London: The End of the Bowler Hat

I had no idea how influential the bowler hat was to London. Apparently during the 1950s and 60s, the bowler hat was symbol of the upper working class. Nearly every man who worked in an office wore identical clothes: a dark suit, a bowler hat to match, and always carried an umbrella. This chapter discusses the many changes between the 1950s and 1980s; including the changes in fashion, technology and the banking system. With the birth of new technology (such as the computer), Londoners no longer felt the need for hard work. Money was able to be made quickly and vastly, thanks to technology. London businesses were slowly being taken over by conglomerations. This to me seems to be more important to the history of London than the rebuilding after WWII. The author seems to think that the glory of the austectic London was destroyed in the modernized rebuilding process. I, however, think that these larger businesses taking over the smaller ones was probably more damaging. It seems to have destroyed the spirit of London more; it slowly took away bits of the city's identity.