Jan 7, 2010

84, Charing Cross Road | Historical Context

Churchill’s Conservative Government
In 1951 Winston Churchill succeeded Clement Attlee as prime minister, signaling an end to the Labor government and a victory for the Conservatives. The new leader immediately asserted England’s need to economize on foreign spending, including restrictions on food and British tourism. In Hanff’s work, for example, the value of receiving a food parcel of meat from Helene was enormous, with the imposed meat ration set at less than twenty cents per person per week. At the same time, both the Labor government and the Conservative...