Leisure between the Wars

Cinema, Music Hall, Theatre

• Cinema - 1934: 903 million seats filled
• 1938: 987 million seats filled
• Odeon → "Oscar Deutch - Entertaining our Nation"
• Art Deco establishment
• Prices ranged 6d to 1s; cinemas open 12pm - 11pm
• BULK OF AUDIENCE WAS WORKING CLASS
• Liverpool 1934: 40% of population went to the cinema at least once a week
• Because of the cheapness of cinema, music halls and theatres decreased in popularity
• - Audience was mainly made up of middle-aged people

Radio

• BBC - British Broadcasting Company
• Issued licenses for radio sets = '22: 36,000 issued
• July '25: 1.4 million issued
• (3 million sets were in use at this point)
• *construction of unlicensed set was simple + cheap*
• '30: 3.4 million issued
• '39: 8.97 million issued
• First Xmas Broadcast - King George V in 1932
• → Provided a wide variety of programmes (1/3 light entertainment)
• However delivery was formal so they found it hard to fully attract the working class

Newspapers/Books

• (e.g. Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Express)
• *very popular pastime* → 1939 survey: 68% of population over 16 read national paper
• 3 papers with circulation of 1 million
• 2 papers with circulation of 2 million
• There was a notable decrease in provincial papers and an increase in national newspapers.
• Increase in circulation caused by:
• = more popular journalism
• = use of more pictures
• = aggressive marketing → incentives e.g. accident insurance (1937 - 3/4 of readers had this)
• Books much less popular - only 7.2 million sold (1939)
• There was however a rise in crime novels in the 30's
• Agatha Christie - 1920 to 1939 (Poirot Books)

Spectator Sports

• Football - most popular
• Average crowd size: 1909- 16,000
• 1938- 30,000
• 14 million spectators in 1937
• Cricket
• Elite Affair, yet spanned class divide
• Rugby
• Late 30's: 5 million spectators
• Game hit by post-WW1 coal decline
• Golf
• Well established before the war
• Hockey
• Confined to public schools
• Women's Cricket Association (1926)
• Tennis
• Wimbledon: on Radio by 1927
• on Television by 1937
• Latter two promoted female participation

Tobacco and Alcohol

• Tobacco
• *Increased after WW1
• *Sales were only briefly interrupted by the depression
• Consumption: 1930 - 3.31 lb per head
• 1938 - 4 lb per head
• Real price however increased (caused by taxes)
• - 1938 = 37% of price was tax
• Main reason for increase was cigarette introduction
• 1939 - 73,810 million consumed
• Market still mainly male
• Alcohol
• *Decreased after WW1
• *Number of outlets selling alcohol lowered
• Factors that caused decrease:
• - Limit on drinking hours
• - Restriction on juvenile drinking
• - Reduction of alcohol contents
• - Steep rise in tax
• 24 - 28: 20,246
• 31 - 35: 15,148
• (in '000 standard barrels)

Holidays

• Custom of paid holiday spread after the War
• 1925 - 1.5 million workers paid for holiday
• 1937 - 4 million " "
• Roughly half of children took a holiday
• = usually lasted 8 - 14 days
• Holiday camps: First Butlins set up in 1937 (in Skegness)
• 1939: 200 campts
• 300,000 guests per week
• Blackpool had 7 million visitors annually
• (led to city redevelopment)
• *Bank Holiday Popular
• *Organised Day Trips with work/clubs/etc. became more frequent

Horses, Greyhounds & Fishing

• Horse racing generated mass audiences from all social classes
• Numbers for races could exceed a 1/4 of a million
• 1927: 62 companies registered for greyhound racing
• 1932: annual attendance in London at 6.5 million
• Birmingham 1931: 13,510 fishing club members

Cars and Motorcycles

• 1920: 187,000 cars on the road
• 1930: 1.06 million cars
• Helped by the decline in cost of cars
• = 1920: £684
• = 1929: £294
• Motorcycle use peaked at 724,000 in 1930
• Large second-hand market also developed
• Tax was £8 per year in 1933 for a regular car
• It was not until 1935 that motorists had to take an aptitude test, or that speed limits were introduced