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Letters: Sundays in the 1950s are remembered by Bob Waring and Martin Cooper
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Life and style — The Guardian
In 1958 Tony Hancock had a very different take on the British Sunday from Sian Dudley’s bucolic vision ( Letters, 30 August ), as outlined in the Hancock’s Half Hour episode Sunday Afternoon at Home : “I might just as well be in bed: there’s nothing else to do. [Sigh] I wish I hadn’t got up now … I hate Sundays. It’s not like this on the continent: it’s their big day over there. All the cafes open and football matches and race meetings – everybody’s gay. Aahh! Not over ’ere though! Everything’s shut up.”
My memory accords with the bard of East Cheam. What we have now, and didn’t then, is choice.
• Sian Dudley was lucky having such a relaxed Sunday as a child. My 1950s Sundays were rather different. My brothers and I had to go to church in the morning and Sunday school in the afternoon, we didn’t have a telly and I hated board games. I like my 2026 Sundays.
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My memory accords with the bard of East Cheam. What we have now, and didn’t then, is choice.
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Source: The Guardian. Published 4 Sept 2026, 04:55 pm.
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