Saturday 12 October 1963
Lord Home has joined the Tory leadership race. Rab Butler is the favourite to replace Harold Macmillan. However, Lord Home is emerging as a dangerous rival to Mr Butler, Lord Hailsham and Reginald Maudling. Lord Home won a standing ovation at the Tory conference for his speech “the priceless prize of peace”.
Scotland Yard detectives have arrested a couple in connection with the Great Train Robbery. They are Walter Smith and his wife Patricia of Shoreditch. Fifteen other people are accused in connection with the robbery.
Motorists who open car doors in a dangerous manner will be liable to stiffer penalties under new regulations made yesterday. The rules governing the carrying of passengers will also be strengthened. At present, passengers can travel in the boot, or on the roof – providing they do not block the driver’s view. And on vehicles registered after 1 September 1965, all flashing indicators must be amber.
The United Nations Assembly voted 106 – 1 against South Africa’s racial segregation policy. Only South Africa voted for the policy.
Girls are showing an interest in soccer. Professor John Cohen explained. “The professional footballer is more glamorous and successful than ever before. This attracts the girls. You even find them hanging around at mid-week training sessions. The game is secondary. It’s the players they admire. The attraction can be the way a player rolls up his sleeves before the kicking starts.”
Television highlights: Grandstand – including the closing speech at the Conservative Party Conference. Espionage – spy series. The Avengers – Man With Two Shadows.
Radio highlights: Play – Comfort Me with Apples. Records.
Weather: mainly dry. Outlook – mainly dry. 17c, 63f.
Sunday 13 October 1963
The ringing of the church bells in the little Welsh hamlet of Llangendeirne will be the signal for 200 people to start a protest against a plan to build a dam above their village. The local vicar, Rev G A Williams said, “After the recent Italian dam disaster, we feel even more conscious about the danger that threatens us.”
It’s National Old Folks Week. What can you do to help? Here are some suggestions. For many elderly people, the world shrinks because energies and fitness are no longer what they were. A small thing – smile, gift, letter, visit – can mean so much in a world grown small.
Just invented – a new variable switch for electric cookers which, it is claimed, will give a much wider range of cooking heats than at present.
A power breakdown set off burglar and fire alarms for six hours in Southend, yesterday.
The GPO has warned against sending fireworks through the post. Senders can be prosecuted.
A parson’s son is the latest recruit to the pop parade. Stephen Sholt, singing as Jonny Douglas, has made a private recording, You Have Gotta Play it Rough, and hopes to interest agents. His father, Rev James Sholt, said, “Personally, I think pop music is loathsome and a filthy row. But I wish Stephen every success.”
Football results: First Division – Bolton 3 Stoke 4, Fulham 0 Nottingham Forest 0, Ipswich 1 Chelsea 3, Sheffield Wednesday 3 West Ham 0, WBA 4 Aston Villa 3. Top three – Manchester United, Spurs, Blackburn (two points separate the top ten teams).
Television highlights: Home Dressmaking. Auto-Mechanics – the engine. Sunday Night at the London Palladium with the Beatles.
Radio highlights: Join in and Swing. My Oedipus Complex.
Weather: sunny, risk of rain later. Outlook – mainly dry.
Monday 14 October 1963
Young motorbike fans talk about old age: “You’ve just got to accept it. It’s the same with a bike. When your rods start knocking, you’ve had it.” – Brian Miles, 17. “I don’t know any old people, never spoke to one.” – Richard Lewis, 18. “Let’s face it, old people are blooming barmy.” – Albert Sutton, 19. “When I’m old, I’ll tell ya what I think about it, but I hope I’m not around.” – Steve Clark, 18.
Beatles fans in Palladium battle with the police. Five hundred screaming teenaged girls besieged the Beatles at the London Palladium yesterday. Two inspectors leading a force of twenty sergeants and constables walked slowly towards the girls. The twisting, shouting fans held their ground, then backed away. The fans brandished pictures and record sleeves of their idols. The Beatles wanted to go outside, but the management said it was too dangerous. So, they popped their heads around the stage door. There was a tremendous screech as the girls flung themselves at the gate, but the police held them back.
The police set up crash barriers in Paris as thousands of Parisians queued outside the home of Edith Piaf, the singing star who died on Friday, to pay their last respects. Her funeral is today.
Every 41 seconds between January 1 and September 30 an Automobile Association member broke down somewhere on Britain’s 195,336 miles of roads. Major causes were electrical faults, 37%, fuel shortage, 23%, and defective tyres, 17%.
Personal Advertisements: Jim, please write – Rene. Gas, wtr, htrs, fr, £2. Gip 3601. The Victors are on their way!
Television highlights: Kitchen Party with Fanny Cradock. World in Action – the Tory crisis. Here and Now – Shooting and Shotguns.
Radio highlights: Talking About Music. News – new nightly bulletin.
Weather: sunny spells, cloudy later. Outlook – rain, bright spells. 17c, 63f.
Tuesday 15 October 1963
Engine driver Jack Mills, who was coshed during the Great Train Robbery, was yesterday presented with £25 6s and a Certificate of Courage and Resource by British Railways. Mr Mills has not been able to work since the attack.
A young wife complained that she was chained to the sink, morning, noon and night, while her husband engaged in his passion for playing the trombone. The wife, Mrs June Arnold, sought a divorce, and the divorce was granted on the grounds of cruelty.
The roast beef of Old England is in danger of losing its flavour. The taste is being sacrificed for tenderness. This is done through barley-fed beef as opposed to grass-fed. If this trend continues the British family might lose its taste for British beef.
Twenty-five East Germans, including two border guards, escaped to the West at the weekend.
In a survey of twenty people, eight said that their beds squeak. One reason is that people are spending their money on upgraded televisions instead of buying new beds. Divan-type beds are less likely to squeak than bedsteads. Competition for new beds is likely to increase with the introduction of new cars, refrigerators and washing machines.
After two weeks of broadcasts, the BBC has announced that it will drop its pop music programme, Music to Midnight, and, in the new year, replace it with a series of plays, Just Before Midnight. A BBC spokesman said, “We think there will be a larger audience for these plays.”
Television highlights: Town Meeting of the World – the Christian Revolution. No Hiding Place. Dial Rix – farce with Brian Rix.
Radio highlights: Time For Laughter. Expanding Christendom.
Weather: cloudy with drizzle. Outlook – sunshine and showers. 15c, 59f.
Wednesday 16 October 1963
Latest Tory leadership odds: Rab Butler 5/4 against, Lord Hailsham 6/4, Lord Home 5/1, Reginald Maudling 8/1.
The Queen is replacing her television sets, upgrading to the new 625 lines. She has thirty sets at Buckingham Place and twenty at Windsor Castle. All have been hired, not bought.
An “Automatic Quartermaster”, which will deal with Army paperwork, will be opened by the War Minister Joseph Godber today. This Super Computer, cost £500,000, can read 1,000,000 characters a minute, which means that it could read the Bible in three minutes.
Liverpool is set to become a holiday hotspot, thanks to the Beatles and other pop groups with the Mersey Beat. Hundreds of teenagers have written to guest houses in the city, asking about accommodation. A British Railways spokesman said, “It would not be surprising if we started running excursions soon.”
The bell ringers of Oakham, Rutland will ring a Rutland Surprise – a peal of more than 5,000 changes, lasting 23 hours 20 minutes – on Saturday, when Britain’s smallest county celebrates its successful battle to remain independent.
Football Results: First Division – Arsenal 4 Tottenham 4. Everton 4 Sheffield United 1. European Cup Winners’ Cup – Manchester United 6 Willem II 1 (aggregate 7 -2), Inter Cities Fairs Cup – Sheffield Wednesday 4 DOS Utrecht 1 (aggregate 8 – 2).
Television highlights: What Next in Windows? – Discussion. Preview of the Motor Show with Sterling Moss. Professional Wrestling from Huddersfield.
Radio highlights: Aspects of the Renaissance. The Pop Art of Soccer.
Weather: sunny spells. Outlook – changeable. 14c, 57f.
Thursday 17 October 1963
A £12,000,000 order for four Concord supersonic airliners was announced yesterday by the British Aircraft Corporation. A BAC spokesman said that the order placed by American Airlines brings the total of US orders to thirteen. Deliveries are expected to begin in 1970.
Many of the BBC’s top executives are bitterly opposed to presenting controversial and outspoken programmes on television, such as That Was The Week That Was. Mr Hugh Carleton Greene, the BBC’s director general, is happy with this policy, but other executives, like Sir David Milne, believe the BBC should maintain high standards of taste on television.
The Beatles have been invited to join the Royal Command Performance at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre on 4 November. Marlene Dietrich, at 58 the world’s most glamorous grandmother, is on the bill too. She will sing Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Other stars include Dicky Henderson, Harry Secombe, Tommy Steele and Charlie Drake.
The colour this season is red. Buyers report that red clothes for women are walking out of the stores four times as fast as any other colour. And the most sought after shade of all is scarlet. The reason? Red is flattering and cheering. And it gets you noticed.
Patricia Idenden of London writes: “I think it is very unjust of you to insinuate that the Beatles will be “here today, gone tomorrow”. This, of course, is absolute rubbish. When I am 80 I will still remember the world’s greatest group along with many others younger than I!”
Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – London v Paris. Magic Circle Festival. The Saint.
Radio highlights: Churchill Book Extracts. Science Survey.
Weather: rain then sunny periods. Outlook – changeable. 14c, 57f.
Friday 18 October 1963
The new prime minister will be named today with Mr R A Butler the favourite to get the job. His closest challenger appears to be Lord Hailsham. Ahead of the announcement, Tory “kingmakers” visited Mr Harold Macmillan, who is recovering in hospital after his recent illness.
A well-known solicitor was arrested yesterday by detectives investigating the Great Train Robbery. The solicitor, John Denby Wheater, will appear in court in Aylesbury, Bucks today charged with conspiring with nine other men already in custody to stop the mail train with intent to rob, and harbouring, assisting and maintaining Leonard Dennis Field – one of the men in custody. Brian Field, the managing clerk of Wheater’s firm, is also in custody.
The big Telstar link-up on Tuesday between New York, Rome and London proved that television is still in its infancy, can be a tricky toy, and dangerous when taken too earnestly. Four top churchmen discussed Christian Unity. However, much of the discussion was two-sided because the link to Rome was lost twice, for a total of twenty minutes. Until the technology improves, maybe the broadcasters should feature something lighter, like the Beatles.
Merchant seaman Michael Fish has admitted that he invented the story about a nail being driven into his head to cure his headache. “I’d been drinking rather heavily,” he said, “and met two former shipmates in a pub. There was a bit of a free-for-all and one of the men hit me with a cribbage board, which had a nail in it for scoring. When I came round, I felt the nail in my head.” A police spokesman said, “We would like to interview these two men.”
Napoleon Bonaparte’s bed was sold for £3,800 at Sotheby’s yesterday. It was bought by Mrs O Alber of Switzerland.
Television highlights: Boyd QC – legal series with Michael Denison. South of Panama – a journey through South America. Roving Report – Indonesia.
Radio highlights: Peter Murray Show. Speedy Disc Show.
Weather: sunny intervals, mostly dry. Outlook – changeable. 17c, 63f.
Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series
https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG
Hannah Howe 