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Why Did These Strange 1950s Inventions Kill So Many People?| Hidden Killers | Absolute History — Transcript

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0:02[Music]
0:07the shadow of World War 2 loomed long it
0:11was a desperate need to rebuild bomb
0:13damaged towns and cities because above
0:15all people wanted a safe place to live
0:18and to bring up their families in the
0:211950s the government was under pressure
0:24to build new homes and started an
0:26ambitious building program the time to
0:30look forward had come at last and the
0:32British wanted everything around them to
0:34reflect that sense of optimism
0:41into the nation's living rooms and
0:43kitchens came bright new materials
0:45man-made fabrics and labor-saving
0:48devices for the post-war generation of
0:52homeowners domesticity had never been
0:55more comfortable but there were problems
1:00some of the new products and innovations
1:03they welcomed into the home were killers
1:07with the aid of modern science I'm going
1:09to search out these hidden assassins and
1:12reveal them it is unbelievable
1:16just by burning that flame we're going
1:18to produce a deadly gas yes we are the
1:22post-war home was the most dangerous
1:24place you could be
1:26[Music]
1:29welcome to the hidden killers of the
1:31post-war home
1:36[Music]
1:43it's a two-story three-bedroom four
1:46thousand three hundred pound house built
1:48in the modern manner doors slide or fold
1:51there's underfloor electrical heating
1:53and many other bright ideas as well
1:55[Music]
2:10but isn't this wonderful let's say
2:13familiar it reminds me of the houses of
2:15my grandparents it's so exuberant and
2:19optimistic at the time it must have
2:22thought like living in the height of
2:24modernity
2:26little did they know how dangerous it
2:29really was
2:33this was the age of boom an affluent
2:36revival especially for the middle
2:37classes who made up some 15 to 20
2:40million of the population they were
2:42richer than they'd ever been before and
2:44they were spending more than they ever
2:45had before Macmillan was right in 1957
2:48when he said they'd never had it so good
2:52[Music]
2:54what could be safer than a modern home
3:01I'm going upstairs to find our first
3:04hidden killer to the child's bedroom
3:10children now had rooms of their own and
3:13all sorts of newfangled toys that were
3:16designed to be educational and to
3:17prepare them for their future careers so
3:20the girls had electric irons and ovens
3:22and the boys had model aircraft and
3:25train sets and chemistry sets
3:30although the odd girl did creep in look
3:35yeah I've had that chemistry set as a
3:38loser came as a Christmas present and it
3:40was it was it was only literally an hour
3:43before I'd blown it
3:49seventeen-year-old Ian Findlay was
3:51experimenting with his chemistry set in
3:53the living room of his home there was an
3:55explosion neighbors heard the bang and
3:58ran out to find that the living room
4:00window had been blown out
4:03Ian's managed to make his way to number
4:0672 where mrs. Casey Bell treated an
4:09injured arm put him to bed and summoned
4:12an ambulance
4:14[Music]
4:17chemistry sets throughout the years have
4:19reflected many changes in science and
4:22society and never more so than after the
4:25Second World War
4:26young would-be chemists inspired by the
4:29apocalyptic images in the comics of the
4:31day and their soldier fathers could not
4:34resist experimenting with terrifying
4:37consequences to 14-year old pupils were
4:43seriously injured on Saturday when an
4:45explosion occurred while they were
4:47trying to make liquid oxygen well this
4:54is the chemistry set I took my vintage
4:58chemistry set to Joy ledger at the
5:00Bristol Science Center to find out just
5:02how dangerous this box really was so
5:06what's most alarming about it I suppose
5:08copper sulphate would definitely have a
5:10husband yet today the test tubes are so
5:14flimsy I really are we wouldn't use any
5:19lights in the lab at school these days
5:20these heated with a Bunsen burner
5:23wouldn't last very long they'd melt very
5:24quickly Bunsen burner yes just tiny and
5:29this would go well into there presumably
5:33gas supply the gas supply which is
5:37unbelievable that they could actually
5:38have and there must be some sort of taps
5:40that turn the gas on and off so you've
5:41got the full force of the gas coming and
5:43that would be the whole cooker just
5:44going through that little frame oh my
5:46goodness we decide to read the
5:50instruction booklet always a good idea
5:52only there's absolutely no diagrams at
5:54all and actually I think it says up here
5:55that you will see there are no diagrams
5:58so then you can be more liberal with
6:00your experiment you can change the
6:02apparatus as you as you feel I'm just
6:04staggered at the lack of instructions
6:07the idea of quantities concentrations
6:10there's no indication of how much
6:12solution to add to each one no a mention
6:15of how to dispose of the chemicals at
6:17the end it's just frightening and
6:19there's absolutely no mention of
6:21parental supervision still at least they
6:24are clear about what to do if your
6:26chemistry kit loving chum has a problem
6:28yeah she says here
6:31if the clothing of the person is on fire
6:33pull the person down to the floor or
6:34strike them sharply behind the knees so
6:37they fall cover them with any materials
6:41you might have to hand with rugs cloths
6:43or carpet etc and then it says you will
6:46have used your scientific knowledge in
6:47the noblest way you will have applied
6:49science to the service of man with
6:51capital letters and probably saved life
6:54it says underneath science is never evil
6:56except in wrongly used by man many of
7:03the chemicals in chemistry sets were
7:05caustic so they would burn the skin and
7:07irritate it of course would be
7:09particularly dangerous if it got into
7:11the eyes part of the point of the
7:14chemistry sets was that they exploded
7:15they wanted to make these explosions and
7:18the bright colors to impress friends and
7:21make it look like a magic trick
7:22explosions could burn set the hair on
7:25fire set the clothes on fire damage the
7:28eyes even blind a child and of course
7:32children wanted to share these with
7:33their friends and they think nothing of
7:35putting some of the chemicals in their
7:36pockets when they went out and of course
7:38that could burn holes in the material
7:40and then in the skin or even catch fire
7:43spontaneously
7:46with some chemicals 14-year old Ian
7:49Murari meant to stage some experiments
7:51with his home chemistry set but he put
7:54them in his pocket well he went to the
7:55pictures with his mother he was sitting
7:59watching the show when his clothes began
8:01to smolder a man sitting nearby wrapped
8:04his coat around the boy to smother the
8:06burning clothing the accident was due to
8:09body heat igniting the chemicals in his
8:12pocket today health and safety
8:16regulations are more stringent than they
8:18were in 1950s cinemas so we are wearing
8:21goggles to do an experiment to
8:23illustrate how lethal this kit could be
8:25right now in here we have the commander
8:28date which is the chemical we saw in the
8:29the purple cup chemical it was in the
8:31kit naira Shah our lab technician is
8:35going to add glycerol a clear odorless
8:37liquid that might have been found in the
8:39home medicine cabinet as it was used to
8:41treat constipation and sore throats okay
8:45what we're gonna do is just make a
8:46little pile of the potassium
8:48permanganate in the middle and then I'm
8:50just gonna pour on a couple of drops of
8:52the glycerol on top so it sort of looks
9:01like nothing's happening there we go Oh
9:05oh my goodness it's not necessarily
9:10child's play so it's quite a lot of
9:12smoke and some beautiful powerful flames
9:15and quite a smell yeah oh my word and
9:21what is it and that hesitation that
9:22moment if they're looking like nothing's
9:24gonna happen is the most dangerous thing
9:25of all isn't it well if I was a child
9:27I'd have moved on to something else by
9:28then Narus only used a small amount of
9:31potassium permanganate and a drop of
9:34glycerol imagine if we'd been more
9:36liberal in the amounts we used
9:41[Music]
9:42a warning was sounded at an Epsom
9:50inquest today that there are grave
9:51dangers in letting children play with
9:53chemicals which are in themselves
9:55harmless but in combination may be fatal
9:58John geszti aged 15 died in hospital
10:01from injuries received in an explosion
10:03which also injured a boy companion
10:07unsurprisingly the American Chemistry
10:09kits were even more spectacular there
10:12was even an American chemistry set that
10:14included uranium dust and a mini Geiger
10:17counter so that children could do
10:19experiments and measure the radiation
10:21[Music]
10:25the company didn't stop making it
10:27because of the dangers of the dust it
10:29just didn't sell very well
10:30uranium actually wasn't very exciting it
10:32didn't explode and have puffs of smoke
10:34and nobody wanted to buy it eventually
10:37new laws came in which required the kits
10:40to be non explosive and non-toxic but
10:43it's worth remembering what the
10:45chemistry set manufacturers used to say
10:47experimented today scientist tomorrow a
10:51really interesting thing about chemistry
10:53sets if you interview eminent scientists
10:55nowadays many of them will actually say
10:57that it was having a chemistry set as a
10:59child that sparked their interest in the
11:02science
11:03[Music]
11:09I'm in search of our next hidden killer
11:12[Music]
11:18the 1950s home had benefited from the
11:22technological developments of the war
11:24those are beliefs of fusing the age that
11:26science could transform everything and
11:29it did in the 1950s there was a
11:33significant development in the
11:35understanding of the science of plastics
11:38and polymers a Nobel Prize was awarded
11:40for advances in macro molecular
11:43chemistry suddenly all of these things
11:46that weren't possible before became
11:48possible cheap pliable easily made for
11:52better or worse this was when our love
11:54affair with plastics began so you have
11:57the hard and transparent plastic in the
12:00eye holes of the gas mask and then you
12:02have these flexible foam toys and then
12:05you had so many other different plastic
12:08objects plastics are made of polymers
12:13the breakthrough was understanding that
12:15polymers are very large molecules what's
12:19special about them is that different
12:20types of polymers can make hard or soft
12:23flexible or rigid forms so they can be
12:27manufactured into a range of products
12:29from furniture to clothing these objects
12:35that would previously have been luxury
12:37items now began to be mass-produced
12:39objects and available to ordinary people
12:42there was I suppose a democratization it
12:46just made things possible for the
12:49ordinary person and they're looking
12:51forward to a brighter future and the
12:54future of plastics
12:56one of the things that plastics could
12:59make were comfortable new polyurethane
13:01sofas the perfect setting for the 1950s
13:05family to relax with a cigarette these
13:08were the days when smoking was part of
13:10the background of everyday life
13:12a combination which would prove to be
13:17particularly problematic verdicts of
13:23death by misadventure were recorded on
13:25three boys who died in a fire at their
13:27home on December 19th the fire is
13:29believed to have been caused by a
13:30cigarette dropped onto a Ceti a lighted
13:33cigarette ignited a set e this accident
13:35was caused by a householder who fell
13:38asleep while smoking an inexcusable
13:40practice we're not just hanging out in
13:43these lovely chairs in this yard for no
13:45reason what are these about these are an
13:48example of post-war 1950s style
13:52furniture in the post-war period we
13:55began to use polyurethane forms
13:58polyurethane forms or semi rigid forms
14:03that allow a level of comfort without
14:05being permanently compressed without
14:07being very hard so and they allow for a
14:10number of different shapes and styles so
14:13we needed this development in order to
14:15have this kind of change in design yes
14:17yes we did polyurethane they informed
14:19sofas are much more comfortable than the
14:22early horsehair type and the hardback
14:25chairs that we used to have so there
14:28there was a big change at that point in
14:31time but that big change came at a cost
14:36that cost was realized by one unlucky
14:39couple a 26 year old Halifax man and his
14:43young wife escaped from a smoke-filled
14:45bedroom by climbing through a smashed
14:47window and down a rope of knotted sheets
14:49to the ground
14:52the husband ran barefoot over 200 yards
14:56of rough track to his father-in-law's
14:57house to call the fire brigade the fire
15:01is believed to have been caused by a
15:02cigarette end dropping onto a Ceti
15:07plastic itself as a singular form it is
15:11flammable but it's not overly farmable
15:13you after you don't really know the
15:14light under to get it going
15:15it's the additive that you put with the
15:18plastic to turn it into like a
15:20polystyrene or into a foam for a
15:23mattress or from via SAT so it was
15:26usually the additive that was put into
15:28it which was the flammable piece
15:32[Music]
15:34that means that those forms and the
15:36materials that cover the chairs can be
15:39ignited by a cigarette or a match if you
15:42were to drop on and then they can burn
15:45very quickly and very freely however
15:52it's not just the fact that these
15:54materials caught fire easily but how
15:56they burned that was the problem the way
16:00that the polyurethane burns actually in
16:03and of itself dangerous so they the the
16:06form forms a liquid and it runs down the
16:09material and to form a pool underneath
16:12and that pool becomes ignited so you can
16:14have a flowing pool of burning liquid
16:17it's almost like having a flammable
16:18liquid fire like petrol underneath your
16:21sofa that's how bad it can be
16:23[Music]
16:30but that wasn't the only issue
16:38these substances can give off very toxic
16:41fumes and in fact if you're in a room
16:45with foam that was burning the cyanide
16:50gas that was given off would kill you
16:52long before the flames or the heat would
16:59[Music]
17:03it wasn't only the new plastic furniture
17:06that could cause a problem cheap and
17:11easy to wash
17:12plastic clothing caused a sensation when
17:15it bursts into our wardrobes in the
17:171950s
17:19[Music]
17:21not dangerous in its own right but in
17:24the post-war home environment it could
17:27be lethal
17:29Edna Cooper aged 13 received burns when
17:32her nitrous caught fire and she was
17:34fatally burned she stood in front of the
17:37open gas oven to keep warm while brewing
17:40tea for her invalid mother there will
17:42have been open fires there may have been
17:44electric fires probably without good
17:46guards on them some little one-bar fires
17:50didn't have guards at all for a while so
17:52certainly there was a lot of different
17:54opportunities to get yourself burned
17:57[Music]
17:59Norah Rhodes aged 85 died in hospital
18:03from burns and shock received from when
18:05her nightdress caught fire in front of
18:07an electric fire synthetic clothing for
18:11example when it starts to burn very
18:14dangerously it melts and so it's often
18:17the melting drops of plastic onto the
18:21skin that can cause really severe and
18:23deep burns the January 1955 issue of
18:29picture post highlighted the dangers
18:33there was a serious problem with
18:35youngsters particularly little girls in
18:39front of the fire wearing lovely frilly
18:41nighties looking ever so sweet
18:44trouble was sparked might come out the
18:45fire or they might lean a little bit too
18:47close and wash the nylon nighty would
18:49just go up in flames leaving horrendous
18:52burns or maybe even killing the child
18:57300 children and old people died each
19:00year from burns due to flammable
19:02materials which is something we would
19:05just not tolerate today the Royal
19:09Society for the Prevention of accidents
19:10had a campaign to raise awareness
19:12they've noticed the significant
19:15difference in the number of incidents
19:17between boys and girls
19:19they had a suggestion we wanted people
19:22to go over to wear pajamas which were
19:25much neater and tidier around the body
19:26and of course to guard the fire in
19:30October 1954 an Act of Parliament
19:33decreed gas and electric fires must be
19:36manufactured with a secure guard and
19:41while furniture today is protected by
19:43fire retardant there are no such rules
19:46for pajamas now I'm going to the living
19:49room to find our next hidden killer one
19:55of the luxury items that made its way
19:57into the house in the early 1950s was a
19:59television the coronation in June 1953
20:04was one of the first events to challenge
20:06the supremacy of radio it turned a
20:09fledgling service into the beginning of
20:11the mass medium it is today by 1956
20:15there was a television in every second
20:18house
20:20it was designed to fit into the room
20:22like a piece of furniture and the family
20:24gathered around it it's a cozy scene but
20:28one that sometimes had deadly
20:30consequences
20:34mr. George skipper his wife
20:36seven-year-old daughter and
20:38mother-in-law escaped unhurt by climbing
20:40down a ladder after they were trapped in
20:42their burning home the outbreak
20:44originated in a television set which had
20:46inadvertently been left switched on and
20:48had become overheated insufficient
20:55insulation in the loudspeaker of a
20:57television set caused the death of
20:59Victor Smith aged four in Keg Worth he
21:01was found dead near the set at his home
21:04some television models had not taken
21:07into account just how dangerous the
21:10combination of electrical wiring would
21:12poor insulation and ventilation could be
21:15the Home Secretary was forced to address
21:18the subject and announced a new British
21:21standard specification for TV sets
21:23including revised safety precautions in
21:26the light of recent experience was
21:27nearing completion
21:29[Music]
21:32public enthusiasm though went from
21:34strength to strength in 1959 ten million
21:38television licenses were issued the mass
21:41medium was here to stay
21:47that's the TV sorted our next hidden
21:50killer could be anywhere in the house
21:53[Music]
21:57before the war most people rented their
22:00homes but during the 1950's more people
22:03were able to buy as wages grew at a
22:06faster rate than house prices many were
22:10in need of modernization and it was
22:14almost impossible to get hold of
22:16tradesmen because most were tied up with
22:19reconstructing war-torn Britain the only
22:22option was to do it yourself and so an
22:25epidemic of home improvement gripped the
22:28nation this was really the DIY
22:32generation Dulux paint went on sale from
22:341953 black & decker started selling to
22:37the general public in 1954 and practical
22:40household a magazine went on sale from
22:42October 1955 for the happy householder
22:47with time and money on their hands and
22:48new materials and technologies at their
22:51fingertips domestic utopia was within
22:53reach the public were increasingly being
22:57exposed to all these wonderful things
22:59through new magazines and the magic of
23:02television it was encouraged as a family
23:05to get involved it was like going for a
23:06walk in a park you know we will
23:08redecorate the the back the bathroom
23:11mother alone sure we will cut this door
23:13will knock this down you were encouraged
23:16as a family to do it as a family event
23:18and why not
23:20the family that DIYs together stays
23:22together this is in the first station of
23:26practical householder and if we take a
23:29look at some index we'll see the range
23:31of things people could be doing at home
23:35by themselves so you've got paper
23:36hanging making rugs concrete paths and
23:39floors shows an enormous range of
23:41building your own bungalow I mean it's
23:45pretty ambitious aren't they goodness me
23:49they certainly were people believe they
23:52could instill new life into their homes
23:54without professional help for a fraction
23:57of the price but they were seemingly
23:59oblivious to the perils the doyen of DIY
24:06Barry Buckner was after all a reassuring
24:09presence his television programs on
24:13doing it yourself attracted at their
24:15peak over seven million viewers he had
24:18the best TV show on in the 1950s most
24:21watched he was getting something in the
24:23region of 35 I was in letters a week he
24:26had six or eight secretaries working for
24:28him just going through the envelopes
24:30that is phenomenal I don't know whether
24:32you've got a problem like this a rather
24:34ugly old panel door one that can be sold
24:37quite simply you can make it look like
24:40this you know is almost like a hero then
24:43to get people into your mind get up get
24:46going change your house get the light
24:48and they get the color on the walls and
24:50board up your staircase and paint it or
24:53pull that Victorian fireplace out and
24:55border cover that Victorian door up with
24:59plywood and paint it and to transform
25:01your house to that that one that you you
25:04might have seen advertised that buy a
25:05new one he's looking but he later became
25:12known to some as Bahji Buckner they saw
25:15his desire to strip out what he called
25:17clutter as the willful destruction of
25:20original features so he was the driving
25:24force behind DIY but also he caused
25:27great problems I heard stories that they
25:31reckon he destroyed more houses than a
25:33Luftwaffe because of his changes his
25:36radical changes that he wanted to do in
25:38homes but Barry who was a professional
25:44he knew what he was doing his disciples
25:47however didn't necessarily have the
25:49experience or the skills a loss of them
25:53feature DIY happening high up on ladders
25:55of course yeah these look incredibly
25:58precarious this man is holding something
26:01very heavy so
26:02all a bit of a disaster waiting to
26:04happen is now although the magazines
26:06don't address health and safety and they
26:09must definitely definitely have been
26:11aware of the dangers this is a comic
26:15strip that appears in a loss of them and
26:17you can see he's on a set of ladders
26:20painting but that manages to fall
26:23through Robert wises age 29 died from
26:31injuries received in falling from a
26:33ladder while painting the upstairs
26:34window of his home the ladder was too
26:37close to the wall and he had fallen
26:38backwards mrs. Agnes Hyde aged 45 was
26:43killed when a ladder which her husband
26:45was lowering over balanced and struck
26:47her on the head but everyone knows that
26:49ladders can be treacherous what they
26:52didn't know was that some of these
26:53products were toxic asbestos was used
26:56around the house and garage with lasting
27:00and hideous consequences new
27:03extra-strong adhesives could be harmful
27:05if inhaled this contact adhesive was
27:08pretty nasty stuff I remember using it
27:11as a apprentice first time I use it I
27:14think I spent most of the day floating
27:16about a foot off the floor and the next
27:19day spent most of the time drinking
27:20water and trying to get my float to calm
27:23down and my nostrils to calm down and
27:25burnt all inside the main office was my
27:27throat it was horrendous stuff
27:30manufacturers realizing the public's
27:32interest produced a range of power tools
27:35for the DIY enthusiast a potentially
27:38huge market compared to the professional
27:40trade
27:42electric drills were on sale for five
27:44pounds available to buy a monthly
27:47installments and advertised as the
27:49family favorite the king of power tools
27:54was indeed a must for your home
27:57but these boy toys could be dangerous
28:02mr. guy aged 27 was found about 15 feet
28:06from his houseboat with the electric
28:08drill in his hand under the conditions
28:10in which it was used in water it became
28:13a lethal weapon
28:14had he been standing on dry land he
28:16would not have had a shock they were
28:20selling power tools which professionals
28:22were used to use in as you as a DIY
28:25expert had no training in whatsoever but
28:27were expected to use not only power
28:30tools used the safety features we know
28:33today if you'll cut in something and
28:38perhaps you've gone into your own leg or
28:40you cut your fingers or whatever you've
28:43done it doesn't automatically cut off as
28:45soon as you take your you but actually
28:46look for the switch to turn it off the
28:48longer you're looking for it the more
28:50damage it's doing to you nothing it
28:58seemed was out of bounds for the
29:00do-it-yourselfers
29:02a young girl died of electrocution in
29:08her bathroom as she touched the electric
29:10warming towel rail while standing in the
29:12bath her father told the inquest into
29:16her death that he had installed the rail
29:18in the bathroom five years before a
29:20faulty adapter failed to earth the
29:23appliance
29:25perhaps installing your own Electric
29:28Tower l should not have been on the DIY
29:30list of jobs to do in the home it was a
29:34bit of a problem because people were not
29:37necessarily very familiar with wiring so
29:39you would get problems with things badly
29:41wide plugs badly screwed in so that
29:45there were bits of wire hanging out the
29:46bottom and they weren't properly held so
29:48they would work free and then they could
29:49short or catch fire so there were some
29:52problems with electrocution and fire mr.
29:56Oliver of West Hartlepool Fire Service
29:58said many fires were started through
30:01faulty electrical wiring which was often
30:03the work of the amateur electrician
30:06the public we revised when it came to
30:09electrics don't do it yourself use a
30:11professional
30:14they were a lot smarter in those days I
30:16can't imagine any electrician turning up
30:17looking like that now I think I'd
30:19probably wonder if he was an electrician
30:20if he did but our passion for DIY has
30:26never waned our desire to restore and
30:29revitalize marches on
30:30thanks to bank holidays and Barry thanks
30:34Barry
30:41I'm going to the kitchen now to find out
30:44how one apparently innocuous item of
30:47food caused mayhem in the post-war home
30:51the kitchen became so important in this
30:53age because it moved from being a
30:55private space into a public one it
30:57became a place to entertain guests and
30:59so attention was paid to what this
31:01previously hidden room looked like and
31:04of course it was the woman's place in
31:06the home in October 1955 in women's
31:10owned it described the kitchen as the
31:12heart and center of the meaning of home
31:14the place where day after day you make
31:18with your hands the gifts of love 14
31:23years of food rationing finally came to
31:25an end
31:25on the 4th of July 1954 when
31:28restrictions on meat and bacon were
31:30lifted not surprisingly life in the
31:35kitchen suddenly became a whole lot more
31:37fun and gifts of love abounded it means
31:42of course that people are able to get
31:44more foodstuffs a wider range of things
31:46and they're able freely to go out and
31:49buy as much as they want so they can
31:52really indulge if you like on buying you
31:54know as much butter I hope they want to
31:56after having really sort of had to live
31:59by their ration books for a very long
32:01time
32:02people were excited about the new
32:05possibilities was food and into this gap
32:08came cookery writers writers like
32:11Elizabeth David and Marguerite Patton
32:13infused food with passion tastes were
32:19changing quite literally and demand for
32:22meat in particular went through the roof
32:25the idea of the British family is to
32:27have a roast Sunday joint a beef or
32:31possibly lamb but what happens after
32:331955 or so is that you know gradually
32:37chicken is brought into the British
32:38diets to a much greater extent livestock
32:42like cattle could simply not be reared
32:44quickly enough in the numbers needed to
32:46satisfy demand chickens however could
32:51chickens had accounted for only one
32:53percent of British meat consumption in
32:551950 but now its moment had arrived
33:00thanks to a revolution in laden's
33:02British agriculture intensive rearing
33:06and factory farming were introduced and
33:08the resulting cheap chicken meat
33:10transformed the British diet so in 1954
33:16five million table chickens were
33:19available for consumption in this
33:21country and by 1959 it's 75 million
33:24feeding an extra 70 million birds was a
33:28colossal undertaking and one that could
33:30only be achieved by importing grain from
33:32other countries problem solved there
33:36wasn't it in the process of feeding
33:39birds and indeed livestock we also bring
33:44in imported of artificial feeds like
33:47ground meat and these come carrying
33:49already about arterial load so what you
33:53see is that these birds and indeed
33:57livestock are being fed Salmonella
34:01contaminated food
34:04so the chickens were infected by what
34:07they were eating and the intensive
34:10conditions in which they were kept
34:12processed and packaged aggravated the
34:14matter
34:16and then they landed in the post-war
34:19kitchen bred dead and ready to be
34:22roasted an analysis of outbreaks of food
34:28poisoning showed that the largest number
34:30occurred in the home many outbreaks were
34:33due to insufficient knowledge by
34:35housewives why was this the post-war
34:43period is the time at which domestic
34:45service really disappears from the
34:47middle-class home so middle-class women
34:50sometimes feel rather hard on by because
34:53they're having to fend for themselves
34:55and do most of household work in labor
34:58for themselves and of course this might
35:00create more problems in the kitchen
35:01because of course they would have been
35:03obliged to take primary responsibility
35:05for cooking and feeding the family which
35:07they may have found difficult if they'd
35:10been brought up in a home where all that
35:11work have been done by servants but
35:14housewife plays a cardinal role in this
35:16story partly because she is a person who
35:18handles the chicken in the house the
35:23hapless housewife was ever thus tasked
35:27with putting food in the mouths of her
35:28family not realizing that tonight supper
35:31is already a heaving mass of bacteria
35:33then inadvertently up the ante even
35:35further
35:36[Music]
35:39well into the 50s you could still buy
35:43chicken sometimes they are what's called
35:45New York dressed which means that
35:46they've gotta wear guts left in intact
35:49they quite often come still with their
35:51heads attached and the housewife would
35:53expect to deal with that nothing she
35:56might have might not wash chicken when
35:57she gets at home and she might well not
35:59wash her own hands when she'd finished
36:01handling the bird and as such she was
36:05accidentally spreading this hidden
36:07killer throughout the home
36:13I've come to Matthew Ava sons laboratory
36:16to find out what the post-war chicken
36:18cooking housewife didn't know about
36:20Salmonella because Salmonella is too
36:24deadly to use in this experiment Matthew
36:26has contaminated some chicken with a
36:28similar though thankfully for me less
36:30lethal bacteria
36:34I'm going to show four different ways of
36:37cleaning my hands after handling the
36:38chicken so we can demonstrate just how
36:41pernicious this bacteria was so what I
36:45want you to do is just touch the chicken
36:47and then we're going to make an imprint
36:50of your fingers on this indicator plate
36:53okay the first time I don't clean my
36:57hands at all then I'll just lift the lid
37:00and you just put your fingers on to the
37:02surface
37:03[Music]
37:05after the second time of handling the
37:07chicken I wiped my hands with a paper
37:08towel hmm not sure this will do the
37:11trick it makes it feel less slimy but
37:13actually yes yes so when you're touching
37:15the meat you feel slimy but that's not
37:17actually the bacteria that's just the
37:19meat you don't feel the bacteria after
37:22the third time of touching the chicken I
37:24wash my hands in lovely clean water
37:27[Music]
37:30and lastly I touched the chicken then
37:33washed thoroughly with soap and water
37:36[Music]
37:38it actually takes a huge number of
37:40bacteria to infect somebody particularly
37:43if you're healthy between about a
37:44million and a billion bacteria but you
37:48can't see them and so the food that
37:50you're eating may look smell and taste
37:52completely normal okay Matthew let's see
37:57some results then okay so these are some
38:00plates that have been incubated
38:01overnight and this is the first one so
38:04this is with the unwashed hands so this
38:06is just after touching the bacteria the
38:08darker colors at the bacteria there are
38:11so many bacteria on here you can't see
38:12individual colonies individual spots
38:15through literally thousands and
38:16thousands of bacteria on each finger
38:18after rinsing your hands under the tap
38:20though that's just simply the act of
38:22washing the bacteria down the sink we're
38:24not killing the bacteria at all you're
38:26actually making some significant strides
38:28to reducing the numbers there's still
38:30quite a few bacteria but you can see
38:31individual colonies the biggest
38:34difference of all though comes from
38:36using soap which doesn't kill the
38:38bacteria what soap does is it just
38:40improves the ability of us to wash away
38:42the bacteria from our skin so there are
38:44still some bacteria
38:46Matthew estimates that simply wiping
38:49your hands reduces the level of
38:51contamination by maybe 10 times while
38:54washing your hands with soap reduces
38:57contamination by probably a hundred
38:59thousand times so in short if they
39:03brought meat into the house that had
39:05been contaminated in this way and did
39:09anything with it and then didn't wash
39:10their hands really thoroughly yeah it
39:12could get everywhere yeah absolutely not
39:15only into your mouth but also onto the
39:17other food that you prepare in on to the
39:19surfaces around you onto utensils and to
39:22your children to your children
39:23absolutely
39:26if somebody eats salmonella infected
39:30food it between a day and two days after
39:34eating it you start to develop symptoms
39:36and those are likely to be things like
39:38diarrhea abdominal pain and cramps and
39:40possibly vomiting most people who
39:45develop salmonella food poisoning would
39:47recover within five to seven days it
39:50would be unpleasant but they wouldn't
39:52need any particular treatment but if
39:54you're particularly young say babies and
39:56young children or old or if your immune
39:58system is suppressed for any other
40:01reason perhaps you've got cancer or some
40:03other disease then you're much more
40:04susceptible to really severe infection
40:07and in that case it's possible that the
40:10bacterium could get into the bloodstream
40:11and then spread around the body and then
40:13it could affect other areas such as the
40:16brain and cause meningitis which could
40:18could be faithful or a set to see Mia a
40:21blood poisoning today 60 years later
40:26intensive farming conditions have
40:28improved and successive public health
40:30campaigns have resulted in a better
40:32understanding of food hygiene in the
40:35home
40:39there's no reason why you should be at
40:41risk from this particular hidden killer
40:42nowadays is that
40:53[Music]
40:54I'm off to find our next hidden her in
40:57the bathroom
41:02[Applause]
41:06amazingly in 1950 half of all homes had
41:10no indoor bathroom so one of the pivotal
41:13changes of this decade was the
41:15introduction of this luxurious new room
41:19for the first time people of all classes
41:21were able to have an indoor bathroom and
41:25a surge of interest in bathroom
41:26furnishings reflected this rapidly
41:28expanding market this new attitude was
41:33summarized in House & Garden magazine at
41:35the time
41:38a bathroom is a place to rest to morale
41:41as well as your looks
41:43bathing became an enjoyable experience
41:46and wanted to be taken in pleasant
41:49rather than Spartan surroundings it was
41:52a far cry from the old tin bath in front
41:55of the fire but why was it not all that
42:00it seemed in order to understand this we
42:02have to go outside the home and look at
42:05an unrelated killer air pollution was
42:08responsible for an unforgettable event
42:10in the early 50s which led to a major
42:12change in how our homes were heated
42:14we've always had environmental pollution
42:17but it particularly became important in
42:20December of 1952 when we had the great
42:23smog in London it was said that you
42:26couldn't see your feet because the smog
42:28was so thick and it would have been not
42:32like the sort of fog that we all
42:33understand it would have been a thick
42:35yellowy brown smelly horrible sort of
42:40fog it would make it be very difficult
42:42for you to breathe and the egg smell is
42:45from sulphur dioxide which would combine
42:47with water to form sulfuric acid the
42:52rise in deaths was greater than in the
42:54worst week of the cholera epidemic in
42:571866
42:59records show that about 4,000 people
43:02died from the smog although more
43:05recently calculations made that up to
43:0812,000 and about a hundred thousand
43:11became ill because of it this
43:14nightmarish episode produced more
43:16civilian casualties in Britain than any
43:18single event of the entire Second World
43:21War and was the catalyst for replacing
43:24coal fires in the home and here's the
43:26rub it'd been a very cold winter and has
43:29lots of snow on the ground and so people
43:31were burning coal in their homes to try
43:33to keep warm but the weather conditions
43:35at the time meant that there was an
43:36anticyclone and that pushed air back
43:39down towards the Earth and so the smoke
43:42was trapped legislation was introduced
43:45to prevent the murderous coal fumes and
43:47a virtual ban on the open coal fire in
43:50hundreds of thousands of houses in big
43:53industrial areas can be ordered by local
43:56councils as homes became less reliant
44:01from coal fires gas appliances were
44:03introduced and into the bathroom came
44:06gas boilers and heaters in the early
44:111950s they brought into the bathroom to
44:13produce hot water for your for your bath
44:16there was a self-contained boiler during
44:19the little tap on and you can just empty
44:21it into your bath and obviously jump in
44:22and enjoy it what could be more
44:25pleasurable but there's a problem when
44:27you bring a gas boiler into a small
44:29enclosed space
44:34a fireman broke down the door of a gas
44:37filled bathroom and found a 20 year old
44:39nurse slumped in the bath the
44:42pathologist said death was due to carbon
44:45monoxide poisoning
44:48to burn one cubic metre of gas you need
44:53around 10 cubic meters of fresh air full
44:55of oxygen the problem occurs when you
44:58haven't got enough oxygen so if you're
45:00in a cramped place the windows are
45:03sealed try and keep the heat in then the
45:06gas will burn to form carbon monoxide
45:08and this is very toxic carbon monoxide
45:13is produced by the incomplete burning of
45:15fossil fuels it is dangerous when the
45:18boiler is in sufficiently sealed and the
45:20toxic gases are allowed back into the
45:22room rather than exhausted to the
45:24atmosphere they were in that nice new
45:27shiny fitted bathroom you'd got your
45:29door shut your windows to keep the
45:31drafts out and you're just sitting there
45:33absorbing all this carbon monoxide you
45:36think if you're getting nice and relaxed
45:38because of the hot water and it's not
45:40it's the carbon monoxide which is slowly
45:42putting you to sleep
45:44forensic fire expert Emma Wilson has
45:47designed an experiment to show me just
45:49how quickly this silent deadly gas can
45:52be produced in a sealed environment she
45:55will use butane gas in a sealed tank to
45:58simulate a bathroom with a gas boiler in
46:00it in the corner of the tank is a
46:02modern-day carbon monoxide detector
46:04alarm that we use now homes today if you
46:08will help me
46:10on the top we can feel the gas in as if
46:15we're cleansing dog our bathroom exactly
46:24just by burning that flame in a sealed
46:27environment we're going to produce a
46:30deadly gas yes we are the as the
46:32combustion of the gas becomes less
46:35efficient because there's less oxygen we
46:37produce more and more carbon monoxide
46:41when gas burns normally two oxygen
46:44molecules attached to it making carbon
46:46dioxide when there is less oxygen
46:49available the gas can only attach to one
46:51molecule making carbon monoxide a toxic
46:54gas in addition the steam from the hot
46:58bath interferes with the ability of the
47:00flame to burn correctly and in a sealed
47:03room once the oxygen is used up is not
47:06replaced it took just three minutes for
47:10the carbon monoxide detector alarm to be
47:13activated the sealed tank is now full of
47:16poisonous gas that's the detector
47:19sounding to let us know that carbon
47:21monoxide in that compartment is now at a
47:23dangerous level right so nowadays we
47:26have you can put it in the detector and
47:28you can know about it yeah and it's you
47:30know pretty sure shrieking but apart
47:33from the sound that is telling us it's
47:35there we haven't got any smell we
47:37haven't got any obvious signs of it no
47:39none gosh so you could be sitting there
47:42in that bath and your lovely bath you
47:45shut the doors and windows you're having
47:47time to yourself your boilers going and
47:49it's producing this gas that could make
47:52you sick and kill you yes I haven't
47:55decided run away by the fact that he's
47:57just completely invisible
48:00Henry Payne age 41 was found dead in a
48:03bath at his home he probably inhaled the
48:06carbon monoxide first then slipped into
48:08the water there is no official
48:10supervision over installation of gas
48:12geezers the Borough Coroner was told
48:14when it's inhaled a hemoglobin which is
48:18the substance in the blood that carries
48:20oxygen from our lungs to all of our
48:21tissues where it's needed
48:23the affinity for carbon monoxide is over
48:28200 times more than the affinity for
48:30oxygen which is what that haemoglobin
48:32should be carrying
48:34so it means if there's carbon monoxide
48:36in the air that you breathe in it will
48:38bind to the hemoglobin when that
48:40hemoglobin passes around to the tissues
48:42it doesn't release any oxygen present
48:45and it doesn't release the carbon
48:47monoxide and so your tissues start to be
48:49starved of oxygen and it's really like
48:52suffocating the body from the inside
48:54it was colorless tasteless and odorless
48:58the absolute definition of a hidden
49:01killer at low doses carbon monoxide can
49:06cause headaches flu-like symptoms
49:08confusion and dizziness but if you have
49:11a lot of carbon monoxide it can be
49:13rapidly fatal and stopped the heart
49:15because your entire body is starved of
49:17oxygen the heating apparatus in the
49:22bathroom was criticized at a Dundee
49:25inquiry into the death of Peter Moran
49:27aged 25 who was found dead by his father
49:31police surgeon dr. door wood said the
49:34method of heating water for a bathroom
49:35is a very dangerous one because of the
49:38bad vent over the decades gas appliances
49:45have improved and it is understood that
49:48if they are incorrectly installed or not
49:50regularly serviced they can be fatal
49:52consequences
49:56still today legislation only governs
49:59landlords homeowners themselves are
50:02responsible for keeping their houses
50:04safe from this toxic gas gas safe
50:08regulations cover the installation of
50:10boilers and bathrooms but even so there
50:13are still around 4,000 cases of carbon
50:16monoxide poisoning and 40 deaths every
50:19year in Britain
50:20my school friend was one of them
50:28my final hidden killer can be found all
50:31over the house but I'm going in search
50:33of the kitchen variety into the heart of
50:36the woman's domain we have seen how men
50:39and their power tools came a cropper now
50:42we see how the newly on tap electricity
50:44brought considerable danger into the
50:47shiny world of appliances the magazines
50:49are full of adverts showing women
50:51breezily vacuuming their houses in high
50:54heels
50:55one article is even entitled Cinderella
50:58would have stayed at home if her fairy
51:00godmother had first conjured up all this
51:03kitchen equipment after the Second World
51:05War the main technology and that people
51:08have in their kitchens is the gas cooker
51:12but we start to get the fridge we get
51:15the vacuum cleaner coming in also
51:18washing machines and also eventually
51:20freezers and these technologies really
51:24do make quite a difference to women's
51:26everyday lives electrical gadgets had
51:30previously been expensive luxuries now
51:33there was an explosion of new affordable
51:34brands all marketed as taking the
51:38drudgery out of housework this is an
51:40article by James story titled what
51:43electric living means to ruin and she
51:45says for people like myself who have a
51:47full-time job plus a home and family to
51:49look after such labor-saving automatic
51:52service is a tremendous boon
51:55if you think about the domestic labor
51:57involved for example in the weekly
51:59washing day if you've got say a family
52:02with a large number of children and you
52:03have to wash all of their clothes and
52:05drive them by hand you can imagine just
52:09how much different something like a
52:10washing machine really would have made
52:12to women's lives so this book that talks
52:17about what your Monday to Friday routine
52:19of cleaning should be oh gosh that's
52:21quite a heavy workload so here we've got
52:24vacuum all carpets I thought I wants a
52:26week team with your Heba will clear away
52:28any embedded grit yes that's one way to
52:31say it after you've cleaned all the
52:32floors and polish where necessary so
52:34actually if there's a four week schedule
52:35isn't it for the housewife who's also
52:38going out to work of course yes but
52:41these labor saving devices welcomed with
52:44open arms by the housewife sometimes
52:46resulted in undesirable consequences
52:52missus Haller age 25 was found dead at
52:55her home six weeks after her marriage a
52:57modern electric iron found by her body
53:00was produced and exposed terminals under
53:02a broken section pointed out to the
53:04coroner and scrupulous manufacturers
53:07produce goods that were shoddily made
53:09badly designed even downright dangerous
53:12things like kettles somebody came up
53:15with a wonderful idea of making a kettle
53:18and plug the lead in when it got to a
53:20certain temperature it sparked the
53:23electric lead out well I don't think
53:26it's need to be a scientist to work
53:27without there's not that many kettle
53:30points in the kitchen there's obviously
53:32one straight right by the side of the
53:33sink you're doing your dishes your
53:36kettles plugged in it shoots the power
53:38supply straight out runs in the sink
53:45people often didn't really understand
53:48electricity or their appliances which
53:50led to some horrendous accident
53:55Irene Clayton aged 58 died
53:58instantaneously from heart failure
54:00caused by an electric shock caused by
54:03the full-sized electric blanket in her
54:05bed an electrical engineer said that it
54:07was dangerous to sleep with an electric
54:10blanket switched on the trouble is
54:12people don't bother to read the
54:13instructions so often they think you
54:16know this doesn't work properly oh I'll
54:17stick a knife in and have a poke about
54:19and people were electrocuted through
54:22toasters or toasters caught fire because
54:24they probably didn't use them as they've
54:26been instructed if they'd ever bothered
54:28to read the instructions the Carillo
54:30newspaper in Dundee consulted a local
54:33electrician as to the safest way of
54:35handling appliances he told them
54:37electrical appliances used in the home
54:40nowadays are safe if respected and
54:42treated with care the danger of
54:44ignorance of these appliances or wear
54:46and tear on them has been emphasized
54:49recently by a number of burning
54:50accidents another solution came from the
54:54electrical Association for women who
54:56urged that girls should be educated for
55:00heaven's sake teach them how to look
55:01after the beautiful electrical apparatus
55:03they are now getting so that girls who
55:06will be future housewives will at least
55:08know the rudiments of how to look after
55:10the apparatus education would surely
55:14help but some products were overused and
55:16poorly maintained they would have dodgy
55:20connections they might spark a bit when
55:22you use them but you know it could be
55:27all right I'll get one next week or when
55:29payday comes and but obviously you
55:31really did need to keep them maintained
55:33and changed and make sure that you only
55:36buy them from a proper electrical
55:38retailer
55:39there could be a high price to pay if
55:41you didn't mrs. Montgomery died from an
55:45electric shock sustained when using an
55:48electric iron
55:49mr. Montgomery stated that his wife had
55:51told him about the electric iron failing
55:53and braking she had tied the handle with
55:56string it is a deplorable instance of
55:59the dangers of using electric equipment
56:01which is not in proper order commented
56:04sheriff Hamilton the electrical trade
56:08union reported that some of these
56:11accidents could have been prevented had
56:13there been some control over the
56:14manufacture of appliances an enforcement
56:16of the regulations in October 1954 in a
56:24debate in the House of Lords on safety
56:26in the home Lord crook complained of the
56:28constant sale of very cheap electrical
56:31goods the use of which is not always
56:33understood by the purchaser Lord man
56:37Croft though felt the government had
56:39done what it could and that the final
56:41responsibility rests with the individual
56:44the person in the home consumers though
56:48had had enough they decided that they
56:51needed more information in order to look
56:53after their own interests which magazine
56:57was set up in 1957 to provide an
57:00independent review of products for
57:02consumers by the time this one was
57:03published in 1959 the consumers
57:06association which produced it had
57:08150,000 members and this represents a
57:11sense the nowadays it wasn't enough to
57:14trust manufacturers claims not
57:16everything could be taken at face value
57:17and consumers needed someone on their
57:20side consumer power had its roots in the
57:25post-war era and continues today
57:30the post-war years were a period of
57:33affluence euphoria and optimism that led
57:36to unprecedented experimentation and
57:38development in science and technology
57:40and the home was the crucible of the
57:43changes such innovation made great
57:46breakthroughs in the lives of the
57:47post-war generation but also brought
57:50profound and invisible dangers as
57:53consumers became more aware and began to
57:55stand up themselves manufacturers were
57:57increasingly called to account but such
58:00was the faith in science to solve the
58:02problems of the future that many of the
58:04killers remained undetected for decades
58:07at least we've identified them today but
58:11who knows what we've missed
58:15[Music]

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