20thCenturyDailyLife



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__**Daily Life in the Twentieth Century**__
The Twentieth Century was a huge step towards modernization. During the Twentieth Century there was two wars and severe recessionsm, but there was also huge improvements in people's every day lives.

The life expectancy was much longer and in 1914 only about 20% of the population was middle class, unlike the 19th century where almost 80% of the population was working or middle class. Throughout the century blue-collared workers decreased while white-collared workers continued to increase. The population began to increase as well because of immigrants. Sadly family life principles had dimished by the twentieth century. Divorce and single parent families became much more common and families were having less kids.

__**Women's rights greatly improved**__ 1918- women over thirty could vote 1928- men and women could vote at age 21 1970- women and men had same wages for work of equal value 1975- illegal to divorce or punish women for becoming pregant and the Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to discriminate against women in employment, education and training.

__**Working Class Homes**__ Families now used gas cooking stoves and also had indoor plumbing. There was still not heating or air conditioning and people spent a lot of time in the living room by the fire. Furniture and interior design became much more common. There were not to many people with electric light until the 20s and 30s.

Common Household Items: Vaccumm Cleaner (1959) Washing Machines (1960s) Fridges (1960s) Freezers (1960s) Central Heating (1970s) Microwave ovens (1980s)

__**Food**__ In 1900 families sat down together for tea and potatoes. It still was not uncommon for poor families, especially children to be malnurished. Food was expensive and in 1914 the working family spent nearly 60% of their entire income on food. It became cheaper later on, but started out as a luxury to the rich, especially sweets.

Due to war, food was rationed. January 1940 butter, sugar, bacon, tea and ham were rationed. Rationing became more sever in 1942 where sweets and eggs were rationed as well. Tea rationing lasted until 1952 and sweets ended 1953, but meat and cheese remained rationed until 1954. Chain restaurants, as well as, Chinese and Indian restaurants became common. __**New Foods**__ 1903- Ice cream cone 1908- Hot dogs Choc-ices- 1921 Sliced Bread- 1930 Spam- 1936 Instant Coffee- 1938 Tea Bags- 1953 Fish Fingers- 1955 Fruit-Flavoured Yogurt- 1963 New candies included Milky Way (1923), Crunchie (1929), Snickers (1930), Mars Bar (1933), Aero and Kit Kat (1935), Maltesers and Blue Riband (1936) and Smarties and Rolos (1937). Later came Polo mints (1948), Bounty (1951), Yorkie and Lion Bar (1976) and Twix (1979). At the end of the 20th century the first genetically modified foods were introduced.

__**Transportation and Communication**__ In 1940 only about one in 10 families owned a car and they became very popular in the 1970s. 1903 a speed limit of 20 MPH was introduced but was abolished in 1930. 1926 the first traffic lights were installed in London, the parking meter was installed in 1935 and a driving test was introduced in 1934. 1983 wearing a seatbelt became mandatory and the first crosswalk was introduced in 1951. The first hovercraft was launched in 1959 and the first service for it started in 1962. Telephones became common in the 60s and cell phones in the 90s. 1919 planes went from London to Paris and the luxury flight became common in the 60s but not many could afford it and many people only used for holidays.



__**Leisure**__ By 1939 a new law made it so that everyone had at least one week annual paid holiday. By the 50s two weeks and then by the 80s four weeks of holiday was common. The boy scouts were formed in 1907 and the girl scouts or girl guides in 1910. New games, puzzles and films were invented and shown more often. Radio broadcasting and listening to the radio was a hit in 1933.

__**Medicine**__ Medicine made huge advancements. Psychoanalysis was founded in 1900 by Frued and 1920 the Rorschach test was invented. 1900 blood was divided into different groups and transfusions were made possible. Vitamins were discovered in 1912 and insulin was first used in 1922. Drugs for bacterial infections were invented between 1935-40, along with antibiotics, such as Penicillin (1928) and streptomycin (1944). Vaccines were discovered slowly overtime the first major one was for the measles in 1963. National Health Service was founded in 1948 and ran regular tests that show ordinary peoples health had increased. Surgery made great advancements as well, the brain and the heart being among the most difficult. The first heart transplant was performed in 1967. The first test tube baby was born in 1978 and in 1980 the World Health Organization announced that smallpox was no longer, but in 1981 AIDS was first isolated.