How did people keep warm in the 1950`s?

Question

We used to have to get up 1 hour before we went to bed to get the wood in for the fire in the house so we could melt the water from the ice on the inside of our window to make our tea. How did people cope seeings we now have a breeding ground for germs who love central heating?

Answer 1

Been there done that but not necessarily in that order. No matter how much you build up the fire it will be gone out in three hours.
We ate uncontaminated food, breathed uncontaminated air [well let's not mention the cities] drank uncontaminated water and died of cancer, TB, diptheria, strokes, heart attacks. So what is changed in 2006?

Answer 2

We coped because our food was far healthier and natural, the environment was better, coal fires gave us a better rate of air exchange in a room hence better breathing, less asthma and the heat was retained in the room and spread through the house via the chimneys. Less emphasis on hygiene gave us a better resistance to germs.
Do you need anything more.

We used to heat a brick in the built in oven to put in beds, also we took the plate out of the oven, wrapped it in newspaper and took that to bed.

Your question doesn't make sense, how do you get up an hour before you go to bed.

Answer 3

Luxury, I used to get up three hours before I went to bed, have a piece if coal for breakfast (if it was Christmas mind), walk 57 miles barefoot in 3 feet of snow to work 24 hours a day down't pit. Keeping warm were a luxury for the upper classes and not for the likes of us, we all used to freeze to death every winter but that did not stop us having fun with the icicles that formed from the ends of our noses and the tapeworms that we had as pets. The people with central heating nowadays don't know they are born.

Answer 4

When I was a child I loved to see Jack Frosts patterns he left on the INSIDE of the bedroom windows. I recall the cold burn my feet on the ice cold linoleum. I would pretend to be smoking a cigarette because you could see the warm breath in the cold bedroom air. I remember the itchy heaviness of an army coat that was put on our beds to give us extra layers. The smell of the yellow smog that enveloped London streets was something that could not be copied. Aaaaahh those were the days! NOT
One has to admit, we were tough in those days, not a load of soft wingers that we have now!

Answer 5

We had natural gas space heaters that were vented to the outside and controlled by a thermostat. They kept our home very comfortable all the time. There were two in the house, one in the living room and the other in the hall by the bedrooms.

Answer 6

Well it wasn't the healthiest of living then, either...!
I remember all the mold on the wall while we still had a coal fired AGA type of oven, and when we finally got natural gas, my mother almost died of carbon monoxide poisoning because the flame went out, and the gas kept happily flowing....

Answer 7

Have you ever heard of the Baby Boomers? Those were the kids born in the late 40s and into the 50s. NOW, do you know what people did?

Answer 8

I got dressed under the bedclothes. We had a coal fire and later a paraffin heater downstairs, none upstairs. Didn't need a fridge - we kept milk, butter etc on the cellar steps.

Answer 9

We had two oil burners, one in the kitchen to cook on and for heat, one in the living/dining room. Then we moved to a more modern house and had one that had a forced air furnace that run on natural gas.

Answer 10

same memories lighting the fire early extra blankets at bed time we all wore socks and a jumper or cardi my dad used to put poletheyne up at all the windows to keep the draught out memories