How It Was Done Back In 1948

We’ve blogged about Janie Hampton’s wonderful book The Austerity Olympics – When the Games Came to London in 1948 on previous occasions here on The D.C. It remains one of our favorite London books of all.
Re-reading it during the Olympics, we stumbled across this fascinating passage about the Olympic uniforms for the British team:
“The British women competitors had been instructed to take their ration books to Bourne & Hollingsworth, the outfitters for domestic servants on Oxford Street. Their uniform consisted of a blue serge collarless blazer with Union Flag badge on the pocket, a white beret and a white cotton frock with buttons up the front. ‘The sort of thing we used to call a kitchen dress, that you might give to your cook,’ said the fencer Mary Glen Haig. ‘We had to buy our own white leather shoes, which were expensive, and provide our own socks which used up two coupons,’ remembered the high jumper Dorothy Tyler. The women were instructed to wear their uniforms at all official events. ‘My Olympic uniform was the smartest thing I owned,’ said the long jumper Lorna Lee-Price. ‘I even wore it to my sister’s wedding.’
You can buy Janie Hampton’s Olympic book through her website www.janiehampton.co.uk.