BBC Four's Timeshift, a documentary series into Britain's social and cultural history, featured episode 11 on 'The Rules of Drinking' this week and is available for a further 5 days on BBC iplayer.
The Rules of Drinking synopsis:
In the pubs and working men's clubs of the forties and fifties there were strict customs governing who stood where. To be invited to sup at the bar was a rite of passage for many young men, and it took years for women to be accepted into these bastions of masculinity. As the country prospered and foreign travel became widely available, so new drinking habits were introduced as we discovered wine and, even more exotically, cocktails.
People began to drink at home as well as at work, where journalists typified a tradition of the liquid lunch. Advertising played its part as lager was first sold as a woman's drink and then the drink of choice for young men with a bit of disposable income. The rules changed and changed again, but they were always there - unwritten and unspoken, yet underwriting our complicated relationship with drinking.
Another BBC feature 'Inside Out London' also featured alcohol this week - available on iplayer until 16th January. In it Wendy Hurrell goes attempts to 'go dry' in December whilst also talking to people who've experienced alcohol problems - and professionals trying to address alcohol misuse.
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