The House the 50s Built

In the 1950s the bedroom played host to one of the biggest changes of the 20th century: the birth of the teenager. Before 1950, children were children until they left home and started their own families, and their bedrooms reflected that.

But in the 50s that started to change. The booming economy meant money in the pockets of kids leaving school at 16, and science was providing things for them to spend it on.

Five key inventions turned the bedroom into a place where a child could become a teenager.

Nylon and other synthetic fabrics made clothes cheaper, stretchier and more colourful, transforming the wardrobe and helping kids develop their own style.

The advent of water-resistant man-made fabrics gave men cheap drip-dry suits that were easily cleaned: a vast improvement on the hard-to-wash woollen variety that invariably went through months of wear before the smell became too much.

These synthetic fibres also revolutionised women's lives - the elasticity of nylon created a new type of lingerie that worked with the body, unlike the restrictive, harsh natural materials that had been used before.

The transistor made music players smaller and more portable and for the first time teenagers could play music in their bedrooms.

The petrochemical industry gave them PVC, which meant records were no longer the expensive and fragile 78s of their parents' generation but the cool, stronger 45rpm singles that graced every Dansette in the land.

Hairspray allowed hairstyles to grow into massive quiffs, paving the way for beehives in the 1960s, and, of course, the new electric guitar meant British kids could copy their American counterparts and create their own music - rock and roll.

By the end of the decade the bedroom was a place where kids could celebrate their individuality, and a culture completely separate from their parents' could develop.