I am still super impressed with the attitude of the Meadows family. I like that they are following their ancestors socioeconomic footsteps. The struggle of the family line shows up in the character of each of them. They're learning a lot right along with the audience and I love it.
It must be harder for them to adjust as well because they're the family with the most money etc. whereas back then those families wouldn't have known what it's like to have such opportunities and luxuries so it's impressive how hard-working they are
The despair in Mr. Meadows face when he got fired and when he had to apply for welfare is so real. This experiment really tested their family and they really pulled through as a team unit.
I knew before they even said it that the car and Mr. Meadows were going to be the first to go. He at least had a skill that not everyone had and he could look for work as a trucker or what y'all in the U.K. call a lorry driver. He could possibly even make money as a mechanic if he maintained his boss's car himself.
However interesting this series is to watch, the thing that continues to bother me is that no one seems to recognize or acknowledge the utter failure of the monarchy and Parliament of Britain (among the U.S. and other nations). In fact, a government of any country which calls itself "civilized" that refuses to care and provide for its citizens at the most basic level has no valid reason to exist at all. By this metric, Britain's entire history of its monarchy and other structures can arguably be called a failed state. It is glaringly obvious that the role of the State in western empires has always been and continues to be nothing but a cabal of mechanisms to maintain a permanent underclass and slightly better-off professional class in service to the rich- and at the expense of everyone else. One really has to question why revolution has not been the norm instead of the aberration.
@@notmypotato3730 Yeah I thought the same. They started pretty humble. Maybe they're just more appreciative than they would have been had they not started where they did.
I can't imagine how revolutionary it was going from hand washing, open fire cooking or even carpet cleaning was even with these rudimentary machines. It must have been mind blowing. My great grandmother had a crank washer until she grew too old to use it. Her thought was it still works, why replace it. She was born in 1917 on a farm and didn't get it until the early 40s. She kept that thing until I was was a teenager in the early 90s lol! She never bought a dryer though.
My mother was born in 1922 and is 99 this year. She too went from washing clothes in a copper which is like a large copper barrel that you light a fire underneath to boil the clothes and you scrub them clean by hand with a washing board which looks like a louvre door that you rub the clothes up and down with soap until the dirt comes off, and the women's hands would be red raw at times, they then up-graded to an agitator washing machine , to an automatic washer. They went from a coal range stove to microwaves. The girls had to stay inside and help mother with the housework from age3-4 yrs while the boys did whatever they liked.They took all the changes in their stride.
Wow, I can really relate as I lived with my great-grandparents who were both born at the turn of the century. They definitely had antique what some would call vintage machines such as a wringer washer. When I had long hair as a child they would warn me not to let it get too close the to wringer rollers!
One of my great-grandmothers was born in 1900. She was married in 1920 and was a dairy/poultry farmer from then on. She cooked on a wood burning stove, and when my mother's uncles bought her an electric stove in the 1960s she refused to use it until she dropped a log in the wood stove one morning and it fell through the bottom. She had to give up most of her cows when my great-grandfather died in the early 1950s. She didn't give up her last cow until the 1970s, but she still had her chickens. She kept a vegetable garden into her 90s when her eyesight got too bad.
@@michellebeckstrom6110 much to you for having your mom. July 31 will be the 2nd anniversary of when my mom passed at 61. I'm happy you got to have your mom as long as you have and I sincerely mean that. Cherish every day, you never know when it will happen. My grandmother outlived 2 of her 3 children. My mom and uncle died within a month of each other
Give it 40 years and somebody'll do an episode of this based on the lockdown. 'welcome, family! this is your house; now stay in here. All week. Oh, and there's no toilet paper'
I really enjoy the aspect of social mobility, both up and down. In my family, my paternal grandfather, in the Edwardian period, was a working class fireman on the railroad. He was killed in a railroad accident in 1922 leaving a wife and 5 children. Fortunately, he was a union member so his widow got a small pension and somehow survived. My dad, the middle child born in 1919, managed to finish HS and got a job with the federal government in DC in 1939 eventually reaching the highest grade (GS-15) before retiring in 1979. All his children finished college and two are lawyers. I often reflect how lucky I am to have had such hardworking ancestors and how easily it could have turned out differently.
However interesting this series is to watch, the thing that continues to bother me is that no one seems to recognize or acknowledge the utter failure of the monarchy and Parliament of Britain (among the U.S. and other nations). In fact, a government of any country which calls itself "civilized" that refuses to care and provide for its citizens at the most basic level has no valid reason to exist at all. By this metric, Britain's entire history of its monarchy and other structures can arguably be called a failed state. It is glaringly obvious that the role of the State in western empires has always been and continues to be nothing but a cabal of mechanisms to maintain a permanent underclass and slightly better-off professional class in service to the rich- and at the expense of everyone else. One really has to question why revolution has not been the norm instead of the aberration.
You do realize the government, of any nation only has the money of its tax paying citizens to give a " basic standard of living" to the others who have not earned it. it would be nice if governments had money trees and candy cane gardens lining every street, though. @@worldadventuretravel
Poor Meadows!!!!! They have to go through so much adversity!!!! I couldn’t help laughing at Geneve’s face when she was fired!!! She was so deep in the role, that she thought it was true!! Lol
Saskia is such a determined, resourceful, and diligent teenager. I feel like most her age, especially American kids, would've griped, laughed, or not cared much to perform these duties. She's mature beyond her years.
@@demitraferles7970 I complimented the kid for committing to a tasking role w/o complaint. Not sure why you're so bothered by that, but maybe you should relax? lol
Not in the 1940s, they would not. My own mother had to make her own dresses from flour sack material. My grandmother watched as one child died on the kitchen table and he other almost died. My fathers parents were a couple whose previous spouses had died from the influenza. The dust bowl years of the united states were no picnic.
There was a similar show in the States called the Frontier house and the 2 daughters took to it very well and even smoked a pipe! They looked so lonely when they were back at their modern Hollywood penthouse in a vast swimming pool !
Same thing happened with my great grandparents. They had been fairly rich before and lost all their money. My great grandma was the one to take initiative, she borrowed money from an elderly aunt and bought a little sweet (candy) shop and the family lived in the room above the shop which my great grandma ran.
The 'Meadow's' girls are really doing well in this series, considering their ages and coming from a well off family. 'Saskia' is a tower of strength, encouraging her sister and raising their self esteem. I thought they would struggle through this so far but nope they take it all on the chin, whatever life throws at them.
I would love to see something like this with far more detail. Illustrating products used to brush teeth, to style hair, medicines used etc. This is a great series
@@CassidyStarke it wouldn't be someone using the old medicine and cosmetics. I'm well aware a lot of it contained cocaine, arsenic and lead, etc. However, it would be interesting to see those products discussed in more detail - how they were used and by who
It’s good for Polish people to be taken down a peg or two. It builds character that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Coming from nothing means you have some humility, and they were certainly a bit uppity at the start so it was nice to see them taken down a bit. Saskia impressed me with how she got stuck in, and when they lost it all, they pulled together. Most fathers would have just abandoned their families, a running theme amongst men from the British Isles. Something in the water, I imagine. That or the rank alcoholism.
I remember being told that my maternal grandfather was born into a well-to-do family. But the Depression hit and he had to "start from scratch". Mom told me she never felt deprived, but rather she enjoyed her childhood. The post-World War Two era was supposed to be the era of affluence and I remember my classmates seemed to be pretty spoiled, getting the latest toys, dance lessons and music lessons and going on expensive family vacations in the summer, but I also remember my parents had a hard time of it financially.
These shows are so enjoyable. The history channel in the US, plays only war history, as if there is nothing else. Absolute History is the best! Thank you.
This show provides such an important view into history and explains why society today is the way it is. For example how people's houses would be cleared out then provided the basis of the practice that we see on shows like "Can't pay? We'll take it away" where debt collectors have the legal right to confiscate all of your belongings and have them sold, even when that sale would just getting pennies back from the original price of the confiscated item.
I love this program. It helps me to think how my Mom's family in England lived in these times. The last episode had me in tears when the neighbor brought out Jam tarts. I hadn't thought of those in years.
OH MY GOSH SERIOUSLY!?!?!?! you are posting turn back time the family!?!?!? I went as far as to email the people in charge of the show last year when covid hit trying to get my hands on a copy of these! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
My grandfather was employed by a wealthy family in here in America as a chauffeur, which included being the car's mechanic and bodyguard armed with a pistol to protect his employer and family on road trips. He made good money until the Great Depression hit his employer hard and he was one of the first of the staff to be let go. He turned around his skills as a mechanic and machinist and got a job as a mechanic with the Department of Agriculture under the Works Progress Administration of President FDR's New Deal program. This enabled his large family in which my late father was the youngest, to survive the Depression better than most people around them. I was the only one of his many grandchildren to follow in his footsteps as a mechanic. When I began my career, my grandfather gave me his vintage tools and pin from his membership in the National Chauffeurs Association to wear on my garage uniform.
These are my favorite kinds of tv shows where they take people and have them live like people in the past lived. It definitely makes even the viewers appreciate how much better life has become for us. I love that they based it on the ancestry of the people in the show. Thank you so much for uploading these!!
20:15 That's what my grandfather did. He apprenticed in mechanics, he then immigrated to America and honed his skills, then he later on opened his own shop and was successful. He was probably the most honest mechanic in town, and retained customers for a couple decades.
my grandparents were all born 1920-1923, so we didn't have stories about people in WWI - if they died, they weren't in my direct line. but both my grandfathers and father-in-law served in WWII, with assorted medals and stories between them, but truth be told, most of the stories i've heard are from family WOMEN. bringing history to life is why i keep coming back to absolute history!
Just loving watching these truly terrific people taking up such a challenge and letting us be a part of it. Fabulous "reality" tv. Real quality. Thanks to Absolute History and great participants. And what happened with losing everything ... it still happens, sadly. Not the same way, but it happens.
Puts things in perspective. The wealthiest family was the most miserable and the poor family, even though were worn out, was smiling and happy with their accomplishments
I was delighted to see these families once again! I hope whomever is in charge of production brings them back again. Everyone did a wonderful job portraying their rolls. ♥️👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@@deborahramsey3295 They were referring to people at the time not knowing the future that there would be a second world war, that they were in “the interwar years”.
Thanks for sharing this most interesting series. It's a visceral reminder of not only how much life has changed in the past century. It also serves many reminders of all the modern luxuries that so many of us take for granted, for which I'm certainly grateful. :) It's been so interesting to see each family really engage with their unique situations. Particularly since their house in each episode reflects how their direct ancestors experienced daily life.
So are these. Just remember, the men and women then saw nothing out of the ordinary in their day to day lives. A hundred years from now people will feel the same way about us as we feel about their lives.
@@meemurthelemur4811 I often think about that. How in 100 years from now they will be saying how we did strange things and wondering how in earth we lived like this.
Every time period is unique to people living in the present. To them it was just normal. In a hundred years people will think this was a unique time period to live in.
Truly enjoyed watching this series. The reflections of each families helped me understand how difficult it was to live in these eras. Interesting those ancestors didn’t know any difference. The lower class just accepted it.
There’s something so heartwarming about seeing the men in this programme experiencing how the old-fashioned ideal of a stoic, harsh head of household is much less rewarding than the more modern family man who is affectionate and involved with raising children. In a way men’s rights advanced too in this period, giving them more freedom to express emotion the way all humans need to.
While I am loving this series, I am finding it impossible to locate the next episode. I wish these were organized in a playlist. I guess I will just give up.
I found someone who has put them in a playlist th-cam.com/play/PLhJc875zHkHX-7rt7uHNfXyMP_VwrV0af.html But you can also type (Turn Back time The Family) and you will see all 5 episodes showing.
It actually didn't. Britain never had the mass, nationwide unemployment that the U.S. and Germany had. There were particular places and particular industries that saw unemployment that was just as bad, but the entire economy never collapsed. Also, Britain went into recovery sooner than the U.S. did because of industry gearing up to prepare for World War II. Some historians use the term Great Slump rather than Great Depression when talking about Britain.
Me too. But then they would play up the dramatics and would lose the authenticity of it. I can imagine lame close up shots and unnecessary loud music which would be annoying.
There’s still a pub in the East End, (The Prospect of Whitby) which, although predominantly lit by electricity, had one old gas mantle above the central part of the bar area. It gave the place a certain ambiance. I hope they still have it.
It also depends where you are born.In England most families had electricity in the mid 40 early 50 but if you where born in the eastern part of europe you certanly did not.My grandma was born in 1942 in romania and she did not have electricity until 1960.
I think they got it wrong getting rid of the car. It’s too obvious. Back in the day they’d have kept it. If it were me I would have kept the car, and sacked the chauffeur under the false pretext that I learned how to drive and I love it.
24:42 I had the great pleasure of getting to read the entire Swallows and Amazons series, despite being born in 1980. I was raised on sailboats! ⛵️❤️ My brother and I were let loose on local lakes to sail and explore the islands. Absolutely lovely! My childhood was far from perfect, but that was a happy memory.
The Meadows girls are so admirable. They didn't whine or pout or throw a tantrum considering their privilege life at their own home. They did it with a smile throughout the show. Especially the toilet problems in both era. I couldn't do it myself I admit 😂
I love these shows they are insightful. I respect the women in my family for the lives they lead. Many women in my family on the one side at least had very hard lives and always worked very hard. I wish I could met them.
I remember a different show that did that but from a lower middle class prespective and the women broke the rules for real shampoo and got into a scolding situation. Their was so much work involved into all aspects of daily living. If I remember I'll post it because we also during the early1900s had a increase of inventions so for some it must have been an adventure
This is a great eye opener for the Meadows family; as well as those of us watching. Even now there are a lot of families who need government assistance. The difference now, is tge government doesn't take our possessions!
When the boy said look at the CDs I was like wow! am I really that old... where this kid thinks CDs are from the war Edit - thanks you for 51 likes (most I have ever gotten)!!!!!!!!!!
Those houses remind me so much of some of my mother's family's homes when I was a child. They are all dead now apart from one but he sold his his house and went into assisted living. People don't keep houses anymore and pass them on.
The “means testing” they had to go through before being eligible for any help reminds me of the means tests we have in the USA today in order to get food assistance or government health insurance. As I recall you must have less than $5,000 in your bank account to be eligible. So there is no incentive to save for an emergency, save to buy a car, save for anything that might make your life better.
i actually own a little expenses book from germany from 1904-1938. it tells a very interesting story. especially since it extensively covers the year 1923, where many other years only have a page or two, 1923 almost has its own chapter.
Outstanding work! Seriously-I love this! If there was a way to live this for myself (a few weeks through a time machine to the past) I definitely would. It's so inspiring to see what people have gone through and how they have persevered through it. My heart was breaking seeing the poor Meadow's family letting the repo take their things...it was very hard to watch. It's wonderful how amazing our lives our now in the modern era! I can't wait for the next week, best of love and wishes to all three of the lovely families.
It's not a prolonged experience but if you get chance to visit Beamish that would give you some idea and there's an opportunity to dress up in period costume on arrival and swap modern money for the money of the time to spend in the shops there. I went there on a school trip years ago and it was fabulous!
I noticed that the rich people had £360.00 for luxuries like clothes and travel but the first place they cut was in the staffing area which totalled £330.00.
Frankly, these service jobs have more dignity and human respect in them than what we traded them for in the 21st Century “service industry”. I’d far rather work as a valued maid or cook for a kind and appreciative family than in retail or food service today. I was a manager making $40k a year in retail 20 years ago and I FAR PREFERRED being a nanny for half the pay after I got married.
This has been absolutely amazing, it’s so interesting to see how people lived back then, the transitions, the cause and the effects and it gives you a greater appreciation for the now.
I can't help but notice that the men are being given work according to their ancestry but the same is not true of their wives. Obviously, it would be complicated if the wife's ancestors had a different social status than that of their husband's, but it does reinforce how women just disappear when they get married, and I don't just mean in the past. Some things never change, it seems.
You are so right! And in the past it used to be even more visible. If a poor girl was getting married to a rich man, her social status was rising. If a rich girl for some reason had to marry poor man, her status went down significantly,- even is she would bring money into a new family.
Well I think it’s more realistic this way. In the past women were usually married to men of the same social status, but if they choose to marry lower class their family would not always support them
I mean it does make sense to follow the husbands lineage though? many of the women back then didn't even have jobs (weren't allowed to). So personally to me it makes sense.
@@moonlightstripess Yeah...aside from birth/marriage/death certificates, there likely wouldn't be any records about women from lower or middle classes. Maybe employment records from large estates, where such things are sometimes preserved. Men would turn up in tax records, as members of craft and trade organizations, shop and property owners and so on. The male lineage is therefore likely much easier to trace and place correctly, as far as their social and financial circumstances were concerned.
37:00 Hard candy is quite fun and easy to make (though you have to have a candy thermometer to get the exact right temp until you’ve gained a good eye) and once you’ve got it going you can make batch after batch, loads. We make it at Christmas. Only to make cinnamon candy we use pure Cassia oil and the fumes are so strong they burn your eyes and throat and my brother reacts so badly he can’t even be in the house at all. We also make root beer flavor, peppermint, rose, and lavender. Just have to get the right extract! Highly recommend for fun!
@@janibii_608 i think thata by design. There are laws about this kind of thing. Children can't consent to being hungry, cold and dirty. But the older kids can
This had to be so hard in my Grandparents and Great Grandparents Days . 11 set of My Great Grandparents Moved to Canada from Russia in the Days of Tsars . Other Great Grandparents as far as I know they lived here in Canada . But all still had be very hard on the Parents raising their Families .Makes me wonder how they did it .
I love the shown ! I LoVe EVERY Single ONE of Them ! I cry with each and every time they cry ! This week the Meadow has a special place in my heart ! ❤️
My ancestry is German, with me being the youngest born in 1988. My elder sister in 1972(West-Germany), and my mother being the youngest of 4 in 1950 (as my grandfather, born in 1908, had been captured by the Soviets and returned around 1948/9. I don't know lots about my grandfather's interwar family except some great-aunts we loosely visited when I was a kindergartener, but I do know a lot about my grandmother's. My great-grandmother was born in 1880 and married a blacksmith, meaning my grandma was born into a German Middle Class family in 1913. However, her father, my great-grandfather fell during WW 1, leaving his wife and children behind. My great-grandmother re-married in the beginning 1920s, but my grandma did not like her stepfather alot, though she got along okay-ish with her new cousins. Turning adult on her 20th birthday, she decided that she had enough. While visiting family of her mother's side in a different town, she found a cafe looking for a waitress and just took the job. Coincidentally, my grandfather, having the same birthplace as my grandma, was a university student in the very same town and a regular in the place she started working. That's how they met. A couple of years later they got married in their hometown, and in 1939 my first uncle was born :) My grandpa died in 2000, my grandma in 2002 and I still love them very much
I love these programs and actually remember. using a washing machine like that back in the 1960 s. We had a smarter version and a separate spin dryer but essentially you had to haul the clothes out of boiling water with a gigantic pair of wooden tongs.
Imagine some 100 years into the future when the people from that time try to live like we do today. I wonder how they would react to the different aspects of our everyday lives…
I don't know what they would do for my family in this time. My dad's dad's dad took all of the money his wife had earned in her tailor business and left her in Northern Ireland with 9 kids while he went down south and gambled it all away.
Kudos for the great work on these shows! The Taylors remind me of my paternal line in California. They lived very well in San Francisco until the 1906 quake. Then, in 1929, the Great Depression. Boom! In the 1940s, my grandparents were both working in the naval bomb part factories while my dad and uncle were fighting in the war.
I so dread becoming poor due to bad financial decisions that now watching this and seeing the kind of life working class people go thru. Makes me even more mindful of how my family should use our resources. I can feel the depression from the father when all of their stuff was taken away but he could not do anything about it.
When they had to sack 2/3 of the family it felt like a punch in the gut. It’s interesting getting so invested in the families of this era/replica of reality in the times. 😕
I have just found these🎉Love this viewpoint… now the ‘Families’ , I’ve watched the ‘Baker’s and Blacksmith’s and Business in The High Street series first… Fascinating for an Fourth Generation Australian to watch from a British perspective… Love this Chanel’s output… ❤ Thank you for your focus on the real details of each era… Amazingly Awesome 👏🏻
Fascinating, thank you for uploading. I’m in my late 50’s and remember my mother in the 60’s having a similar washing machine even then, washday was indeed just that it took all day, ironing took place the following day. Also I remember open fires👌💕
Wety to be honest if you watch “Can’t Pay, We’ll take it away” they still do that today, they’ll leave you with 4 chairs a TV & your bed’s and that’s it, so we still ain’t come that far if you think about it.
I am still super impressed with the attitude of the Meadows family. I like that they are following their ancestors socioeconomic footsteps. The struggle of the family line shows up in the character of each of them. They're learning a lot right along with the audience and I love it.
It makes me feel better about being a Blue Collar Worker. I have always been proud of my Blue Collar Roots.
@@rustyrelicsfarm2406 Blue Collar folks are some of the hardest working people in the world. Your pride is deserved.
they are only there for a week
It must be harder for them to adjust as well because they're the family with the most money etc. whereas back then those families wouldn't have known what it's like to have such opportunities and luxuries so it's impressive how hard-working they are
same here plus the positive and humble attitude of the older daughter is refreshing, her mother must be very proud.
Go Meadows!
I'm really impressed by how mature Saskia is! She's not even mean to her sister, she's encouraging and hard working :) Seriously proud of her
I love the way she just gets going and does it no teenage fits
The despair in Mr. Meadows face when he got fired and when he had to apply for welfare is so real. This experiment really tested their family and they really pulled through as a team unit.
I knew before they even said it that the car and Mr. Meadows were going to be the first to go. He at least had a skill that not everyone had and he could look for work as a trucker or what y'all in the U.K. call a lorry driver. He could possibly even make money as a mechanic if he maintained his boss's car himself.
@@rabbitramen I couldn't help but clarify that I'm from the US. It's funny what our mind adds or misses things when we're only reading text. 😅
@@beevang7884I immediately knew you were American when I saw you call benefits "welfare".
However interesting this series is to watch, the thing that continues to bother me is that no one seems to recognize or acknowledge the utter failure of the monarchy and Parliament of Britain (among the U.S. and other nations). In fact, a government of any country which calls itself "civilized" that refuses to care and provide for its citizens at the most basic level has no valid reason to exist at all. By this metric, Britain's entire history of its monarchy and other structures can arguably be called a failed state. It is glaringly obvious that the role of the State in western empires has always been and continues to be nothing but a cabal of mechanisms to maintain a permanent underclass and slightly better-off professional class in service to the rich- and at the expense of everyone else. One really has to question why revolution has not been the norm instead of the aberration.
Its kind of wholesome how happy the Meadows are to have two bedrooms. Theyve humbled so much since the first episode
They were never stuck up.
@@notmypotato3730 Yeah I thought the same. They started pretty humble. Maybe they're just more appreciative than they would have been had they not started where they did.
I agree that they were never stuck up ..the youngest Daughter and mum still seem to be struggling with not having their creature comforts though.
F
@@notmypotato3730 am I your potato?
props to the interior designers and production team for reenacting realistic homes, loving it!
The Taylor father missing his wife and kids.. broke my heart
I can't imagine how revolutionary it was going from hand washing, open fire cooking or even carpet cleaning was even with these rudimentary machines. It must have been mind blowing.
My great grandmother had a crank washer until she grew too old to use it. Her thought was it still works, why replace it. She was born in 1917 on a farm and didn't get it until the early 40s. She kept that thing until I was was a teenager in the early 90s lol! She never bought a dryer though.
My mother was born in 1922 and is 99 this year. She too went from washing clothes in a copper which is like a large copper barrel that you light a fire underneath to boil the clothes and you scrub them clean by hand with a washing board which looks like a louvre door that you rub the clothes up and down with soap until the dirt comes off, and the women's hands would be red raw at times, they then up-graded to an agitator washing machine , to an automatic washer. They went from a coal range stove to microwaves. The girls had to stay inside and help mother with the housework from age3-4 yrs while the boys did whatever they liked.They took all the changes in their stride.
Wow, I can really relate as I lived with my great-grandparents who were both born at the turn of the century. They definitely had antique what some would call vintage machines such as a wringer washer. When I had long hair as a child they would warn me not to let it get too close the to wringer rollers!
My great grandmother and great grandfather were born in 1918 and 1916 respectively in upstate Maine so this is interesting
One of my great-grandmothers was born in 1900. She was married in 1920 and was a dairy/poultry farmer from then on. She cooked on a wood burning stove, and when my mother's uncles bought her an electric stove in the 1960s she refused to use it until she dropped a log in the wood stove one morning and it fell through the bottom. She had to give up most of her cows when my great-grandfather died in the early 1950s. She didn't give up her last cow until the 1970s, but she still had her chickens. She kept a vegetable garden into her 90s when her eyesight got too bad.
@@michellebeckstrom6110 much to you for having your mom. July 31 will be the 2nd anniversary of when my mom passed at 61. I'm happy you got to have your mom as long as you have and I sincerely mean that. Cherish every day, you never know when it will happen. My grandmother outlived 2 of her 3 children. My mom and uncle died within a month of each other
Absolute History has been a great companion especially with the seemingly never ending community lock down.
Give it 40 years and somebody'll do an episode of this based on the lockdown. 'welcome, family! this is your house; now stay in here. All week. Oh, and there's no toilet paper'
@@earl_gay lók8
I really enjoy the aspect of social mobility, both up and down. In my family, my paternal grandfather, in the Edwardian period, was a working class fireman on the railroad. He was killed in a railroad accident in 1922 leaving a wife and 5 children. Fortunately, he was a union member so his widow got a small pension and somehow survived. My dad, the middle child born in 1919, managed to finish HS and got a job with the federal government in DC in 1939 eventually reaching the highest grade (GS-15) before retiring in 1979. All his children finished college and two are lawyers. I often reflect how lucky I am to have had such hardworking ancestors and how easily it could have turned out differently.
The strength of your grandmother is the reason behind all that.
However interesting this series is to watch, the thing that continues to bother me is that no one seems to recognize or acknowledge the utter failure of the monarchy and Parliament of Britain (among the U.S. and other nations). In fact, a government of any country which calls itself "civilized" that refuses to care and provide for its citizens at the most basic level has no valid reason to exist at all. By this metric, Britain's entire history of its monarchy and other structures can arguably be called a failed state. It is glaringly obvious that the role of the State in western empires has always been and continues to be nothing but a cabal of mechanisms to maintain a permanent underclass and slightly better-off professional class in service to the rich- and at the expense of everyone else. One really has to question why revolution has not been the norm instead of the aberration.
You do realize the government, of any nation only has the money of its tax paying citizens to give a " basic standard of living" to the others who have not earned it. it would be nice if governments had money trees and candy cane gardens lining every street, though. @@worldadventuretravel
Poor Meadows!!!!! They have to go through so much adversity!!!! I couldn’t help laughing at Geneve’s face when she was fired!!! She was so deep in the role, that she thought it was true!! Lol
*Genevieve
Don't think she liked it anyway...bovvered! 😊
Saskia is such a determined, resourceful, and diligent teenager. I feel like most her age, especially American kids, would've griped, laughed, or not cared much to perform these duties. She's mature beyond her years.
Its Role playing, just relax.
@@demitraferles7970 I complimented the kid for committing to a tasking role w/o complaint. Not sure why you're so bothered by that, but maybe you should relax? lol
Not in the 1940s, they would not. My own mother had to make her own dresses from flour sack material. My grandmother watched as one child died on the kitchen table and he other almost died. My fathers parents were a couple whose previous spouses had died from the influenza. The dust bowl years of the united states were no picnic.
@@gaylehudson7267 Oh, I'm certain that's true. Obviously, I'm speaking of kids today.
There was a similar show in the States called the Frontier house and the 2 daughters took to it very well and even smoked a pipe! They looked so lonely when they were back at their modern Hollywood penthouse in a vast swimming pool !
During the Great Depression my gr grandpa didnt work for a decade it was my gr grandma who held the family together with her seamstress work.
Same thing happened with my great grandparents. They had been fairly rich before and lost all their money. My great grandma was the one to take initiative, she borrowed money from an elderly aunt and bought a little sweet (candy) shop and the family lived in the room above the shop which my great grandma ran.
*didn't
The 'Meadow's' girls are really doing well in this series, considering their ages and coming from a well off family. 'Saskia' is a tower of strength, encouraging her sister and raising their self esteem. I thought they would struggle through this so far but nope they take it all on the chin, whatever life throws at them.
She's got a great attitude
Yup the girl was a trooper but it shows her parents raised her well
I would love to see something like this with far more detail. Illustrating products used to brush teeth, to style hair, medicines used etc. This is a great series
In the "British Pathe" videos here on youtube, they show a lot of those things.
@@fluffedsquirrel I'll have to check them out
Medicine? A good portion of it wasn’t actually healthy, they could use old packaging though.
@@CassidyStarke it wouldn't be someone using the old medicine and cosmetics. I'm well aware a lot of it contained cocaine, arsenic and lead, etc. However, it would be interesting to see those products discussed in more detail - how they were used and by who
@@abbyschwendler1107
I believe this channel has a video about a olden day apothecary. It’s a fun video if you wanna look for it.
It's amazing how real these experiences become for the families. It broke my heart to see how down and out the Meadows family became.
It’s good for Polish people to be taken down a peg or two. It builds character that they otherwise wouldn’t have. Coming from nothing means you have some humility, and they were certainly a bit uppity at the start so it was nice to see them taken down a bit. Saskia impressed me with how she got stuck in, and when they lost it all, they pulled together. Most fathers would have just abandoned their families, a running theme amongst men from the British Isles. Something in the water, I imagine. That or the rank alcoholism.
I remember being told that my maternal grandfather was born into a well-to-do family. But the Depression hit and he had to "start from scratch". Mom told me she never felt deprived, but rather she enjoyed her childhood. The post-World War Two era was supposed to be the era of affluence and I remember my classmates seemed to be pretty spoiled, getting the latest toys, dance lessons and music lessons and going on expensive family vacations in the summer, but I also remember my parents had a hard time of it financially.
As a German I would love to see such series about Germany. The british really have the best history documentaries.
I wish we had these in my country too
Hi, there is "Gutshaus 1900" and "Sommerfrische 1927"
These shows are so enjoyable. The history channel in the US, plays only war history, as if there is nothing else. Absolute History is the best! Thank you.
I genuinely appreciate Absolute History.
Thank you so much !!
This show provides such an important view into history and explains why society today is the way it is.
For example how people's houses would be cleared out then provided the basis of the practice that we see on shows like "Can't pay? We'll take it away" where debt collectors have the legal right to confiscate all of your belongings and have them sold, even when that sale would just getting pennies back from the original price of the confiscated item.
I love this program. It helps me to think how my Mom's family in England lived in these times. The last episode had me in tears when the neighbor brought out Jam tarts. I hadn't thought of those in years.
OH MY GOSH SERIOUSLY!?!?!?! you are posting turn back time the family!?!?!? I went as far as to email the people in charge of the show last year when covid hit trying to get my hands on a copy of these! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
They were/are on TH-cam already though (:
I'm loving this series but having a hard time finding them all. Any tips? Help : )
@@trendywipp3715 did you manage to find a playlist?
@@theral056 Yes, thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate you asking. Nice to get positive replies. Gives me more hope about humanity.
@@trendywipp3715 I am with you there! I can’t find the next era.
My grandfather was employed by a wealthy family in here in America as a chauffeur, which included being the car's mechanic and bodyguard armed with a pistol to protect his employer and family on road trips. He made good money until the Great Depression hit his employer hard and he was one of the first of the staff to be let go. He turned around his skills as a mechanic and machinist and got a job as a mechanic with the Department of Agriculture under the Works Progress Administration of President FDR's New Deal program. This enabled his large family in which my late father was the youngest, to survive the Depression better than most people around them. I was the only one of his many grandchildren to follow in his footsteps as a mechanic. When I began my career, my grandfather gave me his vintage tools and pin from his membership in the National Chauffeurs Association to wear on my garage uniform.
These are my favorite kinds of tv shows where they take people and have them live like people in the past lived. It definitely makes even the viewers appreciate how much better life has become for us. I love that they based it on the ancestry of the people in the show. Thank you so much for uploading these!!
A real eye opening episode. It was hard to watch the family loosing their belongings at the very end. Makes more appreciative of my circumstances.
Hardest part to watch!
20:15 That's what my grandfather did. He apprenticed in mechanics, he then immigrated to America and honed his skills, then he later on opened his own shop and was successful. He was probably the most honest mechanic in town, and retained customers for a couple decades.
I love this series. We need something like it in the states.
my grandparents were all born 1920-1923, so we didn't have stories about people in WWI - if they died, they weren't in my direct line. but both my grandfathers and father-in-law served in WWII, with assorted medals and stories between them, but truth be told, most of the stories i've heard are from family WOMEN. bringing history to life is why i keep coming back to absolute history!
Just loving watching these truly terrific people taking up such a challenge and letting us be a part of it. Fabulous "reality" tv. Real quality. Thanks to Absolute History and great participants. And what happened with losing everything ... it still happens, sadly. Not the same way, but it happens.
Puts things in perspective. The wealthiest family was the most miserable and the poor family, even though were worn out, was smiling and happy with their accomplishments
I was delighted to see these families once again! I hope whomever is in charge of production brings them back again. Everyone did a wonderful job portraying their rolls. ♥️👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
"The interWHAT years???" -People immediately after WWI
😂😂😂😂😂
"And the what world war???" Before or during the first one
Interwar meaning between WW1 and WWII
@@deborahramsey3295 They were referring to people at the time not knowing the future that there would be a second world war, that they were in “the interwar years”.
Waited all week for the next episode!!
Thanks for sharing this most interesting series. It's a visceral reminder of not only how much life has changed in the past century. It also serves many reminders of all the modern luxuries that so many of us take for granted, for which I'm certainly grateful. :)
It's been so interesting to see each family really engage with their unique situations. Particularly since their house in each episode reflects how their direct ancestors experienced daily life.
The old days were such a unique time in history. 🧐
A still true statement looking back at 2 days ago when you said that.
So are these. Just remember, the men and women then saw nothing out of the ordinary in their day to day lives. A hundred years from now people will feel the same way about us as we feel about their lives.
It changed so fast!
@@meemurthelemur4811 I often think about that. How in 100 years from now they will be saying how we did strange things and wondering how in earth we lived like this.
Every time period is unique to people living in the present. To them it was just normal. In a hundred years people will think this was a unique time period to live in.
Truly enjoyed watching this series. The reflections of each families helped me understand how difficult it was to live in these eras. Interesting those ancestors didn’t know any difference. The lower class just accepted it.
This series makes me realize how lucky I am to have been born when I was. Also, never take anything for granted.
Very interesting still watching i love the concept
"If it's anything to do with chocolate, I'll find it" 😂
Very relatable 😅
There’s something so heartwarming about seeing the men in this programme experiencing how the old-fashioned ideal of a stoic, harsh head of household is much less rewarding than the more modern family man who is affectionate and involved with raising children. In a way men’s rights advanced too in this period, giving them more freedom to express emotion the way all humans need to.
While I am loving this series, I am finding it impossible to locate the next episode. I wish these were organized in a playlist. I guess I will just give up.
I found someone who has put them in a playlist th-cam.com/play/PLhJc875zHkHX-7rt7uHNfXyMP_VwrV0af.html
But you can also type (Turn Back time The Family) and you will see all 5 episodes showing.
@@Lart-et1og thank you!
Apart from the very interesting content of the series, I'm blown away by the interior design of the houses. It's fantastic. Every detail is spot on.
I never thought as an American that the Great Depression hit Britain really hard as well.
It actually didn't. Britain never had the mass, nationwide unemployment that the U.S. and Germany had. There were particular places and particular industries that saw unemployment that was just as bad, but the entire economy never collapsed. Also, Britain went into recovery sooner than the U.S. did because of industry gearing up to prepare for World War II. Some historians use the term Great Slump rather than Great Depression when talking about Britain.
I'd like to see an American version of this series.
Me too. But then they would play up the dramatics and would lose the authenticity of it. I can imagine lame close up shots and unnecessary loud music which would be annoying.
So would I. Brits tend to be stiff. Lol
@@gorymarty56 you didn’t like this series?
I liked it, but just would like one Usa based.
Hell no
They are way too entitled and will whine
The rich family seem so kind and caring how they interact with each other. 💗
Not all homes had electricity. I was born in 1939 and remember climbing on a chair to touch the burning gas mantle on the wall.
Ooh, thats interesting :0
until what year was it common for every house to have electricity?
There’s still a pub in the East End, (The Prospect of Whitby) which, although predominantly lit by electricity, had one old gas mantle above the central part of the bar area. It gave the place a certain ambiance. I hope they still have it.
Wrong
It also depends where you are born.In England most families had electricity in the mid 40 early 50 but if you where born in the eastern part of europe you certanly did not.My grandma was born in 1942 in romania and she did not have electricity until 1960.
I think they got it wrong getting rid of the car. It’s too obvious. Back in the day they’d have kept it. If it were me I would have kept the car, and sacked the chauffeur under the false pretext that I learned how to drive and I love it.
24:42 I had the great pleasure of getting to read the entire Swallows and Amazons series, despite being born in 1980. I was raised on sailboats! ⛵️❤️
My brother and I were let loose on local lakes to sail and explore the islands. Absolutely lovely! My childhood was far from perfect, but that was a happy memory.
The Meadows girls are so admirable. They didn't whine or pout or throw a tantrum considering their privilege life at their own home. They did it with a smile throughout the show. Especially the toilet problems in both era. I couldn't do it myself I admit 😂
I love these shows they are insightful. I respect the women in my family for the lives they lead. Many women in my family on the one side at least had very hard lives and always worked very hard. I wish I could met them.
I’d like to have seen them cooking some recipes from that era and how they shopped
I remember a different show that did that but from a lower middle class prespective and the women broke the rules for real shampoo and got into a scolding situation. Their was so much work involved into all aspects of daily living. If I remember I'll post it because we also during the early1900s had a increase of inventions so for some it must have been an adventure
This is a great eye opener for the Meadows family; as well as those of us watching. Even now there are a lot of families who need government assistance. The difference now, is tge government doesn't take our possessions!
Excited for next episode...
Two books by George Orwell, "The Road To Wigan Pier" and "Down And Out In Paris And London" are essential reading on the interwar years.
“Down and Out in Paris and London” is a great book. Was really eye opening for me to read as a teenager and continues to inform today.
Down and out in Paris and London is great. Haven't heard of the road to wigan pier, will definitely look at it. Orwell is a wonderful writer
Genevieve and her mother are wearing me out!!!! I’m not even half way through this episode. Just do the darn work!!! You signed up!
When the boy said look at the CDs I was like wow! am I really that old... where this kid thinks CDs are from the war
Edit - thanks you for 51 likes (most I have ever gotten)!!!!!!!!!!
I'm thanks #35 lol
I thought that , I class CD’s as present day I love iTunes & TH-cam premium but if it’s a band I love iv got to have the physical copy
Here’s #58😉
@@christianlennon714 Exactly ! 😝
Well, they're compact and they're discs, so...
Those houses remind me so much of some of my mother's family's homes when I was a child. They are all dead now apart from one but he sold his his house and went into assisted living. People don't keep houses anymore and pass them on.
The “means testing” they had to go through before being eligible for any help reminds me of the means tests we have in the USA today in order to get food assistance or government health insurance. As I recall you must have less than $5,000 in your bank account to be eligible. So there is no incentive to save for an emergency, save to buy a car, save for anything that might make your life better.
The chef looked horrified when she had to get a pay cut like as if they are seriously paying her 1920’s pay
i actually own a little expenses book from germany from 1904-1938. it tells a very interesting story. especially since it extensively covers the year 1923, where many other years only have a page or two, 1923 almost has its own chapter.
Wow! Can you upload a video? Would love to see the book. Thats so interesting
Wonderful families. So close and caring.
Outstanding work! Seriously-I love this! If there was a way to live this for myself (a few weeks through a time machine to the past) I definitely would. It's so inspiring to see what people have gone through and how they have persevered through it. My heart was breaking seeing the poor Meadow's family letting the repo take their things...it was very hard to watch. It's wonderful how amazing our lives our now in the modern era! I can't wait for the next week, best of love and wishes to all three of the lovely families.
Things like that are still happening to people today.
It's not a prolonged experience but if you get chance to visit Beamish that would give you some idea and there's an opportunity to dress up in period costume on arrival and swap modern money for the money of the time to spend in the shops there. I went there on a school trip years ago and it was fabulous!
Soon enough they will create a series about life in 2020's during the pandemic
I noticed that the rich people had £360.00 for luxuries like clothes and travel but the first place they cut was in the staffing area which totalled £330.00.
Hehehe. Just like their ancestors, eh?
Did you not here "you have to keep up with appearances?" They cant look like theyre struggling.
Mrs Meadows! Those are some scandalous gym shorts!
I was surprised as well. I wouldn’t think those would be appropriate for the time but maybe they were ?
@@CURIOUSSERA I think those shorts will be seen as lingerie at that time
Impeccable timing for these to pop up
Frankly, these service jobs have more dignity and human respect in them than what we traded them for in the 21st Century “service industry”. I’d far rather work as a valued maid or cook for a kind and appreciative family than in retail or food service today. I was a manager making $40k a year in retail 20 years ago and I FAR PREFERRED being a nanny for half the pay after I got married.
This has been absolutely amazing, it’s so interesting to see how people lived back then, the transitions, the cause and the effects and it gives you a greater appreciation for the now.
I can't help but notice that the men are being given work according to their ancestry but the same is not true of their wives. Obviously, it would be complicated if the wife's ancestors had a different social status than that of their husband's, but it does reinforce how women just disappear when they get married, and I don't just mean in the past. Some things never change, it seems.
You are so right! And in the past it used to be even more visible. If a poor girl was getting married to a rich man, her social status was rising. If a rich girl for some reason had to marry poor man, her status went down significantly,- even is she would bring money into a new family.
Well I think it’s more realistic this way. In the past women were usually married to men of the same social status, but if they choose to marry lower class their family would not always support them
I mean it does make sense to follow the husbands lineage though? many of the women back then didn't even have jobs (weren't allowed to). So personally to me it makes sense.
@@moonlightstripess
Yeah...aside from birth/marriage/death certificates, there likely wouldn't be any records about women from lower or middle classes. Maybe employment records from large estates, where such things are sometimes preserved.
Men would turn up in tax records, as members of craft and trade organizations, shop and property owners and so on.
The male lineage is therefore likely much easier to trace and place correctly, as far as their social and financial circumstances were concerned.
Absolutely.
I am looking forward to the 60s and 70s. I love the vibrant colors from those decades.
37:00 Hard candy is quite fun and easy to make (though you have to have a candy thermometer to get the exact right temp until you’ve gained a good eye) and once you’ve got it going you can make batch after batch, loads. We make it at Christmas. Only to make cinnamon candy we use pure Cassia oil and the fumes are so strong they burn your eyes and throat and my brother reacts so badly he can’t even be in the house at all. We also make root beer flavor, peppermint, rose, and lavender. Just have to get the right extract! Highly recommend for fun!
I must admit I found last weeks a bithard I hate to see children crying it was good but I like it better this weeks
Totally agree! Only a psychopath would like to see children crying.
Ye im so glad the children didnt get the 3rd house
@@janibii_608 i think thata by design. There are laws about this kind of thing. Children can't consent to being hungry, cold and dirty. But the older kids can
Oooohhh yeah new episode just dropped, time to stop doing that thing you were supposed to get done and watch this TH-cam video yeeee
Thank you very much. Your comment reminded me of something I had to do.
Just had to correct - the 1st Famous Five book was written in 1942.
This had to be so hard in my Grandparents and Great Grandparents Days . 11 set of My Great Grandparents Moved to Canada from Russia in the Days of Tsars . Other Great Grandparents as far as I know they lived here in Canada . But all still had be very hard on the Parents raising their Families .Makes me wonder how they did it .
I love the shown ! I LoVe EVERY Single ONE of Them ! I cry with each and every time they cry ! This week the Meadow has a special place in my heart ! ❤️
My ancestry is German, with me being the youngest born in 1988. My elder sister in 1972(West-Germany), and my mother being the youngest of 4 in 1950 (as my grandfather, born in 1908, had been captured by the Soviets and returned around 1948/9. I don't know lots about my grandfather's interwar family except some great-aunts we loosely visited when I was a kindergartener, but I do know a lot about my grandmother's. My great-grandmother was born in 1880 and married a blacksmith, meaning my grandma was born into a German Middle Class family in 1913. However, her father, my great-grandfather fell during WW 1, leaving his wife and children behind. My great-grandmother re-married in the beginning 1920s, but my grandma did not like her stepfather alot, though she got along okay-ish with her new cousins. Turning adult on her 20th birthday, she decided that she had enough. While visiting family of her mother's side in a different town, she found a cafe looking for a waitress and just took the job. Coincidentally, my grandfather, having the same birthplace as my grandma, was a university student in the very same town and a regular in the place she started working. That's how they met. A couple of years later they got married in their hometown, and in 1939 my first uncle was born :)
My grandpa died in 2000, my grandma in 2002 and I still love them very much
I love these programs and actually remember. using a washing machine like that back in the 1960 s. We had a smarter version and a separate spin dryer but essentially you had to haul the clothes out of boiling water with a gigantic pair of wooden tongs.
I loved seeing the Meadows faces when they saw their upgrade of a house
Imagine some 100 years into the future when the people from that time try to live like we do today. I wonder how they would react to the different aspects of our everyday lives…
I don't know what they would do for my family in this time. My dad's dad's dad took all of the money his wife had earned in her tailor business and left her in Northern Ireland with 9 kids while he went down south and gambled it all away.
Honeycomb is amazing - if someone sold it - well, I’d buy the lot if it was made right. Soooooo amazingly delicious
Kudos for the great work on these shows! The Taylors remind me of my paternal line in California. They lived very well in San Francisco until the 1906 quake. Then, in 1929, the Great Depression. Boom! In the 1940s, my grandparents were both working in the naval bomb part factories while my dad and uncle were fighting in the war.
A great lesson especially with the young people.
Thank you for upload. Great series. How things used to be aye. How crazy the world is today.
I’d like to see what schooling the children would get
I so dread becoming poor due to bad financial decisions that now watching this and seeing the kind of life working class people go thru. Makes me even more mindful of how my family should use our resources.
I can feel the depression from the father when all of their stuff was taken away but he could not do anything about it.
When they had to sack 2/3 of the family it felt like a punch in the gut. It’s interesting getting so invested in the families of this era/replica of reality in the times. 😕
I have just found these🎉Love this viewpoint… now the ‘Families’ , I’ve watched the ‘Baker’s and Blacksmith’s and Business in The High Street series first… Fascinating for an Fourth Generation Australian to watch from a British perspective… Love this Chanel’s output… ❤ Thank you for your focus on the real details of each era… Amazingly Awesome 👏🏻
Excellent series! Looking forward to the next episode :D
Honestly I’m obsessed with this now I hope the 20s is way better for them than the Edwardian era
Fascinating, thank you for uploading. I’m in my late 50’s and remember my mother in the 60’s having a similar washing machine even then, washday was indeed just that it took all day, ironing took place the following day. Also I remember open fires👌💕
These family groups are very brave.Living in the past is an adventure.
Wety to be honest if you watch “Can’t Pay, We’ll take it away” they still do that today, they’ll leave you with 4 chairs a TV & your bed’s and that’s it, so we still ain’t come that far if you think about it.
this series is kind of like history/sociology Lite - entertainment value with a little bit of history thrown in.
i love this series, it's so interesting to watch.
Enjoying this series
If I saw people in costume with tv camera I’d sure be curious enough to buy their honeycomb.
UK programs. Fabulous !
The Meadows are up in the Taylors' house like the family from Parasite.
im so glad in the beginning they were happy about the slight upgrades