Beginning on 23 January 1947, the UK experienced several cold spells that brought large drifts of snow to the country, blocking roads and railways, which caused problems transporting coal to the electric power stations. Many had to shut down, forcing severe restrictions to cut power consumption, including restricting domestic electricity to nineteen hours per day and cutting some industrial supplies completely. In addition, radio broadcasts were limited, television services were suspended, some magazines were ordered to stop publishing, and newspapers were reduced in size. These measures, on top of the low temperatures, badly affected public morale and the Minister of Fuel and Power, Emanuel Shinwell, became a scapegoat; he received death threats and had to be placed under police guard. Towards the end of February, there were also fears of a food shortage as supplies were cut off and vegetables were frozen into the ground.
Mid-March brought warmer air to the country which thawed the snow lying on the ground. This snowmelt rapidly ran off the frozen ground into rivers and caused widespread flooding. More than 100,000 properties were affected, and the British Army and foreign aid agencies were required to provide humanitarian aid. With the cold spell over and the ground thawing, there were no further weather problems. The winter had severe effects on British industries, causing the loss of around 10% of the year's industrial production, 10 to 20% of cereal and potato crops, and a quarter of sheep stocks. The governing Labour Party began to lose its popularity, which led to them losing many seats to the Conservative Party at the 1950 general election; on top of other factors. That winter is also cited as a factor in the devaluation of the pound from US$4.03 to US$2.80 and the introduction of the Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe. The effects on the rest of Europe were also severe, with 150 deaths from cold and famine in Berlin, civil disorder in the Netherlands and business closures in the Republic of Ireland.
The winter of 1962–1963, known as the Big Freeze of 1963, was one of the coldest winters (defined as the months of December, January and February) on record in the United Kingdom.[2] Temperatures plummeted and lakes and rivers began to freeze over.
In the Central England Temperature (CET) record extending back to 1659, only the winters of 1683–1684 and 1739–1740 were colder than 1962–1963. The winter of 1962–1963 remains the coldest since at least 1895 in all meteorological districts of the United Kingdom, although in Scotland North the winter of 2009–2010 was equally cold.[3] The winter of 1894–1895 was colder than that of 1962–1963 in Scotland North and Scotland East,[4] whilst, although instrumental temperature data for Scotland and Northern Ireland do not extend back to 1740,[a] station data from subsequent years suggest that the winters of 1813–1814 and 1878–1879 were almost certainly colder than 1962–1963 over Scotland[5] and Northern Ireland,[6] and that the winter of 1779–1780 may also have been colder over Scotland.
Amazing to think of this, as the UK, more so south England had more mild winters over the past few years, I can remember Winter of 1990–1991 in Western Europe, the snow collected on the trains then, I do get the thought that winters was more cold in the past, and much harder to deal with?
Still, today I get the feeling, after getting cold days now, with frosty road, and any snow, seems to bring the country to a standstill and panic.
1963 cost it says in this video £5 Billion, which seems a lot of money, but after Covid and how much was spend on Track and Trace, PPE that sometimes did work, and many other projects that seems not to work out, £5 billion seems like little change, well as long it it is not going to the "Workshy poor" working class people, who do not deserve any help? People who work are seen as lazy and not deserving of anything more, that opinion of Oliver Twist asking for more, has not changed much, the more poor you are, the more you should suffer and not say, as the poor is a burden to others.
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