The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, and farms.

Buy a new British home and you are lucky if the guttering is still in place five years later.

By 1982, 15 million British homes had a phone, with 5 out of 6 only having one phone.

When Joan died in 2002, his British home became permanent.

Especially so in cold houses (as most British homes then were) it would take several days for the building to 'set'.

Only 5,000 to 20,000 British homes were equipped to tune in today.

In 1991, 65pc of British homes had one, compared with just 2pc 10 years earlier.

By the late 1970s, two and a half million British homes received their television service via cable.

More than half of British homes have now lost their weekly bin collections, figures show.

Flight-weight maybe, but they never really took off in British homes.