I'm drawn to the 1950s for lots of reasons - everything from the fashion to the increasing sense of freedom and modernity that builds throughout the decade.

In the 1950s at least less was expected of women. Now we're supposed to build a career, build a home, be the supermum that every child deserves, the perfect wife, meet the demands of elderly parents, and still stay sane.

Writing about the 1950s has given me tremendous respect for my mother's generation.

I always fancied myself in a Ford convertible with the roof down – if we ever get a sunny day. Racing down a country road in a Deluxe Or maybe a Ferrari 166. That’s glamour.

He’s more a shape in a drape than a hep cat

While I'm frustrated at the amount I'm expected to take on in the present, the 1950s woman was frustrated by being excluded - not being allowed to take things on at all.

The fifties is a decade when every year is markedly different from the one before and after. That doesn't happen every decade. 1983 isn't that much different from 1986. But 1953 is very different from 1956.

The 1950s is a key decade in the 20th Century. Each year has a distinctive flavour.