THE FOLIO SOCIETY

After the horrors of the First World War, Britain basked delightedly in the full sunshine of peace. For some there was the social whirl of polo, hunt balls and the Henley Regatta, for others the races, or a day at the beach. But the glitter of the ‘Roaring Twenties’was tarnished by shabby politics, housing shortages and the General Strike.

Whilst Britain remained divided between the governing rich and governed poor, social mores were revolutionised. Everything American was fun – films, jazz, cocktails, lipstick and chewing gum. Shingled hair and short skirts epitomised women’s new-found freedom, while the invention of vacuum cleaners and gas ovens made it a reality. Attitudes to sex became more liberal, and intriguing new terms (‘inferiority complex’, ‘sadism’, ‘libido’) were bandied across the tea cups or the mah-jong table. ‘Relativity’was the new buzz word, and the world grew smaller when two uncelebrated Australians, McIntosh and Parer, flew from England to Melbourne.

Striding across this colourful canvas are the extrovert characters of the age – Lloyd George, Dame Nellie Melba, Virginia Woolf, Wallis Simpson, Christopher Isherwood, Charlie Chaplin, D. H. and T. E. Lawrence, Lord Beaverbrook, Chamberlain, Churchill ... The Long Weekend takes us through headline-grabbing events like the Wall Street Crash, Edward VIII’s abdication, the Depression and the rise of fascism, but also the illuminating detail of reading habits (‘pulp’fiction and the gossip column), fashion (tubular dresses and cloche hats), fads (nudism and rambling), art, religion and sport.

A joint project by Robert Graves, creator of I, Claudius, and Alan Hodge, Churchill’s collaborator on his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, The Long Weekend was published soon after the Second World War, its frequently anecdotal style lending a freshness and immediacy. This edition is introduced by noted historian Juliet Gardiner and features dozens of evocative photographs and illustrations of Britain between the wars.