A 1953 London A-Z Written For The Queen’s Coronation

Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, at the age of 25, after the death of her father King George VI. On the 2nd June 1953, the coronation was held at Westminster Abbey, the first to be fully televised. 

Thousands of people were expected to visit London from around the country and the world to watch the procession and be a part of the action. A well-respected editor and literary critic, John Metcalf, therefore created an easy-to-use A-Z guide to London for them to use. It is charming, idiosyncratic, very British and demonstrates just how much of a different world it is than 70 years ago when Queen Elizabeth started her historic reign.

It covers… 

… the characters you may have seen on the streets of London

“Barrow Boy is the modern and somewhat more sophisticated counterpart of the Cockney costermonger, recognisable in summer by his smart braces, in winter by his drape- cut overcoat, and all the year round by the nervous glance over the shoulder to see if there’s a copper coming. The barrow boys sell fruit and flowers from irregular pitches all over London. Nowadays, only a few of them give short weight or short change since, as a fraternity, they have discovered, somewhat to their shocked bewilderment, that they can make quite a lot of money by being honest.” 

… the rigmarole of Getting Tickets For A B.B.C show

“You can get tickets to see certain B.B.C shows while you are in London by writing to: The Ticket Unit, B.B.C. London W1, three weeks in advance of the showing, enclosing a stamped address envelope.”

… the essentials of 1950’s fashion

“The possession of the correct type of bowler, hairy, not too large and curly-brimmed, is as essential to the young man about town as a pair of trousers. It is worn either in the hand which is not carrying the rolled umbrella, or, sometimes, even on the head, tilted forward over the eyes at the angle adopted by villains in Victorian melodrama.” 

… the sense of humour of London bus drivers

“The big red buses of the London Transport Executive, besides achieving a million miracles a day in terms of traffic negotiation, go everywhere cheaply, safely and – unless they are ahead of schedule- surprisingly quickly. Their drivers, who, as a body, conduct a permanent running fight with the drivers of taxis, are supernaturally good. Their conductors and conductresses (known as clippies) are an unfailing source of Cockney humour which ranges from the jovially benign to the acidly destructive…”

 … the fledgling NHS

“Doctors and Dentists. Under the National Health Scheme, treatment by doctors and at hospitals is free. The most you have to pay a dentist (except dentures) is £1. There are still, particularly in London, a number of doctors and dentists who haven’t joined the Scheme…”

… tips for eating out in a London still under rationing restrictions

“Eating out is by no means as dreary as Londoners pretend. There’s good food of all kinds to be had, and only meat is scarce… 

Don’t be bullied by the wine waiter. The first three or four wines on the list are usually the best value for money; don’t be frightened of ordering them because they are cheaper than the others. 

There’s still, perhaps, a little too much self-excusing being done on the grounds that life is difficult, and meat and butter and eggs and cream are hard to come by.”

… tips on how to go on a 24 hour bender

“The British licensing hours are no more understandable in London than they are anywhere else in the country… If you know how to do it, you can, of course, drink all round the clock in London: start off at Covent Garden or Billingsgate before dawn, when you’re thrown out of there, go to an ordinary pub, then to an afternoon drinking club (most of them operate from 3 to 11pm) when the pubs shut; go on to a night club when you’re thrown out of there; and then, if you can still take it, start all over again.” 

… a lost London cry

“‘Lovely sweet violets!’ was the famous cry- one of London’s last remaining street cries- of the septuagenarian flower girls of Piccadilly circus.”

… a vivid depiction of Petticoat market 

“Petticoat Lane. In the narrow packed streets you can buy a year’s supply of cough mixture, lock-knit ladies’ underwear, an Alsatian dog in alabaster, a smoked herring, a canary, a radio set, a flowering shrub, a drape-cut suit, a bowl of jellied eels, a sink scourer or a suite of bedroom furniture. You will see the true, live heart of the commercial East End- hucksters, mock auction men, barrow-boys and their girlfriends, tailors’ cutters from Aldgate on a Sunday morning walk with their wives, strong men breaking chains across their chests, direct descendants of the Artful Dodger, pearly kings, young marrieds from Kensington trying to find something amusing for the living-room.”

… warnings against ‘spivs’ 

“If one of them approaches you with the password of his profession (a dramatic and yet intimate ‘psssst!’) and offers to sell you Big Ben, don’t listen; it probably doesn’t belong to him anyway’. 

…don’t believe the spiv who hints at splendid goings-on in a little club he knows in Soho: you’ll probably end up drinking filthy cocktails with a rabbit-faced blonde called Rosie, while six large men get larger and larger, and the room smaller.”

… and finally, new fangled zebra crossings

“Relative newcomers to London are the zebra crossings… The theory is that once you’ve actually managed to establish one foot on one stripe, all the traffic stops and allows you to walk across unharmed. This is, as I say, the theory. Don’t put too much faith in it, or you’re liable to leave London with less feet than you started out with.”