The Essex teenager living and working like it's the 1940s

BBC News

18-07-2025

While some 16-year-old boys spent all their time playing video games or football, one teenager preferred to immerse himself in all things from around 1940 instead.Lincoln, from Colchester in Essex, developed a love for the era as a child after learning about the World Wars. He said the period had a great sense of community support, and he loved the "elegance" of how people composed themselves.For two years now, Lincoln has also been delighting customers at The Shed antiques shop and Nora's 1940s Tea Room in Sproughton, Suffolk, where owner Lesley Austin said he was "adored".
"I liked the clothing, how they dressed, and the style," Lincoln explained."Just the elegance of how everyone was and acted... with the time of the war, everyone had to come together, everyone had to fight, and everyone had to survive together."Most people back then said it was scary, but it was quite fun to live then, and they could go out, help each other and apparently there's not that much stuff today that is similar to what that wartime experience was."
Lincoln said he loved the music of the time, including Henry Hall, Jack Payne and Ambrose & His Orchestra. The teenager's wardrobe was also entirely made up of clothes from the era, which he said he preferred to modern-day clothes. He even cycled on a 1939 bike when out and about researching and finding items for his collection.
Lincoln said his friends and family loved his passion, with his parents often helping him find memorabilia, a lot of which can be found all over his bedroom.While he has only just finished his GCSEs, Lincoln planned to eventually own his own home and decorate it with items from the era, and use only antique appliances."I would like to try it and give it a good go, even though it will be hard, I'm sure it will be good fun as well," he said.
While a fun passion for the teenager, there was a more serious side to his love of the era."I feel like they did so much for us that we owe everything to them," he explained."I think people need to give more care. "Not many people really give a care anymore... I see loads of people sitting on a memorial, and I think they need to learn more and to remember the sacrifice that was given."
Ms Austin met Lincoln when he visited the tearoom with his mother and brother, and she decided to offer him a job."I thought this was a special boy, he is so different, so passionate about the era, and so pleasant as well and chatty," she said."His knowledge is second to none. The customers adore him; they think he's wonderful."He always looks amazing, we never know what outfit he's going to come in."
Lincoln's mother, Nicola Young, 47, said he was "not afraid of being bold" or "different in everyone else's eyes"."We're proud of him, proud of what he is doing," she said."This is Lincoln, we accept Lincoln as this person... this is his life and his passion."We support him with decorating his bedroom, we take him around antique shops, he'll trawl through vintage shops, we take him to all different places all over when we can."We will try and support him as much as we can."
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