Mum, my brother and me in 1935

Hit songs of the day, "Happy Days are Here Again", "Blue Skies","We're in the Money", meant nothing. The storm clouds were gathering and we were all going to be caught in the deluge in the years to follow. The Depression had various effects on a whole lot of people. Some took to thieving and landed up in jail. People who had been pillars of respectability soon lost it in the struggle to survive; the higher up you were, the further you fell. Professional men were sweeping streets and cleaning gutters. In its way, the slump was a great leveller; we were all in the same boat-we all had next to nothing.Looking back and comparing what life was like then and during the war that followed the Depression, has given me a much better appreciation of what people do when they are hungry and deprived.
Im also sure that beyond a certain level of human demand, including culture, lots of things are completely unnecessary for a happy life.
When people can't get work they either break down or take to the grog. My father took to the grog and my mother instilled in me, from a very early age, the need to work hard. Work to achieve, without it you're nothing.

That's me in 1938

There was a lot of discussion going on about what was wrong with the capitalist system and the Communist Party, which had started its activities in the early 20's, made a fair deal of progress. Hunger made people reckless, they had nothing to lose and consequently the police were called in to quell riots and demonstrations.

This poem by A.R.D.
Fairburn aptly describes the mood of the times:
I used to get things spinning,
I used to dress like a lord,
Mostly I came out winning,
But that's all gone by the board.
My pants have lost their creases,
I've fallen down on my luck,
The world has dropped to pieces,
Everything's come unstuck.

With my sister and brother in 1943