Friday 22 March 1963
More babies are born in March than any other month of the year. Over the past ten years, the pattern of March babies has changed only once, in 1953 when May was the biggest month for babies. Why March? One theory states that couples recapture their honeymoon magic on summer holidays. Another theory states that couples plan their babies for March as a beat-the-tax plan – a baby born in March gives its parents a tax-rebate on the child allowance.
Half the world’s population – 1,500 million people – are desperately hungry this morning. Three out of every twenty are starving. Show-business personalities are backing the Freedom From Hunger campaign. They include Sheila Hancock, disc jockey Brian Matthew, Acker Bilk and pianist Mrs Mills. They have set a target to raise £2,500,000 for the campaign.
As the number of typhoid cases in Britain claimed to 35 yesterday, a restaurant and coffee-bar were closed by order of Dr Parker, Brighton’s medical officer because a man employed at both establishments has developed typhoid. Customers are being traced, including students at the University of Sussex and Brighton Technical College.
This week, 7,260 workers at Kodak will share a bonus of £1,216,000. The annual share-out was started in 1912, and was missed in only one year – 1943.
London Transport are to test an automatic underground train driver system on the District Line next month, but drivers will still go along in case the robots fail. The robots control the trains by electrical signals fed into the rails and read by electronic equipment in the cabs.
Television highlights: Royal Shakespeare Company – As You Like It. The Perfect Horse with David Attenborough. What’s New with Peter West.
Radio highlights: Piano Party. Announcements.
Weather: cold and cloudy with some snow. Maximum temperature 5c, 41f.
Saturday 23 March 1963
The cost of living has gone up nine tenths of a point to 103.6, says the Ministry of Labour. The rise is mainly due to dearer vegetables and eggs.
Gold and jewels worth £4,000,000 lie buried in the wreckage of King Saud’s Comet, which crashed on the snowy Alpine peak of Monte Matto – the Mad Mountain. Among the jewels is the famous £30,000 Wells of Love diamond, which is said to carry a curse. Now Italian authorities are afraid looters will steal this fortune before official search parties find the plane.
Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday. Flowers – for best value go for daffodils, narcissi and tulips. Large quantities of these are being sent over from the Sicily and Channel Islands. Snowdrops are also delightful, so are violets, but they are very expensive. For those buying potted plants, choose cyclamen. If carefully looked after they should flower again next year.
Music teacher Christabel Carlisle, 24, from Kensington, London is now a racing motorist. She will make her debut driving a works MGB in the Sebring races in Florida. She made her name driving Minis faster than most of her male competitors.
Boxing: the Mineworkers National Championship saw wins for K.Tate (flyweight), W. Williams (bantamweight), T. Halpin (featherweight) and A. Rae (lightweight).
Top five television shows: 1 and 2 tied – Coronation Street (March 11 and 13) 3. Take Your Pick 4. I Can’t Bear Violence 5. The Cruel Kind
Television highlights: Juke Box Jury with Jane Asher and Henry Mancini. Eurovision Song Contest – Ronnie Carroll sings for Britain. Maverick.
Radio highlights: Late Night Saturday Records. Football Commentary – the second half of a leading match.
Weather: cold and mainly cloudy. Outlook – mainly dry, sunny intervals. 6c, 43f.
Sunday 24 March 1963
What is Britain’s number one status symbol in 1963? Forget the fridge, hi-fi, washing machine and car. The number one status symbol is the garden mower. Petrol, battery-operated or electric powered, at £24 these mowers are superseding the £8 push mower.
How to succeed in a man’s world. My best nine-guineas-an-ounce French perfume is known to the men I work with as ‘Midnight in Grimsby’. This means they like it. A woman’s perfume should not distract a man at work. Furthermore, if she swears, she’s likely to be accepted. So, men, I’m about to light my first cigar of the day, trot out a few vulgar words, and get on with the job. – Sylvia Lamond.
Penny-in-the-slot central heating and hot water for some old-age pensioners and council tenants may be operating within a year thanks to tests ongoing at a National Coal Board scientific unit in Newcastle Upon Tyne. If successful, these tests could revolutionise central heating.
An electric cigarette lighter with a built-in battery that can be re-charged from a domestic power point will be on sale soon.
Executives are wearing cuff-links and tie-pins stamped with the initials TGIF – Thank God It’s Friday.
Police set up road-blocks after a man leapt from a car in Canterbury, Kent, snatched a woman’s handbag containing £4 10s, and escaped in the car.
Television highlights: Fireball XL5. Play – Too Late for the Mashed Potato. The Billy Cotton Band Show with Frankie Howerd and Adam Faith.
Radio highlights: Down Your Way. Top Twenty.
Weather: dry with sunny spells, warmer.
Monday 25 March 1963
Tory councillor Alan Riley believes that more canings are needed. “More whippings would do a lot of good,” Mr Riley said. He thought that some teachers were too scared to use the cane because of the risk of legal proceedings against them.
Wallpaper that is sound and not seriously discoloured can be given a new look. The old method was to use stale bread or stiff flour dough. But you can now buy a plastic dough that does the job much better. Cost 2s 6d for a moderate-sized room.
Thousands of people in Cumberland and Westmorland got up an hour early yesterday, by mistake. Local newspapers printed that Summer Time would begin on March 24, corresponding with Summer Time in 1962. But this year, Summer Time begins next Sunday.
Classified advertisements: JT (260) phone 26th, 9pm, STA 1147. PAP – D & C in a home.
On the stage: Ménage a Trois – Phyllis Calvert, Elizabeth Shepherd and Marius Goring in an eternal triangle with a new twist – the wife and mistress fall in love.
Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest with 42 points. Switzerland were second with 40 points and Italy third with 37. Britain, who have never won the ten-year-old contest, came fourth with 28 points.
Television highlights: World in Action – a report on gambling. Panorama – an investigation into fluoride. Come into the Garden.
Radio highlights: The Archeologist. Kenny Lynch.
Weather: dry with occasional rain later. Outlook – showers. 12c, 54f.
Tuesday 26 March 1963
The Conservative government intends to impose a 5s minimum to send a telegram. Labour MP William Warbey slammed the plan. He said telegrams were a vital emergency service for people who could not afford telephones.
Because of the drop in fatstock prices, housewives are now paying between 2s and 6s less for their meat. Farmers are dissatisfied with the current meat pricing system, but the government insisted that it is working well.
Four more typhoid cases were confirmed in Britain yesterday, bringing the total to forty-three. The source of the outbreak, the Swiss resort at Zermatt, has been closed down.
Football. Discussions are ongoing to introduce eight new clubs to the league and create five divisions. Blackpool’s idea for summer soccer has been kicked into touch. However, something must be done because the game is in a sad state.
Actress Patricia Phoenix, who plays Elsie Tanner in ITV’s Coronation Street, is engaged to be married. But Patricia, 39, is keeping her fiancé’s name a secret. She receives more than 200 marriage proposals a year from men who watch the programme.
Television highlights: Sabotage in South Africa – life in South Africa today where criticism of the government is considered an act of sabotage. International Concert Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra. Here and Now – a marbles and tiddley-winks challenge.
Radio highlights: Boxing – Henry Cooper v Dick Richardson. Pete Murray.
Weather: cloudy with rain. Outlook – showers, bright periods. 12c, 53f.
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