Hotels & Traveling in England in early 1960's (with one question about undergarments)

[tomato_dance]

Hello! Boy do I have a broad array of questions, so I hope I can be helped with some.

I'm writing a fanfiction set in very early 1960's (late 1962, to be exact), in England. The group is travelling around England and I wanted to know what they might encounter. (In case it helps, it's about The Beatles. I'm taking some liberties with the time line

Comments

[sandoz_iscariot]

3. I don't know about boxers, but The Beatles did wear y-fronts around that time. There's this photo of John in his underwear in Hamburg, 1960, and there's this photo of George Harrison's parents packing for him around 1963-64ish? (judging by his hairstyle) with a visible pack of y-fronts.

[tomato_dance]

Yeah, now that I think about it I've also seen the one where they're pillow fighting and Ringo has fallen over and shows pretty much all of his y-fronts from a very lovely angle.
I just wasn't sure if it was a general choice for them, or they alternated or what. I also wasn't sure about the general populace's feelings on the matter.
Thanks. :)

[janewilliams20]

I would suggest looking at B&Bs rather than hotels. Early 60s is before my time, but from my experience 10 years or so later I'd say that en-suite facilities would be unheard of in the lower price bracket. There's a toilet and a bathroom (separate rooms) at the end of the corridor, and a queue.

Roads MUCH quieter than today, and remember most modern roads (M1, M25) hadn't been built then.

I'd expect a group of young blokes to simply get out and find the nearest bush.

[tomato_dance]

1. B&Bs might be a nice idea, but I'd feel bad for the boys being all rambunctious like. But it's definitely a consideration. I was honestly thinking that they would be rooms at the end of the hall, so a B&B might be a good idea.

2. Haha I don't know why I always forget about things like roads not having been built!

3. Yeah, that's what I was think' too. :)

Thanks for your imput!!

[the_maenad]

Actually the M1 was opened from London to Daventry in 1959.

Motorways that had opened by the end of 1962 were that part of the M1; the M6 from Stafford to the Cheshire county boundary; the M5 from Birmingham to Strensham, and the M50 from there towards Ross on Wye; the Preston and Lancaster bypasses, now part of the M6; and a few other tiny bits and pieces. No motorways anywhere around Liverpool at that point!

(http://www.cbrd.co.uk/histories/chronologymaps/ is invaluable for this kind of thing.)

[tomato_dance]

Oo, thanks. Consider it bookmarked. This is on the same level of usefulness as the site that tells you the weather by month in London every year since 1900 (which, for me, is very useful).

[nineveh_uk]

Keep in mind they're travelling long distances where I'd imagine it's nothing but open space for a long while (and they really, really have to pee).

Whilst you do get this in northern England, particularly on the trans-pennine routes, with the motorways not yet built, a lot of main routes are going to go through towns and villages, and northern England simply isn't that big. There's plenty of room to stop and wee, but if you're thinking of long hours driving between each town/village they see, that isn't going to be the case.

[tomato_dance]

Right, right. I was mainly asking would it be easier just to say "screw it" and pull over to go in the brush, or hold it until the closest public building. I know there's times when, as a female who has a considerably harder time relieving myself in a bush, I've considered it more pleasant than waiting for the next town. Of course these long drives I'm thinking of are in America, where if you're on the wrong road you're not going to see anything but farm houses for hours.
But obviously if it's just an "eh, I sort of have to go" sort of thing I'm sure they could wait.

[sollersuk]

Even at that date it would only take a couple of hours to get from Manchester to Leeds or Sheffield across the Pennines, and that's about the longest distance without passing through significant towns or villages that one could go. And even the Snake Pass (the most direct route) has a pub about half way over. When the motorways were built, the service areas were put in at about the distances people felt reasonable to go between potential breaks: initially about 40 miles apart. What with pubs and Public Conveniences in towns and villages, that would be about right.

[stick_poker]

The area between Liverpool and Manchester is quite densely urban - have a look at a road-map, there's practically no space that isn't town - it was pretty much as urban then, although none of the motorways had been built yet. No long distances at all.

[laudomia]

I was in London in 1964. I stayed in nice hotels, so I don't know how the cheaper ones were, but bathrooms had sinks, toilets and tubs--no showers. The tubs were deep enough for the water to come up to my chest. Toilet paper was odd (by American standards). It had a slick surface, something like waxed paper

[tomato_dance]

Wow, thanks for all that info!! Definitely helpful. :D

Only old men wore boxers.
That's what my dad was telling me. Glad he's not completely off. Haha.

[chilperic]

I was born in the UK in 1947, so I have pretty clear memories of the UK in the 1960s! I wore Y-fronts, like pretty well everywhere else. Very few hotels were en suite: in other words, bathrooms and toilets were down the corridor somewhere. (In the 50s I would be more definite; but probably en suite rooms were coming in to more ordinary hotels in the 1960s, but it would still be exceptional). The cheaper hotel rooms were bny modern standards ghastly: uncomfortable beds, inadequate lighting, probably cold lino floors with a rug or two, but not wall-to-wall carpeting. And possibly an electric fire as the only heating (central heating was not so common in the early 1960s

[tomato_dance]

This is impossibly helpful.

I was only about 70% sure that they wouldn't have their own toilets/bathrooms, especially in the lower-cost places.

The hotel description is quite helpful as well! I would never have guessed no carpeting.

Also good info about places to eat and the like. How about speed limits on the roads?

Thank you so much for all this info!!

[reapermum]

Speed limits were 30mph in built up areas, as fast as you like elsewhere.

[tomato_dance]

Very neat. Thank you. :)