Growing Up In Britain
Do You Remember Growing Up In Britain?
A warm, funny and nostalgic journey back to a childhood of family, friendship, football, first loves — and a Britain that has almost disappeared
Playing outside until it got dark?
Football in the street?
School milk and school dinners?
Saturday morning pictures?
Your first record?
When children seemed to have far more freedom?
If you do, Growing Up in Britain will take you right back there.
Alfie Charles
Alfie Charles is a Londoner, storyteller and proud member of the baby boomer generation whose writing captures what it really felt like to grow up in post-war Britain.
Born into a world very different from the one we know today, Alfie grew up during a remarkable period of British social and cultural change. His childhood began in the austere years following the Second World War and unfolded through the 1950s and into the extraordinary transformation of London during the 1960s.
In Growing Up in Britain: A London Childhood, 1948–1970, Alfie looks back on those formative years with warmth, humour and refreshing honesty. Rather than attempting to write a history book, he tells the story from the perspective of someone who was actually there — remembering the families, friendships, schools, streets, football, first loves and everyday adventures that shaped a generation.
His memories offer a window into a Britain of greater freedom for children, strong neighbourhood communities and simpler pleasures, while also acknowledging the hardships and attitudes that belonged to the era.
At the heart of Alfie's writing is his ability to find humour in ordinary life. His stories are affectionate without being overly sentimental and candid without losing their warmth.
Growing Up in Britain is both Alfie's personal memoir and a celebration of a generation whose childhood began in the shadow of war and came of age as Britain entered one of the most exciting periods of cultural change in its history.
For readers who lived through those years, Alfie hopes his stories will bring forgotten memories flooding back.
For those who didn't, he invites them to discover what growing up in Britain really felt like.
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Alfie Charles is a Londoner, storyteller and proud member of the baby boomer generation whose writing captures what it really felt like to grow up in post-war Britain.
Born into a world very different from the one we know today, Alfie grew up during a remarkable period of British social and cultural change. His childhood began in the austere years following the Second World War and unfolded through the 1950s and into the extraordinary...
