A few weeks ago I interviewed my Nana about her television-watching practices and how they have changed over the course of her life.  Here is what I learned:

 

My Nana was born in England in 1934.  Growing up, the pastimes she enjoyed included reading and listening to radio plays, and when she was older, going out to the cinema or to dances a few times a week.

 

This all changed with the Queen's coronation in 1952.  Those lucky enough to have television were able to watch the footage of this live, from the comfort of their own homes.  Though Nana's family didn't have one, a friend's family did, and invited Nana to join them in watching.  She loved it.  "I must have gone on about it so much that Nana [meaning her mother, who I also called Nana] bought one! You know your Nana: she got a very posh one, with wooden doors," Nana tells me.

 

Watching television soon became a popular family pastime, though with only one channel available - the BBC - there wasn't much variety.  Then again, this meant nobody argued over what to watch!  Being able to watch the news each day was amazing, though, and the American movies were popular too.  Though it doesn't sound like much to me, Nana tells me it was just unbelievable at the time to be able to watch a show at home, through a screen that simply plugged in to your wall.  Put like that, it does sound pretty spectacular, and suddenly I'm aware of just how amazing my typical evening TV watching is.

 

Living in the North of England, Nana was far away from the huge  live performances that took place in London, so it was very exciting for her to see people like Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and, later, The Beatles over the television.  The cinema, which cost an astonishingly low nine pence, remained a popular pastime, but being able to watch the same sort of content at home with the family was a great way to spend time together.  Of course, in time a second channel was introduced, and naturally the arguments over which channel to watch followed.

 

Much as she enjoyed TV, Nana didn't watch it an awful lot, because, as a young woman in her late teens and early twenties, she loved to go out with friends of an evening.  She also worked through the week and even on Saturday mornings - apparently everybody worked Saturday morning, which is amazing to me, having grown up in a world where people talk about how much more we work now than we did in the good old days. 

 

After she married my Grandad, Nana started to watch more TV.  They lived in two rooms of his sister's house while they saved to buy a home of their own (apparently a common practice for young couples back then - I guess they didn't mooch off their parents like we do!), so going out at night was a rare treat.  My Grandad's job required a lot of travel and married women didn't typically go out alone, so Nana especially enjoyed TV on the nights she was home by herself.  However, she did still enjoy listening to the radio shows as well.

 

The programs that my Nana seems to remember most fondly are the children's shows, which would have been a godsend once she had her three kids, all close in age.  She mentions shows like Bill and Ben and The Woodentops, which were featured on an old show called Watch With Mother.  I remember Nana playing tapes of this old black and white show for me when I was small too, and I agree that they were every bit as good as she says.  I cherish the memories of watching those shows with Nana, so it's lovely to know she also has fond memories of watching them with my mother when she was a child.

 

My Nana is widowed now and lives here in Australia by herself but, unlike many single people of her age, she doesn't turn the TV on during the day for companionship.  Nana does go out a lot during the day, with friends or to her volunteer job, but even when she's at home, she prefers to read, or else listens to the radio while she cooks or does jobs around the house (like mending my clothes for me). 

 

At 5pm, though, the TV comes on in time for Eggheads.  This is Nana's "happy hour", which, in addition to the show, involves a glass, or maybe two, of her favourite wine.  Some nights she watches other shows too, mostly English ones like As Time Goes By or Antiques Roadshow, and other nights, when there's nothing on that she especially likes, she will either pop in a DVD or read some more.  But the daily ritual of happy hour is non-negotiable!