Dr. Turner's initial stance that cigarettes did not necessarily cause lung cancer is an accurate portrayal of doctors in this era. Lung cancer was once an extremely rare disease, but the mass production and marketing of cigarettes caused a global epidemic of the disease in the 20th century. Scientific evidence that cigarettes were the cause of the epidemic existed as early as the 1940s, but cigarette manufacturers disputed this and aggressively issued denialist propaganda to both the public and medical professionals. By 1960, two-thirds of all doctors in the United States did not believe smoking cigarettes had been proven to cause cancer. Until the 1960s, the UK Ministry of Health declined to consider public health education campaigns warning of the dangers of smoking, as some of its civil servants did not believe it caused cancer and also because they feared any campaign would create a cancer "phobia" that would overwhelm the new National Health Services.
Mrs. Cadman says to Violet about Fred, 'He offers you the world and gives you Chrisp Street'. Chrisp Street Market is Poplar's main marketplace, full of small shops and outdoor stalls, and was the UK's first purpose-built pedestrian shopping area. However, it would have been seen in contrast to West London's luxurious department stores like Harrods and Selfridges.