Hi - new member...I'm trying to research what it was like growing up in England between say 1900 and 1945, especially for middle class families...can anyone recommend any books about daily life such as memoirs or diaries? What food was available, what people did for fun.

any help appreciated

Rich, American here, welcome to the forum.

Some guys may can help you here but also try our sister forum ww2talk.com, there are lotsa Limeys there, moreso than are here. Maybe between the two, you can find what you need.

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JW

One recommendation that has an interesting twist on this is a PBS series I saw several years ago, I think it was called War House or something like that. The series restored a London suburb house to its 1940 standard, including furniture etc and then had a family selected from volunteers that lived for several weeks in it as if they were living there during WW 2. They had to go through rationing, air raids, the whole thing. Kind of interesting both from a visual and reenactment standpoint.

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Hello

You could try Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 by Juliet Gardiner. It is pretty comprehensive.

The book you need to read is 'How We Lived Then : A History Of Everyday Life in Britain In The Second World War' by Norman Longmate.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a copy on 'Bookfinder' or similar as the book sold very well when it was published. Longmate was an academic who devoted much time to interviewing and studying the lives of 'ordinary people' in the War.

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