The first credit card was launched in 1950 by the Diners Club and closely followed by the American Express travel card in 1958.
The world was suddenly a nice place to be, the standard of living went up and class divides came down. Technology and consumerism took off to become the new ‘thing’ and every housewife cast out her dolly tub, bought a washing machine on the never, never and sat down to watch Coronation Street on the rented telly. With a Union man at his shoulder protecting his rights and upholding the ‘us and them’, the husband drew his weekly pay packet, drove home in his British Leyland car and stopped at the Travel Agent to pick up a brochure for Torremolinos. Harold Macmillan told us ‘most of our people had never had it so good’. He wasn’t wrong, but he should maybe have kept his opinions to himself.