This script has been lightly edited for clarity.

 

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob, and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

It’s Spring 1940, and the Dales are coming back to life after a cold and snowy winter. Flowers popping up through the thawing ground, children playing, new lambs being born — signs of promise and new beginnings fill the countryside. But in the distance, ominous echoes of the war continue to trickle into this bucolic paradise. And although the war hasn’t directly hit the Dales, its presence can still be felt in the rhythms of daily life. 

 

CLIP

James: Even with the rationing, you still make the best breakfast this side of the Pennines, Mrs. H. 

Mrs. Hall: Whose is better on the other side? That’s what I should like to know.

Helen: So would I. 

 

While Mrs. Hall does her best in the kitchen with wartime rations, it’s still not quite the same…

 

CLIP

Siegfried: Oh, what a treat! Thank you, Mrs. Hall.

Mrs. Hall: Well, I’ve had to make some substitutions on account of the rationing.

Helen: Oh, they look lovely.

Mrs. Hall: Well?

Helen: These are interesting flavors. I’ve not had one like this before.

Mrs. Hall: Dear me! They taste like—

Helen: Dog biscuits.

 

While rationing did make feeding your family more difficult, it also led some resourceful home cooks to embrace a few culinary innovations, some of which are still with us today. This week, All Creatures Great and Small historical advisor Dr. Mark Roodhouse, who teaches in the Department of History at the University of York, joins us to discuss the real-life history behind black markets and rationing in WWII Britain, and how some of those ripples can still be felt in the modern day.    

 

Jace Lacob: And this week we are joined by All Creatures Great and Small historical consultant, Dr. Mark Roodhouse. Welcome.

Mark Roodhouse: Hello, Jace.

Jace Lacob: So, in addition to teaching in the department of History at the University of York and writing a second book about organized crime, you also do things like consult on historical dramas, like All Creatures Great and Small. How would you describe the work you perform for All Creatures as a historical advisor?

Mark Roodhouse: I think my job is really to make sure that the drama is as exciting as it can be, whilst also being historically plausible. So, my job is to facilitate the writers really, to make a better story, but a story that is of the time.

Jace Lacob: So, I’m curious in both a sort of macro and micro sense, what that entails. Are you reviewing scripts ahead of production for accuracy? Are you answering questions from the writers? Are you on set? Is it all of the above and more? Give me the micro and macro of how it works.

Mark Roodhouse: My job as a historical consultant is to help with setting up the chronology or the timeline for the show, making sure that what happens to James and everyone else in Darrowby maps neatly onto what’s happening on the home front in Britain during the Second World War at that particular point. So really it’s setting out the structures for the show. And much of that is done over the summer into the fall. And then the writers have a series of writers rooms, at which point they come back to me with much more detailed questions about specific events they would like to write into a particular episode and how that might work, and getting a sense of the texture of life as well.

So, that can be practical things which never actually make it onto the show, but are there in the background. So, what would’ve been in the pub in Darrowby at that particular time? What pints could they have had, if they could have had a pint at all? Or, was whiskey for sale? Things like that. But also occasionally veterinary things, things about the war.

And at that point then, armed with that information, the writers go back, work on their episodes, and then we get to another stage, which normally happens sort of January, February, when the scripts for the first few episodes come back to me. And I then read them through sometimes with suggestions, I focus on particular things, but also to get a general feel of the plausibility of the episode.

And at that point as well, the costume department might start getting in touch with queries about, well, what would this person be wearing? What would a particular propaganda poster be that might be on display in the background of a shot? What might we write on a particular letter? How would this be phrased in a newspaper? So we start to get to that level of detail.

And then we move into the shooting phase. And for me, that’s really useful, because most of my work, as I say, is with producing the scripts and the storylines. But getting a sense of how that is filmed and put together can also help tune up my advice and make sure it’s even more specific and useful. Which for me is a real treat because a lot of it’s filmed in the area where I grew up.

Jace Lacob: I was going to say, you describe yourself as a Dales lad. You teach at the University of York. This is your home. The legacy of James Herriot, or Alf Wight as he was known in life, casts a long shadow, particularly in Yorkshire. How familiar were you with Herriot or All Creatures before joining the production?

Mark Roodhouse: Well, like many people of my age, which is middle-aged, I first encountered Herriot through the BBC TV adaptation in the 1970s and 1980s. Which for me, like the current show, was a real treat because I could see people, characters, and places that were very familiar to me from growing up on screen and that sort of sense of recognition. Because otherwise, Yorkshire doesn’t feature as often as you might think on British TV screens. So that’s really when I first encountered Herriot. But the kind of people that Alf Wight/James Herriot are talking about and writing about in the books, are the people who I’ve known since I was a toddler. I know far more eccentric characters than some of the characters who appear on the show.

Jace Lacob: That’s amazing. So, when we talk about rationing in Britain, we tend to talk about World War II, state-sponsored rationing, but there was consumer rationing enacted by the British government during the First World War as well. What form did these early rationing efforts take in World War I?

Mark Roodhouse: Well, in World War I, rationing was introduced very late in the war. It really comes in, in 1917. But there are attempts to control supplies going into the civilian market prior to that, through price controls, which were not particularly effective because it would lead to people scrabbling around in the shops to get a hold of fixed goods that they could afford. And so it didn’t always go to the right people.

So, there’s a sense in which the inevitable thing to do after introducing price control was that you’d have to ration to make sure that if it was a basic good, everybody got what they needed. So, having rations meant that there wasn’t that disadvantage for those who were in jobs with regular or irregular hours that meant they had very little time to get out to get their provisions.

So that was why it was introduced. But it continued in Britain from 1917 through to roughly 1921. So actually well into the years of peace. But it set a precedent that was immediately picked up by wartime planners and meant that when they were thinking about what they would do in what they called a “Great War”, they would automatically introduce price controls and rationing rather than having this slow process. But to do that from the start so that supplies in which there were shortages could be allocated more efficiently, and things could be taken out of the economy and directed to the war effort. And what was left for civilians could be shared around in a more equitable and economically efficient basis.

Jace Lacob: So, things opened up again during the interregnum period, and before the start of the Second World War, how reliant was Britain upon other countries for food and feed supply?

Mark Roodhouse: Oh, hugely. Britain saw itself as at the center of an international free trading economy. And it saw its advantage as bringing in raw materials, producing manufactures and selling them overseas. It didn’t see that it had the advantages that, say, Argentina or Canada or the States had in commercial agriculture, and it seemed therefore more sensible to rely on imported foods. Now, of course this works in a peaceful world, but when your international supply lines, when the ships bringing frozen meat supplies from Buenos Aires across the South Atlantic through the North Atlantic and into London are disrupted by war, then that creates huge issues.

And so that’s one of the things that becomes a challenge in the wartime. But during those years between the first and second World War, British agriculture is in the doldrums. Farmers in the Dales are not that different from peasant farmers. Their farm incomes are very, very low, and they’re farming small farms. Nothing like the kind of farms that you see developing in the Canadian and American prairies, which are supplying much of the food stuff for Britain’s largely urban population.

Jace Lacob: So the war begins, shipments bound for the UK are imperiled by German attacks, cutting Britain off from the global food supply on which it has now become reliant. So, state-sponsored rationing would seem to be a necessary part of survival. More than just those creature comforts though, petrol is the first item to be rationed, and then specific foods. How did the British government decide which items to ration when?

Mark Roodhouse: Well, there were a mixture of reasons. One is shortage. Another is the time it takes to get the bureaucracy up and running. And petrol was one of the most important, but also one of the easiest things to control. And of course, petrol and other petroleum products were seen as the vital fuel that was needed for all kinds of parts of the war machine. So that was going to be one that they took control of very quickly and did.

Food was something else that they wanted to control early, but that was going to take a lot more time simply because you were working, rather than with a handful of suppliers, you were working with hundreds of importers, thousands of wholesalers, tens of thousands of retailers, millions of consumers. And all of that process, you would think would take years, but actually was achieved within essentially three months.

The war starts in September ‘39 and food rationing begins early in 1940 with a form of, well, initially bacon rationing and then gradually gets rolled out. But the rationing system as a whole isn’t fully developed until 1941. So series three and series four are really at that moment when Britain is moving from a peacetime footing to a fully-fledged war economy.

Jace Lacob: So each citizen would register for a ration book, which would entitle them to purchase specific rationed goods such as, say, butter or sugar. What did these ration books entitle citizens to receive in terms of goods on a regular basis? What are they actually being allocated?

Mark Roodhouse: Okay, so it depends when we’re asking. So, if we’re looking towards the end of 1940, there’s a lot of what’s called, technically it would be known as single line rationing. So, a very particular commodity is rationed and you get a page within your ration book of coupons, which are clipped out, that entitle you to buy a certain amount. So you’re not getting it for free, it’s giving you the chance to buy something up to a certain quantity.

And the things that are rationed are bacon, meat, because bacon is treated separately because most of it was being imported up until the invasion of Denmark, from Denmark. And so that was treated as a separate item. You then begin to see things like sugar, you see tea, all of those are rationed in a single line way. Cheese is another that comes in. And not only are they rationed, but the quantities change over time. So, as the supplier situation worsens the amount that you’re allowed to buy shrinks as well. So initially in 1940, the beginning of the current series, rations are actually quite generous.

Jace Lacob: So, we have this registration, we have the ration book. And, another necessary element of a state sponsored ration scheme would have to involve government price fixing then, that the British government sets the price that retailers must adhere to even in the face of scarcity or in the case of excess. So that’s essential, right, the price has to be fixed?

Mark Roodhouse: Yes, the price has to be fixed to ensure that basic goods are within the reach of people on lower incomes. So, we’re not talking here about rationing luxury, we’re talking here about rationing what are essential and semi-essential goods. So, bread was never rationed during the Second World War. It is rationed afterwards, but it isn’t rationed during the war itself. Potatoes are never rationed, but quite a few other goods, cooking oil, for example, is rationed. Cheese is rationed. Sugar is rationed. Things that are very basic to making many recipes.

Jace Lacob: So every citizen could register for a ration book and purchase rationed items at the same price. But is that how things played out in reality? Did rationing truly have equity baked into the equation?

Mark Roodhouse: Well, that’s the million dollar question. There is a widespread belief that rationing ensured fair shares for all, and that Brits were remarkably law-abiding individuals who didn’t try to get a little bit off the ration or under the counter. And that on the whole, most people would sort of follow the rules about rationing and price control, because obviously they’re actually quite easy to break. There are lots of ways around this. And particularly in the countryside, it’s pretty straightforward not to declare everything you’re producing and then put it into the food chain.

And, what’s interesting is that while there’s a lot of talk about black marketeering and there’s a lot of very small-scale, petty dealing, most people self-limited. So they might get a little bit extra of something or might treat themselves to a bottle of whisky at Christmas obtained from a shady source. Or they might look for a nice turkey to put on the table if they were lucky, from Norfolk, which they paid over the odds for. But by and large, people did abide by the rules.

Of course, there were enough people who didn’t that some of the people who I now look at, professional criminals, could make a very good living selling forged coupons, stolen coupons, even stealing all kinds of unlikely goods, which is one of the almost comedy aspects of this. You have these criminals who are involved in smash and grab raids in central London, stealing furs and jewels in the 1930s or doing the odd bank robbery, suddenly turn their hand to much softer targets like cattle rustling, or raiding poultry farms. Much easier and actually much more lucrative.

And of course, professional criminals are always looking for opportunities which are high reward, low risk. So, stealing a few Dartmoor ponies, which is what at least one London villain did, and then butchering them and selling them as beef, you know, it’s quite attractive.

 

MIDROLL

 

Jace Lacob: I would think given scarcity of goods, controlled prices, high demand, the conditions here are right for the rise of the spiv. What was a spiv and why were so many people drawn to a career in the black market at this time?

Mark Roodhouse: Well, the spiv really as a sort of figure emerges, well, the word itself sort of comes to the fore in 1944, ‘45, but it has deeper origins. It comes out of the gambling underworld of Britain’s racetrack. The spiv itself, there are lots of ideas about where it comes from, but it captures this sort of sense of people who are making their living through wheeling and dealing, selling goods, sometimes from illicit sources to willing consumers who are looking for a bargain or looking to get their hands on something they wouldn’t otherwise get a hold of.

Jace Lacob: So other than then spivs who, you know, might claim that they had goods that had fallen off the back of a lorry or something, what other black markets sprang up in Britain during this time? How involved were, say, livestock farmers or retailers themselves in the black market?

Mark Roodhouse: Yeah. The retailers really are your main source of black market food. Most food that finds its way into black market channels is food that’s actually flowing through recognized dealers. So farmers themselves might divert a little bit to their friends and neighbors and for their own personal use. In some cases they might do farm gate sales to buyers coming out from nearby cities.

So there’s a real problem in the home counties around London with buyers for hotels and restaurants and nightclubs driving out into the countryside, into Essex, into Kent, turning up at farms unannounced, knocking on the door and just making speculative inquiries about whether they could buy something direct from the farmer.

So, that’s one of the ways. But equally, there’s all kinds of finagling of coupons by retailers. There’s lots of things that get lost in transit as well. If you don’t know a farmer, the other type of person who’s always good to know is a haulier. So, a long distance lorry driver, or someone working on the railways. And there are lots of traditional wheezes that became much more common. A classic being to get a pen and if you saw a sack of anything that was carrying grain or sugar or coffee beans, or tea, whack your pen into the hessian sack, take it out, you’d leave a gap, take something out, and then you would slap the bag again and the hole would sort of shut and no would be any of the wiser. So there’s all those kinds of things that are going on, but that’s relatively small scale on an individual level. But when you add up all these little bits, it can become quite sizable.

Jace Lacob: Carrot cake, said to be invented by Antoine Bouvier, chef to Louis XVI, surged in popularity during World War II due to the scarcity of sugar. And in All Creatures Great and Small, Audrey and Helen attempt to bake hot cross buns with carrots and swede. So carrots, parsnips, swede, courgettes, did these all become replacements for sugar using what was on hand, vegetables which weren’t rationed?

Mark Roodhouse: Yes, cooks and mainly housewives who were doing most of the cooking in this period, have to become really inventive to find ways to sweeten their cooking. And so looking for sweet root veg is really quite key. So yes, parsnips, carrots, I’d add beetroot into that. Beetroot is another one that is often used as a way to give a hint of sweetness to a recipe. And with sugar itself, you know, people stopped taking that in their tea if they could. Or reduced the amount they would take in their tea and see if they could save it for their cooking or maybe preserving, because that was the other thing that sugar was often needed for, was to preserve, and make all kinds of jams.

Jace Lacob: So, by January of 1940, bacon, butter, and sugar were already being rationed. And as 1940 progresses in All Creatures Great and Small, Audrey Hall is still praised for delivering an amazing breakfast spread, even with rations in place. How would she have stretched her ration book? Would the other residents of Skeldale House have contributed their coupons per se? Or is it a fact that the residents of Darrowby had access to farmland, to cattle, to eggs, to vegetables, things like that?

Mark Roodhouse: It’s a mixture of things. So, the rural areas of Britain didn’t have as hard a time as urban parts of Britain when it came to food, because many people had the space to grow their own fruit and veg and did, in increasing numbers and all of that was not rationed. Alongside of that, there’s often a lot of local reciprocal favors being exchanged. People swapping things from their gardens or gifting things to friends and neighbors.

But, the other side, and you’re right to point to the ration books, is that pooling ration books was a really good idea. Because of course, it doesn’t take long to think about this, but I may not have a particularly sweet tooth, or I might not be a great fan of cheese, but I have the same coupons as somebody who might really like those things. So, in households, people could pool their ration books and therefore unused coupons that would otherwise have been unused, could be used, and therefore increase the amount of cheese, say, in the house, so that someone who likes cheese could get slightly more.

Jace Lacob: So, farmers, like veterinarians, were reserved occupations, and therefore free from conscription. They were necessary to feed the nation during wartime. How did people look at those in reserved occupations? Did they view them as being part of the wartime effort itself or was it seen as a loophole from being posted at the front?

Mark Roodhouse: It depended on which reserved occupation it was. So some occupations were more obviously essential than others. But those who were in these reserved or scheduled occupations, were themselves often very conscious of that. My own grandfather was an agriculturalist. His father was a tenant farmer, and he was as a young man, he came of age just towards the end of the Second World War. And when he was about to be conscripted, he was scheduled as an agricultural worker, and so couldn’t get into uniform. And he forever resented that fact and felt that people looked down on him, even though we know that many of those in uniform got nowhere near the front line or were themselves in sort of supporting occupations, laying telephone lines, themselves shuffling papers.

But that sort of leads to tensions within communities and also people themselves wanting to do their bit, but feeling unable to do it. And we can see some of those tensions in how James copes with wanting to volunteer being a vet, and wanting to do something more tangible or directly important rather than supporting what is a vital war industry, the agricultural industry, but wanting to do something much more tangible and direct.

Jace Lacob: Rationing continued well after the end of the war with things like sugar, meat, and even bread continuing to be rationed for years. Some of the rationing was even stricter following the war than it had been during the war itself. Why did rationing continue after the end of the war?

Mark Roodhouse: Really it was because of a fact that Britain needed to rebuild after the war, and was struggling to find the dollars to buy the goods that it needed to do so. So, first of all, it had to earn those dollars to buy the things that it needed to rebuild its factories, to pay for some of the goodies it might like. Hollywood films for example, they cost a lot in dollars to bring over. And so there was a quota system that was set up to keep the number of imported American films down to a level that dollars could be spent on more important things like machine tools.

So that was quite key. It was really about balance of payments. And so there’s a sense in which civilian consumption has to be held down to ensure there isn’t this sudden flood of really expensive imports coming into Britain that leads to a very small amount of hard currency going into what might be seen as fripperies rather than rebuilding the infrastructure that ultimately allowed Britain to pay its way again. So that’s why things kind of tighten up.

So that was one of the key aspects, but of course when you look from Britain across the Atlantic to the States and Canada, there’s a sense in which both sides of the Atlantic are diverging. You look at how rationing and control is very quickly dispensed with in the States and Canada, and then you see how things are getting worse in Britain and that actually begins to lead to expressions of resentment at the situation in the late 1940s, and a desire to get rid of these controls that themselves become associated in the minds of the public with the post-war labor government that is responsible for managing these controls, which had been introduced earlier in the war.

Jace Lacob: Dr. Mark Roodhouse, thank you so very much for joining us.

Mark Roodhouse: Thank you, Jace.

 

Next time, our double feature spring season begins as we investigate a behind the scenes real-life soap opera drama and the emotional highs and lows of a romance over 15 years.

 

CLIP

John: Congratulations, you’re the first woman in the world to appear on color TV. I’m sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. I should’ve said, I’m John Logie Baird. Who are you?

Nolly: Noele. My name’s Noele Gordon. People call me Nolly.

 

The series premieres of Nolly and Alice and Jack begin Sunday, March 17th at 9pm Eastern, 8pm central.