With all eyes on the Jubilee, these enchanting photographs give an insight into what life was like 60 years ago when our Queen came to the throne.

Discovered in a photographic agency’s archives, they show a world which moved at an entirely different pace. As L. P. Hartley wrote: ‘The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.’ So true.

Crime levels were a tenth of today’s. There were only 2.5 million cars on the road, as opposed to 25 million now. Few homes had phones and only a tenth owned fridges. But storing food wasn’t a problem as rationing did not end until July 1954. Shopping was a daily trail around the butcher’s, the baker’s and the greengrocer’s.