A two-day weekend to enjoy some relaxing time away from work is something most of us take for granted today.

But it was not until the 1930s - at the height of the Great Depression - that it became a part of UK life, thanks to an idea from the then Boots chairman, John Boot.

The firm had opened its D10 'Wets' factory in 1933 with the aim of increasing production efficiency, a goal which was realised by the following Spring when the company ended up with surplus stock.

It was common during this period for employers to make workers redundant but Mr Boot, the son of Jesse, decided instead to put in place an experimental two-day weekend with no reduction in pay, a move that affected 5,000 members of staff.

Boots senior archivist, Judith Wright, explained: "The factory workers would have worked Monday to Friday and Saturday morning so suddenly to be given the Saturday morning off, with no reduction in pay, was phenomenal and it was something John Boot was insistent upon.

"He didn't want to make people redundant and this was a way of doing it."

The five-day week was adopted in the USA in 1932 to reduce unemployment, which stood at 25 percent in Britain by 1933.

Mr Boot called for industry to conduct trials in that year to look at whether reducing the working week could provide a sustainable solution.

(Image: Boots)

The move was widely welcomed by Boots' staff members, many of whom said they used the extra full day to either have a lie in or 'help their mothers'.

It served the purpose Mr Boot had set out to achieve as the excess levels of stock reduced and staff did not have to be laid off, but its effect on the company overall and its workforce was far more profound.

The experiment was the subject of an enquiry which was led by Sir Richard Redmayne, the great grandfather of The Theory of Everything actor, Eddie Redmayne.

work every week has tended to a diminishment of ill health and absenteeism and has had an inspiring effect on the employees."

On Boots' warehouse department, it added there was an "improvement in stamina and animation of the employees arising from the physiological and psychological effects of a long weekend's rest and recreation."

His report stated: "The rest and relaxation due to having two entire days off

Sir Richard said the experiment, which he described as 'pre-eminently successful at Messers. Boots Works', could well be replicated at other companies, which it eventually was. It became permanent at Boots in October 1934.

Mrs Wright said: "The employees said it was the best thing Boots had ever done for them."

The experiment was first announced by John Boot in the company's annual report where he stated the onus was on industry to implement better working conditions.

After seeing the success of the experiment, he wrote in the 1935 report: "We may take pride in the fact that we have provided an example which is likely to have an important influence on the industrial life of this country."

Newspapers across the country credited Boots in the late 1930s with the move to a five-day week, with the Aberdeen Press and Journal describing Boots as "Five-Day Week pioneers".

Mrs Wright said: "It did gradually become adopted by other manufacturing companies and became industry standard, the idea of factory workers working Monday to Friday.

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"As a company we have always been very proud of how innovative we have been and caring for our workers. It was quite revolutionary and it was very reflective of how the company operated and what they wanted to achieve. It is something to be proud of and great to think of it happening here."