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An exploration of the global experience of the tobacco epidemic via the Soviet Union and modern Britain. How did smoking triumph for so long in such radically opposed societies?

Laurie Taylor talks to Ivan Markovic, Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University, about the unique social atmosphere surrounding tobacco use in modern Britain, from its encouragement as part of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Front ‘mood management’ during the Second World War to the impact of smoking on 1980s workplace regulations and the UK ban on its use in public places in 2007. Does smoking still play a significant part in the British cultural imagination? Also, Tricia Starks, Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, discusses cigarettes and the Soviet smoking habit. How did the USSR become the first mass smoking society whilst simultaneously opposing this quintessential capitalist product?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

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28 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Mar 2025 06:05

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Guests and further reading

-Ìý, Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University An Atmospheric History of Smoking in Modern Britain (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Ìý

-Ìý, ÌýProfessor of History at the University of Arkansas, USA

Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR (Cornell University Press)

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Broadcasts

  • Tue 18 Mar 2025 15:30
  • Sun 23 Mar 2025 06:05

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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

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