I’d rather have Swinging 60s back
IREAD that some experts are predicting that beating Covid-19 will unleash a new Roaring 20s. Hang on. Can we have a vote on that and just pick the bits we like?
We could leave out Al Capone and Prohibition, unless we want village cafes serving 60% proof alcohol in china cups along with beans on toast. And how about we ditch poverty, unemployment, wage cuts and the General Strike?
In truth, the 1920s actually roared in America and was restricted here to those who could afford it. All the working class got were glimpses of a wild promiscuous age, courtesy of Hollywood films.
Flappers and the Charleston, jazz and creativity in art, music and literature, along with liberated ladies showing more than a glimpse of stocking, were beyond the concept of ordinary folk in Britain for whom simple survival was the priority.
High rollers may have got a kick from cocaine in the nightclubs of Mayfair, but a night out in Huddersfield might mean a trip to the pub for great grand-parents.
“A pint of mild, please, and a half of shandy for the lady.”
Bring on a new wave of creativity, by all means, but forget the Hollywood fantasy of the Roaring 20s. I would prefer a revival of the Swinging 60s, an age in which young people from all classes and backgrounds forged teenage identities well removed from what had gone before. They changed society as we know it on an optimism of music, love and giving peace a chance.
Can’t wait for it to start again.