The Pass It On column was a little bit of genius more than 50 years ago in The Sunday Post, a newspaper published in Scotland by DC Thomson. Readers would write in with household tips, such as how to get furniture dents out of carpets, how to dust behind an immovable wardrobe and – my personal favourite – how to get a dent out of a ping-pong ball. 

My name is Steve Finan, and I couldn’t help but be struck by how these tips tell you so much about the people making their homes in the 1950s – about what they valued, about their pride, about their inventiveness – and so we collected them into a book. 

Now we’re making a podcast about these tips, and the thrifty, endlessly creative people who came up with them. Hosting – and keeping me in my place! – is Connie Fleming. Connie’s a young, modern woman who has just bought her first house, so we’re going to see what she makes of the wisdom – or otherwise! – of her forebears. It’s all very useful and informative, apart from the bits that are absolutely irrelevant. 

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