This was the decade of the backyard barbecue, when grilling outside went from something only experienced pitmasters did to something everyone wanted to do. In this picture First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt is seen cooking corn on the cob for friends at her Val Kill cottage in Hyde Park, New York, in 1934.

Like most trends, California led the way with garden grilling. In this picture actor Pat O’Brien hosts famous film stars Joe E. Brown, Fred Keating, Glenda Farrell and James Cagney (from left to right) at his house in California 1935. Joe E. Brown appears to be eating sauerkraut while Pat O’Brien slices barbecued meat near the grill.

While traditional barbecue is about slow cooking large cuts of meat to feed a group, a residential cookout was more likely to feature sausages and burgers. In this photo from the late 1940s, a young Elizabeth Taylor is joined by some very excited dogs at the grill.

Learning to cook with fire was a rite of passage for boy scouts, gaining the knowledge to fend for themselves outdoors. In 1958 when this photo was taken, a cast iron brazier (a metal stand to hold charcoal) would have been too expensive for children, so here they have a makeshift set-up and work with open flames.

Someone who could afford to use a portable grill was American actor Tony Randall. In this photo from 1959, wife Florence Gibbs passes a burger out the window while the Pillow Talk star tends to the flames in his swim shorts.

Now this looks like a party. This photo from 1950 shows cowboy Jimmy Hawthorn playing the guitar to kids all dressed up in western outfits and sipping bottles of cola around the barbecue pit. They’re slow cooking large cuts of meat over a trench, which is the traditional way Southern pitmasters would have done it.

For the more inexperienced barbecue chef, frankfurters were great – cheap and hard to get wrong. Here famous TV host Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show wears an apron and poses with a sausage at a backyard barbecue.

Here actor Hugh O’Brian has wheeled his portable grill to the beach for an afternoon of sun, sea and sausages with friends. The group appears less than impressed at the chef’s technique of spearing franks on a skewer like a kebab.

Making the most of the Californian weather, film producer Joe Pasternak hosts a wrap party barbecue for his latest film Where the Boys Are at his Bel Air mansion. From left to right, Pasternak, actresses Yvette Mimieux and Paula Prentiss, plus TV host Dean Miller enjoy beef burgers.

Political barbecues date back to before mass media, where people gathered to hear speeches and debates. But President Lyndon Johnson was particularly known for his barbecue parties. Here he is with Vice President Hubert Humphrey, eating spare ribs at his Texas ranch in 1964.

It’s not just Americans who enjoyed outdoor grilling in the 20th century. Here German country singer Oliver Freytag is photographed having a barbecue with girlfriend Lisa in Germany in the 1960s – and check out their groovy vintage grill.

In Shepperton, a town outside of London, England, rock star Denny Laine from Paul McCartney and the Wings (the band that formed after the Beatles broke up) poses with a lit barbecue. Though often a washout, British barbecues are a fond summer tradition.

The surgeon who performed the world’s first heart transplant, Christiaan Barnard is photographed in 1974 at a boozy barbecue at a house in Cape Town, South Africa. The group of friends cook sausages on a purpose-built brick barbecue and drink red wine.

Another US president with a love for barbecues was Gerald Ford. Here he’s pictured eating hot dogs with Senator Robert Dole (on the right) at a cookout during a presidential visit to Dole’s hometown, Russell, Kansas, in 1976.

During the British Lions tour of New Zealand in July 1977, Peter Squires and Bruce Hay (the two wearing aprons) are photographed serving a whole hog to teammates. Although the trip wasn’t as successful as an earlier visit in 1971, the players are all smiles.

This beach barbecue couldn’t be more 1970s. German popstar Su Kramer sits on a sandy beach at night with friends, with just a campfire for light. They drink and play music on the guitar, while Kramer tends to food on the barbecue.

In a woodlands in Germany in 1975, musician Ivan Rebroff and friends gather around a makeshift barbecue. They cook sausages on a metal tray precariously balanced over logs, eat from wooden pallets, drink from mugs, and play accordions and guitars, showing you don’t need fancy equipment to have a good time.

Another political barbecue, this time attended by President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter in 1979. They’re served hefty racks of ribs the size of their dainty blue and white china plates.

Soon-to-be president Ronald Reagan also wanted in on the grilling action. Here he is in 1980, tending to hot dogs and drinking beer at a neighbourhood barbecue in Michigan.

Back in residential Germany, actor Nino Korda, plus his wife and son, pose for a picture at a barbecue in the 1980s. On their plates are sausages, salad and bread rolls.

A barbecue fit for royalty, a formal spread was laid on for Prince Charles and Princess Diana at Kingsmere Farm, near Ottawa, Canada, during their royal tour in 1983. Here they’ve got corn on the cob and are waiting to be served sausages by a professional caterer.

Not the only barbecue of the trip, the royal couple attend a highly-organised grill out in Fort Edmonton Park, Edmonton. Guests dressed in period clothing from the Klondike era – it’s the most formal barbecue we’ve ever seen.

Before Martha Stewart and Ina Garten was Lee Bailey, the original lifestyle writer. Here he is (on the left) in 1984, in Long Island, New York, at a simple but stylish barbecue with actress Elaine Stritch and gossip columnist Liz Smith.

Married pop singers Ireen Sheer and Gavin Du Porter have it all in this holiday snap from 1988: views across the water, a shady patio with tables and chairs, and steaks and sausages sizzling on the grill – we’re very jealous.

Before the Keeping Up with the Kardashians came on our TV screens, Bruce (now Caitlyn) and Kris Jenner wear matching denim ensembles to grill at their home in sunny Los Angeles in 1991. Kris pours wine and sets the table while Bruce tends to the steaks.

Barbecue competitions are big business. In this snap three judges carefully critique beef brisket on a table with bowls of celery, apple, Saltine crackers and Coors Extra Gold Lager, at the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1994.

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This sports fan couldn’t wait until half time to get his hot dog fix, so he grills sausages on a portable barbecue in the car park before a game. It was the Oakland Raiders and the St. Louis Rams at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, in 1995.

On a family holiday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the summer of 1995, President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea load up on barbecue food. In the background, spy the stunning natural landscape the area is known for.

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In this retro snap from 1996, actor Charlie Sheen is pictured flipping burgers and frankfurters on a huge grill at Planet Hollywood in Phoenix, Arizona.

British royalty love a summer barbecue. Princess Beatrice and Laura Gallacher (the daughter of Scottish golfer Bernard Gallacher) eagerly await grilled sausages and chicken at a charity golf tournament and barbecue in this nostalgic photo from 1998.

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