A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46

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54

KITCHEN FRONT BROADCAST.

55 56 57 58 59 60

SECTION 8.

Response to Suggestions.

Two questions 18 and 19 were asked to test the response to the Suggestions made in the Kitchen Front Programme, they were; “What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?” and “What kind of information do you most want to get from the talks?”

The answers were analysed according to the number of times items were mentioned (an analysis by item would have involved 96 tabulations) 3,777 mentions were made in answer to Question 18 and 4,581 suggestions in answer to Question 19.

These results appear to be quite satisfactory as the differences in the numbers are not in any order as might have happened through fatigue or lack of interest. It may, however, be that the mention of the word “Recipes” in Question 18 may have had the effect of over weighting the number of mentions of this item although comparison with the results of Question 19 does not appear to support this.

The proportions of the answers in the main groups are similar in each question Recipes, 27.2% and 28.2%, Supplies 14.5% and 16.6% and Prices 16.1% and 17.3%, but there is one large difference: 14.4% of the answers to 18 are to the effect that the housewives have made use of information about Health Values whereas only 4.2% want to get this kind of information.

Information Used.

The items mentioned by housewives have been analysed by “Class”, “Age”, “Without and With Children”, by “Family Size”, by “Fuel” and by “Region”. (Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6)

Breakdown by Class.

The analysis by Class (Table 1) shows no significant differences in the items made use of by housewives.

TABLE 1.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”.

Breakdown by Class.

MENTIONS
A B C D Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Recipes 171 29.5 180 29.5 423 26.9 249 24.3 1,023 27.2
Menus 38 6.6 27 4.4 85 5.4 53 5.2 203 5.4
Supplies 87 15.4 87 14.2 220 14.3 151 14.7 545 14.5
Prices 81 14.2 94 15.4 255 16.3 178 17.3 608 16.1
What to give children 41 7.2 40 6.6 144 9.4 110 10.7 335 8.9
Economy 58 10.3 72 11.8 159 10.2 99 9.7 388 10.1
Health Values 84 14.6 90 14.8 220 14.2 149 14.5 543 14.4
Other Kinds 18 3.1 20 3.3 58 3.7 36 3.5 132 3.5
TOTAL 578 610 1,564 1,025 3,777

Breakdown by Age.

This breakdown shows a greater interest in Recipes, Supplies and Prices, amongst the Over 50's compared with the Under 35’s, who show as might be expected a considerably greater interest in “What to give children”. The other differences are small and unimportant. (Table 2)

TABLE 2.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”

Breakdown by Age.

MENTIONS
Under 35 % 35 - 50 % Over 50 % Total %
Recipes 258 25.3 456 26.4 280 30.5 994 27.1
Menus 55 5.4 101 5.8 43 4.7 199 5.4
Supplies 132 12.9 246 14.2 151 16.5 529 14.4
Prices 152 14.9 275 15.9 163 17.8 590 16.1
What to give Children 134 13.1 159 9.2 29 3.2 322 8.8
Economy 92 8.9 180 10.4 101 11.0 373 10.2
Health Values 142 13.9 257 14.9 127 13.9 526 14.4
Other Kinds 55 5.4 54 3.1 22 2.4 131 3.6
Total Mentions 1,020 1,728 916 3,664

Breakdown Without or With Children

The only large difference in those two groups is the obvious one that those with children mention the item.

“What to give Children” more often than those housewives without, the proportions being 15.4% to 2.9%. (Table 3)

TABLE 3.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”

Breakdown Without or With Children.

MENTIONS
Answer Without Children % With Children % Total %
Mentions Mentions Mentions
Recipes 572 28.9 452 25.1 1,024 27.1
Menus 110 5.6 93 5.2 203 5.4
Supplies 313 15.8 232 12.9 545 14.4
Prices 355 18.0 253 14.0 608 16.1
What to give Children 58 2.9 277 15.4 335 8.9
Economy 215 10.9 173 9.6 388 10.3
Health Values 286 14.5 257 14.3 543 14.4
Other Kinds 69 3.4 63 3.5 132 3.5
Total Mentions 1,970 1,800 3,778

Breakdown by Family Size.

There are small differences in the results of this breakdown but it is doubtful if they have meaning. (Table 4)

TABLE 4.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”

Breakdown by Mouths.

MENTIONS
1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 % 7 & over % Total %
Recipes 1 16.7 199 28.7 267 22.9 266 26.8 114 25.2 70 21.2 91 31.6 1,008 27.1
Menus - 24 3.5 50 5.1 56 5.6 30 6.6 20 6.0 18 6.2 198 5.3
Supplies 2 33.3 106 15.3 137 14.4 139 14.0 57 12.6 53 16.0 39 13.5 533 14.3
Prices 1 16.7 125 18.0 165 17.2 142 14.3 70 15.5 50 15.2 42 14.6 595 16.0
What to give Children 1 16.7 35 5.0 71 7.5 115 11.6 54 12.0 31 9.3 27 9.4 324 8.7
Economy - 72 10.4 94 10.1 103 10.4 44 9.7 42 12.7 26 9.0 381 10.4
Health Values - 104 15.0 134 19.3 146 14.7 66 14.6 51 15.4 35 12.2 536 14.4
Other kinds 1 16.7 29 4.2 34 3.5 27 2.7 17 3.8 14 4.2 10 3.5 142 3.8
Total Mentions 6 694 952 994 452 331 288 3,717

Breakdown by Fuel.

The analysis by fuel shows no significant differences in the groups, “Electricity”, “Gas”, “Coal or Coke” and “More than one sort of fuel”. (Table 5)

TABLE 5.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”

Breakdown by fuel.

MENTIONS
Electricity Gas Oil Slow Combustion Coal or Coke More than 1 sort of fuel Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Recipes 101 29.4 430 27.2 3 - 5 - 136 27.6 348 26.0 1,023 27.1
Menus 23 6.7 88 5.6 - - 1 - 27 5.5 63 4.7 202 5.3
Supplies 52 15.1 225 14.2 - - 2 - 77 15.7 188 14.1 544 14.4
Prices 53 15.4 249 15.8 1 - - - 88 17.9 215 16.1 606 16.0
What to give Children 29 8.4 132 8.3 2 - 2 - 41 8.3 131 9.8 337 8.9
Economy 29 8.4 168 10.6 - - 2 - 43 8.7 144 10.8 386 10.2
Health Values 45 13.1 232 14.8 1 - - - 63 12.8 202 15.3 543 14.3
Other kinds 12 3.5 57 3.6 10 - 1 - 17 3.4 44 3.3 141 3.7
Total Mentions 344 1,581 17 13 492 1,335 3,782

Regional Breakdown

This breakdown is given because it was requested in the original plan of the Ministry of Food, it is doubtful if such a detailed analysis on a sample of this size gives significant results. (Table 6).

TABLE 6.

“What information or recipes given in the talks have you used?”

Breakdown by Region.

Recipes Menus Supplies Prices What to give Children Economy Health Values Other Kinds
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % Total
Scotland Urban 84 28.7 23 7.8 37 12.6 36 12.3 33 11.2 38 13.0 36 12.3 6 2.1 293
Rural 15 19.2 5 6.4 10 12.7 11 14.2 8 10.3 15 19.3 13 16.6 1 1.3 78
S. Wales Urban 114 24.0 43 9.0 88 18.6 99 20.8 31 6.5 30 6.3 67 14.2 3 .6 475
Rural 16 34.7 4 8.7 9 19.7 9 19.6 6 13.0 - - 2 4.3 - - 46
East Urban 35 24.1 8 5.5 20 13.9 23 16.0 11 7.6 16 11.1 21 14.6 10 6.9 144
Rural 17 21.9 8 10.2 8 10.2 10 12.9 8 10.2 10 12.8 10 12.8 7 9.0 78
Midland Urban 42 35.3 4 3.4 11 9.3 15 12.6 16 13.4 15 12.6 15 12.6 1 .8 119
Rural 26 56.6 1 2.1 1 2.2 4 8.7 4 8.7 4 8.7 5 10.8 1 2.2 46
N. East Urban 149 24.5 6 .9 113 18.6 106 17.5 54 8.9 68 11.2 80 13.2 32 5.2 608
Rural 20 24.0 1 1.2 22 26.6 17 20.6 2 2.4 11 13.2 7 8.4 3 3.6 83
N. West Urban 114 28.1 7 1.7 48 11.8 72 17.7 39 9.6 33 8.1 92 22.5 2 .5 40
Rural 19 24.3 6 7.7 12 15.0 14 18.0 5 6.4 9 11.5 13 16.7 - - 78
S.E. & London Urban 131 29.1 20 4.4 55 12.2 71 15.7 52 11.5 63 14.0 54 12.0 5 1.1 451
Rural 15 29.1 3 5.9 3 5.9 3 5.9 7 13.8 4 7.8 10 19.7 6 11.9 51
South Urban 24 23.1 6 5.7 17 16.5 17 16.4 5 4.8 13 12.5 13 12.5 9 8.5 104
Rural 7 70.0 - - - - - - - - - - 1 10.0 2 20.0 10
S. West Urban 87 25.0 46 13.2 58 16.6 63 18.0 24 6.9 16 4.4 51 14.6 4 1.1 349
Rural 11 34.4 - - 4 12.5 2 6.2 2 6.2 3 9.4 4 12.5 6 18.8 32

Information Wanted.

The answers to Question 19 “What information do you most want to get from these talks?” have been analysed by Class, Age, Without and With Children, by Family Size, by Fuel, and by Region. The results are in all cases rather similar to those of Question 18.

Class Breakdown.

This tabulation shows only small differences, the most interesting of which is perhaps the greater proportion of replies in Classes C and D compared with A and B, mentioning “What to give children”; 12.4% and 12.9% compared with 8.8% and 9.1% (Table 7).

TABLE 7.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown by Class.

MENTIONS
A B C D Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Recipes 211 28.2 227 28.8 560 30.0 307 25.5 1,305 28.3
Menus 65 8.9 72 9.1 139 7.4 88 7.3 364 8.0
Supplies 129 17.7 137 17.4 308 16.5 185 15.4 759. 16.6
Prices 131 18.5 122 15.5 318 17.0 214 17.8 785 17.3
What to give children 64 8.8 72 9.1 228 12.4 155 12.9 519 11.3
Economy 72 9.9 87 11.2 220 11.8 122 11.1 501 10.9
Health Values 30 4.1 39 4.9 30 1.6 94 7.8 193 4.2
Other kinds 22 3.0 31 3.9 64 3.4 38 3.2 155 3.3
Total 724 787 1,867 1,203 4,581

Age Breakdown.

The differences in this analysis are again small. Comparing the over 50’s with the Under 35’s the former are a little more interested in the supplies and prices than the latter and considerably less interested in “What to give children” (Table 8)

TABLE 8.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown by Age.

MENTIONS
Under 35 35 - 50 Over 50 Total
No. % No. % No. % No. %
Recipes 340 27.6 597 29.5 336 27.5 1,273 28.4
Menus 92 7.6 168 8.3 94 7.7 354 7.9
Supplies 190 15.4 335 16.6 221 18.1 746 16.7
Prices 189 15.3 351 17.4 223 18.3 763 17.1
What to give Children 233 18.9 212 10.5 64 5.2 509 11.4
Economy 128 10.4 208 10.3 156 12.8 492 11.0
Health Values 15 1.2 74 3.7 92 7.5 181 4.0
Other Kinds 46 3.7 75 3.7 34 2.8 155 3.5
Total Mentions 1,233 2,020 1,220 4,473

Breakdown Without and With Children .

As in the case of Question 18 the main difference is the obvious one that the housewives with children are very much more interested in “What to give children” than those without. (Table 9).

TABLE 9.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown Without and With Children.

Answer Without Children % With Children % Total %
Recipes 719 31.3 587 26.7 1,306 29.1
Menus 209 9.3 156 7.1 365 8.1
Supplies 447 19.5 323 14.7 770 17.1
Prices 442 19.3 334 15.2 776 17.3
What to give Children 103 4.5 417 19.0 520 11.6
Economy 280 12.2 222 10.2 502 11.2
Health Values 1 - 93 4.2 94 2.1
Other Kinds 92 4.0 64 2.9 156 3.5
Total Mentions 2,293 2,196 4,489

Breakdowns by Family Size, Fuel and Region.

The breakdowns by “Family Size” and by “Fuel” show only small differences. The breakdown by Region is included as in the case of Question 18 but the results should be regarded with caution on account of the small size of the individual samples. (Tables 10, 11 and 12)

TABLE 10.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown by Mouths

MENTIONS
1 % 2 % 3 % 4 % 5 % 6 % 7 % Total %
Recipes 2 25.0 246 29.8 355 31.0 316 28.9 150 24.8 99 22.2 115 25.1 1,283 28.3
Menus - 52 6.3 101 8.8 98 8.9 42 7.0 24 5.4 38 8.3 355 7.6
Supplies 3 37.5 155 18.7 200 17.5 181 16.5 85 14.2 65 14.6 56 12.2 745 16.3
Prices 2 25.0 154 18.6 203 17.8 192 17.5 87 14.4 62 13.9 61 13.3 761 16.6
What to give children - 55 6.7 117 10.2 143 13.1 82 13.6 58 13.0 59 12.8 514 11.2
Economy - 103 12.5 118 10.3 126 11.5 50 8.3 51 11.4 44 9.6 496 10.7
Health Values - 34 4.1 6 0.5 4 0.4 93 15.4 70 15.7 71 15.5 278 6.1
Other Kinds 1 12.5 27 3.3 44 3.9 33 3.2 14 2.3 17 3.8 15 3.3 151 3.3
Total Mentions 8 826 1,144 1,093 603 446 459 4,579
TABLE 11.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown by fuel.

MENTIONS
Electricity Gas Oil Slow Combustion Coal or Coke More than 1 sort of fuel Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Recipes 145 27.6 269 28.0 10 - 4 - 175 24.0 400 30.0 1,303 27.9
Menus 40 7.6 166 8.2 1 - 1 - 53 7.3 103 7.7 364 7.8
Supplies 69 13.1 348 17.1 15 - 2 - 118 16.2 217 16.3 759 16.2
Prices 67 12.7 342 16.8 6 - 2 - 121 16.6 238 17.7 776 16.6
What to give Children 56 10.6 240 11.8 3 - 1 - 80 11.0 140 10.5 520 11.1
Economy 54 103 231 11.4 5 - 3 - 71 9.7 137 10.3 501 10.7
Health Values 76 14.5 75 3.7 4 - 2 - 97 13.3 38 2.8 292 6.3
Other kinds 19 3.6 61 3.0 - - - - 13 1.8 62 4.6 155 3.3
Total Mentions 526 2.032 34 15 728 1,335 4,670
TABLE 12.

“What kind of information do you most want to get from these talks?”

Breakdown by Region.

Recipes Menus Supplies Prices What to give Children Economy Health Values Other Kinds Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Scotland Urban 73 38.6 10 5.2 24 12.6 24 12.6 14 7.4 19 10.0 20 10.5 6 3.1 190
Rural 15 38.6 1 2.5 2 5.1 4 10.3 3 7.7 9 2.3 5 12.8 - - 39
S. Wales Urban 18 25.1 50 16.5 86 18.5 95 20.0 31 6.5 25 5.3 67 14.1 2 .4 474
Rural 18 32.7 6 10.9 9 16.4 11 20.0 8 14.6 - - 3 5.4 - - 55
East Urban 54 20.3 26 9.7 34 12.7 37 13.9 34 12.7 27 10.1 46 17.3 9 3.3 267
Rural 30 26.6 14 9.7 20 13.8 20 13.8 20 13.8 14 9.7 21 14.5 6 4.1 145
Midland Urban 137 32.9 31 7.4 55 13.3 26 6.2 42 10.0 49 11.9 58 14.0 18 4.3 416
Rural 25 23.7 11 10.4 18 17.1 10 9.4 12 1.5 9 8.0 15 14.2 6 5.7 106
N. Midland Urban 61 30.1 12 60.0 19 9.5 24 11.8 30 14.8 30 14.8 21 10.5 5 2.5 202
Rural 40 33.7 6 5.0 9 7.5 17 14.4 16 13.4 13 10.9 14 11.7 4 3.4 49
N. East Urban 181 24.2 580 6.7 143 19.2 141 18.9 80 10.7 94 12.6 12 1.6 45 6.1 746
Rural 27 18.3 8 5.4 30 20.3 28 18.9 11 7.4 19 12.8 21 14.2 4 2.7 148
N. West Urban 128 29.1 16 3.6 80 18.1 103 23.2 50 11.3 30 6.8 19 4.3 16 3.6 442
Rural 21 23.2 6 6.7 14 15.8 17 18.8 7 7.7 9 10.0 16 17.8 - - 90
S.E. & London Urban 173 30.5 37 6.4 90 15.8 98 17.3 73 12.8 73 12.8 14 2.5 11 1.9 569
Rural 20 19.1 8 7.8 13 12.7 15 12.7 11 10.8 17 16.7 17 16.7 3 2.9 102
South Urban 28 16.3 9 5.2 31 17.9 26 15.2 16 9.7 22 12.9 27 15.8 12 7.0 171
Rural 11 36.5 - - 3 10.0 2 6.7 2 6.7 2 6.7 6 20.0 4 13.4 30
S. West Urban 115 33.8 61 12.6 69 14.2 74 15.3 46 9.5 36 7.4 80 16.6 3 .6 484
Rural 26 40.7 1 1.5 9 14.1 3 4.7 11 17.3 4 6.2 9 14.0 1 1.5 64
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