Average home price in 1953 : then and now
The pound in your pocket was a powerful part of 1953: it bought you 16 pints of beer, or 15 portions of fish and chips, or 39 large loaves of bread or enough stamps to send 96 letters. Today you can get half a pint, half a portion, two loaves and three top class stamps.
@ Blackpool won the FA Cup in 1953 with Stanley Matthews within the side but Bill Perry scoring their fourth goal to top Bolton Wanderers’ three. Bill, now 72, still lives in Blackpool, enjoying his eight grandchildren and Arsenal’s Cup Final victory this year. He earned 20 a week in 1962, his last season with Blackpool. David Beckham gets 80,000 each week basic.
@ The big bookshop seller in 1953 was the Kinsey Report, 842 pages of human sexual behaviour gleaned over 13 years from 18,000 subjects. It shifted 270,000 copies. This year’s biggie is the latest, entirely sex-free Harry Potter.
@ Well over two-thirds of the united states rented their houses in 1953 however for those who wished to buy, the typical house price was 2,750. These days it’s 124,752.
@ A weekly wage was the conventional type of payment back then, and Mr Average (because it was more often than not Mr) took home 9.25. They paid 47.5% basic income tax onto it and worked an average 44.95 hours, hefty compared to 2003’s 37.2. Monthly wages are standard today. Divided by four, it averages 465 per week.
@ “Some skirts are 18 inches off the floor,” gasped a 1953 article in a fashion magazine, as Dior dramatically raised hemlines by six inches. Polyester also made its first appearance. Excitement is growing on the streets Half a century later in the possible return from the mini and micro skirts.
@ The Korean War led to August 1953 after 2 yrs and seven months as well as an estimated 4,000,000 civilian and military deaths, 1,078 of these British. The second Gulf War ended in May 2003 after 41 days as well as an estimated 10,000 deaths, 32 of the casualties British.
@ 1953 was well ahead of 2003 on road deaths (5,090 to 3,450) and well behind around the quantity of cops (73,248 to 131,548). It won comfortably in terms of marriages (395,316-286,100) and lost heavily on divorces (28,347-156,800). There have been less people then (53,327,333 to 58,789,194)
@ We smoked less (smokers averaging ten a day for males, three for women, in contrast to 15 and 13 today)