"The ration book has done its job. It's been a long job. Indeed, children up to schoolleaving age have never known life without the ration book."

On the fourth of July, the rationing of meat in Britain came to an end, the final step in dismantling Britain's whole wartime system of food distribution. After fourteen long years, Britons can at last tear up their ration books.

Richard Baker looks back at some of the key moments in the story of rationing and derationing.

Originally broadcast 5 July, 1954.





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