Saturday 26 January 1963
The Freeze Latest – Weekend temperatures will not go much over freezing point and there will be severe frost at night. The slight thaw in the north is not spreading south yet. The outlook remains bleak.
All over Britain the near-Arctic conditions continued to play havoc yesterday. At Preston, Lancashire householders were rationed to a gallon of water per head from water carts, which toured the streets. Many areas were affected by power cuts and at Cambridge University, for the first time, girls were given permission to wear slacks under their academic gowns.
Growers have been tackling the frozen earth with crowbars and pneumatic drills to get fresh vegetables to the market. Prices are out of this world and you have to look carefully for unfrosted greens.
Agony Aunt: Question – I want my girlfriend to have a truth-drug test so that I can check on her past life. She is willing to undergo such a test. Where can it be carried out? Jane Adams’ reply – My advice to your girlfriend is to drop you like a hot brick.
Agony Aunt: Question – I have not yet had the courage to tell my future fiancée that I wear a wig. Are most women revolted at the thought of living with a man who wears a wig? Jane Adams’ reply – A woman in love with a man will not give a fig for his wig. Tell your girlfriend the truth at the first opportunity.
Television highlights: Juke Box Jury with Jane Asher, Pete Murray and Anna Neagle. Saturday Sportstime including the Pools Panel results. Chess Masterpieces.
Radio highlights: Desert Island Discs. Hit Parade.
Weather: still very cold. Outlook – little change. Maximum temperature -1c, 30f.
Sunday 27 January 1963
At least 50,000 people want to murder the president of the United States. President John F. Kennedy receives 1,500 obscene or threatening letters every month. America’s security men are full of wonder at the lack of “artillery” around Britain’s Queen, and that a possible assassination attempt is not taken more seriously.
Pat Moss, “the best female driver in the world”, offers some advice to motorists combating the Big Freeze: Frozen door locks – heat the key with a match or cigarette lighter. Iced windows – use a de-icing spray, a plastic scraper or a cloth dipped in anti-freeze. Wheel spin – if you can’t pull away on the ice, try making your own chains from rope, and fix them to the driving wheels. Also, sprinkle some sand or scrape some dirt from the underside of your wings and spread that under the wheels.
A restaurant in London’s West End has employed an artist to write and draw rude messages on the men’s lavatory walls…to save customers the trouble.
Mount a big mirror on the wall of a tiny hall and it will double the apparent size. Place it so that it catches the light from a window and it will also provide free illumination.
Television highlights: Pinky and Perky, The Saint, The Avengers.
Radio highlights: Tune a Minute, Top Twenty.
Soccer: the Pools Panel sat for the first time yesterday and invented 38 results. There will be no jackpot. For 24 points (eight score draws) on your coupon, you are likely to receive £3,750.
Weather: dry with some sunshine. Temperature 4c, 40f, the highest London temperature since 22 December 1962.
Monday 28 January 1963
It’s official – Britain’s women investors now outnumber the men, by 1,104,000 to 982,000. And they have a bigger stake on the Stock Exchange. The reasons – more women go out to work than ever before. Also, women live longer (five years on average) so, many of them inherit their husband’s savings.
Women are wild about the new smooth heroes, including Sean Connery, who is booked to play James Bond for seven years, and Simon (the Saint) Templar, John Steed of The Avengers, and Mike Strait from Man of the World, who share a tv audience of 30,000,000 each week.
A 16lb 5oz baby boy was born yesterday to Mrs Desmond Lyttle of Kempsey, New South Wales.
A daring team of thieves collected more than £40,000 worth of art treasures on the weekend in a raid on one of Britain’s showpiece stately homes – Buxted Park, Sussex. Detectives believe that the raiders were art experts, and that they could find some of the art treasures “too hot to handle”.
Television highlights: Panorama – America’s Playboy clubs. World in Action. Moment for Melody.
Radio highlights: The Archeologist. Calling the Tune.
Weather: cold with fog patches. Outlook – little change. Maximum temperature 3c, 37f.
Tuesday 29 January 1963
Two Killed in Soho Gun Fight. “Tony the Greek” shot in his club. The shooting happened in an upstairs room of the softly-lit club. It is believed there was a quarrel over several women. Detectives are questioning several people at the club.
“How does Britain stay at the top? Should we become the fifty-first state of the USA? The physical distance is formidable and the psychological objections are worse. No, we are Europeans. We live in Europe. Britain’s destiny lies as a leading partner in the largest association of the most intelligent, most skilled, most cultured people the world has ever seen grouped together.” – Woodrow Wyatt, MP.
France will be the first country in the world to operate a rocket mail service. They will shoot mail from the Riviera to Corsica, a distance of fifty miles. The rocket will be controlled by radio and have an undercarriage for landing on a runway.
Football: because of the Big Freeze, the season will be extended by three weeks. The fixtures will be played on Saturday evenings, to avoid clashing with the cricket.
Television Highlights: The World of Jacqueline Kennedy, No Hiding Place, Song Album.
Radio Highlights: People of the Railways, Topical Tunes.
Weather: mainly dry. Some frost and fog. Maximum temperature 3c, 37f.
Wednesday 30 January 1963
General de Gaulle has finally sabotaged Britain’s efforts to join the Common Market. Five of the six countries in the European Community – Belgium, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg and West Germany – supported Britain’s entry, but de Gaulle said, non! De Gaulle can momentarily prevent progress, but he will not prevent the eventual triumph.
Scotland Yard detectives probing the double shooting in Soho are looking for gangsters behind a “guns for sale” racket. One theory is that “Big Tony” Mella, aka “Tony the Greek”, and his manager Alfred Melvin shot each other in an argument over money.
Enough explosives to crack a hundred safes were stolen yesterday from an army depot. The haul – 35lbs of plastic explosives, 65 detonators and 40ft of safety fuse – were in the armoury at the Green Jackets depot, Winchester, Hampshire.
ITV may get a second channel, but only in the main population areas such as London, the Midlands and the North. Currently, there are not enough advertisements to support two ITV channels throughout the country.
Television highlights: I’m Going to Be…a Musician, careers advice. The Flowerpot Men. Tonight in Person, music with the Limeliters and Nana Mouskouri.
Radio highlights: Jazz. Postal Bingo.
Weather: rain or sleet turning to snow. Colder. Outlook – very cold, day temperatures near freezing.
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