facebook accounts. The findings also
correctly predicted a range of psychological traits, such as personality type, IQ
and degree of personal happiness, as well as whether someone is likely to drink
alcohol, smoke and take illegal drugs.
On the one hand, it is argued that tracking users and data-mining enables
companies to serve customers better but, on the other hand, critics argue that
such research is intrusive and could signify an end to privacy. Privacy is known to
be necessary for mental health, and for the exploration of personal issues such as
sexuality, politics, conscience and so on, and its removal is a violation of human
dignity and rights. Despite these concerns, and even though retention of email
and telephone contact data is already required, in 2014 the coalition government
was considering the Communications and Data Bill. This would require internet
service providers and mobile phone companies to keep records for 12 months of
each user’s internet activity (but not content), including social media, emails,
voice calls, internet gaming and messages. However, opposition from the public
is strong, the main objection being a lack of trust in the government to securely
hold and manage data which was obtained using a ‘snooper’s charter’.
Video games
In recent years the popularity of video games has grown substantially, and more
are now sold in the UK than anywhere else in Europe. Production of games is also
notable, and the UK has 48 of the world’s top development studios which employ
a total of some 40,000 people working in areas such as design, development,
publishing, VFX (visual effects), online and mobile content. Many major games
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59
and their film, book and comic franchises are developed in the Britain, including
Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Burnout. The work is highly profitable, and
in 2012 generated revenue of £3.1 billion, approximately equal to the amount
earned by UK film.
Gaming has now become a mainstream activity, with an estimated 33.6m players (over 80 per cent of the population). In contrast to the media stereotype of a
teenage male alone in his bedroom, research shows games are played by people of
all ages and social backgrounds, at home, online and on mobile phones. The more
affluent and less affluent play equally, as do men and women, with the average
British gamer playing for around 12 hours per week on games that take around a
month to complete. Almost half of all UK households contain at least one games
console such as a Wii, Playstation or Xbox, and games cover a range of styles and
genres, including violent hard-core games, casual games, social games and massively multiplayer online games (MMOG).
Gaming: a brief history
The history of gaming can be traced back to 1947 in the USA, when a patent
request was made for an invention described as a ‘cathode ray tube amusement device’. But video gaming was not common in Britain until the 1970s,
when Pong was created by Atari, a simple tennis game that could be played
on a domestic television. Shortly afterwards in 1978, British pubs and clubs
began to offer Space Invaders, a novelty game that involved firing upwards to
resist an invading alien army. Players and spectators were mesmerised by the
action, and gaming quickly became commonplace with its own televised tournaments. However, the machines were expensive, and usually found only in
public places such as pubs, cafes and amusement arcades rather than the domestic environment.
Gamers were mostly male, but this began to change with the arrival of PacMan in 1980. Pac-Man was a mild-mannered figure, specifically aimed at female
gamers, which reflected the innocence and inclusivity of games of the period.
The gentility continued with the ZX Spectrum, Britain’s contribution to video
games in 1982, a home computer made by Sinclair Research Ltd. Like many early
games it was comparatively primitive and low-tech, with lo-fi sound and poor
quality colour. But it was affordable, and as it used the programming language
BASIC, owners could be creative and write their own games. Two early popular examples were Manic Miner (1983) written by 17-year-old Matthew Smith,
which featured a hyperactive miner busily hacking coal before his oxygen supply
runs out, and Hover Bovver (Jeff Minter, 1983), in which a middle-aged man has
to mow the lawn using a neighbour’s mower, avoiding obstacles like flower beds,
the dog and an angry neighbour.
The charm and simplicity of early games made them popular with children and
adults, but large corporations in the USA and Japan were beginning to realise the
full commercial potential of gaming, and developed technology that produced
more realistic images as well as first-person action (in which the gamer assumes
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Cyberculture
the role of the protagonist, interacting with the environment and shaping the
narrative). At the same time, attitudes towards video content were becoming
more permissive following the widespread availability of adult movies on VHS
for home consumption. The result was an explosive fusion between technology
and adult content, and it quickly became possible to transport the gamer into a
digital Armageddon of sex and violence.
The vivid, high-quality images and the violent, bloody scenarios depicted
in imported games such as Mortal Kombat (1992), Night Trap (1992) and Doom
(1993) were far removed from the innocent, childish, cartoon violence of earlier
times, and public concern about the potential effects of games on young people
increased. Negative associations began to attach themselves to games in general,
and in 1994 a new system of classification with age-specific ratings for parental
guidance was introduced in the USA. Paradoxically, government classification
indicated there was official concern over their possible negative effects, but sales
continued to rise and the variety of games expand.
Flying, driving and guitar-playing simulators, business strategy games, puzzles,
interactive role-playing games and environmental exploration games are among
the most popular in Britain today. They are played by gamers of all ages, genders
and social backgrounds. But the kind of game that has continued to attract most
attention in the UK and damage the reputation of games and gamers is the violent adventure game.
Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto
o (GTA) is one of the most successful and influential games
in the history of video entertainment, and has sold more than 150 million
units since it first appeared in 1997. It was originally made in Dundee,
Scotland, where it was created for DMA Design by game developers David
Jones and Mike Dailly.
The GTA series is set in fictional cities that are modelled on American
ones, Liberty City (New York), Vice City (Miami) and San Andreas (southern
California), and was originally conceived as a game in which a player roleplays a policeman attempting to keep law and order in the city. However,
the creators felt that it would be more exciting and enjoyable for gamers to
play the role of criminals, so the game was redesigned and the working title
changed from Race ’n’ Chase
e to Grand Theft Auto.
o
The gamer role-plays a ‘baddie’ who aims to progress from street hustler
to master criminal by any means necessary. In the recent versions, most of
the action is set in bleak, dark urban environments, a realistically presented,
post-recession world of drugs, prostitutes and random violence. In the poor
parts of the city homeless people shuffle alongside yuppies, gangs prowl the
streets, and police sirens and searchlights penetrate the night. In contrast
are the more salubrious areas, where palatial mansions line up next to luxurious hotels, with (gamer-playable) golf and tennis, (gamer-drivable) shiny
sports cars and (gamer-flyable) aircraft are hired for fun.
Cyberculture
Figure 3.2 The lurid colours and content of the GTA cover designs recall fairground
and pinball art of the 1960s.
© Gavin Rodgers/Alamy
Settings are finely observed and detailed, and each one contains a wide
range of options for the player. But, although it is possible to fly, drive, race,
crash, play sports, have sex and even kill, the game does not require this, as
formats are non-linear, that is they are created by the gamers themselves.
So, participants can choose more leisurely options, such as calmly swimming, shopping or driving slowly to enjoy the scenery.
A distinctive characteristic of GTA is its satire of American popular culture,
which gives the game a distinctly British feel. In GTA: San Andreas there is a
Facebook spoof called ‘Lifeinvader’ and parodies of TV talent shows. Along
the highways are billboards for plastic surgery, enemas and gun stores. On
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Cyberculture
the car radio, the far-right network ‘Weazel News’ with the slogan ‘Confirming Your Prejudices’ broadcasts its biliousness to corrupt police, slimy politicians, washed-up celebrities, career criminals, liars, cheats and sociopaths.
In a clear challenge to the American dream, the unspoken message is that
free, unrestricted capitalism is the handmaiden of violent crime.
GTA has received much praise for its humour, creativity and attention to
detail as well as the way in which it questions raw aspiration and the pursuit of the American dream. In 2006 it was voted one of Britain’s top ten
designs along with Concorde, the London Underground map, red telephone
boxes, cats-eyes, the Mini car, the Routemaster bus, the Spitfire plane, the
video-game cover Tomb Raider and the World Wide Web. However, in many
countries the series has attracted controversy, in particular for its violence,
its lack of values and its shallow, bitter, money-obsessed characters. It has
also been attacked for its marginalising and stereotyping of women, who are
cast in minor, superficial roles, such as prostitutes, strippers, neurotic wives
or eccentric feminists. Public concern about games’ adult nature, violent
themes and the lack of positive role models has also led to a ban on certain
editions of the game in some countries. But despite criticism, the latest version of the game known as GTA-V became the best-selling video game ever
in the first 24 hours of sale, earning £495.5 million for its makers Rockstar.
Controversy and classification
Since the 1990s there have been numerous highly publicised incidents in Britain,
where acts of violence have been attributed to video-game playing. Many have
resulted in sensational newspaper headlines, articles, parliamentary speeches and
debates which have attempted to make connections between violence and video
games. The public image of games has been shaped by the content of the most
violent ones, and anything new has frequently been seen as a potential threat, in
particular that they are likely to make young people become violent.
A survey in 2013 found that 61 per cent of UK residents thought that playing
video games can be a cause of real world violence and aggression. However, of all
those surveyed, the older a person was, the more likely they were to believe this,
even though he or she was less likely to play games themselves. In contrast, the
younger ones who were more likely to play games thought a relationship was less
likely. In general, the amount of public concern over the danger posed by violent
games has diminished. This may be because many gamers are now in their 30s
and 40s, and after playing video games without experiencing any harmful effects
when they were teenagers, are now less likely to believe that games are potentially harmful.
Public anxiety over video games replicates the reaction that occurred when
other types of new media first became widely available to British working-class
youth. This includes the arrival of the cheap, sensational fiction (the ‘penny
dreadfuls’) in the nineteenth century, and later with comics, rock and roll music,
and even commercial television (ITV) in the 1950s. The middle and upper classes
Cyberculture
63
became concerned that the kind of images and messages in the new media were
unsuitable for the less educated classes, and would promote idleness, violence and
promiscuity, even though a relationship was never proved.
Moreover, it is often argued that anxiety and protest over something as trivial
as a video game can be a symptom of deeper, more complex social malaise that
cannot be easily identified or expressed. In this situation, the game becomes a
scapegoat, a focus for public anger and a way for people to let off steam when
feeling anxious, pressurised or threatened. For example, it has been argued that
anxiety over video games may be because parents do not spend enough time with
their children. But, as parents do not want to blame themselves for pursuing a
career or working excessively, their anxiety is focused outwards onto game content, and its allegedly addictive nature.
The lack of women in video games is also criticised, particularly by women
gamers who allege that in contrast to the realism of the violence, women are
cast in unrealistic, shallow and patronising roles. It is alleged they are underappreciated, and feature merely as sex objects who are there for men’s entertainment. On the other hand, it is said that such portrayals are due to a lack of
women writers or game creators, and this is because relatively few women wish to
enter such a male-dominated industry.
One game that has successfully gone against the grain is Tomb Raider (1996),
which features the female protagonist Lara Croft. The game was originally created in Derby, by game developer Core Design. Games involving the treasurehunting British archaeologist have become a successful franchise, which has led
to the creation of adventure games, comic books, novels and theme-park rides. In
2001 the story was made into a film, featuring Angelina Jolie as Lara.
Unlike many macho adventure games with a rugged, muscular all-conquering
hero, the protagonist is presented as a beautiful, intelligent and sporty young girl.
The game manuals describe her as born in Wimbledon, daughter of Lord Croft,
whose aristocratic upbringing was cut short in a plane crash in the Himalayas,
which spurred Lara to seek more adventures in prehistoric ruins around the world.
For many feminists she presents a contradictory role: on the one hand, she is
cast as emancipated, empowered and aspirational, a role model for many young,
independent girls; but, on the other, she is given sex appeal, revealing dress sense
and an unrealistic body shape, in a way which is said to make her the embodiment of male fantasies. At the same time, all these characteristics have made her
something of a cult figure among male and female gamers, as well as the most
recognisable female character in the history of video games. With over 35 million
editions of Tomb Raider sold, and 35 per cent of sales to women, it has become
one of the best-selling games of all time.
Despite periodic outbreaks of public concern about the possible harmful effects
of video games in Parliament and the press, it was not until 2012 that a system
of classification was introduced in Britain. Today, games are rated according to
their content, and the Video Standards Council (VSC) applies the Pan European
Games Information (PEGI) age-rating system to all video games sold on physical
(i.e. not downloadable) media. Games are recommended for ages 3, 7, 12, 16 and
Figure 3.3 Lara Croft ready for action.
© southeast asia/Alamy
Cyberculture
65
18, according to depictions of frightening material, violence, alcohol consumption and so on, a system that has gone some way to calming public concern.
Games featuring strong pornographic content continue to be classified by the
British Board of Film Classification, which categorises them as R18, and retailers
selling titles with ratings of 12, 16 or 18 to children under those age limits can
be prosecuted. But, due to the size of the UK market, designers generally create
games that conform to regulatory standards, so it has rarely been necessary to
consider a ban on any particular game.
The appeal of gaming is thus broad and strong, and illustrates how leisure
habits together with many other aspects of social and personal behaviour have
changed as a consequence of digitisation of everyday life.
4
Newspapers, magazines and
journalism
Newspapers
Introduction
There is a wide choice of daily press in Britain, with approximately 130 daily
and 1,800 weekly newspapers. Despite their variety, they can be basically
divided into two categories: the quality press and the popular press. The former have a reputation for greater focus on economic, political and cultural
coverage, and include the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The
Times and the Financial Times. The Daily Telegraph is the highest-selling quality newspaper, with a daily circulation of around 420,000 in 2014. However,
the total sales of quality press only account for around 15 per cent of all newspapers sold.
In contrast, the popular press has a reputation for sensational, lighter news
stories, with more pictures and comment about well-known people from showbusiness and sports. These include the mid-market papers of the Daily Mail and
Daily Express, and the popular daily press of the Sun, Daily Mirror and the Daily
Star. The Sun is the biggest-selling newspaper in Britain, and in 2014 it had a
circulation of over two million, approximately a quarter of the tabloid market.
A number of papers also print a Sunday edition, which is distinct in character
to the weekday editions, and often carries a colour supplement with items of
consumer and leisure interest. There are also around 900 free daily and weekly
newspapers, which are financed by advertising. The largest is Metro, which began
on the London Underground transport system in 1999. It now has 13 editions
nationwide, and is said to have a combined readership of 1.7 million.
One of the most distinctive characteristics of the press is its language. The
quality press generally includes longer articles, written with complex sentences
and more formal vocabulary, while the popular press present the news in shorter
articles, with more colloquial vocabulary and more inventive wordplay. The
language used is often witty and imaginative, with alliterations, puns, amusing
misspellings, and references to literature and history. This serves to capture the
reader’s eye, raise a smile and stimulate the imagination, but for foreign readers it
can sometimes render simple, popular stories unintelligible.
Newspapers, magazines and journalism
67
Humour and political satire has a long history in Britain and almost all newspapers carry cartoons that make fun of the issues of the day, from the images
drawn by Hogarth and Gillray in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to
those of Steve Bell, Heath and many others of the present time.
Until the 1980s most of the national newspapers were based in London’s
Fleet Street in the heart of the city, but now many are based in modern premises in the outskirts. The London base means they are often accused of having a strong bias towards London politics, economics and culture. In 2014 the
London Evening Standard had the highest circulation among local and regional
papers with a circulation of around 600,000 per edition (although the paper is
now free).
There are approximately 1,300 local or regional newspapers serving other parts
of Britain. In Scotland, the Daily Record has the highest circulation of the Scottish newspapers, but the Herald is the leading quality daily newspaper. In Wales,
the Western Mail has the highest circulation. Welsh-language papers and bilingual press are also available. In Northern Ireland, papers from the British mainland as well as the Irish Republic are widely sold.
Almost all daily newspapers also have a website with a different, online version
of the paper. Most are free, although an increasing number have a paywall, which
means readers must pay a fee to have full access to articles and links on the site.
However, breakfast over a newspaper is a ritual in millions of kitchens, and many
people have them delivered to the house, rather than buy them in newsagents or
browse them online. In the past, this intimacy has helped to create a special bond
between the British and their press, but it is an increasingly fragile relationship,
as in recent years sales have fallen dramatically.
The press owners target their newspapers not so much at a particular age group,
region or ethnic majority, but at a particular social class and political affiliation,
and for this reason they say as much about the people who read them as the world
they report. Thus, the political leanings of different newspapers have ensured
that, for many readers, their newspaper has become a badge of social and political
identity.
By tradition, the British press is free of political control. No newspaper is
owned by the government, and the press is able to openly criticise any political
party and its policies. However, the press has never been impartial. There is no
legal requirement for impartiality, unlike with the television news and BBC radio
news which are more strictly regulated. Consequently, newspaper editorials and
opinion columns often feature lively, combative and outspoken political views.
These are most clearly stated at election time, and reflect the interests of their
owners.
Britain is one of the few countries that allows foreign ownership of major
media enterprises, and since 1945 there has been substantial involvement by
non-British owners. Robert Maxwell, who owned the Daily Mirror between 1984
and 1991, was born Jan Ludwig Hoch, a Czech. Until 2004 the Canadian businessman Conrad Black held various media interests in the USA, as well as the
Daily Telegraph, the mouthpiece of the Tory Party. Rupert Murdoch (originally an
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Newspapers, magazines and journalism
Table 4.1 British daily newspapers, their circulations and owners.
Newspaper
Daily circulation (June 2014)
Owner
Sun
Daily Mirror
Daily Star
Daily Record
Daily Mail
Daily Express
Daily Telegraph
The Times
Financial Times
Guardian
Independent
The i
2,033,606
958,674
466,935
213,896
1,673,579
479,704
514,592
393,530
220,532
185,313
63,505
286,356
News UK
Trinity Mirror
Richard Desmond
Trinity Mirror
Daily Mail and General Trust
Richard Desmond
David and Frederick Barclay
News UK
Financial Times Group
Guardian Media Group
Independent News and Media
Alexander Lebedev, Evgeny Lebedev
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulation, June 2014
Australian and now a naturalised American) currently holds substantial media
interests, including the Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times, as well as Sky TV,
and other American media companies.
Since 1945 the British press has changed greatly. The number of newspapers
has declined, sales have fallen, and the content and nature of journalism has
become more populist. There are also fewer owners, and a greater concentration
of power in fewer hands. Many papers have been faced with closure, in a process
that has accelerated with the arrival of digital communications and significant
changes in how news and entertainment is produced and consumed. A number of
recent scandals and high-profile court cases have also lowered public confidence
in press standards, particularly those of the popular, tabloid newspapers. Consequently, the press is currently living through some of the most difficult times in
its history, and its future seems far from certain.
Pioneers
Until the eighteenth century news was commonly spread by a ‘town crier’ who
would walk through towns and villages making public announcements. Most people could not read, but his familiar cry of ‘Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!’ (from old French,
meaning ‘Listen!’) drew attention to major news of wars, crimes, tax increases
and so on. Production costs, transport difficulties and general illiteracy prevented
large-scale publication, distribution and sale of newspapers, but gradually they
began to appear for a small, educated, wealthy readership.
The first English newspaper – the Daily Courant – was published in
1702, although newspapers of today were established much later. The Times
(1785), the Observer (1791) and the Sunday Times (1822) are among the oldest that are still in print. Later, literacy standards improved and there was
Newspapers, magazines and journalism
69
a new, expanding lower middle class of literate clerical workers. They had little interest in the papers written for an educated, wealthy elite, but there was
demand for simple, interesting stories in print. In response, a popular national
press began to grow, with papers such as the News of the World (1843) and the
People (1881).
Figure 4.1 Many people still buy their press at a newsagent’s or have it delivered to the
home, despite the availability of most papers online.
© David Christopher
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Newspapers, magazines and journalism
Throughout the twentieth century, an expanding industry attracted a new
class of business people or ‘press barons’ who saw the possibilities for profits and
self-advancement, as well as the chance to influence the political and economic
affairs of the time. The Irishman Alfred Harmsworth (who later became Lord
Northcliffe) was the first British press entrepreneur. He wanted to produce a
newspaper like those being published in the USA, and in 1896 founded the Daily
Mail, and later bought the Observer, The Times and the Sunday Times.
But in the early decades of the twentieth century the public had few opportunities to gain and exchange information about what was happening in the world.
There was still no radio or television, standards of education were generally poor,
and the majority of students left school with little more than a basic ability to
read and write. Consequently, those with control of information could easily
influence people and politics, and a reputation was established among the most
popular British press for supporting Conservative, right-wing interests, and for
hostility towards the redistribution of wealth, social reform and equal rights for
women.
However, one of the few papers that has traditionally supported the Labour
Party is the Daily Mirror. When it was founded by Harmsworth in 1903 it was
initially aimed at a new readership of literate women, but sales fell until the paper
became a picture paper that was sympathetic to the Labour Party, and soon it
became one of the most popular publications in Britain. It remained so until the
mid-1980s, when a change of politics under its new owner, Robert Maxwell, led
to falling sales, high levels of debt, theft from Mirror employees, and finally the
mysterious and dramatic death of its owner, who drowned at night off his yacht
in the Canary Islands.
Britain’s growing multicultural communities are also well served by the press.
Publishing in English, some of the best known include the Chinese newspaper
Sing Tao, the Arabic paper Al-Arab and the Jewish Chronicle, a long-established
paper founded in 1841. The Asian Times is an English-language weekly for the
Asian community, while Afro-Caribbean publications include The Voice and the
Caribbean Times. Several other papers are published in Britain and appear in languages of the communities they serve, including Bangla, Korean, Latvian, Polish,
Portuguese, Urdu and Russian.
Some papers emerged in response to what was seen as unfair representation of
their communities in the British press. For example, during the early 1980s much
attention was given in the papers to an association between race and crime, and
racist reports in the mainstream popular papers, which alleged that black people
caused trouble, and took white people’s homes and jobs. In response, black communities wanted a newspaper that would represent their interests more fairly,
and in 1982 The Voice was launched, a weekly paper that aims to project positive
images about and for the black community to a younger readership aged mainly
between 15 and 34. It has also gained a strong reputation as a populist newspaper
which campaigns to correct miscarriages of justice involving black people. In the
mid to late 1990s the paper had a circulation of around 55,000 but in recent years
sales figures have fallen, and some papers like New Nation have had to close. This
Newspapers, magazines and journalism
71
may be because African and Caribbean Britons are becoming more assimilated
and mainstream. But others argue that these ethnic communities like to listen to
different music, watch different theatre, eat different food and even suffer from
different medical complaints, and for those reasons there will always be demand
for a separate press.
Press influence
Political views held by newspaper owners on current topics can usually be found
in press editorials, as well as in the selection and coverage of news stories, and it is
often discussed to what extent these influence readers. One allegation is that the
press sometimes sensationalise and exaggerate certain types of behaviour, giving
the impression that it is new, dangerous and more common than it really is, in
order to attract attention and sell newspapers. For example, in recent years these
have included video ‘nasties’, asylum seekers and binge drinking. In such cases,
dramatic headlines, stories and pictures are published, together with accounts of
behaviour that enrage or frighten readers. But these are often based on stereotypes, and an unthinking prejudice against the alleged behaviour, rather than
facts. Nevertheless, debates about the topic follow in the mass media and sometimes in Parliament. Members of the public become worried and begin to prepare
for a confrontation, and demand tough action from the police and politicians to
avert the threat. However, in many cases a close examination often shows reports
to be exaggerated or untrue, and photos to be staged or posed, in episodes known
as ‘moral panics’.
During the past 50 years there have been panics over various youth subcultures
such as Teds, mods, rockers and ‘New Age’ travellers, as well as inner-city black
youths, video games and new drugs. Lurid stories appeared in the press, and those
with no direct experience of them became angry and worried. They demanded
political action, and created a situation that the political right could exploit, by
promising tough measures, ‘a crackdown’ and ‘zero tolerance’ against what was
essentially a minor or trivial threat, compared with more serious issues such as the
consequences of unemployment, the erosion of welfare benefits or the unavailability of affordable housing.
In terms of newspapers’ influence on voting, the political preferences of the
press can be seen most clearly at election time, when readers are urged to support
one or other of the major parties. Most papers are hostile to the Labour Party,
and more sympathetic to the Tory Party. But at the three elections of 1997, 2001
and 2005 most press supported Labour — despite the critical stance of the owners of the newspapers. This is because the press barons are shrewd and pragmatic
individuals who, in troubled times of falling sales, fully understand the need to
‘back the probable winner’ and be popular, in order to sell papers and remain
solvent. In 2010, most supported the Tory Party, although the result was a ‘hung’
Parliament and a coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats. This suggests that in elections since 1997, people vote according to
the advice given in their newspapers. But an alternative view – often held by
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Newspapers, magazines and journalism
those who work in the media – is that the main reason people buy a newspaper is
simply because they like its tone, its pictures and the sports coverage.
However, with the growth and spread of digital communications, citizens have
become increasingly active in collecting, reporting and disseminating news. This
has led to an increasing number of news sources, and a decline in the influence of
newspapers. For example, if there is a major story in the news about a public demonstration, readers can find online reports written by campaigning organisations
on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and so on where news is reported more
quickly and directly than in a newspaper – whether hard copy or online – as, for
example, with the ‘Occupy London’ movement in Britain in 2011/12, when news
spread much faster over social media than through traditional channels.
The government and their departments understand the power of the new media
well, in addition to more traditional kinds such as newspapers. They have created
a large number of press officers to effectively ‘spin’ or present news in a favourable
manner and, where appropriate, counter what is being said in social media or by the
press. Many other public and private organisations do the same, in order to protect
their public image and quickly counter any negative news with releases of information on new and traditional media from their own public relations departments.
Nevertheless, the newspapers still retain a power to influence the news agendas of other media. What the papers say is still of some significance to other news
media, because people pay to read it. It indicates people’s concerns and interests.
Consequently, press headlines are routinely mentioned in television news bulletins, and these in turn affect television news agendas.
This suggests that British newspapers, their editors, reporters and columnists,
still have some influence over public debate, particularly over what is debated
and in what way. However, the papers appear to have less influence over people’s
political opinions, which can be shaped through a variety of different media and
information sources.
The press under pressure
Newspapers have become important ‘players’ in British politics. They are sometimes referred to as the ‘Fourth Estate’, after the three principal institutions of
Church, Crown and Parliament. But since the early 1970s the sales of British
daily and Sunday newspapers have been falling. Between 1997 and 2007, total
sales fell by 25 per cent. The decline is now around 5 per cent year on year in the
national press, and around 7 per cent year on year for the regional press.
Commentators suggest this is for a number of reasons. First, an increase in the
number of daily papers, especially free ones and free online versions, has created
more competition. Almost all newspapers now have a website, but it has been difficult to monetise these, as people are generally unwilling to pay for online content. Although some income is derived from internet advertising on the papers’
websites, this is considerably less than from print advertising, which contributes
around half of a newspaper’s income (the other half generated through sales).
And, although there are no distribution costs associated with online news, there
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73
is more competition from other newspapers around Britain and the world, as well
as other news sites such as AOL and Yahoo.
Second, television has had a substantial impact, and with the gradual deregulation of broadcasting since the 1990s, a multitude of different news, sport and
entertainment channels has appeared that broadcast 24/7, and their news bulletins are sometimes seen as more convenient and reliable than newspapers prepared the day before.
Third, the British are buying fewer newspapers because the press have been
slow to respond to changes in British politics and society. In the past, newspapers
have forged their identities around the traditional political divisions of left and
right, and the traditional three-class system of upper, middle and working class.
But British politics has changed, and so has the society that produced it. Manufacturing and heavy industry have largely disappeared, as has a heavily unionised,
collectivist, blue-collar society. Immigration and multicultural communities,
often with different attitudes and values, have also contributed to the growth of
a more complex and diverse society. As a result of these demographic changes,
newspapers have needed to reshape their identities in order to successfully and
consistently appeal to particular demographics within a more fragmented population, something that most have been unable to do.
Instead, many newspapers have attempted to address this problem by becoming more populist. Even the ‘quality’ press now feature more light, popular news,
‘celebrity’ stories and scandals about people in sport, television and music, and
popular culture in general, together with attempts to seduce readers with discounts and free gifts, cheap air tickets and restaurant meals, free CDs and price
cuts. This provokes the criticism that the press have become more like a form of
entertainment, rather than a source of news and education.
The press has also tried to deal with increasing financial pressures by searching for stories that expose scandal and sleaze. Since the 1960s British society
has become much more open, less deferential and hierarchical, and today the
public demands to know ‘the facts’ about the behaviour of those in positions of
influence and authority. On some occasions, this has involved the controversial
use of ‘honey traps’ to tempt victims into committing illegal behaviour, which is
typically then photographed and exposed. On other occasions, there has been no
need, for example in the 1990s when many members of the Conservative government including Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken, David Mellor, Neil Hamilton
and others were forced to resign following newspaper investigations into their
financial and personal affairs.
More recently in 2009 the Daily Telegraph broke a major news story over parliamentary expenses. It revealed that many MPs were misusing their permitted
allowances and expenses, and also tried to stop an investigation into their affairs.
This led to public anger and a loss of confidence in Parliament, particularly at a
time of economic crisis. As a result, many MPs resigned, were sacked, de-selected
or retired. Some apologised and repaid their expenses, while several members or
former members of the House of Commons, and members of the House of Lords,
were imprisoned.
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Today, not only are politicians and the wider royal family pursued and photographed by undercover reporters and paparazzi, but also a new ‘aristocracy’
of celebrities from television, film, pop and sport. A range of newspapers and
magazines report their every move as if it were a matter of public interest. This
has led to many cases of false accusations being made about individuals, who
have sued the press to gain redress. However, litigation has usually been long,
very expensive and involved further publicity, so most individuals felt it was not
worthwhile.
But in recent years competition to find sensational stories that would sell
newspapers became intense and extreme. In 2011, journalists themselves became
the story, when it was alleged that journalists from Rupert Murdoch’s company
News International were involved in hacking people’s phones (listening to
others’ voicemails), to gain information that could then be used to sell newspapers. The allegations were proven and led to the closure of the 168-year-old
News of the World by its owners News International, and a trial said to have cost
around £100 million. The scandal involved not only reporters, but also implicated Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the Sun, the NotW and a close friend of
Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as Andy Coulson, Cameron’s official
spokesman, who had previously been editor of NotW. Scores of journalists were
arrested, and some imprisoned, including Andy Coulson. The police themselves
were also implicated, with allegations of payments made to officers in return for
confidential information. Victims of phone-hacking were said to number over
4000, and included politicians, celebrities, police, solicitors and ordinary citizens,
including a murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler.
For many years public confidence in journalism has been falling. It is said
that falling sales have led to more intense competition and in turn this has led
to more subjective, inaccurate reporting, less in-depth analysis and, ultimately,
illegal behaviour. To address the matter, in 2006 the Media Standards Trust
was set up. It organises debates, funds research into areas of concern and cosponsors the Orwell Prize for journalism. In 2011 it set up the ‘Hacked Off’
campaign, which demanded a public inquiry into phone hacking. Prominent
members included actor Hugh Grant, authors J.K. Rowling and John Pilger, former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, and many other victims. While the
public generally supported their interventions and objectives, some said it was a
pressure group of the wealthy and powerful celebrities who wanted state control
of the media.
In 2011 the government intervened and ordered a general inquiry – the Leveson Inquiry – into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, and into unlawful
practice at News International and other news organisations. Recommendations
were also made for a new, independent body to replace the Press Complaints
Commission which would be recognised by the state through new laws. Further
measures have also been promised once all the investigations have taken place,
but it remains to be seen how successful these will be. Many feel its recommendations will be fought by the press, despite calls for an independent and effective
regulator by parliament and the public.
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75
Whatever the final outcome, public confidence in the popular press, especially
in the ‘red tops’ (the popular press with their red banners), has been badly damaged. In 2014, a study of 2,100 UK adults revealed 68 per cent said they did not
trust the popular press ‘to do what is right’. However, despite declining circulations, they still enjoy relatively high sales figures compared with the quality press.
This suggests that most people do not buy them expecting responsible, truthful
journalism, but instead seek entertainment from the tone of the paper, the sport
and the pictures.
The Sun
The Sun is the UK’s best-selling newspaper, with an average Monday–
Saturday circulation of more than two million a day and a claimed total
readership of around 5.5 million. Other daily editions of the paper appear
in Ireland and Scotland, which are similar in content and character to the
English version, but with more emphasis on home nations’ news and sport.
It has become famous for its funny, sharp headlines, its wordplay, for capturing the mood of its readers, influencing their views and often forcing the
government to listen. Its supporters say it is the common voice of the country, but its critics argue that it has nasty politics and an aggressive populism,
which in the past has often been mischievous and malevolent.
The paper began in 1964, when the left-wing Daily Herald was re-launched
as the Sun. In 1969 it was bought by Australian-American billionaire Rupert
Murdoch, who still owns the paper. Murdoch wanted to expand the appeal
of the Sun to a wider audience, and began to attract readers by focusing
on sex and sport. A picture of a topless model was published every day on
page 3, and the paper began to include coverage of all major sports events.
Its new formula proved popular, and by 1978 its circulation had increased to
four million copies per day.
Until 1979 the Sun had supported the trade unions and the Labour Party,
but it switched its political allegiance to the Conservatives led by Margaret
Thatcher before the election of that year. The Tories won, and brought the
start of 18 years of Tory rule. The Sun became Thatcherite propaganda. Stories were carefully chosen, oversimplified and presented as ‘black and white’
in a way that avoided complexity or careful analysis, while a popular diet of
celebrity and sport amused its readers. Meanwhile, the newspaper damaged the Labour Party with humour and often inaccurate reporting.
In 1982, during Britain’s war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands
(Malvinas), the paper enthusiastically ran competitions for the best antiArgentinian jokes. It also sponsored a missile, encouraged a boycott of
Argentinian corned beef and published crass, insensitive headlines such as
‘Gotcha’ when 1,200 Argentines were killed as the warship Belgrano was
sunk. But despite criticism for becoming aggressive, prejudiced and jingoistic, it became the most popular newspaper of its time.
After the defeat of Argentina the Sun began to attack those Thatcher called
‘the enemy within’. Gay rights, women’s rights and Labour Party attempts
to promote a fairer, more equal and tolerant society were all criticised and
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ridiculed as the politics of the ‘loony left’. But despite sometimes violent
police action in industrial disputes with print workers, miners and others, the
authorities were rarely criticised.
In 1989 the new satellite television service Sky Television began broadcasting, launched by Rupert Murdoch’s company News International, and
the Sun contained frequent ‘plugs’ for its news and sports programmes, as
well as adverts for the dish needed to receive them. Meanwhile, Tory minister
Norman Tebbit praised the paper’s topless ‘page 3’ girl, telling readers she
was really the working man’s Venus de Milo, to much public amusement.
During the time of its highest circulation (1981–94) the editor was Kelvin
MacKenzie, who introduced a mixture of gossip, celebrity, television, sport
and reality TV. But its popularity has not always been constant, for example
in its reporting of how 96 Liverpool fans had died at a football match at Hillsborough in Sheffield in 1989. The paper implied the fans were to blame, in
reports that offended the people of Liverpool, who had not liked its Thatcherite politics and anti-trade unionism. In protest on Merseyside, copies were
publicly burnt and newsagents refused to sell it. The newspaper was subsequently shown to be wrong by the Hillsborough Independent Panel, an
independent inquiry in 2012, which led to a public apology from MacKenzie
and others involved at the time.
In the 1990s sales of the Sun fell, as the Tory government became more
and more unpopular. Eventually, in 1997, the paper realised that it could not
tell people to vote for the party likely to lose the election, and so advised its
readers to vote for Labour. It was a pragmatic gesture, which showed the
paper’s need for sales and popularity. However, in 1998 a headline questioned ‘Are We Being Run by a Gay Mafia?’, following revelations about gay
members of the New Labour cabinet.
Since then, in response to changes in social attitudes and a less politically
polarised society, the Sun has gradually become much less aggressive than
in the 1980s. There has been a gradual shift towards attacking government
policies rather than personalities. However, it still claims to defend values
that are said to be ‘British’ but are often those of the newspaper and its
owner.
Immigration and the issue of relations with Europe have always been difficult for the newspaper. A campaign against asylum seekers in 2003 was
carried out under sensational, populist headlines such as ‘Our Heritage is
Crumbling’, ‘Migrant Horde in Hospital Rampage’, ‘Richest Town in Britain
Swamped by Illegals’ and ‘Swan Bake’, which falsely suggested asylum seekers were slaughtering and eating swans. In a similar vein, a flavour of the
Sun’s attitude towards Europe could be seen in its ‘Guide to the EU Constitution’ published on 22 April 2004 (p. 13), which states ‘Our army will have to follow EU orders’, ‘We will be ordered what to say at the UN: the new EU foreign
minister will speak for Britain at the Security Council’. It continues to be xenophobic towards EU leaders, sometimes calling them Krauts, Frogs and Hun.
Its regular feature of a topless model on page 3 continues to cause controversy. It has endured since 1970, despite periodic criticism that it is degrading to women. Even in the more permissive society of 2012, the ‘No More
Page 3’ campaign argued the pictures ‘condition readers to view women as
sex objects’, and that it ‘normalises horrible sexist banter’. The campaign
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77
to ban the topless model is supported by a number of charities and trade
unions, including Unison and the National Union of Teachers. In 2013 the
Irish edition of the Sun
n stopped publishing topless photos, because of what
the editor called ‘cultural differences’ between Britain and Ireland.
Its politics are pragmatic, and not ideological. Despite consistently criticising the government, it supported them in the elections of 2001 and again in
2005, in order to ‘back the winner’. But, in 2009 the paper switched its support to the Tories, who went on to form a coalition government.
The phone-hacking allegations of 2011 marked a watershed for the
paper. The same year the Sun
n’s sister paper the News of the World
d was
closed by its owner, News International, and in 2012 the Sun on Sunday
took its place. But the Sun
n has been badly damaged by revelations of phone
hacking and illegal payments for information, and many personnel formerly
connected with the paper have been arrested, are awaiting trial or have
been imprisoned.
Today, as with many other popular newspapers, ‘showbiz’ stories, drama,
sex, money and sports stories still take up most of the paper, which mirror the content, style and tone of Sky TV. But in spite of its crude, brash
populism, its circulation (like that of many newspapers) continues to decline.
Nevertheless, politicians of all the main parties still see it as a potentially
important ally in a general election. Meanwhile, critics observe that although
the newspaper has produced some witty tabloid journalism, good light
entertainment and wide sports coverage, it has also produced stories that
are unreliable, exaggerated and untrue, as numerous court cases and the
Leveson Inquiry have demonstrated.
Magazines
Introduction
There is an enormous market in Britain for light reading. Magazines for leisure
and entertainment fill this gap, and a glance at the shelves of any newsagent
reveals a huge variety of magazines directed at people’s interests, wants, needs
and fantasies. But, the business of magazine publishing is very much subject to
fashion and change. New titles are constantly appearing, particularly in the field
of magazines for women where there are about 80 different journals.
Many women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, are produced
to offer advice on contemporary issues such as money, sex and contraception, as
well as more general subjects such as fashion, travel and the law. Others, such
as Hello! and OK! feature photographs and gossip about the ‘new aristocracy’ of
television, pop and sports stars, shown for example going to a party, getting married or cooking Sunday lunch.
However, the top-selling magazines are general publications carrying details
of forthcoming television and radio programmes on terrestrial and satellite stations. TV Choice and the imaginatively named What’s On TV regularly sell over
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a million copies each, and reflect the importance, popularity and centrality of
television in everyday life. The long-established Radio Times (1923–) is in third
place. The fourth best-selling is Take a Break, a puzzle magazine with ‘true life
stories’, and weekly UK sales of around 730,000 in 2014.
For many years women’s magazines, men’s hobby magazines and children’s
titles were the principal market categories, but a more recent arrival is men’s
‘lifestyle’ or general interest magazines, such as FHM, Loaded, Maxim and Zoo.
Popularly known as ‘lad mags’, the number of titles has expanded greatly since
the 1990s, and they carry a mixture of general interest features, humour and
numerous pictures of bikini-clad girls for a male readership aged mainly under 35.
The sales figures of magazines are important to advertisers, and are published
every six months by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Advertisers also want to
know what kind of readers buy a particular magazine, and the National Readership Survey analyses readers’ social class, age, sex, as well as the magazine’s
similarity to other titles. Marketing agencies then use the information to decide
where to advertise their products.
Women’s magazines
Women’s magazines are the second most popular category in terms of sales. They
have a long history, and reflect social change and the position of women in society. As with newspapers, the early magazines were directed towards the wealthy
and educated, as this was the only class that could afford them and read well. Since
then, many have come and gone, leaving Tatler (1709) and The Lady (1885) as
two of Britain’s oldest.
During the mid-nineteenth century demand grew for printed matter of all
kinds, and there was an expansion in the number of women’s titles. Despite calls
in Parliament for more equality for women, most press ignored feminist politics
and demands for universal suffrage, believing it would put readers off. Queen
Victoria agreed with the view, and gave permission for her title to be used for
the magazine Queen in 1861, a publication aimed at satisfying the genteel concerns of upper-class young women, which lasted until 1970 when it merged with
Harper’s Bazaar and became Harpers & Queen.
In the early twentieth century new types of popular press appeared when more
women began to work outside the home. Literacy rates had also improved, and
magazines began to appear for younger readers, such as Peg’s Paper (1919). In
contrast, the more established, traditional magazines of The Lady, Queen and
Vogue continued to feature stories and articles by the best-known literary authors
of the day, such as Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Wyndham Lewis and Somerset
Maugham. These were mixed in with news about the movements of aristocrats
and illustrations of international fashion, written for women who had no need to
go to work or be involved in politics.
During the years of the Second World War magazines aimed to boost the morale
of women, who were suffering on the ‘home front’. They encouraged women to
be determined, with features on how to survive a bombing, the splitting up of
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families, the evacuation of children and life after bereavement. In 1941 Ideal
Home magazine even ran a feature on rebuilding a bombed home. But the austerity of the war and post-war years gradually gave way to a feeling of optimism, most
notably reflected in new magazines such as Vanity Fair. Launched in 1949 and
describing itself as ‘for the younger, smarter woman’, it contained cheaper youthful fashion ideas, which could even be copied. This was a new development, as
fashion had previously followed the ‘canon’ of ‘haute couture’ as dictated by the
major fashion houses, and the idea of creating a fashionable new look at home
indicated a trend away from elitism towards a greater populism in fashion.
The 1950s witnessed a number of social and cultural developments affecting
the style and content of women’s magazines. Better public health and information campaigns conducted through the National Health Service were beginning
to make women more health conscious. Obesity rather than malnutrition was
identified as a problem, prompting features on slimming, weight-watching and
health in general. Women were also becoming more politicised, gaining more
freedom and equality, and the first female peers were taking their seats in the
House of Lords. Moreover, the economy was booming, and rationing was a distant memory. More women were now going to university and earning a living,
and commercial television, which had begun in 1955, was popular with viewers and advertisers, helping to create a new generation of aspirational female
consumers. In 1955 She was launched, with less emphasis on fashion and more on
entertainment, with a variety of topics of interest to the 1950s’ woman, namely,
films, photography, camping and caravanning, reflecting the increasing freedom
that women had to pursue their own interests at home and elsewhere.
Magazines were changing to reflect social changes. The Sunday Times Magazine
was launched to accompany the newspaper in 1964. Innovative and stylish, it
carried strong photo-journalism and features on varied aspects of contemporary
life, as well as aspirational adverts for high-quality consumer products, jewellery, drinks and cars, a combination intended for suburban, educated middleclass women. Nova (1965) had a similar style, with pictures of contemporary
stars by leading photographers such as Terry Donovan and Helmut Newton. It
also became more daring; one famous cover advertised ‘how to undress in front of
your husband’, and a feature inside explained how ‘inside every woman is a stripper longing to get out’. In contrast, ‘elite’ magazines such as Queen still retained
more traditional elements, such as debutantes’ balls, and pictures of royal guests
at horse events. The difference between the two was said to be that ‘Queen readers drive out of town at weekends, while Nova readers drive in’, in an attempt to
illustrate a growing cultural divide between the traditional and modern young
woman.
By the mid-1960s not only women in their 20s and 30s were looking for a new
style of magazine, but adolescents too. Teenagers had more freedom and money
to spend, and a new popular culture was beginning to appeal to their tastes and
preferences, reflected in weeklies such as Honey (1960–86), Jackie (1963–93) and
Fab (1964–80). Jackie was named after the wife of the American president John F.
Kennedy, who was seen as a fashionable role model by many young girls. Aimed
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at 10–15-year-olds, it was typical of many magazines of the era. On the cover of
the first edition was the pop star Cliff Richard and free inside was a ‘twin heart’
ring. Content included colour pictures of the Beatles, picture love stories and a
page of readers’ problems answered by an ‘agony aunt’. The formula was highly
successful attracting over one million young readers by 1970. It changed little in
30 years, and its influence on the attitudes and behaviour of young girls has been
the subject of much analysis by cultural historians and other academics keen to
analyse the attitudes and values reflected and encouraged in its pages.
Women’s liberation was a predominant theme of the 1970s and many magazines
for women aged 18 and over were launched to promote its agenda. The first one
to do so in a mainstream, commercial way was Cosmopolitan, first imported from
the USA in 1972. The magazine was not new, having begun almost a century earlier in 1886. But during the late 1960s under the progressive young editor Helen
Gurley Brown it promoted independence, self-improvement and self-confidence
in a bright, colourful, glossy magazine which showed how young women could get
the best for themselves, their careers and their sex lives. The magazine enjoyed
enormous commercial success, and set the standard for others to follow.
In contrast, new non-commercial ‘underground’ magazines such as Shrew and
Spare Rib (1972–93) gave coverage and support to a different kind of women’s
liberation. Unlike most other magazines for women, Spare Rib was not glossy,
not commercial, but radically feminist. There were no adverts or features on fragrances, fashion or cosmetics, only small adverts for folk festivals, political rallies, lesbian events and shoes made by collectives. Its contributors sometimes
argued that the mainstream advertisers in Cosmopolitan and other magazines
made women feel insecure about themselves in order to make profits, which was
socially unacceptable and morally wrong.
Cosmopolitan’s radical style was influential, and more specialised publications
with different agendas appeared, which were aimed at women in Britain’s various
ethnic communities. Sheba (1979–80) appeared briefly for Arab women domiciled in the UK. Black Beauty and Hair (1987–) continues to report on exactly
what its name suggests. But there have been few successful specialist magazines
for ethnic groups, and circulations remain small, which in turn makes it difficult
to attract advertising. This is because some women feel they want to integrate
into mainstream society by reading mainstream magazines. Moreover, the women
of some immigrant groups have only limited possibilities for learning the English
language, and are thus unable to access publications in English.
Although half the female population never reads a magazine, women remain
significant consumers of general leisure material. Some of the popular titles of the
1960s and 1970s were produced in response to feminism, but today many titles
reflect independence, potential to consume and potential to aspire. Women now
buy houses, cars, investments and travel packages, and this is reflected in the
content of many women’s magazines. There has also been a general trend towards
greater coverage of these topics in newspapers, and many now provide glossy
colour supplements with a range of adverts, features and content unconnected
with the news of the day, which are written with female consumers in mind.
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81
Aspirational living seemed to overtake consumerism in the 1980s, and while
many new consumer magazines took off in that decade, the biggest new publishing
phenomenon was the arrival of glossy magazines dedicated to celebrities and their
lifestyles. Until then, the ‘elite’ women’s titles, such as Tatler and Harper’s had
traditionally carried news of the social lives of British royals, but in 1988 Hello!
arrived from Spain, a brash new arriviste, filled with gossipy photo-journalism of
the ‘new aristocracy’ of television, film and pop stars, footballers and models. It
was published by a Spanish family company which saw the potential of a version of ¡Hola! for British consumers. The result was one of the most successful
magazines of the past half-century, with many similar publications appearing soon
afterwards in what has become the most profitable sector of the British market.
In 1994 Hello! was the only celebrity magazine available in Britain, but ten
years later there were six others. More recent arrivals, such as Heat (1999–) and
Closer (2005–), have specialised in less flattering photographs of their subjects,
for example revealing fake tans, body hair and signs of cosmetic surgery. They
have created a new, realistic, less admiring and less deferential relationship
between readers and the rich and famous, setting a trend which has spread to
other magazines.
The progressive women’s weeklies such as Cosmopolitan (1972–) and Marie
Claire (1988–) still retain a mixture of features and tips on fashion, beauty, travel
and consumer features, as well as an emphasis on relationships and sexual matters.
However, recent years have seen a change in the style of the ‘problem pages’ of
many modern publications. Until the late 1990s readers would write and ask a resident ‘agony aunt’ to solve their problems. But now, other readers often contribute
their own, differing solutions, which are published alongside the original problem,
and allow the reader to select which course of action would be most appropriate. It
also indicates a change in the role of the magazine, from one of an ‘authority’ who
holds the high moral ground and talks down to the readers, to one which facilitates democratic debate among them, and a range of solutions to be put forward.
Despite a long cultural history, women’s magazines are subject to similar pressures to those of newspapers. Sales of most magazines are falling around 5 per
cent year on year. The economic recession has undoubtedly had an impact, but
other reasons may include readers becoming less interested in articles about diets,
shoes and traditional English weddings, which are still common features of many
publications. Society has become more diverse and multicultural, and so have
women’s interests. Consequently, the internet is increasingly used to find a more
personalised range of topics and features regarding, for example, relationships,
work and the body, as well as communities with whom women cannot just read
about, but communicate with on Twitter, Mumsnet and other channels, all of
which can make the role of magazines feel increasingly dated and redundant.
Men’s magazines
For many years ‘adult’ or ‘men’s’ magazines were synonymous with pornography.
The less sexually explicit ‘soft-core’ type were sold in newsagents, and could
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usually be found on the ‘top shelf’ (hence their nickname), while more explicit
‘hard-core’ magazines were sold in specially licensed shops. Other magazines
bought mainly by men dealt with specific interests, such as sport, cars, music or
computers. They were mostly aspirational, consumer magazines with relatively
low sales. But in the mid-1990s a new type of magazine for men aged 18–35
began, with publications such as Loaded, Maxim, FHM and GQ.
The magazine Loaded started the trend in 1994 with a mixture of glossy colour
features on all the topics traditionally popular with young men, such as beer, clothes,
cars, pictures of provocative, bikini-clad girls and casual sexism. There were regular
articles on gadgets, sport, aggression and war, discussions of old footballers and boxers, and features on, for example, touring with the band Oasis, or a day at work with
Grimsby trawlermen. Previously, men’s magazines had talked down to their readers,
but Loaded spoke to men using the same informal language as the readers themselves,
and carried the tagline ‘for men who should know better’. Articles were witty, ironic
and apolitical, written with spirit, authenticity and attitude. The magazine even had
a men’s problem page, a piece of satire complete with an ‘agony uncle’. A typical
piece ran as follows: a man writes to the magazine complaining that his girlfriend
annoys him by wearing short skirts. The agony uncle replies: ‘Tell her she looks fat.’
The success of ‘lads’ mags’ perplexed cultural commentators. Some said the new
magazines had a sense of escapism and fun, freedom and independence, which
celebrated being young and male in the mid-1990s, when the country was beginning to regain cultural confidence after years of recession and Tory government.
Figure 4.2 Men’s magazines – a new phenomenon in British publishing which for some
commentators indicates masculinity in crisis.
© Ian Francis/Alamy
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Others said that young men felt insecure after years of political correctness, the
deadening seriousness of the 1980s debates on gender, and that the weakening
role of fathers and other male authority figures also contributed to men’s insecurity. In other words, some men felt anxious about threats to their identity as
feminism entered the mainstream, but they found a refuge and reassurance in the
content and style of lads’ mags, which offered an entertaining template of ‘how
to be a man’.
In contrast to the cheeky escapism of lads’ mags, Men’s Health is a more conventional male fitness publication and is currently the most popular men’s magazine in Britain, with monthly sales of over 200,000. It was launched in 1994,
and features articles on muscularity, fitness, health, relationships, weight loss and
fashion. A bare-chested muscular male model adorns the cover, imitating the
original American version, which has sometimes attracted criticism for promoting the pursuit of unattainable physiques. It has sometimes been mistaken as light
entertainment for gay men, though this is something it strongly refutes.
Despite some stories of current success, the sales of most men’s magazines are
falling, on average 5–6 per cent year on year. Apart from the impact of the economic recession of 2008–14, there are a number of reasons which account for
their diminishing appeal. The internet has clearly had an effect; soft pornography
can now be readily accessed online at no charge, and this clearly affects people’s
willingness to pay for it in magazines of any kind. Additionally, an expanding
number of satellite and cable TV and radio stations means that many channels
offering content such as sport, war and crime, which typically appeal to men, can
now be watched at home or online. On the radio, channels such as Talksport
and Radio Five Live also present sports programmes that are created primarily
for male audiences. Thus, the kind of features that men would have previously
paid to read in magazines can now be readily accessed at home, in shows that are
bright, engaging, mainly male-oriented and more convenient.
Alternative publications
Changing attitudes towards gender roles and sexuality have led to the creation
of other kinds of magazines for LGBT readers. The Gay Times (1984–) is a general interest publication for gay men, with celebrity interviews, news, features,
music, film, style and travel, as well as features on a wide range of topics, from
anti-gay laws in countries overseas, to interviews with gay politicians. It has a
circulation of approximately 68,000 per issue. The company that produces Gay
Times – Millivres Prowler Group – also produces Diva, a magazine for lesbians
which started in 1994. It includes many articles dedicated to lesbian and bisexual
matters, and interviews with prominent gay men and women, and has a circulation of approximately 35,000.
The changes that Britain has experienced since the 1950s regarding more open
attitudes towards sexuality and female liberation began at a time when attitudes
to authorities of all kinds were changing. One of the most visible signs of this was
a boom in political satire, in which a journalistic high point was the creation of
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Newspapers, magazines and journalism
Private Eye, a humorous and irreverent magazine dedicated to the mockery and
caricature of people and events in politics, business and the media. However, it
also features serious, investigative reports into the same areas, exposing events
which the mainstream press are often reluctant to report. The magazine is readily identified by its covers, which traditionally show a picture of someone in the
news with a comic speech ‘bubble’ attached. It is currently Britain’s best-selling
current affairs magazine, with a circulation of around 222,880 in August 2013.
Private Eye is printed on cheap, dull, recycled-looking paper, and with a variety
of fonts, which make it look like a home-made magazine. However, DIY publications did not become common in Britain until the 1970s, when young enthusiasts and members of a growing counter-culture began home-producing their
own journals and ‘fanzines’. These were printed or written by hand in sheds and
bedrooms, and then photocopied before being shared and distributed by hand.
Fanzines first appeared in response to the mainstream’s sensational, exaggerated reporting of the punk phenomenon. Fans felt it was being misrepresented,
and that commercial motives prevented accurate reporting by the press. Instead,
they aimed to cover topics and write about the music in a way that was more
authentic. New publications were created, which were written in the language
of fans. Sniffin’ Glue was among the first, produced by Mark Perry, and ran for
12 issues. It was rarely sold in newsagents, but could be bought directly from the
people who wrote it and was then passed on among enthusiasts, which created
the sense of a closed, secretive community.
Later in the 1980s and 1990s football ’zines appeared in response to what fans
saw as the game’s domination by money and celebrity. They carried lively, humorous articles written by and for supporters, who were passionate and involved with
the game, rather than passive consumers of it. Some of the most notable have
evolved to become more mainstream publications such as the informative, irreverent When Saturday Comes (WSC). Today, a wide range of fanzines cover music,
sport and sometimes cinema, and are found mainly online. Most are witty, apolitical and written with an infectious enthusiasm as an antidote to the increasingly
commercial nature of commentary, journalism and public relations surrounding
many aspects of popular culture.
As with many magazines, the appearance of British fanzines marked a particular cultural moment, in this case when fans used direct action to take back
from the hands of the corporations what they felt was rightfully theirs. They
were a kind of enthusiasts’ website in analogue times, where those of a like mind
could communicate and share the passion, attitudes and language of those deeply
involved at the roots of the scene to preserve its spirit, values and community.
5
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Introduction
Since 1945 British society has changed greatly. Social and cultural barriers have
been steadily eroded due to globalisation, migration, gender and racial equality, rights for minorities and higher levels of education. An important consequence of this social ferment has been that identity, sexuality, morality, attitudes,
values and behaviour have gradually become more individual, personal and
self-constructed, while the influence of more traditional forces such as parents,
family, society, government, nation and the Church has greatly diminished or
disappeared altogether.
In literature, the new freedom of the self to express who one is, rather than
who one should be, has led to a vigorous expansion of themes. Gender, ethnic
and sexual identities have found expression in feminist, migrant and lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) writing, often developed from an outsider’s
point of view. Techniques of storytelling have also become more diverse, as some
writers looked to the past and took inspiration from earlier traditions, while others combined different narrative styles such as fact, fiction, the past and present
in the same story, in a magic realist style.
Children’s literature has also attracted growing public and critical interest. The
phenomenal popularity of the Harry Potter series has illustrated how, despite the
distractions of online entertainments, children can become involved with books
they love. At the same time there has been an increasing number of adaptations
for stage and screen, and amid a fast-changing world of media and society, greater
debate and concern about what children should read and watch.
Enter the outsider: youth and immigrants
In the late 1940s following the horrific losses of six years of war, the public looked
not for brave new ideas and styles, but for comfort and reassurance in literature.
However, by 1955 the old values and certainties that religion and nation had
traditionally provided were being questioned, and a new generation of critical
young novelists, playwrights and artists was emerging.
Writers such as Colin Wilson, John Wain, Stan Barstow, Alan Sillitoe, Keith
Waterhouse, Kingsley Amis and others were mostly aged under 30, and like
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many of the British public at the time they shared an impatience with tradition,
authority and the ruling class. Their works reflected their anger and frustrations
in novels such as John Wain’s Hurry on Down (1953), Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim
(1954), John Braine’s Room at the Top (1957) and Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning (1958). The protagonists of these novels were ‘outsiders’;
they did not identify with modern society. Like the authors themselves, they were
impatient, dissatisfied and critical of conventional morality and behaviour. They
felt resentful and powerless, and sometimes were violent. Many stories are set in
working-class areas of depressed cities in the industrial north, and contain sexually explicit scenes. Dialogue is often in regional dialect, giving a strong sense of
the characters’ identity and social background.
In Britain in the mid-1950s it was considered provocative and subversive
to write on themes of frustrated ambition, sexuality and class conflict. Revelations of uncomfortable truths about an unequal society expressed through realistic portrayals of everyday life were seen as dangerous and threatening to the
British establishment, which feared it could lead to political change, and even
communism. Moreover, the creation of uneducated, undisciplined heroes was a
departure from literary convention, and angered many critics. But it meant that
dissent, honesty and openness were introduced into literature, theatre, and later
into television and film by a group of writers who became known as the ‘angry
young men’.
The new currents of social realism in novels of the 1950s also extended to
poetry. In 1956 Robert Conquest edited New Lines, in what proved to be a debut
for its progressive contributors became who known as ‘the Movement’ and were
united by a dislike of what they saw as the pretensions and elitism of modern writing. Like many of their contemporaries in music and theatre, poets were identified by their popular image of beards, pipe-smoking, beer drinking, sandals and a
love of jazz, an appearance derived from the ‘Beat Generation’ which had taken
hold in America.
But other areas of literature remained more conventional. Philip Larkin wrote
more conservatively, ignoring stylistic experimentation to produce clear, economical observations about daily life in Britain. He went on to produce three
major collections: The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and
High Windows (1974), which established his reputation as a major poet. In the
satirical Whitsun Weddings, Larkin describes a train journey from Hull to London
and comments on a sad England of false merriment, cheap fashions and joyless
weddings, in a style that could belong to the new millennium. His subject matter
was a revelation, and created new territory for English poetry. Larkin was also a
fan of jazz music and in All What Jazz? (1970) he presented a collection of his
critical reviews collected from the Daily Telegraph, in which he attacked the freedom and experimentation of modern styles of jazz, compared with the traditional,
pre-1945 forms.
Both modern and traditional forms of jazz have always had a strong following
in Britain, though this was still quite a small, middle-class pastime in the mid1950s when a steady flow of Afro-Caribbean immigrants began to arrive from
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the West Indies. Britain offered an exciting new world of freedom and adventure
to those arriving from overseas, which is captured in Samuel Selvon’s comic
masterpiece The Lonely Londoners (1956), a series of narratives about West Indians in London. Another early portrait of immigrants’ experiences is drawn by
Colin MacInnes in the nostalgic City of Spades (1957). MacInnes grew up in
Australia, but in Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr Love and Justice (1960) he
depicts from the point of view of an outsider, a newly emergent English youth
culture of coffee bars, clubs and dance halls, teenage fashions and conflict with
authority. MacInnes’s three novels form the London Trilogy and together with
his fascinating collection of essays England, Half-English (1961) were the first
works to recognise the emergence of pop culture, and a ‘scene’ which was more
appealing, exciting and immediate than jazz to a young generation of workingclass youth, and how it offered a sense of identity, freedom and belonging.
The critical enthusiasm reserved for the new young authors almost led to William Golding’s first novel passing unnoticed. Lord of the Flies (1954) is about
a group of boys on a deserted island who, free from convention and restraint,
unsuccessfully try to govern themselves before anarchy and violence break out.
The story initially attracted little interest and few copies were sold. But as Cold
War tensions grew, its dystopian vision of man’s descent into brutal savagery in
the absence of democratic political structures was sometimes interpreted as offering ideological support for the democratic ‘free’ countries of the West. Its popularity grew steadily, and the novel was twice made into a film, in 1963 and 1990.
It was also widely adopted on many English Literature courses, which helped to
reinforce a particular conception of British national identity.
Many of Golding’s subsequent works dealt with the struggle between good
and evil, such as Rites of Passage (1980), a tragicomic sea adventure set in the
eighteenth century, which won him the Booker Prize. In his lifetime he became
recognised as one of the finest British authors since the war, being awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983 and a knighthood in 1988.
Literature of the 1960s and 1970s: experiments,
fun and freedom
By 1962 the resentment and frustration felt by the younger generation during the
1950s had begun to find expression across the arts in literature, film and television. In literature, many of the authors of that period went on to receive critical
recognition as major writers, but became less radical as they did so, such as Kingsley Amis. Their themes were diverse but questions of freedom, equality and class
consciousness tended to predominate.
Issues of personal morality in challenging and liberated times are central
themes to many works of Anthony Burgess. His experiences as an English teacher
in Malaya and Brunei provided inspiration for his early writing in the 1950s,
such as The Malayan Trilogy (later reissued as The Long Day Wanes). However, it
was A Clockwork Orange (1962) that brought him fame. It is set in England of
the future, a dystopia where an aggressive gang of young delinquents rob, rape,
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torture and murder. The gang speak Nadsat, a private teenage slang, an ‘inhuman’ language invented by the author (but based on Russian) to emphasise the
gang’s collective identity and their distance from conventional society. Eventually, their leader Alex is captured and treated, but he begins to produce mechanical, robotic responses to the things that make him human: sex, violence and the
arts. The story’s main theme is morality and how to deal with transgressions of
it, in a tale which satirises both totalitarian and liberal humanist approaches. In
1971 the story was made into a highly successful film by Stanley Kubrick. In the
first lines of the book Alex narrates to set the scene:
There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and
Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make
up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. A flip dark chill winter bastard though dry. The Korova milkbar was a milk-plus, milk plus mesto, and
you may, O my brothers, have forgotten what these mestos were like, things
changing so skorry these days, and everybody very quick to forget, newspapers not being read much neither.
(Burgess, 1962: 1)
Burgess’s prolific ouput also included his four ‘Enderby’ comic novels (1963–
84), which describe the humorous adventures of a middle-aged university lecturer and poet. Higher education expanded greatly in the 1960s and 1970s, and
its liberal, permissive atmosphere and lecturers’ own petty problems, rivalries and
jealousies inspired the writing of satirical ‘campus’ novels. This theme served
to establish the careers of several modern authors, among them Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodge. In contrast to Iris Murdoch’s frequent setting within the
ancient walls of Oxford University, their stories take place in the new, ‘plateglass’ universities of the 1960s, which were built to accommodate growing number of students in many cities around Britain.
Bradbury was a distinguished academic, and is remembered for founding
Britain’s first course in creative writing at the University of East Anglia, where
between 1970 and 1995 he was Professor of American Studies. His best-known
works include Stepping Westward (1965), a humorous comparison between American and British university life, and The History Man (1975).
Lodge is a former professor of English literature who is also well known for his
extensive output of literary criticism. One of his most successful campus novels is
Changing Places (1975), a comical story about an academic exchange between the
universities of ‘Euphoria State’ in America and ‘Rummidge’ based on Lodge’s own
seat of learning at Birmingham University in the English Midlands. It marked
the first of a trilogy on campus life, and was followed by Small Worlds (1984),
a humorous tale of intrigue at an academic conference, and Nice Work (1988),
another comical tale of a collision between town and gown, industry and academia. Lodge’s stories are also imaginative, playful and offer strong satirical comment; for example, his earlier How Far Can You Go? (1980) examines the impact
of a secular, permissive society on the personal relationships of British Catholics.
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Like Lodge, Iris Murdoch was also a university lecturer, and her novels frequently combine philosophical questions with detailed observations of academic
intrigue and middle-class life in Oxford. Her novels are often concerned with
human freedom, and question how goodness can triumph over evil. The first of
her many works was the comedy Under the Net (1954), while one of her finest –
The Bell (1958) – looks at a declining religious community. The humour and
surprises in stories such as A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970) and An Accidental
Man (1971) were also popular with critics and the public. All her novels are
noted for their intense descriptions of her characters, who are often possessed by
erotic fantasies. These are mixed with unexpected and bizarre incidents which
sometimes involve cats, dogs, mice and spiders to create comic effect. During a
prolific career she won numerous awards, including the prestigious Booker Prize
for The Sea, the Sea (1978).
The work of John Fowles has enabled him to become one of the few British
authors who has written serious, experimental fiction while remaining on the
bestseller list. Heroines feature prominently in his works, who often combine femininity with mental strength to conquer their circumstances. He made his debut
with an exciting psychological thriller The Collector (1963), about a butterfly collector who kidnaps an attractive young art student. Although the male character
is physically stronger, Fowles shows that the girl is the more powerful of the two.
Later, The Magus (1966, revised 1977) involves a young teacher of English in what
seems the ideal post on a remote Greek island, whose sense of perception becomes
distorted following an unusual sexual encounter. His best-known work The French
Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) is told in a highly original way, with the author showing a self-awareness of how he uses language and imagination to shape the reader’s
reality. The book was made into a successful film in 1981.
The permissive youth culture of the early 1970s could be found not only on
the university campus, but in the tough, mean streets of Britain’s industrial conurbations. These are the setting for Richard Allen’s Boot-Boy (1970), Suedehead
(1971), Glam (1973) and others, sensationalised, mass-produced stories based on
the imagined lifestyles of teenage gangs. Set in bleak, decaying, rubbish-strewn
urban towns of the 1970s, they depict closed, mean, brutal worlds of youth with
no future, and include many detailed descriptions of vandalism, violence and sex.
Critics complained that they encouraged imitative, ‘copycat’ behaviour. Nevertheless, the simply written fantasies remain raw, energetic, adrenaline-fuelled
adventures, which were absorbed by many teenagers of the period, and have been
rediscovered in recent years as popular artefacts of 1970s youth culture.
The work of the Mersey Poets from Liverpool was also popular with a younger,
non-literary audience. The success of the Beatles and other Liverpool groups
helped to generate interest in the local popular culture, and during the mid1960s poets such as Roger McGough, Adrian Henri and Brian Patten pioneered a
new style of light, satirical verse. Unlike many poets, they were funny, irreverent
and streetwise. They wore fashionable clothes, mixed with pop stars and wrote
pop poetry: poetry with a performance, pop without the music. A flavour of their
work is captured in the anthology The Mersey Sound (1967).
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Feminism and fiction: new perspectives
By the mid-1960s the impact of feminism was being widely felt in politics, law,
social and family life. Traditional attitudes towards women’s sexuality, marriage,
work and many other aspects of their lives began to change, and there was a
new recognition of women’s role in society. Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch
(1970) gave popular literary expression to feminist theory. Its provocative and
outspoken text offered a clear, un-theoretical manifesto that was accessible to
everyone. Its impact was enormous, and soon afterwards a significant new body
of women’s literature emerged. This contained powerful descriptions of women’s
experience, and feminist writing quickly became an influential new genre.
Literature had been a male-dominated field, but new feminist publishing houses
opened to energetically encourage women’s writing. Virago, the Women’s Press
and Pandora contracted new feminist authors and began promoting others, such
as Stevie Smith, Storm Jameson, Rebecca West, Rose Macaulay, Barbara Pym
and Jean Rhys, whose work had passed largely unnoticed earlier in the twentieth
century. There were also important changes in the universities. Departments of
Women’s Studies were established and departments of literature began to study
themes and imagery in women’s writing.
The position of women in society, social injustice and the search for equality
with men were some of the dominant themes in the early novels of many new
authors. Earlier in the 1960s many female writers still did not openly identify
with the new intellectual and political currents of feminism, although some were
sympathetic to its messages in their work. One such author is Muriel Spark, who
was born into a Scottish family of Jewish descent, and later converted to Catholicism. Her short, stylish funny stories emphasise the roles of the female characters,
her best-known work being The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), a story set in
her native Edinburgh of the 1930s. It features a charismatic teacher who is proud,
cultured and romantic, inspiring and transforming a group of young girls who
begin to follow her example.
In contrast, social injustice and the need for equality with men came to dominate the novels of many later authors. Fay Weldon’s robustly feminist novels
deal with female resentment, anger and revenge in a way that is detached and
often ironic. Down Among the Women (1971) draws attention to the repetitive
nature of most women’s lives, spent cooking, cleaning and looking after children.
Told in a colloquial present tense, the narrative produces a realistic, documentary
effect, as if the action is actually taking place.
More conventional themes of inequality and oppression are found in the
highly praised novels of Margaret Drabble. These often have female protagonists whose education, careers and family relationships are described in detail,
and often reflect those of the author. In The Millstone (1965) the heroine has
to fight against various distractions to gain her independence. Then she has an
unplanned baby daughter which both helps and limits her development. The trilogy The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989) and The Gates of Ivory
(1991), in which three women look back on their younger selves, also provides a
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clear account of a difficult, confrontational and politically polarised country. The
Ice Age (1977) is considered by many critics to be her finest work. It deals not
only with women’s liberation, but also social inequality, house prices, terrorism
and the faltering welfare state in mid-1970s (concerns which, 40 years later, have
not gone away). In the following extract Mike Morgan, a comedian with a ‘ratclown face’, comments on the way 1970s Britain seemed to be wilfully destroying
itself:
The English are guilty, they are self-denigrating, they are masochists, they
love to be kicked, he said, because of their deeply ingrained, inalienable, disgusting certainty of superiority. They are island xenophobes, and they love
to be kicked because they know it does not hurt. They are rich bitches who
like to be degraded.
(Drabble, 1977: 214)
While many early feminist writers focused on themes of social strife and
inequality, others were more concerned with women’s domestic lives and their
relationships with men. The fiction of Edna O’Brien portrays women as having
a frustrating choice between either loneliness or slavery to men and the family.
This is apparent in her early trilogy The Country Girls (1960–3), in which sexual
desires conflict with the heroine’s Catholic upbringing. This uncertainty again
finds expression in Casualties of Peace (1966), a story told with wit and pace. The
eroticism of her stories brought to the novel a frank exposure of women’s sexual
needs and amplified the spectrum of women’s writing.
Several highly regarded authors such as Penelope Lively and Anita Brookner
write about women’s issues in a simple, direct way. Before she became a respected
author of feminist novels, Penelope Lively wrote children’s fiction, for example
A House Inside Out (1987). Her adult novels began with The Road to Lichfield
(1977) and in 1987 she won the Booker Prize for Moon Tiger. Anita Brookner’s
style of writing is elegant and sometimes funny. She began her career as an art historian, but later wrote stories that often feature a lonely, intellectual woman who
lives unhappily, such as A Friend from England (1987) and Fraud (1992). Instead
of rebelling against society, her characters accept their situation and cannot be
described as feminists. But in Hotel du Lac (1984) the heroine makes the brave
decision not to get married on her wedding day. It won the Booker Prize in 1984
and was also made into a successful television series.
Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing (1919–2013) is among the most highly respected of contemporary British writers, the author of prolific and varied works. As well as
many novels she has also written short stories, poetry and travel writing.
At the beginning of her career, her left-wing politics and sense of realism
identified her with the social realists of the 1950s. But she later adopted a
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more imaginative style, characterised by fantasy, interior monologues and
multiple realities.
Lessing grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and moved to England in
1937. The country of her childhood is the setting for her early stories and
novels, which include the five-volume Children of Violence
e (1952–69). The
story begins in Rhodesia, where the first volume, Martha Questt, tells the
story of women’s ‘absence’ from history. The setting later moves to England
and forward to the year 2000. The novels aim to present the arguments of
feminists who witnessed the bigotry and apartheid of South African politics
of the 1960s. But the author also expresses her cynicism about communism,
doubting it could provide a more just or equal society.
The Golden Notebookk (1962) is a work of politics and psychology. The
heroine, Anna Freeman Wulf, suffers a crisis in her personal life and eventually has a nervous breakdown. But after recovering she takes an American
lover and becomes involved in socialist politics. Her feelings as a liberated
woman, private individual and author are explored in different sections of the
novel, which is seen by many critics as one of the most significant contributions to the literature of women’s emancipation in the twentieth century.
Lessing’s interest in experimental storytelling extends into her work as a
writer of science fiction. Canopus in Argos: Archivess (1979–83) is an allegorical story which tells how fantastic beasts on distant planets affect life on
earth. It is both subtle and feminist, but its argument is not that women are
superior to men. Instead, hers is the more contemporary view that traditional
feminine qualities such as caring, sharing, gentleness and compassion are
suppressed or ignored by society, and that many current problems could be
solved if these qualities were given greater expression. In the mid-1980s
Lessing returned to realistic narrative, publishing several more novels,
poetry, travel writing and the first volume of her autobiography Under My
Skin
n (1994).
Other visions: new directions in women’s writing
Although some authors such as Maureen Duffy, Penelope Fitzgerald, Penelope
Mortimer and Rose Tremain continued to write about women in a more conventional, linear manner, several others began to explore new, experimental styles
of language and storytelling. They believed that, in a society dominated by men,
women had to free themselves from traditional, established practices in thought,
language and literary style. In this way, they could find a more natural, authentic
voice.
The writing of Jean Rhys and Eva Figes is characterised by the frequent use of
split narrative, in which the story is sometimes told in the first person and sometimes in the third. This creates the sense of a divided self and of fantasy. Rhys
wrote her early novels during the 1920s, but was ‘rediscovered’ during the 1960s.
Her novel The Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) was published when she was aged 72. It
is set in the 1830s and is a highly imaginative, tragic story about Rochester’s mad
wife, a character from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847).
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The technique of ‘reworking’ a traditional story has become a distinctive characteristic of many novels. It involves the changing of numerous details to create
an imaginative and accessible tale with contemporary relevance. Some examples
include Fay Weldon’s The Cloning of Joanna May (1989), a reworking of Mary
Shelley’s classic tale Frankenstein (1818), and Emma Tennant’s Tess (1993), in
which she took as her subjects the female characters of classic novelist Thomas
Hardy (1840–1928). In 2013 Jane Austen’s six novels were each reworked by different authors, with the intention making them more accessible to contemporary
audiences, for example Sense and Sensibility is placed firmly in the twenty-first
century and even features the use of social media. The classics still captivate and
many are adapted by film-makers and television producers to make one of the
best-loved genres of British cinema.
The novels and short stories of A.S. Byatt demonstrate her interests in both
imaginative experimental literature and historical fact, especially her later works,
which became more fictional and fantastic; for example Possession (1990) is part
fairy tale, part journal, part academic essay, part verse, which together tell the
story of an imaginary poet of the nineteenth century. It was awarded the Booker
Prize in 1990. In contrast, a more vigorous attack on accepted notions of reality
is found in the works of Angela Carter, an energetic mixture of fairy tales, eroticism and transsexuality, in which characters regularly change role and sex. This
is a characteristic of magic realism, a technique closely associated with South
American writers such as Gabriel García Márquez, whose stories mix extravagant
fantasy and fable with everyday events.
Since the late 1970s, women’s writing has continued to be distinctive, influential and increasingly diverse. Different experimental styles have been widely
developed in the works of Zoë Fairbairns, Marina Warner, Sara Maitland and
others. This indicates that modern women’s writing is frequently both feminist
and feminine: women expect material equality in law, employment and in relations with men; but as well as being equal in terms of rights, they want to be able
to express difference through more liberated and natural forms of expression, the
use of different narrative forms and a wider variety of techniques.
LGBT: writing for the noughties
During the 1960s and 1970s, social change and greater freedom of sexual expression led to improved public understanding of different kinds of sexuality, and
wider acceptance of different kinds of relationships. In literature, authors dealing
with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themes gradually grew in confidence,
and by the ‘noughties’ their work was becoming less marginalised and more mainstream. However, for some critics this category of writing presents a problem.
They argue that if LGBT stories are intended for everyone, they should not be
categorised as such, because a story about a relationship between a man and a
woman would not be categorised as a heterosexual novel. Nevertheless, a number
of prizes have been introduced specifically for LGBT writing, for example the
Polari Prize and Green Carnation Prize.
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Some of the current, best-known exponents of gay fiction include Alan Hollinghurst and Adam Mars-Jones. Hollinghurst’s The Swimming Pool Library (1988) was
widely praised by critics and in 2004 The Line of Beauty won the Man Booker Prize.
The Stranger’s Child (2011) was also highly praised. Mars-Jones’s hero John Cromer
features in both Pilcrow (2009) and Cedilla (2012), and is gay and disabled, yet still
manages to escape his Buckinghamshire home in the 1970s and combine travel to
India with study at Cambridge University, in two highly acclaimed novels.
In recent years the LGBT genre has expanded to include more popular styles
of writing, for example work by James Lear, who has had considerable success
with his novels The Back Passage (2006) and Man’s World (2010), the latter being
shortlisted for a Green Carnation Award for LGBT fiction in 2010.
Authors writing from a lesbian perspective include Stella Duffy, Ali Smith,
Sarah Waters and Val McDermid. But probably the best known is Jeannette Winterson. After being adopted at an early age by a strict Pentecostal family and having a closed, repressive upbringing, as a teenager she identified herself as lesbian.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985) is semi-autobiographical and portrays the
conflict between the religion of her formative years, and her own lesbian sexuality, in a novel that won the Whitbread Prize and was made into an acclaimed
BBC TV series. Winterson’s imaginative fiction is often described as magic realism, in which her sentimental, intense style is frequently used to explore lesbian
sexuality. In 2006 she was awarded an OBE for services to literature, and has
twice won the American Lambda Literary Award for LGBT writing, once in 2013
for Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (2012), an entertaining memoir,
and once for Written on the Body (1992), a love story about an anonymous narrator whose female lover is dying from leukaemia. In the following intimate dialogue, the narrator addresses her lover:
‘Explore me,’ you said and I collected my ropes, flasks and maps,
expecting to be back home soon. I dropped into the mass of you and
I cannot find the way out. Sometimes I think I’m free, coughed up like
Jonah from the whale, but then I turn a corner and recognise myself
again. Myself in your skin, myself lodged in your bones, myself floating
in the cavities that decorate every surgeon’s wall. That is how I know
you. You are what I know.
(Winterson, 1992: 120)
Migrant voices: the Empire writes back
Since the 1950s Britain has steadily become more multicultural, as migrants from
former colonies, such as India and the West Indies, came to live and work in the
major industrial cities. At the same time, former colonies were able to experience
political independence, often for the first time, as Britain gradually withdrew
from her overseas territories. The novelty of independence, the culture shock
of migration from a religious, patriarchal society into a secular, individualist one
and the experience of growing up in a country different to the one their parents
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knew all provided authors with new creative impulses and invigorated English
literature with exciting and original points of view.
V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Caryl Phillips
and Timothy Mo are some of the authors whose stories deal with experiences
of displacement, loss and rediscovery following cultural upheaval. Their themes
have been compared to some women’s writing of the 1970s and 1980s, when the
feminist movement and equality in law brought similar life-changing experiences
for many British women. Both influences have become powerful creative forces
in the English literature of the past 30 years, as authors asked questions about
how people adapt to changed political and cultural circumstances, and the new
realities they bring.
V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad, but studied at Oxford University and
later worked for the BBC. His first three novels, The Mystic Masseur (1957),
Miguel Street (1959) and A House for Mr Biswas (1961), were satires of Trinidadian society. However, his later work became more explicitly political, examining the social dislocation caused by the ‘death’ of empire, most notably In a
Free State (1971). The Enigma of Arrival (1987) is more autobiographical, and
looks back on his experiences of arrival in several different countries, including
his visit to Wiltshire, England, where he now lives. In the 1990s and 2000s he
also became well known for his non-fiction, including books about India, Africa,
South America, Islamic societies and several about his native Caribbean, which
allege the constant failure of colonial and post-colonial societies. Widely read
and admired, Naipaul was knighted in 1989 and received the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 2001.
Other examples of writing on British society from an outsider’s point of view
include Caryl Phillips’s The Final Passage (1985), a tale about the Caribbean community in London during the 1950s and the kind of life which Leila, a young
woman, finds when she arrives. Suburban London is also the setting for David
Dabydeen’s The Intended (1991), which depicts a young man from Guyana trying
to make sense of his different heritage as he grows up, while Amit Chauderi’s
Afternoon Raag (1993), set in Oxford, is about the sense of dislocation experienced by a young Indian who has come to study in the ancient seat of learning.
Kazuo Ishiguro arrived in Britain from Japan at an early age, and later studied
creative writing under Malcolm Bradbury at the University of East Anglia. His
Japanese parentage and attachments to the country feature in many of his works,
for example An Artist of the Floating World (1986), which explores Japanese attitudes towards the Second World War through the eyes of an ageing artist. But
Ishiguro’s most successful novel is set in Britain. The Remains of the Day (1989)
is set in an English country house of the mid-twentieth century, and uses precise
and detailed observation of an elderly butler to present a portrait of British life
and society. His fine observations of class distinctions and social behaviour won
the Booker Prize and the book was later made into a successful film.
Like Ishiguro, Timothy Mo brings to his work a unique vision which is derived
from his experience of growing up in Hong Kong and England. In Monkey King
(1980) and Insular Possession (1986) the author observes the ancient and modern
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traditions of his native Hong Kong, while Sour Sweet (1982) describes the closed,
distant character of the Chinese community in the London district of Soho. The
Far East is also the setting for Redundancy of Courage (1991), which describes how
the island of East Timor was abandoned by the Portuguese colonial power, leaving it in chaos and anarchy.
Similar themes of displacement are found in the bestselling new work by Monica Ali, Zadie Smith and Hari Kunzru. In Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2002) a native
Bangladeshi bride arrives in London’s East End and finds her horizons changing
rapidly in a moving, honest account of life as a Muslim woman in an unhappy
marriage. A successful film was made of the book in 2007.
Salman Rushdie
Highly praised novels, a knighthood and a fatwa that forced him to become
a recluse in fear of his life have made Rushdie one of the most celebrated
and controversial authors of contemporary English literature. He was born
into a Muslim family in Bombay, India in 1947, and migrated to Britain in the
1960s. His homeland provides the setting for Midnight’s Children (1981),
the title of which refers to a new generation of Indians born at midnight on
15 August 1947, when India became an independent republic. The story is
a mixture of fantasy and magic, and narrates the key events in the story of
modern India through the life of Saleem Sinai, who works in a pickle factory.
The story is widely acclaimed as original, clever and observant, winning the
Booker Prize in 1981, and in 1993 being named the best novel during the
first 25 years of Booker awards. However, its real significance lies in the way
it shone a critical light on the new, divided post-imperial identities that independence from Britain created, and the sense of dislocation and rediscovery
that it produced: a new perspective that became influential and widespread
in migrant writing.
Later works include Shame (1983), a story set in Pakistan, and The Jaguar Smile (1987), a travel book about life in Nicaragua under the Sandinistas. But it was The Satanic Verses (1988) for which the author became
renowned. The verses of the title are verses from the Koran, the Muslim
holy book. Set in Arabia, India and Britain, the verses are central to a complex, imaginative story about the act of storytelling. Central to the text is a
discussion of the ways in which migrants can and should change in order
to adapt to their new environment. For those with strong religious convictions, this raises important questions, as Rushdie describes in the following
passage:
A man who sets out to make himself up is taking on the Creator’s role,
according to one way of seeing things; he’s unnatural, a blasphemer,
an abomination of abominations. From another angle, you could
see pathos in him, heroism in his struggle, in his willingness to take
risks: not all mutants survive. Or, consider him sociopolitically: most
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migrants learn, and can become disguises. Our own false descriptions
to counter the falsehoods invented about us, concealing for reasons of
security our secret selves.
(Rushdie, 1988: 49)
The book was widely praised, but some Muslims found in it a blasphemous
abuse of their religion, and Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran demanded that the
author be killed. An Italian translator of the book was subsequently attacked,
the publisher in Norway was shot and a Japanese translator murdered. In
Britain, Muslims publicly burned the book, and many bookshops withdrew it
from sale. But around the world thousands of authors pledged their support
for Rushdie, who could make only very rare public appearances.
Since the late 1980s he has continued to produce a variety of books which
have included the children’s stories Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990),
collected essays in Imaginary Homelands (1991) and a volume of short stories East, West (1994). In September 1998, on the tenth anniversary of the
publication of Satanic Verses, the death threat was finally withdrawn by the
Iranian government.
His most interesting and successful work of recent years has been The
Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999). Set in the world of rock ’n’ roll in the 1970s,
it follows two Indian pop stars from Bombay to London and on to New York.
Rushdie subsequently worked with the rock band U2, touring with them and
working with the singer Bono to write a song named after the novel.
Rushdie was awarded a knighthood in 2007, and in 2012 his autobiography Joseph Anton: A Memoir was published. He claims he now identifies with
atheism, even though he was born a Muslim, and his examination of new cultural realities and how they change people’s way of seeing and interpreting
the world are noted as one of his main contributions to literature. This new
perspective helped create post-colonial studies, one of the most important
areas of literary study in Britain today.
Hanif Kureishi
Some of the liveliest and most colourful accounts of growing up in a multicultural society and are found in the work of Hanif Kureishi (b. 1954). These
frequently draw on his own childhood experiences in the suburbs of south
London. He is known for his satires on major themes of race, family, gay sex
and the complexities of integration.
The son of a Pakistani father and English mother, Kureishi grew up in
Bromley, near London, and left for the capital to write at the Royal Court Theatre when he was in his late teens. His early work was concerned with serious studies of race relations, but his writing became more provocative and
adventurous with My Beautiful Laundrette, a rebellious comical screenplay
about immigration and interracial gay sex, at a time when homosexuality was
rarely seen in the arts. However, as it was written by Kureishi, it had authority
and could not be called racist.
Later came an even funnier and more shocking work; the highly praised
The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) is part-autobiographical, and tells the
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humorous story a young boy born into a Pakistani family and growing up in
Britain, wondering how he can successfully integrate his dual heritage into
his London life. On page 1 of the book he introduces himself, and immediately makes the reader aware of his bi-cultural identity, and indicates the
importance it has for him.
My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost.
I am often considered to be a funny kind of Englishman, a new breed
as it were, having emerged from two old histories. But I don’t care –
Englishman I am (though not proud of it), from the South London suburbs and going somewhere. Perhaps it is the odd mixture of continents
and blood, of here and there, of belonging and not, that makes me
restless and easily bored. Or perhaps it was being brought up in the
suburbs that did it. Anyway, why search the inner room when it’s enough
to say that I was looking for trouble, any kind of movement, action and
sexual interest I could find, because things were so gloomy, so slow and
heavy, in our family . . .
(Kureishi, 1990: 3)
Kureishi became known for his humorous exposures of racist attitudes in
the British, and the sometimes confused, hypocritical attitudes of Pakistanis.
‘My Son the Fanatic’ is a short story written in 1994, a time when identity politics were becoming prominent in Britain. Great collective causes and ideologies had been forgotten, and identity was increasingly a personal construct
that was progressively made for oneself, rather than something that was
automatically given. The story features a decent hard-working family man
who comes from Pakistan to work in Britain. He has very liberal attitudes,
but his son feels he will never belong in England, and thinks he should ‘take’
an identity as a strict Muslim, rather than try to integrate with his countrymen who do not pray and are not observant. It deals with an issue affecting
many Muslims: what to do if your parents don’t pray and aren’t observant. In
the play, the son puts pressure on his father to be more religious, often with
humorous consequences. For Kureishi, religion is part of culture, but other
parts of culture ask what the rules are and how it is possible to argue one
point of view over another.
His later novel The Black Album
m (1995) is a thriller set in London in 1989
and tells a story of drugs, religion and sexual passion. As well as writing
novels, Kureishi has also written screenplays and television dramas, which
include the critically praised film My Beautiful Laundrette
e (1985), and his
witty, insightful and accessible work has made him a leading cultural commentator of his generation.
Doubt and uncertainty (1980–)
Feminist and migrant writing became prominent in the 1980s and 1990s and
continued to dominate literary genres into the twenty-first century, but many
critics despaired. They complained about the absence of any clear sense of British
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or English identity in authors’ works, and the lack of political voices dealing
with class, inequality, and the conventional politics of socialism and liberalism.
They were also frustrated by the increasingly commercial nature of literature and
the apparent inability of the public to distinguish serious works from sensational
novels or ‘pulp’ fiction.
The gloomy economic and social trends of the early 1980s and again in the
early 1990s also made many authors pessimistic about the future. Cold War,
Northern Irish terrorism, unemployment, the rise of greed and selfishness under
Thatcherism, as well as privatisation, reductions in state spending and a gradual
dismantling of the welfare state all contributed to public anxiety and a sense of
abandonment by the government. But the sense of being adrift in the world was
itself a source of inspiration for some writers, who created chilling stories about
being out of place in society, often with a brutal power.
Ian McEwan has achieved both popular and critical success for his novels
and short stories. His earlier work, such as The Cement Garden (1978) and The
Comfort of Strangers (1981), is characterised by a sense of unease or discomfort,
and sometimes a wish to shock, using precise, elegant prose to write about
dark, sinister themes such as incest and infanticide. But more recent novels
are broader, often beginning with calm, realistic descriptions of everyday life
which are suddenly disrupted, such as in Enduring Love (1997) and Atonement
(2001).
The pattern of sudden disruption is continued in Saturday (2005) and tells the
story of a day in the life of a successful brain surgeon, Henry Perowne. His wife
is a top media lawyer, his teenage daughter a published poet and his son a blues
guitarist, which together make his life almost complete until the Saturday of the
title. This is 15 February 2003, the day of the great march in central London
against the forthcoming war in Iraq. Perowne is a perfectionist and all seems well
in his life. In the following extract the main character is alone with his thoughts,
driving around the streets of central London in his luxurious Mercedes S500,
while reflecting on the threat of Islamic terrorism:
Shamelessly, he always enjoys the city from inside his car, where the air is filtered and hi-fi music confers pathos on the humblest details. . . . He is heading a couple of blocks south in order to loop eastwards across the Tottenham
Court Road. Cleveland Street used to be known for garment sweatshops and
prostitutes, now it has Greek, Turkish and Italian restaurants – the local sort
that never get mentioned in the guides. . . . There’s a man who repairs old
computers, a cobbler’s, and further down a wig emporium, much visited by
transvestites. This is a fair embodiment of an inner city by-way – diverse, self
confident, obscure. And it’s at this point that he remembers the source of his
vague sense of shame and embarrassment: his readiness to be persuaded that
the world has changed beyond recall, that harmless streets like this and the
tolerant life they embody can be destroyed by the new enemy – well organised, tentacular, full of hatred and focused zeal.
(McEwan, 2006: 76)
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Events in Saturday take a sudden turn for the worse when Perowne has a traffic accident with a car driven by three men who have just emerged from a lapdancing club, and the protagonist’s secure world of contentment and plenty
seems vulnerable and threatened.
McEwan’s protagonists are often dislikable, monochrome men of science, such
as Perowne, or Michael Beard in Solar (2010), a novel about climate change.
But his most recent work Sweet Tooth (2012) features a female protagonist, a
struggling mathematics student, and is set amid the social strife and Cold War
tensions of the 1970s. It is often self-referential, containing dramatic reconstructions of the author’s experiences of the time; Martin Amis makes an appearance,
as do other friends and colleagues from earlier in his career, in a novel that has
cemented his reputation for imaginative and original storytelling.
Martin Amis
Many novels of the 1980s were imaginative and escapist, but often in a dark,
sinister way. Throughout the ‘age of greed’, fantastic, grotesque scenarios
involving themes of corruption of innocence and ‘paradise lost’ were common. One of the most representative novelists of this trend is Martin Amis
(b. 1949). The son of Kingsley Amis, he is a satirical, witty author, and sharp
social commentary on England and Englishness is a characteristic of all his
work.
Amis became successful at a young age. As a child he occasionally
worked as an actor, most notably in the film A High Wind in Jamaica
a (1965,
Alexander Mackendrick), about children and pirates in the Caribbean. He
subsequently studied at Oxford University where he graduated with distinction, and soon afterwards released his debut novel The Rachel Papers
(1973) a part-autobiographical work, dealing with a bright, but selfish young
man’s adventures in the year before going to university. His depiction of
the decay, deprivation and sexuality in declining 1970s London brought him
the Somerset Maugham Award in 1974, which his father had earlier won in
1955. By the time he was 30 he had written two more novels, Dead Babies
(1975) and Successs (1979), both while holding editorial posts at the The
Times Literary Supplementt and the New Statesman.
n
His contemporary social satires Moneyy (1984), London Fieldss (1989) and
The Information
n (1995) capture the spirit of the times with heavy irony. They
are sometimes referred to as the ‘London Trilogy’, and portray the ‘state of
the nation’, in this case a sleazy, decaying country. Money
y is about the movie
world, in which a corpulent British film producer, John Self, is working with
Lorne Guyland, an ageing Hollywood star, said to be based on the actor Kirk
Douglas. At one point, a well-known author called Martin Amis meets Self in
a west London pub, a postmodern scene created for comic effect.
Amis writes of a class system based on money and privilege, in which the
spirit is starved and disaster is imminent. For him, the prosperity enjoyed by
some during the 1980s appeared to extinguish all moral obligation to others,
as people became more selfish, envious and greedy. His London Fieldss is a
murder story set in west London’s pubs and streets, starring a semi-literate
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Figure 5.1 Martin Amis taking part in an interview.
© Jeff Morgan 15/Alamy
con-man who is obsessed with darts, sex and television, while The Information is based around professional envy and mid-life crises. Einstein’s Monsters (1986) is a collection of short stories about nuclear war, while Time’s
Arrow (1991) narrates the story of the Second World War and describes its
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effects on the present. Its imaginative technique tells the story in reverse,
beginning in the present time and regressing.
His latest work, Lionel Asbo: State of England
d, again examines the condition of England, celebrity culture and the effects of new money. It features
a violent, lottery-winning anti-hero, and his girlfriend, the ambitious glamour
model ‘Threnody’ (the inverted commas form part of her name), said to be
based on the model known as Jordan. It is set in Diston, London (based on
Dalston), and in this extract the local area is described – an inner-city shell
that could be anywhere in the UK.
In Diston everything hated everything else. And everything else in
return hated everything back. Everything soft hated everything hard,
and vice versa. Cold fought heat, heat fought cold, everything honked
and yelled and swore at everything, and all was weightless and all
hated weight.
Amis (2012: 165)
Amis’s life has provided him with as much publicity as his fiction, in particular
his relationships, earnings, his controversial views on Islam, old age and
attitudes towards Britain. Yet, he is regarded as one of the most talented
English writers of his generation, received the James Tait Black Memorial
Prize for his memoir Experience, and has been listed for the Booker Prize
twice to date.
Dark themes, including the effects of abortion and murder during adolescence
on the writer as a grown man, are found in Graham Swift’s Waterland (1983),
which has been critically praised as one of the decade’s finest novels. Set in the
Fenlands of Cambridgeshire, Swift’s theme is that people often live in the shadow
of a suspect past, a corrupted history.
In contrast, Julian Barnes’s light, confident style has often been used to
illuminate aspects of French and English culture. His Metroland (1980), Flaubert’s Parrot (1984) and Cross Channel (1996) are concerned with English
encounters with and perspectives on France, while England, England (1998) is
a humorous tale set in the near future, when the nation’s major tourist attractions of Big Ben, Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace and Hadrian’s Wall are
reconstructed on the Isle of Wight to ease the travel itinerary of American
and Japanese tourists.
The continuing tensions in Northern Ireland between the violent demands
for independence and the maintenance of union with Britain provided the basis
for several novels of the 1980s and 1990s by Bernard MacLaverty, Alan Judd
and others. There is also a strong tradition of verse, maintained by poets such as
Tom Paulin, Paul Durcan, Paul Muldoon and Derek Mahon, whose works have
examined the problems and pressures of life in the Northern Counties in the late
twentieth century.
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In Scotland too, the 1990s were characterised by a bleak social realism in
several prominent works, most notably in the novels of James Kelman, which
deal with hard realities on the streets of Glasgow. But unlike many other
Scottish authors, Kelman rejects standard English prose and writes mainly in
the local dialect, which he peppers with numerous expletives to create more
authentic dialogue. His style has made him controversial with critics, and
often difficult to evaluate. But his novel How Late it Was, How Late (1994)
won the Booker Prize. Complex expressions of identity are common characteristics of several novels by Scottish novelists, for example Alasdair Gray’s
distinctive Lanark (1981), which makes humorous comparisons between the
Scottish and the English. It describes the author as a young Glaswegian, but
the story is told in a dual style, indicating the presence of a split personality
or identity.
Like Glasgow, the city of Edinburgh also has high levels of social problems,
drug addiction and AIDS, which are frankly revealed in Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting (1993) and The Acid House (1994). These are dark tales of violence, and
deprivation, but are lifted by the author’s lively, witty style. Filth (1998), Glue
(2001) and Porno (2002) followed, with explorations of working-class Scottish
identity and how it has found expression since the 1960s. Violent sectarianism,
violent football rivalries, Republicanism, repressed homosexuality, class divisions
and emigration are some of the themes explored in his books, which are revisited
in Skagboys (2012), a prequel to Trainspotting.
Edinburgh is also the setting for many works by Iain Banks. The Bridge (1986)
mixes hallucination, fantasy and reality in a tale set around the Forth Road
Bridge near Edinburgh. His novels and science-fiction stories (the latter written
by his ‘alter ego’ of Iain M. Banks) made him one of the most critically and publicly admired authors of the 1980s and 1990s, from the sexuality and violence
of The Wasp Factory (1984) to the dual narrative and mysticism of Inversions
(1998). His final work The Quarry was posthumously published in 2013, and
is partly autobiographical, featuring an autistic youth whose father is dying of
cancer.
The search for a clear sense of identity and belonging was the theme of Nick
Hornby’s Fever Pitch (1992), one of the most critically praised books of the
early 1990s. Set in the 1970s, this is the autobiographical story of a young man
brought up in suburbia, whose complex emotions are expressed in his passionate, almost religious obsession with Arsenal Football Club. He is in his mid30s when he begins to analyse these emotions. The book became a bestseller,
and one of the most talked-about novels of its time. In the following extract,
Hornby recalls his experience of growing up in a dull Home Counties suburb,
and his feelings of dislocation and being ‘out of place’, not unlike those of many
immigrants. And, just as with many immigrants to new countries, he changed
the way he spoke, in this case to show his identification with another community – that of the Arsenal supporters on the terraces of their north London
stadium.
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ISLINGTON1 BOY
The white south of England middle-class Englishman and woman is the most
rootless creature on earth . . . Yorkshiremen, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish,
blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something
they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about, songs to sing, things they can
grab for and squeeze hard when they feel like it, but we have nothing, or
at least nothing we want. . . . Hence the phenomenon of mock-belonging,
whereby pasts and backgrounds are manufactured and massaged to provide
some kind of acceptable cultural identity. . . . In the mid-seventies young,
intelligent, and otherwise self-aware white young men and women in London began to adopt a Jamaican patois. . . . How we all wished we came from
the Chicago Projects, or the Kingston Ghettos, or the mean streets of north
London or Glasgow! All those aitch-dropping, vowel-mangling punk rockers
with a public school education! All those Hampshire girls with grandparents
in Liverpool or Brum! All those Pogues2 fans from Hertfordshire singing Irish
rebel songs! . . .
Ever since I have been old enough to understand what it means to be
suburban I have wanted to come from somewhere else, preferably north London. I have already dropped as many aitches as I can . . . and I use plural verb
forms with singular subjects whenever possible. This was a process which
started shortly after my first visits to Highbury,3 continued throughout my
suburban grammar school career, and escalated alarmingly when I arrived
at university. My sister, on the other hand, who also has problems with her
suburban roots, went the other way when she went to college, and suddenly
started to speak like the Duchess of Devonshire.4
Post-war . . . none of the available cultures seemed to belong to us, and
we had to pinch one quick. And what is suburban post-war middle-class
English culture anyway? Jeffrey Archer and Evita, Flanders and Swann5 and
the Goons, Adrian Mole and Merchant–Ivory . . . and John Cleese’s silly
walk?6 It’s no wonder we all wanted to be Muddy Waters or Charlie George.7
(Hornby, 1993: 47–9)
His subsequent novels High Fidelity (1994) and About a Boy (1997) are also
part-autobiographical, and provide realistic, amusing explorations of suburban
youth culture in the 1970s and 1980s. They also highlight his search for a sense
of belonging, and raise questions as to what extent white British men and women
share the migrant condition, in the sense of feeling adrift and rootless in modern
society in a time of pessimism and uncertainty.
Will Self has become well known for his London-based novels, which are often
satirical and grotesque in equal measure. His works often include references to
drugs and mental illness, and appearances by the psychiatrist Zack Busner are a
regular feature, for example in Umbrella (2012) and Shark (2014). Self’s characteristically intense style with unconventional lexis and adventurous word play
is sometimes described as high modernism, but it is lightened by dry wit and
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Figure 5.2 Creating a distinctive book cover has become a fine art.
© David Christopher
playfulness which carry the reader along through carefully constructed plots. His
journalism is broad, but deep and accessible, and his eloquent contributions to
media discussions are typically frank and entertaining. His amusing collection
of restaurant reviews The Unbearable Lightness of Being A Prawn Cracker was less
concerned with fine dining, aspirational eating and perfection on a plate than
with fast food and ready meals eaten everywhere by everyone, and was released
in 2012.
In contrast to the darker themes prevailing throughout the 1990s in many
areas of literature, Hilary Mantel has received consistent critical acclaim for her
novels on a wide range of topics, which are elegantly written and witty. Wolf Hall
(2009), a fictionalised biography of Thomas Cromwell, won the Man Booker
Prize in 2009, and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies did the same in 2012.
Popular genres
As levels of crime increased sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, so did interest in
crime and detective stories. The tradition originated in the nineteenth century,
and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created his famous sleuth Sherlock Holmes in the
1880s. But during the twentieth century the genre has been largely maintained
by women authors, such as Agatha Christie with her detective heroes Hercule
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Poirot and Miss Marple. Stories are typically set in a remote country house and
involve an affluent, middle-class group in a type of intellectual puzzle popularly
known as a ‘whodunit’.
The traditional detective story projected a morality that everyone could agree
with and created a psychological tension through suggestion and subtlety. In the
1990s some of the most widely appreciated authors included P.D. James (with her
sleuths Adam Dalgleish and Delia Gray), Ruth Rendell (Inspector Wexford),
Colin Dexter (Inspector Morse), Richard Hill (Dalziel and Pascoe), Caroline
Graham (Inspector Barnaby) and Ian Rankin (Inspector Rebus).
Ruth Rendell has been writing detective fiction since 1965. Some of her stories are conventional ‘police procedurals’ in which there is a puzzle to be solved,
while others emphasise the shocking and disturbing aspects of violent crime.
Her detective novel Thirteen Steps Down (2005) is one of the latter. Its protagonist is a disturbed and lonely young man – Cellini – a semi-educated mechanic
who repairs exercise machines, drinks heavily and stalks celebrities. He becomes
obsessed by the true story of the mass murderer John Christie, who killed six
women at his home in Rillington Place, in London’s North Kensington in the
early 1950s. Some years later, a film was made of the murders and starred Richard
Attenborough in the lead role. In this extract, the author describes how the film
triggered Cellini’s psychotic behaviour:
It was seeing the film that started him off. He was still living at home then and
he watched it on his mother’s old black and white television. Never much for
reading, he had found the book of the film on a stall outside a junk shop. It
came as a surprise when he looked at the photographs and saw that John Reginald Halliday Christie looked not like Attenborough, but far more like himself,
and it was from that time that he began referring to him in his mind as Reggie
rather than Christie. After all, what had he done that was so terrible? Rid the
world of a bunch of useless women, hookers, street hookers most of them.
(Rendell, 2005: 21–2)
An unexpected development in recent years is the increasing popularity of Scandinavian crime fiction. ‘Scandinavian noir’ or ‘Nordic noir’ is a genre of police
procedural stories. Typically set on rain-swept streets or in the forbidding landscapes of Sweden or Norway and often in semi-darkness, their chilly misery has
become popular with British audiences, and several works have been made into
films and TV series. The values of moderation, restraint and their simple, yet
distinctive style have been unexpectedly successful and appealed to readers in
a time of hardship and recession. Jo Nesbo, Karin Fossum, Anne Holt, Thomas
Enger and the late Stieg Larsson are among the most noted authors. Larsson’s Girl
with the Dragon Tattoo offers a subtle critique of misogyny, business practice and
Nazism in Swedish society, and was published in English in 2008 to great acclaim,
winning many awards and subsequently being made into film and graphic novel
versions. In 2010 Larsson was the first author to sell over one million copies of
his work on Amazon’s e-book reader Kindle.
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While crime fiction and detective novels have increased in popularity, the
numbers of spy ‘thrillers’, a genre closely related to the detective novel, have
declined. They were especially popular during the years of the Cold War, when
Graham Greene, John Le Carré, Len Deighton and Ian Fleming were among the
most respected and influential authors. In the 1970s they provided some critical commentary on the condition of British institutions, such as their secrecy,
inefficiency and resistance to change. But as the Cold War disappeared, interest
in the spy novel and the films they inspired, diminished, leaving their works as
monuments to an era.
Declining interest in spy stories has contrasted with a growth in the popularity of science-fiction novels. The freedom of ‘sci-fi’ to create time, place and
plot exposes some of the limitations of the more conventional novels and has
provided authors such as J.G. Ballard, Brian Aldiss and Michael Moorcock with
limitless possibilities for creative writing. But the landscapes of the next century
and beyond were often represented as sad, bad, uneasy places, with an absence of
community or values, as dark speculation about life in space began to mirror that
of life in England in the early 1990s.
Biography is another genre to have grown in popularity. Many public figures
have written about themselves or employed a ‘ghost writer’ to assist them. This
may be due to the growing appetite for personal details, trivia and information
about different lifestyles, especially with the increasing interest in ‘celebrity culture’. Paradoxically, books about famous people often sell more than books by
them, perhaps because the former are more critical and revealing.
But together with crime and thrillers, the genre that still has the largest women’s readership is escapist, romantic writing. Traditional romances and historical
dramas with their carefully observed speech, manners, seriousness and dress style
are consistently appreciated by British readers, and authors such as Jilly Cooper
and the late Catherine Cookson are endlessly popular.
Other popular categories include cooking (especially the Jamie Oliver series),
astrology, self-help, health and alternative medicine, areas in which the contribution of women authors is consistently greater than that of men. Books dealing
with S&M erotica are also major online sellers.
Publishing and publicity
The publishing and retailing of classic and modern works have become major
industries, and in 2011 some 150,000 new and revised titles were published,
with around 6,000 new works of fiction, of which an increasing number are
available on the internet. However, only around one in ten turns out to
be commercially successful. There are numerous awards for new books and
authors, such as the Costa Book Awards, the Baileys Women’s Prize (awarded
to female authors) and the Carnegie Medal, which is awarded each year to
the best children’s book written in English and published in the UK. But the
most prestigious for English fiction by a British or Commonwealth author is
the Booker Prize, which has been offered annually since 1969. It is judged by
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a panel of publishers, novelists and critics, and ensures wide publicity for the
winning author.
While some authors and the public enjoy the fanfare around competitions,
others do not, and resent attempts to make a serious art form competitive. Nevertheless, the marketing and publicising of new books have become a fine art,
while literary festivals such as the Hay Festival at Hay-on-Wye, a small country
town that has more bookshops per head of population than anywhere else in
Britain, have become major events. There is much comment in the media about
new works, as well as gossip about the size of writers’ advances. All these promote
public interest in an author’s work, as do their websites. Many writers now have
their own pages online, as well as Twitter accounts, blogs and so on where readers
can make contact, view extracts of their work and keep up to date.
There are also many literary societies and book clubs dedicated to the discussion of authors’ works. Information on recently published books and literary
trends can easily be found online, in a variety of specialised journals, and in
newspapers, all of which can be found in Britain’s public libraries. But for those
more interested in creativity than reading or criticism, several centres offer specialised courses, such as the University of East Anglia in Norwich, where the creative writing course was founded by Malcolm Bradbury, and where contemporary
authors such as Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro have studied.
Poetry
Ted Hughes is considered by many critics to be the finest poet of the post-war generation. His work is frequently concerned with the birds, beasts, insects and fish
of his native countryside, which provide the inspiration for many of his poems.
His early collection The Hawk in the Rain (1957) announced the arrival of a major
British poet. After this he wrote volumes of poetry for children, verse plays for
radio and several works of criticism. In 1984 he succeeded Sir John Betjeman as
Poet Laureate, and his collection Rain Charm for the Duchy (1992) contains verse
written during his time in the post, but some of his finest work appeared later in
his career, such as Birthday Letters (1995) in which he described his troubled marriage to the American poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide in 1963.
Though the role dates back to the Middle Ages, the title of Poet Laureate was
first created in the seventeenth century, as an ‘official’ poet to the royal household.
The holder of the title was obliged to write verse for important state occasions,
which could then be recited and remembered by the citizenry as a memory of the
occasion. At a time when most people were unable to read or write, rhyming verse
was much easier to remember and could be easily repeated and passed on. The
position was traditionally held for life, although after Andrew Motion stood down
in 2009, a tenure was reduced to ten years. The post is appointed by the monarch,
on the recommendation of the prime minster, and is currently held by Carol Ann
Duffy, the first Scot, woman and openly gay writer to be Poet Laureate.
Seamus Heaney is one of the most outstanding poets of recent years. Born in
Northern Ireland, his work focuses on love, nature and memory of place, but he
also writes about the civil war or ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland which raked his
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homeland from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, for example in Whatever You Say,
Say Nothing (1975). His translation of Beowulf (2000) is also considered a work of
genius. Throughout his career his poems have consistently received high acclaim,
and in 1995 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Another highly respected poet is Andrew Motion, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1999. Rather than focusing on traditional, sentimental themes of love,
nature and longing, he chose to address contemporary issues and current affairs,
such as homelessness, bullying and America’s 9/11. As a practical resource for poetry
lovers and researchers, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource
which features poems and audio resources of poets reading their own works.
The poetry archive gave an important boost to literacy resources in the UK,
as in recent years poetry has been neglected and there currently exists a general
feeling that traditional forms of verse have little to say about modern themes.
Consequently, poets have found it increasingly difficult to have their work published and many publishing houses have been forced to close their poetry sections, or reluctantly have maintained them simply for reasons of prestige. But
despite the difficulties, poetry has continued to evolve with popular new styles.
Vibrant and youthful, ‘performance poetry’ is verse which is written to be performed aloud, often by elaborately dressed performers who dramatically deliver
their poems about topical urban themes such as sex, drugs and fame, to an appreciative, youthful, non-literary audience.
Poetry as performance was pioneered by the Mersey Poets in the 1960s, such
as Roger McGough and Adrian Henry, and later by Manchester-born ‘punk’
poet John Cooper-Clarke in the 1970s and John Hegley in the 1980s at a time
of stand-up comedy and the love of entertaining an audience with quick, witty
observations and word-play about current issues. During the 1980s performances
became more political, and black musical styles became incorporated, ‘dub’ being
a prime example. Linton Kwesi Johnson has written several volumes of dub
poetry. He was born in Jamaica, but came to Britain in 1963. His poems are set in
urban areas, and are often dark and violent. Inglan is a Bitch (1980) is one of his
best-known collections. He has also made records of his poetry, including Bass
Culture (1980) and Making History (1984).
A leading exponent is the British Rastafarian poet, playwright and author Benjamin Zephaniah, whose ‘rap’ is performed in sharp, urgent volleys of politically
charged verse. When punks and Rastafarians were protesting about high unemployment, homelessness and the National Front in the early 1980s, his poems
could be heard at demonstrations, outside police stations and even on the dance
floor. Collections include Pen Rhythm (1980), The Dread Affair (1985), Inna Liverpool (1988) and Propa Propaganda (1996). In 1998 he was a shortlisted candidate for the prestigious post of Poet Laureate, following the death of Ted Hughes,
and in the new century remains one of the few poets widely recognised by young,
black non-specialists, as well as by the literary ‘establishment’. However, Zephaniah is a republican and rejected the award of OBE, which he was offered in 2003.
A more recent development is ‘slam’, which is a mixture of poetry and rap
created by Afro-Americans and adopted by young British Afro-Caribbeans and
others. Slam poetry is delivered vigorously, with attitude and energy, by slammers
Figure 5.3 Poet, playwright and author Benjamin Zephaniah receives an honorary doctorate.
© Edward Moss/Alamy
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who stand alone or work in pairs or groups to deliver their message on topics as
varied as racial pride, female self-respect, friendship, crime and body image. The
main difference from rap is that it is competitive, with judges being drawn from
the audience. British performance poetry continues to thrive at a grassroots level
in pubs, theatres, and the larger festivals such as Edinburgh and Glastonbury.
But attitudes towards the new verse have varied. While younger readers found it
accessible and enjoyable, many older critics claimed it was shallow, populist and
had little substance. However, the work has inspired many young people to creativity, and brought about a new appreciation for the written and spoken word.
Children’s literature
Literature for children originated in the fifteenth century in Britain. Many
early works carried a moral or religious message, which it was thought would
educate, instruct and entertain juvenile readers. The expansion of literacy in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was accompanied by a growth
in publishing, and the appearance of titles that are today recognised as classics,
such as Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857), Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1894) and J.M.
Barrie’s Peter Pan (1911).
These classics still sell well, while Enid Blyton’s children’s stories, which first
appeared in the 1940s, continue to be among the bestselling books today. They
feature groups of friends such as the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, and the fictional gnome Noddy. Despite some criticism that her stories were bland, snobbish
and sometimes racist, Blyton became the highest-selling English-language author
of the twentieth century. In her career she authored nearly 700 books, and in
2005, 35 years after her death, she still sold around seven million books per year,
making a total of over 400 million worldwide.
In the post-war period there was a greater concern with removing social prejudice from children’s books. Realistic stories expressed egalitarian values and community solidarity. But in the 1960s this began to give way to more imaginative and
escapist fiction, for example the magic and legend of Alan Garner’s Owl Service
(1967). In the 1980s and 1990s prolific authors such as Roald Dahl and Philip
Pullman produced many prize-winning stories for children and young adults that
were enthusiastically received by the general public, and were often adapted for
television series. In 1995 Pullman was awarded the Carnegie Medal for the trilogy
His Dark Materials (1995–2000), despite accusations they promoted atheism, an
approach that his readers have found progressive and refreshing. In 2005 he won
the prestigious Astred Lindgren Award for his contribution to children’s literature.
In recent years public concerns over what children should be taught, together
with the phenomenal international success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories,
have made children’s books one of the most high-profile areas of literature. Since
1999 there has also been a Children’s Laureate, appointed by a panel to a writer
or illustrator of children’s books. The post is currently held by Malorie Blackman,
and is renewed every two years.
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Today, the range of stories available to children has been influenced by a desire
to encourage positive social attitudes towards people of different backgrounds
and circumstances, for example the social realism of Jacqueline Wilson’s The Bed
and Breakfast Star (1995), which tells the story of a child without a proper home,
and The Story of Tracy Beaker (1991), about a girl who is in foster care, has been
made into a successful and long-running television series.
The ethnic diversity of Britain is also reflected in stories in which black children are central, for instance stories by Malorie Blackman, Jamela Gavin and
Benjamin Zephaniah. The broad range of writing for an intelligent and thoughtful modern audience has increased demand for children’s literature, which is
written to make learning fun, promote social awareness, and reflect a diverse
and multicultural society. The fact that seven children’s writers were in the list
of the ten most borrowed authors from UK libraries in 2011 is testimony to their
enduring popularity.
J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s (b. 1965) Harry Potter books are known and loved around the
world. They have also become immensely profitable, becoming some of the
best-selling books in history, and the basis of a series of films that have also
become some of the highest grossing films in history. Around half a billion
Potter books have been sold worldwide.
Her story is remarkable. After studying for a degree in French, she worked
as a researcher for Amnesty International, and later as an English teacher in
Porto, Portugal. In 1990 she conceived the idea for Harry Potter. After rejections from 12 publishers, her first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone
e was published by Bloomsbury in 1997. It introduces Harry, a bespectacled schoolboy who has lost his parents and lives in a cupboard under the
stairs of his aunt and uncle’s house. Fear of loss and separation are common themes in the stories, which feature witches, potions, a mysterious owl
and lessons in magic at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The first book was followed by six sequels, the final one being Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows
s in 2007.
Today, the books are published in over 200 countries and in 65 languages,
an achievement as fantastic as the adventures of her hero. Since starting out
as an English teacher, she has become the best-selling author in the UK,
with total sales in excess of £238 million and an OBE for her success.
Success has endured; the last four Harry Potter books have set consecutive records as the fastest-selling books in history, the final one selling
11 million copies on the first day of its UK release. As a global brand, it is
now worth an estimated £21 billion. The films have been similarly successful, and are shot in Britain with an all-British cast, something which Rowling
had insisted on to Warner Brothers.
Although Rowling is said to be shy and reclusive, in 2012 there was more
publicity as she released her first non-children’s book, The Casual Vacancy.
y In
a departure from the magic of Harry Potter, it assumes the twenty-first-century
preoccupations with the dark themes of rape, racism, drugs, pornography,
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child abuse and suicide. This was followed by The Cuckoo’s Calling
g (2013), a
crime novel published under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, which subsequently became a bestseller. In 2014 another detective story was released,
The Silkworm,
m featuring the hero of her previous work, Cormoran Strike.
Figure 5.4 A child attempts ‘Potteresque’ magic on the legendary Platform 9¾, a popular
tourist spot at King’s Cross Station in London.
© Nargis Christopher
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Notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
A suburb of north London, close to the Arsenal stadium.
A London-Irish band.
Then the home of Arsenal Football Club.
An aristocrat renowned for her distinctive RP accent.
A genteel music-hall comedy duo popular in the mid-1950s.
A comedy sketch from the satirical show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
A talented, flamboyant Arsenal footballer of the 1970s.
6
Theatre
Introduction
Traditional productions, novel reinterpretations, brave new works, lively musicals and pantomime are all elements of contemporary British theatre. Performances take place in many different locations, from the intimacy of a small room
above a village pub to the formality of London’s Royal National Theatre, whose
company of actors and staff is among the most prestigious in the country. Of similar standing is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), based in Stratford-uponAvon. Shakespeare’s plays have been staged in the town – his birthplace – since
1746, and today the tradition is maintained at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
and Swan Theatre, which put on around 20 productions per year (including plays
by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and more modern drama).
There are approximately 1000 theatres in the UK, including many unconventional ones such as schools, pubs, village halls and churches. Approximately
half are professional, of which many are repertory or ‘rep’ theatres, which have a
resident company of performers and writers. Repertory theatres are found in all
the major cities. Some of the largest are Birmingham Rep, Glasgow Citizens’,
Sheffield Crucible, Bristol Old Vic and the Liverpool Playhouse. They offer a
variety of plays for short periods, and have a reputation for original, varied and
high-quality plays. The most successful often transfer to London, which is important for any director seeking a larger audience and national publicity.
London has around 100 theatres, and around 40 are in the West End – the area
around Leicester Square, Shaftesbury Avenue and the Strand, the capital’s focal
point for night-life. There is also the Royal National Theatre complex on the
South Bank, and one or two other large theatres in the district of Victoria. These
are large, commercial theatres, and generally offer a familiar programme of light
entertainment, such as musicals and comedy shows. In contrast, plays with more
individual themes are offered in smaller theatres, such as the Donmar Warehouse
or the Tricycle, which are situated off-West End. Most innovative and experimental work is usually found in the ‘fringe’ theatres in London and around the
country. These are smaller, simple stages, which specialise in small-scale works, to
audiences of around 30 to 300. Their shows often feature unconventional, experimental plays, or works that deal with minority interests or controversial themes.
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Theatre
Most schools, colleges and universities have drama societies too, where students can exercise their dramatic talent. More specialised training can be found
in drama schools; among the best known are the Royal Academy for Dramatic
Art (RADA), the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama, and the London
Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Numerous other colleges, art schools and
universities also offer courses in drama, theatre design and related subjects, as
Figure 6.1 The Gate Theatre, in Notting Hill, the smallest ‘off West End’ theatre in London.
© David Christopher
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117
well as training for technicians and directors. Afterwards, actors may go to work
in ‘rep’ before working in film and television, where for the lucky few, the fame
and financial rewards can be much greater.
Drama of the 1950s: realism and absurdity
During the late 1940s and early 1950s the public did not want to be challenged
and provoked by its theatre. In times of austerity and when the pain of war was
still close to the surface, people wanted light, comfortable and reassuring works.
During and after the war, patriotic film adaptations of historical dramas were
also popular with audiences, such as Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard
III (1955), which all featured Laurence Olivier in the starring role and helped
cement his reputation as the leading actor of his time.
By the mid-1950s the economy was slowly beginning to improve after the devastation of the war years. But many young people felt a sense of dissatisfaction.
The government was seen as old-fashioned and remote from society. There was a
feeling of discontent with the safe, complacent, conservative state of things, and
a desire for a fresh start. By 1955 this had found expression in a new wave of activity across the arts. Creative young authors began to write plays and novels whose
characters spoke directly and honestly, and were loudly critical of the ruling class
of politicians, Church and military leaders. The authors became known as ‘angry
young men’, a description originally used in the publicity for John Osborne’s Look
Back in Anger (1956) at London’s Royal Court Theatre, a stage known for its
adventurous and experimental plays.
Osborne’s play tells the story of Jimmy Porter, a university graduate who lives
in a small Midlands town. Porter is angry with the modern world, which he sees
as dull and false. His concerns are those of many young people at that time: a
desire for social change and the need for new values and causes. Much of the
action takes place in his cheap, untidy bed-sitting room and centres on his chaotic marriage. The play was highly successful. It caught the mood of the times,
and young audiences crowded to hear the new voices speaking from the heart.
Look Back in Anger arrived at a time of growing interest in politics and the ways
in which the world was changing. Forceful plays followed, expressing the discontent, frustration and anger of the post-war young in a style that had not been seen
before. Two early examples were Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey (1958) and
Ann Jellicoe’s The Knack (1962), which later became films. The former was first
staged by Joan Littlewood’s Brechtian Theatre Workshop at their base in Theatre
Royal Stratford East, in east London, a populist and experimental company that
became highly influential. Both the presentation and content of Littlewood’s
works, including the satirical anti-war musical Oh, What a Lovely War! (1963),
was often seen as controversial. Actors were encouraged to improvise on stage,
which twice led to her prosecution, as until 1968 scripts had to be submitted to
the Lord Chamberlain’s Office for approval prior to public performance.
Moreover, both A Taste of Honey and The Knack dealt with unmarried couples
living together, a subject considered taboo in the Britain of the early 1960s. Many
scenes are set in a small, scruffy room, which is simply furnished with a double
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Theatre
bed, ironing board, table, fireplace and sink. These stage props or furniture subsequently became commonplace in works of the period, which were nicknamed
‘kitchen sink dramas’, after an earlier term for a style of painting, which for the
first time realistically portrayed the mundane, everyday lives of ordinary folk.
While previously plays tended to focus on the better-educated, affluent minority, now the lower classes were in the limelight. Plays were often received by
audiences with bemusement, shock and disdain. But the movement introduced
dissent and realism into the arts. It provided audiences with a more complete
theatre of social experience, and created one of the most distinctive genres of
British stage, film and television.
Away from the raw, realistic depictions of proletarian life, new imaginative
styles of drama were being developed under the influence of Samuel Beckett, an
Irish playwright. His works are often categorised as belonging to the Theatre of
the Absurd, a mainly European movement that parodies or opposes social realism, often in a tragicomic way. Plays emphasise the pointlessness of life, that
human existence ultimately has no meaning and communication is doomed to
fail. The best known of Beckett’s works is Waiting for Godot, which features Vladimir and Estragon, two characters waiting in vain for someone named Godot.
The way in which Godot is written challenges conventional ideas about dialogue.
Speech is irrational and illogical, while silence becomes highly significant. But
the play also challenges conventional ideas about plot, character, time and space,
in a style that broke new ground in drama.
Since its first appearance on the London stage in 1955, Godot has become one
of the most influential English-language plays of the twentieth century. This play
together with others such as Krapp’s Last Tape (1958) and Happy Days (1963)
helped Beckett achieve recognition as a major dramatist. His work influenced
some of the leading post-war British playwrights, such as Harold Pinter and Tom
Stoppard, and in 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The late 1950s was a fertile period for British drama and several new writers
emerged who would go on to have long and successful careers. Harold Pinter
(1930–2008) was perhaps the most notable, and went on to become one of
the most acclaimed and influential dramatists of recent times. The action in his
plays often takes place in one room, where the characters attempt to express
their feelings, irrational thoughts and ideas. His first major play was The Birthday Partyy (1958), in which the two protagonists are forced into a situation that
they cannot control, has humour, sex and menace. One of his finest works,
The Homecoming
g (1965), is about a divided family in which the father does
not get on well with his son Teddy, who works at an American university. Teddy
returns home with his new wife Ruth, an educated ‘career woman’, who has
strong views on women’s equality and liberation. But as in many families of
the early 1960s, she is seen only in terms of her sexuality and her domestic
role, and the other men in the family regard her as a mother, a wife or a whore.
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119
In this scene she is alone with her brother-in-law Lenny, and uses her sexuality to defend herself against Lenny’s attempt to control her.
Lenny:
y
Ruth
h:
Lenny:
y
Ruth
h:
Lenny:
y
Ruth:
h
Lenny:
y
Ruth
h:
Lenny:
y
Ruth
h:
Lenny:
y
You’ve consumed quite enough in my opinion.
No I haven’t.
Quite sufficient in my own opinion.
Not in mine.
Just give me the glass.
No.
I’ll take it then.
If you take the glass, I’ll take you.
How about me taking the glass without you taking me?
Why don’t I just take you?
You’re joking!
(Pinter, [1965] 1991: 50–2)
One of Pinter’s most notable contributions to drama was in the writing of
dialogue. Earlier playwrights wrote it in an extravagant, declamatory manner
which was designed to impress, but Pinter’s dialogue is naturalistic and includes
many pauses, hesitations and changes of subject, as in real life conversation.
He allows the audience to use its imagination and decide what the play is
about. This was considered radical in the 1950s, but since then it has become
a characteristic of dialogue in many British mainstream plays and films.
His later works often deal with questions of self-identity and knowledge of
others, for example Old Times
s (1971) and No Man’s Land
d (1975). But from
the late 1980s his works became more explicitly political, in response to what
he saw as the encroachment upon personal freedom and the desire for war
by successive governments in Britain and America. Mountain Language
(1988) is set in an unnamed dictatorial, totalitarian state where people are
imprisoned for using their own language, which has been prohibited by the
authorities. The play warns of the dangers of a centralised culture and authority where local differences and identities are not merely ignored, but actively
repressed. New World Orderr (1991) is a short play based on the first Gulf
War, in which the author expresses his profound doubts about the conflict.
Pinter was a prolific writer who wrote extensively for film, radio and television, and won numerous awards including in 2005 the Nobel Prize for
Literature. The uniqueness of his style led to the adoption of the term ‘Pinteresque’, commonly used to describe dark threatening situations in which
people become victims of their own feelings, desires and guilt, even though
their lives seem superficially normal.
Censorship
Until 1968 the content of dramatic works was closely controlled by laws limiting
what could be shown on stage. All public performances required a licence from
the Lord Chamberlain, an official of the royal household. The practice originated
in the sixteenth century to control political content in drama. During the nineteenth century there was growing concern over moral censorship, and licences
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Theatre
were used to prevent obscene and blasphemous plays. Theatres without a licence
could only offer musical shows, and to avoid problems with the law, lively dramas of crime, violence, sadism and seduction were combined with background
music. Owing to their combination of melody and drama, these popular spectacles became known as ‘melodramas’. Censorship remained unchanged until
1968, when, at a time of reform and more permissive attitudes, the Theatres Act
abolished censorship of the stage in the UK. Theatrical performances became
subjected to the same tests as literary works under the Obscene Publications Act
of 1959, and prosecution depended on whether or not the book or play might be
seen by someone who could be depraved or corrupted by it.
Shocks of the new: theatre in the 1960s and 1970s
Although many new works of the late 1950s were critical of authority, none had
yet followed in the long British tradition of satire until 1960, when the highly
original and entertaining new comedy show Beyond the Fringe appeared at the
Edinburgh Festival. The team of Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and
Dudley Moore wrote and performed a series of irreverent, satirical sketches on
English manners, eccentricities, and politics and current affairs of the time. This
had not been done in recent years, as during and after the war there had been a
tradition of patriotism, deference and a profound conservatism, which had seen a
Tory government in power since 1951. However, the British public were becoming more self-confident and began to doubt the calibre and judgement of their
leaders, in particular after the Suez crisis of 1956, which emphasised just how
much the country had declined as a world power.
In 1961 Beyond the Fringe transferred to London where it continued until 1966.
It was an immediate success and marked a new beginning for political satire on
stage and later on television, with programmes such as That Was the Week That
Was and later Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The show marked what future Tory
Prime Minister Ted Heath called ‘the death of deference’. Many agreed, and
thought it could not come soon enough.
In the cultural ferment of the 1960s, drama was becoming braver and more
provocative, and Joe Orton was a leading exponent of the trend. Orton disliked
authority and control by the state, and his works were created to alarm as well as
to amuse respectable, bourgeois audiences. Although his works were comedies,
they also had a dark side to them. Loot (1966) deals with murder and robbery;
What the Butler Saw (1969), Orton’s final farce, considers questions of authority,
sexual identity and the role of psychoanalysis. Tragically, his life was cut short
when he was murdered at the age of 34 by his lover Kenneth Halliwell.
The 1970s were years of conflict and struggle between several opposed forces:
the unions, the government, the IRA, the SPG (Special Patrol Group), the
National Front. The decade also saw a rising tide of racist violence and also ‘white
on white’ violence among subcultures such as football supporters. The relaxation
in the censorship laws in 1968 allowed authors to write more shocking, violent
and explicit works. Consequently, writers began more accurately to represent
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the times in which they lived. Playwrights such as Peter Schaffer, Edward Bond,
Trevor Griffiths and David Edgar wrote radical, intentionally shocking works,
which put forward the argument that deviant and violent behaviour was a natural
consequence of a corrupt, decaying society. Fine descriptions of character and
attention to dialogue were considered less important than visual ‘shock tactics’,
with cold depictions of murder, torture, rape and cannibalism. One of the most
disturbing was Peter Schaffer’s Equus (1973). Its theme of spiritual decline and
mental illness was developed by showing a young boy who expresses his affection
for horses by blinding them.
Howard Brenton and David Hare were both closely associated with radical
drama at the beginning of their careers and since the 1970s they have both
become major dramatists. Brenton had an early success with Magnificence
(1973), an angry play about urban terrorism. His later play Romans in Britain
(1980) featured the simulated homosexual rape of a Druid priest by a Roman
soldier. Many critics saw it as gratuitous sexual violence, a cynical attempt to
gain publicity, but he defended it as an exploration of empire-building, a critique
of colonialism and of the British military presence in Ireland. In contrast, David
Hare’s approach has been less controversial than Brenton’s, and his works reflect
his philosophy that political plays should not be used for direct protest, but
should create opportunities for debate and discussion, a point of view reflected
in Slag (1970), Fanshen (1975) and the television play Licking Hitler (1978),
which emphasised the ways in which individuals change as a consequence of
their social environments.
Figure 6.2 A scene from Romans in Britain.
© Geraint Lewis/Alamy
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Theatre
Faced with provocative new drama and often distasteful subject matter, many
older members of the public stopped going to the theatre. But radical playwrights
argued that they needed to write controversial material in order to shock their
middle-class, middle-aged audiences out of their sense of complacency. On the
other hand, a younger more liberal audience found such plays daring and attractive, and it provided them with fresh ideas on how to develop their own material.
New perspectives: alternative drama
Many of the freedoms taken for granted in the twenty-first century, such as
gay rights and equality for women, in the 1960s were still considered subversive, even dangerous drama topics, which the mainstream theatres ignored. For
example, homosexuality was illegal until 1967, as was abortion, and contraceptives for women were not freely available until 1974. Equal pay for women did
not become a reality in law until 1975, and it was legal to discriminate against
women in employment until the same year. Plays about such issues were still part
of the ‘underground’ and were often held in small, not-for-profit studios known
as ‘arts labs’, where like-minded artists of all kinds could meet and work. Some
theatre groups such as Hull Truck, Red Ladder and Café La Mama had no permanent base and toured continually, putting on shows in smaller studio theatres,
schools and community buildings. One of the most vigorous and vocal of the new
theatre trends was women’s theatre. Around 1970 the Women’s Theatre Group,
the Sadista Sisters, the Chuffinelles, Cunning Stunts and others toured schools
and performed in the street. Their works dealt openly with questions of gender,
sexuality and identity, and aimed to raise awareness of the harsh realities of many
women’s everyday lives, for example by contrasting them with what they saw as
young women’s unrealistic, fairy-tale expectations.
The pioneering nature of women’s theatre, its new voices and identities gave
impetus to the gay theatre movement. The times were favourable, as homosexuality was emerging from the outlawed fringes of national life, five years after it
had been decriminalised. There was a new individualism in society, and increasing numbers of gay men and women wanted to openly express their identities
and who they were, rather than accept and conform to what others thought they
were. The newspaper Gay News was used to recruit theatre staff and actors, and
in 1976 a mixed-sex company Gay Sweatshop was formed. Women worked on
plays that addressed issues such as lesbian parenting rights, while men worked on
plays dealing with issues such as the lowering of the age of homosexual consent.
By 1979 the movement had been sufficiently confident and successful to produce
a play with an openly homosexual theme. This was Bent by Martin Sherman,
which dealt with the Nazi persecution of homosexuals in Berlin of 1934, a clear
reference to homosexual oppression in Britain at the time.
The platform created by alternative drama paved the way for a greater representation of ethnic minorities in the mainstream. Until the early 1970s, the only
plays dealing with the experience of racism had been presented by visiting playwrights from the USA and South Africa, such as South African Athol Fugard’s
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Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1972), about the apartheid system. But new black playwrights
gradually made their mark, such as Michael Abbensetts, whose Alterations (1978)
presented an authentic West Indian view of life in Britain. However, by the end
of the decade, British drama was still predominantly organised and performed by
white British males on the London stage, and black voices were still marginalised,
as they were in many other areas of the arts and society.
The new ‘radical’ drama was sometimes difficult to understand for British audiences, and because many plays could not be easily enjoyed by a non-specialised
public, there was a feeling that drama was becoming too experimental, and at the
same time remote from society. Competition from popular music and television
intensified the financial pressures. Consequently, theatre attendances fell, and
some theatres were faced with closure.
Musicals
In contrast to the specialised, ‘niche’ appeal of radical drama were the large-scale,
commercially driven ‘blockbuster’ musicals. Those of the 1960s and 1970s had
enormous appeal to the young, who were bringing about a revolution in British
society. The nudity and androgynous sexuality on display in many performances
reflected the ‘permissive’ society and the increased tolerance shown by the 1968
Theatres Act, which had removed the need for each play to have a licence. As
the theatre became one of the few places where progressive, provocative and daring new shows could be seen, ecstatic audiences regularly filled the palatial West
End playhouses.
In America, Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado created Hair,
a successful musical which used elements of rock music, circus and dance. Big,
confident and impudent, it captured the mood of the times, announcing the
imminent arrival of a new age – the ‘age of Aquarius’ – and its associated values
of liberality and freedom. In 1968 Hair opened in London and was an immediate success. It was also the first time that nudity had been seen in a theatrical
production. But some critics and members of the public claimed the show was
blasphemous and pornographic, which in turn generated even more publicity and
interest. Others remarked that the nudity and swearing were carefully adjusted to
shock nobody, and that the press were over-reacting in order to boost newspaper
sales.
Several other shows with nudity, song and dance appeared, such as Oh! Calcutta! (1969, Kenneth Tynan) and Godspell (1971, Steven Schwarz), and since
then the format of pop songs, dance and spectacular visual effects has been regularly exploited by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in musicals that have
been popular around the world. Their Jesus Christ Superstar (1971) combined
rock with religion to make a modern version of the story of Jesus, and built on the
success of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), another biblical
drama attracting huge audiences of young people. The duo had another big success with Evita (1978), which tells in grand style the story of Argentinian ‘first
lady’ Eva Peron.
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Theatre
Figure 6.3 The Palace Theatre in London’s West End, built in 1891 as an opera house.
© Jon Arnold Images Ltd/Alamy
The new musicals proved highly successful and many of those involved with
them went on to successful careers. In 1981 Lloyd Webber went on to make Cats,
which celebrated poems from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
Then came Starlight Express (1984), a train race on roller-skates, and Phantom
of the Opera (1986), which tells the story of a disfigured composer who haunts
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an opera house and falls in love with a beautiful singer. The colourful, high-tech
stage sets and accessible lyrics, lively music and energetic dancing guaranteed
their popularity and made enormous profits, quickly transferring to New York’s
Broadway and other theatres around the world, where they have been successful
for many years.
In the 1990s almost half the total number of productions showing in the West
End were musicals, a record number. Their combination of stories and songs
and the absence of political themes or difficult dialogue have proved popular
with British audiences and overseas visitors. But despite their commercial success, many critics remain unenthusiastic. They refuse to take seriously a form of
entertainment that mixes technology and pop songs, in which the actors could
be changed without affecting the show, and similarly have difficulty in taking
seriously a play that is completely uncritical and made simply for commercial
consumption.
Theatre and Thatcherism
In the 1980s the Conservative government reduced spending on the arts more
than any previous administration. Provoked by the oppositional nature of most
productions, in 1982 the Secretary General of the Arts Council asked why artists should ‘expect public money to advocate the overthrow, not of the particular party in power, but of the whole system of parliamentary democracy’. Local
government was reorganised, the funding of drama was altered or removed, and
political works became scarce and more moderate. Radical, alternative theatre
groups such as 7:84 (a name that reflects the fact that in the early 1980s, 7 per
cent of the population held 84 per cent of the wealth in Britain) continued to
write plays and tour. But they lost financial support from the Arts Council and
many similar groups disappeared. As the government began to expose the theatre
fully to market forces, the years of critical, state-subsidised theatre for the people
appeared to be over.
However, some writers continued to make commercially successful plays
that were highly critical of Thatcherism, such as David Hare, one of the most
respected writers of the period. His career began in the late 1960s, and as he
matured, his plays reflected interests in politics and society, for example A Map
of the World (1983), which looks at issues of exploitation in the Third World.
Between 1985 and 1991 he focused on aspects of British society with four ‘state
of the nation’ plays, which take a close look at British institutions: the Church,
the legal system, Parliament and the ‘fourth estate’ of the press. The first of these
was Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy (1985), which was co-authored by Howard
Brenton and deals with corruption of the mass media by their rich owners. The
second was The Secret Rapture (1988), which contrasts a female Conservative
Member of Parliament and her unambitious, ‘good’ sister, while in the third play
Racing Demon (1990), Hare examines the Church of England in a time of crisis.
The fourth play, Murmuring Judges (1991), looks at the legal system and its weaknesses. It goes into the law courts and a busy south London police station, where
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Theatre
the professionals are involved in their daily routine. Although these plays are
not satires, they emphasise the comical aspects of public life in Britain. But they
also discuss deeper questions, such as how one can do good in the world and how
difficult it can be to do so.
In Pravda, newspaper editor Lampert Laroux resembles the press baron Rupert
Murdoch. In the following extract Laroux responds to allegations that his paper
is full of lies:
What on earth is this stuff all about the truth? Why, when everywhere
you go, people tell lies; in pubs, to each other, to their wives, to the
children, to the dying. Thank God they do. No one tells the truth!
Why single out newspapers? Oh, a ‘special standard’ . . . everyone can
tell lies except newspapers. They’re a universal scapegoat for everyone
else’s evasions and inadequacies!
(Brenton and Hare, 1985: 55)
Other plays strongly critical of particular aspects of government policy included
David Edgar’s Maydays (1983) and Howard Brenton’s The Genius (1983). These
take nuclear weapons as a theme and feature the Greenham Common nuclear
base in Britain. Louise Page’s Falkland Sound (1983) deals with the Falklands War,
and following the crisis over the publishing of Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses,
Howard Brenton wrote Iranian Nights (1989) with Tariq Ali, demanding greater
freedom of expression in literature.
Throughout the decade the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland continued without an obvious
solution. In the past, Irish playwrights such as Brendan Behan demanded radical
action to rid the country of the British, but towards the end of the 1980s writers
were approaching the topic with more sensitivity. The Irish playwright Brian
Friel has written several plays dealing with the ‘Troubles’, such as Freedom of the
City (1973) which depicts the occupation of Northern Ireland by British troops
in the 1970s, and Translations (1980) which laments the process of anglicisation
there. The latter is set in the imaginary town of Baile Beag/Ballybeg, County
Donegal, in 1833. British forces arrive to make a map of the area, anglicising
the place names and defining it in ways which are foreign to the Irish-speaking
natives. Its critical position shows the British as an occupying power brutally
robbing Ireland of its Celtic identity, and suggests that the British and Irish will
always be separated by cultural differences. Friel’s Making History (1988) explores
how history is written and order is imposed on disordered themes and subjects,
while the nostalgic play Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) looks back to his childhood
in Catholic rural Ireland, as well as to the internal troubles in the North. In 1998
it was made into a successful film.
By the 1980s the women’s movement had already made considerable advances
in law, and feminism was becoming a mainstream issue. Yet in the opinion of
many women activists, much work remained to be done in sensitising society
to the need for further reform. Building on their success in the 1970s several
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127
promising young women playwrights began to emerge with a varied body of work,
such as Caryl Churchill, Pam Gems, Timerlake Wertenbaker, Sarah Daniels and
Clare McIntyre. Their works are eclectic, from McIntyre’s humorous, observant
feminist plays such as I’ve Been Waiting (1986), which shows what she sees as
the confusion, anxieties and obsessions of modern women, to more controversial
works such as Sarah Daniels’s Masterpieces (1984), which deals with pornography,
violence and lesbianism.
Caryl Churchill
Since she began her career in 1958, Caryl Churchill has had sustained success. Some of her most notable works were performed in the 1980s and
1990s, and include plays for radio, television and the stage. They introduce
themes of importance to women and to women’s consciousness, and combine her feminist interests with socialist politics. She is also respected for her
intelligence, wit and skill in presenting plays. She experiments with drama,
but at the same time writes works that are popular and accessible to the
general public and critics.
Vinegar Tom
m (1978) and Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
e (1978) are
both feminist works which dealt with bodily abuse through alcohol, eating
disorders and violence. Cloud Nine
e (1979) examines in role-plays how race
and gender are socially constructed, and shocked the audience with its
transvestite performers. Top Girls
s (1982) is one of her best-known plays.
Marlene, the protagonist, progresses from humble origins to become a successful career woman. She has left behind Angie, the child she had at the
age of 17, and towards the end of the play she returns to visit her articulate
but poor, unambitious sister Joyce, who has taken on the role of Angie’s
mother. Its feminist message is that if women simply copy men by adopting masculine behaviour, then the women’s movement will achieve nothing.
Instead, her message is that women must find another, more original path.
This is a theme common to several of her works in the 1980s and echoes
the arguments of modern feminism.
The dynamic Serious Moneyy (1987) is about greed and money-making
and how it changes people. Set after the ‘Big Bang’ deregulation of the City
in October 1986, her ferocious satire on financial excess and corporate vilenesss was revised in 2009 showing how this culture led directly to the crash
the country was experiencing, the loss of liberal values in society, and an
increasing public amorality and selfishness. It looks at the ways in which
London money dealers become morally corrupt following deregulation of
the stock market; it became one of the most successful plays of the 1980s.
Mad Forest: A Play from Romania
a (1990) has a quite different focus. It was
written after a trip to Romania soon after the fall of President Ceauşescu,
and considers the new realities of life following the revolution there. The play
received many accolades from drama critics and confirmed Churchill as
Britain’s leading female playwright.
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Theatre
Comedy
Despite the seriousness of many challenging new dramas of the time, there was
also a rich vein of comedy writing, and during the 1970s and 1980s playwrights
such as Alan Ayckbourn, Tom Stoppard, Peter Nichols, Simon Gray, Michael
Frayn and Alan Bennett wrote some of the wittiest comedies of the British stage.
Alan Bennett began his career with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Jonathan
Miller in 1960 at the Edinburgh Festival, and after a lifetime of highly praised
work in theatre and television, he has come to be regarded as a leading dramatist
of his generation. He has become known for his humorous use of language which
often mixes provincial slang with the jargon of media and advertising. Like the
poet Philip Larkin, his writing is often self-effacing, and focuses on dour, northern pretensions of an aspirational lower middle class, their propriety and sexual
repression. Bennett established his reputation with plays such as Habeas Corpus
(1973), a complex comedy about social conventions and manners of the late
1960s. It includes a familiar range of comedy characters, such as a henpecked
husband, a frustrated wife, a licentious vicar and a lowly tea-lady. A keen social
observer, many of his works are inspired by his northern roots, and frequently
portray traditional elderly northern characters and their domestic lives, such as
the critically acclaimed Talking Heads. Written as two television series in 1988
and 1998, and later adapted for the stage, these 12 monologues are revealing
character studies containing both humour and pathos.
Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn has been the most prolific and commercially successful
playwright of the second half of the twentieth century. His sharp, satirical
portrayals of the manners, behaviour and language of the lower middle
classes were easily appreciated at a time when individualism and bourgeois
values were strongly expressed and encouraged in the politics of the Conservative government. His humorous plays also suggest a dislike of statusseekers and people who openly desire wealth, and some of the bleakest
moments in his plays are reserved for these characters. Conflict set in a
familiar domestic environment is another characteristic of his plays, as are
pathetic, unreliable individuals, who are usually male.
One of his best-known works is Absurd Person Singularr (1973), which
shows three married couples in three different kitchens on three different
Christmas Eves. Joking Apartt (1979) is especially inventive, showing four
scenes on four special occasions. These occasions are four years apart, and
the couples are thus shown over 12 years, as the protagonists pass from
their 20s to their 30s. In contrast, It Could Be One of Us
s (1983) is a comedy
thriller with five different endings.
To comment more trenchantly on the politics and ideology of the time,
during the 1980s Ayckbourn wrote several highly praised ‘social’ dramas, which contrasted with his familiar domestic comedies. The most
admired of these was A Small Family Business
s (1987), in which a nation
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of shopkeepers becomes a nation of shoplifters in a family furniture firm of
‘Ayres and Graces’, whose members are implicated in drugs, murder and
corruption.
Much of Ayckbourn’s humour derives from the juxtaposition of tragedy
and comedy, illustrated in the following extract from his play Time of My
Life
e (1992). In this scene, a middle-aged married couple, Gerry and Laura,
are celebrating Laura’s birthday in an Italian restaurant. As the wine flows
her tongue loosens, and she confesses to having had an affair. Her husband tries to discover the identity of the man, while the waiter snores in the
background.
Laura
a:
Gerry
y:
Laura
a:
Gerry
y:
Laura
a:
Gerry:
y
Laura
a:
Gerry
y:
Laura
a:
Gerry:
y
Laura
a:
Gerry
y:
Laura
a:
Gerry:
y
Don’t you shout at me!
I am not shouting at you, I wish to god I could . . . !
Calm down! calm down, will you. You’ll drop dead in a minute.
Don’t worry I won’t be the one who drops dead . . . have no fear
about that. Whoever he is, he will be the one who drops dead
because I’ll murder the bastard! I’ll kill him and thrash the day lights
out of you!
Oh, shut up, big talk! Just shut up!
I promise I will!
You can’t murder him anyway.
Why not?
Because he is already dead, isn’t he . . . he’s been dead since 1974
. . . now, simmer down . . . for God’s sake . . . that’s better.
I still want to know who he was.
What are you going to do? Go around and beat up his kids?
His kids? Do you mean he was married as well?
You’re getting warmer.
Now, who do we know who lost her husband in 1974?
(Ayckbourn, 1992: 124)
In times of economic hardship and uncertainty, women are often those
who suffer longest and hardest. This has been the theme of Ayckbourn’s
most critically acclaimed work of recent years, the Damsels in Distresss trilogy of Flatspin,
n Role Play
y and Game Plan
n (2001), three plays connected
by the theme of women in distress, told in a series of tragicomic events that
affect all those involved. In Game Plan
n, for instance, a middle-aged woman
has lost her husband and her job, and is about to lose her fashionable Docklands apartment, until her teenage daughter secretly uses the internet to
advertise herself as an escort to affluent males, in order to raise money and
save her mother from ruin.
Ayckbourn has written over 50 plays which have been performed all
around the world, as well as on television and film. From 1972 to 2009, he
was also the Artistic Director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough,
where most of his work has been premiered and where the local young, old
and disabled also make plays for its stages, as Ayckbourn believes that the
theatre should belong to the entire community, not only to a small, privileged
minority.
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Theatre
Alternative comedy
One of the most surprising developments of the early 1980s was the emergence
of ‘alternative’ comedy. It has its origins in the Comedy Store, a small theatre
in London’s Soho, where members of the public were given the opportunity to
tell jokes on stage until, in an intimidating, gladiatorial atmosphere, they were
forced to leave either by a gong or by the jeers of a critical audience. ‘Alternative’
comedy began in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher came to power, a time of high
unemployment, economic recession and social conflict. It was a time of political
polarisation, and the kind of things people laughed at indicated which ‘side’ they
were on. For millions of young people the new comedy emerged as a powerful new
weapon to criticise the hypocrisy of Thatcherite society.
The new club offered acts that were wild, unpredictable and different. The
audacious humour of the new comedians satirised stereotypical and hypocritical
attitudes towards social, racial and sexual matters. Male and female comedians
cultivated a sharp, individual style, in raw, urgent, explicit performances, much as
punk had done three years earlier. It presented a powerful contrast to the old style
comedians, who still dressed in suits and told sexist, racist jokes about mothersin-law and Irishmen, such as Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning.
The original Comedy Store also had a repertory company, known as Comic
Strip. Members included actors and comedians such as Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall,
Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, many of whom
had subsequent success writing and acting on television and in the cinema. By
the 1990s many had become mainstream performers; indeed, ‘alternative comedy’
had become an established form of entertainment, with frequent live shows on
television and in small theatres around Britain. In 1999, there were some 88 comedy venues in London alone, and the sexist and racist comedy that had once
been common was almost extinct. By the twenty-first century the mainstream
had become so varied that the term ‘alternative comedy’ had almost disappeared,
with acts ranging from Shazia Mirza, who entertains crowds with her tragicomic
tales of life as a British Muslim teenager, to Al Murray, whose act as the ‘Pub
Landlord’ parodies the pride and pettiness of the stereotypical, Sun-reading barman: two diverse performers who maintain a long British tradition of social satire.
Children’s comedy: pantomime
One of the most traditional forms of children’s Christmas entertainment is pantomime. In Britain, pantomime originated in the eighteenth century with John
Weaver, a dance master at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, who began to
present ballet-like entertainments in which the meaning was conveyed by gestures instead of dialogue. In the nineteenth century pantomime began to acquire
its present form, in which lively, colourful stories are told with music, singing,
dancing and buffoonery. Fairy stories and Oriental tales are among the most
common, and traditional titles include Aladdin, Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Dick
Whittington and Snow White. A prominent role in the show is often taken by a
guest star, a well-known ‘celebrity’ from television, sports or light entertainment,
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whose career is often ‘on the rocks’ (such as a former star of soap opera or faded
glamour model), and the cast always features ‘cross-dressing’ – in which the role
of the hero or ‘principal boy’ is usually played by a young woman, while the hero’s
mother – an older woman – is traditionally played by a man, known as a ‘dame’.
Pantomimes all include familiar routines, topical jokes, innuendo and double
entendre, which causes children and their parents to shout, cheer and boo. Audience participation is part of the tradition, and scenes are created to encourage the
familiar cries of ‘he’s behind you’ and ‘oh yes it is’ or ‘oh no it isn’t’, in riotous,
anarchic displays in theatres around the country.
Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard is one of the most consistently successful and critically
acclaimed playwrights of British theatre. He was born in Czechoslovakia, but
later settled in Britain where he worked as a journalist and drama critic, before
starting to write plays. He is an eclectic writer who does not limit himself to one
subject matter or style, and his plays have little in common with each other.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
d (1967) is his best-known work
and became one of the most critically praised plays of the century. Its protagonists are two minor characters from Shakespeare’s play Hamlett, whom
Stoppard brings to the centre of the action. The play is like a series of
sketches between two stand-up comedians. It shows how people try to make
sense of a chaotic world, and how difficult this is when realities are always
multiple, and truth always relative. In this well-known scene, Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern play a game of verbal tennis. The players must hit questions across the net. Repetitions, statements and rhetoric all lose points, and
the game is scored as in tennis.
Guildenstern
n: What’s your name?
Rosencrantzz: What’s yours?
Guildenstern:
n I asked first.
Rosencrantzz: Statement. One-love.
Guildenstern
n: What’s your name when you’re at home?
Rosencrantzz: What’s yours?
Guildenstern:
n When I am at home?
Rosencrantzz: Is it different at home?
Guildenstern:
n What home?
Rosencrantzz: Haven’t you got one?
Guildenstern
n: Why do you ask?
Rosencrantzz: What are you driving at?
Guildenstern
n: What’s your name?!
Rosencrantz
z: Repetition. Two-love. Match point to me.
Guildenstern
n (seizing him violentlyy): WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
Rosencrantz:
z
Rhetoric! Game and match. (Pause.) Where’s it going to end?
Guildenstern
n: That’s the question?
Rosencrantz
z: It’s alll a question.
(Stoppard, [1967] 2000: 35–6)
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Theatre
Frivolity mixed with intellectual content is a hallmark of many of Stoppard’s works. The Real Inspector Hound
d (1968) featured theatre critics who
become part of the play. In The Real Thing
g (1982) there is a play within a
play. In Jumperss (1972), Travesties
s (1974) and Arcadia
a (1993), Stoppard
mixes playful verbal games with profound ideas.
Although he is sometimes criticised for being an apolitical and styleconscious writer, in the mid-1970s he turned his attention to political and
human rights issues, in particular the situation of dissidents in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union, subjects which inspired the production of
some of his most critically acclaimed work. Dirty Linen
n (1977) is a critique
of corruption in Parliament, while Night and Dayy (1978) considers the role
of a free press and human rights in a totalitarian society. Every Good Boy
Deserves Favourr (1978) examines the related theme of free speech, in particular how during the Cold War sane Soviet dissidents were routinely locked
away in mental hospitals. In 1977 his interest in the theme led to him visiting
the Soviet Union with a delegation from Amnesty International, and later
Czechoslovakia where he met Vaclav Havel, the encounter leading to the
stage play Professional Foull (1977) for Amnesty’s Prisoner of Conscience
Year in 1977, and later the TV play Squaring the Circle: Poland, 1980–8
0 1
(1984) a fictional documentary about the history of the ‘Solidarity’ movement
there. His interest in issues of freedom and repression in Czechoslovakia
was highlighted in Rock ’n’ Rolll (2006), which focuses on artistic dissent, in
particular the role played by music, against the background of socialism in
the country between 1968 and 1989.
As well as writing plays, Stoppard has also written extensively for film,
television and radio. His wide-ranging and ingenious works confirm him as
a dramatist of world renown, and this was recognised in 1997 when he was
awarded a knighthood.
Reaction and renewal: trends in theatre post-1990
The economic recession at the beginning of the 1990s created a feeling of caution in the theatre. Already successful films and books were sometimes made into
plays, such as Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting and Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. But only
10 per cent of shows were of modern drama, and for the first time in 40 years it
was virtually impossible to find a play with a political message on a London stage.
Commercial theatre did not want to take risks with new productions, and preferred the established favourites such as musicals, which in 2005 constituted over
half of West End shows. Several were from the 1970s and 1980s, such as Guys and
Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar and the rock musical Tommy. They were popular with
tourists, for whom the music and spectacle were more important than the lyrics
and themes, and they generated healthy incomes for theatres.
But away from the commercialism of the established musicals, by the mid1990s an economic recession had created the conditions for an edgy new wave of
dramatic works. These dealt with varied topics, but what seemed to unite them
was a desire to shock a complacent public. A key work is Sarah Kane’s Blasted
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133
(1995), a disturbing, violent and graphic play about ethnic cleansing, war, racism and sexual violence. It was delivered in an abusive, abrasive and disturbing manner, which complemented its challenging subject matter and shocked
audiences. The controversy generated by the play served to draw attention to
other, similar works, and the genre became known as ‘in-yer-face’ theatre, for its
uncompromising, confrontational style. Works such as Mark Ravenhill’s critique
of consumerism Shopping and Fucking (1996) featured sex, violence and drug taking, in an open assault on an amoral, consumerist society, while other playwrights
such as Nick Grosso, Phyllis Nagy, David Eldridge and Anthony Nielson created works that went to psychological and emotional extremes in order to move
audiences. Plays were often held in small playhouses, where the proximity of
performers to the audience led to an intimate and experiential sense of drama.
Some critics enthused about the new works, while others called ‘in-yer-face’ the
cry of a lost Generation X, which was London-centric, limited in scope and often
shocking only for the sake of it.
Another new development was the expression of Asian themes in dramatic
works. The Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced Bombay Dreams was the West End’s
first Asian musical, and opened in 2002. Here was a flamboyant and melodramatic story of romance and murder in Bombay, which was expressed through
dazzling choreography and a predictably happy ending. Music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and a script from Meera Syal ensured the success of
this £4.5 million extravaganza, which subsequently transferred to New York’s
Broadway in 2003. But, elsewhere in theatre the reception given to new Asianthemed works was less enthusiastic. In 2004 Behzti (‘Dishonour’) was shown at
Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Its depiction of murder and rape in a Gurdwara
(a Sikh temple), and an advertising poster showing an elderly woman carefully
examining white bridal underwear, led to controversy, protest and a riot, when
some 400 Sikhs broke theatre windows and stormed the doors. An audience of
some 800 were evacuated, and the author Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, a former actor
turned playwright, was forced to cancel the play, due to fears about her own
safety. Although it was condemned by Sikh elders, some younger Sikhs spoke
out in favour of the work. But the government refused to condemn the violence,
and Salman Rushdie and other artists and authors criticised the authorities’
unwillingness to challenge the Sikh community, who number around 300,000
in Britain.
During the 1990s, playwrights with Afro-Caribbean or Asian roots such as
Caryl Phillips, Hanif Kureishi, Derek Walcott and Farrukh Dhondy continued
to write new plays that reflected their experience of cultural change and racial
identity. Many were adapted into successful television plays or screenplays for the
cinema. But by the end of the decade there were only two London theatres – the
Tricycle Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East – that regularly staged plays
written or performed by black artists. Critics believed this was not because black
perspectives were being ignored, but because ethnicity was declining in importance as a vehicle for expression. More black actors were appearing in classical
productions and musicals, in roles traditionally played by white actors, and works
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by black writers were becoming more mainstream, addressing themes other than
race and marginalisation.
The first decade of the new century brought a series of political and social
challenges to Britain, many of which were captured by dramatists using new stage
techniques. War and a major recession were reflected in high-quality plays by
David Hare, whose work continued to engage with a rapidly changing world.
These included the causes and consequences of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with
Stuff Happens (2004), and the global recession that began in 2008, with The
Power of Yes (2009), while The Permanent Way (2004) lamented the lack of public
anger or concern at the privatisation agenda of the British government, in this
case of the railways.
Works in many of the smaller theatres such as the Tricycle critically examined
controversial issues, such as the imprisonment of Iraqi prisoners in Guantanamo
(2004) by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo, and Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the
Saville Inquiry (2005), a dramatisation of Bloody Sunday in 1972, by English journalist Richard Norton-Taylor. The Great Game (2009), a trilogy comprising work
by various writers, made a critical examination of the British gameplay with the
Soviet Union in central Asia, while Enron, Lucy Prebble’s play (2009) investigated the collapse of one of the most important energy companies in America to
wide acclaim. The Riots (2011) by Gillian Slovo presented an investigation much
closer to urban Britain, with a dramatic account of the causes and consequences
of the rioting that followed the police shooting of Mark Duggan in London. A
distinctive characteristic of this and several other new dramas was their use of
verbatim documentary evidence, drawn from interviews, letters, videos and other
sources to create a sense of immediacy and authenticity. It gave productions the
character of a ‘people’s inquiry’ in cases where an official investigation had not
yet been held.
In contrast to the politically and socially engaged works of London’s smaller
theatres were the fantasy and escapism of the West End musicals, which continued to attract millions of visitors to London’s theatreland, such as Stephen
Daldry’s Billy Elliot which features a young man from a depressed mining town in
the north of England who turns to ballet and dances into his future. Musicals by
Andrew Lloyd Webber continued to play well with audiences, and The Phantom
of the Opera became the most successful show ever, seen by more than 100 million people.
Arts and drama festivals also grew in importance as a means of introducing new
work, as well as revisiting traditional kinds. The most important is the Edinburgh
Festival, which continues to be the biggest and longest of its kind in Europe. It
began in 1947, according to its mission statement of that year ‘to provide a platform for the human spirit’. It comprises a number of festivals that run at the same
time, including the International Festival and the Book Festival. But drama is a
major element and the Festival Fringe offers a platform for alternative and more
experimental types. There are no quality controls, and anyone can take part as
long as there is somewhere to present a show. The venues are diverse – from cars
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Figure 6.4 The Edinburgh Festival on a chilly August day in the Scottish capital.
© Arch White/Alamy
to playgrounds – and performances are often a mixture of comedy, cabaret and
low-budget theatre, characterised by surprise, excitement and originality. They
are watched by audiences ranging from several thousand spectators to two men
and a dog, and in 2013 there were 45,464 performances of 2,871 shows, the largest ever event of its kind.
Drama finance
One of the greatest influences on theatre of recent years has not been social or
cultural, but financial. Only around 70 per cent of productions make a profit, so
theatre productions often require additional funding, which is usually in the form
of an Arts Council subsidy. There are separate Arts Councils for each of the four
home nations, whose contributions allow different companies to take risks with
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new productions that might be of interest only to small audiences. The subsidies
also help keep alive national heritage and cultural memory, when to do so in the
market-place might be unprofitable.
Subsidies also help those on low or no incomes to have access to the arts.
They also facilitate education and outreach activities, which do not normally
generate income. In 2007 theatre subsidies were approximately £120 million, or
0.02 per cent of government spending, on productions that generated an estimated £2.7 billion. Although some productions can be immensely profitable it
is often difficult to predict which ones they will be, which makes it necessary to
subsidise a wide range of work.
Theatre in the twenty-first century began brightly. Attendances rose steadily,
and 2009 was a record-breaking year with more than 14 million tickets sold for
52 West End theatres. However, in recent years a programme of public spending cuts has seen sharp reductions in Arts Council subsidies, corporate sponsorship and private donations, which it is feared may never return. Ticket prices
have had to rise, and theatre attendances have fallen. The public has also been
unwilling to buy expensive tickets without an assurance that it will enjoy the
production. They also expect modern facilities, but in London these are usually listed buildings, and cannot be readily modernised. The associated costs
of meals, drinks and parking, apart from competition with digitised and other
home entertainments, have all made the public only willing to pay high prices
to see established works and fine acting. Consequently, critical reviews have
become more important, and can affect the success of a show. These have been
affected by new digital technology, as criticism and comment has moved online,
away from newspapers and television. Now, repeated negative criticism from
citizen critics in blogs and fan sites can disadvantage the show more than a critical review by a professional critic in a major newspaper, reflecting a revolution
in criticism that has seen the cultural aristocracy virtually overthrown by the
citizenry.
The main consequence of these economic and cultural changes is that
drama has increasingly become a commercial enterprise, more concerned with
box-office figures and profit margins than with artistic matters, and, some say,
more ‘dumbed down’. Fewer actors are able to contemplate a career in a repertory theatre as wages have fallen in real terms, and the power of Equity,
the actors’ union, has diminished. While in the drama schools, students are
prepared for these new realities, there is said to be less interest in, or attention paid to, finessing drama skills, and more attention paid to getting a job
that pays well. This creates a tendency for writers and actors to seek work in
television and film more than the stage, where the remuneration and coverage
is greater. Despite this, many writers are still keen to write for the theatre, and
in recent years, many major Hollywood names such as Kevin Spacey, Ralph
Fiennes, Nicole Kidman, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow have worked on
small-scale productions, as appearances on the London enhance their professional credibility.
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In spite of the theatre’s difficulties, there continues to be generous coverage of
new developments in the form of reviews and comment on new plays. Critical
opinion in the twenty-first century looks back not with anger at the last 60 years,
but with positive feelings about drama’s ability to capture the spirit of the times
in theatre, film and television, and a hope that it can continue to build on the
strengths of its heritage.
7
Cinema
Introduction
For over a century British film-makers have provided entertainment for audiences around the world. Spy films, ‘rom-coms’, fantasy films and works of social
realism have been some of the recent and best-known genres, while adaptations
of classic novels are consistently popular with audiences at home and abroad for
their attention to details of dress, décor, character and setting. The range of perspectives portrayed in British film is similarly broad, and issues of class, ethnicity,
sexuality and religion are frequently explored on screen.
British film-making is heavily centralised around the south-east of England. Its
commercial heart is the central London district of Soho, where production companies, publicity agencies and related trades have their offices, but the majority
of studios are based in outer London. Pinewood and Shepperton are among the
most established, and newer ones such as Three Mills, and Warner Bros. Studios
are among the largest.
The major awards organisation for film is the British Academy of Film and
Television Arts (BAFTA), which holds a ceremony each year. Two other important events are the London Film Festival in October and the Edinburgh Film Festival in June. Both show around 250 films, many of which are complemented by
talks and interviews from international specialists. There are also many smaller
annual events around the country, such as the Celtic Media Festival, which takes
place in a different town each year in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and
Brittany. Promotion of films has become a fine art, and today many films, directors and actors have their own social media accounts where they post their latest
news and views, and where they can be contacted.
Film has a high public profile, and in recent years has become a fashionable
and popular area of employment. In response, the number of courses offered by
colleges and universities has grown. The National Film and Television School
is one of the most respected institutions and is financed by the government,
together with the film, video and television industries. The British Film Institute
(BFI) also encourages the arts of film and television. It runs the BFI Southbank
film theatre and the IMAX cinema in London, and has a network of regional
film theatres around Britain. The organisations Creative Scotland, Film Cymru
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Wales and Northern Ireland Screen support film in the home nations, and all
have access to the BFI National Archive, which holds a collection of film and
television items from the birth of cinema to the present day.
Britain has around 700 cinema sites and around 3700 screens, or 6.8 per
100,000 people. In 2013 around 180 million visits were made, or 2.7 visits per
person per year. The majority of visits are made to cinema chains such as Cineworld, Vue and Odeon, which are found all over Britain. Films of less commercial
interest are usually shown in ‘art house’ or repertory cinemas, of which the Picturehouse chain is the best known, offering short seasons on particular subjects,
topics of special interest, as well as older films and foreign language films. The
major terrestrial television channels also offer a wide range of films, and subscription channels such as Lovefilm, Netflix or Nickelodeon also offer rental and
streaming of films.
All public cinemas are licensed by the local authorities. These have powers to
prevent the showing of a picture if they believe it would be unsuitable. However,
they generally follow the recommendations of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). This is a government body that examines and classifies material
for public entertainment, and attempts to reflect public opinion by following
a ‘line’ between the traditional moralists on the political right and progressive
libertarians on the left. Its reports are made available to the public on its website
each year.
The current system classifies cinema films and other products, such as DVD/
Blu-ray and video films as follows: ‘U’ films are open to everyone; those with ‘PG’
suggest parental guidance, as some scenes may be unsuitable for young children;
‘12A’ – nobody under 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in the cinema unless they are with
an adult (the 12A rating does not apply to home entertainment); ‘12’ – nobody
under the age of 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated film; ‘15’ – nobody under the age
of 15 may see a ‘15’ film in the cinema, or rent/buy a ‘15’ rated film; ‘18’ – nobody
under the age of 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema, or rent/buy an ‘18’ rated film.
There is also an ‘R18’ classification for some films, which can only be shown in
licensed cinemas, and the sale of ‘R18’ films to licensed sex shops.
Most films shown in Britain are American or British. Foreign-language films
are relatively rare. To be defined as British, the movie must pass a cultural test
administered by the BFI. The test has 15 criteria, including the language of the
film, to the locations, the nationality of the director, actors and crew, and the film
must score 16 points out of a possible 31 to be considered, which give the film tax
breaks, eligibility for awards and so on.
Pioneers and progress
Making movies in Britain began towards the end of the nineteenth century. But
cinema of today has its origins in the mid-1920s when, after interruption during
the First World War, a new generation of film-makers appeared. These included
the directors Victor Saville and Alfred Hitchcock, producer Michael Balcon and
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stars such as Ivor Novello and Fay Compton. By the 1930s, the success of Hitchcock’s thrillers had made him the most important director in Britain.
In 1929 Hitchcock directed the first British ‘talkie’, Blackmail. Alexander
Korda’s comedy The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which was a major success
in America and became the first British picture to win an Oscar, and historical
themes, together with adaptations of literary classics, soon became one of the
most admired and respected styles of British film-making.
But the arrival of the Second World War interrupted progress. Most studios
closed, while a few continued to make films for propaganda purposes. These aimed
to encourage patriotic feeling and boost national morale, in films that emphasised
community solidarity. Several were documentaries, such as London Can Take It
(Harry Watts, 1940) and Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, 1941). Others
were feature films, such as In Which We Serve (Noël Coward and David Lean,
1943), Millions Like Us (Frank Launder, 1943) and The Shipbuilders (John Baxter,
1944). They portray a hierarchical, stable and unified Britain, where everyone
knows their place, respects authority and makes personal sacrifices.
In a similar vein, early representations of Britain at war, such as The Cruel Sea
(Charles Frend, 1953), The Dam Busters (Michael Anderson, 1954) and Reach
for the Sky (Lewis Gilbert, 1956), reassured the post-war public. They gave moral
justification to combat, romanticised war heroism, and made audiences feel both
proud and relieved. But they ignored the friction caused by women entering the
labour market and the armed forces, which during wartime had met with widespread disapproval.
The immediate post-war period was austere but peaceful, as government and
all sections of society worked together for the common good. There were few
popular diversions, and television was still an expensive novelty. The cinema
became the main source of entertainment, in which the fantasy, romance and
escapism of American films represented a post-war land of ‘milk and honey’.
However, at Ealing Studios in west London, producer Michael Balcon preferred to ignore the influence of Hollywood and promote a characteristically
British film industry, making films about ordinary communities, and the drama
and comedy of everyday life. One of the best-known films to emerge from Ealing was the police drama The Blue Lamp (Basil Dearden, 1950). It was a popular
tribute to the law, order and stability, which characterised Britain in the immediate post-war period. It showed a paternal, protective police force and a calm,
cohesive community, in which the chief character PC George Dixon was almost
a sacred figure, in a film that captured the mood of the era.
Ealing Studios became better known for their distinctive comedy films. These
have entered film history as nostalgic, detailed portraits of post-war Britain: a
genteel country of friendly policemen, maiden aunts, village shopkeepers and
numerous eccentrics who challenge conventional society and ridicule pomposity.
Titles include Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), a satire of upper-class manners,
and Passport to Pimlico (1949), a humorous critique of British bureaucracy. The
Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951) is one of the most famous. It features a mild-mannered bank clerk who plans a gold-bullion robbery, eventually
Cinema 141
disguising the loot as Eiffel Tower paperweights. The Ealing style is especially
noted for its ‘character’ performances, clever scripts and empathy for individuals who oppose big business and challenge authority. It subsequently influenced
numerous comedies, such as the Carry On films, and is fondly remembered as a
cosy celebration of English individuality.
Documentary film-making
One of the most characteristic types of British film is the documentary. It began
in the 1930s, when Scottish film-maker John Grierson (1898–1972) pioneered
new techniques. Grierson wanted to make authentic records of everyday life and
was the first to use the term ‘documentary’ to describe a style of film.
Grierson strongly believed that film-makers had a duty to reveal and describe
society in order to understand and improve it. To achieve his aim, he worked
with the government, making dignified, creative studies of different industries
and workers in Britain and the British Empire. These included Coal Face (1935)
and Night Mail (1936), frank studies of the mining industry and postal service.
His later work included examinations of unemployment, pollution, education,
health and housing. He also pioneered the use of interviews in film, using
the camera to record the words of those directly involved. Grierson’s work
quickly became influential, establishing objective, impartial techniques and
the documentary as a film genre. This technique became widely used in television news when making investigative reports about a particular topic, while in
film, realism evolved into Free Cinema, whose pioneers Lindsay Anderson and
Karel Reisz made natural, authentic films about British society, for instance in
Anderson’s O Dreamland (1953), which featured a day in the seaside town of
Margate, and Reisz’s We Are the Lambeth Boys (1958), about a south London
youth club.
Social realism
Interest in making more honest and open representations of social life was also
present in theatre and literature. Between 1956 and 1959 the works of many
new playwrights and novelists such as John Osborne, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe
and Stan Barstow attracted critical interest. Between 1959 and 1963 several
of their novels and plays were adapted for the cinema in a new wave of films
that brought to cinema audiences fresh, raw portrayals of the British working
class, their language, living conditions, aspirations and follies. In particular, they
reveal the changing nature of society in those years: how increased affluence
was leading to greater individuality, less idealism and a reduced sense of social
responsibility.
The film adaptations are generally faithful to the novels, with films set in
smoky, provincial, grey northern towns. They focus on the lives of ordinary
working people set among small, sparsely furnished terraced houses, oppressive
factories and grim pubs. To fill the roles, actors left behind their drama-school RP
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accents and spoke in the regional vernacular to convey a sense of life, energy and
authenticity, and despite their drab surroundings there is a spirited optimism in
many of the characters, reflecting the freedom, consumerism and permissiveness
that many young people of the time were beginning to experience. Room at the
Top (Jack Clayton, 1958), Look Back in Anger (Tony Richardson, 1959), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960) and A Kind of Loving (John
Schlesinger, 1962) were among the first and most highly praised of a body of work
that became known as ‘new cinema’ or ‘new wave’.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was adapted from a novel by Alan Sillitoe
and remains one of the most typical of the genre. It is set in a small Nottinghamshire town, where Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney), a hard-drinking,
hard-fighting, virile young man, rebels against the tedium and restrictions of his
marriage and his work. But, unlike many older members of his community, he has
no politics or religion, and is shown as cynical and alienated, detached from his
own people and disinterested in political ideas, wanting little more than Saturday
night in the pub and the dream of retiring to a bungalow in the suburbs. The
realist style was also used to reflect social problems, as anxiety grew over rising
crime rates, and a younger generation that was frequently portrayed by the mass
media as ‘out of control’. In The Blue Lamp (1949) a kind, community policeman
is callously murdered, while Victim (1961) broke new ground with the theme of
blackmail of homosexuals.
Films of the ‘new wave’ were usually shot in black and white, with little bright
lighting. Modern jazz and pop music were frequently used to communicate a
sense of freedom and self-expression, which supported the action. It was also a
style without theory or glamour, and therefore very different from the politicised
film-making of communist countries, and from the mixture of escapism, aspiration and Cold War politics that characterised film-making in the USA during
the 1950s. However, in Britain the new styles were not popular with the older
generation, who often found them worrying and confusing. Many stopped going
to the cinema, especially when a second, new, commercial TV channel started
broadcasting in 1955. With declining audiences, competition from Hollywood
and television, and little financial help from the government, the survival of the
film industry depended on the profits from popular domestic genres, which were
quickly and cheaply made to attract the new teenage market.
Film goes pop
By the mid-1950s a new generation of teenagers and young single adults was
emerging with its own interests and tastes in film; comedy, horror, sex and violence were all highly popular. Film-makers argued that their works needed to
reflect an increasingly liberal, permissive society. Increased levels of affluence,
the gradual emancipation of female sexuality, and rising rates of crime and violence all supported their case.
Following its arrival in the mid-1950s, rock ’n’ roll music was also heavily
exploited in film. The explosive rhythms in the American Rock Around the Clock
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(Fred Sears, 1956) led to riots in the cinemas. There were media reports of violence and hysteria among the teenage public and a delirium previously only generated by certain types of religious experience. American films featuring Elvis
Presley were enormously popular with teenage audiences, and British studios
responded with musicals featuring English singers – Cliff Richard and Tommy
Steele, among others. These were undistinguished except in commercial terms.
But their popularity ensured that films became important features in the career
of many successful pop stars.
It was the Beatles who brought a measure of critical interest to the ‘pop’ musical. A Hard Day’s Night (Richard Lester, 1964) was an enormous commercial and
critical success, on which Help! (Richard Lester, 1965) and the animated, surreal musical Yellow Submarine (George Dunning, 1968) subsequently built. They
helped to make popular music not just the property of youth, but a kind of entertainment that was acceptable and accessible to all the family.
The mid-1960s was a turbulent time in which old certainties were challenged
and becoming eroded. Traditional ideas of the older generation about class, politics, drugs, sexuality and the place of women were all being challenged and interrogated. Lindsay Anderson’s If . . . (1968) suggests revolution is the only way
forward, in his angry film set in an old-fashioned, private school that symbolises England, and where elitism, arrogance and cruelty are normal. Pupil Mick
Travis (Malcolm McDowell) leads a student rebellion against the school authorities, armed with machine-guns and hand-grenades as the boys rise to assert their
freedom.
The freedom and changing roles of women were also depicted in a number of
films set in a liberated, permissive, ‘swinging’ London. The new image could be
seen in the leading roles played by Rita Tushingham in A Taste of Honey (Tony
Richardson, 1961), Julie Christie in Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963) and Darling (John Schlesinger, 1965), and later with Judy Geeson in Here We Go Round
the Mulberry Bush (Clive Donner, 1967). Their roles were not traditional ones
characterised by marriage and childbearing, but instead emphasised their freedom,
fun, innocence and sex appeal, and were well received by audiences and critics.
Attitudes towards homosexuality were also becoming more liberal and tolerant. In The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963) a Cockney manservant changes roles
with his effeminate, aristocratic master, a film which deals with issues of homosexuality and class in a subtle and indirect manner, at a time when homosexuality
was still an imprisonable offence. More controversial was Peeping Tom (Michael
Powell, 1960), about repressed sexuality, murder and the art of film-making, as
the protagonist records the last moments of the women he kills. Although the
public and critical response effectively ended Powell’s long-standing reputation
as a distinguished film-maker in Britain, it has since become regarded by many
critics as a classic of its time.
After the austerity of the post-war years, young audiences found the style,
excitement and escapism in many 1960s films entertaining and thrilling. Spy
films, comedy and horror were amongst the most popular, with the James Bond
films proving to be one of the most profitable series in the history of cinema.
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Many are adaptations of the 13 thrillers written by Ian Fleming, the first of
which, Casino Royale, appeared in 1952. In literary terms the books were generally undistinguished, but the screen adaptations supplied a highly commercial
combination of glamour, gadgets and faraway locations, in which the hero saved
his exotic girlfriend and the world from evil despots with Russian accents.
The cocktail of ingredients for a Bond films was as simple as Bond’s favourite Martini, and proved just as popular. Around half of the world’s population
has seen a James Bond film, a series which began in 1962 with Dr No (Terence
Young), in which Sean Connery (a Scot) played the leading role. Since then, the
most famous secret agent in English fiction has been played by George Lazenby
(Australian), Roger Moore (English), Timothy Dalton (Welsh), Pierce Brosnan
(Irish) and Daniel Craig (English).
However, after some 25 years of the Bond formula, public interest began to
decline. The disappearance of the Cold War, the public’s greater familiarity with
exotic destinations and greater equality for women left it looking tired, corny and
old-fashioned. Both Bond and his girls needed modernising. In 1995 Pierce Brosnan reinvigorated the role, becoming more chivalrous and concerned with his
girl’s welfare, and even working for a woman boss. The female roles also became
more dignified, and the characters more developed. The series was reborn with
GoldenEye (1995) followed by another three films, and renewed interest and popularity. Another character makeover followed in 2005 with Daniel Craig playing
the role, of a brutal, serious and cold Bond, the closest portrayal yet to Fleming’s
original character.
Since then, the Bond franchise has gone from strength to strength. In 2012 Skyfall
was made with a budget estimated at over £100 million, and was the first Bond film
in the history of the franchise to make over half a billion pounds at the box office.
In contrast to the big-budget Bond productions, the Carry On films were
among the cheapest to produce yet were among the most commercially profitable of the 1960s and 1970s. They began in 1958 with Carry On Sergeant, at a
time when the public was losing confidence in its national institutions, and films
regularly lampooned the pretension of officialdom, and the petty authority of
those in uniform. Early films were frequently set in state institutions, such as a
school, hospital or the army. Inside, bad puns, double entendres and innuendo
were used to ridicule and subvert the official routine and its guardians. The films
are clear descendants of the Ealing tradition, and despite their low budgets and
frequent amateurishness, they became some of the most popular films in the history of British cinema until the late 1970s, when interest declined. Society was
changing, and audiences too; with increasing equality between men and women,
as well as more openness and frankness about sex and gender issues, along with
more enlightened and progressive institutions, the films seemed dated and interest in them disappeared.
Horror films were also popular with young audiences. Some of the best-known
titles of the genre, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958),
were made by the Hammer production company. Usually directed by Terence
Fisher, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, early pictures created
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Figure 7.1 The latest incarnation of James Bond, Daniel Craig, with the traditional Aston
Martin DB5.
© Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy
an atmosphere with shadows and suspense, but in the 1960s they became more
explicit, with vivid depictions of blood, sexuality and violence, such as Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). Plots were typically set on dark nights in elaborate
Gothic castles, in which heavily cleavaged vampire women moved around dimly
lit rooms that were decorated like a Berni steak house, as the struggle between
good and evil was played out for a mesmerised teenage public.
Hammer also produced a range of popular science-fiction films, such as The
Quatermass Xperiment (1955) and The Damned (1963), which shared several
themes in common with the horror genre. These include the threat to individuals and communities represented by science gone bad, possession by dark forces
and mind control. At a time of Cold War, the spread of communism, concerns
about rock ’n’ roll music and sexual liberation, Hammer’s populist genres of sci-fi
and horror successfully mirrored public anxieties of the period. But, as with the
Carry On films, their repetitive and heavily commercial nature was often disparaged by critics, although enthusiastic young cinema-goers ensured their survival
until the 1970s.
In spite of some isolated successes, the 1960s were rarely profitable for British
cinema, which was seen as creatively inferior to big-budget American productions and stylish European art-house films. Low levels of finance from central
government meant a heavy dependence on commercial genres and, by the end of
the decade, many critics considered the industry almost dead, sunk by the popularity of commercial television and the glamour of Hollywood.
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The 1970s: pop style triumphant
At the beginning of the decade the film industry focused its attention on numerous safe, commercial productions. While a younger generation sought fun and
freedom of expression in films that reflected the tolerance and liberal values
being expressed in law and society more generally, others preferred less provocative, more traditional offerings that nostalgically looked back, rather than forwards, in historical costume dramas such as Cromwell (1970), Mary Queen of Scots
(1971) and Young Winston (1972). These were always popular with audiences
overseas, and helped ensure healthy returns for their producers, in a climate of
inflation, falling cinema attendances and increased competition from American
films and commercial television.
Despite the problems, the speed and excitement of social change throughout the previous decade began to attract many foreign film-makers to Britain,
such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. The
public loved their extravagant, modish films which captured the mood of the
moment, including Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966). Some stayed to make several
films, notably Roman Polanski with Repulsion (1965) and Cul de Sac (1966),
and Richard Lester with the Beatles films plus The Knack . . . and How to Get
It (1965).
The American director Stanley Kubrick also made numerous films in Britain,
and during the 1960s and 1970s his works were among the most varied and stylish of their time. Several have since become classic works of modern cinema, for
example Lolita (1962) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). But his most notorious
work was A Clockwork Orange (1971), in which violent, make-up wearing gangs
enjoy a disturbing life of crime, sex, violence and Beethoven, whom the state
attempts to correct by brainwashing techniques and thought-control. Although
it was adapted from Anthony Burgess’s 1962 novel, which recalled allegedly true
events of 20 years previously, the time of the action remains unclear. In the words
of the protagonist Alex (Malcolm McDowell), it is ‘just as soon as you could
imagine it, but not too far ahead – it’s just not today, that’s all’. But in the turbulent times of the early 1970s, it appeared accurately to document England’s present. One of the most disturbing and controversial films ever shown in or about
Britain, Kubrick withdrew it soon afterwards, following alleged ‘copycat’ juvenile
violence, and public demands that scenes be cut.
A growing number of films starred famous singers and rock bands. These
had previously been light and populist, created to market the members and
their music to family audiences. However, as the older generation had largely
stopped going to the cinema, newer productions were created with the aim of
appealing mainly to the band’s followers, for example Slade in Flame (Richard
Loncraine, 1975) about Slade (the Oasis of their time), which succeeded in
capturing not just the band at its height, but also the sordid and declining
atmosphere of inner-city Britain in the early 1970s. But the pop genre continued to evolve and gradually became more imaginative and substantial: the
Who appeared in Tommy (Ken Russell, 1975) an adaptation of their 1969
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album, and their music drives Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979), a colourful exploration of the life and times of a frustrated young mod, immersed in
London’s youth culture of 1964. With this film, and That’ll Be the Day (Claude
Whatham, 1973), set in the 1950s, British pop began to explore its own brief
history for the first time.
Some musicians later began to appear in non-musical feature films. The Rolling Stones’ singer Mick Jagger appeared in Performance (Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell, 1970), an exploration of sexual, social and narcotic practices in the
London of the late 1960s. David Bowie appeared in The Man Who Fell to Earth
(Nicolas Roeg, 1976), playing an alien who travels to Earth, looking for a way to
save his dying planet. This was a highly praised film that raised questions about
corporate imperialism, as well as the decline of imperial power in the world.
Ken Russell
The 1960s were a time of ground-breaking new films, and Ken Russell
(1927–2011) was a leading exponent of the new wave, who often mixed
film with music in combinations of artful surprise, shock and controversial
excess.
In his early years he served in the merchant navy and air force as well as
becoming a dancer and photographer, before he began making short films,
such as Peepshow
w (1957). He later joined the BBC, and worked on documentaries for the arts series Monitorr (1958–65), where he made his first
feature film French Dressing
g (1963), a comedy farce. Dramatised documentaries followed, based around the lives of classical music composers, some
40 years before the ‘drama-doc’ would become popular in television. These
included Elgarr (1962) and The Debussy Film
m (1965). He then switched style
to direct a Cold War spy thriller Billion Dollar Brain
n (1967) for the James
Bond producer Harry Saltzman, with Michael Caine taking the lead role as
Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer.
In 1969 his feature film adaptation of D.H. Laurence’s Women in Love
was a critical and popular success, and is still considered by critics to be
among the best of Russell’s films. The Music Loverss (1970), about the life
of Tchaikovsky, marked a return to his involvement with classical music, but
amid growing concerns about public permissiveness in Britain, it attracted
complaints that it was as much about Tchaikovsky’s sex life as it was about
his music. More controversy followed, with his television film Dance of the
Seven Veils
s (1970) about the classical composer Richard Strauss. It featured
extensive extracts of music by the composer, but his portrayal of Strauss
as a Nazi shocked the Strauss family who withdrew all music rights, and
ensured it could not be effectively shown on television until the expiry of the
Strauss’s copyright in 2019. It also led to questions being raised in Parliament, who felt the BBC should not have broadcast it.
By 1970 Russell was becoming identified as an original, talented but controversial director, who, it seemed, deliberately made films to shock. He
argued that his aim was to jolt people out of their complacency and into an
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Figure 7.2 In praise of pop: the Preacher (Eric Clapton) parades pop culture icon
Marilyn Monroe before the disabled congregation. A scene from the
Ken Russell film Tommy.
© AF archive/Alamy
awareness. The Devils (1971) was a high point in this respect, with its combustible mixture of sex and religion in a film that was violent and disturbing.
It was banned in many countries, heavily edited for many other markets,
and today in the UK it is still not possible to see the film in the form originally
intended.
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In contrast to The Devils
s, Russell’s next film The Boy Friend
d (1971) was
a fun and escapist adaptation of the well-known musical by Sandy Wilson. It
featured Twiggy, the British model and actress in the lead role, and offered
Russell some respite from public complaints. A return to classical music
followed with Mahlerr (1974), before he directed a film adaptation of Tommy,
the 1969 rock opera recorded by the Who. Effectively a feature-length pop
video for the album, Tommyy (1975) starred Oliver Reed, Roger Daltrey and
Jack Nicholson. Many works in music and film of the period were concerned
with breaking down barriers and opening people’s perceptions, but Tommy
was about the loss of perception; after an early childhood trauma, Tommy is
psychosomatically affected and cannot hear, speak or see. As a teenager he
becomes fixated on pinball, at which he excels, and is elevated to stardom
as the Pinball Wizard, where he is exposed to the excess and decadence
that accompany his fame, in a film that marked another critical high point in
Russell’s career.
Russell’s films were characterised by his audacious, theatrical scenes
and operatic performances, detailed, flamboyant, often religious imagery
and the frequent use of classical music. Fast cuts from one camera shot to
another, extreme facial close-ups and other techniques not commonly used
in film at that time further heightened the presentation of his work.
Despite the originality and excitement of Russell’s films, by the early
1970s his work was seen as highly controversial. However, public reaction
should be understood in the context of the times. In Britain of the period,
rapid liberalisation of personal and social freedoms had led to increasing
concern, particularly on the political right, about the dangers of the ‘permissive society’. Attention focused on an increasing amount of sexual and violent content in film and TV, which according to the popular press encouraged
‘copycat’ behaviour, and Russell’s work clearly fitted the media stereotype.
Perhaps, in consequence, his later work such as Valentino
o (1977), featuring
Rudolph Nureyev, and Altered Statess (1980) was generally less distinctive.
The controversy surrounding his films and the new public climate of conservatism and restraint ushered in by the new Thatcher government, as well as
sharp cuts in public funding, made it difficult to obtain financial backing for
future films.
‘The British are coming!’: film-making and Thatcherism
The early 1980s were times of rapid change within the film industry, with the
introduction of video, cable and satellite services which allowed audiences
more choice. New technology allowed films to be made with relatively modest
budgets. Agencies in advertising and pop music also began to use videos in
product promotion, and many new production companies appeared to meet
demand. But the greatest impact was made by Channel 4, a new television
company, which between 1982 and 1997 became involved as producer or sponsor of over 200 low-budget films, and gave a voice to those marginalised by
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cuts in public spending on film. High levels of unemployment, social unrest,
riots and a war all provided inspiration for film-makers of the Thatcher era,
who used the medium to portray a politically, socially and ethnically divided
country.
Heritage and harmony
The beginning of the 1980s saw a strong demand for ‘heritage’ films, which projected a nostalgic, rose-tinted view of the past. One of the most representative
was Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981). Based on a true story, the film deals
with a Scot and a Jew running for Britain in the 1924 Olympics. It features several unconventional, rebellious characters who become proud and nationalistic
in victory. The attention to period details and the film’s morally satisfying ending offered a rosy, comforting picture of British life and institutions at a time of
increasing social hardship and unrest.
The arrival of Chariots in the market was timed to perfection. Its nostalgic
theme of British superiority coincided with the wedding of Prince Charles to
Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, victory over Argentina in the Falkland Islands (Las
Malvinas) in 1982 and the victory of the ruling Conservative Party in the election soon afterwards. It became the film of the moment and won four Oscars.
At the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, scriptwriter Colin Welland
famously declared ‘The British are coming!’ anticipating a revival in the fortunes of the British film industry. His prediction was correct and ‘heritage’ films,
exploiting popular interest in aristocratic life in imperialist Britain, were among
the most commercially successful of the decade.
Some of the best-known productions were by the team of Merchant–Ivory.
Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala worked as producer,
director and scriptwriter successfully to create historical films of upper-class living. Some of their finest were adaptations of novels by E.M. Forster, including A
Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987) and Howards End (1992), while The
Remains of the Day (1993) was based on a Booker Prize-winning novel by Kazuo
Ishiguro. Beautifully filmed, richly costumed and classically acted, they presented
an idealised, romanticised image of English life, and received numerous international awards. These and other films, such as the Oscar-winning Gandhi (Richard
Attenborough, 1982), David Lean’s A Passage to India (1984), Another Country
(Marek Kanievska, 1984) and Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989), were highly
popular with audiences, and even tempted older members of the public back to
the cinema.
However, critics said they projected an elitist, exclusive version of a culturally homogeneous past, which was heavily romanticised and fundamentally false.
They argued that ‘heritage’ films were created simply for the pleasure of overseas
audiences, and made quick, easy profits for the film-makers. Nevertheless, both
traditional and modern interpretations of historical stories remain among the
most popular film genres in Britain.
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Discord and division
As British society’s problems grew deeper in the early 1980s, Lindsay Anderson’s
Britannia Hospital (1982) offered a humorous tale of an institution close to collapse, due to strikes, riots and terrorism. However, the lazy, incompetent staff and
their disinterested, insensitive boss only begin to worry when preparations begin
for a visit by the Queen Mother. The film is widely seen by critics as a stateof-the-nation film, a tragicomic allegory of Britain of the time and a humorous
critique of the kind of society that Britain was becoming.
Later in the decade, government economic policy led to deregulation, expansion and competition in numerous professions. The effects on media and broadcasting were critically examined in writer and director Richard Eyre’s film The
Ploughman’s Lunch (1983). It focuses on the activities of a BBC journalist and
presents a cynical view of news presentation and management of the 1956 Suez
Crisis and the Falklands War of 1982, showing the hypocrisy and insincerity of
the media coverage.
The Cold War of the 1980s was a major source of public anxiety, and was the
subject of Defence of the Realm (David Drury, 1985). A highly critical film, it
analyses the stationing of nuclear weapons in Britain, the dubious activities of
the security forces and the role of the media in supporting the government. But
in Chris Bernard’s A Letter to Brezhnev (1985), the Cold War was given lighter,
more humorous treatment in a story about two young women who meet two Russian sailors in a Liverpool discotheque. Unlike much of the British news media
during the 1980s, the film avoids the stereotyping of Russians as monstrous and
evil, instead casting them as ordinary folk looking for a good time and a quiet life.
The conspicuous consumption of aspirational kinds of food and drink became
fashionable during the decade and the theme of food was used to make social
comment in several films. Malcolm Mowbray’s A Private Function (1984) is a
humorous caricature of ambitious middle classes. It is set in a small Yorkshire town
in 1947 and, during a time of post-war rationing, an unlicensed pig is being fattened for a civic dinner to celebrate the royal wedding of Princess (later Queen)
Elizabeth. More contemporary was Eat the Rich (Peter Richardson, 1987), a satire
set in ‘Bastards’ – a smart London restaurant. When Alex – a black waiter – is
fired, he returns to kill the staff, changes the restaurant name to ‘Eat the Rich’
and offers human flesh on the menu. Received by critics as cynical, bizarre and
offensive, it was one of the most tasteless films of the decade.
Women’s issues were entering the mainstream, and were being explored in a
more populist manner. Several examined the feelings and frustrations of women
unable to experience life outside the home, such as Another Time, Another Place
(Michael Radford, 1983), a bleak exploration of domestic repression set on an
isolated Scottish farm during the Second World War. But there were also lighter
attempts to portray similar themes. For example, the humorous Educating Rita
(1983) tells the story of a young, married hairdresser who begins adult-education
classes. Gradually she becomes divided between her oppressive domestic life and
the attractions of academia. The director was Lewis Gilbert and the writer Willy
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Russell, the duo who, in 1989, made Shirley Valentine, a humorous tale about a
Liverpudlian housewife and mother who shares with her neighbour a holiday on
a Greek island, in search of freedom and fun.
Although audiences of the 1950s had been shocked by teenage attitudes and
behaviour, by the early 1970s films about rebellious youth were part of the mainstream cinema, and were often fused with explorations of ethnicity and gender.
Some of the most highly praised explorations came from Hanif Kureishi, in collaboration with director Stephen Frears. Kureishi has worked across several areas
of popular culture, and his novels, theatre plays and screenplays brought to public attention the increasingly diverse nature of British society, and the problems
experienced by marginal groups. His works are sometimes described as being
about the ‘condition of England’, and deal with sexuality, politics and ethnicity.
He offers a powerful critique of divisive Tory society, and in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) introduces new themes of interracial gay relationships, in one of the
most original and highly regarded films about Asian culture in Britain.
In 1987 Frears directed Prick Up Your Ears, the story of gay playwright Joe
Orton. It shows a repressed nation, divided by hypocrisy and a rigid class system, tensions that inspired Orton’s angry plays and mirrored those of Britain in
the 1980s. Frears and Kureishi again collaborated on Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
(1987), a satirical interrogation of Asian culture in British society.
Kureishi’s work indicated that new issues could be explored without explicitly
political treatment, and that issues that were formerly found only in the noncommercial independent sector could now be found in mainstream cinemas. Other
examples include Playing Away (1986) written by Caryl Phillips and directed by
Horace Ové, a light, humorous observation of hypocrisy and prejudice in an English
rural community, when a cricket team from Brixton visits a small country village for
a friendly game as part of the village’s ‘Third World Week’ celebrations, an encounter that has comical consequences both on and off the field; and No Surrender (Peter
Smith, 1986) in which Protestants and Catholics in fancy dress, bickering punk
rockers, a camp comedian and an incompetent magician all meet in an energetic
and occasionally farcical scenario, set in a Liverpool nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
Despite the mainstream popularity of such films, some critics thought they
trivialised important issues of racism, gender inequality and marginalisation, and
only the independent sector with its less commercial orientation was able to portray these divisions in a responsible way.
Northern Ireland
Frictions in social life and terrorism in politics were common during the 1980s, but
nowhere were they expressed more violently than in Northern Ireland. In 1979,
the governing Conservative Party and the Labour opposition both expressed
their wish to continue defending the six counties and the rights of the Protestant majority against the Republican movement which demanded independence
and home rule. But relatively few films dealt directly with the ‘Troubles’. Their
delicate nature, the difficulty of treating issues in a fair, balanced way and their
limited appeal to audiences outside Ireland has deterred many film-makers.
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However, in 1982 Irish film-maker Neil Jordan made his directorial debut with
Angel, the first of several highly praised works. It examines how a quiet, passive
civilian becomes involved in murderous terrorist activities following the death
of his friend. In 1992 Jordan returned to exploit a similar theme with The Crying
Game, which examined the formation of political and national feelings in Britain
and Ireland, and Michael Collins (1995), the story of a man whose belief in guerrilla violence against the British forces is changed into a desire for peace after
he witnesses the horrors of civil war. Two years later John Boorman made The
General, about the ‘Troubles’. Unlike many films about the province, it does not
take sides. Instead, it illuminates the situation as seen through the eyes of Martin
Cahill, a violent but humorous armed robber who hates not only the IRA, but
also the Protestant Loyalists and all forms of authority.
The role of women within the Republican movement is explored in several
films and short documentaries, such as Maeve (Patricia Murphy, 1981), while Pat
O’Connor’s Cal (1984) considers the life events that lead a peaceful young Catholic man to become involved with the struggle of the Irish Republican movement.
However, some films of the 1980s were much more partisan in their perspective on the role of the security forces. Boy Soldier (Karl Francis, 1986) argues
against sending soldiers into the streets. And more explicit in its message is Ken
Loach’s Hidden Agenda (1990), which alleges conspiracy, corruption and ‘dirty
tricks’ among the British forces in Ulster, and his later film The Wind that Shakes
The Barley (2006) a film set in the early 1920s that examines the Irish civil war.
Figure 7.3 The Screen on the Green, a place to see independent films in Islington, London.
© David Christopher
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Ken Loach
Realistic films dealing with social problems and issues have become one
of the main strengths of British cinema. One of its leading exponents is Ken
Loach (b. 1936), a critically admired director who has established a reputation for political awareness in his films. He began his career at the BBC,
directing plays for the weekly drama series The Wednesday Play
y and Z Cars
in the mid-1960s. These frequently dealt with some of the most controversial
social problems of the period, such as Cathy Come Home
e (homelessness,
drug abuse and domestic violence), and Up the Junction
n (teenage pregnancies and abortion). Their frank, realistic portrayals challenged the complacent, literary and historical dramas, which were then common in television
drama.
The struggle of the underprivileged against an uninterested society is a
theme common to many of his works. However, their seriousness is lightened by humorous incidents, witty scripts and a message of optimism about
people’s ability to conquer their problems. One of the most highly regarded
of his works is Kess (1969). Set among a coal-mining community in Yorkshire,
it shows the aimless drifting of a semi-literate young boy from a ‘sink’ estate,
the inadequate ‘authorities’ of his family and teachers, and how his pet bird –
a kestrel – helps to bring freedom and meaning to his life.
In the 1980s and 1990s his films engaged more closely with the injustices
of Thatcherism. Looks and Smiles
s (1982) considers the desperate choices
open to two young school-leavers at a time when employment opportunities
are few. For greater authenticity the cast members were all amateurs, drawn
from the South Yorkshire community of Sheffield, the setting for the film.
Raining Stoness (1993) is a tragicomic view of the effects of unemployment
on a Catholic family in Manchester, while Ladybird, Ladybird
d (1993) looks at
the plight of a single mother. In Riff Rafff (1991) Loach humorously depicts
the different reactions of a gang of labourers from different regions of Britain
when they are ordered to convert a much-needed hospital into a block of
luxury flats.
However, Loach has not restricted his work to films about England. Hidden Agenda
a (1990) considers the role of the British army in Northern Ireland
and in Land and Freedom
m (1995) he focuses his attention on the Spanish
Civil War. Carla’s Song
g (1996) also deals with political struggle. It is set in
Nicaragua in the mid-1980s during the overthrow of the Sandinista government by the right-wing, US-supported Contras and tells the tragicomic tale
of a Glaswegian bus driver and his Nicaraguan sweetheart.
Towards the end of the 1990s Loach made widely admired films,
which brought him recognition as a major British director. Three were set
in Glasgow: My Name is Joe
e (1998), Sweet 16
6 (2002) and Ae Fond Kiss
(2004). The last is named after a love poem by Robert Burns, and tells the
story of a relationship which crosses cultural and religious dividing lines, in
a story of Romeo and Juliet set on the River Clyde. Casim, a Muslim businessman and disc-jockey, meets Roisin, an Irish Catholic music teacher. The
weight of family expectations is summed up in the following scene, in which
Casim discusses the difficulty of his situation with his best friend Hassin:
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Hassin: There’s so many birds out there and yet you’ve went daft over one
bird.
Casim: I’ve nae went daft over her.
Hassin: Well, yer gonna drop your own family? You’re gonna split your own
family?
Casim: Am I supposed to marry someone I don’t know?
Hassin: You’ve got your family to think about, you’ve got your religion to
think about.
Casim: I’ll lose her!
Hassin: I don’t give a fuck if you lose her. Who would you rather lose? Your
family or this bird?
(transcribed from the film)
In 2006 Loach returned to the theme of Irish history with The Wind that
Shakes the Barley
y (2006), which is set during the Irish civil war of 1922–3,
and won the Palme d’Or award at the Cannes Festival. Looking for Eric
(2009) examined the importance of community solidarity, and was notable
for its comedic aspects, and as well as the role played by the ex-footballer
Eric Cantona. Reacting to the ways in which governments on both the left
and right had contributed to the condition of Britain in 2012, The Spirit of
’45
5 (2013) is an oral history with much original footage, tracing the achievements of the Attlee Labour government of 1945, a stark reminder of how
Britain has changed. The founding of the NHS, the expansion of the welfare
state and the extensive nationalisation of key industries are all examined,
along with the way this new society has been attacked and dismantled, particularly by the Thatcher government of the 1980s.
Critics say Loach’s vision is a pessimistic, austere one. But, on the other
hand, he is admired by many for having always been a consistent, lone,
politicised voice, speaking out in defence of the oppressed and disenfranchised. These are rare characteristics in modern British film-making and
have made Loach into one of the most respected directors in Britain today.
Independent films
During the 1970s and 1980s the new political issues of racism, women’s rights, the
‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and a declining economy were considered potentially unprofitable topics for the large production companies, and it was left to
the innovative and daring companies in the independent sector to exploit them
further. The sector received a significant boost in the early 1980s when Channel 4 and its Film Four division began to commission films for cinema release,
and later for television transmission. In addition, new technology lowered costs,
which helped co-operatives and collectives to be established, and enabled them
to make films about subjects that larger organisations and production companies
ignored. In turn, independent cinemas emerged, known as ‘art house’ cinemas,
which showed films of a less populist, more specialised nature. Themes included
the radical politics of the ‘new left’, which had adopted the new agendas of feminism and anti-racism.
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Derek Jarman was one of the most stylish avant-garde film-makers of the
period. His film Jubilee (1978) used the punk phenomenon to express a nightmarish reality of life in Britain during 1977, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver
Jubilee celebrations (commemorating her reign of 25 years). The characters, film
sets and music together project a horrific collage of shocking metaphors, which
include the murder of a wealthy pop star, an orgy in Westminster Cathedral and
the castration of a police officer. The film ignores the politics of left and right,
of feminism or racial equality, and instead depicts anarchy, nihilism and British
institutions in crisis, in a work that has became one of the most important avantgarde documents of the period.
Racial tension escalated in many British inner cities during the mid-1970s,
but it still had not been addressed by black directors in full-length features until
Pressure (Horace Ové, 1975). This was an independent production by two Trinidadians: Horace Ové and Samuel Selvon. The story showed the reality of being
young and black in London during the 1970s, and chronicles the attempts of
Tony, an intelligent black school-leaver, to find a job, and his subsequent rejection. It is set against a background of a failing education system, police brutality and black power. It also explores the growing differences between the West
Indians who came to Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, and their British-born
children.
By 1980 a series of films reflected the racial tension on Britain’s streets, such as
Burning an Illusion (Menelik Shabazz, 1981) and Babylon (Franco Rosso and Martin Stellman, 1980). The latter features young, British-born Afro-Caribbeans in
London’s East End, and portrays the thoughts and culture of young Rastafarians
through a cloud of cannabis smoke and a thunderous avalanche of reggae music.
Rude Boy (Jack Hazan and David Mingay, 1980) angrily depicts two Englands:
one of prosperity protected by large, corrupt police forces; the other of youth with
no future, who participate in race riots, support neo-fascists and collapse after
cocktails of drink and drugs at punk concerts.
During the 1970s and early 1980s the only films dealing with the experiences
of ethnic minorities were low-budget productions by relatively unknown filmmakers. Because their films did not have great commercial appeal, they could
only be seen in small, independent cinemas, and not in large chains, which offer
more commercial, mainstream productions. But between 1985 and 1991, grants
became available to improve arts facilities following the riots of the 1980s. As a
result, several black film co-operatives appeared, such as Sankofa, Black Audio
and Ceddo, based mainly in London and the Midlands.
One of the founders of Sankofa was Isaac Julien, who made several films expressing the anger and frustration felt by many black Britons. These include Territories
(1984), Remembrance (1986) and Looking for Langston (1989), based on the black
American poet Langston Hughes (1902–67). Another notable work dealing with
the experience of black Britons is Handsworth Songs (John Akomfrah, 1986), a
critical examination of racial conflict in modern Britain, which was filmed in
Handsworth, Birmingham, during the riots of 1985.
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The role of the independent sector declined in the 1990s as issues that had
once been marginal became more mainstream. In 2002, there was a change in the
Film Four commissioning policy, following a downturn in TV advertising. After
making many notable films including My Beautiful Laundrette, The Draughtsman’s
Contract and Angel, funding was withdrawn, and the independent sector would
never again enjoy the same levels of financial support.
Figure 7.4 The Coronet, an independent cinema in Notting Hill, London.
© David Christopher
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Cinema
Although many independent productions were highly original, it was argued
that their stylistic diversity sometimes obscured the film-maker’s message. However, their main achievement was to promote more open discussion and debate
about issues that had once been considered minor and marginal, particularly
those of gender and race, which helped them become issues which the commercial mainstream would be subsequently willing to tackle.
Peter Greenaway
One of the most stylish but unconventional of British film-makers to emerge
in the 1980s was Peter Greenaway (b. 1942). Thatcherite allegories, romanticism and games feature in his films. His visual scenes are elaborate and
carefully constructed, and often feature large, familiar paintings. These give
his work a characteristic style, which he mixes with wit and charm. However,
he remains one of the few directors better understood and appreciated overseas than in Britain.
He began his career in 1976 with highly experimental works, featuring
surreal fantasy and absurdist titles such as Goole by Numberss (1976), but
later in his career he began to make more conventional feature films. Several
took a cynical look at the lives of the professional classes, such as cooks,
architects and draughtsmen, professions which became fashionable in the
1980s, for example The Draughtsman’s Contractt (1982), a humorous costume drama set in 1694, one of his best-known films.
In The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Loverr (1989) sex, food and love
are mixed together in a critique of the vulgar consumerism of the Thatcher
years. More playful was Drowning by Numberss (1988), which made Greenaway popular with feminists. It is set in a Suffolk seaside village, where three
women murder their unsatisfactory husbands.
In 2004 he completed a trilogy of films in his most ambitious project to
date, The Tulse Luper Suitcases,
s which seeks to reconstruct the life of Tulse
Luper, a professional writer. Like Greenaway, he was born in Newport, South
Wales, and his life as a ‘professional prisoner’ (as Greenaway has called
him) is reconstructed from the evidence of 92 suitcases found around the
world.
More recently, Greenaway has experimented with video and multimedia;
in a church at the Venice Biennale in 2009 he presented part three of his
video installation sequence Nine Classical Paintings Revisited.
d It involved
projecting images from the Paolo Veronese painting The Wedding at Cana
(which is kept in the church) onto the walls, together with music, and audio
of words that might have been spoken by the guests, servants, onlookers
and gate-crashers depicted in the picture. Greenaway imagines these to be
about fashion, real estate, the cost of the event, a new kind of cutlery called
a ‘fork’ and the miracle worker Jesus, who has arrived with some of his fishermen pals and his mother instead of his wife, prior to performing his first
miracle – turning water into wine.
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Feel-good fantasy versus multicultural realism
The mid-1990s witnessed several new developments and themes in British filmmaking. Across all the arts, a sense of change and renewal was in the air. Popular
music was in the forefront, and fields such as film and art were infused with a
sense of optimism, pride and self-confidence. Many new directors, musicians and
artists emerged from the cultural ferment, in a period which came to be known as
‘Cool Britannia’. In politics, Britain cast off 18 years of Tory rule in the election
of 1997, returning a reformed and progressive ‘New Labour’ government with
Tony Blair as its charismatic, young leader.
After the success of Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994), a lowbudget comedy about the social calendar of the wealthy (a film that launched Hugh
Grant’s career as charming but shy, stuttering suitor) the formula was repeated with
several ‘feel-good’ movies that reflected the optimism of the times, in particular the
romantic comedies Notting Hill (Roger Mitchell, 1999), Bridget Jones’s Diary (Sharon McGuire, 2001), and Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003), successful films that
won many awards and broke several box-office records in the UK. Despite this, critics said their exaggerated representations of London and its people were like a fairy
tale, and shamelessly exploited stereotypical imagery, because this ‘idea’ of England
sold well with American and other overseas audiences.
The mid-1990s were also characterised by a number of films that combined
uplifting, feel-good stories with more realistic characters and settings. In these
‘new realism’ or ‘soft realism’ films, the protagonists make attempts to escape
from desperate circumstances, instead of allowing themselves to be defined by
their marginality, which some critics identify as a Thatcherite influence. The
films are mainly set in Yorkshire, a county that had been deeply affected by the
loss of the traditional heavy industries of steel and coal, for example The Full
Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1996), which became one of the most successful British
films of the 1990s. It depicts the impact of unemployment and the decline of the
steel industry on a group of Sheffield steelworkers, who become strippers to earn a
living. Funny and highly metaphorical, this low-budget film was also successful in
America, where it rivalled Titanic for many Academy Awards. Also set in south
Yorkshire was Mark Herman’s tragicomic Brassed Off (1996) with its humorous
but sensitive depiction of Grimley, a declining mining community, and the passion and pride of the musicians in the colliery band.
A similar tale of personal pride and escape form difficult circumstances was
shown in Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000), in which an 11-year-old becomes a
ballet dancer, to the disgust of his father, a widowed miner, in an enjoyable, funny
and uplifting film set in 1984 against a background of the miners’ strike. In contrast, Babymother (Julian Henriques, 1998) was a different kind of musical, which
focused on a black single mother who puts together an all-girl reggae group, in
an attempt to move on and escape from her troubled past. Slumdog Millionaire
(Danny Boyle, 2008), was the self-proclaimed feel-good movie of the noughties, a
massively successful film that features a Mumbai call-centre worker who appears
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on the television show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and wins the big prize, in a
rags to riches story that won eight Oscars.
Realist films about multicultural Britain were also entering the mainstream,
and no longer seen as the preserve of independent film-makers. Movies such
as My Son the Fanatic (Udayan Prasad, 1997), East is East (Damien O’Donnell,
1999) and Ae Fond Kiss (Ken Loach, 2004) were commercial successes, frequently
depicting in a humorous manner the family frictions between the younger generation born in the UK, and the older generation born abroad. In Gurinder
Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Jesminder (Jess) lives the life of a typical
teenage Sikh girl, except that she wants to be a professional footballer. Together
with her best friend, a local white girl, she rebels against the traditional attitudes
of her parents by running off to Germany with a girls’ football team, in an amusing and characterful film.
Despite the carefree optimism expressed in many popular movies of the time,
others took a more downbeat view, for example the grim, ‘hard’ realism of Nil
by Mouth (Gary Oldman, 1997), which shows a claustrophobic and depressing
world of drugs and violence. Several other films ploughed a similar furrow, but
were lifted from gloom by wit and lively screenplays. Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting
(1995) is the story of anti-hero Mark Renton, who struggles to kick his heroin
habit in a world of drug dealers, AIDS and poverty. Unlike many films and plays
about addiction, Trainspotting is told from the point of view of a drug addict, and
is set in the poverty and squalor of the ‘other’ Edinburgh, a side rarely seen by
visitors to Scotland’s capital, in a mixture of kitchen sink realism and surreal,
music-driven anarchy. Ken Loach’s My Name is Joe (1998) took as its subject
an unemployed, recovering alcoholic on a grim Glaswegian council estate, who
starts a relationship with a social worker. Despite its low-key premise it presents a dramatic and amusing story, in which several scenes are subtitled to assist
with comprehension of the thick Glaswegian accent. Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing
(2002) managed to tell the bleak tale of a London taxi driver’s domestic problems, in the kind of ‘slice of life’ film for which he is renown, and Sean Meadows
developed his talent for realistic, skilfully crafted portraits of working-class life
with Somers Town (2008), a study of two aimless young boys’ unlikely friendship,
one a runaway from Nottingham, the other the son of a Polish immigrant.
The problems faced by recent immigrants was another new area of interest for
film-makers. In the mid-1990s the British economy had begun a period of steady
expansion, which attracted many overseas workers. Illegal immigration and asylum seeking became major social problems, but media narratives were predominantly unsympathetic, often featuring sensational stories that were hostile to
immigrants. Some film-makers attempted to tell a different story, revealing the
ways in which many were drawn by force of circumstance into morally compromising or criminal situations. The Last Resort (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2000) tells the
story of a young Russian woman and her son, who are held in a detention centre
while she seeks asylum, and is tempted into the world of online pornography
to earn some cash. Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things (2002) depicts an illegal
migrant doctor from Nigeria, who is tempted to perform illegal surgeries in return
Cinema 161
for more security. Ken Loach also explores a similar theme in It’s a Free World
(2007) in which an employment agency’s exploitation of immigrants turns sour
when the cheap labour rebels.
The late ‘noughties’ and beyond was not a time noted for progressive, forwardlooking works, and instead there was a tendency to look back through the lens of
historical dramas. After the economic recession began to take hold in 2008, there
was a reliance on the major ‘blockbuster’ films of James Bond and Harry Potter,
which still showed good returns. Other films of note included the Oscar-winning
The King’s Speech (2010), about the struggle of the Queen’s father King George
VI to overcome adversity in the form of a stammer, at a time when the monarchy
seemed to be the only British institution left with any credibility. The Iron Lady
(2011), about the life of Margaret Thatcher, gained much praise, and Twelve
Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2014), a slavery memoir based on the book of the
same name was an unexpected success, particularly as it had a black director. It
won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, a BAFTA award
for Best Film and three Academy Awards, including the Award for Best Picture,
which was the first time it had been won by a black producer, a genuine sign of
progress in the British film industry.
Mike Leigh
Realistic portraits and natural performances are predominant characteristics
of the films of Mike Leigh (b. 1943). He began working in London’s fringe theatres during the 1960s, where he earned a reputation for sharply observed
social commentary. After making his first major film Bleak Momentss (1971),
he worked extensively in theatre and television, with Abigail’s Party,
y an early
1970s comedy of social manners among the lower middle class, among his
best-known works. In 1988 he made the film High Hopes,
s which considers
the tensions between families of different social backgrounds in London during the mid-1980s. The film is both serious and funny, and sharply criticises
the growing inequality, greed and selfishness into which society appeared
to be descending.
In 1991 he made Life is Sweett and in 1993 the tragicomic Naked.
d These
and others are revealing studies of class and manners, which rely more on
detailed characterisation than on plot and action. They are distinguished by
convincing performances delivered through a natural style of acting, which
Leigh encourages by creating scripts only after extensive improvisations by
the actors. But his films are lightened by humorous incidents and perceptive
remarks, as is well demonstrated in the acclaimed Secrets and Liess (1996).
Topsy-Turvyy (1999) marked a departure from explorations of the everyday, with a film musical about the duo Gilbert and Sullivan, who wrote popular comic operas in the nineteenth century. His film charts a 15-month period
prior to the release of The Mikado
o in 1885, a work that became internationally successful. Vera Drake
e (2004) was another story from British history.
Set in the 1950s, it chronicles the life and times of a woman who performs
illegal abortions, a story which brought humanity and understanding to a
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politically controversial subject. Happy Go Lucky
y (2008) and Another Year
(2010) explored happiness and unhappiness through finely crafted studies
of character, which brought him further acclaim. In 2014 he again mined
English history for his subject matter, with the film Mr. Turnerr, a biography of
the final 25 years of the British artist J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), which was
released to widespread critical praise.
Unlike his contemporary Ken Loach, Leigh does not blame socioeconomic conditions for the predicament of his characters, and his ability to
accurately and sympathetically chronicle people’s manners and lifestyle –
often those of Britain’s lower classes – has encouraged critical comparisons
with Charles Dickens. His work has won several prizes at major European
film festivals, for example the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993 and its highest award, the Palme d’Or (‘Golden Palm’) in 1996
for Secrets and Lies.
s He has been nominated for an Academy Award seven
times, twice each for Secrets and Lies
s and Vera Drake
e and once for TopsyTurvy,
y Happy Go Lucky
y and Another Year.
r
The Harry Potter Series
The Harry Potter films are some of the most profitable and critically praised in the
history of British cinema. They began with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
(2001) and a budget of some £70 million. The massive investment reflected the
confidence the makers had in the films, which are based on the bestselling children’s books of the same name by J.K. Rowling. A simple story about a young boy
destined to be a great wizard was followed by The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner
of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, The
Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and, finally The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. There were four
directors involved with the films, from Chris Columbus in the first two, followed
by Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell, with David Yates directing the final four
films. Most of the filming was done at Warner Bros. Studios in Hertfordshire.
In the films, ordinary schoolboy Harry is taken out of his obscure life to fight
evil at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where mysteries and
strange happenings lead Harry and his friends into magical adventures, brought
from the page to the screen with spellbinding special effects. Over the series of
eight films corresponding to Harry’s years at Hogwarts School, the films become
more serious and adult-oriented, as themes such as jealousy, death and corruption
begin to appear, in order to maintain the films’ appeal to fans who had grown up
with the series.
Popular and critical success followed, and the Harry Potter film franchise
became the highest grossing film franchise of all time, taking over £4.5 billion
worldwide, with books and especially films proving attractive to adults as well as
children. However, even though the films have won many awards, they never
won an Oscar. But perhaps the most surprising aspect of the stories is their popularity at a time when children’s literature was competing with computer games
and other high-tech home entertainments.
Cinema 163
Film finance
Filmmaking in Britain has become a fashionable, exciting and glamourous area
of cultural life. Yet, in spite of its successes the industry has suffered from a lack
of investment, and British film-makers have rarely been able to compete with
the extravagant productions made by the wealthy Hollywood studios. In a country where television has been more central to national culture, the government
does not invest large sums of money in film. However, in 2013–14 the creative
industries (with film as a leading contributor), contributed 7 per cent of British
gross domestic product (GDP), and in 2013 the film industry made a £4 billion
contribution to the UK economy. Film also makes a massive contribution to the
cultural life of the country, and helps to promote a favourable view of Britain
with audiences overseas.
Nevertheless, in relation to investment, the profitability of British films is not
high. A recent BFI study showed that, of 613 UK films made between 2003 and
2010, only 7 per cent were profitable. Critics point out that most of the 613 were
low budget (under £2 million), and that even though a film is unprofitable, it can
still be important for the development of skills and training, as well as being of
artistic and cultural importance. The ‘value chain’ of a film can also be very long
and it may not be until much later that it begins to make a profit. The same study
also showed that 17 per cent of big-budget films (over £10 million) were profitable, which was about the same ratio as films made in Hollywood.
One obstacle to profitability is that cinema is famous for being an industry
where ‘nobody knows nothing’. In other words, no one knows exactly how to
make a successful movie; sometimes they are successful on a large scale, but often
they are not. Film-makers try to insure against this by recruiting actors who are
well known. This provides ‘securitisation’ against loans to make the film, and
helps to attract other kinds of financial support. Big names also pre-package the
film, and make it look attractive to the public. Thus, established actors, and leading ‘brands’ such as James Bond and Harry Potter, can guarantee cinema ticket
sales. They also promote the image of Britain abroad, which helps attract visits to
Britain for tourism, education and so on. The government regularly encourages
American film-makers to come to Pinewood, Shepperton and other studios, and
Warner Bros. now occupies studios in Hertfordshire, the first Hollywood studio
since the 1940s to have a permanent base in the UK.
However, Hollywood’s presence in the UK is a double-edged sword. On the
one hand, Warner Bros. provides jobs and contributes income but, on the other
hand, Hollywood-produced films still generate more than 70 per cent of British
cinema revenues, and this is usually to the detriment of British films, which struggle to find exhibition. The main difficulty is that US films are widely promoted
and have a massive publicity budget, so more people are attracted to see them.
Moreover, most British cinemas are in the hands of a few large chains, such as the
Odeon, Vue and Cineworld multiplexes. They provide a total of approximately
2,200 screens and offer films that are popular, well publicised and guaranteed to
attract big audiences. In these cinemas, less well-known films need a big opening
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Cinema
night or week in order to remain on offer to the public. If the public doesn’t come
because the film hasn’t been well publicised, or the actors aren’t familiar, they are
removed, and this makes it harder for a less well-known film to find an audience
and grow in popularity.
The cinema chains exert another financial pressure, as for every cinema ticket
sold, 75 per cent goes to the cinema, so film-makers only receive a quarter of
the box-office figure, which makes profitability slower to reach. Consequently,
it is often harder for British films to find exhibition outside the much smaller
art-house cinemas, which specialise in showing less commercial, lower-budget
productions.
Another difficulty is internet piracy by those who illegally download copyrighted films. A report by the London School of Economics showed video and
DVD sales in 2012 were half what they were at their peak in 2004. But, to some
extent, sales have been replaced by subscription to other forms of media, such as
streaming and film channels, which pay a fee to film-makers. Also, the money
people save by free downloading and watching films on YouTube may be spent
going to see live performances or events, or on new media such as 3D. Furthermore, illegal downloading is currently performed mostly by those on low incomes,
such as teenagers, who cannot afford the original products. In the light of current
trends, the coalition government has decided to embark on a policy of sending
letters to ‘pirates’ and illegal downloaders, which constitute more of a plea than
a warning. Its impact remains to be seen.
Despite its difficulties, in the new millennium London still provided the industry worldwide with film-makers, costume designers, production crew and technical specialists. It also became the world’s leading centre outside Hollywood for
the latest techniques of digital post-production, special effects and sound recordings, as well as for actors, studios and settings, while profits from the export of
films around the world are second only to those of America.
8
Television and radio
Introduction
What was once an expensive, scientific hobby for a minority of wealthy enthusiasts has become a major part of many people’s lives. The television set has
evolved from being a bulky piece of technology kept in a heavy, wooden cabinet
and shut away when not in use to a large, slim screen that is often the focal point
of the room. Many people also watch ‘on the move’, on buses, trains, cars, planes
and so on, using a variety of digital devices such as smartphones, iPads and laptop
computers.
The principal terrestrial channels are BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4
and Channel 5, which broadcast a wide variety of material. Large broadcasters
like the BBC also have a portfolio of additional stations such as BBC Three,
BBC Four and BBC World News, which show more specialised programmes. All
broadcasts are now digital, and offer additional facilities that enable viewers to
watch or listen again, catch up online and so on.
Most households receive additional channels via Freeview, a terrestrial television and radio service giving free access to around 80 TV stations. Broadcasts can
also be received via satellite, cable and the internet. But, despite the number and
variety of free channels, approximately 50 per cent of households pay an additional fee to receive more, such as those of Sky. Payment for ‘on demand’ TV is
also growing in popularity, with services such as Netflix allowing subscribers to
create TV to order.
The most watched channels are the terrestrial ones, and the most popular programmes are soap operas and factual or ‘reality’ series, while religious ones have
the least appeal. Foreign-language films and series are rare, and around 75 per
cent of terrestrial programmes are made in Britain, and the rest in America, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. TV production is also a successful export; over
50 per cent of television formats exported around the world originate in the UK.
The availability of programmes 24/7 on a variety of devices has led to a change
in viewing habits. Consumption has increased, and recent research has shown
that the average British adult currently watches for approximately four hours per
day. This means that the average child born in the late 1990s, when 18 years of
age, will have spent more time watching television than any other activity except
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Television and radio
sleep, and during a lifetime the average Briton will spend more time viewing programmes than doing paid work.
The wide variety of channels, platforms and places to watch has also led to TV
becoming less of a shared experience, and more of a solitary pursuit, especially
for many children and young adults. Around 40 per cent of those under 18 have
a television in their room, and around 90 per cent have a second or third screen
open, for reading, playing games, commenting on Twitter about the programme
being viewed or listening to digital radio broadcasts. This has led to parental
concerns about a screen-intensive ‘bedroom culture’.
Radio is also a popular source of news and entertainment, and there are
some 600 radio stations in Great Britain, with the average Briton listening for
just under three hours per day. As with TV, the BBC is the most prominent
broadcaster. Internationally, BBC World Service provides news and items
of cultural interest in 28 different languages worldwide. There are also ten
national BBC radio channels, and some 40 regional services. Some of the
latter broadcast in locally spoken languages such as Welsh, Scottish Gaelic
or Guajarati.
Commercial radio is well established; however, there are only three national
commercial services: talkSPORT, Absolute Radio and Classic FM, but hundreds
of others supply the regions of Britain with news, chat, music and a copious
amount of advertisements.
Figure 8.1 TV has become a less communal and more individual activity. But unlike in
the picture, young people are today more likely to be alone in their rooms while
simultaneously viewing two or three screens.
© ONOKY Photononstop/Alamy
Television and radio
167
Broadcasting content is strictly controlled by Ofcom, an independent government organisation that enforces a code of practice on violence, taste and
decency, especially before 9 p.m., when young children may be watching. All
tobacco advertising is prohibited on television and radio. Political advertising is
also banned, but each major party is allowed a number of broadcasts every year.
Journalism, communications and broadcasting are growth areas and popular career choices. Training for posts in independent television or the BBC has
become increasingly possible thanks to a growing number of courses in many
colleges and universities. The National Film and Television School is one of the
most respected training institutions. It is financed by the government, together
with contributions from the film, video and television industries. Outstanding
work in television is recognised each year in ceremonies held by the British
Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), as well as in the National Television Awards.
The BBC
The most prominent broadcaster in the UK is the publicly owned British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It is based in London, but has television and radio
studios in all the major towns and cities. It was created by a Royal Charter in
1927, which still needs periodic renewal for permission to broadcast. It is controlled by a board of governors appointed by the Queen on the advice of the government. An important feature of the Corporation’s work is that direct political
influence is not permitted, and in the past there have sometimes been complaints
from government that the BBC is unfairly critical of government.
The BBC has a ‘portfolio’ of several national terrestrial TV channels. BBC
One shows programmes that have a broad appeal, while those of BBC Two are
often more specialised. BBC Three shows comedy, science, music, arts and education programmes, and BBC Four has more in-depth coverage of history, culture,
business, the arts and current affairs. Internationally, BBC World News broadcasts news, interviews, cultural items and lifestyle programmes in a single feed for
all countries, and only in English. Launched in 1991, it now has more international bureau correspondents than any other news channel, and attracts around
74 million viewers per week. Unlike other BBC services, it is a commercial station and is financed through advertising and subscription. The BBC has extensive online content, with a searchable news and magazine pages, and viewers can
often watch or listen to programs again on its iPlayer facility.
In the early days of TV, the BBC was the national broadcaster and viewers were
addressed as a collective of British citizens. But today channels and programmes
are organised corresponding to different demographics, that is the interests of
different groups within the general population. Around half of BBC programmes
are made ‘in house’. The rest are made externally by independent production
companies such as Celador, Hat Trick and Endemol, which make programmes
and design formats that are then sold to broadcasters such as the BBC, in Britain
and abroad.
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Television and radio
The BBC also has several national radio stations, and signals can be received
on a number of different platforms from a smartphone to a computer. The principal ones are: Radio 1, which broadcasts current pop music, live concerts and
news; Radio 2, which plays a wider range of popular music and ‘specialist’ programmes; Radio 3, which broadcasts almost exclusively classical music and occasionally jazz; Radio 4, which offers news and current affairs, together with arts
programmes, religious services and cricket commentary; and Radio 5, which
broadcasts mainly live news, phone-ins and sports programmes. Several other
BBC stations broadcast music and information related to the principal five, such
as Radio 1xtra which specialises in black music.
The BBC’s national radio stations are complemented by 40 regional and
local ones in England and a further eight in the home nations. These are mostly
speech-based and increasingly broadcast in the languages of the local communities: Radio Cymru broadcasts in Welsh, Radio Nan Gaidheal in Scottish Gaelic
and several others broadcast in locally spoken Asian languages. BBC programmes
are popular with the general public, and in 2014 the BBC took 55 per cent of
the total UK radio audience. Internationally, the BBC World Service broadcasts
mainly news and discussions in 28 different languages with an audience of around
188 million listeners per week worldwide.
Figure 8.2 A TV licence. This unremarkable document is said to ensure political and
commercial independence, high-quality programmes and the cultural centrality
of television in Britain.
© David Christopher
Television and radio
169
A distinctive and important characteristic of the BBC is that it is funded by
an annual licence fee, unlike most other television and radio stations that rely
on income generated by advertising. Consequently, BBC broadcasts do not carry
advertisements, except those for its own programmes. In Britain, a licence is
needed to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown, not just on
the BBC, but on any channel, and regardless of the device used to watch them.
In 2014 a licence for a colour TV cost £145.50, and for a black and white one,
£49. Penalties for non-payment can be severe. In 2012/13, almost 200,000 people
were prosecuted for not buying a TV licence, and more than 50 were given a custodial sentence. This makes Britain the only country in the world where members of the public can be sent to prison for watching television!
The absence of commercial pressures allows the BBC to create programme
content not with a need to attract mass audiences for selling advertising time,
but with a sense of responsibility towards the community. Similarly, the absence
of governmental pressure allows it to make news, documentaries, plays and current affairs series that critically engage with politics and society. As the public
have to pay for TV through the licence fee, they expect objective, high-quality
programming, as well as programmes that explore minority issues, and these factors give television a precedence over other arts forms, such as cinema, as well as
a national importance and cultural centrality which is unique to Britain.
Commercial TV and radio
The commercial broadcasters try to emulate the high standards of quality and
service set by the BBC. There are numerous commercial satellite stations, but
only three commercial terrestrial ones. These are ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5,
which all rely on income generated by advertising.
Independent Television (ITV) is a federation of independent companies that
broadcasts a broad range of popular programmes to 14 regions of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, and began in 1955. Channel 4 is an independent national
service that began broadcasting in 1982. It encourages innovation and the making of distinctive programmes for a diverse range of interests and preferences of
audiences in a multicultural society. Unlike some other channels, it does not
make its own programmes, but commissions them from independent companies.
In Wales the service is known as Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C), which transmits
many programmes in the Welsh language. The newest terrestrial station is Channel 5, a commercial station that began in 1997. It makes and shows popular
programmes to a wide audience around the country.
Independent local radio began in 1973 and in recent years the number of stations
has expanded greatly. There are currently around 270 that make their money from
the sale of advertising time. Many serve local ethnic minorities and broadcast in the
language of the community. They offer a general programme of entertainment, news,
sport, consumer information and phone-ins. Although local radio is well established,
national independent stations are still a novelty in Britain. There are only three; the
first was the classical music station Classic FM, which opened in 1992.
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Television and radio
The formative years of television
In 1922 a group of companies making radio equipment merged to form the British
Broadcasting Corporation, and in November 1936 the first television pictures
were broadcast. But for many years radio was considered the senior service; it was
older, more established and offered a better choice of programmes. Transmissions
came from Broadcasting House in London, an impressive building built for the
BBC, which opened in 1932 and which is still its main home.
Life inside the BBC was formal, old-fashioned and badly paid. When appearing
on camera, announcers wore traditional evening dress and spoke formally with an
RP accent. But newsreaders were not televised, as it was believed that a change
of facial expression could threaten impartiality. This was strengthened during the
war when the BBC established a reputation for public responsibility and reporting
the truth, and afterwards it occupied a role of cultural authority and importance.
Under its first Director-General, John Reith (later Lord), a Scottish Presbyterian,
there was a strong ethic of public service, and the BBC aimed to educate, inform
and entertain. Television programmes carried an air of self-improvement and
there were regular series on gardening, cooking, classical music and drama.
In 1932 the BBC World Service began broadcasting to English speakers in
remote spots of the British Empire. According to King George V, the Service
was for ‘men and women so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only
voices out of the air can reach them’, and for many years it has kept the Englishspeaking people of the world ‘tuned to London’.
During the Second World War, many theatres and cinemas closed due to
bombings. To keep up morale, the BBC lowered its standards by broadcasting
popular programmes, such as comedy, songs and shows. Some are still broadcast,
such as Desert Island Discs (1942–), which mixes music with talk. A well-known
guest is interviewed and invited to choose eight records they would take to a desert island, together with one book (apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, which
are already there) and one luxury. A mass audience enjoyed learning about the
musical tastes of the elite, and the BBC extended its popularity.
In 1949 a regular weather forecast began for farmers and, no doubt, in recognition of the traditional British interest in the weather. The Archers (1950–) is a
radio soap opera that was originally created to transmit useful information to the
agricultural community. It is set on the imaginary Brookfield Farm in Ambridge,
and has become the world’s longest-running radio drama series.
With the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, demand for television sets
increased and the number of viewers grew. As ownership of a television set
became more common, there was more interest in offering an independent, commercial channel, and in September 1955 Independent Television (ITV) began.
For the first time, news bulletins were read by men and women who could be
seen on camera. Regional accents could be heard in drama programmes, and even
more surprisingly, the public began to appear on TV, taking part in game shows
such as Double Your Money. The diversity of material helped to break down class
and regional prejudice, and the public was attracted by a range of openly populist
programmes, which carried advertisement breaks before and during shows.
Television and radio
171
However, there was growing anxiety among the self-appointed moral guardians
of the nation in the ‘establishment’ of Church, government and leading universities, who saw a link between the rise of popular culture, and the rise of crime,
violence and teenage promiscuity. They believed that cheap, light entertainment
such as popular music, game shows, westerns, crime dramas and American sitcoms
Figure 8.3 Broadcasting House, old (on the left) and new – the BBC headquarters in
Portland Place, London.
© David Christopher
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Television and radio
such as I Love Lucy, along with advertisements for products many could not afford,
would corrupt Britain’s youth and hasten the decline of civilised society. The BBC
also believed that it was vulgar to be popular, and continued to broadcast its range
of staid, conservative programmes. As a consequence, it lost many viewers.
Television 1955–70
Social realism
By 1955 a series of educational reforms was yielding a better educated population.
This, coupled with the economic security provided by the welfare state and a
growing economy, had combined to create a young generation who were keen to
see change. A prevailing sense of optimism about the future had promoted new
creative currents across all the arts. In particular, there was a self-confidence that
facilitated the making of critical works that featured frank, open portrayals of
society. This was known as ‘social realism’, and in television it was most sharply
expressed in new documentaries and drama series.
In television, new investigative documentary programmes began to focus
on previously marginalised groups such as women, immigrants and the poor of
Britain’s industrial towns and cities, especially those of the north. In 1953 the
BBC created Panorama, a documentary programme dealing with current affairs.
Reporting became more intimate and revealing, when for the first time ordinary
people frankly described their experiences and problems to camera. For the first
time, the public had more freedom to say, see and hear things which it had not
said, seen or heard before. After hearing the criticisms of others on TV, people
became more sceptical about its leaders in ‘the establishment’, and in 1955 the
candid exposures led to parliamentary criticism that the BBC was a political propaganda machine, run by traitors and communists.
The freedom to comment and criticise spread from documentary into drama.
For the first time, sensitive and even taboo subjects such as wife-beating, alcoholism, sex and drugs were represented in provocative new plays for television.
Many were set in cities in the north of England, such as Liverpool, Manchester
and Newcastle, whose local culture of popular music, drama and poetry were
beginning to attract nationwide interest. Playwrights such as Harold Pinter, Dennis Potter and Alan Bennett flourished, as well as film directors such as Ken
Loach and Tony Garnett, who made challenging, memorable dramas for Armchair Theatre (ITV, 1956–) and The Wednesday Play (BBC1, 1964–70). The works
reflected the hedonism and energy of working class youth, but they were also
marked by the strength of their social concern. Jeremy Sandford’s Cathy Come
Home (1966) dealt with homelessness, and Nell Dunn’s Up the Junction (1965)
revealed the horrors of illegal abortion. Their content shocked people, but they
also contributed to greater public understanding of serious social problems, and
stimulated parliamentary action in the areas of abortion and social housing.
The influence of social realism extended to popular genres, such as police
dramas and soap operas. Earlier, during the mid-1950s, the police had been
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portrayed as almost sacred figures, symbolising the tradition, stability and conservative nature of British society. For many years the most popular police series
had been Dixon of Dock Green (BBC, 1955–76), set in the imaginary police station of Dock Green in east London. Each episode resembled a moral tale, paternally delivered by the nation’s best-known policeman, PC George Dixon, who
was presented as an average British male of the 1950s: a gardener, a fisherman,
a football fan, a darts player, a married man who preferred tea and beer to coffee
and wine. This was not a realist series, but showed an idealised ‘little England’
in which everyone respected the police, and crime was seen as a temporary difficulty caused by the disruption of war. Stories were written to reassure the public,
in which order was always restored and family life triumphed. But later in the
1960s, currents of social realism led to more realistic television depictions of the
police. Unlike the earlier Dixon, viewers often found Troy Kennedy-Martin’s
police drama Z Cars (BBC, 1962–78) uncomfortable to watch. It was set in
the imaginary location of Newtown, a modern urban ‘jungle’ close to Liverpool. It showed policemen who looked, talked and behaved in a realistic way.
They drank heavily, gambled and were sometimes violent. The series began to
show increasing crime as a serious threat; one which needed a firm and decisive
response. It was a critical and popular success, establishing a new style of writing
and directing television drama.
Coronation Street
The influence of social realism in drama led to the creation of Coronation
Streett (ITV, 1960–), the world’s longest running soap opera. It was created
by Tony Warren, when he was only 23, and has become the most watched
programme in UK history, in a genre that dominates television not only in
Britain, but around the world. It deals with the daily lives of ordinary folk in
a short, grey, narrow street in the imaginary northern town of Weatherfield
(based on Warren’s home town of Salford). The slow, distinctive theme
tune was composed by Eric Spear, and remains largely as it was played
in the first episode, drawing viewers to the television in a kind of secular
call to prayer.
Such a programme had never been seen on television before 1960. At
first, the public were shocked by the northerners’ rough speech and manners, their dress, courtship rituals, their entertainments and habits of eating
and drinking, while some critics doubted the series would be successful.
Early episodes resembled the more serious social realism of Look Back in
Anger,
r Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,
g the television plays of Armchair
Theatre
e and The Wednesday Playy, but they have gradually evolved into a
lively series with surprise, tragedy, farce and conflict, and, unlike many other
soap operas, much humour.
The characters have changed relatively little over the years. Ken Barlow
(played by Bill Roache) appeared in the first episode in 1960, and is still
a member of the cast. He is noted in The Guinness Book of Recordss as
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the longest-serving television actor in a continuous role. In 1981 his television marriage to Deirdre (Anne Kirkbride) attracted over 24 million viewers.
However, in the series the dominant personalities are women; the Street is
a neighbourly, matriarchal community in which men are often portrayed as
weak and feckless. A sense of justice runs through the stories, which are
told with much pace and the occasional moral lesson, in a mixture of drama
and (often camp) comedy. But as with many long-running dramas, attempts
to leave the locality, for example through self-improvement at university,
moving to a leafy suburban neighbourhood or marrying a career professional, are all doomed to failure.
The series is particularly distinctive for its exploration of sensitive social
and personal matters; for example, in recent times storylines have featured
gay and transgender relationships, as well as voluntary euthanasia. The
treatment has been realistic and sombre rather than sensationalist, and has
helped raise public awareness of the issues involved.
The scripts, storylines and the level of acting have resulted in tremendous
popularity. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, viewing figures of over 20 million were common, or about one in three of the total UK population, and
although audiences for television have declined, it continues to be one of
the most watched programmes, with viewing figures of around nine million
per episode, and ITV’s most successful broadcast, regularly winning BAFTA
awards.
Figure 8.4 The Rovers’ Return in Coronation Street – probably the best known pub in
Britain.
© Tony Collins/Alamy
Television and radio
175
Political satire
Before the mid-1950s television was more deferential and uncritical of the
government and society. However, the new currents of social realism running
through the arts, with ‘kitchen-sink’ dramas in the theatre, the ‘angry young men’
in literature and an increasing number of investigative exposures on TV and
in the press, led to growing public criticism and mockery, particularly after the
mishandling of the Suez crisis of 1956. Society was becoming less deferential and
more sceptical, and in consequence there was a gradual democratisation of culture, with the concerns of the ‘man on the Clapham omnibus’ becoming central.
On TV this was reflected in growing criticism of government, politics and
the press in a number of new series, in particular What the Papers Say (BBC/ITV
1956–), an irreverent, satirical bulletin which exposed the bias, hypocrisy and
humour shown by a variety of national newspapers on the issues of the week. It is
currently presented each week on BBC Radio 4.
But most notorious among the early shows was That Was the Week That Was
(1962–3), presented by David Frost, with the involvement of Peter Cook, John
Bird, John Fortune, Bernard Levin and Richard Ingrams, who would become significant figures in the developing British satire boom. ‘TW3’ marked an important moment in political and media history; here was the first series to present a
satirical look at the major issues of the day, and the failings of the British establishment to deal with them. While discussing, dissecting and deriding those in
the news, the show pricked the pomposity of public figures with humour, mockery
and spoofs. It attracted millions of viewers before its irreverence led to its cancellation before the 1964 general election. But it showed the young people of Britain
the way to criticise power, and created a new genre of satirical entertainment.
TV goes pop
By the mid-1960s, the BBC was beginning to recover the viewers it had lost
to ITV ten years earlier, but radio was losing listeners. At that time there were
only two television channels and two national radio stations, and entertainment
programmes specifically for young people were rare. Longer album tracks were
never heard, as they were not part of the schedules for the mainstream stations,
which relied on the shorter three-minute pop songs. Consequently, many teenagers preferred listening to the ‘snap, crackle and pop’ of the weak signal emitted
by Radio Luxembourg, a commercial European radio station that broadcast pop,
rock and other types of music. Another off-shore station began in 1964, when
Radio Caroline began broadcasting from a ship in the North Sea, followed by
Radio London, from a former fishing boat anchored in the Thames estuary. Neither held broadcasting licences, but as they were outside the territorial waters of
the United Kingdom, the authorities were powerless.
In its maritime isolation Caroline played a mixture of popular and progressive
music, and to the chagrin of the BBC, broadcast ‘alternative’ news about underground culture, drugs, politics and sexuality. Caroline was an immediate success,
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and other illegal ‘pirate’ stations soon appeared; after only one year ‘pirate’ stations had an estimated audience of 15–20 million British listeners. Radio London
featured John Peel’s The Perfumed Garden, a show which challenged the fashionled, commercial pop scene. It provided a more reflective, less materialistic mixture of poetry, folk and progressive music, and was inspired by the hippy culture
expanding around America’s west coast.
The pirate party lasted until 1967 when the Labour government introduced
the Marine Broadcasting Act, forcing many stations to close. But the need to
modernise BBC’s radio service was clear, and soon its output was reorganised,
with four national stations and several regional ones. Radio 1 began broadcasting
pop music the same year, and soon afterwards former pirate station DJs Kenny
Everett, John Peel and Tony Blackburn all joined the station, where they enjoyed
long and successful careers.
The massive interest in ‘pirate’ radio had indicated the potential size of the
audience if the right programmes for young people could be found. But the BBC
appeared old-fashioned, out of touch and still in denial about the needs, or even
existence, of teenagers. Programmes were still either for very young children, such
as Andy Pandy and The Flowerpot Men (both originating in 1946), or adults. But
Cool for Cats (ITV, 1956–61) and Six-Five Special (ITV, 1957–8) had already indicated the way forward, as did Ready Steady Go! (ITV, 1963–6), which offered live
music to a studio audience dressed in the latest ‘mod’ fashions, dancing the latest
dances and speaking the latest slang, all within a studio adorned in the pop-art
style. Audience participation was encouraged, and televising the ‘party’ helped to
spread music and other elements of popular culture to audiences around Britain.
In 1964 the BBC launched Top of the Pops to compete with Ready, Steady, Go!
The first show was broadcast from a converted church hall in Manchester, and
gave special emphasis to the Top 20, a list of the bestselling records in the UK.
It was an immediate success, and appearances rapidly became essential for any
groups with a song to promote, until the show finally finished in 2006, faced with
the decline of the ‘single’, and the irrelevance of the top 20 to a more diverse and
fragmented music scene.
Fantasy dramas
By the end of the 1960s 90 per cent of homes had a television set. With only three
channels available, large audiences were effectively captive, so programme makers could take more risks when commissioning and creating new series, and this
approach led to the creation of some of the most imaginative and original ever made.
TV drama had previously been characterised by social realism, but new kinds
of popular programmes were more influenced by spying, space travel, the Cold
War and consumerism. Fashionable clothes, fast cars, exotic locations and memorable theme music became the characteristic ingredients of several exciting and
original new series.
Spying and detective stories had always been attractive to young audiences,
and the James Bond films had already demonstrated the way forward. Its mixture
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177
of style, exotic locations, and ‘cool’ well-dressed characters had proved popular with a new generation of Britons who had grown up as aspirational consumers of clothes, cars and foreign holidays. Televisual creations followed,
with Department S (ITV, 1969) and the playboy author-adventurer Jason King
(1971–2) bringing style, adventure and espionage into British homes. Other
series added fantastic, imaginative and surreal elements, such as The Avengers
(ITV, 1961–9, 1976–7). The latter featured two private detectives: the lead was
played by Patrick Macnee as John Steed, who was accompanied by a variety of
female assistants during the life of the series. The most popular was Diana Rigg
as Emma Peel. Beautiful, confident, energetic and independent, she symbolised
modern, youthful progressive attitudes and values to which many young women
were now aspiring, and presented a youthful contrast to Steed’s establishment
conservatism.
The most long-lived of the new dramas was the science-fiction series Doctor
Who (BBC, 1963–90, 2005–), which featured the adventures of a Time Lord,
known only as ‘The Doctor’, an eccentric, anti-authoritarian loner. His home
was the ‘Tardis’, which outside resembles a police call-box, but inside is an enormous craft, capable of travelling backwards and forwards through time and space.
Dr. Who was created as a series which would use time travel to explain great
historical moments and modern science with the doctor as a guide. In the first
series the French Revolution and the Crusades both featured, and later, saving
the world from an apocalypse was a theme which, in the time of Cold War, the
public could easily relate to. The Doctor and his crew had numerous enemies; the
most famous were the Daleks; mobile, one-eyed robots who famously ‘exterminated’ the opposition in a mini-nuclear cloud, while a young generation of viewers watched at home, often from behind the sofa in terrified amazement.
The series ran until 1989 when it had begun to look dated, and was cancelled.
Fans, now known as ‘Whovians’, were outraged. But in 1996 the BBC made a
successful Doctor Who film for television and the series won an award for the
best television drama of all time, and in 2005 it finally returned to the small
screen, with contemporary special effects and an emphasis on its Britishness,
which helps to make it marketable to foreign audiences.
The theme of saving the world from some external threat was also common to
several children’s series made by Independent Television throughout the 1960s.
Political imagery was to the fore in thinly disguised Cold War scenarios, which
featured Americanised heroes saving the planet from external aggressors, amid an
exotic mixture of eccentric, exotic characters, and distinctive theme tunes. The
puppet series Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and
Joe 90 were first shown consecutively between 1961 and 1969. Created by Gerry
Anderson, they featured different teams of futuristic, international rescuers based
in space, land and sea. With the exception of Joe 90 (a myopic nine-year-old)
the main protagonist was a square-jawed, fair-skinned male with a mid-Atlantic
accent, heroically vanquishing his enemies in adventures that were an object
lesson in how to make massively entertaining political propaganda for British
juveniles.
Figure 8.5 A Dalek, enemy of Doctor Who and the stuff of nightmares for a generation
of young Britons.
© David Christopher
Television and radio
179
The Prisoner: ‘I am not a number’
The Prisonerr (ITV, 1967–8) is regarded by many critics as the most distinctive, original and enigmatic fantasy drama ever shown on television. It
was co-created by Patrick McGoohan, who also played the leading role of
‘Number Six’. It arrived at a time when around the world different political
ideologies were fighting for supremacy, and questions of how best to organise society were dividing countries and causing wars, revolutions and riots
around the globe.
Central to the drama is imprisonment of the main character in what superficially appears to be a paradise: beautiful, warm, sunny and relaxed. It
appears to lack nothing in the material sense, but on the inside it is revealed
as a sinister environment, inhabited by shallow, passive citizens who are
afraid to think critically, talk politics or ask who rules and why. In the ‘totalitarian’ Village no one has a name, only a number. McGoohan is prisoner
Number Six. He is interrogated about his professional past, but refuses to
give any information, and repeatedly demands to know who is in charge of
the mysterious society, the identity of Number One.
Each of the seventeen episodes deals with Number Six’s attempts to
escape, and with attempts by the Village leaders to discover why Number
Six resigned from his job in the British secret service, until in the last episode
there is a suggestion that Number Six is the real Number One; that ‘I’ = 1;
and that man himself, not political ideology, holds the key to freedom.
Like many of its contemporaries The Prisonerr was surreal, stylish and
entertaining. But unlike most other programmes it also raised important
political questions about totalitarian societies, democracy, liberty and the
freedom of information. It has been the subject of much academic writing,
and invites comparison with Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World
d and George
Orwell’s 1984
4. Each year, enthusiasts meet to discuss themes and re-enact
scenes, sometimes in the original setting of Portmeirion, an eccentric Italianate ‘folly’ on the coast of North Wales near Harlech.
The 1970s: conflict and consumerism
By the early 1970s, Britain was becoming an increasingly liberal, multicultural
and egalitarian society. More women were entering the workforce and enjoying
new freedoms which equality of opportunity and family planning had increasingly made available. There were also many more Afro-Caribbean and Asian
immigrants settling in British cities, and rising wages throughout the 1960s had
reduced economic inequality. But, on the other hand, men did not always appreciate their partners going out to work, or being in competition with women for
jobs, and cities were frequently ill-adapted or unprepared to meet the needs of
immigrants. In the economy, unemployment and inflation were rising steadily.
The trade unions were becoming powerful and well organised, which led to
more disputes and strikes. The result was a turbulent time of liberalisation and
consumerism, as well as conflict between genders, races and classes.
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Drama series and documentaries continued to reflect these issues, mostly to
an educated, middle-class audience. However, many ‘sitcoms’ dealt with similar
topics in a more light-hearted way, which audiences could feel comfortable with.
With some attracting over 15 million viewers, they became the most watched
programmes of their time, and a barometer of the public mood of the period.
The format for many sitcoms originated with Hancock’s Half Hour (BBC 1956–
60), which featured a pretentious, neurotic individual who is misunderstood by
those around him. Series were usually written by one or two writers, unlike the
American sitcoms which were often written by teams, producing more individual
and idiosyncratic characters, contexts and wit. Some of the most popular TV
shows of their time, like Dad’s Army (BBC, 1968–77), Porridge (BBC, 1974–7),
Rising Damp (ITV, 1974–8) and Fawlty Towers (BBC, 1975 and 1979) were all
based on the ‘Hancock’ formula, with depictions of personal struggle against an
uncaring and incomprehensible world. Dad’s Army is set in the early 1940s, and
features a group of elderly men who, as members of the Home Guard, behave
like schoolboys while rehearsing their futile resistance against a possible German
invasion of England. Characters are shown as the ‘little people’, the underdog
baker, butcher, banker, verger and vicar, who are gentle and bumbling, completely unprepared for the situation in which they find themselves. Nostalgia,
class and innocence are key elements of its appeal, which, together with a timeless humour, ensure that over 40 years later repeats are still watched avidly by
new generations of fans.
But, outside the cosiness of genteel sitcoms, other new series engaged with the
loss of political consensus and social confrontation. The Sweeney (ITV, 1975–6,
1978) and The Professionals (ITV, 1977–83) showed hard detectives with a cynical attitude towards rules and authority. This reflected the changing focus of
British policing, which began using rough, tough methods, which it was believed
were the only way to prevent the anarchy into which, for several years in the
mid-1970s, Britain appeared to be descending.
The provocative and challenging Till Death Us Do Part (BBC, 1966–8, 1972,
1974–5) was one of the most controversial ever shown on television. Written by
Johnny Speight and regularly watched in the 1970s by a large audience of some
15 million, it was set in London’s East End and featured intergenerational conflict
over topical issues such as sex, politics and religion. It featured family-man Alf
Garnett, a working-class Tory bigot, who rejected entirely the liberalism, tolerance and progressive social attitudes of the time. Alf was the epitome of political
incorrectness, and regularly delivered abusive, hypocritical tirades against blacks,
Jews, Communists, gays and feminists, at a time when many minority groups
were struggling for recognition and equality. But Speight argued that Alf exposed
many common hypocrisies and prejudices of people in the pubs, factories and
boardrooms of Britain, and in this way he was able to ridicule and shame them.
Afro-Caribbean and Asian immigrants were the frequent target of racial
jokes and clichés, and crude stereotyping was common. It Ain’t Half Hot Mum
(BBC, 1974–81) comically portrayed the British Army cheerfully oppressing
the Indian natives during the last days of the Empire, while Love Thy Neighbour
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(ITV, 1972–6) depicted a white, racially prejudiced, proletarian couple and their
easy-going West Indian neighbours. Yet despite its crudity and racially stereotyped humour, for four years it was among the most popular comedies of its time,
watched by around 20 million viewers in 1975.
The difficulty in accurately representing black characters was that most scriptwriters were white Britons, and their attempts to write about non-whites in
sitcoms such as The Fosters (ITV, 1976–7) were frequently criticised as unrepresentative and stereotyped. This was the first sitcom to have an entirely black
cast, but the authors claimed that they needed to write in this way to attract the
public, because more accurate, critically praised series such as Empire Road (BBC,
1978–9), written by West Indian writer Michael Abbensetts for a black cast, were
not popular with white audiences.
Costume dramas were consistently popular. In a time of political turbulence,
nostalgic and reassuring visions of a stable, ordered society with royalty at its
head attracted large audiences, such as The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth (BBC,
1970), Elizabeth R (BBC, 1971) and Edward VII (ITV, 1975). Other series, such
as Upstairs Downstairs (ITV, 1971–5), about an upper-class Edwardian household
and its servants, seemed to offer a template of a lost era of a class-ridden society
in which everyone knew their station and was content with their lot. Other new
series about the Second World War, such as Manhunt (ITV, 1970), Family at War
(ITV, 1970–2), Colditz (BBC, 1972–4), Secret Army (BBC, 1977–9 and Enemy at
the Door (ITV, 1978–80) showed strength and solidarity in the face of adversity, a
familiar, reassuring and inspirational theme to those on both sides of the political
divide during the strikes and industrial confrontations of the 1970s.
In spite of the strife that characterised the decade, for some it was also a time
of consumerism and social aspiration. Earlier sitcoms had depicted the tensions
between those who embraced aspiration, and those who were cynical about
change, for example Steptoe and Son (BBC, 1962–5, 1970, 1972, 1974) and The
Likely Lads (BBC, 1964–6, 1973–4). But one of the sharpest representations of
the lifestyle, attitudes, values and tastes of a new, suburban, consumer class was
Mike Leigh’s black comedy Abigail’s Party (1977).
Abigail’s Party is set in Essex suburbia, an area where many families from London’s East End relocated in the 1950s and 1960s. Neighbours of different social
backgrounds gather in Beverly’s living room for a drinks party, and chat uncomfortably with Beverly, a former department store cosmetics representative, and
her husband, an estate agent. In the course of the evening, everyone’s competitiveness, petty jealousies and prejudices are gradually disclosed to the viewer.
This is mostly through the expensive but vulgar tastes of the main protagonists,
especially Beverly, who is presented as a strong, competitive, consumerist but
unintellectual woman. Such a depiction was a revelation in drama of the time,
as female lead characters in films and plays had previously been cast as ‘superior’
upper-class women, or proletarian, ‘kitchen-sink’ characters. Yet with Beverly,
a new, emergent social variety is introduced, the product of increased levels of
affluence and a loosening of traditional gender roles in Britain of the mid-1970s.
In class-conscious Britain the play hit a national nerve and became one of the
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best-known TV dramas ever made, with its screen portrayal of aspirational female
bourgeoisie, a significant new demographic that would help elect the next Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
The 1980s: television and Thatcherism
The conflict and economic mismanagement of the mid–late 1970s made the
British public long for a return to the familiar certainties of the past, and for
a country which had a significant role in the world. The simplicity of the Tory
party’s free-market solutions, led by a direct and firm woman prime minister, was
attractive to the British public, and helped secure an election victory for Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party in 1979. It was a time of uncertainty and
change, in which the monarchy was still respected as Britain’s most prestigious
institution. This reached a peak in 1981 with the royal wedding of Prince Charles
to Lady Diana Spencer, which had an estimated worldwide television audience of
500 million, a broadcasting record at the time.
In television, the trends of the period were most notably reflected in dramas,
crime series, soap and satire. Tradition, deference to authority and nostalgia were
firmly in vogue, and a growing number of programmes reflected public interest
in history, royalty and upper-class living. Some of the most successful were drama
series adapted from classic novels to re-create the atmosphere and settings of an
age of elegance, where everyone was happy and knew their place in society. They
provided an encyclopaedia of period style, capturing audiences’ attention both in
Britain and abroad. Epitomising the trend was Brideshead Revisited (ITV, 1981),
dramatised by John Mortimer from Evelyn Waugh’s novel and starring Jeremy
Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick, John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier.
However, the economic policies during the first term of the Conservative government resulted in the economy plunging into recession. The social costs of
long-term unemployment were sharply reflected in Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from
the Blackstuff (BBC, 1982). The realist series was set in Liverpool and showed
the indignity of unemployment in a tragicomic style, a nostalgic farewell to male
working-class culture in a drama that was among the most critically admired of
the decade. Cold War and government secrecy over nuclear defence were themes
explored in Troy Kennedy-Martin’s short series Edge of Darkness (1985). The
story dealt with a police detective who investigates the murder of his daughter,
a Green Party activist. But the drama also addresses wider issues connected with
environmental exploitation and the dangers of nuclear weapons, issues that had
become of increasing public concern during heightened tension between East
and West at the beginning of the decade.
Numerous documentaries such as BBC’s Panorama continued to examine critically the government’s policies on major issues, such as the destruction of the coal,
steel and manufacturing industries, the local communities that had depended on
them, the war with Argentina in 1982 and the riots in many British cities. Previously, there had been a tradition of freedom to criticise the government of the
time, which had always been honoured. But in the 1980s, Mrs Thatcher tried on
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several occasions to silence the press. There was even an unsuccessful attempt
to silence the satirical tone of What the Papers Say, followed by an attempt to
ban Secret Society (BBC, 1987), which the journalist Duncan Campbell made
about political and military secrecy. Two of the six programmes were initially
withdrawn due to political pressure from the government: one relating to a secret
military satellite named ‘Zircon’, the other to allegations of ‘dirty tricks’ by the
government during an election. This provoked a public controversy as the government had no legal right to ban programmes in this way. However, one of the
programmes was finally shown at a later date. It seemed the Conservative government expected unquestioning support from the national broadcasting media,
and had already prevented spokesmen for the Irish Republican organisation Sinn
Fein from speaking normally on television – their words had to be dubbed by
actors, in the belief that if viewers heard their original voices, they could be persuaded to support the Republican movement.
Soap and satire
Several new soap operas appeared that were socially engaged and were praised
by critics for their authenticity. Brookside (Channel 4, 1982–2003) was set in
Liverpool and was the first ‘soap’ to deal with major social issues of unemployment and crime, as well as newer ones of AIDS and homosexuality. Another
significant arrival was EastEnders (BBC, 1985–). It was created by Tony Holland
and Julia Smith, and is set in Albert Square, in the fictitious borough of Walford,
in London’s East End. The series became highly popular, and 30 years later is able
to rival Coronation Street in the ratings, with its gritty social realism and unsentimental storylines.
Although many issues of the 1970s had found expression in sitcoms, by the
1980s the genre had largely lost its critical edge. Families and family lives were
becoming more diverse and less stereotypical, and therefore harder to caricature
for a mass audience, and cosy suburban ones, such as Terry and June (BBC, 1979–
87) became increasingly anachronistic. Others, by black and Asian scriptwriters for Britain’s ethnic minorities, for example Farrukh Dhondy and Mustapha
Matura’s No Problem (Channel 4 and LWT, 1983–5) and the later Tandoori Nights
(Channel 4, 1984, 1987) were strongly criticised for producing ethnic stereotypes, and for their failure to represent any of the contemporary problems faced
by black British youth. However, other critics argued that sitcoms could not and
should not do this, as their purpose was simply to offer light entertainment to a
mass audience.
The 1980s delivered an ample amount of light entertainment in the form of
satire. It was a rich and creative time, most notably in the cruel mimicry of the
grotesquely funny, animated puppets of Spitting Image (ITV, 1984–96) in which
politicians and other public figures were mercilessly lampooned in sketches not
unlike Punch and Judy theatre. Other series, such as The New Statesman (ITV,
1987), Yes, Minister (BBC, 1980–2) and Yes, Prime Minister (BBC, 1986–8) similarly exposed comical attempts by officials to manipulate the democratic process
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to gain power and prestige in Westminster and Whitehall. It is sometimes said
that such shows can influence how people vote; however, in 1987 political satire
was allowed on television in the pre-election period for the first time since 1964.
And in spite of series such as Yes, Prime Minister, and the new ‘alternative’ comedy on television, the Conservatives still won the election with another huge
majority.
Crime series
Crime has always been a popular genre with British audiences, and in the 1980s
there was renewed interest as crime rates increased, and it was frequently argued
that a strong, sometimes violent police force was needed to maintain law and
order. But, it was also becoming clear that with deep cuts in public spending,
high levels of unemployment, drug addiction and racial discrimination, ordinary
men and women sometimes found themselves in marginal situations where the
law was often broken unwillingly, and sometimes through necessity. These complex and often contradictory scenarios were reflected for the first time in several
realist crime series such as The Bill (ITV, 1984–2010), set in the imaginary area
of Sun Hill in London’s East End. It is a realistic, character-driven series, which
takes a less judgemental attitude to criminal behaviour. Although it was initially
criticised for sometimes showing officers of the law as liars, cheats and bullies, it
was also regularly praised for its realistic representation of contemporary crime,
and police procedure. However, depictions of ethnic minorities in other crime
series were less well-received. Despite some original casting of Asian and black
characters as policemen, such as in Wolcott (ITV, 1981) and The Chinese Detective
(BBC1, 1981–2), many critics said they were unrealistic and unrepresentative,
and heavily dependent on stereotypical imagery.
Following the equality gained in law during the 1960s and 1970s, by the 1980s
more and more women were entering traditional, male-dominated occupations,
such as the police force. These changes were reflected in the crime series Juliet
Bravo (BBC, 1980–5) with its casting of Kate Longton as Inspector Jean Darblay, who is in charge of a provincial police station. Central to the series was
her fight not only against crime, but also against the personal and professional
pressures of being a woman in a macho, sexist profession. A similar context was
also explored in The Gentle Touch (ITV, 1980–4) and most notably in Prime
Suspect (ITV, 1991–), the latter featuring Helen Mirren as Jane Tennyson, a
tenacious, intelligent detective who leads murder investigations while also having to deal with an arrogant and corrupt police force. The series was written
by Lynda La Plante, who worked closely with London’s Metropolitan Police in
order to understand the pressures on a woman with a high-profile role in a maledominated profession. The drama won praise from the public and critics for the
portrayal not of a strong woman who behaves like a man, but of a woman who,
despite being confused and disorganised, still manages to do her job well. It also
shows how, for many working women, the work–life balance and ‘having it all’
are shown to be a farce.
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The 1990s: competition and commerce
The Conservative government was committed to exposing all areas of the economy to free-market forces, and British television became fully exposed for the
first time. In 1991 the Broadcasting Act was introduced. For many years BBC and
ITV had made all their programmes ‘in house’ but under the terms of the new
Act, 25 per cent had to be commissioned from separate, independent programmemakers who sold them to the major broadcasters. To ensure local interests were
met, a committee was appointed to ensure that a broad selection of television and
radio programmes was broadcast in Gaelic in Scotland, while other local stations
were encouraged to serve ethnic minorities, for example by broadcasting in the
language of the community.
Nationally, Britain had its first new channel since Channel 4 in 1982, when
Channel 5 began broadcasting a complete service of news, sport and light entertainment in 1997. The following year, digital television was introduced, providing access to many more channels.
Broadcasting in Britain was becoming more liberated, but it was also becoming more privatised, with a growing number of satellite TV channels that were
only available through subscription. One effect was the increasing power of the
satellite broadcasters to influence national sport, for example when BSkyB paid
£304 million for the rights to show Premiership football. This meant that live
league games could only be seen by those subscribing to the service, a commercial arrangement that is still in place. It also meant that there was a growing
amount of money flowing to Premiership clubs from BSkyB, which has generated
higher salaries for footballers, and some of the best players in the world playing
in England. However, it has also resulted in massive debts for clubs, and fewer
opportunities for English players which, it is argued, has been to the detriment of
the national game.
Popular genres
Crime series continued to provide some of the most diverse, original and highly
praised shows. Formats evolved, and elements of many earlier series such as violence and car chases were unfashionable and rarely seen, as audiences looked
more for escapism. The character-driven ‘whodunit’ crime mystery re-emerged,
with a greater exploration of what motivates the police and villains to act as
they do.
Several were located in genteel, rural locations. Sets were lavishly constructed
and often resembled advertisements for stylish country living, as programmemakers recognised their attraction not only to home audiences, but also to highly
profitable overseas ones, who were fascinated by British country living. The
most successful is Midsomer Murders (1997–), the creation of crime writer Caroline Graham, on whose books the early episodes are based. In the series, Chief
Inspector Barnaby and his assistant work in Midsomer, a beautiful area of English
countryside (filmed mainly around the counties around London) that provides a
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setting of fêtes, cricket, cream teas and ideal country homes. Part of the show’s
appeal is its emphasis on the country institutions, and rituals of country life,
which often present a rose-tinted England of the imagination. However, behind
the orderly façade in which everyone apparently ‘knows their place’, there are
characters found in the traditional ‘whodunit’ story, such as pathological spinsters and homosexual vicars, whose greed, jealousy and ancient local rivalry frequently result in decapitations, burning alive, drugs and incest, in a litany of
crimes to rival the worst urban areas. The incongruity of the violence contrasted
with the civilised gentility is another aspect of the series’ appeal, and by the end
of the 13th series in 2011, there had been 251 deaths and 222 murders. Despite
its improbable premise, it is one of the most exported of British TV series, having
been sold to over 200 countries, illustrating the possibility of making series that
were popular not just with the British public, but with overseas ones too.
By the mid-1990s, programmes depicting different cultures and ways of living
were gradually becoming less marginal and more mainstream in society. At the
same time, they also became acceptable material for satire. Goodness Gracious
Me (BBC, 1996–8) was an Asian radio show composed of humorous sketches. It
then transferred to BBC television (1998–2001) where, unlike the earlier Asian
comedy Tandoori Nights, it began to compete with shows intended for a white
audience. Similarly, the progress made during the 1970s and 1980s in the area
of gender issues had also led to an increased public understanding and acceptance, which led to greater expression on the small screen. Out (BBC, 1996)
was a weekly information and news programme for gay men and women, and
three years later the first gay drama series Queer as Folk (Channel 4, 1999–2000)
arrived, with its depiction of gay life in urban Manchester of the 1990s.
2000–present: reality rules
The twenty-first century saw a further expansion in the quantity of available
channels. Competition was intensifying, and although some sections of the public welcomed the new choices, others were concerned about the growing number
of populist programmes, and a lowering of broadcasting standards in the struggle
to win audiences. There was also public concern about the broadcast media being
concentrated in the hands of only a few providers, and the implications this had
for news bias and free speech. With this in mind, the 2003 Communications
Act was introduced, along with the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which
licenses independent television and radio services, and monitors standards. An
important new element of the 2003 Act is that no individual or organisation
who controls more than 20 per cent of the national newspaper market can hold
a broadcasting licence, or hold a stake of over 20 per cent in any Independent
Television service. Similarly, an individual or organisation with an ITV licence
may not hold more than 20 per cent of the local or regional newspaper market in
the same region. The BBC was not affected by the 2003 Act, since the separate,
public service obligations of the BBC continued to be managed by its Board of
Governors.
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Economically, the period stands out as one of boom and spectacular bust. From
the mid-1990s until 2008, Britain had enjoyed a period of prosperity, marked by
a stable economy of low inflation and low unemployment. This came to a sudden end with the economic crisis of 2007–8, and the ‘bust’ which followed. It led
to high levels of unemployment, bankruptcy and debt, and also a crisis of trust
in the banks, Parliament, and later the media, police and other organisations.
Overseas, there had been British involvement in major wars in Libya, Iraq and
Afghanistan. Yet, in contrast with previous decades, drama struggled to maintain
its ability to reflect social concerns and tensions.
Drama’s gradual disconnect is likely to be due to a number of reasons. First,
increased competition among programme makers means a show is less likely to
be made if it cannot secure a big audience at home, or be sold abroad to earn
additional profits. Therefore, programmes likely to be of interest only to relatively
small audiences in Britain are less likely to be commissioned. This also means
there is also less risk taking on new shows. Second, many issues and tensions that
had once inspired dramatists have diminished in importance. For example, dramas about gender issues are no longer seen as marginal, and now compete with
mainstream programmes. Third, British society has become more diverse and fragmented, characterised by a wide range of different lifestyles, attitudes and values. This makes it more difficult to depict and dramatise a particular way of life
that most people are familiar with. Lastly, since the mid-1990s the population has
become more individualist and consumerist, and programmes that emphasise how
to shop, spend and show off have been shown in research to be reliably popular
with audiences.
‘This is my life’: the rise of factual entertainment
One of the earliest British documentary series following the lives of ordinary
people was in 1964 when the ITV series 7-Up interviewed 14 children who were
subsequently interviewed every seven years about the different periods of their
lives. In 1974 a BBC series The Family showed the daily lives and routines of an
ordinary family. Since then, various shows have sought to reveal ordinary life
in front of the camera, with only mild public and academic interest. However,
in the early 2000s, ‘reality TV’ became one of the most popular genres, and the
number of formats expanded to produce several different kinds of show. These
generally feature situations without scripts and authentic behaviour, often by
ordinary members of the public, although the genre is a wide one with many different programme types.
The most commonplace were themed around consumer and lifestyle issues.
Shows about homes, clothes and food such as Changing Rooms, (BBC1/BBC2,
1996–2004), What Not To Wear (BBC1/BBC2, 2001–7) and numerous cookery
shows by ‘celebrity’ chefs Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay
and others informed the viewer how to aspire, and how to aspire better. Some
shows successfully mixed the format with other aspects of TV entertainment,
such as challenges, chat and stunts, for example Top Gear (BBC1, 2002–), which
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is currently the world’s most widely viewed factual television programme, with
broadcasts in 170 countries finding around 350 million viewers per week.
The appeal of the new shows has been frequently analysed, and research suggests it often lies in the ways they help people to express themselves and shape
their identities. Personal identity is increasingly self-determined, and for many
it is partly achieved through the consumption of goods; that is, people make
statements about themselves through the things they buy. Products, especially
personal ones such as clothes, food and the home, are bought to express identity through the lifestyle associated with them. In this way, in the consumerist
and competitive Britain of the early 2000s, brands were increasingly used as
‘badges’ of identity. The popularity of such shows can be explained in terms
of their role as a ‘style guide’ to a confusing world of product choices for aspirational consumers seeking to express themselves through their purchases, a
project facilitated by a ‘jacuzzi’ of instant credit, made available by the British
banks at that time.
A different kind of reality show to enjoy sudden and enduring popularity is
one in which non-actors are filmed interacting with each other over time, in an
artificial environment. These attract contestants with a strong desire to appear
on television and be ‘famous’, but little or no natural talent. The most successful
is Big Brother which originated in Holland. Twelve participants are chosen from
some 5,000 applicants who send videos of themselves to appear on the show. The
participants live together for nine weeks in a specially constructed house, where
hidden cameras film everything for 24 hours a day, the highlights being shown to
viewers every night. The show’s producers, known as ‘Big Brother’, set them tasks
and provide rewards and punishments, creating stressful situations in contests
that last for weeks. Every week, the ‘housemates’ nominate two residents for eviction, and viewers vote to decide. The last surviving member wins a substantial
cash prize, and a brief moment of fame as a minor celebrity.
Big Brother first appeared in Britain in 2000, and on occasions has attracted
more than ten million viewers – a big audience in the world of multi-channel,
digital entertainments. Its popularity has led to various spin-offs, such as Celebrity
Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! However, the shows are controversial, being immensely popular with young viewers, but highly unpopular
with critics, who claim they are voyeuristic and further proof of a ‘dumbing down’
of television standards. They argue the ‘reality’ is not as real as the programmemakers say; it is contrived, and the protagonists are not ordinary members of the
public, but attention-seeking, sub-normal exhibitionists with a desperate need to
appear on television and become famous. In recent years the public has tired of
the show, and audience numbers have fallen. But the format of watching people
perform, struggle and fail in a stressful context remains a popular one, and reality
shows remain a significant genre in British television.
Several reasons have been put forward to explain the popularity of such shows.
For the programme makers in a time of growing commercial pressures, the shows
are cheap to make. They are unscripted, and there are usually no celebrity fees
to pay. The technology is also available to quickly edit hundreds of hours of film
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into a short concise programme of highlights each week. Until 1989 this had not
been available, making the process slow, laborious and expensive.
For the viewers, part of the programmes’ attraction is their interactive nature,
which provides a free, communal experience in an increasingly fragmented, individualised society, as many shows have their own websites which allow voting and
interactivity with the contestants and other viewers. But others argue the main
reason for their popularity is their depiction of sudden fame. By doing almost
nothing, show contestants with no special qualifications or abilities gain status,
a sense of importance and the admiration of millions almost overnight, through
the attention they receive from the media. In a society increasingly fascinated by
fame and seduced by celebrity, this is a powerful fantasy, which can be enjoyed
vicariously. One study found the show is most watched and liked by those with a
strong need to feel admired and envied by others.
New formats
Creative new formats characterised other genres of programme-making. In crime
and detective series, Life on Mars (BBC1, 2006–7) and Ashes to Ashes (BBC1,
2008–10) won many prestigious awards with their hallmark of unreality, as both
series involved the improbable combination of a police procedural series and
time travel. Life on Mars featured an officer from the Manchester police who, following a road accident, travels back in time to 1973, where he resumes his career
with the same force, but in a much more brutal and unreformed context. Ashes to
Ashes followed a similar premise, in which policewoman Alex Drake from London’s Metropolitan Police is shot in 2008, and inexplicably regains consciousness
in 1981. Both series take their titles from songs by David Bowie, which were hits
in the years when the series are set. Music features prominently, together with
clothes, décor, cars and street scenes along with the political incorrectness of the
period, to effectively capture the atmosphere of Britain of the time.
The series were acclaimed as the most original police series since the 1970s,
winning several BAFTAS and other international awards, and producing four
volumes of spin-off novels in 2012 and 2013. The series was also successful overseas, finding audiences in many countries. Spain and Russia even made their own
versions; the former involving time travel from 2009 back to the Madrid of 1977,
soon after the death of General Franco; the latter involving travel from 2009 to
Moscow of 1979 during the Communist era of Leonid Brezhnev.
New formats were especially notable in comedy. In recent years chat shows had
become little more than publicity opportunities for celebrity guests to promote
their latest book or film, until new ones appeared, such as I’m Alan Partridge, Dame
Edna Everidge and Mrs Merton, which broke with the conventions of prepared
questions and deference, and to the delight of audiences piled on the indignity
on their (usually) willing guests, in orgies of self-deprecation. The Kumars at No.
42 (BBC, 2001–4) was particularly notable in this respect. The Kumars are presented as an average, moderately affluent Indian family living in suburban north
London, except for the studio behind their house where they host their own chat
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show. The son Sanjeev and other family members interview their celebrity guests
in a mixture of scripted dialogue and improvised humour. The actress and comedy writer Meera Syal was instrumental in the creating, writing and performing of
this innovative series, and has helped to make Asian humour more accessible to
a mainstream audience. The Kumars has also been copied abroad; the Australian
version features a Greek family, the German version a Turkish family, the Israeli
version a Moroccan Jewish family and a Dutch version a Surinamese family.
Innovative new formats also spread to children’s programmes, on the awardwinning BBC channels CBeebies (for children aged six and under) and CBBC for
those aged six to 12. Variety or talent shows are a traditional favourite, in which
jugglers, mime artists, magicians and others perform to entertain screaming crowds.
However, this dated format was reinvented with The Slammer (CBBC, 2006–).
The show’s name is slang for ‘prison’, and in this particular slammer, the ‘prisoners’ are performers of variety acts, who have been sent to jail for criminally poor
performances. In the show, which is set inside the jail, they perform again to a live
audience of children, who then decide which one should be released. The prison
governor acts as master of ceremonies, while the guards look on and keep order.
Uniquely British in style and substance, its prospects of export appear limited.
Office comedy
The workplace has emerged as a new context for comedy. Since the 1980s manufacturing in Britain has been in steady decline, and today many people work
in offices. In recent years these have changed from relatively benign, informal
places to highly organised ones, controlled by a newly emergent managerial class,
keen to impose fashionable new ways of working in the name of greater efficiency.
These usually involve open-plan surroundings, computerised communications,
and rational procedures and practices which cover all manner of office functions.
These are supposedly to motivate employees, and enable them to realise their
ambitions and ‘live the dream’. Yet, so often the reality fails to match the rhetoric, and results in frustration, inefficiency and disharmony. Almost all areas of
employment have been affected, from hospitals and universities to the police and
local authorities, as well as numerous private organisations.
Comedy writers realised the comic potential of an office-based sitcom, which
focused on the more extreme aspects of managerialism practised by inept middlemanagers, and produced some memorable series that captured the reality of life in
many British offices. Examples included Twenty-Twelve (BBC Four, 2011) about the
preparations for the Olympic Games, and W1A (BBC2, 2014) about the BBC, featuring the new ‘Head of Values’ whose mission is to ‘clarify, define or redefine the
core purpose of the BBC and position it confidently to face the future’. Even the
Church of England was not immune; in stories set in multicultural inner-city London, the hapless protagonist in Rev (BBC2, 2010–14) was regularly embarrassed and
frustrated in stories of self-importance, defeated ambition and performance management in a realistic but tragic reminder that the managerial practices prevalent in so
many areas of the workplace had come to affect even the house of God.
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The Office
The most popular and critically acclaimed comedy of recent years is The
Office
e (BBC Two, 2001–3). Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the series follows the working lives of staff in the offices of
the Wernham-Hogg Paper Company ‘where life is stationery’ in Slough, a
light industrial town renowned for being bland and featureless. Gervais stars
as the main character, David Brent. As the office manager Brent is middle
everything; middle-management, middle-England and middle-aged. He is a
dull, company man, an expert in management-speak and self-delusion. He
makes frequent attempts to curry favour with his employees, usually with
embarrassing results, often due to his unconscious racism and sexism.
The sitcom is fictional and scripted, but takes the form of a ‘mockumentary’, in which the interaction and performances appear spontaneous and
natural. This parodies the traditional format of a documentary to comic effect.
A film crew follows Brent and his colleagues around the office, discussing their daily business in episodes which are mainly character driven,
and involve Brent, his assistant Gareth Keenan, sales representative Tim
Canterbury and receptionist Dawn Tinsley, each cast as an administrative
‘everyman’.
Only 14 episodes were made, yet in 2004 the series won two Golden
Globes for Best TV Comedy and Best Performance by an Actor in a TV
Series. It has also won numerous BAFTAs and British Comedy Awards, and
has been exported to over 80 countries.
Regarding its appeal, it has been observed that the countries where it
was most popular are those in which capitalism and the Anglo-Saxon work
ethic are taken most seriously, Britain and America. In those countries the
series was successful because it showed through satire that office life and
managerialism as it is practised in Britain and the USA, the hierarchies,
management-speak and performance indicators that accompany it, have
exactly the opposite effect to what they are supposed to achieve; they are
intrinsically demotivating and dehumanising, as are the asinine politics that
frequently accompany it. But in other countries and cultures where the work
ethic is less well established, this is all common knowledge, so to those
people the series said nothing new.
Other popular genres
In contrast to the innovative new shows, several other popular series were resolutely conventional, using tried and tested formats. In a time of economic crisis and recession, costume dramas such as Cranford (BBC1, 2007), The Tudors
(BBC2, 2007–10), Lark Rise to Candleford (BBC1, 2008–11) and Downton
Abbey (ITV, 2010–), offered viewers a return to the comforting certainties of
the past, yet often showed the ruling class beset by problems and tragedy. Downton Abbey was the most successful. The series is set in Yorkshire between 1914
and 1923, where the aristocratic Crawley family, headed by Lord Grantham, is
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stoically living through the turbulence of war, death, political corruption, the
family home in jeopardy due to bad investments and, inevitably, controversial
romances. But, despite being taken to the limits of endurance by a series of
challenges, the orderly household endures all with a stiff upper lip, keeping
calm and carrying on in circumstances not unlike those that affected many
British people post-2008. The central themes of class and snobbery between
rulers and ruled also play well with British audiences, and the series is among
the most popular of its time, with audiences of over ten million viewers. It was
also widely exported and won many prestigious awards at home and overseas,
to become acclaimed as the most successful British costume drama series since
Brideshead Revisited in 1981.
In complete contrast to the traditional values expressed in costume dramas was
the modernity of programmes containing depictions of homosexuality. By the
‘noughties’, these were becoming more mainstream. The first time a kiss between
gay men was shown on TV was in the soap opera Eastenders in 1987, which was
received with public outrage. But, other popular soaps gradually began running
storylines about gay characters, and by the early 2000s, programme genres dealing with LGBT issues had expanded to include dramas, comedy and sitcoms. For
example, Little Britain (BBC1, 2003–2006), Grandma’s House (BBC2, 2010–12),
Heading Out (BBC2, 2013) and Vicious (ITV, 2013) all confidently featured
homosexual protagonists, demonstrating that issues affecting gay men and
women could find large audiences among the general public in prime-time shows.
Into the future
Since 1990, TV production has changed from being small and British to being
big and global. There are more channels and more programmes than ever before
and steadily increasing competition for viewers’ attention. In the twenty-first
century this has become more intense. For a programme to be commissioned, it
often needs to be attractive to overseas audiences, as this helps ensure profitability. However, many of the most popular shows are those with a uniquely British
appeal, such as soap operas, sitcoms and documentaries. These are rarely exportable, and an unprotected commercial free-for-all may result in fewer being made,
or their cancellation.
Technology is also creating new issues for broadcasters. The ability to order
and download TV on demand also means the broadcasting schedules may soon
be redundant, as TV becomes a branch of online retail. Another implication is
that data-fields can be compiled by media companies, in order to tailor content to
viewing preferences, instead of programme content being aligned to advertising,
as it was previously. However, subscribing to TV online involves the monitoring
of who is watching what, and for how long, and at present the British public is
wary of allowing corporate organisations to obtain this kind of information.
The abundance of free programmes and TV on demand puts the BBC under
pressure. The Corporation currently receives around £3.7 billion each year from a
TV licence fee that must be purchased by the each household. However, a future
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generation raised on free music, news, videos, phone calls and so on may not in
future agree with being compelled to pay for TV. Thus, the BBC is constantly
examined for its handling of cultural matters, its financial affairs, and standards of
taste and decency. This was recently demonstrated with the scandals over excessively high fees paid to its top presenters such as Jonathan Ross, and the sex
offences committed by former employees such as Jimmy Savile.
The private sector dislikes the BBC, as it makes business harder for them. Independent broadcasters have to raise their standards in order to compete with it.
However, there is no other country where free-market broadcasting has produced
better TV, radio and online content. Nevertheless, decisions about what to watch
and how do not rest with the television companies but with the viewers, who
now have their fingers on the button.
9
Art, architecture and design
Art
Introduction
Contemporary British art has never enjoyed the same esteem as literature, drama
or music, and public taste has frequently favoured the conventional more than
the innovative and avant-garde. However, art remains a lively topic of discussion,
and many of the most notable works – both traditional and modern – can be
seen in London. The principal collection is held at the National Gallery, which
opened in 1824 and currently holds over 2,000 works of Western painting from
the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. Portraits and photographs of distinguished figures from British history can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery,
which opened in 1856.
The Royal Academy was founded in 1768, and shows both traditional and
contemporary works. It is noted for its Summer Exhibition, which has been held
every year since 1769 without exception, and comprises art works submitted by
the general public and professional artists.
In Scotland, the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Scottish National
Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland hold the three main
collections, and all are situated in Edinburgh, while the National Museum and
Gallery in Cardiff holds many works by Welsh artists. In Northern Ireland, Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre houses exhibitions by local and international
artists.
London is a major centre for progressive and avant-garde art, and the principal
centres for exhibitions by major artists include Tate Modern, the Hayward Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), the Whitechapel Gallery and
Camden Arts Centre among others. Elsewhere in Britain, exhibitions of contemporary work are held in galleries of all the major cities, such as the Lowry in
Salford, the Arnolfini in Bristol and the Sage in Gateshead. Tate galleries have
also opened in Liverpool and St Ives.
The latest contemporary work by new and established artists frequently goes
on show in London’s commercial galleries, where it is sometimes offered for sale.
The largest is the Saatchi Gallery, which opened in 1985. Others include the
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Marlborough, the Lisson, the Chisenhale, Sadie Coles, Victoria Miro, Flowers
East and White Cube. In recent years art collecting has become big business, and
British galleries are regularly visited by wealthy enthusiasts and investors from
around the world.
London is also the home of the most innovative and influential schools. The
Royal College of Art (RCA), the Slade, St Martins College, the Central School
and Goldsmiths College, among others, have helped to develop the work of many
British artists, as well as the University of the Arts, Europe’s largest centre for
education in art and design.
The London location of the principal schools, together with opportunities to
make contacts, show and sell work, promotes the highly centralised nature of
the British art scene and the absence of almost any significant regional movements. However, the independent Arts Councils of England, Scotland, Wales
and Northern Ireland help to fund and develop the visual arts elsewhere in the
UK. They also give financial support to young artists, distributing the income
obtained from Britain’s National Lottery.
The 1950s: art amid ration books
In many traditional British works, the subjects of paintings and sculpture are
usually clear and easy to identify, but from the twentieth century British artists
began to represent images in a more liberated and individual way. In the 1950s
they were strongly influenced by movements taking place in America, where an
avant-garde was established in New York, among European émigrés such as Max
Ernst and Piet Mondrian, who had settled there and begun to teach. Under their
tutelage, a new style emerged that excluded images of people or things. The work
had no subject, apart from its own elements; for example, a block of pure colour
or simply the brush marks on the canvas were the ‘theme’.
Meanwhile, the centre for bohemian and artistic activity in post-war Britain
was not a large metropolitan city, but the small fishing village of St Ives in southwest England, where a local community of artists such as Patrick Heron, Peter
Lanyon, Roger Hilton and William Scott were known as the St Ives School.
They were influenced by the powerful cultural waves coming out of America, and
began representing the village and its landscapes in new, abstract forms. But their
technique was less expressive or visually imaginative, consisting of the application of dark greens, greys and other muted tones, which the group considered to
be the honest and authentic colours of nature.
The abstraction and subjectivity of the new art was free of tradition and ideology. But other British artists of the 1950s developed a realist style, which was
closely associated with the ideas of the new wave of social realism in writing,
theatre and film. The new wave aimed to reveal society and ordinary people; to
represent them frankly and not deceive with fantasy and abstraction. As with
several new movements across the arts of the 1950s and 1960s it was focused not
in London, but in several industrial areas of northern England: Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle.
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The subject matter of the ‘new realism’ often featured familiar, domestic environments, for example bed-sitting accommodation, with a bed, table, stove and
sink, as exemplified in the work of John Bratby. In 1954 the art critic David
Sylvester described the new genre as ‘kitchen sink school’, a term for a type of
social realism that was subsequently used to describe, films such as Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning and the new television soap operas such as Coronation Street.
This was seen as a radical new departure in the arts, and received strong support
from the political left, including the critic and author John Berger, who organised
exhibitions to promote it.
Francis Bacon
Abstract painting and social realism were significant and contrasting
tendencies in British art of the 1950s, the former from the USA, the latter home-grown. But two artists who would make highly significant, original contributions to British art were associated with neither. Francis Bacon
(1909–92) was born in Dublin, but spent most of his life working in London.
When his work was first shown in 1945, few imagined that later he would be
acclaimed as one of the greatest artists of the late twentieth century. He was
not formally trained and did not begin painting until his early 30s. His main
influences were the horrors of the war years, such as the Holocaust and
the atomic bomb. His early work Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a
Crucifixion
n (1944) depicts a crucifixion, but not a Christian one. It is the first
of many disturbing works that suggest menace, hysteria and a darker side to
human nature. It caused outrage when it was first shown in London in 1945.
Bacon enjoyed socialising in and around London’s Soho, and was openly
gay in times when it was socially unacceptable in Britain. His later work
showed a fascination with the movement of the human body in paintings
featuring friends, lovers and sometimes himself. There are frequent suggestions of inner torment and violence: men in suits sit formally, their blurred
heads looking deformed and mutilated. Naked figures couple chaotically
on beds. Popes are shown isolated and shouting madly. Other pictures use
strong, emphatic brush-work to represent bottles, glasses, toilets and sinks,
in a type of distorted realism, from which figures struggle to escape.
Critical opinion frequently describes his works as disturbing, depraved,
intense, cathartic, realistic, austere and occasionally ridiculous, which led
Margaret Thatcher to describe him as ‘That man who paints those dreadful
pictures’. He had several imitators, but no descendants or pupils. However,
his originality and style have made his works some of the most highly praised
in modern British art. In 2013 his work Three Studies of Lucian Freud
d raised
$142,405,000, the highest price ever realised for an art work at auction.
Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud (1922–2011) is widely recognised as one of Britain’s greatest
modern painters. The grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, Lucian
was born in Berlin, and as Jews his family fled to Britain in 1933 as refugees
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from Nazism. He studied briefly at the Central School of Art in London, then
he served as a merchant seaman. Between 1948 and 1958 he taught at
Slade School of Art, then was visiting assistant at Norwich School of Art in
1964–5.
In 1951 his Interior at Paddington
n won a prize at the Festival of Britain,
but he became well known for his portraits and figure paintings, his subjects
often being the people in his life: friends, lovers, children, family and fellow
painters such as Bacon, Hockney, Auerbach, and his assistant David Dawson. He is often described as a realist, making sharp, objective accounts of
his subjects, which record every detail of their physical presence.
His paintings are often described as ugly, severe and unforgiving. In a
world of ‘kitchen sink’ gloom, he is said to draw not only what he sees, but
what he feels about his subjects. As he has said, ‘I paint people not because
of what they are like, but how they happen to be.’ Colour is secondary to
the mood of his paintings, which predominates. Key works include Girl with
Rosess (1948), Girl with a White Dog
g (1951), Naked Girl Asleep
p (1968),
Reflection
n (a self-portrait) (1985) and Garden, Notting Hill Gate
e (1997).
In later years Freud’s range of subject matter became wider. In 2004 he
turned his attention to the highly specialised area of horses’ backsides with
Skewbald Mare
e. Other new paintings ranged from a postcard-size picture of
some eggs, to a giant canvas of his friend Andrew Parker-Bowles, resplendent in the uniform of the Queen’s Household Cavalry. Two years earlier he
painted a picture of the model Kate Moss pregnant and naked, which was
sold for almost £4 million in 2005.
Although their art was often pessimistic, Freud and Bacon both enjoyed
flamboyant bohemian lifestyles of heavy drinking and gambling, keeping
company with aristocratic women and criminal gangs. Until they disagreed
in the 1970s, the two were great friends and occasionally painted portraits
of each other. Many critics believe Freud and Bacon to be among the greatest British painters, not only for their unusual abilities, but also because
they have ignored dominant movements and influences. Instead, theirs are
realistic, intense representations of the human figure in which subjects are
shown as ultimately sad, alone and vulnerable.
Pop goes the easel: British pop art
America continued to have a powerful influence on cultural and artistic life in
Britain of the mid-1950s. At the ICA in London, a number of writers and artists
were inspired by the populist, commercial nature of American culture and mass
media. They were known as the Independent Group and included the painter
Richard Hamilton, the historian Reyner Banham and the painter and sculptor
Eduardo Paolozzi. In 1954 British art critic Lawrence Alloway used the term ‘pop’
(abbreviated from ‘popular’) to define the Independent Group’s interests.
In an exhibition, This is Tomorrow, at London’s Whitechapel Gallery in 1956,
Hamilton showed his work Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so
appealing? It was an important moment in British art, when the first significant
‘pop’ picture received public exposure. Composed of a variety of images reflecting
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aspects of pop culture, the picture focuses on the fantastic images of the world
of advertisements and mass communications, which are united in a satirical collage. Together they express leisure, pleasure, excitement and consumption, in an
intoxicating distillation of American commercial culture, the very antithesis of
rain, ration books and spam sandwiches of post-war Britain.
In 1957 Hamilton defined pop as follows: ‘Pop Art is: Popular (designed for
a mass audience), Transient (short term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky,
Glamorous, Big Business.’ Its influence grew quickly and soon afterwards many
other artists began creating pop art, such as Peter Blake, Joe Tilson and Richard
Smith. Pop imagery was loud, bright and vulgar, and used clichés from the new
mass media of advertising and television. They included stars of film and pop, for
example ‘pin-ups’ such as Marilyn Monroe, advertisements for consumer products such as Coca-Cola, the design of juke-boxes, and the styling of large American cars whose futuristic sleek bodies and chrome-laden wings inspired by space
travel resembled comic-book creations.
Pop art quickly became fashionable and popular at a time when pop music was
becoming established. The tenor of the times was diverse, experimental, liberated
and hedonistic, a spirit which pop art reflected. Its adaptable and highly commercial nature soon took it into other formats such as record packaging. Peter
Blake designed the cover for the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band (1967) and Richard Hamilton designed the band’s follow-up known as the
‘White Album’ (1968), while the Rolling Stones commissioned Andy Warhol to
design several of their record sleeves. Colourful pop art posters became fashionable, and improvements in printing methods made them cheap and abundant.
The extended use of pop art was helped by the development of photography
as a new art form. Compact cameras and fast films allowed informal, natural
photos, which were more spontaneous and revealing than the traditional ‘posed’
styles. These were quickly put to use in fashion and advertising, where Anthony
Armstrong-Jones, Patrick Lichfield, David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Terry
Duffy developed innovative new styles, and showed their work in the new colour
supplements of Sunday newspapers.
In the USA, pop art began to experiment with visual perception, producing
exciting new styles of ‘optical’ or ‘op art’. Bridget Riley became the best-known
British exponent, whose geometrically precise black and white stripes seem to
produce vibrations and rhythms across the canvas. The illusion of movement in
op art became authentic movement in kinetic art, which featured suspended figures moving in currents of warm air, known as ‘mobiles’. Others were motorised,
or responded to the movement of water or the effects of gravity, for example
elaborate fountains and other public sculptures.
By the mid-1960s a generation of pop artists had become established in Britain. But many critics argued that it was not a committed, serious art because
it was superficial and apolitical, describing it as the ‘disinterested presentation of trivia’. Despite their elitist arguments, it became internationally recognised as optimistic, vibrant, accessible, easy to enjoy, and much loved by many
non-specialists.
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David Hockney
Pop art was accessible and appealing, and some artists such as David
Hockney (b. 1937) were attracting the attention of a wider, non-specialised
public. Since his early success with a series of etchings, The Rake’s Progresss, completed while a student, he has become one of the most widely
known and appreciated British artists. Hockney entered the Royal College of
Art in 1959, but unlike many of his RCA contemporaries he did not become
closely associated with any particular school or movement. Instead, Demonstrations of Versatilityy (1962), an early piece, aptly describes his life and
work.
During his career he has painted in a variety of styles. His eclectic influences have found expression in drawing, the design of opera sets, photography, book illustration and fine portrait work, such as his detailed study of
the poet W.H. Auden (1968). He is openly gay, and has explored gay themes
in his work such as We Two Boys Together Clinging
g (1961), named after a
poem by the American poet Walt Whitman.
Some of the most publicly admired works were completed in the late 1960s
when he moved to California and developed an increasingly naturalistic style
of painting. He depicted beach houses, swimming pools, grass and palm
trees in elegant, spacious scenes of pleasure and leisure, for example A Bigger Splash
h (1967), and used bright, sunny colours to create an atmosphere
of comfort, well-being and hedonism. But he did not forget his friends and
family in Yorkshire, and has painted them often, especially his mother Laura.
Many of his paintings have been based on photographic images, for
example Mr and Mrs Clarke and Percy
y (1970–1). He seemed to paint to
please, which made some critics comment that he was too light in attitude
and subject matter. But his way of working has also been marked by innovation and interest in new technology.
In the 1980s he was inspired to make art using the fax machine, inventing a photographic collage by mounting dozens of photographs to make
compound, cubist-looking images of people and places, and staged a major
exhibition of the works in São Paulo, Brazil. But, Hockney is also passionate
about painting and drawing, and has often spoken about the need to return
to basics in order to see more.
In 1987 he established the 1853 Gallery, a converted textile factory in Saltaire, near his home town of Bradford in Yorkshire, which now holds the world’s
largest collection of his work and is open to the public. Later during the early
2000s he began spending more time in his native Yorkshire, living in the seaside village of Bridlington, where he has painted country scenes in the open
air, most notably the trees near the village of Warter in Bigger Trees Near
Warterr, his largest ever work, measuring approximately 4.6m x 12.3m, which
was donated to the Tate Gallery. In contrast, his landscape and portrait work
since then has been done using the ‘Brushes’ application for iPhone and iPad.
His mixture of styles, both traditional and innovative, has made him consistently popular with critics, collectors and the general public. In recent
years Hockney has been the subject of several major retrospectives, as well
as exhibitions of new work, and in 2011 a poll of 1000 British painters and
sculptors declared him Britain’s most influential artist of all time.
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Figure 9.1 A Bigger Splash – one of David Hockney’s best-known works, completed
in 1967.
© David Pearson/Alamy
Sculpture
British painting has been characterised by a number of different movements that
sometimes occurred simultaneously, but sculpture has developed in a relatively
linear way. During the 1930s and 1940s Henry Moore (1898–1986) provided
the main influence with rounded hollows and smooth, tactile surfaces of forms
in stone, bronze or wood. His larger, monumental works were often influenced
by the landscape of his native Yorkshire, while smaller figures often incorporated
influences from around the world, in particular those of pre-Columbian America.
These were often inspired by shapes found in nature and are smooth, rounded
and feminine in style.
Moore’s sensuous style contrasted with ‘geometry of fear’ sculpture, which
appeared after 1945. Its tormented mood was evoked by the horrors of war and
particularly the destructive potential of nuclear weapons. The main exponents
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were Reg Butler and Lynne Chadwick, whose characteristic thin, angular, contorted, expressionist shapes suggest pain, suffering and torment of those affected
by war.
Anthony Caro’s abstract sculptures provided a major progression. Caro had
worked as an assistant to Henry Moore, but in 1963 on returning from America,
he began welding steel shapes together to make flat, abstract forms, imitating
abstract paintings. These were then painted in bright, lively colours, to make the
cold dark metal look animated, graceful and attractive. Brightly coloured works
had not been seen before in sculpture and were referred to as New Generation
work. Gradually, they developed into a style known as Heavy Metal, in which
pieces were cut, twisted and combined into abstract shapes, and then painted.
This was a new development. It emphasised that instead of the traditional materials such as wood or stone, a sculpture could be made of anything. Caro is known
for using steel girders, tubing and steel sheeting in intriguing abstract works,
and in 2005 he held a major retrospective in London, acknowledged as one of
Britain’s finest sculptors.
In the 1980s there was a movement away from the conceptual art of the 1970s
with neo-expressionism, which involved a return to using traditional materials such as carving in stone and marble. New British sculpture was developed
by Tony Cragg, Antony Gormley, Richard Deacon, Anish Kapoor and others.
Kapoor (b. 1954) has lived and worked in Britain since the early 1970s, creating
elegant, complex, sublime works that often suggest aspects of the human form.
Many of Kapoor’s sculptures are huge pieces of rough stone with smooth, highly
polished cavities and interiors, such as Void Field (1989). In contrast, Sky Mirror
(2001), a large reflective dish-like sculpture, is made from strips of stainless steel.
Ghost (1997) is a huge black, rectangular block of granite. The outside has rough
edges, and one face has been hollowed out and polished. Inside, a column of light
hangs in the air like a flaming torch. Holocaust Memorial (1995) was created for
a London synagogue in St John’s Wood. It is a vast rectangular stone block. A
doorway is carved out on one side; in the polished interior a hazy, inverted image
of the viewer hangs in the air. In 2006 he collaborated with Salman Rushdie to
create a sculpture comprising two bronze boxes joined together with red wax and
inscribed around the outside with the first two paragraphs of Rushdie’s text, Blood
Relations – an Interrogation of Arabian Nights. His show at the Royal Academy in
2009 saw 275,000 visitors, and Kapoor has been described as one of the most
influential sculptors of his generation.
Rachel Whiteread (b. 1963) is another Turner Prize winner whose nostalgic,
sentimental works have received international recognition. Her early pieces were
plaster casts of bodies and personal mementos including childhood blankets. She
once said that ‘Many of life’s key experiences happen in bed – being born, sleeping,
dreaming, making love, giving birth, being ill and dying. These are times when
we open up to others or are most alone or vulnerable.’ In 1989 her first exhibition
included several personal pieces such as Shallow Breath, a cast of the space under
the bed in which she was born, which she made two months after her father died.
She later developed interests in architecture, and combined them with sculpture.
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Figure 9.2 Sky Mirror, Nottingham, by Anish Kapoor.
© Nargis Christopher
Ghost (1991) was a cast of the inside of a living room in a small Victorian house,
while House (1993) was a cast of the interior of a complete terraced house that
stood in east London. It was built by preparing a concrete mould inside the house,
and then stripping away the exterior walls. Later work has frequently involved cast
objects, both large and small, often inverting them to create an effect of inversion,
and has included a Holocaust memorial in Vienna, and Monument for Trafalgar
Square, London, one of Britain’s most representative public spaces.
Trafalgar Square was designed in 1832 by Charles Barry ‘to give scope and
artistic character to sculptural work of a high class’. In the past, national heroes
who distinguished themselves in the field of battle, such as Horatio Nelson at
Trafalgar (whose column dominates the square), were given a statue on one of
three plinths there. A fourth plinth remained empty, but today it is dedicated to
different works of modern sculpture, which are changed every 12–18 months.
Rachel Whiteread’s Monument was one of the first to occupy the fourth plinth,
and is a facsimile of the granite plinth on which it stands. From 2005 to 2007
the plinth was occupied by Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant, a statue of a
pregnant disabled artist. As he observes, ‘in the past, heroes such as Nelson conquered the outside world. Now it seems to me that heroes are those (women and
the disabled) who conquer the prejudices of others.’ Since then, the works have
included a model of Nelson’s ship in a bottle, a sculpture of a boy on a rocking
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horse and a cockerel. But the occasion that attracted most public attention was
in 2009 when Anthony Gormley’s One & Other involved 2400 members of the
public who each occupied the plinth for one hour to do anything they wanted, to
the amusement of the public below. Gormley commented:
In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability
and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It’s about people
coming together to do something extraordinary and unpredictable. It could
be tragic but it could also be funny.
Gilbert and George
In contrast to the inanimate sculptures of most British artists are the ‘living
sculptures’ of the duo known as Gilbert and George. In the late 1960s they
began posing as a quaint, formal, serious pair, dressed in collars, ties, oldfashioned grey suits, and with painted hands and faces. They appeared in
strange and sometimes shocking contexts as performance artists. Rather
than make art, they argued they were
e art. Their early pieces suggested
an innocence and comical naivety; for example, in the video-film Gordon’s
Makes Us Drunkk (1972), Gilbert Proesch (b. 1942) and George Passmore
(b. 1943) sit in the front room of their home, gradually getting drunk on gin.
In another performance they became ‘singing sculptures’ repeatedly singing
the traditional music-hall song ‘Underneath the Arches’ until the words and
music became meaningless.
While their earlier pieces had been light and comical, in the 1980s their
works became darker and more challenging. Provocative works addressed
themes of alienation, marginalisation and sexuality with titles such as Prostitute Pufff, Shag Stifff and Wankerr. These were composed of graffiti, photos
and paint, and were collected together for their exhibition Pictures 1982–86.
6
The pair were awarded the Turner Prize in 1986 for Coming,
g a colourful
photo montage in which they are shown looking towards the sky in wonder, as suggestively shaped leaves fall all around. Later works included The
Naked Shit Picturess (1995) in which Gilbert and George appear naked in
large photo montages, surrounded by bodily fluids and substances, lost in a
mixture of theatrical absurdity.
Turbulent, disturbing and demonstrating the confused anger and alienation of the modern city, the couple’s work has attracted controversy and
censure. These comments were echoed in a recent controversial exhibition
Scapegoating Pictures
s (2014), an atheist attack on religion, in which their
distinctive, brightly coloured and often nightmarish montages are littered with
bullet-like nitrous oxide capsules found around their home in London’s Spitalfields. Critics accuse them of pushing their art to the edge, of using shock
tactics, poor taste and pornography. But others claim their art is evocative
of time and place; that it forces the public to think and argue. In the artists’
words, ‘they bring the liberal out of the bigot and the bigot out of the liberal’.
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Bricks and nappies
The 1970s were marked by a fragmentation of styles and the appearance of experimental new works, often described as ‘conceptual’ art. Originating in America, its
development in Britain was largely due to Victor Burgin, who used pictures taken
from advertisements, texts from newspaper reports, maps and other material to create new associations, references and meanings. Others began to experiment in a
similar style, creating adventurous new works with gases, liquids and even bodily
substances. But works could not be easily understood or evaluated by the public, the
critics or potential buyers, who frequently described it as anarchic and self-indulgent.
Similarly with performance art, which took the form of ‘events’ or ‘happenings’,
where routines could be dull and repetitive, requiring considerable public patience.
Many artists became disillusioned, feeling that creative possibilities had
become exhausted. Others felt the art world had become too commercialised,
and that works lacked expression or content. In 1976 disillusionment turned
to anger when the Tate Gallery revealed it had bought Equivalent VIII, a minimalist work by the American sculptor Carl Andre, consisting of 120 fire bricks
arranged on the floor to form a rectangle. At a time of inflation, high unemployment and strikes, there was shock and ridicule in the media that public money
could be spent on something that, it was said, a ‘brickie’s mate’ or labourer could
have done. The press began a witch-hunt of modern artists. A pile of blankets by
Barry Flanagan, Mary Kelly’s dirty nappies exhibited in glass cases and Michael
Craig-Martin’s glass of water called Oak Tree were all lampooned. Cartoonists,
columnists and amateur art critics attacked modern art in general and the Tate in
particular, alleging a shameful waste of public funds. The bricks seemed to touch
a raw nerve of the nation. They entered the popular consciousness, remembered
as a symbol of what modern art should not be.
But there was more to come. In October 1976 a show entitled Prostitution was
held at the ICA in London by a group of artists known as COUM Transmissions. The spirit of punk had been absorbed into art, and exhibits included pornographic magazines mounted and dated in glass display cabinets, a Venus de Milo
plaster figure with a tampon hanging on each arm and a box of live maggots that
evolved into flies. Tabloid newspapers began a hysterical attack on the exhibition and its organisers, creating a sense of public shock and outrage. Questions
were asked in Parliament and the Arts Council was forced publicly to deny any
involvement or funding.
But it was the time of punk, when British society was feeling under threat
on many fronts, particularly from political polarisation and strikes, inflation and
Cold War. The mass media began to focus attention on youth and their culture,
as it was a familiar source of public anxiety, instead of looking more critically at
complex economic and political issues which had no easy solution.
Art of the 1980s
After the fragmentation of the late 1970s, no particular style or school prevailed
and art works became more personal and individual. Abstraction, figurative and
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portrait paintings, social satire, critical realism and feminist painting all found
expression. In Scotland, there were attempts to develop the identity of Scottish art
with several new exhibitions, such as The Vigorous Imagination: New Scottish Art at
the Scottish National Gallery in 1987. The expressionist tradition has always been
strong there, and the work of John Bellany, Ken Currie and Adrian Viszniewski
became more widely known. Working within an expressionist style, they used dark,
melancholic shades that reflected their pessimism over the industrial decline and
effects of Thatcherism, which had led to the loss of heavy industry in Scotland.
One of the most important Scottish artists of the post-war period is Eduardo
Paolozzi. However, during his career he has worked mainly in London, where
during the 1950s and 1960s he was closely associated with pop art. During the
1970s he was widely admired for his small, unusual works in bronze and wood. He
later became Sculptor to the Queen in Scotland, and began creating much larger
public works such as the giant bronze sculptures of hands and feet, which adorn
the streets of his native Edinburgh. In London, his giant figure of Isaac Newton
contemplating the universe sits outside the new British Library building in St
Pancras. Many of his sculptures use recycled scrap metal, and he once described
his work as ‘the metamorphosis of rubbish’. However, earlier in his career he was
well known for his dense collages, which were often inspired by his interest in
pop art, such as the brightly coloured kaleidoscopic figures set in a mosaic on the
walls of Tottenham Court Road Underground station in central London (1984).
The work of several women artists began to receive recognition in the early
1980s. The strong treatment of figures and images is also characteristic of
Portuguese-born Paula Rego. She is widely acclaimed as a sharp observer whose
characters often express clearly defined feminine qualities, such as The Maids
(1987). Pictures are often set in familiar domestic contexts, but the family is
presented as a mixture of both good and evil influences.
Mona Hatoum was born in Lebanon, but has lived in Britain since 1975. She
has experimented with different formats including performance art, video and
installations, which combine elements of sculpture, painting and other materials.
Sonia Boyce is an Afro-Caribbean artist, who became well known for her Lay
Back, Keep Quiet, and Think What Made England Great (1986), which consists
of four panels in which a black female is presented as an English rose, said to
be a metaphor of the black British woman who inherits a history of resistance
and oppression. But in the twenty-first century female black or Asian artists are
few. Critics argue this is because art institutions and artists are overwhelmingly
white, middle class and male, which dissuades those who do not fit the stereotype. Also, it is a very insecure world, and those from ethnic communities contemplating a career in art are often tempted to follow other more secure and
lucrative professions.
YBAs
In the late 1980s British art entered an exciting new phase. Younger artists were
beginning to show work that used materials and processes never seen before.
The public found many of the works and themes shocking and disturbing, which
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generated media attention. Artists began exhibiting together in empty warehouses, instead of looking for gallery owners who would show their work. The
trend began in 1988 with Damien Hirst’s exhibition Freeze held in a London
Docklands warehouse, with work by students at Goldsmiths Art College. Exhibitors included Gary Hume, Michael Landy, Sarah Lucas and others, who attracted
great media interest and attention. They became known as Young British Artists,
and from 1996 the magazine Art Monthly labelled them ‘YBAs’ and effectively
created a label and a brand. It seemed the spirit of punk had crossed into art,
where eclecticism, shock tactics, independence and entrepreneurialism had fused
together to propel new artists into the public consciousness.
The introduction in 1984 of the Turner Prize helped raise the profile of new
artists. It publicises the work of the four shortlisted candidates who have most
impressed the jury of art patrons, critics and the Tate director during the previous 12 months. But critics complain that it has focused too much on the work of
contemporary London artists, and that competitors are too concerned with winning the prize money and attracting subsequent sponsorship, commissions and
media exposure, rather than with the traditional concerns of social issues, artistic
problems and solidarity among the artistic community.
Damien Hirst
During the 1980s amid the warehouse shows, the advent of the Turner Prize,
an exciting ‘new wave’ of young artists began to develop. One of the most
successful is Damien Hirst (b. 1965). In 1988 he organised the first warehouse show, Freeze
e, in London’s Docklands, together with 16 other students
from Goldsmiths College. Since then he has produced unusual, memorable
pieces that have attracted as much controversy as publicity.
In a warehouse show he exhibited A Hundred Yearss (1990), which represents the life cycle. It consists of two large vitrines connected by a tube,
each measuring six feet square. In one is a dead cow’s head, with flies,
maggots and an insectocutor. The other remains empty, except for the flies.
A larger version was subsequently made and renamed A Thousand Years
(1990) and attracted huge publicity. Other works form a series of sculptures
collectively known as Internal Affairss. One of these, The Acquired Inability to
Escape
e (1991), again comprises two vitrines: one with a table, chair, cigarettes, a lighter and cigarette stubs, while the other remains empty.
The minimal style and attention to spatial relationships are also characteristic of his well-known Natural History
y series. The most dramatic work
here is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Somebody Living
(1991), which is said to represent fear, death and the unknown. It comprises
a 14-foot shark, suspended in a tank of formaldehyde solution. From the
same series, Mother and Child Divided
d (1993) comprises a bisected cow
and its calf. The four halves are displayed in two separate tanks side by side,
allowing the viewer to pass between the divided animals.
Hirst is also well known for his ‘dot’ paintings, which resemble coloured
pills or sweets on the white canvas and have names such as Alphaprodine
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(1993), and his more recent ‘spin’ paintings, produced by throwing paint onto
a horizontal, revolving canvas. His work made him one of the best-known
artists of his generation, and in 1995 he was awarded the Turner Prize for
Mother and Child Divided (ii)). Later the same year he became involved with
music, directing the video for the song ‘Country House’ by Blur. His collaboration led to the formation of the band Fat Les, who recorded ‘Vindaloo’, the
unofficial England theme song for the 1998 World Cup.
Critics point out that animals have often been featured in British art, and
a great theme of Western art is death. Both elements are central to many
of Hirst’s works, which have featured the process of death in animals and
its postponement in humans, for example his pharmaceutical cabinet Pharmacyy (1998), which consists of an installation of shelves with packets of
tablets and medicines for the head, stomach and feet on separate shelves.
In 2005 he again expressed similar concerns with four large-scale paintings.
These religious works are named after the evangelists from the four gospels
of the Bible, and are set in large, vertical frames. Traditional baroque imagery of blood, bright colours and heavy sentiment are complemented with the
sinister, surreal presence of pills, pens and razor blades, which Hirst has
embedded in the thick crusts of paint.
In June 2007, Hirst showed new work at the exhibition Beyond Belieff in
London. The centre-piece was a human skull made of platinum, and adorned
with 8,601 diamonds worth approximately £15,000,000. It was modelled on
an eighteenth-century skull, but the only surviving human part of the original
is the teeth. Named For the Love of God
d the work was priced at £50,000,000.
Later in 2008 he auctioned a complete show, Beautiful Inside My Head Foreverr, which raised £111 million.
Through media coverage of his highly original and disturbing works
and their black humour, Hirst has become one of the best known of contemporary artists, whose work is admired and appreciated – if not always
understood – by collectors, investors, critics and the general public. In 2013
he was said to be the wealthiest artist in the world with estimated assets
of £1 billion.
‘BritArt’
In 1997, the YBAs who had appeared on the scene almost a decade earlier captured the public imagination in the Royal Academy exhibition Sensation. The
title emphasised that exhibits were more about emotion than intellect and rational thought, but in keeping with the spirit of change and renewal that had spread
across Britain in music and other creative fields in the mid-1990s, the traditional
institution began showing popular new works.
The 1,500 exhibits at Sensation were seen by over 300,000 members of the public, and prompted great media interest and public comment. The term ‘BritArt’
was introduced, coined by the popular press, even though the artists connected
with the trend were overwhelmingly English. They included Damien Hirst,
Tracey Emin, Gillian Wearing, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Gavin Turk, Gary
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Hume, Fiona Rae, Mark Wallinger, Helen Chadwick, Eileen Cooper, Amanda
Faulkner, Gwen Hardie, Christine Borland and Sarah Lucas. Their works were
highly varied in content and style, but common themes often connecting them
are the contemplation of life, death and the body. Works are composed in a variety of ways, using film, video, photography, sculpture, embroidery, machinery,
everyday objects and other media to create collages and installations.
Many members of the public found the exhibits controversial and shocking.
For example, Marcus Harvey’s four metre high portrait of the child murderer
Myra Hindley, created with a child’s handprints, was attacked with ink and eggs
by some protesters, while others angrily lobbied visitors to the event. Critics said
the new work was so unconventional that there were no criteria for its evaluation, and therefore it did not deserve attention. Moreover, that the artists frequently exploited bad taste to gain publicity. In contrast, those who liked the
exhibition said that, historically, most great works originally shocked the public
when they were first shown. They praised the authority, intelligence and beauty
of the exhibits, and argued that it was the purpose of art to provoke and probe
the limits of acceptability.
Recognising the storm of interest and frequent controversy surrounding many
artists, investors and entrepreneurs began to exploit the field, acquiring works
and developing artists with their finance, patronage and promotion. Charles Saatchi and his brother Maurice are two of the best known. They were born in Iraq,
but grew up in Britain where they created Saatchi and Saatchi, an advertising
agency that became famous for creative advertising campaigns for the Thatcher
Conservative Party, and for Silk Cut cigarettes. Since then Charles Saatchi has
done much to raise public awareness of modern British art, providing money, galleries, exhibition spaces and patronage for many young artists. But some critics
say his influence is too great, and that he is able to manipulate the art market in a
major way, buying and then selling or ‘pumping and then dumping’ controversial
work by immature artists, which damages their careers and confuses collectors.
Others say he is guilty of nothing more than bad taste.
During the 2000s the trends set in the previous decade continued to evolve,
with artists and their works continuing to generate publicity and, in some cases,
astronomically high prices at auction. One of the more unusual examples was
in 2003 when Michael Landy’s Break Down, which took place in Oxford Street,
London, involved the public destruction of all 7,227 of his personal possessions
(valued at around £100,000, and including a Chris Ofili print and a Gary Hume
painting). Other works that received widespread publicity include Sam TaylorWood’s 2004 video of the sleeping David Beckham, Marc Quinn’s Self (2003) in
which he froze nine pints of his own blood into a cast of his head, and Jake and
Dinos Chapman’s iconoclastic sculptures and installations. The transvestite potter Grayson Perry came to prominence and has attracted much public interest
for his elaborate ceramics and tapestries, which often display sexually explicit
imagery, subverting the kind traditionally found in these media. In 2013 he was
appointed CBE for services to contemporary art.
Public sculpture has also continued to attract attention particularly through the
work of Antony Gormley, whose metal sculptures based on the human form such as
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Figure 9.3 Urban art in Whitecross St., London, depicting Samuel Baylis, a founder of the
Radical Club, the forerunner of the Liberal Party.
© David Christopher
the Angel of the North (1998) near Gateshead and Another Place (2005) on Crosby
Beach near Liverpool, which features 100 cast-iron figures of himself looking out to
sea. These and other works have earned him many awards, including a knighthood.
Other forms of public art have also drawn attention, in particular the work
of Banksy, whose satirical street work demonstrates a sharp sense of humour
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and social commentary. Little is known about the artist, who prefers to remain
anonymous. His works usually appear stencilled, and feature striking images
accompanied by humorous slogans. His works are often anti-war, anti-capitalist
or anti-establishment and include rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children and
the elderly. For example, in 2005 he created a work depicting a cave painting
of a human hunting for wildlife while pushing a shopping trolley. The work was
then hung in Gallery 49 of the British Museum in London, and remained on the
wall for several hours before it was removed by security guards. In July 2012, prior
to the Olympic Games he created several pieces. One included an image of an
athlete throwing a missile instead of a javelin. Public opinion finds him amusing
and original, and his works – when they can be obtained – generate large sums
at auctions. However, critics accuse him of vandalism and a lack of originality.
Tracey Emin
One of the most famous and controversial artists to emerge in the late 1990s
is Tracey Emin (b. 1963), who uses intimate topics from childhood and adolescence to create compositions with confessional themes. She left school at 13
and later won a place at the RCA to study painting. In the 1990s she worked
with Sarah Lucas, and later exhibited with the duo Gilbert and George.
Long before the popularity of TV reality shows, she appealed to public interest in other people’s lives by using her own as the basis for her art, in which
sex and drink feature prominently. One of her most famous was about the
intimacy of sleep and relationships. Everyone I’ve Ever Slept With
h (1995) is a
small tent with details of the title sewn inside; it attracted great publicity when
shown at the exhibition Sensation
n, before being destroyed in a fire in 2004.
Her work My Bed
d (1998) is an unmade bed, surrounded by empty vodka
bottles, KY jelly, soiled knickers and used condoms, in which the artist claims
to have spent four days contemplating suicide. It was later bought by Charles
Saatchi for £150,000. Mine All Mine
e (2000) is a photographic portrait of herself filling her knickers with money, a cynical comment perhaps on the nature
of modern art, while You Forgot to Kiss My Soull was a solo exhibition in
2001, which included a range of work in drawings, installations, neon and
videos. Hers is raw, confessional story-telling, a comment on the nature of
a modern, confessional ‘reality’ culture, in which all must be revealed. It is
a mixture of the sexual and abject, of love and intensity which is delivered
with humour, melancholy and often darkness. However, critics often dismiss
her work as original and highly personal, but lacking in variety. Since 2006
a number of retrospective shows have been held of her work. She has been
increasingly involved in charity work, donating many pieces and in 2013 was
awarded a CBE for services to art.
Art and commerce
Following the new developments in the 1990s and 2000s, art in Britain has
become more democratised. Barriers between high and low art have been
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demolished, and its dramatic and provocative themes, its methods, materials and
subjects have opened it up to young audiences, and made it an integral element of
urban, popular culture. But, as with any successful, popular trend, artists and gallery owners have been quick to exploit it, using the sensational and shocking elements to create media interest. For those lucky enough, there have been massive
Figure 9.4 Art enhances public spaces – a boy attempts to decorate a figure amid the office
blocks in the City of London.
© Nargis Christopher
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commercial opportunities, which have generated huge sums for a small number
of artists. Critics said it mirrored the debauched, debt-fuelled excess of the times,
while others welcomed its originality, vibrancy and expressiveness.
The trend was due in part to the withdrawal of government subsidies for artists.
Despite the return of a Labour government in 1997, there was no return to the
public generosity shown in the post-war period until the 1980s. Consequently,
artists and galleries have had to become increasingly adept at generating attention and sources of income through, for example, corporate sponsorship, public
donations, gallery cafés and souvenir shops.
At the same time, wealthy patrons have put art to commercial uses. For example, businesses and organisations can improve their public image by sponsoring
artists, offering exhibition spaces, organising events, awarding prizes and so on. It
also helps them to reach wealthier and more educated ‘middle-class’ audiences,
who may be interested in the organisation’s goods and services.
Art is also important for the visual improvement of public spaces in the towns,
cities and countryside. For example, street sculpture, galleries, sculpture parks,
or the choice of a particular city as a ‘city of culture’ generates media attention.
It raises public awareness of the zone, area or town, and improves public perception of it. In turn, more people want to shop, live and work there; people who
are generally better educated, wealthier and more skilled. This raises the profile
of an area or city, and makes businesses and industry more likely to locate their
offices there.
But some things remained unchanged. The scene continues to be highly
centralised in London, and many artists from outside England, as well as
black and Asian artists, have yet to gain the recognition they deserve. Art in
Britain continues to be overwhelmingly studied, practised, commented upon
and commercialised by a predominantly white, English, middle-class community. Furthermore, public taste remains highly conservative, often seeing art
as something to hang on the wall, depicting traditional portraits, still life or
landscape scenes. As a consequence, many British artists have become better
known abroad, where the public and media are often more receptive to new
developments.
Architecture and design
Introduction
Since the late 1950s British architecture has been through several transformative
periods which have changed the face of towns and cities. Until the 1980s, European modernist influences dominated, particularly in the architecture of public
sector buildings, such as local authority housing and schools. Then, American
postmodern styles showed the way forward, as financial houses and the retail
sector demonstrated brash new styles that would accommodate new technology
for trade.
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But the public has frequently disagreed with the new styles, preferring the old
and familiar to the bold and new, and a powerful conservation movement has
developed to ensure that old buildings are restored and preserved. There are two
public authorities that support conservation: one is the National Trust (NT),
the other is English Heritage. The NT is a charity. It was created in 1895 to protect and preserve historic buildings and countryside areas of natural beauty, and
its properties include hundreds of palaces, country houses, gardens and monuments that can be visited by the public. English Heritage is a government agency,
which advises and assists the government in matters of conservation. It currently
‘lists’ (protects from change) around 450,000 buildings and monuments, many
of which are private houses. In Scotland, buildings are listed by Historic Scotland and in Wales by Cadw (Welsh Historic Monuments). The Northern Ireland
Environment Agency lists buildings of historic interest in Northern Ireland.
Most architects are members of the Royal Institute of British Architects
(RIBA). The body was founded in 1831 and makes several awards to members
each year. The most prestigious is the Stirling Prize, which is named after the
British architect James Stirling, and is given to RIBA architects of the building
that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year.
Internationally, the Pritzker Prize is presented for ‘significant contributions to
humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture’ and is considered the most sought after award of its kind.
Modernists
In 1948, following the loss of many public buildings and some two million homes
during the Second World War, a plan was put in action to rebuild Britain’s towns
and cities. Public need was given paramount importance, and plans were prepared
for houses, schools, theatres, libraries, hospitals, civic centres and even entire new
towns, in order to improve social conditions in urban areas around the country.
In 1951 the Festival of Britain showed the future. The focal point was the Royal
Festival Hall, which was surrounded by exhibitions of colourful new designs in
furniture, painting, pottery and sculpture. These were made using light, clean,
new materials, such as nylon, plastic, formica and linoleum. It was an exciting,
romantic vision to a generation, many of whom had never sat at outdoor coffee
tables with umbrellas, had a foreign holiday or even seen any fresh, coloured paint.
Consumer objects were becoming increasingly available, such as TVs and
record players for the consumption of mass culture. Design was a key element of
their popularity, with light, efficient shapes made of plastic, and smooth, brightly
coloured surfaces, which were free of decoration and adornment.
In furniture, many earlier designs had been solid and heavy, and decorated
with an imperial grandeur. Alternatively, a simple countrified style was also popular, suggesting a cosy rurality. But by the early 1960s, spindly functional furniture made of smooth, featureless wood by firms such as Ercol, G-Plan and others
appeared to be almost floating above the floor.
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More households could now afford a car, and in 1959 the Mini was launched.
Many other models of the period were heavy and slow, with dark interiors of
leather and walnut, recalling the decor of a gentlemen’s club or country house.
But being minimal, the Mini had none of it, bringing modernity and classlessness
to private transport. In most contemporary designs of all kinds from the Mini car
to the mini skirt, the form of the object was reflecting its function.
The new buildings on show at the Festival and the new designs put forward by
architects reflected the socialist hope for a futuristic, classless, egalitarian society.
At that time Britain’s cities were still dominated by ‘heavy’ Victorian buildings
from the nineteenth century. Their imposing Gothic or neo-classical exteriors
with Roman or Greek columns were a common sight in many cities, and symbolised power and prestige. But local authorities around Britain began hiring and
commissioning work by young architects who designed using the principles of
modernist architecture, in which form followed function. These were light, airy,
functional and easy to clean. There was no superficial decoration or adornment,
and the look was sleek, strong and futuristic. It was also classless, since its features
were not associated with any particular social group or movement, which made it
seem ideal for the reconstruction of post-war society.
Public housing was a priority. Many people could not afford to buy houses, so
cheap, rented local authority or ‘council’ housing was provided on a large scale.
The idea was not new – the first council estate was built in Shoreditch in 1893.
But in Britain of the 1950s the idea of the state housing its people was still a radical one, and for many years it was something people aspired to.
Tall, imposing, modernist apartment blocks were quickly erected in parks
and gardens around Britain. By the end of the 1960s, some 4000 had been built.
Among the best known were the Alton Estate at Roehampton, London, the
Red Road in Glasgow and the Hyde Park Estate in Leeds. These were amazing structures compared with the small, old nineteenth-century houses nearby.
They were heated and spacious. They had baths and indoor toilets. Outside
they offered streets in the air, which the architects imagined would re-create
street life, with children’s games, gossip and community. Modernist design
aimed to promote physical health, and bright, airy flats were built with balconies for exercising and sunbathing. In their splendid isolation, these clean,
centrally heated concrete and glass monuments looked down on ancient forms
of domestic dwellings with their chimneys and fireplaces which they were built
to replace.
But the new buildings quickly gained the new architecture a bad reputation.
Residents complained about the lack of atmosphere, the bad quality of the building materials and the poor finish. The plain, rough, concrete exteriors had no
decoration or features, and marked badly in the rain. Lifts were often broken,
roofs leaked, and repairs were frequently needed, which the municipal authorities
could not always finance.
Despite the problems, architects continued to design numerous public buildings in a similar way. A variation of the modernist style was New Brutalism,
which is attributed to the British couple Peter and Alison Smithson. Their
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Figure 9.5 Buildings in the City of London. The older, neo-classical Royal Exchange
building is in the foreground, while (left–right) Tower 42, the ‘Gherkin’ and
the ‘Cheesegrater’ jostle for attention at the back.
© Nargis Christopher
buildings observed modernist principles, but lacked their visual appeal, featuring
instead rough, unfinished surfaces that communicated solidity and strength, but
displayed no attempt to look attractive or easy on the eye. In central London,
municipal architects designed several Brutalist buildings as part of the South Bank
arts complex, which in the twenty-first century continues to be Britain’s premier
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arts venue. Alongside the multipurpose auditorium the Royal Festival Hall (1951)
was added the National Film Theatre (1957; relaunched as BFI Southbank in
2007), the Hayward Art Gallery (1968), the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall (1967), (which are both used as concert halls) and the National Theatre (1976).
But, as with the new local authority flats, the modernist civic arts buildings
were not popular with the general public. Although they are dedicated to the
visual and expressive arts, they are cold and serious. They have few windows, no
clear entrance and the exposed concrete blocks stain when wet. The buildings
have many critics, but they also have their fans: since the 1970s the complex has
become a popular meeting place for young skateboard enthusiasts and graffiti
artists.
As well as expansion in the public housing and the arts, the 1960s was also
a time of growth in higher education to meet the needs of an expanding demographic of teenagers, who were enjoying greater access to higher education. Many
new colleges and universities were built with a more contemporary interpretation
of modernist principles, using plate glass, ceramic tiling and concrete towers,
such as the Universities of York and Warwick. The Engineering Faculty at Leicester University (1959), the History Faculty at Cambridge University (1964) and
the Florey Building at Queen’s College, Oxford (1966) are all notable examples,
being designed by James Stirling (1926–92), one of the most admired architects
of the post-war period. These imaginative, unconventional buildings exhibit a
variety of influences.
However, Stirling’s work was appreciated less in Britain than abroad, where his
three designs for museums in the German cities of Dusseldorf, Cologne and Stuttgart brought him international recognition. His works were not always expressed
in the modernist style, but were often hybrid and highly individual, incorporating traditional and modern elements of design. The Neue Staatsgalerie (1984) in
Stuttgart demonstrates his unique approach and became one of the most highly
praised buildings of its time. In 1981 Stirling received architecture’s most prestigious international award, the Pritzker Prize.
London remains a focal point for modernist design. The enormous residential
complex of the Barbican Estate (Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, 1965–76) is well
built outside and in, and its brutal exterior is softened with ornamental lakes,
gardens and waterfalls, as well as numerous window boxes. It is also provided with
local amenities such as bars and restaurants, and its major arts centre is a prime
attraction for many visitors to the capital. Although it was initially disliked by
many, it has since become a Grade II listed building for the design integrity of the
complex, and one of the most popular estates in the city.
The striking landmark building of the Post Office Tower (now called the
British Telecom Tower) in Cleveland Street, London has also become a listed
building, even though it has only been open since 1965. Designed by Eric Bedford when the Cold War was at its height, the 189 metre tall communications
tower was planned as an important link between the government’s bunker in the
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Figure 9.6 A residential area of the Barbican complex, in the City of London. A Brutalist
design for living, with its own cinemas, art gallery, library and conservatory.
© Nargis Christopher
countryside and the rest of the world. The designers noted that the only buildings
to survive nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Second World War
were round, and therefore built a cylindrical tower rather than a rectangular one.
Fortunately it was never tested, and remains one of the city’s most distinctive
landmarks.
Although the public sector provided most of the significant new buildings
of the 1960s and 1970s, there were also some notable private sector works.
In the 1970s architect Richard Seifert claimed he had changed the face of
London more than any architect since Sir Christopher Wren in the seventeenth century. But unlike Wren’s baroque churches, such as St Paul’s Cathedral, Seifert’s designs were mainly temples to commerce, such as Centre Point
(1966), the tall imposing building which stands in central London by Tottenham Court Road Underground station. Tower 42 (also known as NatWest
Tower), built in 1981, is another of Seifert’s London landmarks and is situated
in the financial district known as the ‘Square Mile’ or ‘City’. Its distinctive
silhouette – which suggests a castle turret – remains a familiar feature of the
City of London skyline.
Architects and policy-makers in post-war Britain were determined not just
to improve cities, but to create entirely new ones. Early attempts to ameliorate
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conditions in the overcrowded cities resulted in the construction of Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn (1920), and between the early 1950s and mid-1970s
the government financed 14 more new towns in attractive areas of green countryside. Milton Keynes is one example, built between 1976 and 1979. The
architect Derek Walker took inspiration from 1960s Los Angeles, and designed
low-rise buildings with easy traffic flow around them. Like many new towns,
it has a low density of population and offered a high quality of life. It appears
clean and classless, reflecting the architects’ belief that they were creating a
new social order. But it lacks the entertainments and facilities of a big city, as
well as a sense of history and community, and critics originally described it as
sterile, grey, bleak and empty, with no history, charm or character, an architectural Esperanto.
The 1980s: Thatcherism and architecture
During the 1980s architecture in Britain entered a new phase. The policy of
constructing public buildings with public money, whether council houses or community centres, schools or arts buildings, was gradually curtailed, as the Tory
government introduced a radical programme of cuts in public spending. Later in
the decade, it was the private sector rather than the public, that introduced new
styles of architecture from America, as many private and newly privatised organisations began investing in new corporate headquarters.
At the same time, a growing programme of conservation became common
practice in almost all areas of Britain. Cuts in public spending at the beginning
of the decade, plus a growing interest in restoration and conversion, led to the
restoration of many older buildings. Old factories and warehouses were turned
into flats, banks and churches became bars and restaurants.
Many old, unusual, historically interesting structures became ‘listed’, that is
protected by law from demolition, alteration or extension. One of the first to
be affected was the old fruit and vegetable market in London’s Covent Garden, which in 1979 was saved from demolition. Soon afterwards there were outdoor cafés, boutiques, specialist food shops and street performers, which today
make it one of the most popular areas of the city for entertainment, leisure and
commerce.
Conservation introduced a new way of thinking about the environment, and
has been strongly supported by Prince Charles, who is a vocal critic of modern architecture. In 1988 he made the film A Vision of Britain for the BBC arts
documentary series Omnibus, in which he attacked modernist architecture and its
ugly urban offices and apartment blocks. In their place he advocated more programmes of community architecture, with their popular neo-classical and neovernacular styles which have been put into practice in the village of Poundbury,
Dorset, where Charles maintains an active interest in the design of the buildings.
The programme was seen by millions of viewers and a large majority agreed with
his opinions.
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The quaint old-fashioned buildings of Poundbury present a sharp contrast to
the urban architecture of the 1980s. As a result of the cuts in public spending,
it was demand in the private sector that began to influence what was built and
how. Banking and commerce had traditionally been conservative professions,
which kept a low profile and were characterised by caution and restraint. But
with the advent of online trading following the ‘Big Bang’ in 1986, and a relaxation of trading rules, wealthy financial organisations began to increase their
profile, beginning with brash, flash, chic new corporate headquarters. Newly
privatised companies such as the public utilities also sought to attract attention
with new premises in the heart of the city, using state-of-the art construction
and technology.
Inspired by new designs developed in America, new buildings emerged with
structures of glass, steel, aluminium and chrome, and with tubes, cables, nuts
and bolts all openly exposed. Known as ‘high-tech postmodern’, the best examples contained dramatic visual contrasts of metal, glass and concrete, which
were made less harsh by soft lighting and a generous distribution of ‘rainforestry’ and works of contemporary art and sculpture. Entrances are grand and
spacious, often with just a lone receptionist or security guard lurking behind a
desk like a solitary goldfish behind a small rock in an exotic aquarium. Many
buildings featured an atrium: a glass-covered central courtyard or interior patio
which brings light into the centre of the building. This is a practical feature in
areas with a high density of office blocks where little light can enter through
the side windows, and became a fashionable characteristic in designs of the
mid-1980s.
One of the first buildings in this style was by Arup Associates in 1984, called
simply 1 Finsbury Avenue. Its enormous, imposing, glass-covered courtyard
won extensive critical praise and design awards. The style came to characterise offices in London’s financial district – the City – where between 1985
and 1993 the number of commercial premises doubled. In the past, some of
the most visually impressive and innovative buildings were built as religious
monuments. In the nineteenth century they expressed civic grandeur. In the
1960s and 1970s they were built as tributes to the arts. But in the 1980s it was
the commercial spirit that was embodied in futuristic, high-tech cathedrals to
capitalism.
By the late 1980s, not only individual buildings and factories but whole areas
of the country were being rapidly redeveloped. The most spectacular of these
is Docklands, an area of two square miles in the east of London on the River
Thames, where low-rise offices, leisure buildings and luxury houses and flats
were built in the high-tech postmodern style. Many exteriors are colourful and
angular, and often finished with mirrored glass, creating the image of narcissistic
corporate headquarters, which study themselves in the façades of others. Access
to the heart of London is by a futuristic driverless light railway and the whole
area is punctuated by the massive, square, thick Canary Wharf tower (Cesar
Pelli, 1991).
Figure 9.7 The ‘iron cage’ offices of 1 Finsbury Avenue, London, by Arup Associates.
Completed in 1984, they recall George Orwell’s dystopian novel set in the
same year.
© VIEW Pictures Ltd / Alamy
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Richard Rogers
Richard Rogers (b. 1933) was born in Florence, Italy. His most famous works
include the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the headquarters of Lloyd’s of London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the Millennium
Dome in London (now known as the O2 Arena).
He began his career at Yale University in the USA, together with the
British architect Norman Foster, with whom he subsequently formed a partnership in the practice known as Team 4, which specialised in adventurous,
stylish, high-tech industrial designs. Later, Rogers worked with the Italian
architect Renzo Piano to design the Centre Georges Pompidou, a futuristic
arts building in central Paris, a building which cemented his reputation for
exciting and bold new designs. The exterior is one of several impressive
aspects of the building. The escalators are carried in transparent tubes on
the outside. Other tubes are colour-coded and carry water, air and electricity.
The design allows convenient access for maintenance, repairs and improvements of service equipment. These are practical features, which mean it can
be adapted quickly and easily to technical change. When it opened in 1977,
it soon became the most talked about building in Britain and France, and
began to rival the Eiffel Tower for attention.
The heart of London is home to several celebrated works by Rogers and
Partners, which capture the spirit of the times in which they were built. The
Lloyd’s building was completed in 1986, introducing high-tech postmodern
architecture to London’s financial district. A tall, impressive, machine-like
edifice it has become an icon of the advanced ‘high-tech’ style. It has a stainless steel exterior, supported by a web of tubes, the ensemble seeming
to anticipate the ‘industrialisation’ of the financial services industry. Inside,
there is a sense of space, where open floors are designed around a central interior patio surrounded by escalators. The design produces a dramatic
effect, in which the building’s occupants seem to resemble actors on stage.
Rogers has occasionally been involved with large-scale projects that have
created controversy, for example his proposed extension to the National Gallery in London was described by the Prince of Wales as ‘a monstrous carbuncle’. But in 1995 he became the first ever architect to give the BBC Reith
Lectures, with a series titled Cities for a Small Planett in which he stated ‘cities are where life is often at its most precarious, they are also where we have
the greatest tangible opportunity for improvement, intervention and change’.
In 1996 he became Lord Rogers of Riverside, and later collaborated on
several architectural matters of national importance with the newly elected
Labour government, for example the Dome covering the Millennium Exhibition site at Greenwich in London, which quickly became a national landmark, before its conversion to a concert venue as the O2 Arena. In 2007
his practice became Rogers, Stirk, Harbour and Partners, and the company
keeps offices in London, Shanghai and Sydney, pursuing a variety of projects worldwide.
In 2011 One Hyde Park was launched, said to be the world’s most expensive apartment block with a penthouse priced at £140 million, a development
reflecting London’s chaotic, overpriced property market, made turbulent by
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global speculators who invest in city property to grow their investments. Rogers remains critically acclaimed for his bold, eye-catching designs, and one
of the few British architects who is well known to the general public. His
buildings have attracted attention and provoked comment around the world,
the most recent being the Leadenhall Building or ‘Cheesegrater’, in London,
which opened in 2014.
Norman Foster
Innovative, high-tech projects have made Norman Foster (b. 1935) one of
Britain’s most distinguished architects. After studying in Manchester and
the USA he worked with Richard Rogers in the innovative practice of Team
4. But his independent designs during the mid-1970s for an arts centre at
the University of East Anglia and the Willis Faber office building in Ipswich
quickly brought him to public attention. They are visually distinctive and technically advanced buildings, which are well integrated into their environment.
The Willis Faber building was so highly praised that it became a listed building within 30 years of its completion.
As Foster’s reputation grew, he received a growing number of commissions from abroad. One of the most notable was for the Hong Kong and
Shanghai Bank (1986). The floors of this high-rise building hang from eight
towers, and make the building one of the most spectacular in the former
colony, its success confirming him as a major architect of world renown.
His most recent commissions in Britain have been mostly in or near London, where he has designed approximately 35 buildings. Some of his recent
works include 30 St Mary Axe (the ‘Gherkin’), the new Wembley Stadium,
the redevelopment of Trafalgar Square and the Millennium Bridge, plus new
galleries for the Royal Academy, a passenger terminal under an umbrella
roof at Stansted Airport and the redevelopment of Parliament Square. Other
projects include the Jubilee Line Underground extension (1999) and Canary
Wharf Station, arguably London Underground’s most impressive station
since the 1930s, which resembles a subterranean cathedral.
Foster has also designed numerous buildings elsewhere in Britain, and
on several continents overseas, from the Sage Music Centre in Gateshead
(2004), to Beijing Airport, an 80-storey tower in Dubai and a 62-metre high
glass pyramid in Astana, Kazakhstan. Foster was awarded the Pritzker Prize
in 1999, the same year he was admitted to the House of Lords.
Building new Britain: architecture since the 1990s
In 1996 Britain had the oldest housing stock in Europe, with some 25 per cent built
before 1914. However, attitude surveys repeatedly showed that the British prefer
older houses to new ones. A view persists that they have more character, more
individuality and are better built. Responding to public demand, some of the most
modern and desirable small houses built since the 1990s were designed in a neovernacular style, but with modern heating, insulation and security features. This
also applied to the conversion of many centrally located warehouses and factories,
which, abandoned after the economic recession of the early 1990s, were changed
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into flats and became some of the most fashionable kinds of centrally located
accommodation in British cities. The quality and convenience of houses was also
improving. Forty years earlier in 1956, 27 per cent of houses had a bathroom shared
with other families, or had no bath or shower at all, but by 1996 newly built accommodation often had two or more bathrooms. Also, the wood or coal fires that had
kept man warm since prehistoric times were finally becoming a thing of the past, or
a decorative addition, as gas-fired central heating became the norm.
Property renovation also grew in popularity, and ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) became
the nation’s most popular hobby. The possibilities for renovation and personalisation of the home allowed it to become an expression of identity, at a time when
the ‘sense of self’ was increasingly becoming constructed by the individual, and
not ‘given’ by family, social background and other traditional determiners. Many
stores such as B&Q, Ikea and Habitat flourished, selling cheap furniture, accessories and fabrics, all inspired by a classless, functional, modernism. DIY became
a frequent topic of conversation, and today it is one of the most important leisure
activities in Britain, practised by almost as many women as men.
The pub is one of the most emblematic places in any high street, and like many
other buildings it has also undergone a transformation in recent times. Until the
1980s, most were traditional in design and decor. They were generally quiet comfortable places, with a bar frequented by men in ‘blue-collar’ working clothes, and
a lounge for those in office attire. Seating was designed to promote privacy, and
there were often several smaller rooms where meetings could be held. But during
the 1980s the credit boom and economic confidence created strong competition
among shops and leisure services for a new generation of consumers who had
more money available for pleasure and recreation. New styles of pubs appeared,
which dispensed with the class divisions between bar and lounge, replacing them
with environments that seemed more like stages. The emphasis changed from
privacy to public display, with long curved bars which allowed customers to see
and be seen, with loud music and few seats to encourage faster drinking. Theme
pubs became common, such as the ‘Irish’ pub, or the ‘gastro’ pub serving goodquality food, or the sports bar with games, television, videos and music, and a
cavernous interior to cater for large crowds of customers. The young generation
seemed to welcome the changes, but for the older one, the trend towards novelty
and display was a step too far, and many stopped going.
Restaurants also started competing with design and decor, rather than with
food and prices. Interiors often reminded diners of the owners’ origins: the dim
lights and ‘flock’ wallpaper of a colonial British officers’ club in Indian curry
houses; the paper lanterns and murals of the Great Wall of China in Chinese
eateries; the crab pots and fishing nets of numerous Greek tavernas. They were
popular with a young generation of consumers, who, as they had with the pubs,
revelled in their novelty.
Women architects
Changes in society resulted in an acute need to adapt buildings and the urban
environment to meet people’s needs. Some argued that women use the city
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environment more than men, spending more time walking and interacting there,
and so understand its problems better. Furthermore, it is said that female architects are better able to communicate with clients and have a better understanding of their needs.
Dame Zaha Hadid has become Britain’s best-known female architect, winning the Pritzker Prize in 2004, the first woman to do so, for a pavilion built
in Zaragoza, Spain, as well as the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. She is widely
respected for her designs, which range from Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Kircaldy
to the Guangzhou Opera House. Others are often connected with sports arenas,
for example the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park (2012) and the Al Wakrah
football stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Eva Jiricna is also a noted architect whose designs worldwide have brought
many awards. Born in Prague, she has worked in London since 1969. Her stylish
monochrome interiors of shops, bars and restaurants have been widely imitated.
Some of her most notable work was in Mayfair’s Le Caprice restaurant (1981) and
the interior of the Lloyd’s building (1985–6).
Today, many women are involved in a range of projects, such as designing interiors for fashionable restaurants, bars and city-centre apartments, and working with
local communities to improve some of the less attractive boroughs of Britain. But
the profession of architecture remains a male-dominated one, with only around
12 per cent of qualified architects being female. Studies show the reasons for
this are similar to those reported in any traditionally male-dominated profession,
and include unequal pay and sexism. The related professions of engineering and
building are also male-dominated, and some critics argue this tendency creates
‘masculine’ architecture: monuments of strength that reflect power and prestige,
in which power is exercised predominantly by men, and where a powerful ego is
needed in order to compete.
Architecture as logo
During the 1990s, architecture and art were increasingly used by business, cultural and sporting organisations for self-promotion and the construction of image
and identity. Studies show how the creation of high-quality buildings by prestigious architects can raise the profile of an organisation and even a whole region,
improving its image and attracting media attention. In turn, people become
more interested in working for the organisation, or moving to the region to work
or live, or visiting the region as tourists. This is particularly the case with the
more highly skilled, educated and affluent demographic groups. In consequence,
the region’s social and cultural capital is improved, along with its potential for
economic development and expansion, as, attracted by the presence of a skilled
and educated workforce, businesses are more inclined to locate there. In this
way, high-profile buildings become synonymous with the region or organisation,
transforming their image and attracting the public towards them.
Architecture has come to be used as a ‘logo’ of places and organisations,
and even the construction of commercial brands. Some of the most impressive
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examples are in Newcastle and Gateshead, which have experienced immense
and traumatic economic changes. In the early 1980s, 50 per cent of all men were
employed in shipbuilding, mining, steel and engineering. In 2004 the figure was
just 3 per cent. The region was depressed, stripped of its identity and pride, but
a series of new projects aimed at cultural regeneration has helped to restore its
pride and vitality. One of the most distinctive is the Angel of the North, a tall,
imposing figure whose arms are held horizontally in the shape of a cross, standing at the side of the A1 road near Gateshead. Made in bronze and measuring
20 metres high, the Angel is a public sculpture designed by Antony Gormley
and built in the Tyneside steelyards in 1998. Many thought it bold and confident, but others found it sinister and Germanic, and local opponents argued the
money could have been used for schools and hospitals. But it has since become
a popular and successful symbol of the region in particular, and the north-east
as a whole.
Nearby, Gateshead is an area not traditionally associated with modern art and
architecture, but since the late 1990s the region has been transformed by a series
of new projects, the most spectacular being around the waterfront of the River
Tyne. Chief among these is Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, which in 2002
was converted by Dominic Williams from a 1950s flour mill into an art workshop and gallery, the largest contemporary art space outside London. Baltic is
matched by the visually spectacular, shining, bulbous armadillo officially known
as Sage Gateshead (2004), designed by Foster and Partners, with two concert
halls, a rehearsal space and 25 music rooms, which together make it the biggest
music resource in Britain. Sage takes its name from its biggest corporate sponsor,
a local company. At its heart is a 1,700-seat hall, which is intended to be one
of the world’s greatest concert venues. To achieve this, it has been built around
the acoustics, with ceiling and wall inserts that can be adjusted according to the
size of the audience, type of concert, instruments and so on. It stands near the
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, built by Wilkinson-Eyre in 2001 to link the city
to Newcastle. The spectacular new footbridge and cycle path is the first bridge
across the River Tyne for 100 years, and opens using an ingenious tilting mechanism that makes the bridge pivot upwards to allow ships to pass underneath.
In Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, the architecture of manufacturing
and heavy industry has been replaced by that of new financial and retail service
industries, reflecting wider trends around Britain. These now involve knowledge,
commercial, cultural, sports and leisure sectors, which in recent years have played
a steadily more important role in sustaining local communities. In Liverpool, the
iconic Pierhead area on the waterfront of the River Mersey was developed for the
city’s role as European Capital of Culture in 2008. The existing three Edwardian
‘graces’ or buildings that dominate the waterfront are complemented by architect
Will Alsop’s ‘Fourth Grace’, a spiral-shaped building on thin spindly legs, with a
circular top floor that resembles a squashed doughnut, where shops, flats, bars, a
hotel and a museum have enhanced the area.
In nearby Manchester, much has been done to help the city move on from its
‘Madchester’ epithet of the 1990s. Buildings such as the Imperial War Museum
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North by Daniel Libeskind (2002), which resembles a shattered globe, Ian
Simpson’s icy, sea green ‘mint lollipop’ – the Urbis Centre for Urban Culture
(2002) – and Arup Associates’ City of Manchester Stadium (also known as Etihad Stadium), built in 2002 for the Commonwealth Games and now the home of
Manchester City FC, have all helped the city energise its cultural and knowledge
sectors, as well as enhance the urban landscape.
In Scotland, Glasgow’s Science Centre (2001) features interactive and
multi-media exhibits, showing visitors how people and plants use their senses.
To the east, in the capital Edinburgh, the ‘sails’ of the Dynamic Earth Centre,
an avant-garde construction, built on the site of an old brewery, tell the story
of the Earth, using a mixture of real exhibits and virtual reality. Nearby, the
Scottish Parliament building was designed by Enric Miralles in 2004 and features a distinctive roof like an upturned boat. In Wales, the Welsh Assembly
building in Cardiff, designed by Richard Rogers, opened in 2004. The building
is complemented by Jonathan Adams’s Wales Millennium Centre (2004), a
widely admired building made of stone and slate from quarries around Wales.
Inside are auditoriums for music, theatre, opera, dance and ballet from around
the world, which incorporate the latest high-tech acoustic and lighting systems. Above the foyer, an inscription reads ‘Creu Gwir Fel Gwydr O Ffwrnais
Awen’ (‘In these stones horizons sing’), a line by Gwyneth Lewis, a popular
Welsh poet.
The north and south bank show
In the new millennium architecture has helped London become one of the
most exciting cities in the world, especially on the south bank of the Thames.
Although development there was slower than on its north bank, the riverbank
area on both sides is now full of high-profile old and new cultural sites. One of
the most iconic monuments of the new century is the Millennium Dome, built
in 1999 to the east of London at Greenwich. Designed by Richard Rogers and
Partners, it recalls the ‘Dome of Discovery’, the centrepiece of the Festival of
Britain in 1951. The huge 50-metre-high structure has a diameter of 320 metres
and a circumference of one kilometre. A dozen 100-metre steel masts fastened by
cables support a glass-fibre roof. Nearby is the Millennium Village at Greenwich,
designed by Erskine and Thompson, a futuristic housing complex incorporating energy-efficient buildings built around communal gardens, with recycling of
water and other waste materials.
Further west along the Thames is a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan Globe Theatre, built near to the site of the original on Bankside. The
open-air stage presents a variety of traditional and modern works in surroundings
that resemble a film set. Next door is the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, built to a
seventeenth-century plan for an indoor venue resembling the Blackfriars Theatre, where Shakespeare’s later plays were first staged. Further along the same
bank is the Tate Modern art gallery. This was originally Bankside Power Station
(1947) designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed Battersea Power
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Station, as well as the familiar red telephone box, the Foreign Office building in
central London and the mock-gothic Liverpool Cathedral. It is an impressively
large brick building with a tall chimney stack, but its adaptation to a gallery
has made it airy and light inside, with several floors, comprising galleries, cafés,
education centres and a large bookshop of the arts. Opened in May 2000, it now
exhibits the best of modern art from around the world.
Outside the gallery is a slim, elegant footbridge by Norman Foster and Anthony
Caro (2000), which connects the south bank to St Paul’s Cathedral. The Millennium Bridge is 320 metres long and 4 metres wide, and offers spectacular views
of the new architecture up and down the Thames. Passing further along the riverbank past the South Bank arts complex, the observer reaches the London Eye.
Designed by David Marks and Julia Barfield, this large revolving wheel takes 30
minutes to make a full turn. From 135 metres up there is a view over 42 kilometres, from 32 capsules, each holding 25 people. It opened in 2000 and has been
highly appreciated by people of all ages.
A few metres away to the west is Vauxhall Cross, the home of MI6, Britain’s
secret intelligence service. This striking, resolute building was designed by Terry
Farrell, and opened in 1995 with several floors built below street level, and bombproof walls to protect the most sensitive areas. It is sometimes called ‘Legoland’
after its resemblance to the children’s building bricks, and attracted intense public attention when filming took place there for the James Bond film The World is
Not Enough (1999).
Figure 9.8 The London Eye, with the Royal Festival Hall to the right.
© Nargis Christopher
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Figure 9.9 The headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) at 85 Albert
Embankment, London. Architect – Terry Farrell.
© Nargis Christopher
Across the river in Millbank is Tate Britain, while a bit further north in
Bloomsbury is the British Museum, where the Great Court has been restored by
Foster and Partners to make a large, two-acre plaza covered by an intricate glass
roof. At its heart is the famous Reading Room, which has been used by authors
such as Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and Oscar
Wilde.
In sport, the historic ‘twin towers’ of the old Wembley Stadium fell victim to
the demolishers, as the ground built for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924
was completely redeveloped into a national ‘super-stadium’, which opened in
2007. Designed by Norman Foster, it has a capacity of 90,000 and a sliding roof
to protect the pitch. A distinctive arch above the stadium identifies it from distance, and a large statue of former England captain Bobby Moore (Philip Jackson,
2007) stands outside the entrance, looking down the approach road of Wembley
Way.
Over in Stratford, east London, the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park was created for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics. It comprises the athletes’
Olympic Village (now being transformed into private accommodation called East
Village), and several of the sporting venues including the London Aquatics Centre, the Olympic Stadium and the Media Centre. The Aquatics Centre by Zaha
Hadid is the most notable building, with its distinctive wave-like roof, which was
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built in 2004, well before London won the right to host the games, which came
at a final cost of £269 million, three times the original estimate. It is now open
to the general public.
Compared with many other world capitals, London is low rise. Even the tallest building in the European Union only measures 306 meters. London Bridge
Tower, popularly known as the ‘Shard’, was designed by Renzo Piano and opened
in 2012. Buildings on London’s skyline take increasingly unusual shapes, and the
‘Shard’ not only resembles a long sharp glass fragment, but its appearance also
changes with different lighting and seasons. Its height and fame have also made it
popular with base jumpers, urban explorers and climbers, who are known to visit
the building illegally to ascend, descend or dramatically dive off the building for
charity, entertainment or thrills.
Other London landmarks include the 160-metre-high ‘Walkie-Talkie’, nicknamed for its curvaceous, top-heavy appearance, which makes it resemble a
vintage piece of communications technology of the same name. Designed by
Uruguayan architect Rafael Vinoly, it was originally intended to be higher but
concerns about the effect on views of the nearby St Paul’s Cathedral resulted in
a reduction of 40 metres.
Richard Rogers’ Leadenhall Building (popularly known as the ‘Cheesegrater’
because of its wedge shape) is 225 metres high. It stands close to one of Rogers’
most famous other buildings, the Lloyd’s building, but although it is more visible
on the skyline, it is much less so at street level, where the imposing steel tubes
remain more impressive. One of the most distinctive and talked about buildings
north of the river is known as the ‘Gherkin’ for its unusual, vegetable-like shape.
Distinctive and playful, the 180-metre-high building was designed by Foster and
Partners, and won the Stirling Prize in 2004 for its innovative design.
While height continues to be of importance to a building’s owners, it appears
that designs have otherwise become less brash or imposing, and more restrained
and subtle. In the private sector, an international corporate style seems to prevail, which incorporates less expressiveness and more homogeneity. Buildings
have become sleek, tall, but less aesthetically challenging. Exteriors now tend
to be covered, as exposing everything to the elements (as in the Lloyd’s building) means more maintenance required. The result is a kind of jellyfish effect,
in which lifts and other aspects of the building’s innards are only dimly revealed
to the spectator. Inside, minimal decoration, pale colours and natural materials
are preferred, in a style that has become increasingly common in a variety of
establishments, from insurance offices to Indian restaurants. Critics say it is bland
and characterless, the architecture and design of ‘not standing out’, of ‘no confidence’, and the consequence of a withdrawal of investment by national and local
government in bold public buildings. But others argue it is functional, efficient
and rational.
Further criticism comes from those who work in such buildings, many of whom
express a dissatisfaction with their environments. The absence of opening windows, the abundance of artificial lighting and the absence of privacy that often
goes with open-plan offices are among the most common complaints. But, unlike
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with other kinds of design, such as cars, boats or coffee machines, reviews of new
buildings rarely take into account opinions of those who use them the most, and
writing about modern architecture still focuses on elements such as design features, intelligence, efficiency and cost.
Conservation
Despite the trend towards postmodernity in architecture of the new millennium,
architectural societies have demanded the preservation of early and unusual modernist buildings as part of Britain’s heritage, for example Cluster Block (Denys
Lasdun, 1955), a modest but distinctive apartment tower in Bethnal Green, east
London, and Trellick Tower (Erno Goldfinger, 1973) in west London, which
have both been restored to create fashionable, high-quality accommodation.
Demolition of buildings is a dangerous practice, because public taste changes.
Some buildings, once despised as ugly, are now highly regarded by the critics
and the general public, for example the elegant Midland Hotel next to St Pancras Station in London, which resembles a Gothic, dream-like castle, suspended
in mid-air, has almost been demolished several times. Bankside Power Station,
which has now become Tate Modern, was almost demolished in the early 1980s,
and the Brutalist enclave of the South Bank arts complex has frequently been in
danger. In Sheffield, the large estate of local authority housing known as Park
Hill faced a similar fate. After initial optimism in the 1960s, it became known for
poverty, drugs and crime, and was nicknamed ‘San Quentin’ after the American
jail. But in 1998 it became a Grade II listed building – the largest listed building
in Europe – and protected from demolition. After an expensive makeover it was
shortlisted in 2013 for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize.
The Brutalist Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth was not so lucky. Constructed in
the mid-1960s, it comprised a nightclub, shops and a car park. In 2001, listeners
to BBC Radio 4 voted it the most hated building in the UK, and the Prince of
Wales entered the debate, describing it as ‘a mildewed lump of elephant droppings’, although it was much admired by others, who thought it a fine example of
high Brutalism. However, following a heated dispute between local campaigners
for and against, the building was demolished in 2004. The finality of demolition mirrors the finality of a death sentence; once demolished the building can
never return. But times change and so does public taste and the kinds of buildings
people want to see, live, work and play in.
10 Popular music and fashion
Introduction
British pop has produced some of the best-known music ever recorded, and is
enjoyed by people of all ages. It also constitutes an important element of youth
culture, and offers a point of access into a world of fashion, image and style,
which together express identity and individuality. It also forms part of a communal experience, and can be heard ‘live’ in a variety of settings, from small pubs to
large outdoor events in fields and football stadiums. During the summer months,
music festivals of all kinds are held around Britain. Some take place over several
days, such as the annual Glastonbury Festival for new and established bands,
and the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest street party, held by the Caribbean community in London. Traditional, indigenous music is also well supported
around Britain, with Gaelic and Celtic music often being honoured at festivals
in Scotland and Wales.
Music is well established on national and local broadcasting services. BBC
Radio 1 and 2, together with numerous independent radio stations, broadcast
hundreds of hours of popular music each week. BBC Radio 1Xtra broadcasts
black music from the UK and North America, while jazz and classical music
can be heard on Jazz FM, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Numerous websites,
newspapers, style magazines, fanzines and a flourishing music press all carry
regular columns of information, gossip and comment on music of all kinds.
There are also many different types of music prizes awarded each year, among
them the Brit Awards, the Mercury Prize and the MOBO Awards (Music of
Black Origin).
Many musicians start out without any formal training. Others learn at school
and complete their studies at one of the prestigious London centres, such as the
Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music. Outside London, the main centres are the Royal Scottish
Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and the Welsh College of Music and
Drama in Cardiff; several other colleges and universities also offer degrees and
diplomas in musical study.
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Post-war pop
After the horrors of the Second World War demand was strong for cosy, comforting music that brought a sense of well-being and romance. Popular music
consisted of gentle ballads, sung in a ‘crooning’ style which involved the intimate expression of private emotions, in songs sung slowly and sentimentally.
In America, Italian-Americans such as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Mario
Lanza and Dean Martin popularised the style, which later spread to Britain
where local ‘crooners’ included Frankie Vaughan, Dickie Valentine and Ronnie
Hilton. Theirs was relaxed and rhythmical music, created for refined, elegant
dancing and romancing.
A gramophone and records were still expensive items, and popular music
remained a mainly adult pastime. But as technology developed, production costs
fell. Radios became smaller, and with the invention of portable, transistor models
in the mid-1950s, the number of listeners grew quickly. A generation born in
wartime wanted excitement and consumer goods, and in America new radio stations appeared everywhere, offering lively music shows to capture and seduce a
generation of affluent young teenagers. Advertising was an important source of
income, and to create more airtime for publicity slots, radio stations demanded
songs of under three minutes, so musicians began to write short, catchy songs
to capture the listeners’ attention. In Britain, the pattern was repeated. Sales of
popular songs increased, and from 1952 a list of the 12 top-selling singles was
published in the New Musical Express, a British music weekly, and was soon afterwards expanded to the top 20.
Rock ’n’ roll: the coming
In America of the mid-1950s, the dream of a free, prosperous, consumer culture appeared to be coming true. There was full employment, and businesses
were beginning to market their products to affluent teenagers. But many young
people felt a sense of dissatisfaction. Despite material success, America was
almost at war with the Soviet Union, and the political situation was tense and
confused. Many felt contemptuous of the world their parents had created, and
initially found rebellious new heroes in the cinema, where Marlon Brando and
James Dean were playing angry, anti-authoritarian roles in films such as The
Wild One (1953) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955). However, in 1955, the year
of Dean’s death, that rebellion found musical expression in the soundtrack to
Blackboard Jungle, a film about a group of aggressive young High School students.
It was considered a turbulent and shocking movie, but its musical significance
lies in the moment the unknown band of Bill Haley and the Comets assault the
audience with the movie’s theme tune, ‘Rock Around the Clock’. This was rock
’n’ roll, vibrant, spirited and anarchic, and the first song to bring the music to a
mainstream, white audience.
When the film came to Britain, its effect was electrifying. At cinemas around the
country, normally passive audiences jumped and danced to the music, sometimes
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tearing up the seats and becoming violent. When a quickly made movie of the
same name was released in 1956, there were further acts of vandalism in many
cinemas, and police with dogs were sometimes called in to restore order. Several
municipal authorities banned the film, while its apparently diabolic effects on
British youth were discussed in Parliament, police stations, pulpits and the press.
It was as if a Martian spaceship had crashed in London.
The loss of inhibition on the part of many fans, with screaming, vandalism,
violence and some girls wetting the seats, was a deeply disturbing phenomenon
in conservative post-war Britain. It also marked a change in the behaviour of
audiences. No longer did teenagers have to sit passively, and calmly at concerts,
as their parents had done.
The term ‘rock ’n’ roll’ was first used by the American DJ Alan Freed to
describe a cocktail of country music, blues, jazz and gospel music. Its name was
derived from the frequent mention of ‘rock’ and ‘roll’ in the song titles and lyrics,
which in black American-English meant ‘have sex’ or ‘make love’, but its significance was lost on the innocence of the British public. Of similar mystery were
the animal cries and shouts of the alien music: ‘A Wop Bop A Lu Bop, Be Bop A
Lula, Oooooeeeee uh-uh oooooh yeah!’ The public had no understanding of how
they were derived from church service, from speaking in tongues, from spiritual
ecstasy and communion with the Lord. The music critics also had no language
with which to discuss it. There were no previous points of reference, nothing
with which to compare it. But for white British youth beginning to achieve independence in the austerity of 1950s Britain, it contained the promise of freedom,
fun and excitement.
The arrival of rock ’n’ roll had a great effect on British youth culture. Among
the early fans were ‘New Edwardians’, better known as ‘Teddy Boys’ or ‘Teds’.
Their long, elaborate jackets with velvet on the collar and pockets revived a
style cultivated by young male aristocrats during the time of King Edward VII
(1901–10). This was matched with American country-style clothing of ‘bootlace’
ties and narrow ‘drainpipe’ trousers. Brightly coloured socks, heavy suede shoes
with thick rubber soles completed the look, with the hair swept up and back,
heavily greased with Brylcreem. In this way, English tradition was mixed with
American modernity, to create a florid sight in the drab high streets, coffee bars
and cinemas of 1950s Britain.
The Teds disliked conformity and authority, and sometimes there were fights
and acts of vandalism. Their differences in style, in tastes and opinions, and more
visibly in music, clothes and behaviour began to mark what journalists described
as the ‘generation gap’. The popular press such as the News of the World expressed
their moral outrage, and began to associate their rebelliousness with a threat to
society, filling pages with lurid stories of Teddy Boy criminality, vandalism and
stabbings. However, studies showed that in many cases the newspapers printed
exaggerated accounts in order to sell copies to a frightened, uncomprehending
public, for whom youth culture was something new.
British society was still deeply conformist and traditional, and while some were
excited and enthusiastic about the changes taking place, many felt that rock
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’n’ roll and the teenage violence indicated the social order was breaking down,
and the ‘establishment’ was in danger. The BBC did nothing to promote the
new music, and at first the music press was almost as hostile as Parliament and
the Church. In the early 1950s Melody Maker, a leading music weekly, openly
criticised rock ’n’ roll, and defined quality popular music as jazz. Others argued
that popular music was an adolescent pastime, and teenagers would ‘grow out of
it’ by the time they reached 18. In Britain of the mid-1950s, adult behaviour was
expected at age 20, and this meant not buying pop records, which were considered faddish and juvenile.
After Bill Haley other Americans sold millions of records and gained enormous
fame, such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Jerry Lee Lewis, but
few British singers could match their popularity. Those who tried, such as Tommy
Steele, Marty Wilde, and later Cliff Richard and Adam Faith, were not native
speakers of this new musical language. They had little knowledge of the origins
of rhythm and blues, country music and gospel. Instead, the demands of British
show-business softened their song. They removed its sexuality and fire, its drive
and punch, in order to make it commercially acceptable for mainstream British
audiences. Yet, by 1962 rock ’n’ roll was in decline, and many critics wondered if
popular music had a future.
Skiffle
Although the explosive, driving rhythms of rock ’n’ roll were easy to compose,
they were difficult to imitate, as electric instruments and amplification were
still scarce in Britain. Around 1953 an acoustic type of music known as ‘skiffle’
emerged in and around the pubs and clubs of London’s Soho. It was fast, rhythmical, and required a minimum of musical expertise. The instruments were few:
a ‘washboard’ (a type of percussion instrument used to mark time), two acoustic
guitars and an acoustic bass, with the option of a kazoo, a banjo or a piano. Music
was played with few keys and few chords, but the vigorous rhythmic support for
the vocals made it distinctive and infectious.
Like rock ’n’ roll its origins were black and American, and almost anyone
could play it. A DIY musical revolution began, as youths without any musical
knowledge or training picked up an instrument and taught themselves to play.
It was especially popular with young intellectuals in the art schools, who found
its authentic, uncommercial sound an attractive, classless one. The new music
appealed to youths trapped in a rigidly hierarchical Britain, and seemed perfectly
in tune with the post-war plan of both Labour and Conservative governments to
create a more open, equal society.
Its popular influence spread, and stars emerged such as Lonnie Donegan and
Ken Colyer. Donegan’s Rock Island Line (1956) was the first British record to
sell well in America, reaching number 6 in the US charts. At home, the BBC’s
Religious Department authorised a Twentieth Century Folk Mass that included
skiffle music. The Salvation Army had the Hallelujah Skiffle Group, and the
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breakfast cereal Rice Crispies offered a free ‘skiffle whistle’. But proposing the
washboard as a new route to the future of rock ’n’ roll was never taken seriously,
and by 1958 the acoustic music began to disappear in favour of a more exciting,
amplified sound.
The Beatles
Between 1962 and 1964, the cosmopolitan port of Liverpool provided the
focus for an international revolution in pop. Its clubs, coffee bars and dance
halls were already venues for poetry and jazz, and by 1962 a culture of pop
was developing. This involved hundreds of local groups playing a mixture
of blues-influenced pop songs, with aggressive rock ’n’ roll. Few bands survived or progressed from that era, but one became the most famous in the
world – the Beatles.
The history of the Beatles begins with a little-known Liverpool skiffle
band – the Quarrymen – who would later compose and play the most successful music in the history of pop: John Lennon (1940–80), Paul McCartney (b. 1942–), George Harrison (1943–2001) and, by 1962, Ringo Starr
(b. Richard Starkey, 1940–). Earlier the group had played under different
names with different personnel, but inspired by their new manager Brian
Epstein, their fortunes changed. Their first single, ‘Love Me Do’ (1962), was
highly successful, and over the next two years they had several songs that
reached number one in the British music charts, such as ‘She Loves You’, ‘I
Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’.
With their distinctive long hair, white shirts, narrow ties and dark suits,
they mixed charm with cheek. Because they looked and spoke like their
fans, many people identified with them, and they quickly became popular
around Britain. Previously, most pop groups sang versions of well-known
American hits, or used the material of professional songwriters. However,
most Beatles’ songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, with the main
contributor on each song providing the lead vocals. They sang short, sentimental and nostalgic songs, often using slang and imagery from everyday
life, which were combined with folk harmonies in the rhythm and blues style,
from the melancholy of ‘Love Me Do’ to the romance of ‘Do You Want to
Know A Secret?’
In 1963 they were described in the Sunday Times
s as ‘the greatest composers since Beethoven’, and in 1965 they were awarded the MBE by Harold
Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister. Their intense popularity became known
as ‘Beatlemania’, which in the USA was even more fanatical than in Britain,
and in 1966 the outbreaks of public hysteria that accompanied their appearances everywhere led the Beatles to stop touring.
As the group matured, their music became more eclectic. In 1967 the
group released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
d It was a radical
departure from their earlier material. Songs took an affectionate look at an
almost disappeared English popular culture of northern brass bands, musichall entertainers and travelling circus acts. It was also notable for the length
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of songs, which did not conform to the two and a half or three minute format.
Instead, one flowed into the next. Packaging of the record was also innovative, with printed lyrics and an attractive cover designed by the pop artist
Peter Blake. But the music also indicated an interest in drugs and mysticism,
and the band lost many fans. However, its sophistication also found them a
new, more intellectual audience, and marked the arrival of pop music as an
object of serious comment.
The band were still popular and famous, but they were also under pressure. They began to look for more independence, both creatively and personally, and when their manager died in 1967 the band members began to
work separately. By 1970 all members of the group had made solo albums,
and in the same year the Beatles officially broke up, after 15 US and 13 UK
number one albums, and 21 US and 17 UK number one singles.
During their eight years together they created the best-loved body of
song-writing and music in the whole of post-war pop, but after splitting up
they never enjoyed the same level of public acclaim in their varied solo projects. McCartney was the most successful, notably with the band Wings, and
subsequently with numerous varied solo projects. In 2012 he took part in the
opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and continues to make appearances around the world. The author of ‘Yesterday’, one of the most played
songs of the twentieth century, he is possibly the most honoured musician
alive, and was knighted in 1997.
British rhythm and blues
In the early 1960s there were no videos, computers or mobile phones, and there
were only two television channels. Young people created their own entertainment, and this usually demanded innovation in sport, music or fashion. With
relatively few material distractions, it is perhaps unsurprising that many cultural
innovators of the era were aged under 25.
Many British musicians were attracted to black American music: the energy
and emotion of black soul singers such as James Brown, the rhythmic soul-blues
of Ray Charles and the harder, more energetic urban blues of Muddy Waters,
John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf. Several composers began to incorporate
different elements of the music into their own musical repertoires, mixing them
with other influences to produce a new kind of music.
The principal British exponent was Alexis Korner and his band Blues Incorporated, the world’s first white blues group of note. Between 1962 and 1967
they influenced many other emerging British bands, such as the Rolling Stones,
the Animals, the Yardbirds with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, the Spencer Davis
Group with Steve Winwood and Fleetwood Mac. Their style became known as
British ‘rhythm and blues’ (R&B). At first they were seen as exotic musical acts
playing a strange kind of music, but they soon found enthusiastic audiences in
a network of open-air festivals and new clubs around Britain, the most famous
being the Marquee in London’s Wardour Street.
Figure 10.1 A poster for the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival of 1967. By the mid-1960s,
rock bands were displacing jazz combos and beginning to dominate the festival
scene, as the line-up indicates.
© David Christopher
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The Rolling Stones
The most successful and long-lived of the early British R&B groups is the
Rolling Stones. They were formed in 1962 by Mick Jagger (b. 1943), who
abandoned his studies in accountancy at the London School of Economics
to focus on a more colourful career in music. Keith Richards (b. 1943), Brian
Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts joined soon after, replacing other musicians. They began making regular appearances at clubs in and around the
suburb of Richmond, in west London. Their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham,
developed their image as wild, sexy and bohemian, encouraging them to
wear long hair and exotic clothes at a time when most people wore short
hair and dressed modestly.
Their musical influences are various, but have been largely based around
rhythm ’n’ blues, featuring Richards’ Chuck Berry-inspired guitar playing and
Jagger’s blues-influenced vocals. Early material consisted of cover versions of
well-known blues and rock ’n’ roll songs, and were immediately popular. Their
first two albums went to the top of the music charts. Shows were sometimes cancelled, due to high levels of excitement and sometimes riots. But, Oldham was
shrewd enough to realise this would ensure their appeal to a younger audience.
To compete with the Beatles, in 1964 they began writing their own songs,
with Jagger usually composing the lyrics and Richards the music. In 1965
their first number one single in both the UK and America was ‘(I Can’t Get
No) Satisfaction’, which expresses dissatisfaction with consumer culture and
sexual frustration, the song that has since become their signature tune. The
disturbing themes and neurotic rhythms of their early songs (notably on the
album Aftermath
h in 1966) mixed with Jagger’s grimacing, shaking and eroticism provided an explosive combination, and the success was repeated with
the electrifying ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ in 1968.
The band pursued various personal projects, with Jagger acting in several
films. But none were as successful as when together, when the power and
energy of the group at their best established them as an exotic, potent, musical force. However, internally there were divisions. In 1969 Brian Jones left,
and shortly afterwards was found dead in his swimming pool. Mick Taylor
joined the band, but left in 1975 to be replaced by Ronnie Wood, and in 1993
Bill Wyman left, to be replaced by Daryl Jones. Nevertheless, the band has
enjoyed a remarkable stability, which has contributed to continued success;
no other group has had more British or US album hits, and over 50 years
after their formation, their live shows continue to break box-office records
around the world.
Having started out in rhythm and blues, the Stones’ music has widened to
include folk, reggae, dance and world music, with each album connecting with
its era, which has broadened the band’s appeal. They have continued to release
a steady succession of singles and LPs in addition to their own solo projects.
Their most critically praised albums were those of the late 1960s and early
1970s, including Beggars Banquett (1968) and Exile on Main Streett (1972).
From the late 1970s to the present day, spectacular concerts in huge
sports stadiums have become a central part of their career. In the 1990s
this entered a new phase, with touring and concerts on a scale never seen
before in any area of entertainment, which showcased a back catalogue of
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Figure 10.2 Over 50 years after their first gig in London, the Rolling Stones
continue to break records for their performances and record sales.
© epa european pressphoto agency B.V./Alamy
powerful, resonant, nostalgic songs. In 2002, Jagger received a knighthood
for services to the music industry.
In the ‘noughties’ and beyond the band’s allure remains undiminished, especially in their live shows. In 2006 a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio,
Brazil, attracted a crowd estimated at 1.5 million, and the world tour ‘A Bigger
Bang’ grossed over $558 million, a Guinness World Record in 2007. The band’s
distinctive cunnilingual logo of lips and tongue adorns a range of ‘official’ music,
film, media and other products which further extend their appeal, and illustrates
the way in which many established bands have also become brands.
Mods
While the Beatles and the Stones were seducing British audiences with their
shows, soul music (especially from the Tamla Motown label) and Jamaican ska
or ‘bluebeat’ were the main musical styles of black America and the Caribbean.
They all had a strong, regular rhythm and were good records for dancing. Few
bands could play live dance music, so clubs offered recorded music from ‘discs’
and became ‘discothèques’, one of the first being La Discothèque, which opened
in 1964 in London’s Wardour Street.
Until the mid-1960s and the new music shows, black people were rarely seen
on TV. But the gowns and glamour of the Supremes and others was empowering.
It showed how it was possible to be disenfranchised, working class and cool. The
industries of popular culture recognised that a numerically significant section
of the population had money to spend on records and clothes, and worked to
exploit the market. Fashion became democratised, as the ‘canon’ of the couturier
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was challenged by the arrival of the ready-to-wear industry, which mass produced
stylish new clothes at affordable prices.
London was at that time the centre of art, fashion and pop music, in which
the prevailing style was minimal and modernist. For some years a clearly defined,
sartorial look had been developing among small groups of young, aspirational,
fashion-conscious men, known popularly as ‘mods’. The style typically included a
lightweight, continental suit with a three-button, two-vent jacket, narrow trousers, button-collar shirt, narrow tie, zip boots and short hair, with a ‘fishtail’ parka
coat (preferably an ex-US Army M-51) to protect the clothes. For the girls, a
mini-skirt, or short dress, was commonly worn, together with knee-length boots,
heavy, bright make-up, thick mascara and short, straight geometrically cut hair,
which together emphasised sexuality and femininity.
The notion of the ‘ideal’ female body shape was also changing. The voluptuous, feminine curves that had been previously considered the female ideal were
replaced by the slim, skinny look. In a time of liberation, it appeared as if women
were not content merely competing with men in their social and working lives,
but they were now seeking to physically resemble them too. Pioneers of the new
look included Jean Shrimpton (‘the Shrimp’) and the skinny model known simply as ‘Twiggy’, whose innocent, waif-like look became the fashion yardstick.
The mid-1960s was a time of material prosperity, and consumerism was a central element of mod style. One of its most distinctive features was the Vespa or
Lambretta scooter, typically adorned with an abundance of lights and mirrors.
By 1964 it provided many London mods with a way to reach Brighton, a popular
coastal resort that briefly became the location for confrontations with groups of
‘rockers’, a more traditional manifestation of working-class subculture. The rockers’ characteristic symbols of powerful motorcycles, leather jackets, jeans and Brylcreemed hair made them resemble American motorcycle gangs of the early 1950s,
as seen in the American film The Wild One (1953). Mod style, however, was less
traditional and more aspirational, and seemed in opposition to the rockers’ dour,
lumpen, leather-clad resistance. The visual antagonism between the two styles
helped generate sensational newspaper headlines and reports about clashes with
stories so full of apocalyptic hyperbole they seemed to anticipate civil war.
However, studies showed the confrontations to be minor, and that reports
were exaggerated to sell copies to older members of the public, who were anxious
and uncomprehending about the behaviour of young people in a rapidly changing society. Nevertheless, it marked the beginning of a tribalism among British
youth, a fragmenting into different groups with different preferences in music,
clothes, hairstyles and other aspects of consumption, in what became a distinctive characteristic of British society between the 1950s and the 1990s.
Mod style included a fondness for music, mainly jazz, ska and soul, and ownership of the rarest, most desirable records conferred status. The Who and The
Small Faces were two British bands popular with mods. The Who had a reputation as arrogant, angry and unpredictable, and to the delight of their fans, the
band spectacularly smashed their instruments at the end of their shows. ‘My Generation’ (1965) is one of their most famous songs, a violent musical declaration
about the breakdown in communication between younger and older generations.
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John Barry – the sound of the screen
In the early 1960s the new music was beginning to be heard outside the
dance-halls and clubs. In film, new themes and genres were appearing, such
as the realism of the ‘kitchen sink’ dramas, and directors were looking for
contemporary music scores which would suit the story-lines. Until then, film
music was usually classical, symphonic and serious, but this was about to
change for ever as a new generation of composers began to score movies. The most celebrated and influential British exponent of film music is
John Barry, who in his lifetime won five Academy Awards and four Grammy
Awards in America for his work on British and US movies, and is best known
for his work on the James Bond films.
John Barry Prendergast (1933–2011) was born in York, and studied
musical composition at school, which gave him a strong feeling for classical and church music. However, his primary interest was pop, and in the
early 1960s he formed the John Barry Seven, which was based in London.
After some success and several hits, Barry arranged and composed his
first film score for Beat Girl (1960), a youth culture movie set in late 1950s
in Soho. Its main significance is that the music incorporates the energy
and urgency of British pop, with catchy guitar riffs and Barry’s own trumpet solo. It was subsequently released as a film soundtrack LP, the first
ever in the UK, and marked a moment when pop and film became closer
together.
Barry’s father was a cinema manager, and the early experiences at his
side had provided an introduction to films and film music, the background
for his future career. In 1962 he arranged and performed one of the most
famous signature tunes of British film history, the ‘James Bond Theme’, for
the film Dr No (1962). It was composed by the singer Monty Norman, but
Barry had been called in to make changes, and introduced the forceful swagger and swing of the guitar, and the sleazy wailing brass section, to produce
a confident and uplifting tune. It was a combination of pop and jazz played
by a big band, and for the arrangement he received £250. However, he was
retained by the producers Saltzman and Broccoli, and went on to compose
the music score for another ten Bond movies. By the time Goldfinger was
released in 1964, with Welsh singer Shirley Bassey singing the famous title
track, he had perfected the ‘Bond sound’ with its luxurious melodies and
driving brass section.
Barry went on to score many more films with distinctive and memorable
theme tunes. These included Zulu (1964), The Knack (1965), The Ipcress
File (1965), Born Free (1966), The Lion in Winter (1968), Midnight Cowboy
(1969), Out of Africa (1986) and Dances with Wolves (1990), as well as
theme tunes for several TV series, for example The Persuaders (1971) with
Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. The romanticism and melancholic grandeur
which characterises many of his tunes have made him critically acclaimed
as the most outstanding British composer of music for movies. In 1999 he
was awarded an OBE for Services to Music.
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Let’s dance!
During the late 1960s dance music by black musicians continued to grow in
popularity. There were several points of access. The light, amateurish but highly
rhythmical reggae music of the time, and a faster, less vocal version called ‘ska’
both established their popularity. In ska, the rhythms and melodies of reggae were
mixed with the indigenous dance music styles of West Africa and the Caribbean.
Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, Prince Buster and Judge Dread were
among the most representative acts.
The music became fashionable among a minor subculture known as ‘skinheads’,
a subculture that had developed out of the ‘hard mod’ scene. Although they had
initially embraced the West Indian subculture, especially ska music, and identified with its marginality they later became associated with racism and extreme
right-wing politics. With their characteristic shaven heads, and a ‘uniform’ of
button-collar, checked Ben Sherman shirts, braces, tight, short Levi jeans, heavy
boots (ideally 27-hole Doctor Martens) or ‘loafer’ shoes and Harrington jackets,
their displays of aggression in the football stadiums of Britain marked the start
of soccer hooliganism that would blight British football throughout the 1970s.
Skinheads seemed to embody the aggressive attitudes becoming more prevalent in British society as the optimism of the 1960s began to give way to political
polarisation and confrontation. It was a time when the wrong skin colour, the
wrong type of haircut or even liking the wrong type of music or football team
could get a young person into serious trouble with gangs of juvenile delinquents
at a football match, a pub, a shopping centre or a night club. The ‘skins’ gradually disappeared from the football terraces and streets until the early 1980s, when
a brief revival saw ‘neo-skinhead’ bands such as the 4 Skins, Cock Sparrer and
Sham 69 playing punk-inspired rock music. This was part of the ‘Oi’ movement
(‘Oi’ being a shout, like ‘Yo!’), a loose, proletarian, anti-authoritarian alliance
of varied groups in Britain and abroad. But its crude political message of racism,
football hooliganism and street violence was much louder than its artistic one,
and as a musical force and anti-social aberration, it quickly disappeared.
‘Northern soul’ was another important point of access to the black American
dance scene. During the late 1960s fans began to meet in the clubs of towns in
the north of England to collect and dance to black American soul music. However, the most popular songs were not the latest, but those by obscure artists from
earlier in the decade. These were songs recorded before major record companies
signed the artists and changed their style. Interest in the music was heightened
by the rarity of the records, which often reached Britain in the belongings of
American servicemen and students before passing to specialist record shops. Fans
believed these recordings were more authentic and expressive than later, more
commercial material, as they were raw and untutored, being written and sung
‘from the heart’ and not coached and doctored by the major record companies in
order to make them popular with a broader audience of white Americans.
Some soul clubs founded their own record labels to reissue rare records. Special
all-night sessions were organised in which distinctive, acrobatic dancing in stylish baggy clothing was standard. In 1970 the term ‘northern soul’ was first used
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by London record dealers to describe the kind of music popular with a northern
English scene of DJs, collectors and dance fans, reflecting its origins in northern
towns such as Wolverhampton, Stoke, Leeds and Nottingham. Wigan Casino
became the best-known club, its name synonymous with the music of obscure
artists, such as the Pioneers and the Prophets.
In subsequent decades northern soul remained highly popular in the Midlands and
the North. The heartfelt lyrics of the aspirational but oppressed black American singers seemed to resonate with the culture of the northern English working class. However, its records were old and rare so there was no major investment by the record
industry. Consequently it has remained isolated and uninfluential, even though an
enthusiastic group of fans continue to maintain the tradition and ‘keep the faith’.
‘Prog’ and folk
Until the mid-1960s the progression of popular music had been mainly linear, as one
popular style replaced another. However, in the early 1970s it began to fragment and
diversify in a number of different directions. Experimentalism ruled, and the Beatles
had already begun to play with lyrics, sound and song length in ‘progressive’ albums
such as Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper (1967). Following their
example, several other bands rejected the limitations of the three-minute pop song
for the radio and the charts, and wrote longer pieces for release on lengthy concept albums, such as Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Yes, Genesis and Emerson, Lake &
Palmer. Songs sometimes lasted 20 minutes, and featured extended guitar and drum
solos, tricky chord progressions performed on several Mellotron keyboards, pompous
lyrics, extravagant costumes, grand orchestration and pretensions towards classical
music. On stage, the performers seemed to enjoy themselves more than the audience, who usually sat on the floor in silence, with their eyes shut. Rick Wakeman’s
Myths and Legends of King Arthur (1975) is a typical example, which sold 12 million copies, and then was performed live on ice. ‘Prog’ album sleeves were similarly
extravagant. The most celebrated were by the graphic design team of Hipgnosis, or
featured illustrations of mystical landscapes by artist Roger Dean.
The music found a keen and loyal following, mainly among students in colleges, art schools and universities. But prog rock divided the critics. For some, it
was original, skilful and uncompromising, while for others it was pompous, excessive, extravagant, indulgent and ultimately boring.
Elsewhere in the music scene, groups such as Cream, Led Zeppelin, Deep
Purple and Black Sabbath founded a related style of ‘heavy’ rock. Like prog, it
contained elements of fantasy, but was guitar based. Guitar sounds had evolved
from being sweet and clean in the 1950s and 1960s to a dirtier, distorted, louder
and more aggressive sound in the 1970s. Riffs were often produced by a power
trio, and combined with screaming vocals and thunderous bass and drums. The
sound quickly proved popular, and influenced a wide range of bands, such as Judas
Priest, Iron Maiden and Uriah Heep, whose work contributed to the growth of
many subdivisions of ‘metallic’ music which today number around 30.
Heavy bands were popular with ‘hippies’, a young and mainly middle-class
subculture, who conspicuously rejected conventional ideas and lifestyles. Instead,
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they experimented with alternative ways of living, based on ideas about peace
and love, which had gained traction on America’s west coast. By 1967 this trend
had spread to London. While the aspirational mods of the 1960s had dressed
to impress, most hippies shunned aspiration, and ‘straight’ conventional society.
Being anti-materialist and anti-urban, hippies celebrated the countryside and
sites of mystic importance. A free festival scene was developing, a natural gathering place for bands, the sale of natural foods, unnatural drugs, and the propagation of myths and legends. The image was often a flamboyant, feminised one,
featuring exotic Asian clothing, often mixed nostalgically with items of dress
from earlier in the century, such as waistcoats. Long hair, sandals and faded jeans
were also common elements of a unisex ‘look’, which many older people found
decadent and provocative.
The simplicity and purity of folk music also appealed to those seeking an attractive alternative to the increasingly commercial nature of rock. Groups such as
Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne, Steeleye Span and the Albion Country Band
helped to develop the folk-rock genre. They played numerous small festivals and
events, held quietly and discreetly as part of a developing ‘underground’ culture,
which functioned outside the commercial mainstream. They rarely appealed to a
mass audience, and for many of their fans this helped to maintain their attraction.
All that glitters . . .
Folk in Britain had a reputation for being an earnest musical form, which during
the 1950s and 1960s had been popular with left-wing students, bohemians and
Irish expatriates. But in Britain of the late 1960s, many young people craved
excitement, glamour and thrills from their popular music. By 1970 a new way forward had been proposed, which involved combining elements of folk music and
electric pop. Some of the earliest exponents were Marc Bolan and David Bowie.
After a period of dabbling in mystical folk fantasies at ‘underground’ clubs and
festivals, in 1971 Bolan picked up an electric guitar and formed the rock group T.
Rex, aiming to produce more commercially oriented music. Wearing glitter and
make-up while singing songs with childish rhymes and sexually suggestive lyrics,
young fans found him daring and provocative, which ensured maximum publicity
for the band. Between 1971 and 1973 they had a succession of hit singles, such as
‘Ride a White Swan’, ‘Hot Love’, ‘Get it On’ and ‘Jeepster’. Their music had an
exotic, exciting sound, and was delivered in a brash celebration of hedonism and
sexuality, perfectly in tune with the tenor of the times.
The new feminine influences reflected the changes taking place in society,
where the women’s liberation movement and the gay liberation movement were
making people more aware of difference and the need for greater tolerance. For
the first time, self-identity was becoming self-determined; that is, it was becoming possible not just for performers to choose new identities, but for fans too, and
many began dressing up in the style of their heroes. The public found it shocking,
but the music industry quickly realised that dressing and behaving in a sexually
ambiguous manner was an easy way to get publicity for their artists. A cavalcade
of glam bands followed, dressed in satin and turkey-foil jumpsuits. The Sweet,
Popular music and fashion
245
Figure 10.3 Fashionable footwear for the man-about-town, c. 1973. Boots for the stage
went several inches higher.
© David Christopher
Mud and the Bay City Rollers were among the first to cultivate a theatrical,
androgynous ‘look’. An outbreak of working-class flash followed, as fans began to
imitate their heroes, wearing make-up, glitter, velvet and ludicrously high platform shoes. Concerts began to resemble fashion shows, as performers and fans
competed with one another for the most outrageous look.
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The glamorous, theatrical style (or lumpen fad, depending on the point of
view) was popularly known as ‘glam’ rock. Although there was little musical
unity among its exponents, the strong, rhythmic beat and the ‘sing-along’ football-chant choruses of Slade, the lyrical simplicity of Elton John, the heavy rock
showmanship of Queen, and the avant-garde pop-rock experimentalism of Roxy
Music were all received enthusiastically by millions of fans, in an era that saw
style and presentation become as important as musical content and ability. However, many music critics were less enthusiastic. Bands who released only LPs were
considered innately superior to those who released singles, and they saw the new
glam rock fad as vulgar, ostentatious and highly commercial: a victory of artifice
over art.
David Bowie
One of the most enduring and influential performers to emerge from this
period is David Bowie (b. David Jones, 1947), a singer, songwriter and guitarist who has become one of the most successful, controversial and influential of British musicians. He came into music from dance and drama, and
after leading several modest rock bands, he began as a solo artist. In 1969,
when the world was fascinated by the Apollo moon mission, he had his first
major success with ‘Space Oddity’, a dreamy, folk-inspired song about a
mission to escape from Earth. It also marked the projection of his songs
through different stage characters, beginning with the astronaut Major Tom.
Bowie became interested in the music of American singers Lou Reed
and Iggy Pop, and at the same time began to introduce more shocking and
theatrical elements into his own performances. In 1971 he changed to a
heavier rock sound for the album The Man Who Sold the World.
d To publicise it, he wore glitter, make-up, nail polish and even a dress, to create an
androgynous new identity; a provocative statement of style in Britain of the
early 1970s. Shortly afterwards he made The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
and the Spiders from Marss (1972), a loosely sequenced concept album of
dystopian songs about a mythical pop star from space, delivered in a conventional rock ’n’ roll style.
The shows that promoted it in 1972–73 were the most elaborate ever seen
on a British stage. Bowie dressed up theatrically with make-up and Japanese
Kabuki clothes, to deliver high-energy performances. Assisted by the ‘Spiders
from Mars’, a three-piece rock band from Hull, Bowie frequently shared the
spotlight with guitarist Mick Ronson in some of the concerts for which the former is best remembered. The shows attracted attention and notoriety wherever the band went. Until then, no band had dared to wear make-up or adopt
such an outrageous look, and public discussion of sexuality was off-limits.
The Ziggy
y album made Bowie famous, before his sudden abandonment of
the image and the band, in a dramatic final concert in London in 1973. Later
came Aladdin Sane
e (1973), an album that suggested imminent nuclear war,
and Diamond Dogss (1974), a dark album about an Orwellian nightmare future,
released at a time when the future of the UK itself seemed to be in doubt.
He also began a career as an actor, appearing in plays and films, the most
critically acclaimed being The Man Who Fell to Earth
h (1976). His subsequent
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musical career has been marked by continual reinvention and innovation,
although some moves initially alienated his fans. In 1975, Bowie attempted
to seduce the American market with the single ‘Fame’ and the subsequent
soul-inspired album Young Americans.
s However, this lost him many British
fans, who found the switch from Ziggy to ‘soul boy’ confusing. In turn, American audiences were alienated by his Berlin-recorded albums Low
w (1977),
Heroess (1977) and Lodgerr (1979), although they were well received in
Britain. During the 1980s international success returned with several hit singles including Ashes to Ashess (1980), Under Pressure
e (with Queen, 1981)
and Let’s Dance
e (1983). His style continued to evolve, and the 1980s and
1990s included experimental formations such as the heavy, industrial sound
of Tin Machine (1988–92).
Rejecting the system of royal honours, Bowie declined a CBE in 2000
and a knighthood in 2003, and in recent times has become more reclusive,
and has not performed live since 2006. During his absence he has grown
more famous than ever, and become critically respected as an original and
influential performer, who during the past 40 years has changed styles of
music, stage presentation, fashion, as well as giving confidence to millions
of gay fans and performers to express themselves. His album The Next Day
was released in 2013 to critical acclaim, and takes the sale of his albums to
an estimated 140 million worldwide. In the UK, he has been awarded nine
Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five
Platinum and seven Gold certifications.
1976: year zero
In the mid-1970s young people were living in a very different way to the older generation, having grown up with levels of freedom, independence and consumerism
that had been unimaginable to their parents. There was not only a gap between
the generations but also divisions within the younger one. Despite the women’s
liberation movement and a trend towards greater equality in the work place,
popular music was still male dominated. Moreover, ideas about race, which in the
late 1960s had seemed to be disappearing, had also re-formed, and tension was
increasing in the major cities.
Problems were not only social, but economic too, with strikes, inflation and
high youth unemployment. Violence at the Notting Hill Carnival, in industrial
disputes in factories, mines and mills nationwide and on the football terraces,
all indicated growing political polarisation. Many young people were frustrated,
not only with their prospects, but with the music scene in general. Fans had
grown bored and alienated from the repetition and elitism of prog rock, and the
saccharine sweet commercial sounds of black America on Top of the Pops. Glam
was burning out, while Bowie, the Stones and others had become remote and
detached from the mainstream, or lived in self-imposed tax exile.
Despite the elitism in music, criticism had become serious and deferential, and
few journalists dared to speak out against the pop and rock ‘establishment’. Articles in the music press such as Sounds, New Musical Express, Melody Maker and
Time Out, emphasised virtuoso musicianship and songwriting in reviews which
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Figure 10.4 A commemorative plaque in Heddon St., London marks the location of the
cover photo for the iconic Ziggy Stardust album.
© David Christopher
were becoming as literary as they were sycophantic. But, a young generation was
growing bored with the elevation of music into a ‘high’ art form. It was a mighty
long way from rock ’n’ roll.
The response was a fundamentalist revival, as some British musicians began
to revive the honesty and simplicity of styles from the 1950s and early 1960s.
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They played short, fast three-minute songs in a mixture of R&B, rock ’n’ roll and
American country music in small pubs and clubs in London. At that time, pubs
were often unattractive places where men went to escape from the routines of
family life. It was a place to brag and booze, but a few in London went further,
and offered live music, such as the Hope and Anchor in Islington, and the Greyhound in Barons Court. The small venues broke down barriers between the musicians and audience, so everyone felt a part of the show, and a circuit developed of
small pubs, clubs and colleges.
Soon, there was a DIY movement of young groups such as the Stranglers, Eddie
and the Hot Rods, Ian Dury’s Kilburn and the High Roads, and Brinsley Schwarz.
Songs were about life on London streets, rather than those of Memphis, and
singers sang with London accents, instead of the ersatz American ones that had
become popular elsewhere in rock. Their enthusiasm, energy and attitude made
many established groups appear even more tired and decadent.
The most successful and long-lived band from the pub rock scene was Dr Feelgood. With a 1960s ‘mod’ look, they played a fast, urgent mixture of R&B and
rock ’n’ roll. Their music was elemental and electrifying, with the manic guitarist
Wilko Johnson supplying the current and singer Lee Brilleaux connecting with
the audience. Their first album Down by the Jetty (1975) provided the sonic template for what was to follow.
The Sex Pistols
The original Sex Pistols were Johnny Rotten (b. John Lydon, 1956) on vocals,
Steve Jones on guitar, Glen Matlock on bass and Paul Cook on drums. They
were managed by Malcolm McLaren, a British businessman and showman who
had worked in America, where he had seen bands whose only aim was to shock
the audience and become notorious, so that people would pay to see them.
In the mid-1970s McLaren’s partner Vivienne Westwood was producing
items of clothing for their boutique Sex in London’s King’s Road, such as
bondage and fetish fashions, dog collars, torn, dyed T-shirts and armbands
with swastika symbols. The band began wearing the adornments, and the
punk look was born. Together, the familiar iconography expressed a foreign
message, which simultaneously confused and fascinated.
The mid-1970s was a time when people were still largely defined by the
clothes they wore, and in some places, even just a leather motorbike jacket
was still enough to suggest deviancy. Dressed in tatty leather jackets, torn
clothing from the boutique, adorned with safety-pins, zips, clips, studs and
chains, with spiked, brightly dyed hair and an occasional regimental tie, the
punk ‘look’ was unisex, unique and provocative, simultaneously suggesting
eccentricity and perversion. The look was quickly adopted by fans around
the country, and when girls appeared wearing a dog collar and torn tights,
many older citizens found it deeply disturbing, and felt both hostile and sympathetic in equal measure.
In 1976 the Sex Pistols had their first recording contract with EMI, one
of Britain’s oldest and most conservative record labels, and released their
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Figure 10.5 A Sex Pistols tour poster from 1976 – many gigs were cancelled by the
local authorities.
© David Christopher
debut single, ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Their music was loud, primal and hostile.
It consisted of short guitar solos, repeated chords, a heavily distorted sound
and defiant, abrupt endings. Songs were delivered with energy and fire, in a
Cockney accent infused with insults and rejections, volcanically released in
a tone of bored sarcasm.
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There were no feminine clothes or fake American accents, no 12-bar
blues or virtuosity, and the scene was largely an underground one, only
covered by New Musical Expresss and Melody Makerr. Boys from council
estates shouting their truth in London accents was revolutionary in mid1970s Britain.
The band was created to attract attention and publicity off stage, as well
as on it, and following a television appearance in which they swore and
abused the presenter Bill Grundy, EMI sacked them. A tour followed, but
many municipal authorities cancelled concerts, allegedly to ‘protect’ local
people. A new bass player Sid Vicious (b. John Ritchie, 1957) arrived to
replace Matlock. Vicious was a disturbed youth whose anti-social behaviour
of vomiting, drug taking and assaults were encouraged to gain publicity.
The group found a new recording contract with A&M Records, and in the
Silver Jubilee year of 1977, amid street parties, bunting and cheap souvenirs
they released their biggest-selling single, ‘God Save the Queen’, which was
banned by the BBC and independent broadcasters. However, it still reached
number two in the music charts, and was followed by ‘Holidays in the Sun’,
‘Pretty Vacant’ and the album Never Mind the Bollocks
s, which went to number one in the album charts in 1977.
Next came a tour of the USA, but internal problems saw Rotten and
Vicious leave the group. This was followed by tragedy in 1979, when Vicious
died of a heroin overdose following the alleged murder of his girlfriend.
The group was finished and never recorded again. McLaren subsequently
organised a biographical feature film The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle
e (Julien
Temple, 1980), which featured the fugitive Ronnie Biggs. Following imprisonment for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, Biggs had escaped and
fled to Brazil where he remained in exile. Meanwhile, Rotten went on to a
new musical career with the band Public Image Limited (PIL), while the other
members disappeared from the music scene, as punk became mainstream
and lost its power to shock.
During their brief period of fame they recorded only 25 songs which
appeared on just five singles and one album in the United Kingdom. During
their time together the Sex Pistols illuminated the face of white pop, and their
influence has been enduring.
The filth and the fury
The Sex Pistols had shown the way forward. Amid the growing sense of apocalypse, appearing as a degenerate seemed an entirely appropriate response. Youth
around Britain embraced its anti-superstar and anti-establishment DIY ethic, and
often without any musical training began to form and play, taking comic, selfdeprecating stage names, such as Captain Sensible and Gaye Advert. During late
1976 many new groups emerged, such as the Damned, the Clash, the Jam, the
Stranglers, the Buzzcocks and others. Despite having stylistic differences, they
all played with speed, energy and a raw, untutored sound in deliberately off-key
songs, sung loud and short.
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It also quickly spread from London to the regions, as British working-class
black and Asian youths were given the confidence to ‘have a go’ and express
themselves on their own musical terms, rather than how they were instructed to
by music teachers.
Even though a few punk bands had female singers, such as Siouxsie and the
Banshees and X-Ray Spex, there was also one all-girl band: the Slits. Although
they were not openly feminist, their music was not aggressive, macho punk, but
more complex in sound and rhythm. In 1977 this was considered brave and shocking, and just as women were beginning to compete with men in many other maledominated fields, their intimidating stage presence challenged the traditional
role of women in pop as background vocalists or suave, seductive temptresses.
Audience participation was as energetic as the performances, with fans ‘pogoing’, that is, jumping up and down uncreatively but energetically, and spitting on
performers in an inverted act of appreciation intended to replace applause, even
though no one liked it and it quickly died out.
Mainstream society was shocked by the punk style and attitude; as with the arrival
of rock ’n’ roll, there was nothing to compare it with, no previous points of reference.
The signs and symbols of punk did not speak a familiar language. But to many bored,
unemployed teenagers leading dull suburban lives, it was a call to arms, and gave succour to the culturally anomic. The world outside watched with horrified fascination.
For a short time it seemed the fans were in charge of music and the music
industry, as the DIY ethic of punk helped to create a new, alternative pop culture, consisting of small independent record companies and distributors, graphics
companies, magazines, fanzines, fashion designers and journalists, who supported
the kinds of music and fashions which the commercial mainstream would not
consider. However, the major record companies soon realised the potential of
punk and began to sign bands while softening their style to make them more
commercially acceptable for a wider public. Marketing also became more sophisticated, with coloured vinyl, picture discs, extra tracks and numbered, limited
editions. Moreover, in the early 1980s the music video channel MTV arrived. On
the one hand, it helped spread music internationally to an affluent commercial
mainstream. But, on the other, it brought demands for the right clothes, haircuts,
moves and make-up, as the music increasingly became a soundtrack to the video.
As the values and demands of business and commerce combined to weaken the
communal ethos of punk, by the early 1980s many bands had lost their originality
and power to shock. Punk became mainstream, the total antithesis of everything
it stood for. But it stimulated people’s creativity and encouraged them to ‘have
a go’ and be independent. It also encouraged critical thought about music, art,
fashion and clothes in a way not seen before in Britain, as well as an extensive
body of writing about the phenomena itself.
Post-punk
By 1980, new political questions were emerging, such as the politics of racism,
as Afro-Caribbean communities struggled for acceptance and racial equality, and
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reggae music became the new symbol of political difference, defiance and alterity.
Like punk, it expressed a symbolic challenge to the politics of the new Thatcher
government, and a rejection of the right-wing racism of the National Front (NF).
Bands including the Clash, the Police, PIL and the Gang of Four all recorded reggae songs, while reggae icon Bob Marley wrote an amusing tribute to punk with
‘Punky Reggae Party’.
The fusion of styles continued, as several mixed-race bands formed to play the
popular mixture of pop and reggae known as ‘ska’. This was the Two Tone movement, a political pop whose message was anti-racism and anti-Thatcher. Between
1979 and 1982, the Selecter, the Specials, the Beat, Madness and UB40 expressed
a defiant musical manifesto and gave their support to the growing Rock Against
Racism movement, which had been organised by the Socialist Workers’ Party in
1976 to fight discrimination. The bands appeared in numerous free public carnivals, often encouraging the audience to join them onstage in a gesture which
embraced black, white, male and female musicians and subcultures, and helped different forms of music to become established in Britain. The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’
of 1981 is a mix of melancholy, restlessness and menace, in a year of confrontation
and riots.
The DIY ethic that had started with punk led to more independent record
labels. This meant the production and distribution of music was now in independent hands, rather than a large corporate organisation. There was no advertising or ‘plugging’ and the radio stations had to go to the labels to get records,
rather than the opposite. The ethos of the label was important, and making
money came second to making good music. Factory Records in Manchester
showed the way forward, while Zoo in Liverpool, Good Vibrations in Belfast
and Postcard Records in Glasgow all helped bands around the country to record
and develop.
A desire for honesty and authenticity in music led to renewed interest in folk
music. An Irish band, the Pogues, brought a mixture of Irish folk and punk to
new audiences in open-air festivals, clubs and concerts. Clannad fused Irish folk
with New Age music to create a new musical form. British audiences also began
to discover New Age music, which was arriving from the USA, and whose repetitive and relaxing rhythms found appreciative audiences at the World of Music
and Dance (WOMAD) Festival, started in 1982 by the rock musician Peter
Gabriel to promote Anglo-Celtic and world music. During the 1980s and 1990s
the WOMAD Festival grew in size and popularity, becoming a mainstream event
from a small, marginal one, as world music embracing such diverse forms as Gregorian chants, African drums and Mayan humming began to represent authentic
alternatives to the dominant commercial forms of dance and pop.
Club and street mix
In the mid-1970s, the music scene was dominated by several different ‘tribes’. The
audiences for punk and reggae had briefly straddled all classes and backgrounds,
while the heavy and progressive bands were still followed mainly by middle-class
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students, and dance music was still bought mostly by working-class audiences.
Dance was the best-selling music, and the venue for dancing was still the conservative atmosphere of the discothèque, amid an excess of chrome, spotlights
and an enforced dress code of ties, collars and ‘no trainers’. Inside, the clubbers
ignored the musical rebellion taking place elsewhere in pop, preferring instead
the conformist aspiration and romance of American soul, Tamla Motown, and
the disco music of the Bee Gees, whose soundtrack to the film Saturday Night
Fever (1977) had dominated the charts.
But a new musical direction was evolving, which would take pop into previously
uncharted territory using a new electronic keyboard instrument, the synthesiser.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s the new techniques of music production
were assimilated into British pop by Visage, Gary Numan, Heaven 17, Spandau
Ballet, Duran Duran, Human League, OMD, Depeche Mode and others, who used
synthesisers and tapes to make restrained, refined, futuristic pop and dance music,
while songs and music videos celebrated hedonism, status and success. The gender-bending explorations of appearance pioneered in the wake of Bowie and glam
were fused with the fashions of 1920s America: heavy, pale make-up, shoulder
pads, baggy trousers, braces, brogues, with quiffs and mullets completing the look.
Glamour replaced the grubbiness of punk, as ostentation, decadent dressing and
cool, detached posing became central elements of style for bands and their fans.
The camp and androgynous look was epitomised by Boy George, but despite its
air of elitism, it was a scene accessible to all, and while Bowie looked like an alien
from Mars, Boy George was always the safe and ordinary ‘boy next door’.
With its references to elitism and America, the New Romantics were perfectly
in tune with the politics of the time. A Tory government had just been elected,
there had been a massively popular royal wedding and the country was fascinated
by upper-class living. But, unlike other recent pop movements there was no anger
or political message, just a chilly detached, entrepreneurialism, made even cooler
by the cold electronic neutrality of synthesised sound. This also appealed to goth
bands such as the Cure and Bauhaus, whose alienated, misunderstood attitude
and dark lyrics were a counterpoint to the brashness of new romanticism.
Even though many ‘new-ro’ bands were short-lived, their impact on popular
music was influential. They created a fusion between the music and fashions of
disco, pop and rock between 1979 and 1983. They also made it more acceptable
for the openly gay bands who were to follow, such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood
and Bronski Beat. However, their confidence was tempered by an awareness of
AIDS among the gay community, which was becoming apparent by 1982 when
Terrence Higgins became the first person in Britain to die from what was then
called ‘gay-related immune deficiency’.
The politics of dancing
By 1984, the music scene was still divided and tribal. In the year of the lengthy
miners’ strike, what people read, watched and listened to gave clear indications
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about whose side they were on. In contrast to the conservatism of the new
romantics, an alliance of left-wing musicians called Red Wedge loudly voiced
its opposition to Thatcherism. Billy Bragg, the Style Council, along with ska
and reggae bands such as the Specials, and those working with independent
record labels, for example Rough Trade (a workers’ co-operative), all promoted
an anti-Thatcher message. British arts, culture and society were still sharply
polarised, and the thunderous, sonic Armageddon of ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankie
Goes to Hollywood, which seemed to sum up a divided Britain, was number one
for nine weeks.
Dance music had been essentially conformist and conservative, but in America, new, more challenging forms were emerging. One was ‘scratching’, where
DJs manually turned vinyl discs to and fro, to create ‘scratched’ amplified sounds,
which were then used to make new musical mixes. Another was ‘sampling’,
involving the use of a sampler machine to record and mix musical extracts from
different records to produce new sonic collages. Meanwhile, for those with attitude and energy, there was ‘rap’ – a form of public poetry that originated in New
York and Chicago, which involved performers loudly declaiming their angry messages over tracks of ‘borrowed’ music. The main effect of the new trends was a
transfer of power, from professional songwriters and musicians, to those with the
knowledge to mix and manipulate diverse sounds and sources. Some critics called
them ‘sonic outlaws’ who stole and copied other people’s music, while others
defended their right to make ‘fair use’ of existing material.
In the hands of British musical entrepreneurs dance music was repositioned,
shifting away from its commercial, conformist origins to a more underground
and subversive form, particularly with ‘house’ music, which mixed 1970s discofunk with a minimal, gospel-style vocal, together with a heavy bass and drum
sound. The absence of any clear lyrics removed any political message, leaving
it perfectly adapted for wild, high-energy (Hi-NRG) dancing by a hedonistic,
apolitical youth.
Since the 1960s the Spanish island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea has
been a popular destination for British tourists. But in the summer of 1988 its
fine historic buildings and sandy beaches became the venue for large improvised parties featuring ecstatic, non-stop dancing en masse. It became popularly
known as the ‘Summer of Love’, as thousands attended the open-air parties. The
events marked the beginning of the so-called ‘acid house’ movement, created
after the coming together of house music and the drug ecstasy, a type of amphetamine commonly known as ‘acid’ (not LSD). For many fans they were central
elements in an emergent subculture. Revellers favoured the more relaxed dress
code of baggy clothes, dungarees and informal beach wear, often adorned with a
‘smiley’ motif. The music was equally eclectic, and included dub, rap, rock and
house music, together with electronic influences from diverse parts of Europe.
Among the most representative were the ‘techno’ anthems of Cabaret Voltaire,
Kraftwerk, Adamski and 2Unlimited, which were enjoyed in a dancing frenzy of
apolitical hedonism.
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The new possibilities of electronic music permitted a rapid multiplication into
varied sub-genres, with techno one of the most common. Intense, hypnotic and
ear-splitting, it was the punk rock of dance, whose hard, repetitive, electronic
sounds featured futuristic electronic ‘bleeps’ and an industrial-strength bass. The
mix involved sampling, hip-hop, rap and other styles, but the most distinctive
feature was its rhythm, supplied at a breakneck 124–35 bpm (beats per minute),
compared with the usual 120 bpm or less for house and other kinds of dance
music.
In 1991 the Ministry of Sound, a south London club, began promoting acid
house in the UK. It was an inversion of the capitalist ethos promoted by the Tory
government, as an oppositional counter-culture began to use business methods
to promote itself. However, fans wanted larger, more informal gatherings as they
had in Ibiza, but official permission was impossible to obtain. So other venues
were found, such as empty warehouses and other buildings near London’s M25
orbital road. Inside, ‘warehouse parties’ or ‘raves’ were held, with crowds dancing for several days and nights, until they were closed by the police. In 1994 the
law moved to prevent them with the Criminal Justice Act. However, its effect
was to unite thousands of young people against the government, as alternative
lifestyles of all kinds came under legal attack or were made criminal. In effect,
dancing had become a political act, a gesture of protest and defiance, which
united millions against the Tory government, and hastened their demise in the
election of 1997.
In spite of the opposition, and perhaps because of it, dance music continued
to dominate the mid-1990s in a range of diverse styles, including the speed and
darkness of ‘hard-core’, the emphatic drums and bass of ‘jungle’, the dreamy, New
Age spiritual sound of ‘Goa trance’ and the soulful sensuality of ‘garage’. Even the
American ‘easy listening’ music was rediscovered, as the mellow, relaxed sounds
of Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick and others became fashionable again, as an
antidote to the aggression of house and its many varieties.
In Britain’s cities there was also growing interest in Asian dance music known
as bhangra, which originated in the late 1980s and fused Asian folk music from
the Punjab region of India with the synthesisers and bass of Western hip-hop,
reggae and techno music. Its cocktail of influences seemed to reflect the dual
identity felt by British Asians, many of whom have grown up with access to two
or more cultures. But it also found an audience among young, white British, who
were attracted by its exotic, mystical nature. A decade later, the new BritishAsian music, like house before it, had begun to fragment into different styles,
with its own specialist labels such as Outcaste and Nation, and with its own
established bands such as Apache Indian and Cornershop, the result of a process
of evolution, adaptation and cross-fertilisation. So much so that by the mid-1990s
British music reflected the cultural scene as a whole: fragmented, diverse and
international, yet with a collectivism at its core that had been absent throughout
the 1980s.
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Figure 10.6 Record sleeves – the working man’s art collection. Records are popular with
collectors, and some artists still release their work in vinyl as well as in digital
formats.
© David Christopher
Britpop
By the early 1990s white British pop-rock had fused with acid house in music by
Primal Scream, the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. Politically inspired
bands such as Crass and the Levellers continued to express their angry opposition
to authority in general and the Tory Party in particular, with an alternative manifestation of hippy ideals: vegetarianism, crustiness, communes and squatting.
Other, more refined expressions of anger came from Billy Bragg and Paul Weller,
who supported numerous socialist causes with ‘benefit’ concerts and fund-raising
projects.
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But in the pubs and clubs of London and Manchester a new scene was developing, with a distinctively English sound. In contrast to the exoticism of acid
and techno, it was an honest expression of the modest, everyday and homegrown, from guitar bands who acknowledged their musical roots. In London,
Suede and Blur were in the forefront, two bands clearly influenced by popular
British groups of the 1960s such as the Small Faces, the Kinks and early David
Bowie. In Manchester, the Gallagher brothers Noel and Liam had formed Oasis,
and influenced by the Beatles and the Sex Pistols they wrote lively, catchy
songs to create a wall of sound. Oasis’s first album Definitely Maybe (1994) and
Blur’s Parklife (1994) outlined the territory that would soon be known as ‘Britpop’. Blur’s self-effacing, doggedly British character and cartoonish depictions
of familiar aspects of suburban life were sung in a satirical cockney drawl, most
notably on the title track of Parklife, whose spoken verses were inspired by the
Martin Amis novel London Fields. The album made it cool to be working class
again.
A year later new bands such as Supergrass, Pulp, Menswear, the Verve and
Radiohead helped to shape the new sound of British pop in a mainstream movement which, fuelled by the north–south rivalry between Oasis and Blur, was
covered on a daily basis by the mass media. A new cultural confidence was developing across the arts.
Developments in pop were accompanied by new trends in fashion, film and
other popular arts. Celebrated, iconic British imagery was in vogue, often coinciding with that worn by the mods of the 1960s; the circular RAF ‘target’ logo,
the ‘parka’ coat, the finely cut suit, Fred Perry sportswear and long-collared Ben
Sherman shirts were all part of the almost fetishistic style. Even the Union Flag
design was appropriated in clothing, on guitars, and as an upholstery pattern in
creations by Paul Smith and others. British fashion designers such as Paul Smith,
Oswald Boateng, Wayne Hemingway, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood became household names, as smartly dressed men began stylishly to sport
the best of British labels, often encouraged by newly launched men’s magazines
such as Loaded.
When Oasis played at Knebworth in 1996, 2.5 million people, or around 5 per
cent of the population, applied for tickets. In the same year, England hosted the
Euro ’96 football tournament, and fielded one of the most characterful national
teams for some years. The mass appeal of pop music and football contributed to
a renewal of interest in British popular culture; football came home, pop and
fashion were celebrating Britishness, the British film industry was buoyant, new
British artists were capturing public attention, and the press and style magazines
began to talk of ‘Cool Britannia’.
But critical opinion was divided. Some remarked that, at its best, the music
of the period sounded like all the greatest British rock music produced during
the previous 40 years, while others were less generous, criticising the ‘nostalgic
reworkings’ of earlier bands as shameless imitations, and Britpop as a branch of
the heritage industry. They also described it as conservative, insular, parochial,
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self-conscious and derived. However, the public loved it, and it became a musical
soundtrack to the cultural and political renewal of the late 1990s, a time when
the USA had ceased to be a significant influence, and Britain stood proud in
splendid isolation musically, creatively and culturally.
2000–present
Post-2000, a new mood began to take hold in society. It was a time of rising
incomes, easy credit and full employment. The traditional class divisions were
disappearing, as the kind of society that produced them had largely disappeared
too, particularly with the decline of manufacturing and heavy industry and the
manual labour it required. In its place, a more entrepreneurial service industry
emerged, dominated by financial and retail and organisations in which women
were able to work on more equal terms with men.
However, Britain had become a far less collectivist culture, with a greater individualism and pluralism of attitudes, values and ways of life. It was also a society of
greater divisions between rich and poor, in which a residual, fragmented underclass
of unskilled black, white and Asian youth mainly in the urban areas of the big cities
had been left behind and ignored as industry withdrew. The main consequence for
music was that there were no dominant social forces to provide a creative stimulus.
Even when the recession of 2007–08 hit, none emerged from a diverse and differentiated society to provide the inspiration for strong creative musical currents.
Digital communications and the internet have made the current situation more
complex. They have made it possible for every bedroom to become a recording
studio and distribution centre, where music can be created and posted online,
removing the industry’s ‘middle-men’. On the one hand, this has made it easier
for many artists to make and distribute music but, on the other hand, it is harder
for a single, defining movement to emerge which catches the spirit of the times.
The lack of any contemporary movements in pop has created a vacuum that
is currently filled by various strands of highly commercial pop acts, as well as
established performers from the past. TV talent shows have been a significant
influence on this context. Their ‘rags to riches’ narratives of instant fame and
celebrity chimed with the times. Popstars (ITV, 2001), The X Factor (ITV, 2004–),
Britain’s Got Talent (ITV, 2007–) and several others offer children and young
adults the chance to win a large cash prize, a recording contract and instant
fame, with the public voting for their favourite performers. The shows have been
highly successful, with audiences of up to 16 million watching the final rounds;
almost a quarter of the British population. New acts in this respect have included
Hear’Say, Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis and One Direction, the last of the these the
most successful British boy band, with an 1980s teen pop sound and 20 million
followers on Twitter.
Professional musicians are critical of the shows, arguing the chart presence
of winners’ songs prevents the breakthrough of new bands. It also stifles creativity, as the public become accustomed to watching the kind of mainstream
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entertainment that the shows provide, and critical of anything more challenging.
On the other hand, talent shows are said to provide a communal musical experience for all the family, which is increasingly rare in an age of digital entertainments when pleasures tend to be more solitary.
Apart from the overtly commercial influences of boy bands and talent competitions, other strands of music making demonstrate strong retro influences with
a revival of post-punk in the music of Franz Ferdinand and the Libertines. More
established artists such as the Verve, Radiohead and Coldplay tended towards
calm, more introspective styles. The latter became the most commercially successful band of the decade, while Robbie Williams’s achievements in successive
Brit Awards have made him one of the most popular and honoured British singers
for many years.
Meanwhile, long-established musicians such as Elton John, David Bowie,
Sting, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones were all writing and performing
new material around the world, and winning awards for their influence and contributions to music. Many have attracted the ultimate tribute in the form of their
own tribute band, a facsimile band that copies the original artists’ every note and
move, for example the Bootleg Beatles (the Beatles), Fabbagirls (Abba) and the
Counterfeit Stones (Rolling Stones), whose nostalgic popularity, especially with
student audiences, seems likely to continue.
Despite the commercialism and conservatism of mainstream music, black and
Asian music has continued to evolve, making records grounded in Britain’s ethnic diversity. In this fertile ground, new genres of music such as hard-core, jungle,
drum ’n’ bass and garage appeared, with their characteristic quick, light beats,
deep, plunging bass-lines and melodic vocals sung in a modern soul style, for
example by Craig David. Varieties of Asian music emerged, mixing samples of
Indian classical music and ‘Bollywood’ films with breakbeat, dance music, jazz
and electronica. Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Asian Dub Foundation were
among some of its most highly regarded exponents. Drum ’n’ bass beats, swirling guitars and Bollywood samples could be heard on ADB’s Community Music
(2000), while Sawhney’s Prophesy (2001) featured Euro-Arabic singing, string
sections from London and Madras, flamenco guitars, drum ’n’ bass beats and
Indian chanting by the London Community Gospel Choir. Asian Dub Foundation has been able to sustain its popularity not only in the UK but also abroad,
with tours of Europe and Japan, recording an album in 2013 The Signal and the
Noise for release in Japan only.
Hip-hop music had inspired a generation of young black Afro-Caribbean musicians in the big cities of the UK since the 1970s. But since then it has fragmented
into a number of different varieties including trip hop, acid jazz and the more
commercial grime, a style of music based on hip-hop and originating in the East
End of London. In 2002 the music station BBC Radio 1Xtra was created, and
broadcasts new black music primarily from the UK and North America to audiences around Britain.
However, compared with the crossover and collaborations of musical styles
in previous decades, for example with Two Tone, and the recent provision of a
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national radio station, the black music scene in Britain today remains relatively
detached and insular. Critics say it is nihilistic, and glorifies guns and violence.
It is also said to be profoundly sexist in its marginalisation of women. There are
few female performers, and there has been little connection with non-black audiences or musicians, despite public familiarity with hip-hop fashions, breakdance
and the public art of urban graffiti. However, in recent years the popularity of
black music has significantly risen, with a new generation of young socially conscious hip-hop musicians who are critical of racism and sexism. In 2009 and 2010
artists including Dizzee Rascal, NDubz, Tiny Tempah and Ms. Dynamite all won
many awards for their music and slowly began to reach a wider audience.
Fashion in the 2000s tended to mirror musical influences: hip hop and
more established, mainstream brands. In street style, dressing down involved
the art of decadent dishevelment. For men, baggy jeans worn low on the hips
put underwear on show, possibly for the first time ever in public. Soft ‘hoodie’
sweatshirts and spiky, ‘bed-head’ hair gave the appearance of just having got
out of bed. For girls, displays of decadence were similarly de rigueur. Skinny,
low-rise jeans worn with skimpy crop tops created an eye-catching exposure
of midriff, which was often highlighted by a glimpse of knicker elastic. Unisex
baseball caps and colourful trainers, preferably Nike Air Max, completed the
sartorial look.
Accessories were distinctly ostentatious. Displays of jewellery known vulgarly
as ‘bling’ included heavy, oversize sports watches, gold chains and rings, which
were often complemented by corporeal graffiti in the form of tattoos. More invasive but equally commonplace were earrings and piercings for both sexes. Once
the preserve of women, sailors and fetishists, in the twenty-first century bodily
adornment became mainstream for both sexes.
But dressing up was also ‘in’. Fuelled by the credit boom, logos, labels and
brands of major designers became ubiquitous. Even the Burberry label, which for
many years had been synonymous with English style, was appropriated by disenfranchised urban youth, popularly known as ‘chavs’, to the chagrin of the company. The consumption of luxury items was no longer confined to a small elite
group; it had become democratised and available to all, driven by the inflated
ability of people’s spending power, and the desire to shape identity through the
potency of purchases.
The business of music
Today, demand for music has become instant, global and mobile, and like many
creative industries the music business is having to adapt. The overall trend in
sales is downwards: in 2003 over 236 million albums were sold in the UK, but in
2013 the figure was only 94 million. Of these, 64 per cent were CDs, 35 per cent
were downloads and 1 per cent were vinyl. Sales of CDs are falling, while those
of digital formats are rising, driven by the increasing ownership of smart devices
that facilitate rapid downloads on the move, as well as the social media which
often influences people’s decisions about what to buy.
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Popular music and fashion
Within digital, a transition is also taking place. There has been a shift from
download services such as iTunes, towards subscription streaming services, such
as Spotify. Britons streamed 7.4 billion songs in 2013, which was double 2012’s
total. Income from streaming rose 33.7 per cent to £103 million in 2013, and
accounted for 10 per cent of UK recorded-music revenues, up from 7 per cent
in 2012.
Despite the trend towards digital music sources, owning and collecting music
in hard formats is still important. Sales of vinyl LPs rose sharply to 780,000 in
2013, the highest level for the format since 1995 and almost double that of 2012.
However, the real figures are even higher, as the published ones exclude sales of
used vinyl online and through specialised record shops, as collectors return to
their turntables and appreciate the warmth of analogue alongside their digital
devices.
The trends have had a number of implications for musicians. In previous
decades bands had toured in order to build up a fan base, who would then buy
their records, and musicians would receive royalties from the sales. However,
established artists with extensive back catalogues, such as Eric Clapton and the
Rolling Stones, now generate income in different ways. They can charge hundreds of pounds for concert tickets, and still sell out. A world tour or several
Figure 10.7 Concert tickets were once dull and stubby, but by the 1990s had colour,
holograms and more detailed designs, to help prevent forgeries of increasingly
expensive items.
© David Christopher
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nights at the Royal Albert Hall generate enormous sums. The use of their music
in adverts, films and on radio playlists also contributes significant amounts, as
does the repackaging of their back catalogue of songs in DVDs, box sets, albums
of greatest hits and so on. Merchandising of other products such as t-shirts and
souvenirs can be important too, and helps ‘recruit’ young fans.
In contrast, new bands require different strategies. Radio airplay is normally
important for the promotion of music, but in recent years the arrival of music
via the internet to smartphones, YouTube and Spotify and so on has created
new opportunities. In 2001 the ex-Blur singer Damon Albarn launched the virtual Gorillaz and sold over seven million copies, a Guinness World Record. The
Arctic Monkeys found a different way forward, emerging through internet social
networking, and allowing fans to download songs directly from their website.
They were also able to make direct contact with band members via the website
and Twitter, strategies which helped them to attract attention and gain a mainstream fan base.
Given that album sales are falling, and new releases are only a fraction of
total record sales, only a few hundred are currently needed to get into the music
charts. The biggest-selling album by an artist in 2013 was One Direction’s Midnight Memories, which sold 685,000 copies. However, the biggest selling album of
2013 was a compilation album of recent music Now That’s What I Call Music ’86,
which sold 1.1 million copies.
As well as making their music available for individual downloads, artists may
allow their repertoire to appear on streaming sites such as Spotify or Deezer
where, instead of getting paid once for an album sale, musicians receive a stream
of income year on year. A strong internet presence also helps to gain a worldwide audience, and in recent years British music has increased its popularity in
America. In 2000, fewer than 2 per cent of the top 100 albums were from the UK.
However, by 2008 this had grown to 10 per cent, and around 13 per cent of all
albums sold in North America in 2012, with Adele, Lily Allen, Joss Stone and
Amy Winehouse gaining many awards, as well as bands including Coldplay and
Mumford and Sons.
Britain continues to be a world leader in pop and rock music, and its fragmented, diverse and commercial nature reflects the current state of the arts and
of society, where the most innovative and inspiring work is frequently the product of British, Asian and Afro-Caribbean influences.
11 Sport
Introduction
Sport is part of mass culture, and an estimated three million people participate
in some sort of sporting activity every week, with walking (including rambling
and hiking), swimming, snooker, pool, billiards, keep-fit, yoga, cycling, football
and angling among the most popular. Watching sport, listening to it and reading
about it are also major leisure-time activities and important areas of mass media,
in which over 400,000 people are currently employed. Terrestrial television channels show recorded highlights and sometimes live games, but speech radio is still
an important part of national culture, and BBC Radio 5 Live, Talksport and local
FM radio stations bring commentary and comment on events around the world.
But for many spectators sport is not just leisure – it is a way of expressing personal and group identity, through supporting a team, chanting the club songs,
wearing club colours and clothing, as well as bearing tattoos, face paint, flags
and other adornments. Habitual attendance and taking part in its rituals provide
many fans with a sense of community, with the most fanatical choosing to get
married in their club’s ground, and even to have their ashes scattered there. For
George Orwell, serious sport was ‘war minus the shooting’.
Britain invented, codified and exported many sports. Soldiers, civil servants
and settlers overseas took cricket and rugby to the colonies, while engineers,
teachers and businessmen introduced football to other countries, especially
South America. The modern Olympic Games are said to have originated in the
Shropshire market town of Much Wenlock, where the founder of the International Olympic Committee Pierre de Coubertin visited in 1890, and took inspiration from the annual Wenlock Olympian Games. The Paralympic movement
also began in Britain, in the Buckinghamshire village of Stoke Mandeville.
Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, most sports were
played by narrowly defined social groups, to the exclusion of others, which reflected
the highly stratified nature of British society. Country pursuits, such as horse racing
and fox-hunting, were the preserve of aristocrats and wealthy landowners, while
the origins of football and rugby lie in the English public schools such as Eton, Harrow and Rugby. In contrast, the proletariat of the town and country enjoyed sports
such as boxing and dog racing, which were once widely practised around Britain.
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But the twentieth century saw a greater openness and inclusivity in British
society, and many sports became absorbed into a mass leisure and entertainment
industry, to satisfy demand from urban consumers. Women began taking part in
most sports, and rates of participation among black and Asian sportspeople also
rose sharply, particularly in football, athletics and boxing. Today, disabled people
also play a far more active role in sport than ever before. As a consequence, there
is now less elitism and snobbery over who plays what, which has allowed more
people to freely practise sports that were once closed to them.
The mass popularity of sport has also brought huge business opportunities.
People are willing to pay high prices to see performances of a good standard,
whether in the stadium or in their armchairs. In particular, the income generated
by the sale of broadcasting rights to satellite media, such as Sky, has channelled
immense sums into professional sport. But critics argue that its transformation
into a branch of the entertainment industry has brought many disadvantages.
They argue that it has become too expensive; supporters are now treated as customers, whose loyalty is exploited and needs ignored. Moreover, media coverage
exerts influence over whom spectators support, and how and where they spend
their money. The result is that many sports, especially the most popular ones
of football and rugby, have been largely removed from their amateur roots, and
what was once an expression of a local identity and pride has become a form of
commercial and often corporate entertainment for marketing, sale and purchase.
From the countryside to the club
Arguments over the origin of sport frequently relate it to an instinctive human
need to play. Play in children improves co-ordination between the hand and eye,
skills once necessary for fighting opponents and hunting prey, and it is generally
agreed that physical games provide an opportunity to develop these instincts. But
when humans began keeping animals and cultivating crops, hunting and fighting were no longer necessary, and became recreational. Much later, when people
lived in towns and cities, the excitement of hunting was vicariously re-created
for crowds of spectators with crude contests involving animals against animals,
and animals against humans, held in large stadiums or arenas (in Latin, ‘harena’ =
‘sand’), sand being a convenient material which would provide grip under foot,
and absorb blood.
In Britain, bear baiting, cock fighting and bull running were common; the latter was practised as recently as 1825 in Birmingham (the site is now ‘the Bullring’
shopping centre). But the games were dangerous – injuries and even death were
common, and many people began to see them as cruel and old-fashioned.
In the countryside, sports such as horse racing, hunting and shooting first
became organised pursuits in the eighteenth century. The open spaces became a
place of pleasure for a privileged, leisured class, a ‘country club’ for the growing
British establishment of landowners, government members, aspirational civil servants and other wealthy professionals. Other country folk with no land and little
money raced dogs and birds. In the mining villages of the North and Midlands,
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sports such as dog racing, hare coursing, pigeon racing and fishing were popular,
and many of these sports are still practised today.
In other country areas there was a tradition of primitive activities involving
throwing, chasing and animal baiting, but most disappeared in the nineteenth
century. There was also a primitive form of football, which had been practised for
many centuries in the countryside, in which crowds of drunken young men from
neighbouring villages would fight each other for the ball, in a scene resembling a
riot. A re-enactment of such an event takes place near Ashbourne in Derbyshire
on Shrove Tuesday each year. There are few rules, but the most important is that
participants ‘may not commit manslaughter or murder’!
Some blood sports are still practised in the countryside, but a huge majority
now believe them to be cruel, unnecessary and outdated. There is a widespread
anger and disgust at them, which has become a distinguishing feature of British
life. Fox-hunting is the most controversial, in which huntsmen and women dress
in the traditional eighteenth-century hunting clothes, and ride with dogs, often
killing the fox after a long chase. The event has frequently been represented in
popular art works of the ‘traditional’ English countryside, which often hang in
rural pubs and houses. But in recent years there have been many protests by the
Hunt Saboteurs Association and others, who obstruct the hunters and sabotage
the hunt. In 2004 after much public pressure, fox-hunting was banned by the
Labour government, and although it remains legal in parts of Northern Ireland,
much of the countryside is unsuitable and the sport is rarely practised.
Horse racing has its origins in hunting. It is well established in Britain, with
58 courses in 2014, and some 8200 owners of racehorses. It is the second largest
spectator sport, and generates some £3.7 billion each year for the British economy. There are two main forms: flat racing in which the horses race around a flat
course, and National Hunt races, which feature steeplechases and other types
of jump racing. In steeplechases, horses jump over fences. The name originated
in the eighteenth century, when wealthy aristocrats and landowners raced their
horses around the countryside in training for hunting trips. Riders jumped over
hedges, walls and ditches, navigating the area using the pointed steeples of village
churches as landmarks.
The flat-racing season is held during the drier weather from March to early
November, while National Hunt races take place throughout the year. One of the
most popular events is the Derby, held at Epsom near London, a flat race named
after the Earl of Derby who first organised the event in 1780. Royal Ascot, held
near Windsor in June, lasts four days, and is traditionally attended by extravagantly dressed spectators, while the English Grand National is the best-known
steeplechase in the world. This is largely due to its length, its difficult and dangerous fences, its history and its unpredictability. It has been held every spring since
1839 at Aintree near Liverpool.
Like horse racing, cricket also has close connections with the British aristocracy. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, local aristocrats mixed with
commoners in village cricket competitions. The mutual participation and understanding by the different classes became a metaphor for fairness and consensus,
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and the expression ‘it’s not cricket’ meaning ‘it’s unjust’ or ‘it’s not fair’ is still
widely used. The game embodied a particular demeanour, and sense of fair play,
producing an ethos which became a defining part of English culture. It was also
exported around the world, as British civil servants and soldiers took the game
with them and taught it to the native peoples of the British Empire. Today,
cricket is dominated by the exclusive Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which
is based at Lord’s cricket ground, in St John’s Wood, London. It was founded in
1787 and today holds the copyright on the laws of the game.
By 1900 the expanding urban middle class in Britain’s cities was looking for
ways to spend its free time which neither involved the expense and maintenance
of stables of horses, nor the rough and tumble of more proletarian pastimes. Cricket
was the obvious choice, but was mainly a team sport played only by men. However, individual games were becoming popular, such as tennis. The main attraction was that it offered opportunities for fresh air, tranquility and a chance to relax
away from the pollution and noise of the city. It did not involve sweat or dirt, but
demanded skill, individualism, application, self-control and clean clothes. The
game was played by men and women, so there was a social aspect too, which provided opportunities to find a suitable partner. All seemed appropriate for a growing, suburban, middle-class culture. Today, there are many clubs available to all,
but black and Asian tennis players are rare; the game is still a predominantly white
sport, played in comfortable suburban settings, and membership fees and coaching
are still relatively expensive for a majority of the population.
Golf held a similar appeal to tennis. But it was mainly a male pastime, and
the attraction of the club lay partly in its appeal as a kind of gentrified country
retreat, with lounges for drinks and lunch, and social opportunities for making
business contacts. Each club was a small world with its own hierarchies. There
was no open access, as members had to be proposed. Fees were high, and generally beyond the pockets of working men. Women were excluded, and had to set
up their own clubs. They also had a reputation for anti-Semitism, and Jews were
not welcome.
Today, however, most golf clubs are more egalitarian and open. But, as with
tennis, black and Asian players are rare. Moreover, around 1 per cent of clubs in
Britain are still single sex; that is a sporting apartheid still prevails, where women
are excluded from certain clubs, and men are excluded from some women’s clubs.
The prestigious Royal and Ancient Club in St Andrew’s, in Fife, Scotland, is the
governing body for golf worldwide (except in the USA and Mexico), and has had
a ‘men only’ membership policy for some 260 years. However, in 2014 it recommended changing its constitution to allow women to join.
Gentlemen and players
The development of organised sport in Britain is closely related to the social context in which it emerged, and many team sports developed in the mid-nineteenth
century, at a time of increasing concern over public health. The uncontrolled,
unplanned expansion of British cities had created smog, disease and illness.
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While the wealthy could escape to the seaside, or the health-giving waters of spa
towns such as Bath, Cheltenham and Leamington, the poorer classes could visit
public parks that had been built in the larger cities, the first being Victoria Park
in east London.
The fashion for health and exercise among the wealthy and leisured classes
began to affect the curricula of leading public schools, such as Eton, Harrow
and Rugby. Masters believed that a healthy body created a healthy mind, and
this was central to their mission of cultivating not only boys of Christian morality and ideals, but boys with a fighting spirit, who were manly, tough, bold and
sociable. This became known as ‘muscular Christianity’. It was thought appropriate for a cohort of elite young men, who would later occupy positions of importance and influence in government, finance, the army and the Church, as well
as maintaining and expanding the territories of the British Empire. The philosophy was famously practised at Rugby School during the headmastership of Matthew Arnold, and was subsequently outlined in the book Tom Brown’s Schooldays,
written in 1857 by Thomas Hughes, which gave popular expression to an ethos
that influences the idea of the British character to the present day.
In pursuit of similar ideas about the cultivation of character in boys, schools
began creating games with clearly defined sets of rules. At first, each school had
its own, for example ‘rugby football’ (as rugby is formally known) was the game of
football played according to the rules of Rugby School in Warwickshire. However,
the different sets of rules or codes caused confusion when schools played each other.
So, in 1863 former students or ‘old boys’ from the football-playing public schools
met in The Freemasons’ Tavern in central London to agree a set of common rules,
and founded the Football Association (FA) to regulate the sport in England. To
distinguish it from other forms of football and rugby, the game was nicknamed ‘soccer’ (abbreviated from ‘association’). In 1871 the FA Cup was introduced, a knockout competition for 15 teams. Today, over 600 amateur and professional teams
compete for the trophy, in the most historic football tournament in the world.
The early sportsmen were amateurs who did not want or need to play for money.
For the genuine gentleman, the truly sporting aim was not simply to beat the
opponent, but to play the game displaying effortless style and superiority. Hard
training was bad form, as sweat wasn’t necessary to achieve victory. Instead, it was
won in the moral sense of playing elegantly and in a manly, sporting manner. This
was the ‘Corinthian spirit’, named after the Corinthian Casuals, a team formed in
1882 by England’s best public school footballers, for occasional matches against
continental teams.
A similar pattern of development was followed in other sports. Rules were
made by elite bodies and games organised between private clubs, which often
had close connections with the elite public schools. Racing had the Jockey Club;
cricket the Marylebone Cricket Club; golfers formed the Royal and Ancient Club
at St Andrews. But the new games were also popular with the general public, and
spectators would pay to see a good standard. Consequently, there were opportunities for the best sportsmen to play for money, and in 1884–5 a competitive football league with professional players began, which continues in England today.
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Sectarian rivalry
In the late nineteenth century the popularity of football, rugby and cricket rapidly spread across the industrialised urban areas, and by 1880 the city of Birmingham alone could boast 214 football teams. People felt close to their local clubs
which were based around the neighbourhood pitch or stadium, some of which
seemed to grow organically from rows of small terraced houses. Here were the
new theatres for the working man. They held a sense of excitement, and were a
focal point for local identity, pride and tribal loyalty, particularly for dislocated
economic migrants from the poor rural areas of Ireland and England.
Scotland became the new home for thousands of Irish men and women, who
had migrated there following the potato famine of the mid-nineteenth century,
and by 1900 they numbered around 250,000. The majority were from Northern
Ireland, and the deeply rooted political and religious divisions between Catholics
and Protestants, which had developed as a consequence of British rule there,
came to be expressed in Scottish football. Glasgow Celtic was founded in the late
nineteenth century by an Irish Catholic priest, and over the years the club has
maintained its links with the Irish Republic, which is predominantly Catholic. In
contrast, Protestant Irish immigrants in Glasgow adopted Rangers as their team,
but still maintained their loyalties to Ulster (Northern Ireland) and the British
crown. These often complex divisions were also expressed at many other clubs,
but throughout the twentieth century they gradually disappeared. However, at
Figure 11.1 Football clubs seemed to grow organically out of the small, terraced communities
they represented.
© Peter Titmuss/Alamy
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Rangers they endured, and the club did not sign Catholic players until 1989
when manager Graham Souness brought in Maurice Johnston, a Catholic, amid
great controversy and protest from a majority of their supporters.
Today, an intense rivalry still exists between Celtic and Rangers, and Glasgow
‘derbies’ always resemble a passionate international battle. Celtic loyalties are
often demonstrated through the bearing of the Irish ‘tricolour’ flag, while Rangers
fans often sport the Union flag, or the flag of Ulster with a red hand in the centre. Violent clashes are common, but such rivalry is not confined to Glasgow. In
Northern Ireland too, similar tensions still persist between clubs that have strong
sectarian traditions; for example it was not until 2005 that Derry City (Catholic)
and Linfield (Protestant) agreed to play each other in a fixture that had been
suspended since the ‘Troubles’ of the 1970s.
In England, sectarian divisions disappeared many years ago, and never became
a prominent feature of football. In the nineteenth century some teams took the
name ‘United’, to show they represented the whole of the city, including professionals and amateurs, Catholics and Protestants. Other clubs took names such as
‘Rovers’, ‘Rangers’ or ‘Wanderers’. In Victorian England, the freedom to rove and
wander meant freedom from the discipline of the clock, factory and field, which
conferred the image of a liberated, bohemian character, comparable with that of
a showman, gypsy, or touring musician.
Organised games helped promote a sense of solidarity, shared aims and respect
for the law. This was seen as important abroad as it was at home, and in the
countries of the Empire, colonial officials introduced British sports wherever they
went. Cricket, rugby and polo became well established in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Pakistan, and tournaments were later organised,
including the Empire Games (later becoming the Commonwealth Games), as
well as overseas ‘test’ matches by the England cricket team, and rugby tours by
all the home nations, all in an attempt to unite diverse peoples and colonies, and
instruct them in the English way.
Identity and the home nations
Sport was also used to help to unite the home countries of England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland, but it has also respected independent identities
through the creation of separate national leagues and governing bodies. The differences can be seen clearly at international matches, with colourful displays of
flags, tattoos, face painting, clothing, songs and rituals. England fans traditionally waved the red, white and blue of the ‘Union Jack’ – the flag of the Union
between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
However, as the UK has been restructured through devolution in the 1990s, the
flags of the home countries have been gradually adopted by many fans. England’s
supporters now usually carry the flag of St George (a red cross on a white background), while Scottish fans bear St Andrew’s cross (two diagonal white stripes
on a blue background, also known as ‘the Saltire’). Welsh flags carry a red dragon
on a field of white and green. In Northern Ireland there are several different flags,
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and supporters carry the one that most closely reflects their political loyalties, for
example to the Irish Nationalists, to the Ulster Loyalists or to other sectarian
groups. To avoid creating further tension among the community, there has been
no official decision on which flag should be flown.
National identity is also reflected in music. In the UK the national anthem
is ‘God Save the Queen’, which originated in 1745, and was played at sporting occasions involving all the home countries until the 1990s. However, with
the gradual trend towards devolution, other more representative hymns are now
played and sung at national events outside England. For example, at football
and rugby games in Scotland, the preferred tune is ‘Flower of Scotland’, a song
written in the 1960s by Roy Williamson of the Scottish folk band the Corries. It
celebrates the defeat of the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 in Scotland. In Wales, the preferred anthem is ‘Land of My Fathers’, an elegy to Wales
written in the nineteenth century. In Northern Ireland ‘A Londonderry Air’ is
sung, a traditional Irish folk song of the 1850s, which in 1913 was given different
words and gained sudden popularity as the tune ‘Danny Boy’. As with the flags,
to avoid upsetting local sentiments the decision about which anthem to play at
an event is generally left to the relevant local authorities.
Community singing and military bands were a traditional part of the prematch entertainment at football games, but are now rare, with the exception of
‘Abide with Me’, a slow, mournful hymn about the approach of death, which has
been sung at every English FA Cup Final since 1927. But at most games today
the crowd can be heard chanting and singing to encourage their team, as well as
to insult and demoralise the opposition. Traditional club songs are often based on
folk music, especially in Scotland where Protestant tunes are often sung by Rangers fans in derby matches with Celtic. But well-known pop songs with altered
lyrics are often preferred, and were common in the 1970s when huge crowds of
spectators, for example at Old Trafford, Anfield, Ibrox and Celtic Park, would
sing and shout their team to victory, effectively acting as a ‘twelfth man’.
Despite the mass popularity of major sports such as football, smaller, traditional
sports and games are still practised in remote areas of Britain. In Scotland the
Highland Games are held every year, and include events such as running, cycling
and dancing. The games have a long history, and first began in Celtic times when
clans gathered and held competitions to find the fastest runners and strongest
men, who would be chosen by the clan leaders as messengers and bodyguards. But
the event was largely unnoticed outside Scotland until Queen Victoria began to
attend in order to encourage closer ties with Scotland 65 years after the Act of
Union in 1801. In 1866, the small, traditional summer athletics event at Braemar
was transformed into the Royal Highland Gathering. It opened with marching,
kilted clansmen, accompanied by pipers playing the bagpipes, in a cultural and
sporting event which some critics consider to have been a political ‘show’ contrived to please an English as well as an Anglicised Scottish aristocracy.
Today, the games in the north-east are based around athletics events, while
the Highlands and Islands in the west of Scotland are better known for musical events featuring pipes. But visitors to the Highland Games at Braemar can
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usually see a varied programme of highland dancing and contests for players of
the bagpipes, as well as ‘heavyweight’ contests such as ‘throwing the hammer’ –
flinging an iron ball and chain as far as possible; ‘tossing the caber’ – tossing a
long wooden pole similar to a tree trunk; and ‘putting the shot’ – throwing a
heavy metal ball. Shinty, a game similar to hockey, is also played in the Highlands
by enthusiastic teams of male players.
But the traditional events and dress style of kilts and clan tartans have had
little or no impact in Scotland’s big industrial conurbations, where they remain
virtually unknown. Similarly the games of rugby and cricket tend to be confined
to the prestigious public schools, and are rarely played elsewhere. In contrast, golf
is a game which originated in Scotland and has since travelled the world. Since
1897 the rules have been administered worldwide by the Royal and Ancient Golf
Club, situated near St Andrews. But the sport that most people watch and play is
football. Hampden Park in Glasgow was the first national stadium in Britain, and
opened in 1893. Its massive capacity of 150,000 and the ‘Hampden Roar’ of the
passionate Scottish fans in full cry was said to be unique. Matches with England
have always been fast, furious affairs but ceased being played regularly in 1989,
officially because of the amount of international fixtures that England had to
play, but also because of violence on and off the field.
Like Scotland, Northern Ireland retains a distinct sporting identity. Many of
the different sports are played along sectarian lines, with rugby and football being
played in the Protestant community, and the Gaelic games predominating in in
the Catholic population. These include Gaelic football, handball, hurling, camogie (women’s hurling, which is said to be Europe’s oldest field game) and rounders, but are very different to the varieties played on the British mainland. Their
popularity is illustrated by the fact that there are over 700 clubs in Northern
Ireland affiliated to the Gaelic Athletics Association (GAA) and the Camogie
Council. Rugby is also played, but like in Scotland it tends to be centred around
public schools and is more closely associated with the Protestant community.
Football is widely played by both communities, but in the past there has been
strong resistance to the sports played by the English; for example, in the nineteenth century many in the Catholic community refused to play English sports.
Moreover, members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or the British Army were
seen as part of an occupying force, and could not join the GAA.
Although rugby is not widely played in Northern Ireland, in Wales it is popular with people from all social and religious backgrounds, and over the years it
has become a major cultural force, one closely linked with national identity. In
the 1970s Wales was recognised as a world-beating rugby team, but since then
changes in the school system have led to a reduction in the number of young
players who go on to play in the major clubs, and consequently there are fewer
players to replace those retiring. Moreover, many good players leave Wales to
earn big salaries at top professional teams outside the country. To incentivise
players to stay, in 1995 the amateur game of rugby union became a professional
one. Costs escalated, and some clubs disappeared, while others were forced to
move and play elsewhere. But in general, the standards of play and facilities have
Figure 11.2 Tossing the caber – a traditional sport at the Highland Games.
© newsphoto/Alamy
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improved, and the publicity generated by tournaments such as the Rugby World
Cup and the Six Nations Championship have helped make rugby popular with
spectators not only in Wales but in all the home countries.
Thus, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, not only have their own distinctive sports, but also have independent associations that were originally founded
to respect political, national and religious sensitivities. This is sometimes problematic; for example, in Olympic football a British team has not competed since
1972, because the four countries of the United Kingdom wish to maintain separate national teams, and under Olympic rules only one team can compete. On
the other hand, in some sports there are teams that represent not only the whole
of the UK, but sometimes more. For example, the British Lions rugby union team
is composed of players from the United Kingdom and Ireland brought together
to play against the strong southern hemisphere teams of New Zealand and South
Africa. Similarly, the Barbarians are also a mixed team of rugby players from
Britain, France and the Commonwealth countries. And in golf, the Ryder Cup
team, which plays against the USA, used to be British but is now European.
The main problem with combined teams from the home nations or a ‘team
GB’ is that they do not offer a platform for the expression of national sentiment,
pride or identity, and consequently spectator interest is diminished. This may be
one reason why British Olympic teams are not given funding and facilities equal
to those of Russia, China and America, whose teams are followed keenly by their
countrymen, and whose performances and victories are important for national
prestige, in a way that has never happened in Britain.
Sport, leisure and government
National prestige is linked to sporting achievement in many countries, and governments frequently invest large sums of money to improve national facilities,
standards and performance on the international stage. However, until the late
1950s the British government was not interested in promoting sport, as the financial cost of the war years had left the country with other priorities. It was considered an area of private life with which the authorities had little concern. Local
government provided swimming pools, parks and playing fields, but there was
little effort made to encourage their use.
However, in the late 1950s and coinciding with a rise in crime and general
anxiety about the effects of popular culture on the nation’s youth, attitudes began
to change, and the government began using sport to promote social harmony,
self-discipline, self-reliance, mixing across the classes, which would promote
social cohesion and reduce juvenile delinquency and crime rates, especially
among 15–18-year olds who had left school but not continued with sport afterwards. Two important enquiries, the Albermarle Report and the Wolfenden
Report, were both published in 1960. Albermarle emphasised the important role
played by sport in the community, while Wolfenden examined how government
bodies could act together to promote sport around Britain. In consequence, the
Sports Council was set up in 1966 to select where money should be spent. It was
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a significant moment, as it was the first time the government had allocated funds
specifically for the development of British sport!
Recognition of the social function of sport led to an improvement in facilities, and compared with only 27 sports centres in 1972, there were 770 by 1981,
with many boasting new materials, all-weather surfaces, floodlights and running
tracks. By the mid-1970s many state secondary schools were also offering a range
of team sports which usually included football, rugby, cricket and athletics, as
well as a range of outdoor pursuits, such as hiking, rock-climbing, caving and potholing, which rivalled the private sector in terms of facilities and opportunities.
The 1980s saw another period of expansion, mainly in response to government
concerns about a growing number of unemployed with free time and little money.
Although the Tory government of Margaret Thatcher was not enthusiastic about
sport, it was persuaded it was a genuine deterrent to large-scale social disorder, and
a programme was set up to construct sports and leisure facilities around Britain. In
Belfast, which was then beset by the ‘Troubles’, 14 centres were built, rather than
the eight warranted by its population size. But more facilities didn’t automatically
widen participation. Inner-city youth and women in general have always been hard
to reach, and the main users of such facilities tend to be those who are already
inclined to practise sport, a problem that remains unchanged in 2014.
In 1997 the new Labour government set up the Department of Culture, Media
and Sport which works to promote and co-ordinate sport at all levels in the
home nations. However, despite the efforts to promote sport among all sections
of the community since the 1950s, those who participate belong usually to the
more active and affluent sections of the community – most are male, aged 25–40,
skilled and professional – while the 15–18-year-olds, whom the government tries
hard to target, are the most resistant – in 1999 the organisation Sport England
found that only 21 per cent of 15–18-year-olds had two or more hours of physical
education (PE) a week. By 2013 the amount had doubled, but was still regarded
as far too little exercise.
Declining participation in sport has contributed to increasing concerns over
declining public health and obesity. In earlier times, being obese was a symbol of
wealth, but in the Britain of the new millennium it was most prevalent among
the poorest socio-economic groups. There are several reasons why obesity has
increased, beginning with reduced opportunities to cultivate the habit of playing sports when young. This began in the 1980s when many secondary schools
sold their sports fields to provide extra cash to compensate for smaller education
budgets given by the Tory governments of that era. Moreover, in the 1990s a new
national curriculum for schools was introduced that did not give priority to sport,
and a generation of young people who had been unaccustomed to taking exercise
became a generation of adults seduced by home entertainment and computer
screens, who also had a tendency to drive (or be driven) more and walk less. People were also eating more ready meals than 25 years previously, which contained
more salt, fat and sugar to provide ‘taste’, which further contributed to obesity.
More recently, the greater use of cars, the increase in home entertainment and
a growth in sedentary, administrative posts have all contributed to make obesity
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a major problem. In 2014, 67 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women were
said to be obese in a study by the Global Burden of Disease, which places Britain
among the most obese nations in Europe.
Sport and gender
Women’s participation in sport has its origins in the nineteenth-century public schools. Just as boys’ schools introduced organised games to their pupils at
that time, newly established girls’ schools did likewise. Ability in games was seen
as a desirable social attribute which would prepare girls to mix easily in circles
frequented by boys from a similar social background. When the elite Roedean
School near Brighton opened in 1885, girls were encouraged to practise athletics,
swimming, gymnastics, hockey and tennis – all games that were becoming fashionable among upper-class young men and women. However, a strict dress code
was enforced. Girls’ arms, legs, ankles and necks had to be covered up, especially
at major public events such as Wimbledon, where the first women’s singles tennis
champion was Miss Maud Watson in 1884.
Women’s sport was exclusive and individualist, and it was not until after the
First World War that it became more inclusive and popular. The Great War
brought about many changes in society. In the field of gender, social barriers were
redefined or disappeared altogether when men left the home fires to fight overseas, and women took their occupations in factories, fields, mills and workshops.
After the war ended in 1918, the equality women had enjoyed in the workplace
created demands for equality in society, including sport.
During the war more women had begun playing competitive team games
such as football, and by the early 1920s the range of sports open to women
had widened. In 1921 there were 150 women’s football teams playing regular
matches in front of thousands of spectators, and the previous year the first
ladies’ international game had been held between England Ladies and Scottish
Ladies, with a 22–0 victory to the English. But the spectacles were not popular
with traditional, male-dominated bodies – in this case the Football Association, which banned women’s football from being played on grounds affiliated
to the FA until 1971. The reason given by the FA was that the game played by
women was said to be distasteful. Other energetic sports such as cycling, riding,
rowing and shooting were said to demand ‘indecorous posture’, and were similarly discouraged by the relevant authorities. And although tennis, golf, badminton and croquet were seen as more acceptable, the dress code was another
obstacle to free movement until the 1930s, when trousers became fashionable
for women, especially in golf.
Consequently, from the 1920s until the 1970s women’s participation in sports
clubs was largely confined to casual participation. Despite this, there were some
exceptions who achieved international recognition, for example Mary Rand,
who took gold, silver and bronze medals in the 1964 Olympic Games, while
Ann Jones and Virginia Wade won many tennis tournaments of the 1960s and
1970s. But successful female athletes were rare, and were mainly white, middleclass graduates from university athletics clubs, while those from less privileged
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backgrounds were left unable to progress through a lack of opportunity, inadequate organisation and social prejudice.
In the 1970s women’s sport became more democratised and inclusive. Freedoms
won by women, such as the introduction of the Equal Opportunities Act, the
contraceptive pill, the trend towards smaller families, plus greater expectations of
personal fulfilment, all contributed to increased leisure time. The construction of
more municipal sports centres also provided further opportunities, making membership of an expensive, elitist club unnecessary. In the 1980s women’s participation further increased when exercise became fashionable. Fitness became linked
with beauty and fame, and sport linked with business and competitiveness, which
the Tory government was introducing across the economy. Public figures, pop
stars and role models such as Princess Diana and Madonna led by example, while
gyms and health clubs opened around the country to meet demand.
By the mid-1980s women were taking up employment in most areas of the
economy, including newly developing areas of broadcast journalism and sports
administration. In the 1990s women began producing sports programmes for
radio and television, and the numbers of female sports writers, commentators and
presenters further increased.
Today, women participate at most levels in most sports, particularly in football, hockey, athletics, netball and tennis. Golf is also popular: there are around
170,000 members (about 14 per cent of the UK golf club membership). However, in many private clubs there is not full equality, as women are restricted to
a ‘ladies’ section’. Three venues still have male-only membership: Muirfield in
East Lothian, Royal Troon in South Ayrshire and Royal St George’s in Sandwich,
Kent. However, women may be admitted in future, which is said to be due to
financial pressures more than social or legal ones.
Women’s football has also increased rapidly in popularity, and there are now
several thousand clubs. Higher levels of participation are partly due to organisations such as the Women’s Sports Foundation, which promotes opportunities for
women and girls in playing, coaching, managing and administering sport, and
works together with the body Sport England. But, despite growing equality of
access, general levels of participation remain low: in 2014 only one in ten women
took part in sport on a competitive basis, while two in ten men do the same. And
by the age of 18 most women have dropped out of sport altogether.
Sport and athletics have also become fashionable among gay and bisexual
people. But despite growing equality and acceptance of homosexuality, very few
gay sportspeople publicly declare their sexuality. Players fear abuse, ostracism and
violence, as the attitude of sportsmen to gay team members is generally homophobic, and that of crowds hostile. However, a few gay teams exist at amateur
level, including the King’s Cross Steelers, a rugby union club based in London.
Sport and ethnicity
Just as women had to overcome prejudice and prohibitions on their participation,
the children of post-war immigrants had to overcome racial prejudice in order
to succeed in sports such as cricket, football and athletics. Until recently, black
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sportsmen were extremely rare in British sport except in boxing, which offered
a way of gaining social acceptance and status. But, although non-white boxers
could box, they were not allowed by the British Board of Boxing Control to
compete for titles such as the Lonsdale Belt, the title awarded to British boxing champions. However, when the ban was lifted in 1948, black boxers began
to compete successfully, most notably Dick Turpin, who the same year won the
British Middleweight title. In 1950 his younger brother Randolph won the British
and European Middleweight titles, and a year later became World Middleweight
Champion, defeating the great American boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Turpin had
made his people proud, and he returned home to a hero’s welcome in the genteel
town of Leamington Spa, where thousands of cheering fans filled the streets.
Turpin’s example was followed by many others in athletics, such as McDonald
Bailey from Trinidad and Arthur Wint from Jamaica. There were cricketers too,
such as Learie Constantine from Trinidad, who played for Lancashire between
the two world wars. But the pioneers were disillusioned to find prejudice prevailing in the mother country, and Constantine joined forces with the Trinidadian
writer C.L.R. James to write Colour Bar (1954), about racism in Britain, a theme
that motivated James to explore further the relationship between the white man’s
game and Trinidadian society in Beyond a Boundary (1963).
Following the waves of immigration from British colonies in the 1950s and
1960s a new generation drawn mainly from the West Indies, Pakistan and India
grew up in Britain, and from the late 1960s and early 1970s black players began to
feature more prominently in English football, such as Albert Johanneson at Leeds
and Clyde Best at West Ham. In 1972 Clive Sullivan captained the Great Britain
rugby league side to victory in the World Cup, and in 1978 Viv Anderson became
the first black footballer to represent England. But it was not until ten years later
that a British-born black player played cricket for England – David Lawrence.
The main reason for under-representation was that, despite their outstanding sporting achievements, many had to cope with racist chanting and abuse by
opposing fans, as well as criticism and prejudice about laziness and a lack of commitment from ill-informed coaches, media and the general public. Consequently,
some football clubs were less willing to sign black players.
The 1970s in particular was a decade when racist characters were seen as
heroes in TV sitcoms such as Love they Neighbour and Till Death Us Do Part, even
though the writers of such series intended them to be figures of ridicule. Commentators and pundits on the Saturday football show Match of the Day never
mentioned the chants or comments, and football authorities were passive, ignoring expressions of prejudice and racism. But in the early 1990s, the government
and football authorities began working to introduce anti-racist legislation and
anti-racist education campaigns. The Football (Offences) Act (1991) made racist
chanting at football matches illegal, while the Professional Footballers’ Association campaigns ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Football’ in 1993 and later ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ were organised. These campaigns were widely supported by
the Football Supporters’ Association, most league clubs, players, the Commission
for Racial Equality, local authorities and the police. As a result, the incidence of
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overt racism at football matches has declined dramatically and any offenders are
frequently prosecuted.
The number of black players in British football has steadily increased. In 1990
approximately 12 per cent were British-born black players, and in 2014 the figure
had increased to around 25 per cent. This indicates a positive development, as
talented players are able to develop their abilities and gain the recognition they
deserve. However, although there is a high percentage of black athletes in sports
that are cheap and accessible in an urban environment, the percentage is much
lower in sports such as tennis, golf and swimming. Research shows this may be
because black athletes feel excluded from sports and clubs that have a predominantly middle-class and public school composition, but it may also be due to the
cost of joining a club with good equipment and facilities, which are important for
younger players to develop good habits. A similar situation exists in the country
sports of hunting, shooting, fishing, horse riding and racing, where participation
by black and Asian sportsmen is almost unknown.
Moreover, despite their reputation as football players, there are few black managers, coaches or referees, and there are few black spectators: black and Asian
fans made up just 1 per cent of crowds at the top Premiership games in 2003/04.
To remedy this, a government advisory body, the Football Task Force, aims to
encourage more black and Asian players into the game, more minority ethnic
representations at senior administrative level and more minority ethnic spectators at football matches. Ten years later in the Premier League season of 2012/13,
8 per cent were from black and other minority groups and 19 per cent were female.
Similarly, participation of black and Asian women in sport is still rare, although
in recent years many black athletes have triumphed in numerous international
competitions, such as Fatima Whitbread, Linford Christie, Denise Lewis and
Kelly Holmes.
Although black competitors are now better represented in most levels of professional sport, Asians tend to be more represented in football and cricket at a
local, amateur level. Commentators suggest this may be more to do with cultural
attitudes, such as strong work and education ethics, which mean sport is not
seen as a good career option, and is less important for social mobility. The poor
attitudes of some coaches and a lack of role models in sports like soccer are also
seen as influential.
Sport and disability
Women and black sportspeople have struggled to establish themselves in sport
since the 1960s, and a similar struggle has taken place among the disabled. However, attempts to provide facilities originated much earlier.
After the First World War many soldiers returned suffering from head injuries that impaired their sight and hearing. The British Deaf Sports Association
was later formed, and began organising a World Games for the Deaf. In the late
1940s war again provided the impetus to develop sports for the disabled after
many soldiers returned from the Second World War with spinal injuries. Car and
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motorbike accidents in the 1950s also increased the number of sufferers, but specialised treatment was developed at a dedicated unit in Stoke Mandeville Hospital. There, Dr Ludwig Guttman saw the potential of sport to raise morale and
improve health, and in 1948 introduced games such as wheelchair polo, archery
and netball.
The Stoke Mandeville Games became international and went to Rome in
1960, taking part in a special tournament after the Olympic Games. In 1984
Stoke Mandeville held its first marathon, and in 1988 the first full tournament
for disabled sportsmen and women – the Paralympic Games – was held in Seoul.
Today, the British Paralympic Association comprises 22 national governing bodies for different sports for the disabled, and are supported by the state policy ‘Sport
for All’ which since the 1970s has stressed greater inclusivity.
The Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 was the first major sports
event in the world to include an integrated programme of events for the disabled,
and today numerous agencies exist to promote the sporting needs of all kinds of
disability, such as British Blind Sport and the British Wheelchair Sports Foundation. Parallel organisations co-ordinate the development of sport in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland, such as football, cricket, rugby and cycling, and
the organisation SportsAid currently raises funds to help young people and the
disabled.
Sport, commerce and popular culture
During the twentieth century society became more competitive and aspirational.
People had greater opportunities to develop themselves, change their work and
improve their incomes. This ethos of competition transferred into sport, especially football, where material success in the form of results and trophies eclipsed
the virtues of amateurism and the ‘Corinthian spirit’. This process accelerated in
1961, when the maximum wage for footballers was abolished and wages quickly
increased. Rather than staying in their local community, footballers began to
move around the country in search of the best deals and the best clubs. Higher
wages also encouraged more players to stay in the sport, and younger ones to take
it up as a career.
The victory of England in the 1966 World Cup Final helped football to become
culturally central, and the most important national sport. This was aided by the
growth of the new industries of popular culture, especially with the televising of
matches and the marketing of magazines, posters and souvenirs. Leading footballers came to be idolised like pop stars. Some began making pop records, while
a few professional singers and entertainers moved into the board rooms, such as
Elton John who became chairman of Watford and Eric Morecambe who became
a director at Luton Town.
In the 1950s and early 1960s the press used to respect the privacy of top sportsmen and women. However, by the late 1960s the tabloid papers were becoming
more competitive and less deferential, which contributed to the creation of a
sports press that was hungry for lurid stories of sex and drug abuse among sports
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stars. Moreover, almost every household had a television, and appearances by
sportspeople attracted advertisers and sponsorship opportunities. Media attention became more intense, fuelled by the larger salaries that some footballers were
now earning.
The idolising of players began with the adulation reserved for legendary Manchester United striker George Best. On the field Best was fast, flamboyant and
abundantly talented. His playful manner and natural style helped to make him
a popular hero. But off the field his playboy lifestyle was new to football, and
fascinated a hungry, popular press, who attempted to report his every move. At
the time, Best received the kind of public adulation normally reserved for pop
stars such as Jagger, Lennon and McCartney, and by the early 1970s his career
was in decline, damaged by excess and an inability to cope with an intrusive,
sensationalist press.
In the 1980s public interest in sport grew sharply with the expansion of satellite broadcasting which created global audiences. Consequently, top footballers,
managers and other sportspeople now had to deal not only with the press, but
with 24-hour media interest, as well as press agents and lifestyle magazines such
as Hello! and OK! In the 1990s this contributed to the creation of what is often
called a ‘celebrity culture’, epitomised by the show-business world surrounding
former Manchester United player David Beckham, who began appearing on the
front pages of the tabloid press shortly after he began playing in United’s first
team. His looks, style, his selection for England and his marriage to the former
Spice Girl Victoria Adams created a storm of media interest. However, unlike
Best, Beckham was more carefully managed on and off the field by those well
able to understand the pressures brought by fame, which has enabled him to
develop his image and create new business opportunities, for example the sale of
his wedding pictures for millions of pounds to the celebrity magazine OK!, or the
reported £35 million paid by Gillette for the endorsement of their products in
2005, while remaining popular with the general public.
The changing face of modern sport and the unsustainably high salaries,
incomes and debts of some football clubs is closely connected to the involvement
of television. In 1989 Sky TV began paying the Football League for the rights to
show live matches. In return, millions of armchair fans paid Rupert Murdoch’s
company for the right to watch them. Initially, the venture was not successful but
in 1992 clubs from the League’s First Division broke away and formed their own
limited company, known as the Premiership. As a new independent company,
the Premiership dispensed with the ‘middle man’, in this case the authority of the
Football League, and made its own commercial rules, which included the right
to negotiate their own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. By 1995, the new
division of professional football’s top teams had become re-packaged into a glittering entertainment show for families worldwide, which could be watched at the
click of a button. Moreover, the broadcaster BSkyB had expanded its sports offer,
with a package that included rugby league, cricket, golf and boxing, channelling more money towards those sports. The initiative was successful, millions of
customers signed up, and in 2014 the Premiership was the most-watched football
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league in the world. It was broadcast to 643 million homes, and had a potential
TV audience estimated at 4.7 billion people in 212 territories. In the 2013–14
season, the league generated £1.7 billion per year in domestic and international
television rights, and consequently its clubs have become global brands, and
players show-business celebrities.
Media involvement has brought much needed finance into all sports, particularly football. But the conversion of Premier league clubs into global brands
means they have to think and act globally. They have become market led, and
increasingly remote from the local fan base. They make pre-season tours to
exploit remote overseas markets in order to exploit the brand. They also recruit
their staff from around the world. Owners, managers and players are often from
overseas, and the team sheet of some Premiership clubs sometimes features no
English players at all. Its logos adorn all manner of souvenirs, from tea-towels to
jewellery, and the media report every figure, fact and rumour.
Arsenal is a prime example of a global football brand, and has been so for
some years. The majority shareholder of the north London club is Stan Kroenke,
who is American. The manager, Arsène Wenger, is French. In August, 2014, 30
of its 35 first-team players were born overseas, and their ground – the Emirates
Stadium – is sponsored by the Middle East airline. The club has one of the highest incomes and largest number of fans in the world, and the American business
magazine Forbes assessed its wealth in 2014 at over £877 million. Paradoxically,
this is no guarantee of success on the field – until the FA Cup win of 2013–14, the
club had not won a trophy at home or abroad since 2004–5. A similar pattern is
apparent among many top clubs, prompting criticism that, although the Premiership has the best brand, it does not have the best product.
Supporters are often critical. With so many foreign-born players in the Premiership, the opportunities for home-grown players to practise at the top level
are reduced, which is said to be detrimental to their development, and reduces
the potential of the national teams of the home nations. A study in 2013 across
the Premiership found the number of English players had dropped to under a
third.
Competition from overseas also applies to the fans. The number of overseas
armchair fans greatly outnumber the local supporters who pay to watch the club,
who often struggle to afford the price of domestic tickets. The cheapest season
ticket at Arsenal in 2014–15 cost over £1000, the highest in the Premiership.
Nevertheless, there is a global waiting list of over 40,000. To buy individual
match tickets, fans need to be club members, for which there are further fees.
Despite the high cost of football, Premiership clubs’ debts are growing, largely
due to players’ inflated salaries and transfer fees. This has become a serious problem in recent years. In 2011–12, 12 of the Premiership’s clubs made losses, with
some 67 per cent of turnover going in wages.
Unsurprisingly, many lower league clubs are also beset by financial problems
as they struggle to compete with richer ones. Between 2002 and 2012, 13 clubs
entered administration before being sold or rescued, and many more are in serious financial difficulty. Faced with crisis, some have relied on an emotional bond
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with lifelong fans that influences some to save a club in dire straits, by taking on
its debts instead of letting it die – a salutary reminder of the need to respect the
local fan base, in a game distorted by globalization.
It has also led some clubs to protect their brands by restricting or refusing access
to the local media, who may write or broadcast stories that are detrimental to the
image of the club. For example, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson
would not speak to the BBC for seven years after an unfavourable documentary
about him and his son was broadcast in 2004. In 2013, Newcastle, Southampton
and Nottingham Forest all restricted media access in the interests of protecting
their brands, following critical reports in the media. More generally, and across
many sports, pressure to be successful has also led to some competitors attempting to gain an unfair advantage through taking drugs, and therefore the need for
regular tests and checks.
Faced with these ever larger financial problems, the search for funding has
become acute. Sponsorship from large private companies has been a major source,
along with funds from the National Lottery, introduced in 1994. For every ticket
sold, 28 per cent currently goes to sports and arts projects. One of the most visible benefits has been the renovation and replacement of sports and athletics
stadiums around the country. Meanwhile, some football clubs in valuable central
locations sold their grounds to property developers and moved to more modern stadiums in the outskirts of the city. Until recently another major source of
finance was the tobacco industry, with several tournaments and teams sponsored
by companies such as Benson & Hedges, Marlboro and so on. However this has
been banned under the European Commission’s Tobacco Advertising Directive.
The gambling industry has also provided large funds and prize money for horse
and dog racing. Most newspapers carry information about the performances of
horses and jockeys at races around the country, and bets can be placed on most
sports in a betting shop or ‘turf accountant’. Once seen by the Church as a sin that
could wreck lives, gambling has now become more respectable. High street betting
shops used to be very basic, with no bright lights or window displays, but now they
are less austere. However, many people prefer betting online, which has grown in
popularity in recent years, and online sports betting was worth £650 million in
2012, with 2.1 million customers. Studying the form of jockeys and horses used to
be part of the intellectual culture of the British working class, and many believed
that it could reduce the role played by chance or luck. But in recent years there
have been a number of high-profile cases with allegations of corruption, drugs and
race-fixing, which have cast doubt on the honesty of the racing industry.
Gambling remains popular in Britain, and at least once every two weeks 14 per
cent bet on horses, 18 per cent play bingo, 20 per cent play on gaming and fruit
machines, and 39 per cent of the population do the football pools. The pools is
often more family fun than betting on the horses or dogs. John Moores of Liverpool began it in 1923, and for many years the pools coupon could be checked
at home, listening to the clear enunciation of James Alexander Gordon reading
the football results on the radio at 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, a cosy domestic
ritual in a world of globalised entertainment.
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Since 1945 there has been a growing equality and democratisation of society,
allied with much greater cultural diversity. This has been reflected in sport as a
whole, which has become more inclusive with greater participation in a greater
number of sports by people from more diverse backgrounds. The success of Team
GB in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games amply demonstrated this, finishing third in both medal tables, to show the world that the Corinthian spirit of the
nineteenth century has not yet been completely extinguished, but updated for
the twenty-first century in a team diverse in class, background, gender, ethnicity
and disability.
12 Cultural heritage
Heritage helps people to understand who they are and where they are from. It has
also become a vital part of how the British define themselves, and festivals, buildings,
landscapes and artefacts are important elements of regional and national identity.
The significance of heritage means there are frequent arguments about what to
save, change and demolish. But, conservation lobbies are strong, and the organisations English Heritage and the National Trust protect many aspects of the city
and the countryside, enforcing conservation laws that are said to be the toughest
in the world.
Festivals and celebrations also form part of Britain’s heritage. But, in contrast
to the conservation of buildings and landscapes, festivals and celebrations tend to
change and evolve, often reflecting changes in the society that holds them. Thus,
the ways in which Christmas is celebrated today are not necessarily the same as
a century ago, and so on.
The ways that heritage is displayed to the public have also changed greatly.
Many years ago, the main aim of museums and galleries was to collect, preserve
and display objects, and visitors would amble around dusty museums passively
observing artefacts in a cabinet. But today there is more emphasis on learning, on
the interpretation of objects and on audience participation. Some museums are
open air where the public can immerse themselves in the past, and most kinds
feature imaginative displays with interactive exhibits, screen shows and costumed
interpreters, which together communicate a sense of authenticity and realism.
Museums, festivals, landscapes and sites associated with historic events have
become important for tourism. Tourism has become the fifth largest industry
in the UK, and in 2013 contributed £26.4 billion to the British economy. The
British Museum is the UK’s most popular visitor attraction, and in 2013 it
attracted 6.7 million visitors.
Origins
Acquiring and collecting historic artefacts originates in ancient times, when effigies of gods and the relics of saints were collected and displayed often in religious sites, such as churches and monasteries. They were highly valued, and were
thought to have special powers to heal the sick, bring good luck and so on.
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It was not until the seventeenth century that more personal collections became
fashionable. On leaving the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, affluent
young men would often embark on a ‘grand tour’ overseas, with France and Italy
the most popular destinations. They would typically spend up to a year seeing
the sights of Renaissance Europe and the remains of classical civilisations, while
acquiring trophies and souvenirs that would be brought back to create exotic
interiors in their large country houses spread across the counties of England.
At the same time, scientific progress was prompting the collection of objects
from the natural world, especially zoological and geological specimens, and
from the mid-eighteenth century, growing public interest was reflected in the
creation of several new museums with important collections of artefacts. The
British Museum (1753) was the first national public museum in the world, while
the National Gallery (1824), the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) (1852),
the Science Museum (1857) and the Natural History Museum (1873) were all
erected to offer new ways of seeing the world. The same century also witnessed
Darwin’s theory of evolution which challenged religious thinking about the origins of humanity. Although the Bible claimed the Earth’s age to be around 6000
years old, many fossils and bones from sites around England were shown to be
much older. Consequently, it was thought they could give clues to the identity of
the first Britons.
Discoveries throughout the nineteenth century also led to a growing interest
in the care of ancient buildings and sites. The government realised it had an
important role to play in ensuring old buildings were not crushed by the march
of industrialism, and in 1882 passed new laws allowing officials to take over
neglected sites of historic interest.
Philanthropists and politicians of the period recognised that conservation had
not just a scientific role to improve public understanding of the past, but that it
also served an important cultural function. During the nineteenth century there
was industrialisation and expansion on a scale never seen before. People moved or
were forced to move from the countryside to the city in search of regular work, and
there was a sudden and dramatic interruption to social and cultural life. Uncontrolled urban growth led to poverty, grime, smog, insanitary conditions and social
disorder. But there was a relative lack of environmental concern with the city. The
rich and powerful saw it as a place to work and make money, but rarely as a place
to live, and there was more interest in caring for the depopulating countryside that
seemed to be increasingly subject to threats from new technology, especially the
railway, which was bringing rapid change to rural communities and landscapes.
For the art critic and philanthropist John Ruskin (1819–1900), conservation
of the past could help to promote a common culture and social cohesion, and it
was his vision of heritage as an ‘anchor’ in an increasingly restive nation that
began to link environmental issues to politics. His views were influential, and
in the latter part of the nineteenth century various philanthropic societies were
formed to preserve the countryside, such as the Commons Preservation Society
(1865), the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (1877), the Society
for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising (1893) and the National Trust
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for Places of Historical Interest and Natural Beauty (1895). The countryside was
becoming something to aspire to, a kind of rural dream, and in 1897 the magazine
Country Life was founded to bring visions of arcadia into middle-class city drawing rooms, as it still does today.
Abroad, the ethos of conservation spread around the British Empire. In the
1890s, Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, introduced protectionist measures and
restored the Taj Mahal, complete with British-style lawns, which can still be
seen at the site, and many other buildings and monuments under British control
became subject to conservation and restoration.
In 1895 Sir Robert Hunter and Octavia Hill set up the National Trust for
Places of Historic Interest and National Beauty. It was more inclusive than previous bodies, and aimed to preserve not only grand country houses, but also rural
vernacular buildings. Today, it also protects historic landscapes, such as the Lake
District, as well as historic urban properties and nature reserves. Its statutory powers extend to Wales and Northern Ireland, but Scotland has a separate National
Trust of Scotland, which has similar aims and was founded in 1931. The Trust’s
logo of an oak leaf was taken from a medieval symbol on a beam in one of the first
cottages to be protected.
Between 1918 and 1939 another population shift took place, this time from
city centres to suburban areas of British towns and cities. People wanted to move
away from the smog, dirt and noise of the central, industrial areas, and live closer
to nature in green, leafy suburban environments with clean, fresh air. With new
roads and increased car ownership, part of the countryside’s attractiveness was
that it could be used as a leisure amenity. Motoring books encouraged people
to visit rural locations and historic places. Most roads were quiet and empty,
and motoring was seen as a liberating new way to explore the countryside even
though this sometimes caused damage, for example at the ancient site of Stonehenge in southern England where visitors could walk among the stones, and even
began chipping some off to use as building material or garden ornaments.
Most country landowners resented the presence of visitors, and tried to keep the
public out, just as they had in the nineteenth century with the arrival of the railway.
But very little land in Britain is completely common and accessible to all, and the
growth in use of the countryside as a leisure facility by city dwellers and suburbanites led to frequent conflicts. A key moment occurred on the hill of Kinder Scout
in the Peak District in 1932, when ramblers famously organised a mass trespass on
the private slopes. The incident ended in violence and prison sentences, followed
by a long-running campaign by the Ramblers’ Association to open the countryside
to the public. The campaign endured until 2000, when the Countryside and Rights
of Way Act was introduced, finally allowing the public to walk in open country and
public common land without using paths, even when the land is privately owned.
In the cities, a different kind of battle was fought to protect the built environment. After the Second World War many of Britain’s historical buildings were
in ruins. Bombings of the historic cities of Plymouth, Exeter, Bath, Norwich and
York had destroyed some of the most valuable ones. But the attacks led to a system for listing buildings of architectural merit around the UK, in order to identify
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those that should be restored or rebuilt if they were damaged by enemy bombs in
future. Government inspectors began listing buildings, grading them as I, II or III,
a system of classification that is still used today by English Heritage.
In 1945 the Labour government led by Clement Attlee promised a new start for
all. Welfare was top of the agenda, with the introduction of the National Health
Service and the provision of new social or ‘council’ housing. A younger generation of architects and town planners believed new styles of building would solve
social and environmental problems, and modernist architecture would show the
way forward. Older buildings were seen as a problem, and there was large-scale
demolition of all kinds.
Nevertheless, some members of the public were sympathetic towards the Victorian built environment. The poet John Betjeman caught the character of England
in his poetry and in his television presentations, expressing his instinctive feelings with cosiness, warmth and humour, unlike Nikolaus Pevsner whose respected
architectural guides were more detached and academic. Both men led the most
important heritage campaign of the era, which attempted to save the Euston Arch,
a neoclassical monument marking the entrance to Euston train station. Despite
popular protest, the arch was destroyed in 1961 and the rubble was deposited in
the River Lea in east London. But, in the mid-1990s public opinion changed, and
a campaign began to recover the stones and resurrect this once fine landmark.
The country house
In the mid-twentieth century the National Trust became more involved with the
preservation of historic country houses. These were large distinctive properties,
often owned by titled landowners who in the past lived from agriculture and
the rent paid by tenants. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries country
houses functioned as centres for the business and administration of local affairs,
as well as for social gatherings of the community. They were also a major source
of employment for large numbers of cooks, gardeners, servants and so on drawn
from poor rural villages.
But throughout the twentieth century the maintenance and restoration costs
of these symbols of a feudal past grew astronomically, and this, coupled with high
rates of taxation and death duties, led to many being sold or destroyed. Others
were given to the National Trust in order to avoid the payment of death duties.
The Trust opens such houses to the public, and in many cases the owners are able
to continue living there, even though they no longer own the property. Art works
and furnishings were sometimes loaned or given to museums. For example, tapestries and furniture at Houghton Hall in Norfolk are now owned by the Victoria
and Albert Museum. This enables the former owners to offset tax, the payment
of which would have required the sale of the art works to private collectors, and
consequently their non-availability to the general public.
The houses that remain independent have had to adapt to survive. Some
opened their doors to the general public and developed other attractions, for
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example Knebworth with pop festivals, Woburn and Longleat with animal safari
parks, and Beaulieu with a motor museum. Tourism has led to demand for refreshment and souvenirs, and many houses opened tea rooms and gift shops, selling
tea towels and other cosy, familiar, everyday objects featuring birds, flowers, cats
and so on. Other houses have been converted into hotels, schools, hospitals,
museums and prisons. Several country houses also hold licences for weddings and
civil ceremonies, while others have become popular locations for films and TV
series; for example, the successful TV costume drama Downton Abbey is filmed at
Highclere Castle in Berkshire.
Despite its decline, the country house (sometimes called a stately home)
remains a powerful symbol of national heritage. For many Britons, it represents
a classical rural dream, a romantic rural retreat and an emblem of a (mythical)
harmonious society in which there was a place for everyone and everyone knew
their place, whether upstairs or downstairs. Its appeal lies in a longing for the
past, a fascination with class and, for some, a paradise lost.
English Heritage
While the National Trust continues to conserve and manage many houses and
monuments of historic importance around the UK, the home nations have separate bodies to advise on the care of environmental heritage. In England, the body
English Heritage (which is officially known as the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) manages the historic environment, registering
listed buildings and historic sites of national importance, such as landscapes and
battlefields. Although it is funded by the Department of Culture, Media and
Sport, it is a non-governmental body.
English Heritage also acts as steward to over 400 historical and archaeological
sites from the stone-age circle of Stonehenge in Salisbury Plain, to the world’s
oldest iron bridge in Shropshire, to shipwrecks up to 12 miles from the British
coast. Around Britain, the bodies Historic Scotland, Cadw (in Wales) and the
Northern Ireland Environment Agency carry out similar functions.
The role of listing buildings is an important one. This refers to buildings placed
on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
There are around half a million currently listed in the UK, which means they
cannot be demolished, extended or altered without special permission from the
local planning authority. Owners may also be forced to maintain and repair listed
buildings, and may be prosecuted if they do not. Although most historic structures are listed, some are relatively new; for example, in 2011 the metal brutalist
Lloyd’s building in the City of London was given a Grade I listing when it was
just 25 years old. At the time, English Heritage said it was ‘universally recognised
as one of the key buildings of the modern epoch’. The pedestrian crossing that
appeared on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album is also listed, which
reflects the fact that almost anything can be protected as long as it can be shown
to be of special historic interest.
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Figure 12.1 The Lloyd’s Building in London – a machine for working in – was given a
Grade I listing in 2011.
© Alex Christopher
Another important role of English Heritage is to administer the Blue Plaque
Scheme. It was started in London in 1866 by the Royal Society of Arts, and
aimed to mark the connection between a particular place or building, and famous
people. London now has almost 900 plaques, commemorating figures as diverse
as the naturalist Charles Darwin, astronomer Isaac Newton, philosopher Karl
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Marx, the guitarist Jimi Hendrix and comedy actor Kenneth Williams. A panel
of nine expert members of English History considers proposals from members of
the public each year. The scheme has been extended to other towns and cities
around Britain to stimulate public interest in local history and heritage. However, plaques are administered by different organisations, and each has its own
criteria for selection.
Figure 12.2 A blue plaque in the City of London, close to the Church of St Bartholomew.
© David Christopher
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Whose heritage?
The idea of heritage can be said to be more emotional and ideological than
that of conservation. Conservation is about preserving what is already there,
but heritage raises questions such as whose heritage is being represented, how
should it be done, and whether or not it should be represented in the first
place.
The kind of questions asked about heritage today are very different to those
asked previously. From 1945 until the 1990s an upper-class vision of society prevailed, which emphasised imperial greatness, national triumph and deference to
the ruling class. For example, fine country houses were presented as one of the
great icons of British culture. Visitors looked up admiringly at their triumphal
nature; that of civilised man over the environment, and of Britain over the rest
of the world. But now when studying a country house, challenging new questions typically emerge, such as the origin of the enormous sums made by the
owners and, for example, their role in slave labour in the Caribbean. In turn,
this prompts observations about the contrast between the genteel civility of the
elegant buildings and formal gardens, compared with the brutal degradation of
slavery. In this way, the country house and its artefacts are reconceptualised for
audiences in the twenty-first century.
Since the 1990s there has been a similar tendency to rethink collections and
reconceptualise galleries. Britain is no longer a colonial power, and new stories
have emerged about its ascent to greatness. New questions are being asked, such
as how it was achieved and at what cost, as well as what was originally British
and ‘belonged’ to Britain. Stories told in museums and galleries about British
greatness in war, empire and discovery have been reconsidered and replaced by
new stories about the production, acquisition and consumption of objects. This
involved a refocusing on new questions of who made them, who used them,
where, why, what for and so on. This change of emphasis is illustrated in many
collections in museums today.
In the case of the British Museum, many of its exhibits were gathered from
overseas, and some critics argue that certain pieces should be returned to their
country of origin. However, defenders of its work say that the Museum does not
tell the story of Britain, but presents itself as a museum of the world. Its collections are from around the world, and are skilfully preserved and presented to
visitors from around the world, in an environment that is secure, protected and
free to enter.
Today, museums in Britain are multifaceted. They are seen as businesses, collections, venues for education, learning and research. The stories they tell are
frequently contested, and new ones are continually emerging. For example, a
recent exhibition about Sherlock Holmes at the Museum of London explored
how Conan Doyle’s fictional character has transcended literature, and become
the subject of stage and screen. Film, photography and paintings were used to
re-create the Victorian London of Holmes, to enable the public to experience
virtually the world he knew and investigated.
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Figure 12.3 Heritage of the imagination. The address is 221b Baker St., London, residence
of Sherlock Holmes, the man who never lived and never died. Yet, his fictional
home is now a major attraction for overseas visitors. Note there is even a blue
plaque on the wall.
© David Christopher
Although many organisations were created to protect the landscape from
industry, the railway and the motor car, paradoxically it is the industrial sector
that today enjoys protection. Buildings as diverse as mines, factories, warehouses,
industrial housing and railway stations have now become the objects of cultural
and historic interest. Industrial heritage is highly successful, and many sites of
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production and manufacturing are now open-air museums, one of the first being
a factory in Cumbria, which made bobbins for the cotton mills. The mills were
of key importance to Lancashire’s textile industry, and the growth of Manchester
as the world’s first industrial city. Stott Park Bobbin Mill opened in 1835 and
was continuously working until its closure in 1971, prior to its restoration and
reopening as a museum in 1974.
A much larger example is the open-air Beamish Museum in County Durham. It comprises the town of Beamish, a farm, a coal mine, and various forms
of period transport set in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Working vehicles and equipment as well as period livestock and costumed
interpreters play the roles of villagers, labourers, craftsmen and so on who are
seen living and working as they would have done, performing crafts and other
occupations and tasks to give a sense of authenticity to the industrial and
domestic scenes, which helps to communicate a sense of typical daily life for
all strata of society.
As well as museums and galleries, other heritage centres and events help re-create elements of the country’s past. These include re-enactments of battles, jousting at medieval castles and other varied activities that aim to inform, entertain
Figure 12.4 A battle scene is re-enacted at the Honourable Artillery Ground, surrounded
by the bastions of modern business in the heart of London.
© Nargis Christopher
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and bring to life elements of British history in a colourful and engaging way.
However, such presentations are sometimes criticised as an oversimplification, a
‘dumbing down’ of historical events, and a ‘Disney-fication’ of the past, in order
to create spectacular light entertainment for twenty first-century non-specialist
audiences.
Holy days and holidays
Although the United Kingdom has become a multi-faith, secular, post-Christian
society, many of its traditional festivals such as Christmas have their origins in
the country’s Christian history. Indeed, the word holiday is derived from ‘holy
day’, and in the past many public holidays were taken on days of religious importance. However, religious belief and practice have been in steady decline for
many years. According to the National Census of 2011, almost 60 per cent still
self-identify as Christians, although regular church attendance (an indication
of the degree to which self-professed Christians actually observe and practise
their religion) has fallen to just 6 per cent of the population. Some 26 per cent
said they had no religion, while other religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism amounted to under 5 per cent each. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
between 1969 and 2002 the Church of England closed almost 1500 churches
around Britain.
Nevertheless, the Christian heritage continues to influence many aspects of
daily life. The practice of taking days off work for religious occasions began with
the Bank of England, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries followed the European custom of closing on the ‘name-days’ of Christian saints. The
closure of the principal lending bank meant other banks could not function, and
many other businesses had to close too. However, in 1834 bank holidays were
reduced to just four, in order to support the needs of business and commerce.
These were 25 December (Christmas Day), 1 November (All Saints), 1 May
(May Day) and the Friday before Easter Sunday (Good Friday). Later, in 1871 the
Bank Holidays Act introduced paid holidays for employees, and today there are
eight permanent ones in England and Wales, nine in Scotland and ten in Northern Ireland. Despite a general closure, many public attractions such as museums,
cinemas and larger shopping centres remain open to the public.
As well as statutory bank holidays, those in work receive an additional holiday
allowance, which the majority take at any time convenient to themselves and
their employers. These are often taken to coincide with the main bank holidays,
which are Christmas and New Year, Easter, and to a lesser extent Whitsuntide.
But, the ways in which these breaks are celebrated varies considerably.
Easter is a movable holiday as it is influenced by the lunar cycle. It is often
characterised by family gatherings, and special church services are held to mark
the occasion. However, for many secular Britons the religious significance is
neglected or ignored, although popular celebration of the occasion involving the
giving of chocolate eggs and other confectionery has converted it into a kind of
festival of sweets.
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The next festival of note is Whitsuntide, an abbreviated form of ‘White Sunday’, which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter (Pentecost). In the north
of England processions through the streets occasionally take place. Known as
the ‘Whit Walks’, they are characterised by brass bands, choirs and girls dressed
in white, which it is said may have a connection with the clothes traditionally
worn for baptism. Once an important festival, in recent decades it has declined in
significance, partly due to secularisation, and particularly as in 1971 the movable
holiday was replaced by the Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday of May.
In contrast, Christmas is the most closely observed festival in the calendar.
The word comes from Christ’s mass, that is the church service of mass, which
is held for Christ. Most people are on holiday on 25 December, and the day is
usually spent with family. Along with the giving of presents, Christmas dinner is
the main event, which typically comprises turkey or goose, along with stuffing,
roast potatoes, sprouts and cranberry sauce. A rich fruity pudding – Christmas
pudding – is served to follow, with a sweet sauce laced with brandy. Later in
the day Christmas cake may be brought out, probably topped with some edible,
snow-covered imagery. However, many households now adopt a more progressive
menu, for example featuring a vegetarian Christmas dish, or a meal of any kind
created by one of the ubiquitous TV chefs.
Inside the home, Christmas decorations are generally green and red. Green is
symbolic of life, especially in winter, and red symbolises the blood of the crucifixion. A Christmas tree (a fir tree) is the focal point of attention, under which
presents may be placed. Christmas cards have been sent since the nineteenth
century, and also adorn shelves and walls. Outside, some households decorate
their properties with coloured lights, where gaudy dancing Santas are sometimes
put on display. In the towns and cities, streets are similarly decorated to create a
festive atmosphere. But decorations are normally removed before the 12th night
(5 January). Since Victorian times it was believed to bring bad luck if they were
left any longer. It may also be because 6 January is a Catholic festival in many
European countries.
For around a week after Christmas Day the country comes to a halt (except
for shopping and sporting events) until after New Year’s Day. The latter is a bank
holiday that is typically spent recovering from celebrations with friends the night
before, and a rousing chorus of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at midnight, a traditional folk
song that was written in Scots by Robert Burns in 1788.
Despite the fun and feasting of bank holidays, there is a great deal of scepticism
and ambivalence about their meaning on the part of many Britons. While almost
everyone appreciates time off work, relatively few observe their religious significance. Children invariably enjoy the presents, food and drama of the occasions,
but many adults believe celebrations are driven by pure commercialism. For
example, Christmas goods appear in the shops from late September, and many
families feel put under pressure to spend money they don’t always have or want
to spend on gifts, excursions, special foods, decorations and so on. Additionally,
the diverse and fragmented nature of many British families, which are often characterised by step-parents and step-children from previous marriages, as well as
Figure 12.5 Chinese New Year in Soho, London.
© Michael Kemp/Alamy
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inter-faith and LGBT relationships, means that visits to the homes of other family members can be fraught and stressful, particularly when the consumption of
alcohol is involved. For these and other reasons, some prefer to spend Christmas
abroad, away from commercial and domestic pressures that Yultetide can bring.
Britain is also home to a number of ethnic communities who go out onto the
streets to celebrate their customs in the traditional way at certain times of the
year. Two of the most notable for their public presence are Diwali and the Chinese New Year. Diwali is a Hindu festival which is held in the autumn. It is
enthusiastically celebrated in Britain; lamps and candles are specially lit to decorate domestic interiors, and traditional sweets are consumed with gusto, such as
laddoo, a ball-shaped sweet made from flour and sugar, and barfi, made with condensed milk and sugar and flavoured with different kinds of nuts.
In recent times Diwali has been gradually accepted and absorbed into British
culture, as Prince Charles and other civic figures have attended Diwali functions. Since 2009 the festival has also been an annual celebration at the residence of the British prime minister. As with any ethnic festival, it is most widely
celebrated in those areas where the community is most numerous. In this case,
the east Midlands city of Leicester is home to some of the biggest celebrations
outside India.
Another great festival of note is the Chinese New Year, which has a strong
presence in several British cities, but particularly in London around the Chinatown area of Soho, and in Trafalgar Square. At the busiest times, crowds of up to
half a million come to witness the largest spectacle outside Asia, which involves
dances, parades, concerts and familiar Chinese dragons that are said to scare
away evil spirits, as participants wish each other ‘Kung Hei Fat Choi’ or ‘Happy
New Year’.
Sectarian rivalry
Although the United Kingdom is a mainly secular and multi-faith country, the
past rivalries between Protestants and Catholics that endured for several centuries still find expression on certain days of the year. In England and Wales
anniversaries of past confrontations are largely forgotten, however in Northern
Ireland and parts of Scotland they still survive and can still be a source of tension.
Some of the most visible displays involve the Orange parades by Protestant
lodges. These are brotherhoods, with names such as the Orange Order, the Order
of Hibernians and the Apprentice Boys, who assemble and march through the
streets on certain days between April and August, celebrating important days in
Protestant history. The most important date is 12 July, the anniversary of Prince
William’s victory over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne on the
east coast of Ireland in 1690. It is recognised as one of Britain’s most significant
battles, and one that marked the rise of Protestantism in Ireland, and is known
as Orangemen’s Day or Orange Day, which is a bank holiday. On this and other
occasions, lodge members typically wear dark suits adorned with an orange sash,
and bowler hats. Pipes, flutes and drums similar to those played by armies of the
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past mark time as the lodge members march through the streets, waving Union
flags and banners. Lodges are mainly male, although there are some ladies’
lodges too.
But the Orange walks are controversial. Among those who hold religious
beliefs, Catholicism is the main faith in Northern Ireland today. The census of
2011 found a majority of almost 41 per cent claimed to be Catholic. It is also
the most religiously observant part of the UK with 45 per cent of the population
attending church regularly. Parades and marches are thus seen as triumphalist
and provocative by many Northern Irish, especially when they pass through predominantly Catholic areas. During the 1970s when the ‘Troubles’ were at their
height, fights and stone throwing sometimes broke out, and marchers were verbally abused. However, today the situation is much calmer. Of more than 2000
annual parades, only a small number are considered to be potentially violent.
Marchers argue that disturbances are caused by outsiders and troublemakers, over
whom they have no control. They blame Catholic Nationalists for attacking
Protestant Unionists, and argue that marchers have a right to walk along public
roads and play their tunes without interference, and without the need to negotiate where they wish to go.
In Scotland there are similar marches. However, the majority of the general
public are opposed to them, even though they commonly take place in the weekends of the summer months in Glasgow and some other regions. They claim they
are an incitement to violence and hatred, as well as being expensive to police.
Another event that has its origins in the rivalry and, at times, hostility between
Protestant and Catholic communities is Guy Fawkes Night, or Bonfire Night, a
rare example of an indigenous British festival that is still celebrated around the
country, although in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland its observance can
still be controversial. It recalls events in 1605 when a group of Catholic conspirators planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament and the Protestant King, James
I, with the intention of replacing him with a Catholic monarch. However, one
of the conspirators – Guy Fawkes – was discovered, and the ‘gunpowder plot’ was
foiled. Fawkes was tortured and executed, and soon afterwards the King ordered
a day of celebration to be held on 5 November. This has evolved into one of
fire, immolation and colourful explosions. Today, the occasion is still marked,
although due to secularisation and a much less zealous Protestantism in England,
the religious origins of the festivities are largely ignored. Moreover, ubiquitous
health and safety regulations have also led to the cancellation of many civic
celebrations.
Typically, a bonfire is lit as part of a local, community occasion, and fireworks
are set off into the night sky. Domestic versions of the event may include an effigy
of the Catholic terrorist – ‘the Guy’ – being made from old clothing packed with
newspapers or straw, which is tossed on top of the bonfire. Children collecting
wood for the bonfire was once a common sight in the week before 5 November,
as was street begging. Children would sit on the pavement accompanied by their
home-made effigy, calling out ‘Penny for the Guy’ to passers-by, to raise funds for
fireworks. However, this is rarely seen or heard today. Although the event has
Figure 12.6 A scene more usually associated with medieval barbarism, yet this could be a
garden in suburban Britain on Bonfire Night.
© FLPA/Alamy
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changed little over the years, a more recent interpretation involves the burning
of celebrities and politicians in place of a ‘Guy’. Another recent trend is the wearing of ‘Guy Fawkes’ masks at political demonstrations.
Like many historic festivals, festivities, celebrations and entertainments, the
story and origins of Guy Fawkes have been marginalised, but the spectacle is still
widely observed and enjoyed.
Music festivals
The countryside is still a dominant influence in British heritage, in conservation, in sport, recreation, entertainment and celebration, and it holds a magnetic
influence on those living in towns and cities, each year drawing millions to take
part in events and activities around the counties of the UK.
Some of the largest and best-known events have a focus on music, and in recent
times these have grown sharply in number and popularity. In 2004 there were
around 100 music festivals held around the UK, but by 2014 this had grown to
over 900. The top 200 festivals contribute £450 million to the economy in ticket
sales, travel, accommodation and food, and attract many visitors from overseas.
Larger ones, such as Glastonbury, regularly attract over 120,000 campers and are
broadcast internationally. At times, they have been a vehicle for counter-culture,
alternative lifestyles and explicitly political causes. But today they have become
more corporate in nature, and highly profitable forms of mass entertainment for
their organisers and sponsors.
Some of the earliest festivals were of classical music and opera. The Glyndebourne Festival Opera is held near Lewes in Sussex, and has taken place almost
every year since the original two-week festival began in 1934. Today, it takes
place over four months from May to August each year, when the resident London
Philharmonic Orchestra assists with some 76 performances, which are presented
to a total audience of over 85,000. The location is an important element of Glyndebourne’s appeal, as many artists and spectators are attracted by the verdant elegance of the remote country setting.
By the 1950s jazz music was growing in popularity, and a number of outdoor,
country locations were chosen for concerts. This also coincided with the need for
the owners of country estates to generate income from their properties. America’s
Newport Jazz Festival had shown the way from 1954, and in 1956 Lord Montague
held a jazz festival at Beaulieu, as an imaginative solution to help preserve his
estate. The event proved highly successful, and soon afterwards a jazz event was
held at the Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Clacton, where Shirley Bassey and John
Dankworth entertained the crowds. Music festivals grew steadily in popularity,
size and duration, and were extended from one day to two or more, with dormitory marquees to accommodate some of those staying overnight, and when
the Rolling Stones played at the Richmond Jazz Festival in 1964, some 27,000
attended.
Pop and rock were beginning to replace jazz in festival programmes, and one
of the highlights was Glastonbury Fair. It began in 1914 when classical music
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Cultural heritage
concerts and lectures took place around a summer school at Glastonbury in Somerset, until 1926. However, it was not until 1970 that the Festival started again,
when local farmer Michael Eavis organised the Pilton Pop, Blues and Folk Festival. It was attended by around 1500 fans, who paid an entrance fee of £1 to see T.
Rex, among others. The following year it was named the Glastonbury Fair, with
David Bowie, Joan Baez and Hawkwind headlining. Like many other open-air
festivals of the period, it also offered dance, poetry readings, theatre and other
sideshows.
A growing counter-culture was beginning to attach itself to the festival scene.
In the southern English countryside, a growing number of small events offered the
opportunity to raise awareness of alternative issues, celebrate arts, crafts, experimentation, environmentalism, and a chance to meet like-minded individuals
who shared a similar disenchantment with conventional politics. In East Anglia,
local fairs reinvented seasonal gatherings in the countryside, imbuing them with
an environmental awareness and early ‘green’ politics. Many of the early events
were organised together with local authorities, who worked to ensure their safety
and efficient functioning. Most gatherings were small and free, as was the Windsor Free Festival, a larger event that was illegally held on royal land between 1972
and 1974. Under the loose organisation of the anarchist Bill ‘Ubi’ Dwyer, festival
goers were encouraged to ‘bring what they would like to find’, with the aim of
creating an alternative community for several days. The success of Windsor led
to many similar events around the country, most notably Watchfield (1975), and
the Stonehenge free festival between 1972 and 1984.
Large festivals often raised funds for and awareness of political causes; however, unlike at the smaller events, the politics tended to be more mainstream
than alternative. Having seen the massed crowds at the American festival of
Woodstock in 1969, and around 200,000 music fans at the Isle of Wight Festival
in 1970, in 1971 the former Beatle George Harrison, together with Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr, staged the Concert for Bangladesh in New York, raising
$250,000 to aid war casualties in the war-torn nation. It was the first of its kind,
and provided the inspiration for other large, politicised concerts and festivals in
Britain later in the decade, such as the Rock Against Racism concert supported
by the Anti-Nazi League in 1978 at Victoria Park in London, which featured the
Clash, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex and others, and was attended by over 100,000.
Rock Against Racism was aimed at promoting racial harmony through music,
and was one of the first organisations to mix black and white bands at a concert.
It worked closely with the Anti-Nazi League to organise gigs around Britain, and
helped to build support for anti-racism in schools, workplaces and the community
in general, as well as exposing far-right, neo-Nazi groups such as the National
Front and the British National Party.
At a time of escalating Cold War tension, the Glastonbury Festival continued to support various charitable and political causes such as the Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament. But throughout the decade both large and small music
festivals became increasingly divorced from political causes and more charity focused; for example, in 1985 the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium
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303
in London helped to raised funds for a famine in Ethiopia. It was broadcast live
on television, and was seen by an estimated 1.9 billion viewers in around 150
countries.
Smaller, counter-cultural events became more aligned with dance music and
the apolitical hedonism that it offered, such as the Castlemorton Festival in 1992,
which attracted up to 40,000 ravers and others for a week-long event, the largest
of its kind since the Stonehenge Free Festival in the mid-1980s. However, the
free festival scene was coming under threat from hooliganism, media interest and
aggressive policing. The government felt compelled to act, and introduced the
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, which aimed to outlaw outdoor
events in which music included ‘sounds wholly or predominantly characterised
by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats’. Never had raving been such
a serious business.
With the advent of the twenty-first century, public demand for festivals has
seen the number and variety increase almost exponentially. But unlike those of
previous decades, there has been a marked shift away from political awarenessraising, from charitable causes and from counter-culture, towards corporatism and
profit. Festival goers have become customers with expectations, and the experience has changed from one of camping in a field with a poor sound system and
low standards of food and hygiene, to one of clean toilets, international cuisine,
no queues, a high fidelity sound, facilities for children, and in place of a damp,
smelly tent, high-quality accommodation is often available for hire.
Glastonbury remains the benchmark for many large mainstream festivals.
Despite its origins in the free festival and counter-cultural movements of the
1960s, it has grown to a five-day event, with a capacity of 135,000, attracting
some of the most notable pop and rock artists, along with hundreds of other acts.
The event helps to raise millions of pounds for good causes, including Oxfam,
Greenpeace and WaterAid, who also assist by offering their services as volunteers. Nevertheless, it is sometimes criticised for ‘selling out’; for becoming a
major corporate event characterised by expensive tickets, online ticketing systems, security guards and commercialisation, plus, for those able to afford its hire,
even the luxury of an on-site Winnebago, or an air-conditioned yurt.
Elsewhere in Britain, the festival scene has been characterised in recent years
by the arrival of smaller, ‘boutique’ events, such as Kendal Calling in Cumbria
and LeeFest in Surrey, and many others that offer high-quality accommodation
on site, fewer queues and other events such as comedy, theatre and tutorials on
photography. Trends are clearly moving towards a rebranding of festivals in terms
of exclusivity and conformity in events which are clean, well ordered and about
as subversive as a Glyndebourne opera. The business model is also being exported,
as larger events look to franchise their festivals overseas. In 2013, the organisers
of Field Day and The Warehouse Project staged an event The Unknown Festival
in Croatia, in 2014 Wonderfruit launched in Thailand and Bestival organisers
expect to launch an event in the USA in 2015.
Despite the globalisation of British festivals, there are very few festivals in
Britain for world music. The Africa Oye is the largest celebration of live African
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Cultural heritage
Figure 12.7 Glastonbury Festival – the largest event of its kind in the world.
© S.I.N./Alamy
music in the UK, while Melas held in Bradford, Cardiff and Edinburgh celebrate
south Asian music and culture. Southburgh in Norfolk also offers a world music
festival. There is also the World of Music and Dance (WOMAD) in Malmesbury,
Wiltshire, which was first held in 1982, organised by musician Peter Gabriel and
others.
In complete contrast, for those with a taste for nostalgia, Marvellous Festivals
in Berkshire specialise in a festival of tribute bands, such as the Bootleg Beatles,
T. Rexstacy, and Boot Led Zeppelin.
Notting Hill Carnival
Notting Hill Carnival is the biggest street festival of its kind in the UK, and one
of the largest in the world. It takes place over two days of the August Bank Holiday weekend. It began quite modestly in 1964 as an attempt to showcase to the
general public the steel bands who played in the London district of Earls Court
each weekend. Today, the carnival attracts over one million visitors to the streets
of the London suburb, and makes an important contribution to the West Indian
heritage in the UK. It is said to include more whites and Europeans than native
British-Caribbeans, and includes rapping, performance poetry and steel bands.
Soca and calypso are the most traditional kinds of music played, although in
recent years these have been eclipsed by the powerful sound systems, which blast
reggae, R&B, dub and other styles into the crowds passing by.
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305
The festival has its origins in nineteenth-century Trinidadian festivals that celebrated the abolition of slavery, and participants would dress in costume to hide
their real identities as they mimicked and satirised the dress and manners of their
former European masters. Today, the costumes are elaborate confections worn
by the ‘Mas’ dancers who perform in the street and on floats which pass along
the carnival route. Apart from the look and sound of the carnival, there is the
characteristic aromas emanating from the numerous food stalls, which include
barbecued jerk chicken, curries, patties and fried bananas or plantain.
Over the years the Carnival has become an institution that cuts across age,
gender, class ethnicity and sexual orientation to bring generations of performers
and festival goers together in a musical and cultural event that is unique in the
world. Nevertheless, despite the positive image, at times the Carnival has been
tainted by violence, but given the size of the crowds, the number of incidents is
relatively low. Media interest in such a large gathering is inevitably high, and
tends to report every incident, which leads to a misconception about the frequency and seriousness of any misdemeanors.
Popular country events
As well as music festivals, the British countryside is also home to a variety of
other kinds of events, entertainments and shows. Many village festivals are
focused on country crafts and skills. High-quality agricultural produce, fine livestock, and traditional rural arts, crafts and skills are often on display, while others
have a greater focus on engineering, especially classic automobiles and traction
engines. The latter are steel behemoths, massive coal-fired machines on wheels
which were once used to drive agricultural machinery and fairground rides, but
are now living museum pieces that appeal to a broad range of enthusiasts. The
Lincolnshire Show offers a good combination of all these elements in an annual
event that began in 1883.
Inevitably, some of the less conventional are the most historic, for example the
Royal Annual Shrovetide Football Game, which takes place each year on Shrove
Tuesday and Ash Wednesday in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The town becomes the
pitch, and two teams of over 100 players, each composed of men, women and
children, participate in games lasting around eight hours. Football games on
these dates go back to the twelfth century, during the reign of Henry II, and the
game at Ashbourne has been played since the mid-seventeenth century. This
game is said to be the origin of the expression ‘a derby game’, which today refers
to a game between two local rivals, or two teams from the same town.
Others include the festival of cheese rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, the festival of Up Helly Aa at Lerwick in Shetland, the Nutters’ Dance at
Bacup in Lancashire, Fireball Whirling at Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, and the
summer and winter solstices at Stonehenge, Wiltshire. Several have their origins
in pre-Christian times and remain local in nature, although one exception is
Hallowe’en on the eve of All Hallows (31 October), a national event when children delight in dressing up as witches and wizards influenced by gothic horror
Figure 12.8 Morris men and women in action.
© Michael Preston/Alamy
Cultural heritage
307
films and literature, in order to imitate evil spirits and to ‘trick or treat’ unsuspecting members of the public.
A feature of some British country festivals is the presence of Morris dancers.
This is a type of English folk dancing by choreographed participants, who often
perform over swords or sticks. Clothing is predominantly white, and adorned with
red sashes, coloured waistcoats and bells on the shins. The earliest written mention of them is in the mid-fifteenth century, and it is thought the name Morris is
a corruption of the word ‘Moorish’, since the dances, costumes and music have
much in common with those still found in Spain (and western France) today. A
dance team is known as a ‘side’ and has between six and eight dancers. There are
six dominant styles of Morris dancing, with variations possible within each style.
Participants can be male or female, and music is supplied from a pipe and tabor
(drum), a fiddle, a melodeon or accordion. Songs are usually about the rhythms
of rural life, with the performers’ dance led by a squire, while others in the role
of fools and beasts may mingle with the crowd, amusing the children and others.
As with many modern customs and practices, there is a tension between those
‘sides’ who wish to keep faithful to the music and dance of the nineteenth century and earlier, and others who reinvent and reinterpret music and dance to
embrace modern influences. Some sides even embrace the internet, maintaining
a web presence with blogs, forums and so on, keeping the public updated about
their tours and other activities.
Other well-known festivals are more urban in nature. Some of the largest are
funfairs, such as Hull Fair and Nottingham Goose Fair, which have their origins
in the early medieval period. Today, they offer popular rides, attractions, games
and amusements not unlike those that can be seen at most seaside towns around
Britain, such as Blackpool, Margate and Scarborough, where gaudy art works
inspired by American youth culture of the 1950s provide the anachronistic backdrop to rides that include a big wheel, big dipper, dodgems and merry-go-round.
In sum, sensational rides and side shows are designed to offer a brief thrill to the
youth of the locality, in a garish spectacle that recalls the eighteenth-century
English tradition of carnival, with its atmosphere, noise and colour.
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Glossary
accent
Accent refers to the type of pronunciation a person speaks with. In contrast, dialect refers to differences in grammar and vocabulary. In Britain, both accent and
dialect may give clues about not only a person’s background but also their general
level of education. It is often said by linguists that non-mobile, older rural males
(NORMs) speak with some of the most distinctive accents, although in recent
decades this category has expanded to include immigrants to the UK.
Ealing comedies
A distinctive range of comedy films produced at the Ealing Studios in London
especially between 1948 and 1955, which typically featured the main characters
subverting authority or rebelling against the ruling class.
Establishment
In the 1960s it was widely believed that British society and politics was controlled by a small number of wealthy families and individuals who had been to
elite public schools and universities. They included the royal family and others
who held key positions in the Church, government and armed forces. However,
the concept has little use today when new types of unelected bodies such as the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and powerful media figures also
hold great power and are able to influence official policy.
Good Friday Agreement
A series of agreements between the British and Irish governments, and the political parties of Northern Ireland regarding civil and cultural rights, justice, policing and the decommissioning of weapons. The agreement helped to bring about
peace in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, following decades of violence.
heritage films
The term is often used to describe a genre of films which strongly reflect conservative values of nationalism, patriotism and nostalgia for the days of British
imperial greatness. The style has been frequently represented by the team of
Merchant–Ivory in the 1980s, whose A Room with a View exemplifies the trend.
However, another view claims the glorious, romantic past is fundamentally
false, as the British Empire was a façade for an exploitative and sometimes cruel
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Glossary
occupation. A stronger view argues it is a flawed attempt to represent a British
cultural identity, one which is maintained because it consistently sells well with
audiences at home and abroad.
hi-tech
A style in design and architecture which uses advanced technology and lightweight, flexible materials, such as steel, glass and aluminium. Unlike in earlier styles,
the mechanical aspects of the building, such as pipes, lifts and air-conditioning
systems, are sometimes displayed on the outside. The style has been exploited by
Richard Rogers and Norman Foster among others.
IRA
The Irish Republican Army is an organisation of Irish Nationalists dedicated to
the establishment of a United Ireland, which was increasingly active in Britain
from the late 1960s when British troops patrolled the streets of many Northern
Irish cities.
‘kitchen sink’ drama
A style of play popular in the 1950s, a time when there was a new spirit of openness in society, and a desire in the arts to offer authentic representations of it.
The ‘kitchen sink’ style put the lives of the poor and ordinary to the forefront,
in drama as well as in television, film and art, before becoming absorbed into the
mainstream of the 1960s, along with other elements of social realism.
Macpherson Report
This was a report in 1999 on the racist murder in 1993 of Stephen Lawrence, who
was stabbed by a group of white youths in south London. The initial investigation
was held to be inadequate, and following a judicial inquiry announced by the
Labour government, the former High Court judge Sir William Macpherson found
the police investigation showed professional incompetence, failed leadership and
a catalogue of errors due to ‘institutional racism’ within the force. The report was
a damning indictment of race relations in Britain.
magic realism
Magic realism is a genre of writing that originated in South America, especially
in the works of Gabriel Garcia Márquez, whose novel One Hundred Years of Solitude mixes extravagant fantasy with factual reality, partly in a playful way, but
also in response to the manipulation of fact and fiction in South American politics by totalitarian regimes. It is probably not coincidental that in Britain the
style was exploited in the 1980s and early 1990s – notably by Salman Rushdie,
Angela Carter, Graham Swift and Peter Carey – when for many people, what
the Thatcher government said about society was very different from the reality
of living in it.
moral panics
From time to time a particular kind of behaviour is suddenly treated as sensational and problematic by the government and the mass media, even though it
has been present all along. In Britain, moral panics have often been encouraged
Glossary
311
by the political right, in order to criticise the left for its alleged incompetence.
Some of the best-documented examples include studies of Teds, mods and rockers, muggers, New Age travellers and asylum seekers.
National Front
A small, far-right political organisation founded in 1966 and dedicated to the
expulsion of non-white immigrants from the UK, as well as the reintroduction of
capital punishment for certain offences.
neo-classical
This describes buildings from the early nineteenth to early twentieth century
in the classical styles of ancient Greece and Rome. These included many civic
and commercial buildings, such as town halls, banks and train stations which
emphasised civic power and pride, as well as reaffirming the kind of society that
the local government wanted to create.
neo-vernacular
Since the late 1980s there has been a trend in architecture to design types of
houses that are traditional in appearance, having the ‘look’ of houses from perhaps 50–100 years earlier, but are modern in features and comforts. These are
sensitive to their (often rural) environment, and popular with house-buyers, who
generally prefer the look of older houses.
New Brutalism
A severely functional style of architecture, characterised by smooth, stark surfaces and sharp angles, which imposes itself on the environment and observer in
a kind of architectural anti-aesthetic. In Britain the style was commonly found in
local authority housing blocks of the 1950s and 1960s and the National Theatre
complex, designed by Denys Lasdun. However, the reputation of such buildings
suffered as they were often built quickly and cheaply, and concrete as a building
material soon went out of fashion.
outing
During the 1980s and 1990s there was a reaction against what many saw as the
hypocrisy of undeclared homosexuals in positions of power, who had spoken out
against gay equality in the Church and elsewhere. ‘Outing’ them involved publicly declaring that the person in question was in fact gay.
pirate radio
Pirate radio refers to radio stations broadcasting illegally. In the mid-1960s many
broadcast rock music from ships in the Thames estuary and in the North Sea,
exploiting a legal loophole, which left them in international waters outside
British legal jurisdiction. Today, pirate radio stations are more likely to be found
in apartment blocks in urban areas.
political correctness
Many linguists believe that language influences attitudes and behaviour, and during the 1980s there was a move to change language use in official documents in
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Glossary
order to promote equality and avoid causing offence to groups such as women,
gays, the disabled and ethnic minorities. Local authorities and other official
bodies have attempted to promote political correctness by avoiding the use of
language that could reinforce stereotyped thinking; for example, words with the
suffix ‘man’ were altered to person, thus ‘chairman’ became ‘chairperson’, and
some female forms such as actress, air hostess and spinster fell out of use.
political left/left wing
Since the nineteenth century, British politics has been divided into two main
groups, the left and the right, which have their roots in philosophies of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The basic premise of the left was that a better,
fairer society could be achieved through the redistribution of wealth from rich
to poor, and that social problems were largely attributable to social inequality.
A more extreme view wanted to see the imposition of a communist society, in
which, theoretically at least, everyone would be equal and nobody exploited;
there would be no private business or private property; and elections would be
unnecessary. This was largely the belief of Karl Marx (1818–83) and Marxist
ideology, which divided the world until the 1990s. Although Marx lived and
worked in Britain for some years, his works found little favour. The Labour Party
was committed to some Marxist principles until the 1990s, such as the nationalisation of major industries, for example coal, steel and transport, but these were
removed under the leadership of Tony Blair.
political right/right wing
In contrast to the political left, the right was an early political view based on
philosophies of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which believed that a
better society could be created with small government, strong law, low taxes and
free enterprise. This found its maximum expression in recent times with ‘Thatcherism’ (see below).
soap opera
The term ‘soap opera’ was imported from America in the 1950s where mini-series
with lots of drama, domestic conflict and crises were sponsored by detergent manufacturers who used the commercial breaks to advertise their products, primarily
to housewives watching daytime television.
social realism
Social realism emerged in the 1950s, with new works of theatre, literature, poetry
and art, television plays and soap operas aiming to represent society in a more
realistic way. It marked the beginning of the British ‘new wave’ in a movement
that was influenced by the ‘documentary’ style developed in Britain in the late
1930s.
spin/spin doctors
Spin and spin doctors were a new aspect of 1990s media and public relations.
The act of preparing and managing political or corporate information in the best
possible light is known as ‘spin’. The mass media frequently spin news to make
it eye-catching, controversial or sensational; political parties spin news so as to
Glossary
313
avoid damage and present themselves in the most acceptable way. Those who
‘spin’ the news are known as ‘spin doctors’.
suburbia
Suburbia is a generic name for areas of the city between the centre and the
countryside. Most people in Britain live in the suburbs, and increasingly work
there too. In recent years suburban life has been the subject of study, as an area
once known for its limited interest and the narrow-mindedness of its conformist
inhabitants is recognised as being far more varied and liberal than researchers
initially suspected.
tabloid
This is a print industry term meaning ‘compressed’. For many years it referred to
smaller-sized newspapers which were generally more sensational press with a wide
appeal. They had shorter articles and sentences and often used informal vocabulary and slang. However, from around 2000, several of the larger, ‘broadsheet’
newspapers began to appear in a smaller, tabloid size, in the belief that many
readers found the format practical and preferable. Papers such as the Independent,
The Times and the Guardian now appear in smaller formats, and the term is no
longer synonymous with ‘low quality’ press.
Thatcherism
Thatcherism refers to the ideology and practices of the Conservative government
under Margaret Thatcher between 1979 and 1990. It involved cutting public
spending on social welfare and arts projects, a vast programme of privatisation of
almost all state-controlled industries and liberating market forces, together with a
strong police force to keep in check the inevitable social consequences. Abroad,
Thatcher’s foreign policy included a tough anti-communist/socialist stance and
much closer ties with the USA.
Thatcher frequently expressed her personal belief in the need to return to values of thrift, enterprise, the family, personal restraint and a strict code of conduct, which were often referred to as ‘Victorian values’. Her autocratic style and
strength were enough to carry forward her programmes until she was finally dislodged by her own party following economic recession, the introduction of the
‘poll tax’ and internal divisions over closer ties with Europe.
Thatcherism profoundly affected British society not only in the 1980s, but also
through into the twenty-first century, as privatisation, the removal of subsidies
and business values have become mainstream in the arts and in many areas of
society. On the other hand, so-called ‘Victorian values’ have been largely ignored
as society has become more tolerant, plural and liberal.
Tory
The Conservative Party is often referred to as the Tory Party.
youth culture
In the post-war period British youth culture has frequently been characterised by
gangs and groups with specific values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviour, clothes, language, drugs, music and so on. Essentially, youth culture refers to a style which is
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Glossary
distinct from that of the dominant culture. Since the 1950s many youth cultures
have been related to youth and deviancy, for example ‘Teddy Boys’, ‘mods’, ‘rockers’, ‘punks’ and ‘yardies’. Their existence mainly among the working class is said
to have provided a solution to their failure to adjust to mainstream society, or a
rejection/contempt for the values of the dominant class.
However, since the 1990s the ‘tribalism’ of British youth appears to have
declined. According to some theories, this reflects the disappearance of labourintensive manual industries and a decline in oppositional politics of left and
right, as well as the development of a multicultural society, which together have
contributed to a breakdown of traditional class divisions. At the same time, the
public has become both more tolerant and increasingly familiar with the tendency of the mass media to exaggerate events, resulting in lower levels of interest
and the removal of the media’s role as an ‘amplifier’ of youth culture.
Index
Page numbers in bold refer to figures.
A Clockwork Orange (film) 146
A Vision of Britain (TV programme) 218
Abbensetts, Michael 123, 181
Abigail’s Party (TV programme) 181–2
abortion 102
Abortion Act, 1967 9
Adams, Jonathan 226
admission charges 13
adult entertainment industry 56
Adult Industry Trade Association (AITA)
56
advertising 6, 14; and language 37–8;
magazines 78; radio 232; social media
51–2; and sport 281
Afghanistan 2, 18
Africa Oye 303–4
AIDS 15–6, 254
Albermarle Report, 1960 274
Ali, Monica 96
Ali, Tariq 126
Allen, Richard 89
Alloway, Lawrence 197
alternative comedy 130
alternative drama 122–3
alternative magazines 83–4
Alton Estate, London 214
American Rock Around the Clock (film)
142–3
Amis, Kingsley 85, 87, 100; Lucky Jim 86
Amis, Martin 100–2, 101; Lionel Asbo:
State of England 101–2; London Fields
100–1; Money 100
Anderson, Gerry 177
Anderson, Lindsay 141, 143, 151
Andre, Carl 204
Angel of the North 209, 225
anti-Semitism 267
Antonioni, Michelangelo 146
archaeological sites 289
Archer, Jeffrey 16
Archers, The (radio programme) 170
architects 213; women 223–4
architecture 212–30, 288; American
influence 212; apartment blocks
214; colleges and universities 216;
conservation 213, 218, 230; funding
218, 219; and health 214; height 229; as
logo 224–6; modernist 212, 213–8, 217;
municipal modernism xv; neo-classical
215; New Brutalism 214–6, 217,
230; new towns 218; postmodern 212,
218–30; prizes 213; property renovation
223; public conservatism 213, 216, 218,
222–3; public housing 214, 216, 222–3;
and Thatcherism 218–22
Arnold, Matthew 6, 30, 268
Arnold position, the 30
art 194–212; 1980s 204–7; abstraction
195; American influence 195, 197;
collections 194; commercial galleries
194–5; commercial opportunities
210–2; conceptual 204; controversy
208; disillusionment 204; from ethnic
communities 205; funding 195, 212;
landscapes 195; moral message 6;
new realism 195–6; patronage 208;
photography 198; pop 197–9, 200;
post-war 195–7; prices 196, 197, 207,
208, 210; public 208–10, 209, 211, 225;
public taste 212; St. Ives School 195;
schools 195; Scottish 205; sculpture
195, 200–4, 202, 208–9, 225; status
194; subjectivity 195; women artists,
1980s 205; Young British Artists 205–7
316
Index
art galleries 13
art house cinema 139
art schools 195
arts, role of 30
Arts Council 1, 13, 125, 135–6
Arup Associates 219, 226
Ashes to Ashes (TV programme) 189
Asian population 46–7
Asian theatre 133
Atari 59
athletics 276–7
attention spans 50
Attlee, Clement 3, 288
audience: changing nature of 28–9;
newspapers 67; sport 264, 281–2;
television 176–7
Audit Bureau of Circulations 78
austerity 22
authenticity 36, 285
Authority for TV on Demand (ATVOD)
56
Avengers, The (TV programme) 177
Ayckbourn, Alan 128, 128–9
Babymother (film) 159
Bacon, Francis 196, 197
Balcon, Michael 140
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art,
Gateshead 225
Banham, Reyner 197
bank holidays 295
banking crisis, 2008 21
Banks, Iain 103
Banksy 209–10
Barbican Estate, London 216, 217
Barnes, Julian 102
Barry, John 241
Barstow, Stan 85, 141
BBC xviii, 167–9, 172, 186;
Broadcasting House 171; CBeebies
channel 190; documentary
programmes 172; formation 170;
funding 168, 169, 192–3; Learning
Zone xvii; media scandals 23; political
correctness 39; and pop music 234;
pressure on 192–3; production 167;
radio channels 166, 168, 176; and
received pronunciation 34, 35–6, 35;
scandals 193; television channels 165,
167; Top of the Pops 176
BBC Wales 43
BBC World News 167
BBC World Service 168, 170
Beamish Museum, County Durham 294
Beatles, the 19, 36, 143, 235–6, 238, 243;
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
198, 235–6
Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot 118
Beckham, David 281
Bedford, Eric 216–7
Bennett, Alan 120, 128, 172
Berger, John 196
Berners-Lee, Tim 49
Best, George 281
Betjeman, John 288
Beveridge Report, the 3
Beyond the Fringe 120
bhangra 256
Big Bang, the 219
Big Brother (TV programme) 188
Bill Haley and the Comets 232–3
Billy Elliot (film) 159
binge drinking 18
Birmingham 225, 265
Black, Conrad 67
black English vernacular (BEV) 33
Blackboard Jungle (film) 232–3
Blackman, Malorie 111, 112
Blair, Tony 2, 16–7, 17–21
Blake, Peter 198
Bleasdale, Alan 182
Blue Lamp, The (film) 140, 142
Blue Plaque Scheme 290–1, 291
Blunt, Anthony 5
Blur 258
Blyton, Enid 111
Bolan, Marc 244
Bombay Dreams (musical) 133
book clubs 108
book covers 105
Booker Prize 87, 91, 93, 95, 96, 103, 107–8
Bowie, David 147, 244, 246–7, 260
boxing 278
Boy George 254
Boyce, Sonia 205
Bradbury, Malcolm 88
Bragg, Billy 257
Braine, John 141; Room at the Top 86
Bratby. John 196
Brechtian Theatre Workshop 117
Brenton, Howard 125, 126; Romans in
Britain 121, 121
Britain’s Got Talent (TV programme)
259–60
Britannia Hospital (film) 151
BritArt 207–10, 209
BritArts 19
British, definition xiii
Index
British Academy of Film and Television
Arts (BAFTA) 49, 138, 167
British Blind Sport 280
British Board of Film Classification
(BBFC) 65, 139
British Council xvii, xviii
British culture, definition xiv
British Deaf Sports Association 279
British Empire 1, 3, 96, 34, 287
British Film Institute (BFI) xviii, 138;
National Archive 139
British films, definition 139. see also
cinema
British imagery, iconic 258
British Library xviii
British Museum 285, 286, 292
British Paralympic Association 280
British Wheelchair Sports Foundation 280
Britishness 26
Britpop 19–20, 257–9
Brittain, Victoria 134
Britten, Benjamin 5
broadcasting. see television; radio
Broadcasting Act, 1991 185
Broadcasting House, London 171
Brookner, Anita 91
Brookside (TV programme) 183
Brown, Gordon 2, 21
Brutalism 214–6, 217, 230
BSkyB 185
Burberry 261
Burgess, Anthony: A Clockwork Orange
87–8, 146; ‘Enderby’ comic novels 88
Burgess, Guy 5
Burgin, Victor 204
Burnout (game) 59
Burns, Robert 46, 296
Butler, Reg 201
Butler Education Act,1944 3, 36
Byatt, A.S. 93
Cadw (Welsh Historic Monuments) 213,
289
Cambridge University 58
Camden Arts Centre, London 194
Camelot 20
Cameron, David 2, 21
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND) 5, 302
Campbell, Duncan 183
campus novels 88–9
Canary Wharf, London 219, 220
Cardiff, Welsh Assembly building 226
Caro, Anthony 201, 227
317
Carry On films 141, 144, 145
cars 214
Carter, Angela 93
Castlemorton Festival 303
Cathy Come Home 172
celebrity culture 77, 81
Celtic Media Festival 138
censorship 10, 119–20, 139
centralisation 19–20
Centre Point, London 217
Chadha, Gurinder 160
Chadwick, Lynne 201
Channel 4 149–50, 155, 157, 169, 185
Channel 5 185
Chariots of Fire (film) 150
Charles, Prince of Wales 18, 150, 218,
221, 230, 298
Charter88 16
Chauderi, Amit 95
chavs 261
Children’s Laureate 111
children’s literature 85, 111–3, 113
children’s television 176, 177, 190
children’s theatre 130–1
Chinese New Year 297, 298
Christian heritage 295–6
Christie, Agatha 105–6
Christmas 295, 296
chronology xix–xxvii
Churchill, Caryl 127
Churchill, Winston 3
cinema xiii–xiv, 138–64; art house
139; attendances 139; awards 138;
blockbuster 161; broadcast films 139;
budgets 163; censorship 139; cinema
chains 163–4;; classification system
139; comedy 140–1, 144; costume
dramas 146; definition of British film
139; documentary 140, 141; economic
contribution 163; education 138; ethnic
minorities and 156; feel-good fantasy
159–60; film finance 163–4; foreign
film-makers 146; foreign-language 139;
genres 138; government funding 163;
Harry Potter Series 162; heritage films
150; history and development 139–49;
Hollywood 145, 163; homosexuality
in 143, 152; horror 144–5; and
immigration 160–1; independent films
153, 155–8, 157; internet piracy 164;
James Bond films 143–4, 145; licensing
139; and multiculturalism 152, 160; new
wave 142; and nostalgia 150; political
154–5; pop 142–5, 145; pop genre
318
Index
146–7, 148, 149; profitability 163–4;
public profile 138–9; science-fiction
145; Second World War 140; social
realism 138, 141–2, 160; studios 138;
and technological change 149–50; and
Thatcherism 149–58; and women 151–2;
and youth culture 142–5, 145
citizen critics 54
Clarkson, Jeremy 57
class divisions 259; and sport 264–5,
266–7
Classic FM 169
Clause 28, Local Government Act, 1987
16
Cleanfeed 56
Clegg, Nick 21
Coal Face (film) 141
coalition government 2, 21, 29
Cold War 12, 17, 87, 99, 107, 142, 144,
151, 177, 232, 302
colleges 216
comedy: alternative 130; children’s 130–1;
films 140–1, 144; sitcoms 180, 181, 183;
television 180, 181–2, 183, 189–91;
theatre 128–32; workplace 190–1
Comedy Store, London 130
Comic Strip 130
commercial galleries 194–5
commercial radio 166, 169
commercialisation 20
Commons Preservation Society 286
Commonwealth, the xvi, 1
Commonwealth Games 270, 280
Communications Act, 2003 186
Communications and Data Bill 58
conceptual art 204
concert tickets 262–3, 262
Conquest, Robert 86
consensus politics, disappearance of 1
conservation 213, 218, 230, 286-7
Conservative Party 1, 2, 3–4, 10, 11, 12–7,
21. 27, 70, 75, 182;
conspicuous consumption 151
consumer magazines 81
consumerism 7, 181–2, 188, 240
consumption 1, 151
contraception 9, 277
Cook, Peter 120, 128
Cool Britannia 19–20, 159, 258
Cooper-Clarke, John 109
Core Design 63
Coronation Street (TV programme)
173–4, 174
Cosmopolitan (magazine) 77, 80, 81
COUM Transmissions 204
Council for the Encouragement of Music
and Arts (CEMA) 3
country events 305, 306, 307
country house, the 288–9, 292
Country Life (magazine) 287
countryside, opening of 287
Countryside and Rights of Way Act, 2000
287
Cragg, Tony 201
Creasy, Stella 57
creative industries 29
Creative Scotland 138–9
Criado-Perez, Caroline 57
cricket 266–7, 270, 272
crime 6, 13–4; rates 24, 142
crime fiction 105–7
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act,
1994 256, 303
critics, citizen 54
cultural confidence 82
cultural decline 6–7
cultural heritage 285–301; conservation
286–7; country events 305, 306,
307; the country house 288–9,
292; definition 285; disnification
295; environmental 289–91, 290;
history and development 285–8;
holy days and holidays 295–6, 297,
298; re-enactments 294–5, 294;
representation 292–5, 293, 294;
sectarianism 298–9, 300, 301
cultural life, changing expression of xiv
culture: definition xiv, 30; folk xiv; high
xiv, 30; inclusive 30; language and
31–47; low xiv, 30; popular xiv; role of
30; youth 1
Culture, Media and Sport, Department for
(DCMS) xiv, 19, 20, 275, 289
culture shock 94–5
Currie, Edwina 16
Curzon, Lord 287
Cushing, Peter 144–5
cyberculture 48–65; adult entertainment
industry 56; development of 49–50;
influence 48; legal issues 56–7; social
media 49, 50, 50–5, 55; usage 50; video
games 48, 58–65, 61, 64
Dabydeen, David 95
Dad’s Army (TV programme) 180
Dahl, Roald 111
Dailly, Mike 60
Daily Mirror (newspaper) 11, 12, 67, 68, 70
Index
Daily Telegraph (newspaper) 67, 68, 73
Daldry, Stephen, Billy Elliot 134
Daleks, the 177, 178
dance music 242–3, 253–4, 254–6
Daniels, Sarah 127
de Menezes, Jean Charles 23
Deacon, Richard 201
Dean, James 232
deference 5, 30, 36–7, 73, 81, 120, 175,
182, 189, 247, 280, 290
Delaney, Shelagh, A Taste of Honey 117–8
democracy, threat to 24
demographic change 5–6, 73
Desert Island Discs (radio programme) 170
design 213–4
Devils, The (film) 148
devolution 16, 17, 270
Dialy Mail (newspaper) 70
Diana, Princess of Wales 18, 150, 277
Dickens, Charles 34
digital communications 259
digital legacy 53
digital media 48–65; adult entertainment
industry 56; development of 49–50; legal
issues 56–7; social media 49, 50–5, 55;
usage 50; video games 48, 58–65, 61, 64
digital television 185
Dirty Pretty Things (film) 160–1
disability: political correctness 39; and
sport 279–80
discothèques 239
disnification 295
divorce rates 27
Diwali 298
Dixon of Dock Green (TV programme) 173
Docklands, London 219, 220
Doctor Who (TV programme) 177, 178
documentary films 140, 141
documentary programmes, television 172,
187–8
Donegan, Lonnie 234
Doom (game) 60
Downton Abbey (TV programme) 191–2,
289
Doyle, Arthur Conan 105
Dr Feelgood 249
Drabble, Margaret 90–1; Th Ice Age 91
drama, education 116–7
drugs and drug abuse 15, 104–5, 236, 249,
255, 280–1
dub poetry 109
Duffy, Carol Ann 108
Duggan, Mark 23, 57, 134
dumbing down 29, 136, 188, 295
319
Ealing comedies 140–1
Ealing Studios 140–1
EastEnders (TV programme) 183
Easter 295
economic growth 4, 117
economic stagnation, 1970s 10–1, 14–5
Edgar, David 126
Edinburgh 103; art collections 194;
Scottish Parliament building 226
Edinburgh Festival 120, 128, 134–5, 135
Edinburgh Film Festival 138
Educating Rita (film) 151–2
education 17–8, 28–9, 30, 172; cinema
138; drama 116–7; pop music 231;
Scotland 18
education and outreach activities
136, 275
education reform 3
Eliot, T.S. 6
elitism 30
Elizabeth II, Queen 18; Diamond Jubilee
23
Emin, Tracey 207, 210
Empire Games 270
Empire Windrush, SS 4
English, definition xiii
English Heritage 213, 285, 288, 289–91
English language: acceptance of regional
speech 36–8; alternate forms 40;
Americanisms 42; authority 40–2,
42; black English vernacular (BEV)
33; dialects 33, 34; diversity 31, 33–4;
grammar 41–2, 42; history 32–3; jargon
41; local varieties 32; multicultural
London English (MLE) 33–4;
political correctness 39–40; received
pronunciation 34–6, 35, 37, 38;
regional 31; Scottish accent 37; social
convergence 37; speaker numbers 31;
spread of 32; swear-words 38–9; taboo
words 38–9
entertainment 30
environmental heritage 289–91, 290
Equal Opportunities Act 277
Equal Pay Act, 1970 11
Equality Act, 2007 27–8
Equality Act, 2010 27
Equity 136
ethnic communities: holy days and
holidays 298; magazines 80
ethnicity xvi, 1, 24–5; and sport 277–9
Euro ’96 football championship 19
European Union (EU) 17, 47
Eyre, Richard 151
320
Index
FA Cup 268, 271
Facebook 51, 51–2, 53, 57, 58
Falklands War 12, 75, 126, 150
Family Planning Act, 1967 9
fanzines 84
fashion, and pop music 231, 233, 235,
239–40, 245, 245, 250, 258, 261
feminism xvi, 1, 80, 90–2
Ferguson, Alex 283
Festival of Britain 4, 197, 213–4
festivals and celebrations 285. see also
music festivals
Figes, Eva 92
film and film making. see cinema
Film Cymru Wales 138–9
Film Four 157
film music 241
First World War 276, 279
Fisher, Terence 144–5
flags 270–1
Flickr 51
folk culture xiv
folk music 244, 253
football 13, 103, 268, 269–70, 269, 271,
276, 277, 278–9, 280, 281–3
Football (Offences) Act, 1991 278
Football Association (FA) 268, 276
Football Task Force 278
Forster, E.M. 5, 38
Foster, Norman 222, 225, 227, 228
Four Weddings and a Funeral (film) 38, 159
Fourth Estate, the 72
Fowles, John 89
fox-hunting 266
Frankie Goes to Hollywood 254
Frears, Stephen 152, 160–1
Free Cinema 141
free speech 39, 56–7, 58
Freed, Alan 233
freedom 9, 119, 143
freedom of expression 85, 126
free-market economics 1
Freeview 165
Freud, Lucian 196–7
Friel, Brian 126
fringe theatre 115
Fugard, Athol 122–3
Full Monty, The (film) 159
funding 3, 20; architecture 218, 219; art
195, 212; BBC 168, 169, 192–3; film
industry 163–4; reduction in 13, 29;
sponsorship xvi, 29, 283; subsidies 13,
135–6; television 168, 169; theatre
135–7; withdrawal of public xvi, 1
Gaelic games 272
Gallagher, Noel and Liam 258
gambling industry 283
Garner, Alan 111
Garnett, Tony 172
Gateshead 194, 222, 225
Gavin, Jamela 112
gay fiction 94
gay liberation movement 244
Gay News (Newspaper) 122
Gay Sweatshop 122
gay theatre 122
Gay Times (magazine) 83
Gear, William 195
gender xvi, 27–8; political correctness 39;
and social media 51; and sport 276–7;
and TV 186, 192
general elections; 1945 3; 1951 3–4; 1964
7; 1970 10; 1974 11; 1979 12, 182;
1983 13; 1987 14; 2001 71; 2010 21,
54, 71
geometry of fear sculpture 200–1
Gervais, Ricky 191
Gilbert and George 203
glam rock 244–7, 245
Glasgow 103, 272; Orange parades 299;
Red Road 214; Science Centre 226;
sectarianism 269–70
Glastonbury Festival 231, 301, 301–2,
303, 304
Global Burden of Disease 276
global economic crisis 21, 187
Glyndebourne Festival Opera 301
Godard, Jean-Luc 146
Godspell (musical) 123
Golding, William, Lord of the Flies 87
golf 267, 272, 277
GooglePlus 51
Gormley, Antony 201, 203, 208–9, 225
Grand Theft Auto (game) 48, 52, 59, 60–2,
61
Grant, Hugh 159
Gray, Alasdair, Lanark 103
Great Britain, definition xiii
Greater London Authority 17
Green Party 11
Greenaway, Peter 158
Greenham Common peace camp 13, 126
Greerm Germaine, The Female Eunuch 90
Grierson, John 141
Grindr 55
Guardian, the 12
Guttman, Ludwig 280
Guy Fawkes Night 299, 300, 301
Index
Hadid, Zaha 224, 228–9
Hair (musical) 123
Halliwell, Kenneth 120
Halloween 305–7
Hamilton, Richard 197, 198
Hammer production company 144–5
Hardy, Thomas 34
Hare, David 121, 125–6, 134
Harmsworth, Albert (later Lord
Northcliffe) 70
Harpers & Queen (magazine) 78
Harper’s Bazaar (magazine) 78, 81
Harrison, George 235
Harry Potter film Series 162
Harvey, Marcus 208
Hatoum, Mona 205
Hay Festival 108
Hayward Gallery, London 194
health, and architecture 214
Heaney, Seamus 108–9
Heath, Edward 9, 10, 11, 120
Heavy Metal sculpture 201
heavy rock 243–4
Hegley, John 109
Hello! (magazine) 77, 81
Henri, Adrian 89, 109
heritage, definition 285. see also cultural
heritage
heritage films 150
Heron, Patrick 195
Higgins, Terrence 254
high culture xiv, 30
Highland Games 271–2, 273
Hill, Octavia 287
Hilton, Roger 195
hip-hop music 260
Hirst, Damien 206, 206–7
Historic Scotland 213, 289
historical context, importance of xv–xvi
Hitchcock, Alfred 139, 140
HIV 15
Hockney, David 199, 200
Hoggart, Richard 7, 38
holidays 11, 14
Hollinghurst, Alan 94
Holmes, Sherlock 292, 293
holy days and holidays 295–6, 297, 298
home ownership 17
homelessness 15, 21
homosexuality 16; in the cinema 143, 152;
legalisation 9; prosecution rate 5
Hong Kong 17
Hornby, Nick: About a Boy 104; Fever
Pitch 103; High Fidelity 104
321
horror films 144–5
horse racing 266, 283
housing 214, 216, 222–3
Hughes, Ted 108
Hunt Saboteurs Association 266
Hunter, Sir Robert 287
Hyde Park Estate, Leeds 214
Ibiza 255
Ideal Home (magazine) 79
identity 103, 119, 188, 261, 264, 269–70,
270–4, 273
If … (film) 143
immigration 1, 4–5, 10, 179; and cinema
160–1; countries of origin 24–5;
culture shock 94–5; and language 46–7;
literature 86–7; as problem 26–7; and
sport 278
independent films 153, 155–8, 157
Independent Group, the 197
Independent on Sunday 19
Independent Television (ITV) 169, 170
individualism 1, 7, 259
industrial heritage 293–4
industrialisation and industrial decline 12,
14286
inflation 2, 10–1, 17, 54
influence 29–30
information sources xvii–xviii
Instagram 51
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
194, 195
International Monetary Fund (IMF) 17
International Music Eisteddfod 44
internet, the 48, 49–50; freedom of 58;
legal issues 56–7; and pop music 259;
surveillance 58; and television 192.
see also social media
internet piracy 164
Internet Watch Foundation 56
Iraq 2, 18
Irish 31, 44–5
Irish Republican Army (IRA) 10
Ishiguro, Kazuo 95
Isle of Wight Festival 302
ITV 6
Ivory, James 150
Jackie (magazine) 79–80
Jagger, Mick 147, 238–9, 239
James, P.D. 106
James Bond films 143–4, 145, 241
Jarman, Derek 156
jazz 86, 301
322
Index
Jellicoe, Ann, The Knack 117–8
Jesus Christ Superstar (musical) 123
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer 150
Jiricna, Eva 224
John, Elton 246, 260
Johnson, Linton Kwesi 109
Johnson, Samuel 40
Jones, Ann 276
Jones, Brian 238
Jones, David 60
Jordan, Neil 153
Jubilee (film) 156
Judd, Alan 102
Julien, Isaac 156
Kane, Sarah, Blasted 132–3
Kapoor, Anish 201, 202
Kashmiris 26
Kelman, James 103
Kennedy-Martin, Troy 173, 182
Kes (film) 154–5
Keynes, John Maynard 3, 13
kitchen sink dramas 117–8
Koenig, Peter 19
Korda, Alexander 140
Kubrick, Stanley 88, 146
Kumars at No. 42, The (TV programme)
189–90
Kureishi, Hanif 95, 97–8, 152
La Plante, Lynda 184
Labour Party 2, 3–4, 7, 11, 16–7, 19, 27.
see also New Labourlad mags 78, 82–3,
82
The Lady (magazine) 78
Lake District, the 287
language: and advertising 37–8; Celtic
connection 43; culture and 31–47;
descriptive approach 31; diversity 31;
Irish 31, 44–5; Latin 32–3; newspapers
66; non-indigenous 31, 46–7; Polish 31;
political correctness 39–40; regional
31; Scottish-Gaelic and Scots 31, 45–6;
taboo words 38–9; usage 31; Welsh 31,
43–4, 44. see also English language
Lanyon, Peter 195
Larkin, Philip 86
Larsson, Stieg 106
Lavender Hill Mob, The (film) 140–1
Lawrence, D.H. 34, 147; Lady Chatterley’s
Lover 38
Lear, James 94
Leavis, ER. 6
Lee, Christopher 144–5
Leeds, Hyde Park Estate 214
Leigh, Mike 160, 161–2
Lennon, John 235
Leonard, Tom 46
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBGT) issues xvi, 27–8, 93–4;
magazines 83; sport participation 277
lesbian writing 94
Lessing, Doris 5, 91–2
Leveson Enquiry 23, 74, 77
Liberal Democrats, coalition government
2, 21
liberal reform, 1960s 9
Libeskind, Daniel 226
Life on Mars (TV programme) 189
LinkedIn 51, 52
listed buildings 213, 218, 288, 289, 290
literacy 68–9, 78
literary societies 108
literature 85–113; and belonging 103;
biography 107; book covers 105;
campus novels 88–9; children’s 85,
111–3, 113; competitions 107–8;
crime fiction 105–7; English xiii; and
feminism 90–2; freedom of expression
85; genre 105–7; and identity 103;
immigrant experiences 86–7; industry
107; LGBT writing 93–4; migrant
writing 94–8; multiculturalism 97–8;
Northern Ireland 102, 108–9; outsider
85–7; and personal morality 87–9;
poetry 86, 89, 102, 108–11, 110; quality
99; reworking 93; romantic writing 107;
science fiction 92, 103, 107; Scotland
103; social realism 91–2, 103, 112;
social satire 100–2; split narrative 92;
spy thrillers 107; storytelling techniques
85; subversion 86; themes 85, 86, 87,
98–105; women’s writing 90–3; youth
culture 87, 89
Littlewood, John 117
Live Aid concert 302–3
Lively, Penelope 91
Liverpool 195, 225, 235
living standards 2, 3, 9
Lloyd Webber, Andrew 123–5, 134
Lloyd’s Building, London 289, 290
Loach, Ken 153, 154–5, 160, 161, 162,
172
Loaded (magazine) 82
Local Government Act, 1987, Clause 28
16
Lochhead, Liz 46
logo, architecture as 224–6
Index
London: 1 Finsbury Avenue 219; Alton
Estate 214; art schools 195; Barbican
Estate 216, 217; Broadcasting House
171; Canary Wharf 219, 220; Centre
Point 217; the ‘Cheesegrater’ 215,
229; Comedy Store 130; Covent
Garden 218; Docklands 15, 219, 220;
the ‘Gherkin 215, 222, 229; Lloyd’s
Building 289, 290; Millennium Bridge
227; National Gallery 194, 221;
National Portrait Gallery 194; north
bank 228–9; Olympic Games, 2012 23,
228–9, 284; Post Office Tower 216–7;
redevelopment 226–30; Royal Court
Theatre 117; Royal Exchange 215;
Royal National Theatre 115; the Shard
229; skyline 229; south bank 226–8,
227, 228; South Bank arts complex
215–6; swinging 10; Tate Gallery 204;
Tate Modern 226–7; terrorist attacks,
7/7 26; Theatre Royal Stratford East
133; theatres 115, 116; Tower 42 215,
217; Trafalgar Square 202–3; Tricycle
Theatre 133
London, Jack 34
London Academy of Music and Dramatic
Art 116
London Evening Standard (newspaper) 67
London Eye 227, 227
London Film Festival 138
Lord Chamberlain, the 119–20
low culture xiv, 30
McCartney, Paul 235, 260
MacDermot, Galt 123
MacDiarmid, Hugh 46
McEwan, Ian 99; Saturday 99–100; Sweet
Tooth 100
McGough, Roger 89, 109
MacInnes, Colin 87
McIntyre, Clare 127
MacKenzie, Kelvin 76
MacLaverty, Bernard 102
Maclean, Donald 5
Macmillan, Harold 4
Macpherson Report 23
Madonna 277
magazines 77–84; advertising 78;
alternative 83–4; aspirational living
81; celebrity 81; consumer 81; DIY
publications 84; ethnic communities 80;
feminist 80; market categories 78; men’s
78, 81–3, 82; newspaper 79; political
satire 83–4; reader contributions 81;
323
readership 80; role 77; sales 81, 83;
teenage 79–80; top-selling 77–8;
underground 80; women’s 77, 78–81;
and women’s liberation 80; younger
readers 78, 79–80
Major, John 16
Manchester 225, 225–6, 258
Manservant,The (film) 143
Mantel, Hilary 105
Marie Claire (magazine) 77, 81
Marine Broadcasting Act, 1967 176
market place, values 1
Márquez, Gabriel García 93
Mars-Jones, Adam 94
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) 267
mass media, anxiety about the effects of
55
Match of the Day (TV programme) 278
Maxwell, Robert 67, 70
media scandals 23
Media Standards Trust 74
Mellor, David 16
Melody Maker (magazine) 234
Melville, Herman 34
memory, popular xvi
men’s magazines 78, 81–3, 82
mental illness 104–5
Merchant, Ismail 150
Merchant, Stephen 191
Merchant–Ivory 150
Mersey Poets, the 89, 109
metadata 49
Metro (newspaper) 66
Middle English 32
Midsomer Murders (TV programme) 185–6
migrant writing 94–8
Millennium Bridge, Gateshead 225
Millennium Dome 221
Miller, Jonathan 120, 128
Millivres Prowler Group 83
Milton Keynes 218
miner's strike, 1974 11
miner's strike, 1984–5 13
Ministry of Sound 256
Miralles, Enric 226
Mo, Timothy 95, 95–6
mobile phones 50, 58
modernist architecture 212
Mods 239–40
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
(TV programme) 120
Moore, Dudley 120, 128
Moore, Henry 5, 200, 201
moral decay 6–7
324
Index
moral panics 62–3, 71, 233, 240
morality, and sport 268
Morris dancing 306, 307
Mortal Kombat (game) 60
Motion, Andrew 108, 109
motoring 287
Mowbray, Malcolm 151
MPs: expenses scandal 73; women 27
MTV 252
Muamba, Fabrice 57
multicultural London English (MLE) 33–4
multiculturalism xvi, 24–7; children’s
literature 112; and cinema 152, 160;
equality of opportunity 26; integration
26; literature 97–8; and newspapers
70–1; and sport 277–9; and television
180–1, 184, 186, 189–90; and theatre
133–4
Mumsnet 52–3, 54
municipal modernism xv
Murdoch, Iris 88, 89
Murdoch, Rupert 23, 67–8, 74, 75, 126
muscular Christianity 268
museums 13, 285, 286, 292
music business 261–3, 262
music festivals 231, 237, 244, 253, 301–4,
304
musicals 123–5, 124, 132, 134
Muslim population 25–6
mutually assured destruction (MAD) 12
My Name is Joe (film) 160
Naipaul, V.S. 95
national anthem 271
National Film and Television School 138,
167
National Gallery, London 194, 221
National Gallery of Modern Art,
Edinburgh 194
National Gallery of Scotland 194
National Health Service (NHS) 3, 79, 288
National Heritage, Department for 20
national identity 270–4, 273
National Lottery 20, 195
National Portrait Gallery, London 194
National Sound Archive xviii
National Television Awards 167
National Trust (NT) 213, 285, 286–7, 288
National Trust of Scotland 287
neo-expressionism 201
Netflix 165
Netherlands, the 51
New Brutalism 214–5, 217, 230
New Labour 2, 17–21, 159, 275
new realism 195–6
New Romantics 254
new towns 218
new wave cinema 142
New Year’s Day 296
Newcastle 195, 225
News International 23, 74, 76
News of the World 23, 69, 74, 77, 233
newspapers 11, 12, 23, 66–77; choice 66,
69; circulation 66, 68; decline of 68,
72–5; and demographic change 73;
ethnic 70–1; free 66; history of 68–71;
identity 73; impact of television on 73;
inflation 71–2; influence 75; lack of
impartiality 67; language 66; local and
regional 67; magazines 79; moral panics
71; ownership 67–8, 68; phone hacking
scandal 74, 77; political influence
71–2, 75; popular 66, 69, 73; and
public interest 73–4; quality 66; sexism
76–7; standards 74; Sunday editions
66; target audience 67; websites 67,
72–3
Night Mail (film) 141
Night Trap (game) 60
Nobel Prize 87, 109, 118, 119
Nordic noir 106
North Sea Oil 13, 14
Northern Ireland 9–10, 17, 99; and
cinema 152–3; literature 102; national
identity 270–1, 272; Orange parades
298–9; poetry 102, 108–9; sectarianism
269–70; sport spending 275; theatre 126
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
213, 289
Northern Ireland Screen 139
northern soul 242–3
Norton-Taylor, Richard 134
nostalgia 150, 185–6. see also cultural
heritage
Notting Hill Carnival 231, 247, 304–5
Oasis 258
obesity 18, 79, 275–6
O’Brien, Edna 91
Obscene Publications Act, 1959 38, 120
Occupy London protest movement 21,
22, 72
O’Connor, Pat 153
Ofcom 167, 186
Office, The (TV programme) 191
Oh! Calcutta! (musical) 123
OK! (magazine) 77, 281
Olivier, Laurence 117
Index
Olympic Games 264, 274, 276, 280;
London, 2012 23, 228–9, 284
on demand television 165
op art 198
Orange parades 298–9
Orton, Joe 36, 120
Orwell, George 264
Osborne, John 141; Look Back in Anger
117
Oxford English Dictionary 31, 38, 40–1
Pac-Man (game) 59
Page. Louise 126
Pakistani community 97–8
Pan European Games Information (PEGI)
63
Pandora 90
Panorama (TV programme) 172, 182–3
pantomime 130–1
Paolozzi, Eduardo 197, 205
Paralympic movement 264, 280, 284
Paris, Centre Pompidou 221
patronage 208
Patten, Brian 89
Peel, John 176
Peeping Tom (film) 143
Penguin Books 38
performance art 203, 204
performance poetry 109, 111
Perry, Grayson 208
Pevsner, Nikolaus 288
Phantom of the Opera (musical) 124–5, 134
Philby, Kim 5
Phillips, Caryl 95
phone hacking scandal, News of the World
74, 77
photography 198
photo-journalism 81
Piano, Renzo 221, 229
Pickles, Wilfred 36
Pill, the 9, 277
Pinter, Harold 36, 118, 118–9, 172
Pinterest 51
pirate radio 175–6
Plath, Sylvia 108
pleasure-seeking 7
Ploughman’s Lunch, The (film) 151
Poet Laureate 108
poetry 86, 89, 102, 108–11, 110
Poetry Archive, the 109
police, loss of public confidence 23–4
Polish language 31, 47
political correctness 39–40, 83
political participation, decline in 18
325
political satire 67, 83–4, 120, 175, 180,
183–4
Pong (game) 59
pop art 197–9, 200
pop genre cinema 146–7, 148, 149
pop music 231–63; American influence
232–4, 236, 242–3, 246, 255; Asian
influences 256, 260; audience
participation 252; the Beatles 235–6;
bhangra 256; black music scene 260–1;
Britpop 257–9; broadcasting 231;
business 261–3, 262; compilation
albums 263; concert tickets 262–3,
262; contemporary movements
259–61; crooners 232; crossover and
collaborations 260–1; dance music
242–3, 253–4, 254–6; digital sales 262;
distribution 259; drugs and drug abuse
236, 249, 255; education 231; and
fashion 231, 233, 235, 239–40, 245,
245, 250, 258, 261; festivals 231, 237,
244, 253, 301–4, 304; film music 241;
folk music 244, 253; fundamentalist
revival, 1976 247–51; glam rock
244–7, 245; heavy rock 243–4; hiphop 260; and the internet 259; moral
panics 233, 240; new genres 260; New
Romantics 254; politics of 254–6; postpunk 252–3; post-war 232; press 234,
247–8; prizes 231; production 253; prog
rock 243; promotion 263; punk rock
242, 249–53, 250; record sleeves 257;
rhythm and blues 236, 237, 238–9,
239; rock ’n’ roll 232–4; sales 261–2,
263; skiffle 234–5; status 231; talent
shows 259–60; and Thatcherism 255;
tribute bands 260
popular culture xiv; absence of moral
content 7; acceptance of regional
speech 36–8; anxiety over 6–7; and
crime 6; growth of 5–7; twenty-first
century 30
popular memory xvi
population: Asian 46–7; ethnic 24–5;
Muslim 25–6
pornography 56, 81–2, 83, 127
Portsmouth 230
Post Office Tower, London 216–7
Potter, Dennis 172
Potter, Harry 111, 112–3, 113
Poundbury, Dorset 218
poverty 2
Powell, Enoch 9
Powell, Michael 143
326
Index
Pravda: A Fleet Street Comedy ((Brenton
and Hare) 125, 126
Premier League, football 282–3
press, the. see newspapers
Press Complaints Commission 74
Pressure (film) 156
Prime Suspect (TV programme) 184
Prisoner, The (TV programme) 179
Pritzker Prize 213, 216, 222, 224
privacy 58
Private Eye (magazine) 84
Private Life of Henry VIII, The (film) 140
privatisation 13, 14, 22
production costs 48
profitability xvi, 29, 163–4
Profumo, John 7
prog rock 243
property renovation 223
Prostitution exhibition 204
pub rock scene 249
public administration xiv
public art 208–10, 209, 211
public houses 223
public parks 268
public spending, reduction in 13
public support, withdrawal of xvi
public taste 212, 213, 216, 218, 222–3
publishing industry 107
Pullman, Philip 111
punk phenomenon, the 11, 84, 204, 242,
249–53, 250
Queen 246
Queen (magazine) 78, 79
Quinn, Marc 202
racial tension 156
racism 57, 122–3, 252–3, 267, 278–9
radical playwrights 121–2, 121, 132–3
radio 166, 168, 169, 175–6, 231, 264
Radio 1 176
Radio Caroline 175–6
Radio London 175, 176
Radio Luxembourg 175
Radio Times (magazine) 78
Rado, James 123
Ragni, Gerome 123
Ramblers’ Association 287
Rand, Mary 276
rap 110, 255
Ravenhill, Mark, Shopping and Fucking 133
reality TV 187, 188–9
record sleeves 257
Red Road, Glasgow 214
Red Wedge 255
re-enactments 294–5, 294
reggae music 253
regional autonomy 9–10
Rego, Paula 205
Reisz, Karel 141
Reith, John 170
religion 18, 25–6, 96–7; holy days and
holidays 295–6, 297, 298
Rendell, Ruth, Thirteen Steps Down 106
repertory theatres 115
resources xvii
restaurants 223
Rhys, Jean 90, 92
rhythm and blues 236, 237, 238–9, 239
Rice, Tim 123
riots, 2011 57
Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the
Spiders from Mars, The (Bowie) 246,
248
Rock Against Racism 302
‘Rock Around the Clock’, Bill Haley and
the Comets 232–3
rock ’n’ roll 232–4
rockers 240
Rogers, Richard 221–2, 226, 229
Rolling Stones 36, 198, 236, 238–9, 239,
260
romantic writing 107
Rotten, Johnny 249, 251
Rowling, J.K. 111, 112–3, 113, 162
Roxy Music 246
Royal Academy for Dramatic Art
(RADA) 116
Royal Academy, the 194, 207–8
Royal Central School for Speech and
Drama 116
Royal College of Art (RCA) 195
Royal Court Theatre, London 117
Royal Institute of British Architects
(RIBA) 213
Royal National Eisteddfod 44
Royal National Theatre, London 115
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) 115
rugby 268, 272, 274
Rushdie, Salman 95, 96–7, 201
Ruskin, John 286
Russell, Bertrand 5
Russell, Ken 147–9, 148
S4C 44
Saatchi, Charles 208, 210
Saatchi, Maurice 208
Saatchi and Saatchi advertising agency 14
Index
Saatchi Gallery 194
Sage, Gateshead the 222, 225
St. Ives School 195
Saltaire, 1853 Gallery 200
Sandford, Jeremy 172
satellite television 76, 185
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)
142
Saville, Jimmy 193
Saville, Victor 139
Scapegoating Pictures exhibition 203
Schaffer, Peter, Equus 121
science fiction 92, 103, 107, 145
Scotland: art 194, 205; devolution 16, 17;
education 18; independence referendum
24; listed buildings 213; literature 103;
national identity 270–2, 273; Orange
parades 299; Scottish accent 37;
sectarianism 269–70
Scott, Walter 46
Scottish National Gallery 205
Scottish National Portrait Gallery 194
Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) 46
Scottish Parliament building, Edinburgh
226
Scottish-Gaelic and Scots 31, 45–6
sculpture 195, 200–4, 202, 208–9, 225
Second World War 36, 78–9, 140, 170,
213, 232, 279–80, 287
sectarianism 269–70, 298–9, 300, 301
secularisation 296
Seifert, Richard 217
Self, Will 104–5
Selvon, Samuel, The Lonely Londoners 87
Sensation exhibition 207–8
Sex Discrimination Act, 1975 27
Sex Pistols 249–51, 250
sexism 76–7, 82
sexuality xvi, 118–9; and the cinema 143;
LGBT issues 27–8; LGBT writing 93–4
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,
Beatles, the 198, 235–6
Shakespeare, William xiv
Shard, London the 229
Shaw, George Bernard, Pygmalion 35
Sheffield 195, 230
Sherman, Martin 122
Shrimpton, Jean 240
Sierra Leone 18
Sillitoe. Alan 85, 141, 142; Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning 86
Sinclair Research Ltd. 59
single-parent households 27
Six Nations Championship 274
327
ska 253
skiffle 234–5
skinheads 242
Sky Television 76, 265, 281–2
Slade 146
slam poetry 109, 111
Slovo, Gillian 134
Slumdog Millionaire (film) 159
smartphones 50
Smith, John 16
Smith, Paul 258
Smith, Richard 198
Smithson, Peter and Alison 214–6
soaps, television 173–4, 174, 183
social convergence 37
social fragmentation 11
social inequality 2, 20–1
social injustice 90
social media 50–5, 55; advertising 51–2;
demographics 51; digital legacy 53;
and gender 51; influence 51–2; interest
groups 53–4; networking 52; online
dating 55; political communications 54;
popularity 49; review sites 54; trends
53–5; usage 50, 51
social realism 91–2, 103, 112; art 195;
cinema 138, 141–2, 160; television
172–4, 174; theatre 117–8
social satire 100–2
Society for Checking the Abuses of Public
Advertising 286
soft realism films 159
sources xvii–xviii
Space Invaders (game) 59
Spare Rib (magazine) 80
Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie 90
Spitting Image (TV programme) 183
sponsorship xvi, 29, 283
sport 264–84; and advertising 281;
amateur ethic 268; associations 274;
audience 264, 281–2; broadcasting
rights 265, 281–2; business
opportunities 265; and class 264–5,
266–7; and disability 279–80; drugs
and drug abuse 280–1; in education
275; and ethnicity 277–9; finance
282–3; and gender 276–7; government
spending 275; history and development
264, 265–70; and identity 264, 269–70,
270–4, 273; income 266, 281–2; and
morality 268; and national prestige 274;
participation 275, 277; and popular
culture 280–4; popularity 265, 272;
328
Index
press 280–1; professionalisation 268;
promotion 274–6; racism 267, 278–9;
and radio 264; scope 264; sectarianism
269–70; social function of 274–6;
sponsorship 283; stadiums 269; and
television 264; wages 280; women’s
participation 265, 267, 276–7
Sport England 275, 277
Sports Council 274–5
SportsAid 280
Spring Bank Holiday 296
spy thrillers 107
Starr, Ringo 235
statistics xviii
Statutory List of Buildings of Special
Architectural or Historic Interest 290
Stevenson, Robert Louis 46
Sting 260
Stirling, James 216, 224
Stirling Prize 213, 229, 230
Stoke Mandeville Games 280
Stonehenge 289
Stoppard, Tom 118, 128, 131–2;
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
131–2
Strauss, Richard 147
Stuttgart, Neue Staatsgalerie 216
Suede 258
Sun, the 11, 25, 68, 68, 75–7
Sunday Times Magazine 79
Surveillance 58
Swift, Graham, Waterland 102
Sylvester, David 196
taboo words 38–9
talent shows 259, 259–60
Tate Gallery, London 204
Tate Modern, London 194, 226–7
Tatler (magazine) 78, 81
Taylor, A.J.P. 5
technological change 7, 149–50
Teddy Boys 6, 233
teenage magazines 79–80
television 7, 165–93; 1970s 179–82;
audience 176–7; BBC 167–9, 170, 172,
176, 186; careers in 167; children’s
176, 177, 190; comedy 180, 181, 183,
189–91; commercial 169; competition
187; consumption 165–6, 166;
costume dramas 181, 191–2; crime
series 184, 185–6, 189; on demand
165; documentary programmes 172,
187–8; dumbing down 188; factual
entertainment 187–9; fantasy 176–9,
178; Freeview 165; funding 168, 169;
future of 192–3; game shows 170; and
gender issues 186, 192; history and
development 170–93; and identity 188;
impact on newspapers 73; influence
of 6; local 185; and multiculturalism
180–1, 184, 186, 189–90; new formats
189–90; and nostalgia 185–6; online
192; ownership 176; platforms 166;
plays 172; police dramas 172–3, 180;
political satire 120, 175, 180, 183–4;
pop 176; portrayal of women 174,
184; production 165, 167, 185, 192;
propaganda 177; puppet series 177;
reality TV 187, 188–9; regulation 167;
sitcoms 180, 181, 183; soaps 173–4,
174, 183; social realism 172–4, 174;
and sport 264; swear-words 38–9; talent
shows 259; and technological change
192; terrestrial channels 165; and
Thatcherism 182–4
television licence 168, 169, 192–3
Tennant, Emma 93
tennis. 267, 276
terrorist attacks 21; London, 7/7 26; World
Trade Center, 9/11 18, 26
texting 50
That Was the Week That Was
(TV programme) 120, 175
Thatcher, Margaret 1–2, 12–6, 24, 25, 37,
75, 182, 275
Thatcherism 1–2, 13–6; and architecture
218–22; and cinema 149–58; and pop
music 255; and television 182–4; and
theatre 125–7
theatre 115–37; 1950s 117–9; 1970s
120–2, 121; alternative 122–3; Asian
133; attendances 123, 136; censorship
119–20; children’s 130–1; comedy
128–32; dumbing down 136; education
and outreach activities 136; finances
135–7; fringe 115; gay 122; kitchen sink
dramas 117–8; and multiculturalism
133–4; musicals 123–5, 124, 132, 134;
naturalistic dialogue 119; Northern
Ireland 126; pantomime 130–1;
permissive 123; political satire 120;
and racism 122–3; radical 120–2, 121,
132–3; repertory 115; risk aversion 132;
shock tactics 121; social realism 117–8;
subsidies 135–6; and Thatcherism 125–7;
themes 122, 132–5; ticket prices 136;
training 116–7; trends 132–5; women’s
122, 126–7
Index
Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
133
theatres 115, 116
Theatres Act, 1968 120, 123
This is Tomorrow exhibition 197–8
Till Death Us Do Part (TV programme)
180
Tilson, Joe 198
The Times 68–9, 68
Tomb Raider (game) 48, 59, 62, 63, 64
Tommy (Film) 146–7, 148, 149
Top Gear (TV programme) 187–8
Top of the Pops (TV programme) 176
Tottenham Court Road Underground
station 205
tourism 285, 289
trade unions 13, 179
Trafalgar Square, London 202–3
Trainspotting (film) 160
T.Rex 244
tribute bands 260
Tricycle Theatre, London 133
trolling 57
Truffaut, François 146
Truss, Lynn, Eats, Shoots & Leaves
41, 42
Turner Prize 201, 203, 206, 207
Turpin, Dick 278
Twiggy 240
Twitter 51, 52, 53–4, 57, 263
Tynan, Kenneth 38, 123
underground magazines 80
unemployment 2, 10, 21, 182, 187
United Kingdom, definition xiii
United Kingdom Independence Party
(UKIP) 27
United States of America 12;
architecture 212; pop art 197, 198; pop
music 232–4, 236, 242–3, 255; war on
terror 18–9
universities 216
university fees 18
urbanisation 287
urban regeneration 225–6
Vanity Fair (magazine) 79
Vicious, Sid 251
Victoria, Queen 78
Victorian literature 34
video games 48, 58–65, 61, 64;
classification system 60, 63, 65; content
60; controversy 62–3; demographics
59; first-person action 59–60; history of
329
59–60; player numbers 59; pornographic
content 65; production 58–9; public
image 62–3; revenue 59; treatment of
women 62, 63
Video Standards Council (VSC) 63
Virago 90
Vogue (magazine) 78
Voice, The 12, 70
Wade, Virginia 276
Wain, John 85; Hurry on Down 86
Wakeman, Rick 243
Wales 17; art collections 194; listed
buildings 213; national identity 270–1,
272, 274; Welsh Assembly building 226
Wales Millennium Centre 226
Walker, Derek 218
war on terror 18–9
warehouse parties 256
Warhol, Andy 198
Warren, Tony 173–4
Waterhouse, Keith 85
Watson, Maud 276
Weldon, Fay 90, 93
welfare state 3, 99
Welland, Colin 150
Weller, Paul 257
Welsh 31, 43–4, 44
Welsh, Irving 103
Welsh Language Act, 1993 43
Wembley Stadium 228
Westwood, Vivienne 250
What the Papers Say (TV programme)
175
Whitechapel Gallery, London 194,
197–8
Whiteread, Rachel 201–2
Whitsuntide 296
Who, the 36, 146–7, 240
Wigan Casino 243
Williams, Raymond 7, 30, 38
Wilson, Colin 85
Wilson, Harold 7, 11, 19
Wilson, Jacqueline 112
Windsor Free Festival 302
Winterson, Jeannette 94
Wolfenden Report, 1960 274
WOMAD Festival 253, 304
women: architects 223–4; body shape 240;
and cinema 151–2; earnings 27; and the
First World War 276; inequality and
oppression 90–1; in the labour market
1; MPs 27; priests 27; and the Second
World War 78–9; sport participation
330
Index
265, 267, 276–7; status 9, 14, 90; on TV
174, 184; in video games 62, 63; voice
92–3
women artists, 1980s 205
Women in Love (film) 147
women’s liberation movement 9, 11, 80,
126–7, 244
women’s magazines 77, 78–81
Women’s Press, the 90
women’s theatre 122, 126–7
women’s writing 90–3
Wordsworth, William 34
working class, fragmentation 28
workplace comedy 190–1
World Bank 17
World Cup, 1966 8, 8, 280
World Trade Center, terrorist attacks, 9/11
18, 26
World Wide Web 49
X Factor, The (TV programme) 259–60
Young British Artists 205–7
youth crime 6
youth culture: 1970s 11; and cinema 142–5,
145; emergence of 1; growth of 6–7;
literature 87, 89; magazines 79–80
YouTube 263
Z Cars (TV programme) 173
Zephaniah, Benjamin 109, 110, 112
ZX Spectrum 59