Now up to 103,972 words.
I have researched EVERY number one hit in the UK charts for the birthday of our NHS and included them in a chapter for each decade. For each I have made a list of significant happenings during each year. Today I would like to share with you the SWINGING SIXTIES.
In the book I can not play the music, obviously, but here I am doing just that thanks to YouTube.
ENJOY...
Tuesday 5th July 1960: So now we are up to ONE DOZEN wonderful, love filled years of our NHS !
THREE STEPS TO
HEAVEN by Eddie Cochran
This
was week eight in the UK charts for this single.
Eddie Cochran was an American singer born on 3rd October 1938. He died in a car accident while on tour in England. He passed away on 17th April 1960 in Saint Martin’s Hospital, Bath. This number one hit was a posthumous celebration of his music.
What
else happened this year ?
Harold Macmillan still had his feet under the table in Downing Street.
The Shaddows great musical hit Apache was released and Lionel Bart’s Oliver was first staged.
No doubt you are familiar with black plastic bin bags. It was in 1960 that these were first introduced in Hitchen, Hertfordshire
Exclude Downing Street and we are truly swinging. So what else was happening ?
19th
February
The Queen gives birth to her third child and second son, the first child born to a reigning British monarch since 1857.
6th
March
Princess Margaret marries photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey in the first televised Royal marriage
21st July
Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard Gypsy Moth II having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in forty days.
15th
September
The first traffic wardens deployed in London. NOT SURE HOW SWINGING THAT IS.
2nd
November
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
9th
December
the first episode of soap opera Coronation Street, made
by Granada Television in Manchester, is aired on ITV. It will still
be running past its 10,000th episode in its 60th
anniversary year. Characters introduced in the first episode include Ken Barlow (William Roache), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson), Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) and Annie Walker (Doris Speed). I watched those early episodes when I was a kid but am pleased today that I have better taste.
Wednesday 5th July 1961:
Unlucky thirteen but everything is lucky with the
love of our NHS !
RUNAWAY by
Del Shannon
This
was week ten in the UK charts for this single
Charles
Weedon Westover, better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American
rock and roll country musician, singer and songwriter, best known for this number 1 UK and US Billboard hit. He was born on 30th December 1934 in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
USA and left us on 8th February 1990 in Santa Clarita California.
What else happened this year ?
No change at number ten !
This decade Barclays became the first UK bank to install a computer.
This year Ian Flemming published his James Bond novel Thunderball. Which was the first James Bond film you ever saw. Mine was Thunderball and remains today my favourite.
3rd
April
The Jaguar E-Type, a sports car capable of reaching speeds of 150 mph, is launched as a two-seater roadster or 2+2 coupé.
13th
June
The Government unveils new panda crossings with push button controls for pedestrians, due to concerns about the increasing volume of traffic. The new crossings first appear on British streets in April 1962
1st
July
Lady Dianna Spencer was born.
3rd
August
The Suicide Act decriminalises acts of, or attempts at suicide in England and Wales.
1st
October
Religious programme Songs of Praise is first broadcast on BBC Television; it will still be running sixty years later.
4th
December
Birth control pills become available on the NHS after their availability is backed by Health Minister Enoch Powell.
Doctor, doctor ! I’ve swallowed my pocket money ! Take this and we’ll see if there’s any change.
Thursday 5th July
1962: Well our NHS you truly are at fourteen a
teenager are you not ?
COME OUTSIDE by Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard
This
was week eight in the UK charts for this single.
This track stayed at number one for a fortnight during the weeks commencing 28th June and 5th July 1962. The song was placed twelfth on the chart of overall single sales for the calendar year 1962 in the UK.
Mike Sarne was primarily an actor but had a brief spell as a pop singer.
Wendy Richard was an English actress, known for her television roles as Miss Shirley Brahms on the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served ? from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler on the soap opera EastEnders from 1985 to 2006. Despite being well-known for her distinctive Cockney accent, Richard was born in Middlesbrough. She was born on 24th July 1943 and left us on 26th February 2009.
What
else happened this year ?
No change at number ten ! (Yawn.)
This year Ian Flemming gave us another adventure with James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. Agatha Christie published The Mirror Cracked From Side To Side.
2nd
January
BBC Television broadcasts the first episode of Z-Cars which is noted as being the realistic portrayal of the police force.
4th
February
The Sunday Times becomes the first newspaper to print a colour supplement.
4th
April
James Hanratty is hanged at Bedford Prison for the A6 Murder despite protests from many people who believe he is innocent, and the late introduction of witnesses who claim to have seen him in North Wales on the day of the murder.
25th
May
The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated.
6th
June
The Beatles play their first session at Abbey Road.
14th
June
BBC Television broadcasts the first episode of Steptoe and Son.
1st
July
Heavy smog develops over London.
17th
August
Telstar by The Tornados is released
20th
September
The Ford Motor Company launches the Cortina, a family saloon costing £573.
22nd
December
The Big Freeze in Britain begins with no frost-free nights until 5th March 1963.
Friday 5th July
1963: Fifteen years old now our NHS. In 1963 the school leaving age was
fifteen.
I LIKE IT by Gerry And The Pacemakers
This
was week five in the UK charts for this single.
What an incredible band this was. Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and were recorded by George Martin.
What else happened this year ?
No change on our NHS’s birthday in Downing Street BUT in October Harold moved out and in came Alec Douglas Home.
This year Ian Flemming is still at it with James Bond On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Alistair MacLean publishes his thriller Ice Station Zebra. Fantastic film.
11th January
The musical film Summer Holiday starring Cliff Richard premieres in London. I went to see it at the Odeon Cinema in Kingstanding, Birmingham
29th January
Charles de Gaulle, President of France, vetoes the UK's entry into the European Economic Community. What a GREAT guy he was !
27th March
Chairman of British Railways Doctor Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network. This is expected to result in the closure of more than 2,000 railway stations as well as the scrapping of some 8,000 coaches and the loss of up to 68,000 jobs.
One of the routes cut was the Oxford to Cambridge line. Living in Milton Keynes every day I can see work taking place to rebuild the track !
5th June
John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, admits to misleading Parliament and resigns over his affair with Christine Keeler.
12th July
Pauline Reade, age sixteen, is reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester, the first victim of the Moors murders.
8th August
The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire. I remember the news reports as if it happened yesterday.
23rd November
The first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast. YES, I did watch it on the family’s flickering black and white television.
25th November
The Duke of Edinburgh, Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Leader of the Opposition Harold Wilson attend the funeral of USA President John F. Kennedy in Washington DC.
The assassination of JFK has gone down in history, along with the likes of the death of Elvis Presley and Dianna Princess of Wales, where those at the time can clearly remember where they were when they heard the news. I remember it so well.
This was the year when I became a teenager. I remember so well all of those events. Now I am just an old man ! As a teenager the life-expectancy was always colloquially quo ted as THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN ! I have passed that milestone and I hope have a good few years left. How come ? Three words, well actually FOUR: OUR NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.
Sunday 5th July
1964: (Leap year again) Happy SIXTEENTH Birthday
IT’S OVER by Roy Orbison
This
was week eight in the UK charts for this single.
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Born on 23rd April 1936 and leaving us on 6th December 1988 his life suffered a number of tragedies which he fought his way through. Some people think his wearing dark glasses was due to his being blind but it was not, it was part of his dark image.
What else happened this year ?
Alec Douglas Home’s brief tenure at 10 Downing Street came to an end in October when Labour’s Harold Wilson won the general election.
Ian Fleming gave us another James Bond film You Only Live Twice was published. He also published his book for children Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang. On 12th August Ian Fleming passed away.
1st January
Top Of The Pops first airs on BBC TV. Today we don’t have any pop music to top with do we !
21st January
Government figures show that the average weekly wage is £16.
22nd January
The Film Zulu is released. GREAT film, I wish retro-tv would play it sometime soon.
21st February
£10 banknotes are issued for the first time since the Second World War.
28th March
The pirate radio station Radio Caroline begins broadcasting. FAN-FLIPPIN’-TASTIC. All we have today is Radio Boring !
16th to 18th May
Violent disturbances between Mods and Rockers at Brighton. Hands up all who know what a MOD and what a ROCKER was.
15th July
The Post Office Tower in London is completed, although it does not begin operation until October 1965.
28th July
Winston Churchill retires from the House of Commons at the age of eighty-nine. He was a living national hero, even ti we young kids.
13th August
Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton Prison in Liverpool and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, are hanged for the murder of John Alan West on 7th April, the last executions to take place in the British Isles. In my book BEHIND THE NOOSE OR NOT I debate the rights and wrongs of capital punishment. As a teenager and young adult I was in favour of such but now I am of a totally opposite opinion.
2nd November
ITV soap opera Crossroads airs for the first time. What a load of old rubbish that was but still we watched it every day. I was at school with a lad who acted in the show.
21st December
MPs vote 355 to 170 for the abolition of the death penalty, with the abolition likely to be confirmed before the end of next year. The death penalty has gradually fallen out of use over the last twenty years, with the two most recent executions having taken place in August this year.
26th December
Police launch a missing persons investigation after ten year old Lesley Ann Downey goes missing from a fairground near her home in Ancoats, Manchester. She is a victim of the Moors Murders.
Monday 5th July
1965:
I’M ALIVE by The Hollies Happy SEVENTEENTH Birthday
This
was week five in the UK charts for this single.
What else happened this year ?
Harold Wilson is residing firmly in Downing Street and will have significant influence upon the country during his time as Prime Minister.
The decade is really becoming The Swinging Sixties.
It was within this year that Mary Quant gave us the mini-skirt. The Sixties were really Swinging.
7th
January
Identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, age thirty-one, are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.
24th January
Sir Winston Churchill dies aged ninety at Chartwell, his Kent home of more than forty years.
30th January
Thousands attend Winston Churchill's state funeral in London. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people have filed past the catafalque in Westminster Hall, and the funeral procession travels from here to the service at Saint Paul's Cathedral, attended by HM the Queen, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and representatives of 112 countries. He is buried privately at Bladon near his family's ancestral home in Oxfordshire.
It was fashionable for teenagers in this time to always wear a tie. On the day of Churchill’s funeral I wore a black tie. I have visited his grave at Bladon.
31st January
National Health Service prescription charges end. (For now !)
23rd April
The Pennine Way long-distance footpath officially opens.
23rd June
The anniversary of Parliament is celebrated.
24th July
Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho, dying the next day.
1st August
Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.
20th August
The Rolling Stones I Can’t Get No Satisfaction is released in the UK.
15th October
150 police officers are drafted in to search Saddleworth Moor for the bodies of up to 11 missing people, mostly children or teenagers, who are believed to be buried there. The suspect in the murders is Ian Brady, charged with the murder of 17 year old Edward Evans eight days ago. His 23 year old girlfriend Myra Hindley has also since been charged with the murder, having been arrested on 11th October.
16th October
Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor.
17th October
The body found on Saddleworth Moor yesterday is identified as that of 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day last year from a fairground in the Ancoats area of Manchester.
18th October
The Magic Roundabout premiers on BBC One.
21st October
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.
29th October
Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.
22nd December
A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on UK roads
Tuesday 5th July
1966: Happy EIGHTEENTH Birthday. Today eighteen
is the rite of passage into adulthood but not back in 1966 when such was twenty-one.
PAPERBACK WRITER by The Beatles
This
was week two in the UK charts for this single.
This song is very special to me. It gave me the dream to become a paperback writer and earn both fame and fortune. I am indeed now a paperback writer but somehow fame and fortune have evaded me !
What else happened this year ?
A fan of the Beatles Harold Wilson with his iconic pipe apparently surgically attached to his mouth continues in Downing Street.
Across the summer arrests are made after a protest against the Vietnam War outside the United States Embassy in London in Grosvenor Square when around 4,000 people turned violent. The Vietnam War rather dominated the decade but Harold Wilson firmly kept Britain out of the folly.
3rd January
British Rail begins full electric passenger train services over the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool with 100 mph operation from London to Rugby.
4th March
In an interview published in the Evening Standard John Lennon of The Beatles comments, We're more popular than Jesus now.
20th March
Theft of football's Jules Rimet Trophy whilst on exhibition in London.
27th March
Pickles, a mongrel dog, finds the FIFA World Cup Trophy wrapped in newspaper in a garden in South London.
6th April
Hoverlloyd inaugurate the first regular hovercraft service across the English Channel, from Ramsgate Harbour to Calais using passenger-carrying SR.N6 craft. Now defunct I did once upon a time travel to France on such a craft.
2nd May
Scottish inventor James Goodfellow obtains a patent for an automated teller machine (ATM) using a plastic card and PIN.
6th May
The Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, are sentenced at Chester Crown Court to life imprisonment for three child murders committed between November 1963 and October 1965 in the north west of England. Brady is guilty of all three murders and receives three concurrent terms of life imprisonment, while Hindley is found guilty of two murder charges and an accessory charge in connection to the third which receives two concurrent life sentences alongside a seven-year fixed term.
30th July
England beats West Germany 4–2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley. Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick, and Martin Peters scores the other English goal, in a game which attracts an all-time record UK television audience of more than thirty-two million.
21st October
Aberfan disaster in South Wales, 144 including 116 children are killed by a collapsing coal spoil tip.
Wednesday 5th July
1967: Happy NINETEENTH Birthday. Still a teenager
our NHS, wait until next year !
A WHITER SHADE OF
PALE by Procol Harum
This
was week five in the UK charts for this single
Procol Harum were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single A Whiter Shade of Pale which was one of the few singles to have sold over ten million copies.
What else happened this year ?
I wonder if Harold Wilson had this record in his Number Ten vinyl collection.
In January 1967 Harold Wilson’s government announced that an area of land in North Buckinghamshire was designated to become a new city. That New City became Milton Keynes where many of the anecdotes I am sharing in this book are set.
In March the first North Sea oil was pumped ashore.
In April Puppet on a String performed by Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the first time the UK had won the competition.
1967 has gone down in history as The Summer of Love with the hippy invasion of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I have been to San Francisco more times than I can remember – strange place but today not a hippy in sight !
Anyway…..
4th
January
Racing driver and motorboat racer Donald Campbell was killed in a crash on Coniston Water in the Lake District while attempting to break his own speed record.
7th
February
The British National Front was founded.
12th February
Police raided Redlands, the Sussex home of The Rolling Stones musician Keith Richards, following a tip-off from the News of the World. No immediate arrests were made, but Richards, fellow band member Mick Jagger and art dealer Robert Fraser were later charged with possession of drugs.
4th March
The first North Sea gas was pumped ashore at Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire.
1st June
The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of rock music's most acclaimed and influential albums.
1st July
The first scheduled colour television broadcasts from six transmitters covering the main population centres in England began on BBC2 for certain programmes, the first being live coverage from the Wimbledon Championships. A full colour service (other than news programmes) began on BBC2 on 2nd December.
27th August
The Beatles manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental overdose in London.
20th September
The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (the QE2) was launched at Clydebank by Queen Elizabeth II, using the same pair of gold scissors used by her mother and grandmother to launch the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary respectively.
30th September
BBC Radio completely restructured its national programming: the Light Programme was split between new national pop station Radio 1 (modelled on the successful pirate station Radio London) and Radio 2; the cultural Third Programme was rebranded as Radio 3; and the primarily-talk Home Service became Radio 4. Radio BORING !
19th November
The pound was devalued from 1 GDP = 2.80 USA to 1 GBP = 2.40 USD. Prime Minister Harold Wilson defended this decision, assuring voters that it would tackle the root cause of the nation's economic problems. Today £1 = $1.25 !
27th November
President Charles de Gaulle of France again vetoed British entry into the European Economic Community. GOOD MAN !
Friday 5th July 1968 (Leap year again.): Happy NINETEENTH Birthday. Still a teenager our NHS, wait until next year !
JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH by The
Rolling Stones
This
was week four in the UK charts for this single
Everyone had heard of The Rolling Stones haven’t they ? For those who haven’t, The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era.
This song was used for the fantastic 1986 film Jumping Jack Flash starring Whoopi Goldberg.
What else happened this year ?
Harold Wilson continues as Prime Minister.
The I’m Backing Britain campaign is launched. Now long forgotten, it is still today the policy of our National Health Service.
20th April
Enoch Powel makes is infamous Rivers of Blood speech.
8th May
The Kray Twins, 34-year-old Ronnie and Reggie, are among eighteen men arrested in dawn raids across London. They stand accused of a series of crimes including murder, fraud, blackmail and assault.
10th June
The National Health Service reintroduces prescription charges
8th June
Britain’s first heart transplant patient. Frederick West, dies forty-six days after his operation.
17th July
The Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine debuts in London.
31st Jul
BBC sitcom Dad’s Army is first broadcast
Doctor, doctor ! Do you have something for a headache ? Yes, try this hammer.
Saturday 5th July
1969:
You’ve made it to twenty years of age our NHS – next year
is the BIG one. Happy Birthday.
THE BALLAD OF JOHN
AND YOKO by The Beatles
This
was week three in the UK charts for this single
Do I really need to tell you who The Beatles were
What else happened this year ?
Yes he is still there in Downing Street. Harold Wilson continues as Prime Minister.
January – the Ford Capri is launched. I would love to be able to afford to but today one of these classic cars. I am looking at a starting price of £20,000 !
Also in January the Space Hopper toy was introduced to Britain. I was a bit too old to play with one but who remembers this ?
2nd
January
Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch purchased the best-selling UK Sunday newspaper News of the World.
1st
March
The London Underground Victoria Line is opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
1st
March
The first B & Q DIY Superstore was set up in Southampton by Richard Block and David Quale
4th
March
The Kray Twins are both found guilty of murder: Ronnie of murdering George Cornell ; Reggie of murdering Jack "the Hat" McVitie. On 5th March, they are sentenced to life imprisonment.
7th March
The London Underground Victoria Line was opened by The Queen.
25th
March
John Lennon and Yoko Ono are married in Gibraltar.
29th
March
Lulu representing the UK with the song Boom Bang-a-Bang, shared first place in the Eurovision Song Contest in a four-way tie with France, the Netherlands and the host country, Spain. Later, in the Gulf War, BBC Radio Boring would ban playing the song.
17th
April
Representation of the People Act lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 with effect from February 1970. It also permitted candidates to have a party label included on the ballot paper, and removed the right (theoretically restored in 1967) of convicted prisoners to vote in Parliamentary elections.
20th April
British Leyland Motor Corporation launched Britain's first production hatchback car, the Austin Maxi. For several years I owned and drove one.
24th
April
The final episode of Mrs Dale’s Diary is broadcast. Mrs Dale’s husband was Doctor Dale a GP
29th
May
Carry On Camping was released, becoming the year's most popular film at the UK box office
1st
July
Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales.
July
Apollo 11 becomes the first moon landing with Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to set foot on the Lunar surface.
5th
October
The first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus was broadcast on the BBC.
And so now into the next
decade. 1970’s The Disco
Decade
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