Twentieth-Century Context

The Titanic sinks. Priestley sets An Inspector Calls in this year of Edwardian confidence.

World War I begins. 17 million will die. The old class certainties begin to crack.

The Russian Revolution. The Tsar is overthrown; communism takes hold in Russia.

WWI ends. Women over 30 gain the vote. The old social order is permanently changed.

All women over 21 gain the vote. Full universal suffrage in Britain.

World War II begins. Britain faces existential threat from Nazi Germany.

Orwell begins writing Animal Farm, a satire of the Russian Revolution and Stalin's betrayal.

WWII ends. Labour wins a landslide. Priestley writes An Inspector Calls. The welfare state is born.

The NHS is established. The welfare state promises care 'from cradle to grave.'

Golding publishes Lord of the Flies, reflecting post-war disillusionment with human nature.

Margaret Thatcher becomes PM. A radical programme of privatisation and individualism begins.

Toxteth and Brixton riots. High unemployment devastates working-class communities.

Willy Russell's Blood Brothers opens in the West End, exploring class division in Thatcher's Britain.

The Berlin Wall falls. The Cold War effectively ends.