A tour de force about post-war Britain which delights and illuminates on every page.' David Kynaston

She came to the throne in 1952 when Britain had a far-flung empire/Winston Churchill was prime minister/sweets were rationed/mums stayed at home and kids played on bombsites. In the seventy years that followed everything changed utterly - except the Queen herself/ageing far more gracefully than the fractious nation with which she became synonymous.

While the Queen is the motif for this book/the story Engel tells is not about her - it is primarily about the British. Through original research/interviews with people who were there and his own memories of the time/Matthew Engel traces the transformation of life in Britain as never before.

Beginning with the death of King George VI and ending on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's election/Engel not only covers all the major historical events but also explores everyday life - from the food we ate and where we shopped/to what we watched on television and the newspapers we read. In doing so/he brings these three decades to life with his own light touch and a wealth of fascinating/forgotten/often funny detail.