- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Virgin Books (9 Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1852279508
- ISBN-13: 978-1852279509
- Product Dimensions: 28.7 x 24.4 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 648,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This is the story of rise of the summer holiday as Britain's most popular leisure activity. From pre-war through to the 1950s were the boom years for the British seaside resorts, but by the mid 1960s jet airliners were in widespread service, leading to package holidays and the mass invasion of the Rivieras and Costas. "Some Like it Hot" looks at the trends in holidays favoured by the British and examines the history of each, featuring first person tales of the highs and lows of the annual break.
About the Author
Steve Humphries is the series producer of Some Liked It Hot. He is the author of 20 social history books documenting life in 20th-century Britain, many written to accompany television series, including the much-acclaimed A Secret World of Sex, Forbidden Britain, The Call of the Sea, Veterans: Last survivors of the Great War and Green and Pleasant Land. He set up the award-winning Testimony Films in 1992 and has made over 70 social history documentaries for network television.
Miriam Akhtar is the series co-producer of Some Liked It Hot. A Sony Award-winning BBC Radio 4 journalist, she has a special interest in travel and history and has produced Radio 4 travel programmes including Sentimental Journey, New Europeans and The Off Season More recently she has worked on a number of social history series for Channel 4 and she wrote the book Far Out : The Dawning of New Age Britain. She lives and works in Bristol.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Its difficult to believe that less than fifty years ago, unless they'd been fighting for King and country, most people in Britain had little or no experience of foreign travel, and high factor sun cream and greasy tapas bars were an entire world away. Based on the oral history of travellers with extraordinary stories, "Some Liked it Hot" presents a vivid picture of what post-war tourism has really been like and about how we've reached the height of holiday snobbery that we know today.
The authors have thankfully veered away from making grandiose statements about social trends and the psychological motivation for wanderlust and instead we get a series of wonderfully evocative first hand holiday vignettes.
There's the 1950's naturist who feared she would lose her job if anyone found out where she'd been and the pioneering family Fagg who converted a wartime ambulance into a caravan and toured Europe. The yearning for romance and a better life inevitably becomes a recurring theme, and is at its most poignant with stories such as that of Gladys Nuttall, who went to Cleethorpes in 1947, fell in love with the man who looked after the beach donkeys, and has not been home since.
The photographs are great too. Check out Pete Bradshaw and his friends at Butlins Filey looking like invaders from Mars in their beatnik spectacles, and a decidedly uncomfortable looking Margaret Rowe posing next to the patent bikini vending machine.
The authors have done a first rate job in tracking down the right people, and as such this should become a valuable social document in what is a much neglected area. Particularly good are the chapters on the original magic bus, the early years of touring caravans and high society ski resorts where the lah-di-dahs went to dip into their fondues.
Those of us who are only used to modern package tours and weekend breaks will find this a fascinating read, taking us as it does from bathing machines to bungee jumping and hop-picking to Sir Freddie Laker. If you've ever wondered why we endure tailbacks on the M5, battles over sun loungers, and endless folklore filled nights in some third rate foreign disco, then this book goes a long way to giving us the answer. I can thoroughly recommend it.
Format:Hardcover
As someone who has grown up with the travel industry I feel it is my own history that has been described in this book. I thoroughly recommend "Some liked it Hot" to anyone who remembers family holidays by the seaside or has put on a backpack and caught a plane to the other side of the world
Format:Hardcover
An entertaining and enjoyable read. I was impressed by the thorough research into the subject and the way the information was presented in such an engaging and accessible way. Surely a must for students of tourism everywhere
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
