This article was first published in the Guardian Journal on Monday January 13, 1964.  Recently found in a loft in Keyworth (ironically when it was being insulated for the first time!), it's reproduced here for your interest.

In the last year or two we have changed from a nation content to shiver and suffer.  We have at long last learned that it is possible and pleasant to keep warm in the winter.  Consequently many home owner have gone overboard for central heating.

And now a very frustrating thing has happened. In some districts the good heating engineers, the sound ones you could employ with complete confidence, cannot always take on any more work until the spring.  I know of one eager customer who has been told he has to wait until 1965!

Discussing this at London's Heating Centre, where they say they can still put customers in touch with a few firms able to take more work, they put forward some excellent tide-you-over suggestions:
If you cannot install central heating, then wrap your home up in insulation.  Carry out a scheme aimed at keeping every BTU [an imperial measure of heat - Ed] in the house and your present heating appliances will keep you snug and cosy whatever the weather.

Worst Spots
If central heating is not on your mind, those suggestions are still for you. They'll give you an unimagined degree of comfort.
Tackle the draughts first.  Front and back doors are usually the worst, but examine side doors and all windows.  For draught exclusion all round a door or window there is probably nothing better or longer lasting than the phosphor bronze strip sold for the purpose.  It is easy to apply, average cost per door 7s. 6d.
For under-door draughts there are strips costing from 4s. 6d. for the stick-on kind, to 18s. 9d. for those with a spring action so that the draught strip rises and falls as you open and shut the door.
Examine skirting boards.  A gap between board and floor can let in foot-chilling draughts.  Wooden quadrant (from any woodshop) costs pence per foot, is easily nailed over the gap and works wonders.
Look all round window frames, particularly in old houses.  There is often a gap between wooden framework and brickwork where draughts can whistle in.  These can be sealed with any filler.

Cuts Bills
Thorough insulation of the roof space will enable your present heating appliances to put up a performance you did not imagine possible while cutting down the fuel bills.  There are many methods, many materials from which to choose.
With those rolls of glass fibre it will cost around nine guineas to put down a one-inch thick layer in a three-bedroom semi-detached house with an area of 500 square feet to be covered.
The system using bags of vermiculite works out at about £9 10s. and pelleted mineral fibre at around £6 15s. but give a two-inch thick roof "blanket".
Another system using textile fibres sandwiched between two thin layers of aluminium foil would cost about 11 guineas for the same area, but should be very easy to lay and is highly efficient.
In particularly cold rooms I'd go further and line the walls with polystyrene [! - Ed] sheeting.  This cuts down heat loss through the walls.
Until recently most people gazed back uncomprehendingly if the talk turned to double-glazing.  Today we know that a formidable amount of heat escapes through the windows and to prevent this there is the choice between expensive sealed units (from 15s. per square foot) down to some excellent do-it-yourself systems.
Cheapest is the plastic edgning for framing panes of glass which are held in place by special clips.  Edging 2s. 6d. a yard, clips 4s. a dozen.
Rigid plastic framing which turns panes of glass into excellent inner windows which open and close would work out at about £5 10s. for a suitable window 3ft. 6in. wide by 5ft. high.
Inner windows which can be made to customers' own requirements cost 7s. 6d. per square foot and anyone who can handle a screwdriver can fix these.

An Economy
You don't feel like lashing out on insulation if you're going to have central heating put in later? It will be an economy, not an extravagance.
When the time comes to get estimates for a full heating job the installation price may well be lower than for an uninsulated house and without a doubt the subsequent running costs will be slashed.
Still not convinced there's anything in this insulations business? Well, think of what a tea cosy does for your teapot, remember how a pot of hot food put in a box lined with hay goes on cooking for hours and hours.
Stop that heat, so costly to buy, from escaping and you can keep as warm as toast!