ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a context, not only for Altman's outburst, but for the contemporary culture and economy of the borough that was to bear the majority of the 2012 Olympic burden. It has a history featuring work, industry, immigration and poverty, interspersed by a brief period of full employment and relative prosperity. The emphasis will be upon Newham's industrial era, specifically the post-Second World War golden age of high employment and stability that preceded the borough's pre-Olympic status as a gash'. The Newham Direct Labour Force (DLF) is a significant movement in the borough's history. Compared to West Ham, much of East Ham's housing stock was superior, and the borough lacked the longstanding pollution, overcrowding and poverty that were a feature of its western neighbour. Newham, then, can be understood as a highly complex and challenging place to live and work, and a somewhat bizarre choice to stage the Olympics.
