Although defined as the decade of the flappers, jazz, and Bright Young Things, the Roaring Twenties did not really begin until 1926. In 1920 the mood was solemn, with a sense of post-war disillusionment. Ex-servicemen, expecting to come home to 'a land fit for heroes' found instead widespread unemployment. The General strike plunged the country into a state of emergency, and at the end of the decade the worldwide financial crisis swept Britain into recession.

But between those years there was much to celebrate. The BBC was founded, Wembley Stadium was completed to host the 1923 Cup Final, and Sir Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen. Key figures such as Sir John Reith, Ramsay MacDonald, and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as miners, ex-servicemen, and strikebearers, recall the decade from their differing perspectives.