Saturday 2 March 1963
A Jazz Special by Shirley Lowe.
Hardcore regulars at jazz shows are calling themselves “Oggis”. They walk around with badges saying so. Some even wear them on their feet.
Mods are now engaging in hipster-talk. “This sax player is too much.” “He’s a gas.” Both mean he’s all right.
The musicians Trads go for are Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, Monty Sunshine, Dick Charlesworth, Sandy Brown and Ken Colyer. Mods like Johnny Dankworth, Tubby Hayes, Tony Crombie, Ronnie Scott, Vic Ash, Victor Feldman, and Ken Colyer. Mods like Ken Colyer because his music is uncommercial and he hasn’t had a hit.
Trads go to Jazzshows Jazz Club, a basement in Oxford Street. It has 7,000 members and is packed out every weekend. Mods go to Ronnie Scott’s in Gerrard Street.
Trad fans are usually younger than Mods. Some are earnest forty-year-olds with beards. Mod fans are in their twenties and do a job of some kind.
Trad girls wear leather trousers or coloured stockings, loose sweaters and a lot of hair. The men wear jeans and sloppy sweaters. Mod girls are neat and fashionable. The men wear college-boy hairstyles, well-cut mohair suits, slim knitted ties and thick horn-rimmed spectacles.
Trads look on Mods as a lot of slickly-dressed phoneys pretending to get intellectual pleasure where none exists. Mods consider Trads as a lot of kids who like dressing up and don’t recognise a cheap commercial sound when they hear one.
Television highlights: Juke Box Jury with Dusty Springfield, Harry H Corbett, Alan Dell, Millicent Martin and David Jacobs. That Was The Week That Was. Thank Your Lucky Stars with Petula Clark, Little Eva and Peter Gordeno.
Radio highlights: Desert Island Discs with Sir Learie Constantine. LP Parade.
Weather: frost then sunny. Outlook – continuing dry with frost at night. Maximum temperature 3c, 37f.
Sunday 3 March 1963
Britain’s housewives had a shock yesterday when they went shopping. Vegetables, especially greens, were costing as much as the Sunday joint. Cabbages were the dearest of all costing six shillings each. The high prices are likely to continue for at least three months, and might go higher. The reason for the higher prices is the Big Freeze.
Hard-up Halifax Town – they are in the red to the tune of more than £13,000 – are turning their pitch into an ice-rink today. Skaters will be charged half a crown. People can spectate for a humble bob-a-nob. Club secretary Norman Howe will play pop records over the loud speaker, including the Skaters’ Waltz.
Murderers sentenced to life imprisonment are now serving an average of only eight years eight months in prison.
The Duchess of Argyll, 49, flies to Edinburgh tomorrow to face cross-examination in her husband’s divorce action. She is accused of adultery with three men. The Duke’s charges are denied by the Duchess and all three men. Amongst the witnesses are three private enquiry agents and a handwriting expert.
Soon housewives will be able to buy infra-red cookers, which will cook anything from a quick breakfast to a complete meal in five minutes. Price, £45.
Television highlights: The Golden Hour – ballet. The Avengers. Formby Festival.
Radio highlights: Mystery Playhouse. Top Twenty.
Weather: dry and sunny with a night frost.
Monday 4 March 1963
For eighty minutes today a touring Welsh choir was barred from communist-ruled East Berlin. There were so many Joneses and Evanses that the Red guards didn’t believe it. The party of sixty contained eighteen Joneses and twelve Evanses. It took a lot of hard talking to get the choir through Checkpoint Charlie.
Teenage crime in America soared last year, up 9% compared to 1961. J Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, said that crime rose by 7% in general, with a significant increase in murders.
A firm is paying its boy apprentices ten shillings extra a week if they don’t smoke. The bonus is the idea of Mr Harry Wheaton, managing director of a boatbuilding firm in Torquay, Devon. He said, “Too many youngsters smoke in spite of medical warnings. I felt I ought to do something about it.”
Personal advertisements: John Graham of Paisley would like his wife to ring HAM 8576 any day before 9am. June – contact immed pm, re J & J. Urgent – H. Will the widow of Major Rainbird contact Amelan and Roth, Solicitors. She will hear something to her advantage.
Television highlights: Coronation Street – Lucille finds a skeleton in Ena’s cupboard. Dancing Club with Victor Silvester. What’s My Line?
Radio highlights: Desert Island Discs – Percy Thrower. The Jazz Scene.
People went sunbathing yesterday – in Britain! As the temperatures soared into the fifties, thousands streamed to the seaside and country. The RAC reported that 15,000 cars an hour left London on the 25 main exit routes. In Poole, Dorset there was a fifty yard queue for ice cream, while garages reported “summer-like” petrol sales.
Weather: fine in most areas, 9c 48f.
Tuesday 5 March 1963
The BBC yesterday dropped the famous Bow Bells radio signature tune, used since 1934. The BBC feels that it is time for a change. So the Home Service yesterday adopted “an appropriate traditional air” from Handel’s Water Music as a signature tune.
The cellar is making a comeback. It’s not the dark coal-hole it used to be. Today it is called the lower ground floor and is being used as a spacious family games room, a storeroom and a garage.
The new status symbol is the four-sink kitchen – one for washing up, one for the veg, one for household cleaning and one beside the cooker for draining pans. Architect John Prizeman said, “I don’t know how housewives have managed with one sink for so long.”
There are more than one million men than women in England and Wales. The most popular age for marriage is 22 for men, 20 for women. Divorce is increasing in Britain with an anticipated 34,000 petitions expected this year.
The Walsall v Manchester City Third Round FA Cup tie has been postponed for the thirteenth time because of ice. Norwich played Blackpool in their much-postponed third round tie last night. The game ended 1 – 1. The reply is scheduled for tomorrow.
Television highlights: Professional Boxing. The Defenders – legal series. Here and Now – the world of pop music.
Radio highlights: Family Favourites. Nana Mouskouri.
Weather: mostly dry and cloudy. Outlook – changeable. Temperature 11c, 52f.
The FA Cup Fifth Round draw: Walsall or Manchester City or Birmingham or Bury v Norwich or Blackpool or Bradford City or Newcastle United. Chaos because of the Big Freeze.
Wednesday 6 March 1963
The new Triumph Herald 12/50 saloon is a quality family car that’s different. Announced today, it is the only British car in volume production with a skylight roof. Currently, the Triumph Herald 12/50 is being made for the British market only.
Ukrainian Leo Sachnowsky and his English wife Florence of Womborne, Staffs, will have to wait until later today to discover how much they have won for an all-correct 1/4d line on Littlewood’s Treble Chance football pools. It will be a “substantial amount”, said a Littlewood’s official (it was £40,000 – over £1,000,000 today).
At the fifth day of the hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, people are queuing at 9am to gain entrance to the proceedings, which begin at ten. The attraction – the Duke of Argyll is suing the Duchess for adultery with “numerous” men.
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Football sequences: since a win – Leyton Orient, 16 games. Since a defeat – Partick Thistle, 15. Since a home win – Leyton Orient, 9. Since a home defeat – Everton, 30. Since an away win – Swansea and Carlisle, 13.
Television highlights: Z Cars. Let’s Dance. Here Come the Girls – Alan Freeman meets the Springfields.
Radio highlights: On Your Farm. The Spread of Jazz.
Weather: dry, cloudy. Outlook – little change. Temperature 11c, 52f.
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