Sean Connery has never had a great time as an Englishman, given he is a Scotsman.
Wait, why? The war was over when he was a teen. He enjoyed decades of progressive social reform
Britain still felt the effects of rationing for years and years after the end of WWII
UK also swallowed a whole 1/4 of the Marshall Plan funds to rebuild Europe.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1227834/distribution-marshall-plan-by-country/
They were fine.
Between bombings, rationing, and the general pollution of the UK, it’s a wonder he lived as long as he did.
Rationing really wasn’t that bad, they had ample bread, beer, and honey. Yes some other things weren’t available, but people weren’t wasting away in the streets, they’d just use egg powder instead of eggs.
The bombings of major cities were bad, but as a kid he was likely carted off to the countryside, and as a Scottish kid living on the outskirts of Edinburgh, unless he lived in Peterhead or Aberdeen during the Blitz, but as a kid who lived around Edinburgh, he was probably fine.
As for general pollution, I think you’re either mixing up Victorian-era UK, or current UK’s toxic dumping scandal. The points in between there were pretty bad if you lived in London, sure. Anywhere else though…? UK’s got lots of countryside.