EAU DE, EAU DE

What British people smelled of in the early 1950s:

Women

dandruff
candlewick
camphor
powdered milk
a 'top-note' of 'Evening In Paris'



Men

dog
diesel
boot dubbin
battery fluid
pigeon-feed
dried cuttlefish
cooked breakfasts
rough tobacco
week-old hair-oil
belched-back beer

Source: first page of Gordon Burn's 1991 novel Alma Cogan