When Britain was proud of the welfare state

Back in the 1940ties, under a proud Labour government, a cartoon star called Charley explained the wonders of the welfare state to the British public:

The “Charley” films were produced in 1946 – 1947 and released from 1948. There were eight films in total, looking at the new towns, schooling, the National Health, building up exports and working for heavy industry. Charley had his own chirpy theme tune, and opening titles, in which he would ride across the screen on his bicycle, writing out his name. And each film was billed as being part of an ongoing series, so you knew there were others to view and learn from.

Topics included New Towns:

The NHS:

National Insurance:

And the new school system:

All created for the Central Office for Information, abolished only recently by the ConDem government.