15 Poor Man Habits Our British Grandparents Used to Survive Winter

In the Big Freeze of 1962-63, people scraped ice off the inside of their bedroom windows, and families got through with one coal fire and a lot of make-do. In this video I go through 15 poor man's habits our British grandparents used to get through winter: newspaper stuffed in the window frames, shillings for the meter, sea coal from the Northumberland beaches, tin baths in front of the fire, proggy mats and coats piled on the bed. Along the way you'll find out why a Scottish granny took a pig to bed, and why the habit at number one kept families close as well as warm. If you remember frost ferns on the glass and the smell of a coal fire being raked out at dawn, I'd love you to subscribe for more walks back through the old house. Help me finish this list, too. Tell me in the comments which winter habit your mum or nan swore by, what your family called the clothes maiden, and which town or village you grew up in. Every street had its own trick, and I read every comment. Arthur Chapters: 00:00 1. The Big Freeze of 1962 01:12 2. Draughts, Parlours and Shilling Meters 03:59 3. Paraffin, Sea Coal and Banked Fires 07:12 4. The Women Who Kept Us Warm 07:46 5. Drawing the Fire, Drying the Washing 09:52 6. Liberty Bodices, Tin Baths, Outside Lavs 12:52 7. What Keeping Warm Really Cost 13:34 8. Proggy Mats, Coats and Hot Bricks 16:44 9. Number One: The Shared Fire 17:51 10. Your Nan's Winter Tricks Tags: british nostalgia, big freeze 1963, british winter history, life in the 1950s and 1960s, old fashioned frugal habits, coal fire memories, working class britain, growing up in britain