Life in the 1950s Complete the following cloze passage about life in the 1950s.

Use the words from the box below.

Supermarkets, work, Bill Hailey, baby boomers, optimism, rose, tennis, corner shop, conservative, Frank Sinatra, lucky country suburbs, earlier, 1956, Sundays, family, Melbourne, opportunity, prospered, Dawn Fraser, to buy a house, British, hire purchase, both, outdoor, fish and chips, Ken Rosewell, Jack Brabham, Elvis Presley, The Wild One, I Love Lucy, market, widgies

During the 1950s, Australia _______________ and the standard of living ______________ . Young people moved out to the newly emerging _______________ in search of the Australian Dream to ________________________ . With a new ________________ for the future, people tended to marry ________________ and start a family. The birth rate soared and the generation of children born after the war became known as the ___________________________ . Their parents had endured so much and now wanted to ensure that their children had every ___________________ to succeed. This led in part to an emphasis on owning material goods. ______________ finance boomed in the 1950s as people borrowed money on credit to buy the latest in radios, washing machines, furniture or cars. Secure employment, high real wages, and opportunity for married women to go to __________ convinced many Australians that it was safe to acquire the latest consumer goods through borrowing. Australian society in the 1950s was both _________________ and pro-________________. The _______________was very important and people in authority-teachers, doctors, police, bank managers and other professionals-were seldom questioned. Most children lived in a household in which __________parents lived. Divorce was difficult and social problems were seldom discussed as the prosperity of the 1950s led to a belief that Australia was the _____________________. Most people appeared to live a happy, secure existence which was the envy of the world. In the 1950s, suburbs were spreading and homes were much larger than those earlier in the century. Sewerage was gradually extended throughout the suburbs, but for most people an _______ toilet, usually at the back of the quarter-acre block was still normal. The _____________ was within walking distance of home in the more established suburbs; ________________ did not begin to appear until the late 1950s. Most people ate home cooked meals and the family sat down to eat together. Take-aways were either _____________________ or hamburgers from the local milk bar.

Sport was an important part of life in the 1950s. Sport was still banned on ____________ but Saturday afternoons were an opportunity for people to go to watch their favourite team. In ____ Australia won the Davis Cup eight times, and was dominated by the likes of Lew Hoad, __________ and Frank Sedgeman. In football and cricket, Australian teams were also successful and attracted large crowds. The world came to ____________________ in 1956 when the city hosted the Olympic Games and came third in the medal tally with the likes of swimmers ___________________ and Murray Rose and runner Betty Cuthbert. _________________________ won the Formula One. The 1950s also saw the arrival of rock n roll. Before this, much pop music had been nice sedate and white. It was Bing Crosby, _____________________ and Perry Como. That changed with ______________________ and the Comets Rock around the Clock in 1954. However it was ____ ___________ who really ignited the rock n revolution. He frightened white conservative people in the US and in Australia. His music was seen as dangerous, sexual and black. Soon artists were emulating Presley, most notably Johnny OKeefe who was known as ___________________, following his big chart success and Col Joye. Rock n roll music was one obvious new style of entertainment in the 1950s. The other was television, which arrived in Australia in _____________ .By the end of the decade, teenagers were apparently watching up to 12 hours a week. Televisions were expensive and required a licence. People would invite friends around for TV evenings or even stand outside shops and watch the picture. US programs like __________________ proved most popular. The 1950s saw the beginnings of the teenager. Before the 1950s, people were either children or adults, but with the increasing prosperity of the time, the teenager had become a separate ___________________. US rock n roll and films like Rebel without a Cause gave teenagers their own music, their own language and their own fashion, and they were beginning to challenge conservative Australian values. Bright shirts and tight jeans, riding motor bikes and looser morals were concerning older people. In Australia, rebellious boys were known as bodgies while the girls were called ______________________ .