Leeds nostalgia: Fifth of houses had no telephone... in 1988
Dateline: January 1988: A '˜state of the nation' report called Britain 1988 was published by the Central Office of Information. It revealed 98 per cent of British homes had a TV, while more than 50 per cent of homes had two sets.
The proportion of homes with a video recorder was up to 31 per cent and people in general were spending about 27 hours a week watching television.
Meanwhile, 61 per cent of Britons owned their own home - 14 million compared to four million in 1951. Of those, 97 per cent had access to a bath or shower, 69 per cent enjoyed central heating, while four out of every five homes had a telephone, 96 per cent a refrigerator and 82 per cent a washing machine. The UK population was about 56.8m. Brits owned six million registered cats and dogs.
Leeds, 13th January 1988......Mrs. Betty Lee at work in the busy sterile supplies department at Leeds Infirmary.