A pair of smarties…
BRITAIN in the post-war 1940s and '50s is acknowledged to have been a pretty drab place. Wartime food rationing continued until 1954, while the austerity left over from the war years coupled with our renowned damp and grey weather meant that things in the UK were pretty dull in the early 1950s.
Admittedly, most of the film footage that exists from the era is in black and white, but even if we take this into account, I think it is safe to say that the general perception of life in 1950s Britain was pretty boring. Things were on the up, but at the start of the post-war decade things would definitely not be termed as colourful.
The conservative Rover Company did little to spice things up. Its post-war saloon, the P4, was only available in sober shades like grey, black, white or blue, and when the Land-Rover (note the hyphen) was announced in 1948, it was predominantly sold in green hues (pun
