Bumbling Boris is Captain Mainwaring

THURSDAY 1st OCTOBER 2020:

Did you watch silly Boris Cummings - Johnson's briefing on TV last night ? Immediately it finished Maureen and I watched a DVD of Dad's Army. The resemblance was uncanny. POMPUS, BUMBLING, SELF-IMPORTANT, BUFFOONS both of them. The only difference being Captain Mainwaring does not have any hair on his head while Boris has his dyed blond mop.

If things were not so desperately serious this would be a hideous joke.

A bigger joke that our leader can be found on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Have you seen clips from the presidential election ? To vote for either candidate would be to push the destruct button.

When will this pandemic end ? Who knows but one thing is certain the likes of Donal Trump and Boris Johnson's incompetence is extending it.

I have joked that I will write a book: THE DEVIL USES FACEBOOK. Yesterday I opened a single website, just a sing page for no longer than one minute, to find a local company which could take away a car for scrap. When I later in the day opened facebook I was bombarded with adverts telling me about local scrap dealers !

Boris Johnson and Donald trumps are just idiots in positions of power while FACEBOOK IS EVIL.

Waking up in bed this morning a plot for such a book came into my mind. Central to this is EVIL IS GOOD - TRUTH IS FICTION. The central character will be an angel of satan, I want to play around with words: Judas, Peter and Mark (Zuckerberg) and come up with an anagram to  give our angel a name.

It won't just be facebook but all social media the angel uses to attack humanity. I have used Google Blogger for more than four years. What kind of brainless, geeky idiot has designed its new format. It is so full of flaws and so difficult now to use. Possibly the same satanic angel of geek that redesigned facebook.

The Devil Uses Facebook ?  The president of the United States uses Twitter, of course he does - HE IS A TWIT. When Boris bumbles his was through demonstrating he did not understand his own covid regulations he turned to Twitter to initially apologise. THE DEVIL USES FACEBOOK, you bet he does BIG TIME !

Extinction of the bumble bee

 

WEDNESDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2020

Last night I watched an excellent TV programme explaining why the humble bumble bee is in danger of becoming extinct.

This on the same day when there has been a frightening number of new covid 19 cases and an alarming rise in the death rate.

The pandemic that China has given to the world is the biggest issue the world has faced for generations. Or is it ?  Birds, animals, insects and plants are facing extinction. If the bumble bee becomes extinct then the food supply will be in danger.

When was the last time you saw a bumble bee ? When was the last time you saw a butterfly ?  When was the last time you saw a ladybird ?  When was the last time you heard a cuckoo ?  When as the last time you saw a swallow ?  Go into any school and ask children there what a swallow, cuckoo are. Swallow - when you swallow a drink.  Cuckoo - that's a drug dealer !

Climate emergency, biodiversity, covid 19. Humanity is under attack. Humanity is under attack from its own self-generates folly. The bumble bee hasn't caused any of this.

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Tuesday 29th September 2020

The Dark Side Of The Moon must be a very busy place these days. So busy there can be no pretence at all when it comes to social distancing.

So who can you find there ?

YOUR GP avoiding at all costs engaging with patients, thinking sticking a stethoscope down a phone line is the way to care for people.

YOUR MP who thinks the best way to social distance from his/her constituents is to be a quarter of a million miles away.

ALL THOSE PRETENDING THEY ARE OPERATING A TRACK AND TRACE SYSTEM need I say any more.

THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT thinking the best place to support students, teachers, schools and universities is from the far side of the moon.

THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT that has resided there for decades operating its crime encouragement policy and leaving the police to clean up its mess.

THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE trying to hide from the fact that China gave the world this pandemic, more than one million people have died so far. In comparison 1,000,000 million and counting. 146,000 people died when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima,

THE PRIME MINISTER ? No he's not there. He prefers to remain on Planet Earth and work every day to go down in history as the worst prime minister our nation has ever had.

A Government Of National Unity

Monday 28th September 2020

Given the shambolic way in which Boris Cummings-Johnson and his cronies are mismanaging the corona virus pandemic surely the way forward has to be with a United Kingdom government of national unity.

Devolved governments need to be suspended for the duration. Nicola Sturgeon should be the new Prime Minister of The UNITED Kingdom with the first ministers of Wales and Northern Ireland as joint deputy prime ministers ?

Boris Johnson ?  Make him UK Ambassador to The North Pole and let him take up residence there.

I may sound as if I am joking but I am not. 435,000 cases as of yesterday with 41,998 deaths. Those figures are so large they can not be comprehended. On 24th September there were more recorded cases than at the peak of the pandemic in the Spring.

We can not sit around and dabble with measures, introducing one failing test system after another. Unity is what is needed and that can not include Boris Cummings-Johnson. Patriotism, leadership, inspiration has to be at the centre of life.

If something dramatic such as a UK Government of National Unity how many more REAL people, loved people, within the statistics are going to suffer and die ?

The Government converts universities into prisons

SUNDAY 27th September 2020

Tomorrow when I broadcast my show on Radio CRMK I am going to dedicate every single track to our now imprisoned university students.

The new intake had to negotiate the government's hideous failing examination system and now these teenagers have in effect found themselves in prison !

University is supposed to be a happy time of learning, making new friends and growing up. I have said in earlier writing that my heart bleeds for teenagers in school today but that is nothing to the way I now feel for our uni students.

Last Christmas I was asked by somebody to write an anonymous card of love to a patient in hospital. With the pandemic I am having to stop sending SMILE CARDS to families with children seriously ill in hospital. I am going to print off dozens of cards and write messages on them: messages of hope, love and support. I am then going to send them to students in HMP Universities up and down the country.

I am going to sign as many as I can while broadcasting tomorrow's radio show. Do you have a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter at university trying to get through this mess ? Please tell me and I will make sure they get a SMILE CARD.

TOMORROW'S RADIO SHOW ON CRMK WILL BE MY 396th I AM GOING TO MAKE IT THE BEST SHOW I HAVE EVER BROADCAST. I am playing some great rock and roll music and promise to fool around in my inevitable style doing everything I can to celebrate our wonderful uni students whose lives right now are at rock bottom. I AM GOING TO LIFT

THEM FROM ROCK BOTTOM TO ROCK AND ROLL.

If you would like a card sending to a member of your family please e-mail me dashford566@gmail.com or hit me on Facebook.

A tale of two emotions

SATURDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2020:

How do I feel ?  It is 5,02am, I have been laying awake in bed pondering what I will write here. I am going to share those initial thoughts then add a postscript.

To say that I feel frightened about the situation the world finds itself in is wrong. If my life were to end tomorrow I have no fear. What I do fear, what does frighten me is the fact that today's children and teenagers are being denied the youth I had.

There is a photograph in my family archive where I am standing with my great grandfather. I am aged perhaps four years, how old was my grandfather ?  His children were born in the early years of last century so he must have been, himself, born somewhere around 1975 to 1880. Therefore, when World War I broke out he would have been in his mid to late thirties. His was not the generation that went to fight in the trenches.

But fight my granddad did. He survived, obviously, the trenches but the constant explosion of shells around him made him very hard of hearing. If you wanted to speak to Granddad you had to shout in his ear ! Family legend says that in World War II and living in London during the blitz he did not always hear the bombs exploding but did feel the ground shake.

In that family photograph he would have been a few years older than I am right now. How did granddad feel when I was born as his first great-grandchild ?  How did granddad feel about life in the early 1950's ?  I would like to think that he felt the new generation was going to have everything he and his children did not have.

So today, living in the year of 2020, the year that never was, I find myself feeling the exact opposite of great-granddad. Today's generation is right now not having what I and my generation had.  I have just published SWINGING THROUGH THE SIXTIES and get up this morning to see that the book is indeed selling copies. That excites me, not because I am making money from it because I want to use the book as a way to give something to today's teenagers. I am still forming that in my mind and will have more to share in coming days.

I am frustrated by the failure of government to not only handle the pandemic, that is actually an impossible task, but more so the failure to inject a spirit of comradeship in this war against an invisible enemy/ Boris Johnson has no idea of leadership and is failing to inspire our nation. I could not care less about my own life, I can sit at home and do my own thing without any problem at all but it is the youngsters my heart bleeds for.

Pre pandemic I was working 80 hours a week within all kinds of organisations but now I am doing nothing. Being selfish this quieter life if lovely but what about those I previously cared for ? I am not ready to share the contents yet but within my e-mail inbox there is something which right now at 5.24am on Saturday 26th September in the year that never was is filling my body with fire and excitement.

Charles Dickens wrote a book THE TALE OF TWO CITIES.  In my book SWINGING THROUGH THE SIXTIES there is a chapter A TALE OF TWO STREETS.  This diary entry I think needs to be titles A TALE OF TWO EMOTIONS.

Fast Food v The Planet

FRIDAY 25th September 2020:

The following text I shared on a blog last week:

The National Trust Stowe Gardens near Buckingham is a beautiful place. I have been a fan for many, many years. In these uncertain and difficult times a twice weekly visit to Stowe is of great support. Yesterday my wife, little Doggie Jake and I made our way to The Sleeping Wood at Stowe. I just could not believe what I saw there. McDonald’s food wrappers discarded and insulting the beauty of the landscape. I picked up the mess and brought it home.

I have not thrown it into the bin but carefully packed it and posted it to McDonald’s UK Head Office for comment.

Stowe National Trust Gardens every day working to save our planet. McDonald’s ?

Prince Charles has today spoken about the urgent need to deal with the climate emergency threatening to destroy our planet. The pandemic which is ripping society apart pales into insignificance by the suicidal rush to destroy our planet.

Buckingham can proudly boast of it being a McDonald’s free zone so where did this mess come from ?  Possibly Milton Keynes but there is no evidence to support such a claim only that it came from McDonald’s somewhere. The McDonald’s Corporation did not obscenely throw this rubbish into the beauty of Stowe, of course it didn’t, but I find it so hard to comprehend the mentality of the person who did. Isn’t fast food meant to be eaten hot ? Having driven to Stowe from wherever and walked the distance to the Sleeping Wood this meal would have been cold. Why were eight packets of tomato sauce needed ? Why did McDonald’s hand out eight sauce packets, none of which were opened, to accompany its twenty chicken nougats ?

McDonald’s will hasten to say how it recycles its cooking oil into bio-diesel. It will claim that its excessive packaging can be recycled. Look at the paper bag in the picture, some poor animal resident of Stowe has attempted to recycle this rubbish !

McDonald’s will ego trip its way boasting of neighbourhood litter picks making sure such achieve maximum press coverage. Someone recently suggested that the car registration number of the purchaser be written on every piece of McDonald’s wrapping. What do you think to that McDonald’s ?  It would enable identification of your chicken nugget scoffing climate cowboy responsible for littering The Sleeping Wood at Stowe. Would you then ban the culprit from each and every branch of your chain ?

One of the biggest causes of global warming is animal farming, producing meat for human consumption. McDonald’s on a daily basis world wide how many cows and chickens do you 
kill ? 

Another major cause of global warming is wasting energy. McDonald’s operating 24/7 with excess lighting blazing into the night sky how big is the carbon footprint of an individual fast food outlet ?

The National Trust v McDonald’s, who would you support ?  When new government regulations are announced later this week, regulations to curb the pandemic, I hope The National Trust at Stowe will not be obliged to close but at the very least I hope there will be a dusk to dawn curfew on McDonald’s and every other operation which is actively harming our planet.

I didn't actually send the text and the rubbish to McDonald's, perhaps I am wrong but felt it would be a waste of time.

This morning at 4am driving to the radio studio I passed two branches of McDonald's which had been open all night. The lighting surrounding both was obscene !  I passed a branch of KFC - Kill Frightened Chickens where the lighting was not quite so outrageous. One thing in common with all - NOT A SINGLE CUSTOMER IN SIGHT.  

If pubs and restaurants now have to close at 10pm why can fast food outlets continue to offer take away services ?

Leave aside covid, our planet is in a precarious situation. The excessive lighting is an issue but of far greater significance to global warming is the factory farming of animals for human consumption. I am guessing that McDonald's uses more animal meat than any other chain anywhere in the world. Close down McDonald's and there would be a significant reduction in global warming.

To be fair to McDonald's it does have a vegetarian menu, something Kill Frightened Chickens does not.

It is quite simple to slow global warming, to halt it and put it into reverse. All the little tinkering but governments discussing climate change can continue but TWO factors would make a distance.

1. DOUBLE the tree population in the world. Trees are the lungs of the world.

2, FOR THE WORLD TO STOP EATING MEAT. Close down fast foot outlets and a big step  froward would be made.

So in a global referendum on climate change which way would you vote ?

McDonald's or The Planet

Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

I find it a bit sad that my publication of MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS did not immediately grab attention. The promotion programme is running and I do hope that I will encourage some readers to spark the dream. 

I contacted every member of Milton Keynes Council sharing the dream but not a single one gave me the courtesy of a reply. That's typical, sadly, of Milton Keynes Council.

Swinging Through The Sixties will be published any day now. I though yesterday that I had completed the final check of my draft.

I had asked Sutton Coldfield Town Council for a little bit of help with one area. IMMEDIATELY staff got back with the help I needed.

Now I have an e-mail from a member of the council who has gone out of his way to give me some additional information.  Today I will work that into the text ahead of publication.

Thumbs up to Sutton Coldfield Town Council. Thumbs down to Milton Keynes Borough Council.

Have you read MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER  Do you share my dream ?

American Cyber Hackers ! 24th September 2020

Thursday 24th September 2020:

Yesterday another 6,178 confirmed cases of the virus, up from 4,926 on Tuesday. 37 deaths each one of them a loved individual and not a statistic in our government's record of failure !

I will talk about that sad situation in a moment but first let me bring you something else.

Recently, when considering Russia hacking into western computer systems President Trump said more importantly we should consider China. A fair comment, after all didn't China give the world corona virus ?  Would you trust China ?  I wouldn't. But WOULD YOU TRUST AMERICA ?  On a daily basis American companies hack into your computer and my computer on a daily basis.

Since Microthick aka Microsoft's latest hacked in update I now have programmes which do not work properly in the way they did. Facebook has destroyed its format with the new style it thinks is better than the easy to use traditional system. It's face recognition software I would suggest is dangerous.

Googley !  YouTube. YouTube adverts are designed to frustrate and anger users. I would never, ever buy from a Google Ad and I would never use the platform myself to advertise. More sinister - consider this.

YouTube is used by children and teenagers so why are gaming sites allowed to advertise ?  Why is there an ad with a bare chested woman advertising bra pads ?

Compared to The United States of America China and Russia are saints. Got that have you Mr Trumpey ?

Back to Britain and our own failing government. What will the figure be today for confirmed cases ?  Can anyone explain to me how just by cutting an hour off pub opening will control the spread of the virus ? Close the pubs entirely and that would make a difference but even then we need more measures.

I don't have a lot of time for politicians, let's face it they are a lower life form, but I am starting to respect some of the things Kier Starmer says. When he said we needed a better patriotic spirit within our nation to get us through the virus that is so very trues. Yesterday he said that Boris Johnson does not have the ability and personality to lead us through the crisis. How spot on accurate is that ?

What we need is to temporarily set aside devolution, to have one United Kingdom with a government of national unity headed by Nicola Sturgeon a lady who talks sense, can communicate and above all cares !

What will be the figure for positive tests today ?  How will Bonkers Boris react to that ?

THE END IS NIGHT ! 23rd September 2020

Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Shortly after the start of the lock down in Spring I started to keep a diary not so much recording the factual events but how I was feeling. After one hundred entries I put everything together and published it as an e-book on Amazon under the title of ESCAPE FROM ARMAGEDDON - The First One Hundred Years. Publication happened on 14th July 2020.

I did not want anyone to pay the 77p to buy a download, my wishes have been honoured !  No, seriously I hoped I was burring a cyber time capsule mankind could open in 100, 1,000, 10,000 years to come and get an insight into an ordinary life during the world pandemic.

Now, two and a bit months later corona virus is spiking again. 4,926 new cases yesterday, in the height of the earlier spike 6,183 cases recorded on 5th April. Not far to go to overtake that number. Mercifully, death figures are mower than in the spring but one death is one too many.

I think it is time to start a new diary to leave as a cyber time capsule. Will there be anyone in years to come there to open and read what I have written ?

First of all I feel that the government in introducing new restrictions which will come into force tomorrow has failed miserably to take strong enough measures to safeguard the public. However, covid 19, pandemic, corona virus, call it what you will pales into insignificance by the side of the climate emergency mankind is creating. I did a bit of research before writing this diary entry, if things continue the way they are in thirty years time we will have reached the point of no return. Mankind will be heading towards the same destination as the dinosaurs.

I am fearfully approaching my seventieth birthday, my family has a history of longevity so I may well be around in thirty years time. If I am writing a diary then what will I have to say.

Today I say: Boris Johnson get your act together and put in place a proper system to protect our country. More importantly make the United Kingdom a world example  stopping climate extinction. I may or I may not live to be one hundred years old but I want my grandchildren to live to my age and for their grandchildren to be living in a happy and safe world. 

The National Trust v McDonalds

The National Trust v McDonald’s

The National Trust Stowe Gardens near Buckingham is a beautiful place. I have been a fan for many, many years. In these uncertain and difficult times a twice weekly visit to Stowe is of great support. Yesterday my wife, little Doggie Jake and I made our way to The Sleeping Wood at Stowe. I just could not believe what I saw there. McDonald’s food wrappers discarded and insulting the beauty of the landscape. I picked up the mess and brought it home.

I have not thrown it into the bin but carefully packed it and posted it to McDonald’s UK Head Office for comment.

Stowe National Trust Gardens every day working to save our planet. McDonald’s ?

Prince Charles has today spoken about the urgent need to deal with the climate emergency threatening to destroy our planet. The pandemic which is ripping society apart pales into insignificance by the suicidal rush to destroy our planet.

Buckingham can proudly boast of it being a McDonald’s free zone so where did this mess come from ?  Possibly Milton Keynes but there is no evidence to support such a claim only that it came from McDonald’s somewhere. The McDonald’s Corporation did not obscenely throw this rubbish into the beauty of Stowe, of course it didn’t, but I find it so hard to comprehend the mentality of the person who did. Isn’t fast food meant to be eaten hot ? Having driven to Stowe from wherever and walked the distance to the Sleeping Wood this meal would have been cold. Why were eight packets of tomato sauce needed ? Why did McDonald’s hand out eight sauce packets, none of which were opened, to accompany its twenty chicken nougats ?

McDonald’s will hasten to say how it recycles its cooking oil into bio-diesel. It will claim that its excessive packaging can be recycled. Look at the paper bag in the picture, some poor animal resident of Stowe has attempted to recycle this rubbish !

McDonald’s will ego trip its way boasting of neighbourhood litter picks making sure such achieve maximum press coverage. Someone recently suggested that the car registration number of the purchaser be written on every piece of McDonald’s wrapping. What do you think to that McDonald’s ?  It would enable identification of your chicken nugget scoffing climate cowboy responsible for littering The Sleeping Wood at Stowe. Would you then ban the culprit from each and every branch of your chain ?

One of the biggest causes of global warming is animal farming, producing meat for human consumption. McDonald’s on a daily basis world wide how many cows and chickens do you kill ? 

Another major cause of global warming is wasting energy. McDonald’s operating 24/7 with excess lighting blazing into the night sky how big is the carbon footprint of an individual fast food outlet ?

The National Trust v McDonald’s, who would you support ?  When new government regulations are announced later this week, regulations to curb the pandemic, I hope The National Trust at Stowe will not be obliged to close but at the very least I hope there will be a dusk to dawn curfew on McDonald’s and every other operation which is actively harming our planet.

Top Of The Pops

Here's a couple of thousand words I knocked out first thing this morning for my soon to be published e-book SWINGING THROUGH THE SIXTIES. Please note how the geeks at Google Blogger are not clever enough to sort out the formatting from the original text typed using Microthick Word.  I hope you can figure the charts out.

Top Of The Pops

Next time you go to the supermarket stand still and listen to the music playing in the background. With a little from the 1970’s the majority of the music is from the swinging sixties. Brand new products on the supermarket shelves with customers encouraged to buy while listening to music up to sixty years years old.

At every home game Liverpool, Everton, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday have club anthems from the 1960’s.

No decade in history has been so dominated by popular music. The music was not only enjoyed by teenagers but by Mums and Dads, Granny and Granddads.

Where is music of the twenty-first century ?  An irrelevance way off to the side. It is listened to on the likes of Radio One the forgotten. In the year 2080 nobody is going to shop while listening to Justin Bieber or Ed Shearan, I wouldn’t mind betting they will still be shopping to the Beatles, Herman’s Hermits, The Drifters and even The Peter Pan of Pop, Cliff Richard.

For those of you who were around in the swinging sixties I have listed the Top Ten for 1^st January in every year of the iconic decade. For those of you who consider the 1960’s to be history pick at random one track from each year, listen to it on YouTube then realise just how much you missed out on.

A sociologist would probably tell you the 1960’s were not the best years to have lived through. There were hardships, things we take for granted today would have been beyond the wildest imagination of everyone. But there were some fantastic achievements which science and political will in  the twenty-first century could not even dream of achieving.

It is aid that if you can remember the 1960’s then you probably were not there. On the face of it that is a ridiculous statement but the deeper meaning explains how the music from the swinging sixties lives on and daws people to think they know any given song from an earlier part of their life.

The Swinging Sixties, there has never been a decade like it since and there never will be.

Child of the sixties ? In a way we are all one of them.

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1960

1.    What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Mr For

Emile Ford And The Checkmates

2.    What Do You Want ?

Adam Faith

3.    Seven Little Girls Sitting In The back Seat

Avons

4.    Oh Carol

Neil Sedaka

5.    Travellin’ Light

Cliff Richard And The Shaddows

6.    Rawhide

Frankie Laine

7.    Jingle Bell Rock

Max Bygraves

8.    Snow Coach

Russ Conway

9.    Staccato’s Theme

Elmer Bernstein

10.  Little White Bull

Tommy Steele

Chubby Chequer starts a new dance craze with The Twist

The Beatles were formed

A loaf of bread cost 5p and an average house cost £2,530

UK Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan

President of USA – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Spartacus  The Magnificent Seven  Swiss Family Robinson

FA Cup Final – Blackburn Rovers 0  Wolverhampton Wanderers 3

FA League Champions – Wolverhampton Wanderers

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1961

1.    I Love You

Cliff Richard

2.    It ‘s Now Or Never

Elvis Presley

3.    Strawberry Fair

Anthony Newley

4.    Little Donkey

Nina And Frederick

5.    Save The Last Dance For Me

The Drifters

6.    Poetry In Motion

Johnny Tillotson

7.    Lonely Pup In A Christmas Shop

Adam Faith

8.    Rocking Goose

Johnny And The Hurricanes

9.    Man Of Mystery

The Shadows

10. My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own

Connie Francis

Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space

The UK applied for membership of The Common Market – European Union

The Berlin Wall was built

UK Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan

President of USA – John F Kennedy

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – The Guns Of Navarone  West Side Story  101 Dalmatians Blue Hawaii

FA Cup Final – Tottenham Hotspurs 2  Leicester City 0

FA League Champions – Tottenham Hotspur

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1962

1.    Moon River

Danny Williams

2.    Tower Of Strength

Frankie Vaughn

3.    Midnight In Moscow

Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen

4.    Let There be Drums

Sandy Nelson

5.    Johnny Will

Pat Boone

6.    Stranger On the Shore

Acker Bilk

7.    Toy Balloons

Russ Conway

8.    Take Good Care Of My Baby

Bobby Vee

9.    My Friend the Sea

Petula Clark

10. Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen

Neil Sedaka

Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday for President Kennedy

The Cuban Missile Crisis

UK Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan

President of USA – John F Kennedy

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Lawrence of Arabia  The Longest Day  Mutiny On The Bounty

FA Cup Final – Tottenham Hotspurs 3  Burnley 1

FA League Champions – Tottenham Hotspur

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1963

1.    Return To Sender

Elvis Preesley

2.    Bachelor Boy

Cliff Richard

3.    Dance On

The Shadows

4.    Dance With The Guitar Man

Duane Eddy

5.    Lovesick Blues

Frank Ifield

6.    Rocking Around The Christmas Tree

Brenda Lee

7.    Sun Arise

Rolf Harris

8.    Telstar

The Tornados

9.    Bobby’s Girl

Susan Maughn

10. Let’s Dance

Chris Montez

President John F Kennedy is assassinated

Double agent Kim Philby disappears from Beirut having defected to the Soviet Union

Charles de Gaulle, President of France, vetoes Britain’s entry into the Common Market

UK Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan – Alec Douglas Home

President of USA – John F Kennedy – Lyndon B Johnson

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – The Great Escape  Cleopatra  Sword In The Stone  Cleopatra

FA Cup Final – Manchester United 3  Leicester City 1

FA League Champions – Manchester United

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1964

1.    I Want To Hold Your Hand

The Beatles

2.    She Loves You

The Beatles

3.    You Were Made For Me

Freddie And the Dreamers

4.    Secret Love

Kathy Kirby

5.    I Only Want To Be With You

Dusty Springfield

6.    Glad All Over

The Dave Clark Five

7.    Dominique

The Singing Nun

8.    Don’t Talk To Him

Cliff Richard

9.    Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa

Gene Pitney

10. Maria Elena

Los Indos Tabajaras

Casualties in Vietnam have risen to 1,387, including 399 dead and 17 missing in action

Great Britain competes at the Olympics in Tokyo and wins 4 gold, 12 silver and 2 bronze medals

UK Prime Minister – Alec Douglas Home – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Lyndon B Johnson

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Mary Poppins  Goldfinger  My Fair Lady  Doctor Strangelove

FA Cup Final – West Ham United 3 Preston North End 2

FA League Champions – West Ham United

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1965

1.    I Feel Fine

The Beatles

2.    Downtown

Petula Clark

3.    Walk Tall

Val Doonican

4.    I’m Gonna Be Strong

Gene Pitney

5.    I Understand

Freddie And The Dreamers

6.    I Could Easily Fall

Cliff Richard

7.    Yeh Yeh

Georgie Fame

8.    No Arms Could Ever Hold You

The Bachelors

9.    Somewhere

P J Proby

10. Terry

Twinkle

Ronnie and Reggie Kray, 31, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket

Sir Winston Churchill dies aged ninety

UK Prime Minister – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Lyndon B Johnson

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Doctor Zhivago  The Sound Of Music  Thunderball

FA Cup Final – Liverpool 2 Leeds United 1

FA League Champions – Liverpool

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1966

1.    Day Tripper

The Beatles

2.    Wind Me Up Let me Go

Cliff Richard

3.    The River

Ken Dodd

4.    The Carnival Is Over

The Seekers

5.    Tears

Ken Dodd

6.    My Ship Is Coming In

The Walker Brothers

7.    My Generation

The Who

8.    1 – 2 – 3

Len Barry

9.    A Lovers Concerto

Toys

10. Let’s hang On

The Four Seasons

England beat West Germany 4–2 to win the 1966 World Cup

Demonstrations are held across the United States against the Vietnam War

UK Prime Minister – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Lyndon B Johnson

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Cathy Come Home  Born Free  Batman

FA Cup Final – Everton 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2

FA League Champions – Everton

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1967

1.    Green Green Grass Of Home

Tom Jones

2.    Sunshine Superman

Donovan

3.    Save Me

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Titch

4.    Morningtown Ride

The Seekers

5.    Dead End Street

The Kinks

6.    What Would I Be

Val Doonican

7.    Friday on My  Mind

The Easybeats

8.    What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted

Jimmy Ruffin

9.    If Every Day Was Like Christmas

Elvis Presley

10. You Keep Me Hanging On

The Supremes

The Beatles release Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Summer of Love San Francisco

Sandie Shaw wins the Eurovision Song Contest, the first time the UK wins

UK Prime Minister – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Lyndon B Johnson

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Doctor Dolittle  You Only Live Twice  The Jungle Book  The Graduate

FA Cup Final – Tottenham Hotspur 2 Chelsea 1

FA League Champions – Tottenham Hotspur

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1968

1.    Hello Goodbye

The Beatles

2.    Magical Mystery Tour

The Beatles

3.    I’M Coming Home

Tom Jones

4.    If the Whole World Stopped Loving

Val Doonican

5.    Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart

Gene Pitney

6.    All My Love

Cliff Richard

7.    Daydream Believer

The Monkees

8.    Let The Heartaches Begin

Long John Baldry

9.    Thank You Very Much

The Scaffold

10. Walk Away Renee

The Four Tops

Boeing introduce the 747

Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King are assassinated

UK Prime Minister – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Richard Nixon

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang  Where Eagles Dare  2001 A Space Odyssey  

FA Cup Final – West Bromwich Albion 1 Everton 0

FA League Champions – West Bromwich Albion

UK TOP TEN 1^ST JANUARY 1969

1.    Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

Marmalade

2.    Lilly the Pink

The Scaffold

3.    Build Me Up Buttercup

The Foundations

4.    Albatross

Fleetwood Mac

5.    I’m The Urban Spaceman

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

6.    Sabre Dance

Love Sculpture

7.    Aint Got No – I Got Life

Nina Simone

8.    1-2-3 O’Lery

Des O’Conor

9.    Son Of A Preacher Man

Dusty Springfield

10. Something’s Happening

Herman’s Hermits

Apollo 11 Man lands on the moon

Concorde makes its first test flight

Woodstock attracts more than half a million people

B & Q opens its first store

UK Prime Minister – Harold Wilson

President of USA – Richard Nixon

Leader of USSR – Nikita Khrushchev

Film releases – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service  The Italian Job  Hello Dolly

FA Cup Final – Manchester City 1 Leicester City 0

FA League Champions – Manchester City

UK TOP TEN 31^st December 1969

1.    Two Little Boys

Rolf Harris

2.    Ruby Don’t Take Your Love To Town

Kenny Rogers And The First Edition

3.    Sugar Sugar

The Archies

4.    Suspicious Minds

Elvis Presley

5.    Melting Pot

Blue Mink

6.    Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday

Stevie Wonder

7.    All I Have To Do Is Dream

Bobbie Gentry And Glen Campbell

8.    Winter World Of Love

Engelbert Humperdink

9.    Tracy

Cufflinks

10. Without Love

Tom Jones