In early 1966, writer Charles Owen was lunching with his publisher at that locus of London’s literary and theatrical scene, the Garrick Club. Owen, a former naval officer with a distinguished wartime service record, was, in his fifties, making a living as a travel journalist and had recently written a successful book on the joys of middle-class independent travel.[i] Over the salmon mayonnaise, his publisher asked him “Could you bear to take a look at the other side of the coin?” “We think that a book about package travel might make a good sequel - there should be a fairly large public for this kind of thing. But, clearly, you must first go on some of the tours yourself” On leaving the club, his publisher had an afterthought, “You know it might not be the ordeal you expect. Some of your fears or, one might say, prejudices may prove to be unfounded. But many people undoubtedly share them and it would be interesting if you were to set them down.”[ii] Clearly, the enthusiasm of ‘ordinary’ Britons to fly abroad for the holidays had become noticeable to the chattering classes to the point that a lighthearted de haut en bas book would sell.
The 1950s and 1960s were a transformative period in Britain, and an important part of this was how Britons’ lives were changed when they began flying abroad for their holidays. In A World Away Michael John Law investigates how something that previously only the rich could afford became available to working-class holidaymakers.
A World Away moves beyond the big players in the tourist industry and technical accounts of the airplanes used by tour operators to tell the histories of the people who were there, both tourists and tour guides, using their personal testimonies. Until now there has been uncertainty about the identity of these new tourists: some feared they were working-class intruders who might invade the pristine destinations favoured by the elite; others claimed that most were from the middle class. Using new data derived from flight accident investigations, Law explains the complex origins of these new flyers. In British society this unprecedented mobility could not go unpunished, and the new tourists were lampooned in books and newspapers aimed at the middle classes. Law shows how popular culture, movies, and music influenced the decision to travel, and what actually happened when these new holidaymakers went abroad.
Law investigates the package tour industry from its mid-century origins through its inherent weaknesses, governmental interference, and unforeseen world events that contributed to its partial failure in the early 1970s. A World Away provides the definitive account of this important change in postwar British society.
A World Away moves beyond the big players in the tourist industry and technical accounts of the airplanes used by tour operators to tell the histories of the people who were there, both tourists and tour guides, using their personal testimonies. Until now there has been uncertainty about the identity of these new tourists: some feared they were working-class intruders who might invade the pristine destinations favoured by the elite; others claimed that most were from the middle class. Using new data derived from flight accident investigations, Law explains the complex origins of these new flyers. In British society this unprecedented mobility could not go unpunished, and the new tourists were lampooned in books and newspapers aimed at the middle classes. Law shows how popular culture, movies, and music influenced the decision to travel, and what actually happened when these new holidaymakers went abroad.
Law investigates the package tour industry from its mid-century origins through its inherent weaknesses, governmental interference, and unforeseen world events that contributed to its partial failure in the early 1970s. A World Away provides the definitive account of this important change in postwar British society.
Photo courtesy of Doug Goodman
