Tag: Fiction

Tuesday 7 May 1963 

Tougher laws to tame fascists. Tougher penalties are to be provided for anyone convicted of trying to arouse racial or religious hatred. The current penalty is a fine of £50 or three months in prison. The new legislation will double or treble these penalties with the possibility of heavy prison sentences.

The three-day national rail strike is almost certain to take place next week, and the men on London’s underground trains will be called out to support the strikers. The strike has been called over redundancies caused by the Beeching Axe.

British businessman Greville Wynne goes on trial in Moscow today charged with spying. A Russian scientific worker, Oleg Penkovsky is expected to face trial with him. Mr Wynne will be defended by a Russian lawyer. The two accused men face a possible death sentence.

Pele, the fabulous Brazilian forward, is unlikely to face England in tomorrow’s clash at Wembley. He was injured in Hamburg when his taxi collided with a tram. Brazil want to use a Brazilian football in the second half, but England manager Alf Ramsey has refused this request.

An inquiry has been called to look into allegations of match-fixing in football league games. Players from Bradford, Mansfield and Bristol Rovers have been named in the allegations.

Television highlights: Decision – Young People and Politics with Michael Heseltine. Background – Marriage and Divorce. Supercar.

Radio highlights: Music While You Work. Cricket – Gloucestershire v West Indies.

Weather: cloudy, some rain. Outlook – sunshine and showers. 15c, 59f.

Wednesday 8 May 1963 

Mrs Hedy Walduck (pictured below), 33, is the mother of nine children. She is also a chimney sweep. She said, “It’s tiring being a chimney sweep, but a lot of fun. It keeps me fit. I often start work at 6.30 am and often don’t finish until 9 o’clock at night.”

At present, a man can claim damages “for the loss of the services of any female servant of his who is seduced by a third person.” For the purposes of the law a “female servant” includes an unmarried daughter living at home. Fathers have been using this right to sue the seducers of their daughters. However, the government has said this law is now out of date.

Prime Minister Harold MacMillan stated in the House of Commons, “I think more spies will be caught. We shall bring to justice traitors who have for the present escaped.” This was taken as a hint that Mr MacMillan has information he cannot yet reveal. 

The Telstar 2 satellite will bring highlights of next year’s Olympic Games in Japan to BBC and ITV screens. It will also send colour pictures, but only viewers in America will see them. 

For every manual job eliminated by automation in America since the end of World War Two, four new white-collar jobs have been created. There are now over 30,000,000 white-collar workers, 10,000,000 more than in 1947.

Independent Television’s share of the viewers has increased to 60% according to TAM, the independent audience research firm. This is an increase from 57%.

Television highlights: Holiday in the Skies – Czech film. International Football – England v Brazil, second half. Hippodrome starring Annie Ross.

Radio highlights: Clinton’s Cake Walk. Background to Music.

Weather: mainly dry and sunny. Outlook – sunny spells. 17c, 61f.

Thursday 9 May 1963 

At the conclusion of one of the most costliest divorce cases in history, a judge decided yesterday that the Duchess of Argyll committed adultery with four men. The judge, Lord Wheatley, delivered his 64,000 word judgement at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The four men were named as John Cohane, Baron Sigismund von Braun, Peter Combe, and an Unknown Man who appeared nude in photographs, his face hidden, with the Duchess.

Lord Wheatley said, “The Duchess is a woman who had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting activities.” The judge added that the pictures, apparently taken by a Polaroid camera, were “gross”. He left the court in no doubt that he regarded the Duchess as a woman of low moral character.

The Duke said that he intended to celebrate and light a huge bonfire. He added, “I am very happy and contented.” The Duchess said, “I have no comment to make.” This is the third time the Duke has been involved in a divorce.

Football: Scotland 4 Austria 1 (abandoned after 79 minutes). The game came to a sensational close when referee Jim Finney took the players from the Hampden Park pitch eleven minutes before the end of time. Mr Finney later said, “The game was getting seriously out of hand. Someone might have been seriously injured.” Austria were reduced to nine players. “I ordered Nemec off for spitting and Hof for a diabolical waistline tackle. I can in no way fault Scotland.”

Football: England 1 Brazil 1. An equaliser from Bryan Douglas six minutes from time saved face for England. From the opening minute they were totally outplayed by Brazil. England live in a different world as far as modern tactics are concerned. England’s hope of winning the World Cup in 1966 are purely pipe-dreams.

Television highlights: Perspective on Failure with Frankie Howerd. Amateur Boxing – Wales v Ireland. Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Radio highlights: Frontiers of Sociology. David Jacobs’ Startime. 

Weather: rain then sunny. Outlook – rain then sunny. 16c, 61f.

Friday 10 May 1963 

Seven women walked out of their jobs yesterday because their boss banned them from wearing hair-curlers at work. Why the ban? A factory manager said, “I did it because the welfare nurse mentioned to me that girls were keeping rollers in their hair too long and it was not healthy.” Irene Dodd, one of the walk-out girls, said “It’s all right for someone who’s married. I’m still looking for a husband and you’ve got to use curlers to look your best.”

The yearly total of drink convictions is now double that of the 1930s. There were 92,100 convictions in England and Wales in 1962, 10,000 more than the year before. 

Tests on a birth control pill for men are to be carried out soon. The pill has been tested with animals and the results are “most encouraging”.

Maybe we should start calling it LiverPop, Liverpool that is, because the city is the gateway to the hit charts. A third entrant from the Mersey beat scene enters the Pop Thirty stakes today – Billy J Kramer with Do You Want to Know a Secret? He joins Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Beatles, the group that seems to be setting the current Liverpool scene.

Police are investigating allegations of bribery involving a gambling syndicate and Third Division footballers. The bribes scandal started when two players told of the parts they played in trying to fix the Bradford v Bristol Rovers match. One of the players involved is Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Esmund Million who agreed to accept a £300 bribe to lose the match.

Television highlights: Let’s Imagine – Going on Safari. The Spread of the Eagle – nine part cycle based on three plays by William Shakespeare. Adventure with David Attenborough.

Radio highlights: Take Your Partners. Motoring.

Weather: showers. Outlook – sunny periods. 15c, 59f.

Saturday 11 May 1963 

Britain does not have a single coloured policeman despite the high number of coloured people living in the country. A government spokesman said, “There is no bar on the recruitment of coloured policemen provided they are in other ways qualified.”

The rag trade is deep in fur and tweed for the autumn. The trends for the new season will include Cup Final tams complete with pom-poms and matching college scarves. Shift dresses and woollen jerseys will keep out the cold. Housecoats will be in tiger and leopard printed fur fabric while in bed we’ll be wearing hooded pyjamas and the new sleep tights.

Racing ace Sterling Moss divorced his wife Katie yesterday. He plans to re-marry, but the name of his bride-to-be is a secret. He said, “I hope to marry a wonderful girl, but I won’t tell you her name because I’m scared of jeopardising the marriage.” His secretary said, “I don’t know who the girl is. Sterling has quite a few girlfriends, you know.” His manager said, “I don’t know who Sterling is going to marry. I can think of a dozen girls he has taken out.”

The three-day rail strike has been called off. Also, seven hundred men ended their two-day strike at the Rover motor plant in Birmingham.

The Duchess of Argyll, denounced in court by the judge as “a completely promiscuous woman” will make “an important announcement” tomorrow.

Winifred Atwell, the West Indian pianist, has been banned from visiting South Africa.

Television highlights: Rugby League – Challenge Cup Final, Wakefield Trinity v Wigan. Man of the World – adventure series. The Third Man – adventure series.

Radio highlights: Interlude. Everybody Step. 

Weather: sunny intervals, a few showers. Outlook – mainly dry, rather warm. 14c, 57f.

Available for pre-order, Songbird, my novel set in the winter of 1962-63

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on over thirty occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Saturday 6 April 1963

Leo Horn, the Dutch referee in control of the England v Scotland Home International, is an Amsterdam textile king, top-ranking judo expert, and a personal friend of Crown Prince Bernhard.

Ready and raring to go – five women who will be out on the trail of speeding motorists next week. The women are the first Z-Cars team for the south of England. Their shiny new MGs will be on the roads of south-east London on Monday. “Men drivers will probably be surprised to be stopped by women, but I don’t think we’ll have any trouble with them,” said WPC Dorothy Farrant.

A million pound order for a fleet of long-distance luxury buses, complete with bars and lavatories, was announced yesterday. Stewardesses will serve on the buses, which will operate between London, the Midlands and Lancashire.

Detectives were called to the Mayfair offices of bandleader-businessman Geraldo where a gelignite gang had blown out a safe during the night and stolen about £2,000.

Television Top Five: Coronation Street (March 25), Coronation Street (March 27), The Defenders, Take Your Pick, This is Your Life.

Television highlights: Grandstand. Juke Box Jury. That Was The Week That Was.

Radio highlights: Motor Cycling. Piano Interlude.

It snowing again. An inch of snow fell on Dartmoor last night. Snow also fell on Bath, Chelmsford, the Chilterns, Kent, Norfolk, the West Riding and Central London.

Weather: rain or sleet with snow on high ground. Outlook – little change. 8c, 46f.

Sunday 7 April 1963 

The Labour Party’s plans for a “University of the Air” have taken a big stride towards becoming effective. However, a national TV university will only be possible when the government sanctions a fourth channel devoted to education. This channel could be run through a joint project between the BBC and ITA.

Many marriages break up simply because the wife becomes unattractive before the husband loses his looks, so says Sir Jocelyn Simon, President of the Divorce Court. He is against divorce by consent. In 1960 under half the divorce cases were on the grounds of adultery. More than half were husbands against wives, though few were “hotel cases”.

Scotland Yard, worried about the increase in cases of robbery with violence, is planning to make more use of newspapers and television to trap wanted men.

We eat around £90,000,000 worth of sausages in Britain every year, but we can do better if we go beyond just frying them. This week sees the launch of a new sausage that can be served at dinner parties. It’s a tasty beef model coarsely chopped to give a chewy meat texture and absorb other flavours.

I tip the Beatles’ new self-written disc, From Me to You, as a cert to hit the jukebox jackpot.

Television highlights: Noggin and the Flying Machine. Jane Eyre. The Harry Secombe Show.

Radio highlights: Three-way Family Favourites. Your Hundred Best Tunes.

Scotland, despite an injury to left back and captain Eric Caldow – who broke his left leg after only five minutes – deservedly beat England 2 – 1 to win the Home International soccer championship. England, for the first time at Wembley, wore their new long-sleeved shirts. The 100,000 crowd paid £76,500 – a British record – to see the game.

Weather: sunny spells, showers, average temperatures.

Monday 8 April 1963 

Britain’s car planners are studying the Paris fashions, and the result will be more colour on the roads. A Ford spokesman said, “Women usually decide the colour of the family car, and they are influenced by fashions.” Computer analysis revealed that Triumph saloon car buyers prefer dark blue or dark green, while white or red is favoured for sports cars.

More and more wives are sending their husbands’ shirts to the new 48-hour shirt service shops that are opening up all over the country at a rate of one a week. They offer a professionally laundered shirt returned in a plastic packet at prices from 1s 9d to 2s 3d a time.

Canon Gervase Markham, Vicar of Grimsby, wants young people to be forbidden to marry until six months after the formal announcement of their engagement. He conceded that this might lead to an increase in the number of illegitimate births, but believes it would reduce the number of divorces.

The Post Office plans to switch its parcel traffic from the railways to the roads. This is in response to the Beeching railway cuts.

What’s wrong with British soccer? Sheffield Wednesday’s manager Vic Buckingham has an answer to this hoary question. “There are not enough oohs and aahs. Keep the ball in the penalty area to get the crowd oohing and aahing. The more you get the ball into the penalty area the more excitement there is – and more goals.”

Television highlights: Panorama – the Canadian elections. Ballroom Dancing. Rugby Union – Richmond v Wasps.

Radio highlights: Ballads. The World Tomorrow.

Weather: mainly dry with sunny spells. Outlook – dry and sunny. 12c, 54f.

Tuesday 9 April 1963 

New European space projects include a space post office system for phone calls, cable and TV employing twelve satellites, which would orbit 7,500 miles above the Earth, starting in 1968, plus a two-satellite system serving the Commonwealth and Europe, and a rocket-ferry system to be used to build orbiting stations in space.

The first automatic Tube train went into service on London’s District Line yesterday. The driver switched over to automatic control at Stamford Brook Station and the train ran to the next station, Ravenscourt Park. Then the driver took over again.

Out of the first 5,000,000 vehicles officially tested for road-worthiness, more than a million and a half failed to pass a straightforward mechanical check. There are fears that this problem could get worse as more vehicles take to the roads due to Dr Beeching’s cut in rail services.

The Faroe Islands are to enforce a twelve-mile fishing limit next year. This will end a concession under which British trawlermen have been able to fish within six miles of the Faroes. 

Football League, Division One. Top three: Tottenham Hotspur played 32, points 47. Leicester City played 33, points 47. Everton played 32, points 44. FA Cup Sixth Round, second replay: Nottingham Forest 0 Southampton 5.

Portsmouth beat St Mirren 2 – 0 at Fratton Park last night. However, they lost two footballs that landed on the roof.

Television highlights: The Apple Tree with the Golden Fruit – Hungarian film. Programme For Deaf Children. The Story of a Test Pilot.

Radio highlights: Bidin’ My Time. Unmarried Mothers.

Weather: cloudy but dry. Outlook – dry. 13c, 55f.

Wednesday 10 April 1963 

Railway lines axed under the Beeching plan may be turned into roads. At the moment, there is no road plan to compensate for the lack of railways. It is hoped that bus services will fill in the gaps left by the railway changes.

The battle of the petrol pumps hots up today with the announcement of another new chain of filling stations. One day after Italian-owned Agip opened its first three stations, Jet revealed plans to open regular price filling stations in Britain. Jet had 248 filling stations in 1961. That figure is now 535 and expanding at a rate of 100 a year.

The extra 30s charge for a coloured telephone is to go. But from 1 May there will be a £1 charge for a new-type phone of any colour.

Over 280,000 houses were built in England and Wales last year, 10,000 more than in 1961.

It makes you think what qualifications – if any – are needed to become an MP when hairdressers and comedians stand for parliament. – WH Story, London, SW4.

Theatrical agent Mr Earl de Wolfe was ordered yesterday to return to his wife, actress Catherine Lancaster, within 28 days. Miss Lancaster was granted an order for restitution of conjugal rights by Mr Justice Karminski of the Divorce Court.

Television highlights: Welsh Radicalism. Hobbies Club. Barn Dance.

Radio highlights: Round Britain Quiz. Parade of the Pops with Russ Conway.

Weather: cloudy with rain. Outlook – unchanged. 15c, 59f.

Available for pre-order, Songbird, my novel set in the winter of 1962-63

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on over thirty occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂