Pass It On: funny, fascinating and useful retro household tips from the 1950s
Household tips from the 1950s – often funny, sometimes delightfully dated and dubious, occasionally even useful! Always fascinating.
Household tips from the 1950s – often funny, sometimes delightfully dated and dubious, occasionally even useful! Always fascinating.
Listen on:
Episodes
Aug 14, 2019
Still useful
Aug 14, 2019
Aug 14, 2019
26 min
After being harangued by his co-presenters about how useful his tips are, Steve promises ten bits of advice that are still relevant today. That does not stop the trio getting off topic, as Connie and Chris find more and more creative ways to confuse Steve.
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Aug 7, 2019
Hems
Aug 7, 2019
Aug 7, 2019
22 min
Steve finds himself up against the wall after it is revealed that he employs a window cleaner rather than doing it himself. Eager to distract Connie and Chris, he highlights one of the few tips sent in by a man to the Sunday Post – but are his intentions as innocent as they seem?
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jul 31, 2019
Health & Safety
Jul 31, 2019
Jul 31, 2019
25 min
Steve goes through some of the ingenious ways that people dealt with and prevented accidents in the era of ‘common sense’. Connie and Chris are introduced to a bizarre use for leftover egg whites, and explain to Steve what microblading is.
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jul 24, 2019
A magical tangent
Jul 24, 2019
Jul 24, 2019
22 min
Steve wonders if household tips that were fashionable in the 1960s and 70s will ever become popular now. His curiosity is challenged by Connie and Chris’s cynicism towards the utility of sour milk or the artistic value of barbola.
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jul 17, 2019
Carpets
Jul 17, 2019
Jul 17, 2019
24 min
Steve once again exudes the authority of The Sunday Post and the many tips it received on maintaining carpets and linoleum. Desperate to promote the resourcefulness of the past, he faces an uphill task as Connie and Chris promote Ikea and introduce him to ‘yolo’.
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jul 10, 2019
Shoes
Jul 10, 2019
Jul 10, 2019
22 min
Connie and Chris introduce Steve to ‘Yeezys’ as he explains there was no such thing as trainers in post-war Scotland. Yet all is forgiven when Steve is left flabbergasted that Connie already uses one of his tips!
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jul 3, 2019
Curtains and windows
Jul 3, 2019
Jul 3, 2019
28 min
Connie reveals herself as the infamous ‘Spider Catcher’ as Steve explains how the housewives of the 1950s used to keep insects off their windows. The generational divide becomes clear for all to see, however, when discussing what Steve means by lime chloride.
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jun 26, 2019
Thrift
Jun 26, 2019
Jun 26, 2019
19 min
In only episode five, Steve reveals his second favourite tip from all the Pass It On write-ins. This leads to fists flying over the great debate: does milk go in first when making a cup of tea?
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jun 19, 2019
Ironing
Jun 19, 2019
Jun 19, 2019
25 min
Chris and Connie press Steve on the gender politics of ironing, after he reveals he didn’t do any until he left home. Hastily Steve provides some insight into the pride people took in ironing anything they could, from nylon underwear to gloves!
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
Jun 12, 2019
Knitting
Jun 12, 2019
Jun 12, 2019
25 min
Steve explains how knitting used to be a matter of pride and a necessity of Scottish life as he talks Chris and Connie through some of the ingenious tips sent into the Pass It On column. But will Chris feel intimidated by the skillset of the generation that came before him?
Remember, you can get 20% off the Pass It On books themselves – stuffed with thousand of tips! – at dcthomsonshop.co.uk, using the discount code ‘podcast’ at checkout; that code is valid till 28 August 2019! Let us know what you think of the show at twitter.com/ThePassItOnPod or facebook.com/PassItOnTips, and if you know anyone who’d enjoy the podcast as much as you do – pass it on!
In the 1950s, housewives (and the very occasional househusband!) in Scotland would write into The Sunday Post with tips on running a household. Some of those inventive, sometimes baffling tips were collated into a series of books and now a podcast which asks: are these tips useful to today’s householders?

