Coronation Streets - England Then and Now

<p>How has England changed in the 70 years between the coronations of the late queen and the current king? In <em>Coronation Streets England Then and Now</em> British citizens of a certain age look back on their childhoods in 1953 when a glittering ritual in distant Westminster offered a brief break from the day-to-day drudgery of the post-war world. </p><p>         Meat was still rationed. Bomb sites were common sights. Televisions were not. Those who could afford to buy them found their front rooms crammed with neighbours peering at nine-inch screens showing a colourful crown and a golden coach in various shades of grey. The parties that followed were often disrupted by rain and staged in streets lined with houses lacking amenities taken for granted in 2023. </p><p>         For all the greyness of the early '50s however there are some colourful memories here from all over England. </p><p>         This is the fourteenth book by Chris Arnot a former national freelance journalist. <em>Small Island by Little Train</em> was published by the AA and shortlisted for the outstanding travel-themed writing awards. And <em>Britain's Lost Cricket Festivals</em> was shortlisted for the Cricket Book of the Year awards. </p><p>         It was one of four of the <em>Britain's Lost</em> series that he wrote for Aurum. <em>Britain's Lost Mines</em> was heralded as a gorgeous tribute to a whole world which has vanished by Lee Hall writer of <em>Billy Elliot</em>. And <em>Britain's Cricket Grounds</em> was heralded as the best sports book of 2011 by Jim Holden in the Sunday Express.          </p><p>                 </p>