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