The Queen Mother’s trip to the royal burgh of Inverness in August 1953 drew large cheering crowds, but then so too did the arrival of Billy Smart’s circus.īritain had begun the 1950s bombed-out and financially beaten down, but wages were beginning to rise and the economy starting to boom towards the Swinging Sixties. People remained by and large conservative in outlook and respectful towards those in power and institutions of state, albeit with some rumblings of discontent towards privilege and distant, rarely seen members of the monarchy. An Inverness street party programme cover from 1953 An advert for post-Coronation film-goers Young women’s ‘best dresses’ were full-skirted, with a stiffened petticoat underneath.Īnd it was as much a land of deference as deprivation.Īlmost every Highland family attended church and a great many children within Inverness spent most of their Sundays studying the bible. Men, if not in work overalls, still commonly wore suits with waistcoats, ties, plain shirts and trilby hats. Poor reception was a blight on Highlanders’ enjoyment of the occasion, as we reported, but evening viewing proved acceptable and local picture houses screened highlights in colour in the days that followed.įrankie Laine’s hits were all the rage for young and old, and it would be another two years until Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock sparked the early beginnings of teenage culture and buttoned-up fashion styles began to loosen. Some 56 per cent of adult Britons would watch at least some of it on the small screen. There was a surge in sales and rentals of television sets as the coronation approached – doubling to 3.2 million across the UK between 19. Amid lavish preparations for Queen Elizabeth II’s crowning, life in the rural Highlands carried on much as it had for decades, but this was a country on the brink of seismic social, economic and cultural change.
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