‘It’s really good, Miss, just like the cinema – but smaller and always in black and white. There’s something called The Flower Pot Men that started last Monday – but they don’t talk sense. Phoebe likes Muffin the Mule … but you can see his strings,’ he added as an afterthought.

It was well known in the village that Mrs Fawnswater now spent many hours in front of her television and never missed the opportunity to watch Come Dancing and What’s My Line?

A new world of entertainment, thought Lily. It could catch on.

In the afternoon the party was a lively affair. Elsie Crapper played Christmas songs on the piano and a group of mothers arrived to serve the crab paste sandwiches, biscuits and home-made lemonade. Ruby Smith had come in to help Edna Trott wrap a tiny gift for every child. They used tissue paper, pink for girls and blue for boys, then hung them with thread on the Christmas tree.

They played Statues, Musical Chairs and ‘What’s the Time, Mr Wolf?’ amidst much screaming and shouting. By half past two the children were exhausted and the afternoon ended with them playing games in the school hall, mainly Lotto and draughts and with dolls’ tea sets. Lily noticed these were now made of bright modern plastic instead of Bakelite.

After they had cleared up at the end of the day, John offered to take Lily back to Kirkby Steepleton and she accepted. When she got out he said, ‘Happy Christmas, Lily,’ and she wondered why he looked so sad.

It was Saturday morning and Vera was in her kitchen listening to the radio and wondering what it would be like to have a television set. She couldn’t imagine life without her radio. Two years ago she had listened to the thousandth episode of Woman’s Hour and last year had become an avid listener of a new programme called The Archers. She had no interest in other entertainment programmes such as Kenneth Horne’s radio comedy Much Binding in the Marsh. These were trivial as far as Vera was concerned, while The Goon Show appeared incomprehensible. She had also listened to the ventriloquist Peter Brough with his puppet Archie Andrews in Educating Archie.

However, of much more concern than entertainment was the fact that she had noticed that in the vicarage they were running out of tea.

Sylvia Icklethwaite had called into the General Stores.

‘Good morning, Sylvia,’ said Prudence.

‘’Ello, Prudence. Ah’d like some o’ them new triangle cheeses, please. My kids luv ’em.’

Kraft Dairylea Cheese Spread was a new product on the market and Prudence had soon discovered that eager shoppers were queuing up for them.

‘It’s all change these days, Sylvia – hard to keep up. I even heard from Mrs Fawnswater that they have launderettes in London.’