Elizabeth Anscombe at the table

The meal rhythm of mid-20th-century academic Britain: a cooked breakfast, the main meal (often called 'dinner'), the indispensable afternoon tea with its toast, and a lighter supper. Rationing lasted until 1954: meals were simple, thrifty, and nourishing. In the Anscombe-Geach household, a Catholic and bohemian home with seven children, the table was lively, cluttered with books and cigar smoke, more concerned with conversation than refinement.