Away Back to the Sixties

 

So I've always wanted to take a look back at the 60s and to write about how I felt about this exceptional era when I was a lad. Of course in this blog, I am recalling the basic history of those years age between 1960 and 1969. My overriding observation when looking back was the then ceremonial phrase, The Swinging Sixties. Shall touch upon that shortly.

So what inspired me to write this blog? Simple, the extraordinary TV series, Heartbeat, that great drama series based in the fictional villages of Aidensfield and Ashfordly in North Yorkshire. When I started to watch the repeat series - this would have been around 2015 when working in Leatherhead, Surrey - it just captured my imagination, all those throwbacks to the 60s, the music, the counter-culture, costumes, hairstyles, just amazing. You can Google search and you'll find tons of episodes online.

So, the 60s, and just what was going on? Well, we all knew about the Swinging Sixties as they were known by some. Those were the years, especially in California, where the hippie movement began, a hedonistic mix of music and drugs, and in 1967 we had the Summer of Love and the incredible Woodstock Festival of Music. Again, Google it - you can watch this whole awesome event online. Many of the greats of the time appeared on stage: Joan Baez, Santana, Canned Heat, The Who, Joe Cocker, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; yep some of the greats of the day.

 And the memorable events over and above Woodstock. Of course, there were many. So here are a few. The dance craze ‘the twist’ arrived in discotheques. Marilyn Monroe passed away; they reckon it was an attempted suicide by overdosing on barbiturates. It’s weird that her one-time lover, the then President of the United States, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The Beatles made their first tour of the United States. Miniskirts turned up on our streets. Seemingly women were wearing them as far back as 5400BC - what? The great Walt Disney died of lung cancer in 1966; seemingly he was a life-long chain smoker! Sorry to continue in a dreary note but Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room. It’s recorded that in a speech the previous day, he said, “I’ve seen the promised land and the coming of the Lord.”

On a more positive note, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. It was July, 1969, when he stated, “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  As I mentioned at the start of this blog, I was a young teenager during the 60s. Looking back, the 1960s was a decade of rapid change. Blink for one second and you would have missed it. Of course when it came to drugs, if you remembered anything about the 60s, then you weren’t there!! It was the period that finally allowed people the liberty and individuality people who had fought for and what we take for granted nowadays. The 60s began bleak and restricted, but by the end, people were full of hope and optimism for a better future.

And so just a few more memories. Coronation first aired in 1960 and is still going. And then BBC 2 arrived on our TV screens in 1964 and was the first channel to have colour in 1967. Dr. Who arrived and was played by William Hartnell. Everything we bought was paid for in £SP (pounds, shillings and pence). A gallon of petrol cost approximately, £0.28 whereas today it's around £5.80! Transistor radios arrived on the scene and a colour television would set you back around £250 in today's money. I mean I could go on but will stop it here. 

And here were are in 2021. Is there any optimism for a better future? Sorry, but it doesn’t look like it. We’ll see.