It’s been 65 years since we first opened our electrical store in Rose Lane in Norwich. So, 65 years on we’ve taken a look back at what happened in the year it all began, 1948.
There were loads of historical, social and cultural things that defined 1948 but we’ve taken a look at some of the more everyday and fun things that you might not have realised share the same birthday with us.
1948 saw the first supermarket open in the UK and the sale of the first tape recorder. The first radio controlled airplane took flight and the first Nikon camera was released. Those of us who love going to the cinema might be interested to know that 1948 was the first year that popcorn was widely sold on a mass scale.
Still alive and kicking today, Scrabble first entered our homes and since hundreds of thousands of families have spend many a night arguing over whether a word is actually in the dictionary. And of course we mustn’t forget this as the year that the frisbee was invented!
Porsche was founded and, not quite as glamorous but equally important some might say, so was Velcro. Only a quarter of households in the UK had electricity in 1948 and a million homes owed in a TV, compared to 5,000 just five years earlier. It was also the year that professional wrestling premiered on prime time TV.
George Orwell’s, now famous, 1984 novel was published and the break up of feuding brothers led to the founding of separate competing companies Adidas and Puma.
1948 was a leap year and also the year that the ‘Speedee Service System’ we know and love was introduced into McDonalds. This shaped the modern fast food restaurant as we know it.
Food was still being rationed in 1948 and reminiscent of the recent horse meat scandal, people had no choice but to eat horse meat and whale meat, albeit this time knowingly.
A dozen eggs cost 12.5p in 1948.
Though WWII was over the country was still ravaged from the war and when it was first suggested that the Olympic Games would be resume many debated over whether this was appropriate as so many people around Europe were living in ruins and poverty. It was however decided that The Games would go ahead in London although the athletes had to bring their own food and any extra food was donated to British hospitals. We didn’t build any new facilities to house The Games but Wembley Stadium had survived the war fairly well so was to be the venue for the 1948 Olympic Games.
The Games turned out to be a great success and you could say it went some way to boosting the country’s moral after the horrors of the war years.
1948 was also part of the years that would become known as the baby boomers. Many babies were born in the post war years as the soldiers headed home to expand their families and enjoy the freedoms they had fought for.
The first transistor radio was made and sold in 1948 and since then we’ve seen an explosion of technological advancements in the shape of cars, internet, the mobile phone and of course the TV.
For the last 65 years we have brought the very best in technology to our customers and we promise to do so for years to come.