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More Jam Tomorrow

From teeth to Trident — post-war British history as you've never heard it before.

In each episode, Ros Taylor delves into the truth about how our lives changed after World War Two — and what it means for politics now.

Now independent, this is the sequel to the hit "Jam Tomorrow" podcast.

Ros Taylor

Getting old. It's better than the alternative, right? But the way Britons think about retirement and old age has changed enormously since the second world war. Some of us seize the chance to emigrate to sunnier places. Others find themselves living in a society with a tendency to regard the elderly as an asset-rich burden on the public finances.   Should the state pension age keep rising? Are politicians, many of whom never truly retire, the right people to order the rest of us to keep working for longer?   Ros Taylor talks to Helen McCarthy, Professor of Modern and Contemporary British History at the University of Cambridge. She is writing a social and cultural history of retirement since 1945, to be published by Penguin (Allen Lane). Her article on Brits retiring overseas is  available to read.   The extract from  Beveridge: The Problem of Old Age is at the Socialist Health Association.   Jeremy Seabrook  wrote about old age for the Guardian in 2010. His books include  A World Growing Old.   The Thames TV report about pensioner Dick is available on YouTube, as is the 1981 interview with Margaret Thatcher and a 1969 BBC documentary about retirees abroad.   I also drew on the Guardian's  obituary of Kingsley Amis,  Commons library briefings on pensions in the UK and  the communication of state pension age increases for women born in the 1950s,  Finishing the job: launching the Pensions Commission and the Institute of Fiscal Studies'  history of state pensions,    You can support More Jam Tomorrow with a one-off tip at https://ko-fi.com/morejamtomorrow.

Old Age

Hugely unpopular, the poll tax helped bring down Margaret Thatcher. But she had plenty of warnings. Why did the Tories press ahead anyway? Why do ageing lefties remember the protests with nostalgia? And what are the lessons for anyone who dares to try to reform property taxes?   Ros Taylor was talking to Tony Travers, the co-author of Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax and a Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics.   I also drew on The Poll Tax Rebellion in Haringey, a BBC Four interview with David Mellor, the Centre for Policy Studies'  Of Dukes and Dustmen: Cautionary Rhymes on the Community Charge, CSpan  footage of Prime Minister's Questions with Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock, BBC news reports of the riot, a 1997 edition of Newsnight,  Poll tax is history in the Guardian, and a Warwick Economic research paper:  The UK poll tax and the declining electoral roll: unintended consequences? by Jeremy Smith and Iain Maclean. The description by Colin of the poll tax riot is from Bollocks to the Poll Tax by Colin Revolting and was read by Ned Palmer.

Poll Tax

Britain had only one colony in mainland South America – a coastal state next to Venezuela that it grabbed from the Dutch more than 200 years ago. This was British Guyana. By the 1950s, Britain had had enough – and the plan was to hold elections so the Guyanese could take over. But then the man they elected said he was inspired by Soviet Russia. The story of Britain's long exit from Guyana takes in the CIA, MI5, rigged elections and a beautiful American whom JFK considered one of the most dangerous communists in the western hemisphere. Ros Taylor spoke to historian of Guyana Clem Seecheran, who is the author of Sweetening Bitter Sugar: Jock Campbell, the Booker Reformer in British Guiana 1934-1966, and Rod Westmaas of Guyana Speaks. You can hear Seecheran talking at more length at the  National Archives. Cheddi Jagan's life and work is archived at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre, which also includes  declassified British documents relating to the suspension of the constitution in 1953, from which the readings in this episode were taken. This 1866  history of British Guyana is also interesting. I drew on the  National Security Archive's account of the CIA's involvement in British Guyana and on MI5's in The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew,   You can see and hear Cheddi Jagan in the footage from News Room Guyana. Thanks to Yvonne Singh for suggestions of whom to contact.  Donate to More Jam Tomorrow at Ko-fi.com. Take our Series Five survey here.

British Guyana

For decades the Security Service did not officially exist. Now it posts on Instagram. But what is MI5? How has it transformed itself since the second world war? And what kind of people work there? Ros Taylor speaks to former Guardian security editor Richard Norton-Taylor and a former legal director of MI5, David Bickford. Richard Norton-Taylor is the former security editor of the Guardian and the author of several books including The State of Secrecy: Spies and the Media in Britain, and David Bickford, a former legal director of MI5 and MI6 and thriller author – you can get his latest, Cold Protocol, for £5 using the code on his website. The standard history of MI5 is The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew, which is very long and currently available cheaply on Kindle.  Not everyone rated it. Stella Rimington published her autobiography Open Secret, and Eliza Manningham-Buller wrote Securing Freedom. I also drew on an article by H Dylan,  The Intelligence Lobby Before the Intelligence Lobby: MI5 Director General Stella Rimington and the Hunt for the New Legitimacy, Rimington's 1994 Richard Dimbleby  lecture and MI5 director Ken McCallum's 2025  threat update,  The account of  Anthony Blunt's confession can be found at the National Archives, as can the booklet on  Observation. Margaret Thatcher's Commons statement about Blunt, Tony Blair's response to the 7/7 bombings and footage of the Bishopsgate IRA bombing are available online. The Imperial War Museum North's exhibition on spies is on until August. Donate to More Jam Tomorrow at Ko-fi.com.  

Dynamic, dreary – Britain has 2,300 miles of motorways, and the country would grind to a halt without these tarmac arteries. But they were part of a fast, futuristic post-war vision. Will we ever build another one?   Ros Taylor talks to Chris Marshall, who runs roads.org.uk, and the musician and comedy writer Jason Hazeley. You can find a special MJT motorway playlist on  Spotify, compiled by Jason, Ros, producer David Turnbull and listeners.   Readings are by David Turnbull . Ernest Davies, MP for Enfield, spoke about the need for motorways in 1957 and R Gresham Cooke (Twickenham) discussed  speed limits in 1958.   I drew on Motorways (James Drake, H L Yeadon and D I Evans, Faber & Faber, 1969), On Roads (Joe Moran, Profile Books, 2009) and Always a Welcome - the glove compartment history of the motorway service area (David Lawrence, Between Books).   The Motorway Archive contains a vast amount of detail.   The National Express 'Elaine' and Trusthouse Forte ads are on YouTube. The BBC  broadcast a documentary in 1969 on The Cost of Motorways. Egon Ronay's service station reviews are available here.   Donate to More Jam Tomorrow at Ko-fi.com.

Motorways

Britain was one of the last countries to go decimal – and had Margaret Thatcher not abolished the Metrication Board, we might have abandoned miles and pints too. Ros Taylor finds out how Britons were persuaded of the merits of getting rid of shillings and farthings, and why the revolution went unfinished.  Mark Stocker is an art historian who works with the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa) and is the author of  When Britain Went Decimal: The Coinage of 1971. Warwick Cairns is the author of  About The Size of It: The Common Sense Approach to Measuring Things. Seth Thévoz voiced a Commons  speech by the MP for Horsham, Peter Hordern, in 1970. He also read an extract from a Guardian article by Anthony Burgess, Damned Dots (1966) which is not available online. Sir John Wrottesley's intervention in 1824 and the riposte can be read  here. The BBC's Decimal Day 1971, Nationwide, ITV's Granny Gets the Point, the  Royal Mint history of decimalisation and a Thames TV report on metrication were useful sources. Max Bygraves' Decimalisation is on YouTube. Your Guide to Decimal Money, circulated to all households, can be read online. A 1975  Conservative memo discussing metrication is at the Margaret Thatcher Archive. I also drew on Andrew J Cook's PhD thesis,  Britain's Other D-Day: The Politics of Decimalisation (University of Huddersfield, 2020). The UK Metric Association and Metrication UK campaign to complete the metrication revolution.

Decimalisation

"Ask a man whether women should wear slacks and the answer is almost certain to be a firm 'No.'" How did women get to wear the trousers? Ros Taylor talks to fashion expert Belinda Naylor and Purna Sen, who wore trousers to her sixth form in 1978 – and was thrown out. Belinda Naylor is a producer with an MA in fashion curation. Her Instagram, where you can find some of her favourite women in trousers, is @fashion_chatter.  Purna Sen is the former head of human rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat and a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University. The  extract from the Manchester Guardian in 1952 is voiced by Seth Thévoz. The clip from The Seven Year Itch starring Marilyn Monroe is available on YouTube. Man Alive: The Office Christmas Party (1970) is also on YouTube. In 2002 the Guardian explained why schools could still choose whether to impose skirts. I also drew on Amy Gower's doctoral thesis, Schoolgirls, identity and agency in England: 1970-2004, University of Reading, 2021. Lego has pictures of its early minifigures.

Women's Trousers

In 1948 Britain declared an Emergency in Malaya It wasn't really an emergency. It was a guerrilla war. And Britain would spend 12 years trying to drive communists out of its territory. What were we doing there? Ros Taylor talks to Open University history professor Karl Hack and Economist bureau chief Dominic Ziegler about what the UK did in Malaya, and why Singapore cultivates positive memories of British occupation.   The Imperial War Museum's exhibition  Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus is on until 26 March. Karl Hack is Professor of Asian and Imperial History at the Open University. He is the author of  The Malayan Emergency: Revolution and counterinsurgency at the end of empire (Cambridge University Press). Dominic Ziegler is the Singapore bureau chief at The Economist. Faris Joraimi's writing is here. Footage of Australian soldiers in Malaya comes from a public relations film at the Australian War Memorial YouTube channel. Lee Kuan Yew's 1989 speech on immigration is on YouTube. Seth Thévoz voiced James Griffiths, secretary for the colonies, Anthony Eden (both in 1951) and Ernest Popplewell, the MP for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1952. All three speeches are in Hansard. Singapore's Heritage Trail tells the story of the second world war there. Freedom House publishes an annual report on Singapore. The British Army Review ran a  special edition on the Malayan Emergency in 2018.  

Malaya

'Oh, bugger orf!' We all know Received Pronunciation when we hear it. But what makes this accent distinctive? Why do people still pay to learn how to speak RP – and does it really bring the advantages it used to? Ros Taylor talks to voice coach and actor Alix Dunmore and Professor of Phonetics Jane Setter about how to spot an RP speaker – and how the accent has changed over the past century. Speeches by Lord Brabazon of Tara and Lord Wedgwood are taken from a  Lords debate in 1943 and are voiced by historian Seth Thévoz. Alix Dunmore runs Alix Dunmore Accent Coaching. Jane Setter is Professor of Phonetics at the University of Reading. She is the author of  Your Voice Speaks Volumes: It's not what you say but how you say it, the Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics and the Oxford Handbook of Language and Prejudice, as well as co-editor of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary. Queen Elizabeth II's 1957 Christmas speech is available at the Royal Family YouTube channel. Prince William' interview is here. 1943 BBC Archive audio is on  Facebook, as is  Daniel Craig reverting to Scouse. The BBC has  investigated how Queen Elizabeth's accent changed during her reign. Stephen Fry, an RP speaker, hosted an entertaining episode of Fry's English Delight about spoken English.  

No one dies of diphtheria or polio in Britain any more. Since World War Two, we've virtually wiped out the diseases that used to kill tens of thousands of children every year. But rolling out a vaccine isn't always easy.   Ros Taylor talks to public health historian Gareth Millward and Stuart Blume, the author of Immunisation, about jabs and why some people refuse them. Gareth Millward is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and the author of Vaccinating Britain: Mass vaccination and the public since the Second World War. Stuart Blume is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Amsterdam and the author of Immunization: How Vaccines Became Controversial. Diphtheria Immunisation and Big Whoop are on YouTube. Surprise Attack is at the Wellcome Collection.  Polio Diagnosis and Management is at the BFI. I also drew on the National Library of Medicine, the  Science Museum and the  Office for National Statistics.

Jabs

It's built for cars. The buses are baffling. But it's got the most energy efficient housing in Britain. What did it take to build a city from almost nothing? And a university where there are no students on campus?  With architectural historian John Grindrod, Ros Taylor tells the story of Milton Keynes and the Open University. With thanks to John Grindrod, the author of Iconicon, Concretopia and Outskirts and the presenter of Monstrosities Mon Amour. His forthcoming book, Tales of the Suburbs, on LGBTQ people in suburbia, is out in February 2026. Seth Thévoz read Lords speeches by Baron Richard Mitchison and Lord Gerald Gardiner, both in Hansard. Milton Keynes: Shopping as it Should Be and an ITN report from 1967 are available on YouTube. Clips of Harold Wilson and Jennie Lee are at the  Open University Digital Archive, which explains the OU's founding. This was an invaluable source of OU history. I also drew on the vast resources at the Milton Keynes Living Archive and the original Plan for Milton Keynes.  

Milton Keynes

It was silly. It was addictive. For decades, millions of kids would gaze at the same people and laugh at the same jokes at the same time. How did children's TV shape their minds? And what will it look like in a world of unlimited digital content?  Ros Taylor talks to Anna Home, who joined the BBC in the 1950s, and screenwriters Chitro Soundar and Angela Salt.     Anna Home was an English TV producer and executive and is the chair of the Children's Media Foundation. She is the author of Into the Box of Delights: A History of Children's Television. Chitra Soundar is the author of Nikhil & Jay and a writer for children's books, TV and theatre.  Angela Salt is a screenwriter for international children's TV. Herbert Morrison was  speaking in the Commons in 1952 about the BBC charter. The BFI and the  Science and Media Museum have useful resources on early kids' TV. This is the first episode of Play School. Episodes of Grange Hill, Jackanory, Basil Brush, Thunderbirds and many other series are available on YouTube. The BBC  interviewed people about Grange Hill in 1980.  

Kids' TV

More Jam Tomorrow is taking a two-episode break. We'll be back in less than a month, on 28th August. In the meantime, I have one big ask. Please let me know if you would support a fifth series of Jam. Just go to morejamtomorrow.com and hit the link at the top of the page that says "Have Your Say on Series 5." Or just click here: https://tally.so/r/wv85Xd  See you on 28th August, when we'll be back with episode eight.

An announcement, and a request

Pound for pound, fish is small fry for the British economy – but it has long been vital to our sense of sovereignty. From skirmishes with Dutch boats to the Cod Wars and Brexit, Ros Taylor finds out why fish matter so much to us. Maritime historian Richard Blakemore and marine biologist Bryce Stewart join the show.   Richard Blakemore is an Associate Professor in social and maritime history at the University of Reading. He's the author of  Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy, published by Pegasus Books.   Bryce Stewart is a senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association.   Voiceovers are by Seth Thévoz. The MPs quoted are James Johnson (Kingston-upon-Hull West), Patrick Wall (Haltemprice) and John Prescott (Kingston-upon-Hull East).   The extract from the Shipping Forecast is from a five-hour YouTube compilation.   I drew on  The fishing industry (Commons Library),  The Cod Wars Explained (Imperial War Museum),  Rethinking Sovereignty and Security at the Maritime Frontier (Coventry University),  Fisheries Management in United Kingdom Waters After Brexit (Robin Churchill),  Eaux britanniques: les poissons de la discorde (France Culture), and The Sovereignty of the Sea (T W Fulton).   MORE JAM TOMORROW was written and presented by Ros Taylor. The producer was David Turnbull. Music was by Dubstar. MORE JAM TOMORROW is a KTC production.  

Fish

"No matter how hard you work or how capable you are, you can't do it all yourself. You have to seek reliable help." Those were Margaret Thatcher's words in 1990. Who are the 'help'? How did they enable women to have successful careers?    Ros Taylor talks to Lucy Delap and Emma Casey about how the servant died out after the two world wars – but domestic help never went away.   Lucy Delap is Professor in Modern British and Gender History at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Knowing Their Place: Domestic Service in Twentieth Century Britain.   Emma Casey is the author of  The Return of the Housewife: Why Women are Still Cleaning Up. She is a reader in sociology at the University of York.   Voiceovers were by Seth Thévoz.   The Hoover ad (1987) is at The Laundry Lab YouTube channel.   The Findus Crispy Pancakes ad is part of a YouTube compilation.   I drew on Lucy Delap's 'Yes ma'am: domestic workers and employment rights', Mistress and Maid at the Wiener Holocaust Library, Helen McCarthy's chapter on feminism, family and work in  The Neoliberal Age: Britain since the 1970s (UCL Press, 2021), Margaret Thatcher's Pankhurst Lecture (1990), Silvia Federici's  Wages Against Housework (1974), and the University of Aberystwyth's  Domestics - Refugees from National Socialism in Germany.  

Servants

Cannabis. It's illegal in the UK without a prescription – and despite decriminalisation abroad, it's likely to stay that way. When did people start smoking cannabis in Britain? Why is the law against it so patchily enforced — but apparently impossible to repeal?   Ros Taylor talks to Prof Toby Seddon and former stoner Ian Dunt about the weed.   Keep More Jam Tomorrow going by contributing to our tip jar at Ko-fi. Sweet.   Toby Seddon is Professor of Social Science, head of the UCL Social Research Unit and the author of  Rethinking Drug Laws: theory, history, politics (Oxford University Press).   Ian Dunt is a journalist and author.   Audio clips are from This Week: Cannabis (1967), Hyde Park London Pot Rally and Keir Starmer interviewed by ITV.   The politicians' speeches voiced by Seth Thévoz can be found in Hansard.   I drew on the  2024 Crime Survey, extracts from Dope Girls: the birth of the British drug underground by Marek Kohn,  figures on drug seizures, the Irish National Drugs Library,  The cannabis class: what happened when the legal status of cannabis was reclassified (Ian Hamilton) and the London Literary Society's  blog on Colin Macinnes.   Getty has  pictures of people dancing at the Paramount Dance Hall in 1949.  

Cannabis

Seventy years ago, on an island off Australia, we started something we couldn't finish. This is the story of Britain's nuclear deterrent, Trident — why we have it and why we can't let go of it. Keep More Jam Tomorrow going by contributing to our tip jar at Ko-fi. Sweet. Prof Mary Kaldor is Director of the Conflict Research Programme at LSE IDEAS. Dr Matthew Grant is Reader and Head of the School of Philosophy, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Essex. His forthcoming book Britain's Cold War Home Front: Citizens and the State will be published by Oxford University Press, and he is the author of National Service Life Stories: Masculinity, Class, and the Memory of Conscription in Britain. The Operation Hurricane public information movie (1953) is available on YouTube, as is Bertrand Russell's 1959 speech at the Manchester Free Trade Hall and The Prime Minister's TOP SECRET trip to a nuclear submarine (10 Downing Street). Parliamentary speeches read by Seth Thévoz are in Hansard. The extract from the West Australian newspaper is in the National Library of Australia. I also drew on Suzanne Doyle's  Preserving the Global Nuclear Order: The Trident Agreements and the Arms Control Debate, 1977-82 (International History Review), Matthew Grant's  Upgrading Britain's nuclear deterrent: from V-Bombers to Trident replacement (History and Policy), Nick Ritchie's  Trident and British Identity: Letting go of nuclear weapons and Ian Davis'  The British Bomb and NATO: Six Decades of Contributing to NATO's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent (SIPRI/ Nuclear Education Trust). The Commons library briefing  Replacing the UK's Nuclear Deterrent: Progress of the Dreadnought Class was also useful.  

Trident

When you need to see a GP, you can - though you might have to wait a couple of weeks.    But half the people who need an NHS dentist have no realistic chance of finding one.    Tooth pain is agonising. So why is dentistry so neglected by the government? Is it because we prefer to think bad teeth are … well … probably your own fault?   Ros Taylor asks professor of dentistry Ian Mills why it's so hard to find an NHS dentist and how the way we think about our teeth has changed since the war. And Dr Charlotte Sleigh tells the story of the furious campaign against fluoridation in the 1960s.   The British Dental Association's Dental Witness Seminars: dentistry in the UK since 1948 (N.H.F. Wilson and S. Gerbier, 2016), the House of Commons'  Health: Fifth Report (2008) and the Committee of Public Accounts'  Fixing NHS Dentistry: 21st Report of Session 2024-25 (April 2025) were invaluable.   Dr Charlotte Sleigh talks about her Royal Society report,  Fluoridation of drinking water in the UK, c1962-67: A case study in scientific misinformation before social media.   Seth Thévoz read speeches by Lord Douglas of Bardoch, John Cronin MP and Michael Meacher MP, all from Hansard.   The Fudge advert is part of a  YouTube compilation. Toothpaste ads are Gibbs SR (1955) and Aquafresh. Public information ads are Look After Your Teeth (1979) and Jeremy's Toothache (1975).   Audio editing is by David Turnbull. More Jam Tomorrow is a KTC production.  

Teeth

Queen Victoria loved a curry, but it took the entrepreneurial efforts of South Asian migrants for it to become part of the British diet. How did it go from Windsor Castle to M&S ready meals and Dishoom? Ros Taylor looks at how curry got political with historian Shrabani Basu and Professor Anand Menon of King's College, London.   You can support More Jam Tomorrow at https://ko-fi.com/morejamtomorrow   Show Notes Anand Menon is Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London and the director of The UK in a Changing Europe. Shrabani Basu is the author of Victoria & Abdul: The Extraordinary True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant. Lord Soper's speech is on Hansard. I am also grateful to  Nishah Malik for the extract from London Life magazine. 

Curry

Episode 1: Channel Tunnel How did the Channel Tunnel get built? And why has it not quite lived up to its promise? You can support More Jam Tomorrow at https://ko-fi.com/morejamtomorrow    Show notes Jon Worth blogs about European rail. The opening speech is from Shakespeare's Richard II.  I am grateful to Terry Gourvish, the author of The Official History of the Channel Tunnel (Routledge) for insights into the long process of getting the tunnel built.  How John Bull Lost London is available at the Internet Archive. I also drew on The Churchill Project, BNP Paribas'  Origins of the Channel Tunnel 1957-87,  Peter Keeling's essay at Public Domain Review, material from the National Archives and INA footage from 1975. Politicians' speeches are from Hansard. The 1998 Eurostar ad features Antoine de Caunes.

Channel Tunnel

How did it feel to watch the Channel Tunnel breaking through? The NHS made dentistry free – so why were British teeth still so bad? And what did police find at Club Eleven in 1950 that would change how we saw the world? All this and more in season 4 of MORE JAM TOMORROW. Subscribe now to get every episode. Support the newly independent podcast at ko-fi.com/morejamtomorrow and get a shout out on the next episode.