Watch: Children in the 1970s
Find out what life was like for children in the 1970s.
Nathan: Argh, I lost again.
Lucy: I don鈥檛 know why you play. It just annoys you when you lose.
Uncle Marcus: Ha! I used to be the same when I used to play.
Nathan: You had one of these when you were younger?
Uncle Marcus: Well, not quite like that. Let鈥檚 go and have a game, back when I was younger.
Young Uncle Marcus: I was the first kid on the street to get one. It only had three games but this tennis game was my favourite.
Nathan: But it鈥檚 just sticks and dots!
Young Uncle Marcus: It was so much fun. All the other kids came over to play. But most of the time we played outside. I used to be given twenty pence pocket money every week.
Lucy: Twenty pence! You can鈥檛 buy anything with twenty pence.
Young Uncle Marcus: You could buy more back then. Twenty pence was a lot. Some kids got no pocket money at all.
Nathan: We鈥檙e lucky then.
Young Uncle Marcus: We bought lots of snacks from the caf茅. I remember having a chicken burger for the first time.
Lucy: Nathan would have chicken burgers for breakfast if he was allowed.
Young Uncle Marcus: Me too. All my friends used to give me some of theirs because my mum (your grandma) was headmistress at our school. They thought she鈥檇 be nicer to them if they were nice to me.
Lucy: And was she?
Young Uncle Marcus: No way! She was really strict, but luckily she never taught me, except when she did a special lesson about the Prime Minister.
Nathan: What鈥檚 the Prime Minister?
Young Uncle Marcus: The person in charge of the country. Her name was Margaret Thatcher and it was the first time it had ever been a woman.
Lucy: I want to be in charge of the country when I鈥檓 older.
Uncle Marcus: Good idea, but first you two are in charge of lunch.
Nathan: What are we having?
Uncle Marcus: Chicken burgers!
Nathan & Lucy: - Yay! -Yay!
Society in Britain
In the 1970s Britain was a fast-changing society.
Black and Asian people immigrated to Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Many settled in big cities such as London, Birmingham, Bradford and Leicester. They brought with them a rich variety of cultures, clothes and cuisine.
Fast food restaurants serving hamburgers, fried chicken and French fries arrived in Britain and became popular during the 1970s.
Long hair was in fashion as well as flared trousers and flowery shirts.
Colour TV and the first games consoles
Video games started to become popular.
The first 鈥楽tar Wars鈥 film hit the cinemas in 1977. Children worldwide collected the toy figures, wore costumes and played with light sabres and Darth Vader masks.
The Space Hopper was still a popular toy for playing outdoors.
Raleigh bicycles released the 'Chopper' bicycle, which became very popular.
TV was in colour and there were many children鈥檚 programmes now.
Did you know?
British Airways Concorde, the fastest plane in the world, made its first commercial flight in 1976.
In 1976, Britain had a heat wave. It was the hottest Summer for 350 years.
In 1977, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her silver jubilee. She had been on the throne for 25 years. There were street parties and many children were given a special silver jubilee coin.
Activities
Activity 1: Children in the 1970s quiz
Activity 2: 1970s colouring sheet
Download and print this colouring sheet of Lucy, Nathan and Uncle Marcus in the 1970s. Can you colour it in and label it with some of the items that were familiar to children in the 1970s?
Download the 1970s colouring sheet here.
Play Bitesize Primary games. game
Fun and educational primary games in science, maths, English, history, geography, art and design, computing and modern languages.
More on Childhood through time
Find out more by working through a topic
- count7 of 10
- count8 of 10
- count9 of 10
- count10 of 10
