Thursday 11 April 1963
Pat Moss, Britain’s top woman driver, is one of the favourites to win the tough 3,300 mile East African Safari. One of her main rivals in this international rally is her fiancé, Swedish ace Eric Carlsson in his Saab.
The Conservative government has rejected a plan for workers to move towards a forty-hour week. A spokesman said, “This plan is not consistent with the methods by which conditions of employment are normally determined in Britain.”
Australia is facing a serious money problem…what to label her decimal coinage, which will take over from £ s d in 1966. One suggestion is to name the equivalent of a dime a kangaroo. Another suggestions are the emu, koala, wallaby and merino. The favoured suggestion is the Down Under Dollar.
Transport Minister Ernest Marples has suggested that young couples should ease Easter road congestion by travelling by moonlight. He said, “A young woman, whose mother might object to such a journey, can always say ‘Mr Marples told me to.’” Meanwhile, the BBC will commence a new experimental service of weekend traffic reports.
Agony Aunt. Samantha writes, “My mother won’t allow me to buy pointed-toe shoes.” Jane Adams’ reply, “Your mother is right. Pointed-toe shoes can lead to a condition known as winkle-picker toes, which will need medical treatment.”
Agony Aunt. “I am 32 and I would like to meet a refined man with no bad habits.” Jane Adams’ reply, “So would a lot of other women.”
Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – championship finals. Music for Guitar. Interpol Calling.
Radio highlights: Eroica Without Conductor. German Songs.
Weather: sunny intervals and showers. Outlook – similar. 13c, 55f.
Friday 12 April 1963
No newspapers – Good Friday.
Saturday 13 April 1963
A hunt for seventeen stuffed alligators was ongoing yesterday. They were being transported from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex to St Ives, Cornwall, but were noticed missing in Exeter. A spokesman said, “They might have bounced out.”
In a fantastic Good Friday joyride, more than 3,500,000 cars swarmed across Britain yesterday. Well over half the country’s car owners were out. They put more traffic on the roads than on any previous Easter. Most popular attractions – the seaside, rivers and lakes. Inevitably, there were traffic jams as motorists streamed out of London at a rate of 27,000 cars per hour.
British motorist Pat Moss, competing in the East African Safari Rally, was right out of luck last night. She was ninety minutes behind her fiancé and rally leader Erik Carlsson. At one stage, Pat lost her shoes in deep mud and had to drive her Ford Cortina in bare feet.
A wife was granted a separation in Milan, Italy after she told a court that her husband played chess all day.
The hit-parading Beatles come in with From Me to You. Not as strong as usual, I feel, but likely to succeed.
Television Highlights: Grandstand. The Andy Stewart Show. International Detective.
Radio highlights: Variety Playhouse. Record Round-Up
Weather: dry and sunny. Outlook – rain and drizzle. 12c, 54f.
Sunday 14 April 1963
The possibility of lie detectors being used in the fight against crime is to be explored by Home Office Inspectors of Constabulary. They are to visit United States Service bases to see the detectors being used in court martial cases.
I would like to walk into Scotland Yard and charge Transport Minister Ernest Marples with obtaining money by false pretences because I think the Conservative government has made the British motorist the victim of the biggest confidence trick ever attempted. I am referring to the Road Fund licence. The government receives £700,000,000 a year from motorists, but only a small fraction of this money is spent on roads. Where is the money going? We deserve to know. – Pat Moss, Britain’s leading female driver.
Please use your influence with the producers of Fireball XL5 to cut out the horror creeping into it. The ghoulish puppets and violence surrounding Steve Zodiac’s exploits are terrifying. – Mrs Margaret Longmuir, Chiswick.
If you are entertaining at home, throw a paté party. The thing now is to serve seven varieties of paté on toast squares or small wafer biscuits. Paté is easily available, fresh or tinned.
A mallard duck walked into a police station in Grantham, Lincolnshire and laid an egg. The police handed the mallard and egg to the RSPCA.
Television highlights: Chess Masterpieces. Bob Monkhouse. Space Patrol.
Radio highlights: Adam Faith. Eleventh Safari Rally of East Africa.
Weather: dry and sunny. Outlook – rain at times.
Monday 15 April 1963
Half a million Britons are spending £5 million a year on snuff and more and more women are joining the ranks. “It’s becoming the vogue,” a spokesman for the snuff industry said. “And it’s not unusual now for a woman to take a box of snuff out of her handbag – in public.”
Men’s fashion. Shirts – gingham checks and pastel shades are in; pink and spice are the most popular colours. Ties – suede is still in, but wear a tie with an embroidered pattern and square end. Suits are in. A brown-black mixture is the with-it colour. Waistcoats are also back in fashion.
Eleven thousand actors and actresses, members of Equity, have been asked to support a ban on amateur performers. Equity wants to expand its Closed Shop from the theatre to film, television and radio performances. A number of leading television performers and personalities are not members of Equity. This resolution could end their careers.
In a morning of shocks, two of the favourites dropped out of the world’s toughest rally – the East African Safari Rally. The first victim was Britain’s Pat Moss. The second was her fiancé, Sweden’s Eric Carlsson. Disaster hit Pat’s Cortina on a mud track in Tanganyika, while the suspension on Eric’s Saab broke near Dar-es-Salaam.
Lester Pearson, a Liberal, won the Canadian general election and will form the new government.
Television highlights: Dancing Club. All Our Yesterdays – the Spanish Civil War. Puffin’s Birthday Greetings.
Radio highlights: Hancock’s Half Hour. Book: Mine Own Executioner.
Weather: cloudy with rain, windy. Outlook – brighter. 14c, 57f.
Tuesday 16 April 1963
Eight battalions of German tank soldiers will be drafted to Castlemartin, south Wales this summer. Each battalion will have fourteen day’s extensive training on the British tank ranges. At the ranges it is expected that the Germans will reveal their “hush-hush” wonder tank.
About one woman in five now uses hair colour in some form or another. Twenty years ago, hair colouring was only used by those women seeking to defy convention, women seen as brazen, brassy or immoral. But today’s women can be blonde one week and brunette the next. She can change her hair colour as she changes her dress or hat.
Personal messages: Richard Hill – come home, you need not go to the dentist: Mum and Dad.
Dorothy Tyler, who won the silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, won the high jump at the Carshalton Trophies meeting. She cleared 4’ 8”.
Football results. Division One – Everton 2 Birmingham 2; Manchester United 2 Leicester City 2; Spurs 7 Liverpool 2. Top three: Spurs 50 points, Leicester City 49. Everton 48 with a game in hand.
Television highlights: Andy Pandy. Germany Since Hitler. The 625 Show with the Beatles and Hank Locklin.
Radio highlights: Woman’s Hour. Family Favourites.
Weather: cloudy with drizzle. Outlook – changeable. 14c, 57f.
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