1972: 84-year-old woman has an INDOOR CARAVAN | Nationwide | Classic BBC Clips 

Mrs Anderson , born 1888 and made it onto You Tube .

It warms my heart to see people who aren't afraid to be a bit different and eccentric.

What a great woman. She had the wisdom of age to know 3 caravans was too much. That’s what the garden is for. The overstock.

I checked the British Newspaper Archive and found an article in the 16 July 1967 "The People" Newspaper with some more info. Her husband's name was John Anderson, late of the Indian Army Medical Service and they lived in Dollar, Clackmannashire Scotland. He was still alive at that time. I found a grave record for Mary Agnes Anderson, died 5 Jan 1976 in Dollar, but not him. Unfortunately I can't find any more information, but maybe this will help someone.

But Mrs Anderson, why do you have two caravans in your house? Well you see we had to get rid of the third one.🤣🤣🤣🤣

This is the level of quirkiness i aspire to have when I'm elderly.

84 and still as well spoken as ever, what a lovely woman.

For someone who was 84 she didn't half zip about like a fly. What a trooper.

British eccentricity at its finest....hats off....

A bungalow with space for two caravans inside is now surely worth millions

Oh I do wish they had retained this as a museum. This is just the kind of quirky cleverness I'd like to visit. Also, the comments for this video are so lovely.

The world needs odd people like this who do what they want instead of following the norm. If it wasnt for the town and country planning act more people will have found alternative ways to live.

I miss that generation.They were such lovely people.

"A pleasant shade of battleship grey." Pleasant.

I fear Mr. Anderson may have been telling his wife a tall tale regarding indoor campers in America. It's absolutely unheard of. But what a sweet old thing she must've been. Bless her, wherever she is.

Why have 2 caravans in the house? Because 3 is too many!

She and her husband were way ahead of the times!! Absolutely love it 🥰

Oh my goodness she is such a sweetheart.

Wonderful Wonderful women, she lives as she pleases ,not how other people think she should!!!!!!!😁🇬🇧

"But now she is 84 and settling down." We should all be so lucky.

She would be 134 now. I was two when this came out. Great clip and shows society and the way things look didn’t become as futuristic as we imagined.

Why do we never hear about eccentric people like this on TV nowadays? Fed up with the same bunch of celebs over and over again.

Wow Mrs Anderson was in fine form and walking around so well for someone who was 84 ! I wonder what happened to her beloved caravans when she passed . Such a great uplifting film x

When he said “£10 thousand pound bungalow” it hit me with a wave of depression. I bet it costs 3.4 million now

What a lovely old dear. A free thinker. Great comments below. She is a well loved and respected woman even so many years after her death.

So nice to hear "bored with" instead of "bored of".

This is how we'll need to live to keep warm soon

I love caravans as much as she does! I have two inside my bungalow too! Except mine are models that my Dad made me. One is a Gypsy wagon and the other is a replica of the caravan we had through my childhood and into adulthood. . We'd go away most weekends if the weather was nice. My most excited feeling was coming in from school on a Friday and finding my Mum packing towels and clothes and supplies into the caravan on our driveway. I'd be so thrilled to know we were off for a couple of nights. I'd go have a long fun bath for over an hour, then put on my clean nightdress ready for my Dad to get back from work. He'd get the car hitched onto the caravan and I would help letting him know if the indicator lights were working at the back, winding down the towbar connection and cranking up the four legs. Oooh I'm getting excited even remembering it! . We'd only go about an hour's drive away from our home in West Sussex, maybe drive to Kent or Hampshire, if it was just for Friday and Saturday nights. But we'd also go away for a week or more a few times a year, and go all over the UK and into Europe. I loved when we'd pull onto a ferry at Portsmouth, Newhaven or Dover and go over to France! I still remember the ports! Portsmouth to Le Havre, Newhaven to Dieppe and obviously Dover to Calais. . From going all over France, we also toured Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland. Sometimes just in France for a week or two, sometimes doing a few nights in France, 7 nights in Germany and a few nights in France before coming home. Different destinations and durations each time. We'd also sail from Portsmouth to The Isle of Wight...so following caravans, my next love is ferries and the sea. . But we also went all round England, went to Wales and Scotland too. I was born in 1970, and in 1976, which was the hottest British weather recorded at the time, we were caravanning in The New Forest when spontaneous forest fires started! That was a bit hairy getting out! . That reminds me, in total contrast, one time in France we were at a campsite beside a river. It rained and rained and the swollen river broke it's banks and whooshed across the road and flooded the whole campsite! Our outdoor caravan step was below the surface of the water, and my Dad had to move quickly that morning when we realised, before it rose too high to get out. There were people wading across the grass to catch their tents or sleeping bags, the site was full of Gendarmes, (military police officers) rowing in canoes and small dinghies. They had horses and big vans (?) to help pull or tow where necessary. . So many people lost their belongings, particularly those in tents. Luckily we were pitched right on the front entryway of the site, just tucked round by some trees near the road. We were on a patch of more gravelly ground, so my Dad had pretty firm footings for the car tyres to grip to, and we managed to get out relatively easily before the water reached inside the caravan door or flooded the car engine. . Other caravans pitched on the opposite side of the camp were not so lucky, because they were on grassy areas that just churned up mud on the spot and they were stuck. We all knew it had been raining all night, but the river bank giving way happened so suddenly, no one would have expected that. It was surreal, scary and thrilling all at once! . I have so so many caravanning memories that are still so vivid and detailed. I was gutted as a teenager, around 17, when my parents sold it! 😭 I'd love to have THAT exact model to renovate. I don't drive so I couldn't take it anywhere, but I'd put it in my garden as a kind of summer room. Actually it could be my craft and sewing room! I would so love that. I'd find it such a comfort to have it with me, as it was such an integral part of my childhood. . I TOTALLY understand this lady, needing to keep those caravans nearby. I wouldn't go so far as to put a caravan inside my house though, as I think that would take something away from enjoying it. For me, it's the fact they are a compact self-contained home, all on their own! Separate from your everyday home and location. So I would want mine outside, to get that feeling of being somewhere else. . What a lovely, memory-inducing, far-too-short video this was! Having 3 caravans seems perfectly normal to me! 🤪 I'd have a whole campsite of them if I was rich! All to myself. 😁😁😁

What an elegant personality 🏆

I *love* people who are just living their life, happy with who they are and what they have. We need more people like this in the world 😊

That she sleeps in the caravan does make sense to me, as I'm thinking of the beds that were built inside boxes with a door. You know, like Heathcliff's bed in Wuthering Heights. See, it WOULD be quiet and cozy to sleep in...in fact might help keep heating bills low during winter. It totally makes sense! What a lovely lady--and I bet her little grandson must've loved staying over

She looks like a habitual smiler. 🙂

She's a legend 👏

I lived in a tent with my 8 year old and a baby 6 months old for 6 weeks to save up for a bond, we also had a dog and a cat . Fast fwd to age 65 and I am living in a caravan for five months on my mother’s land , now I am 71 and I am renting a studio in a retirement village, but I did enjoy camping 😁

Proud to see a traditional level of British eccentricity, I must say 👍

A friend of ours has a caravan in his holiday home. He needed another bedroom and this was the easiest way. He’s a bit eccentric. In his younger days he seldom wore a shirt or shoes, whatever the weather, and went everywhere by unicycle.

I like this, she's feisty and cool.

"Why do you have two caravans inside your house?" "Well, we did have 3, but we figured that was too much and we needed the room." Lol british humour, you just got to love it😂😂😂

This is why I love being BRITISH 👍!!!!

Now that made me smile from start to finish 🇬🇧

what a dear person!

Brilliant! Both Mrs Anderson and the interviewer in the end, in yet another caravan! Charming.

What a wonderfully eccentric woman she must have been,.. The Granny we all wished we had.

God bless her... she's on holiday every day of the week!.😎💕🇬🇧

A woman who's lived a full + happy life, living it out in her own way in 1972. Beautiful.

She kept the caravan her husband and her traveled in.. put it into her house like a room….. I LOVE it. 🌹

That is the sweetest thing I've seen all day

What a charming lady. She looked very happy with her life. Plenty of room for family to stay. Marvellous

If I make it to my 80s I hope I move like this lady I was born in 72 this video makes me happy and I don't really know why ,peace and love

When eccentrics were allowed to roam freely! Now she'd have social services on her doorstep before she could blink and get carted off for some imagined transgression against 'proper' behaviour. Here's to Mrs Mary 'Two Vans' Anderson, what a woman! 🥰

Love it. It's a shame that there aren't more intriguing, quirky people like this around today. I find them fascinating. Could talk to them all day every day listening to their stories and sharing their memories. Never thought I'd pen these words but ..... thank you BBC!

They spoke so well and had such good manners back in the day. She is well dressed and sitting elegantly. Now the equivalent person would be slouched in a track suit

Well played that girl. Top notch Britishness 👌🏻

Nothing wrong with that! She kept a beautifully clean and tidy home with the additional challenges of the caravans. I had thought of putting a caravan inside a barn and living in that once - this is an up-market version of my thought. Well, as she did it first I guess my idea is a down- market version of hers. I was hoping to see inside the caravan in the garden, too. 👍🏻

This lady is my hero. She had me at sewing room.

That woman was bonkers and I love her.

The entire interview was extremely well done. The reporter was entertaining as well.

This makes a lot of sense. It's a home inside a home.

Only the British can be this quietly eccentric and firmly believe they are doing everyday things in a perfectly normal way, no different to anyone else.

The caravan is the connection to her husband. Love forever and great moments❤

Brilliantly eccentric and didn't care what anyone thought. 🧡

Something feels homely, comfortable & just plain nice about all this, it must be reminding me of caravan holidays with my family when I was little. I loved it ❤

It would be a good way to stay warm this winter.

“We decided 3 caravans was too much for inside the house as we wanted the room to live in” 🤣 - fair play to her at least she was happy

She preserved those amazing antique caravans. Lucky persons who got to buy them!

What a wonderful woman. I love eccentricity, it’s a beautiful expression of one’s soul. Long May it Reign ❤

What a sweet elderly lady.❤

She was brilliant. Glad they managed to put this on RU-vid.

The house in which I live now ( for the past 20+ years ) had a green house in the kitchen in which the previous owner spent his sitting down time. The house was so cold it made it easier to survive.

84 climbing on a lader cleaning the roof. May we all be as spritly as ms Anderson. Rip young lady, rip ❤

I'm in a flat and upstairs can be noisy,so I'd love one such as these to enjoy cosy quiet sleep.Ive actually wondered about putting a shed in my bedroom but this is much better.

What a precious heart. I hope that she finished life well and went without pain.

God love her. Eccentric but with her wits about her. I hope she lived for many years after this.

I absolutely love this 👍 bless her. She loved her husband and camping and looked after things very well and into old age. The end makes me giggle though, 3! 😂

Thank you, BBC, for posting these gems.

Things like this make me proud to be British :)

She's in fabulous shape for her age, climbing up on ladders. The 3rd caravan was beautiful

Its possible that those are Burlingham tourers (from Cabus, Lancashire) rather then Birmingham. Burlinghams used to hand build caravans many decades ago and the company still exists as a dealership now.

1. How did she get them into the house? 2. Wonder where they are now? 3. Would love to see the house now? Will probably never find out any answers to these questions.😏 What a wonderful lady😉

I love it its different that lady looks good for her age at that time

I agree. Everyone knows that 3 is too many. God bless her.

"..but I dont think its unusual in America". Well, it is unusual but I love these type of eccentricities. Harms no one and is an amazing converation piece. Its her home and makes it how she likes it. RIP Mr. and Mrs. Anderson

Good luck to the lady. She’s still doing what she and her husband did when they were younger. And happy.

Wow! What an unusual but great idea! We all know about the good old British weather. So just imagine a bungalow with a glass roof and most of its internal walls removed. Keeping individual small spaces warm in winter would be easy, and it could also house a central fire place with seating all around for chilling out and entertaining guests. It would be like the great outdoors, indoors. 😄 Awww.... Pinza the Dog was very cute too. 😁

LOVE this interview, and Mrs. Anderson. Started like a Monty Python skit-- All hail the lovingly rediculous and the eccentric! 🌿💚🌿

This was soooooo cool! Tho she’s passed now and her children have prolly 2 and maybe grandchildren as well. What a very nice woman she was….clearly. Born b4 cars. Lived through WW1, the depression, WW2….saw cars come into being and TVs and phones. She didn’t see it but she made it online. What a life!

Why 2 caravans in the house? Why not? Love this & adore her. I googled her in hopes of finding out what became of the caravans & house after she died, but no luck. I truly hope they kept them in the family. Funnily enough, i discovered a man in the USA named Robert Anderson started a gospel group in 1947 that was named..... The Caravans. 😆

Lovely speaking voices, including the presenter.

She was probably born in 1887. Amazing to think how much she'd lived through and seen by the time Jack Pizzey called round. Remarkable piece of film.

What a cutie! Good for her!

She was an amazing lady

I would love this well mannered lovely woman as my neighbour . Bless her cotton socks ❤

What a precious old eccentric lady 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 happy healthy peace ✌️

What a trooper, I hope she carried on for many more years.

A redoubtable Scottish lady! The best holidays we had as a family was in a caravan touring Scotland This is brilliant video and we have forgotten how to be eccentric in our country.

Wow I’d like to know how her grandson is doing her grandson still be alive? Also be good to find out what happened to the house aswell as the caravans.

R.I.P. dear lady! I am still trying to figure out how they got the caravans inside the house.

It was great to see the vintage Caravan Club badge in use 🙂

What a wonderful way to keep warm in the winter.

What a wonderful piece!