what did the 1950s ever do for us?

I have recently been watching the series about the 1950's house. Its a programme that plants a modern family into an historical world.No concessions! Thats over 60 years ago.Surely for todays family that must be an awful prospect.Who ever volunteers for such a project must have been mad.

However,over the weeks that the series ran I was amazed to see how many things were discovered/ invented then. Both technical and social. I became addicted to the programme.

The beehive is an iconic memory of that era. But it would have been nothing without Hairspray. The aerosol was originally a product the US army developed for the use of its troops in the war against malaria carrying insects. It was ideal, as it was portable.Commercially it was developed to create hairspray (and other pressurised products such as paint).

Hairspray in turn was advertised in the new and dominant media of television. Although this was invented many years previously. the 1950s was a time when it most familys purchased a set in time for the live  Coronation of Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in 1953.

Fortran was the first ever computer language to be developed in 1957 and with the new Modem and later the micro chip in 1959  these can only be considered the cornerstone of todays Desk and laptops and the world wide web.

Even the hula hoop and Mr Potato Head had their humble beginnings in the 1950's. My kids played with modern versions of these not so long back.Barbie was invented and so was the first ever pacemaker!

With the expanding population of the world the 1950s also saw the prodution of the first contraceptive pill

My parents were teenagers in the 1950s and I always imagined life back then to be dull and in black and white. After all most of the  pictures i have of their young lives were taken in black and white. Colour film was way too expensive. Now its the other way round.

It appears we have a lot to thank them for.