THE 1930s research with the help of the Bolton Evening News shows that happiness was a much simpler matter then.

The paper ran a prize for the best letter on the theme of what happiness meant to people. The top three were peace of mind, family and home. Riches didn’t seem to come into it.

Now, our lives are dominated by social media, by comparison to other people’s lives. We’re determined to acquire more because that’s how we define happiness in 2017.

Helping each other and quality of life were key in the ‘30s. We can learn much from then.