The Six Bad Boys
(see below), is a very unusual item. Ostensibly written as a story book for children, it is nevertheless a social snapshot
of one aspect of life in post-war Britain. A group of boys from various backgrounds, (mainly dysfunctional), find some cash and decide not to hand it in.
The consequences for these "felons" is, in these more enlightened days, almost unbelievable. Society seems to have moved
on barely half a step from transportation for stealing a crust. However, the foreword, written by the eminent Basil
Henriques, C.B.E., J.P. Chairman of the East London Juvenile Court, heaps fulsome praise on the author for telling it like
it is. Indeed, she does just that. Those of us the wrong side of fifty can remember the scandal of even being spoken
to by a policeman, let alone appearing in court. Good old days or bad old days? The verdict is yours.
Here is a quote from Mr. Henriques' Foreword, which graphically
illustrates the enormous difference in attitudes between today and fifty years ago:
'It is generally admitted that the "broken home" is one of the main
causes of children getting into trouble. It is the unhappy children rather than the "bad" ones who come before the courts,
and it is the broken home which so often causes unhappiness in children, especially when the phrase is interpreted to include
the home in which the parents quarrel in front of the children, and from which the mother goes out to work at times when she
is needed by them.'
So Mr. Henriques admits that one interpretation of "broken
home" is a home where the mother goes out to work. If that remains a valid point to make today, then how many modern
homes remain intact? (Enid Blyton, of course, was the archetypal working mother).
