Labour Saving Devices and Trends 1960s

reel-to-reel tape recorders pressure cookers microwave ovens appear slide photography wedding photographs more recollections

Random recollections
of 1960s England

I was in my twenties when the events and observations of these recollections occurred.

Food mixers

The ultimate wedding present was a food mixer.

Kenwood Chef food mixer. Photographed in The Lightbox, Woking.

The Kenwood Chef came on the market in the 1950s and I was offered one as a wedding present by my mother-in-law. The idea was that it was going to save me a great deal of time and effort in my new domestic role. She had one herself and thought it was wonderful. In practice, though, I made it clear that I would prefer something else because it of its bulk. In the end I went for a hand mixer.

Felt display boards

Computer graphics, if it existed, was still in its infancy. So the television weather forecasters showed the expected weather with pieces of felt shaped and drawn to indicate rain, sun, cloud etc and they moved these around over a felt background. Felt sticks loosely to felt, so can be moved around easily.

Felt graphics was common, particularly in infant schools. In motherhood classes when I was expecting my first baby, I was taught what food was good for me from a nurse who stuck coloured pieces of felt onto a felt background. The shapes and colours represented fish, butter, milk, cheese, vegetables etc. I felt rather patronised.

Gold teeth

White tooth fillings started to appear. Even as late as the 1960s, it was still not unusual to see people with a gold tooth. These individuals had had their dentistry work done before suitable man-made materials had been developed. Back teeth which didn't normally show were filled with the standard mercury amalgam which was black, but front teeth were filled with gold. Gold does not tarnish or react with any other substance, so in some ways it was very suitable. However gold is soft, so its use in dentistry must have been limited. Gold is and was also expensive.

A gold tooth was not a decoration or jewellery, it was functional, but it was still a status symbol because ordinary people either couldn't or wouldn't afford it. Instead their bad teeth were simple pulled out, and it was quite normal to see people with gaps in their teeth where one or more teeth were missing.

I can't remember when I last saw anyone with a gold tooth, probably due to improvements in dentistry and the free NHS.