Tag: History

Categories
1963

Social History 1963 #63

Saturday 28 December 1963

Sixteen people were taken to hospital last night after twelve vehicles crashed in thick fog on the M1, near Hemel Hempstead. One ambulance-man said later, “It was shocking to see the disregard passing motorists were showing. Some were doing quite 50 mph.” Mr Gordon Wilcox, a motorist, said, “It was like something from an ‘X’ film. People were groaning from their injuries and vehicles were ablaze.”

The mystery of the snakes that are terrorising the town of Maidstone, Kent, deepened last night. The remains of pythons or boa constrictors have been found in eight Maidstone homes. Now people fear that other snakes may be hibernating in the area.

Mr and Mrs Jack Smith were driving home from a party in Exmouth, Devon when they saw a penguin. They turned around to double-check and discovered that the penguin was accompanied by a cat.

The Duke of Edinburgh and five other “guns” killed 200 pheasants yesterday on the Royal Estate at Sandringham. There will be another shoot today.

Kalanag, the last of the great stage illusionists, has died. He was a professional magician for 42 years. His magic library of 20,000 books is the largest in the world. Mr Francis White, President of the Magic Circle, said, “His death marks the end of an era.”

Mrs Barbara Daly, wife of John Thomas Daly, one of the accused in the Great Train Robbery case, has given birth to a baby boy.

Football. Forty-eight hours after the Boxing Day games, the fixtures will be reversed and the teams will play each other again. There are fears that some players will be out for “revenge” and will deliberately injure their opponents. There is a suggestion that these reverse fixtures at Christmas should be scrapped because they have a history of causing trouble.

Television highlights: Dr Who – The Survivors. That Was The Year That Was – final fling with David Frost and Co. The Avengers – Dressed to Kill.

Radio highlights: Association Football Summaries. Take Your Partners.

Weather: mostly cloudy with coastal and hill fog. Outlook – rain or drizzle. 9c, 48f.

Sunday 29 December 1963

Where did The Beat come from? In racing terms you might say it was skiffle out of jazz. It surged up out of the art colleges and was grabbed by the kids who were lost and lonely. They heard The Beat and suddenly they belonged. They were welded into a great freemasonry that had no barriers of class, money or speech. And people in the know say that it has not even reached its peak.

Women in Stroud, Gloucestershire have been invited to visit the local police station and claim the 186 items of women’s clothing that are on display – bras, panties, petticoats and nightdresses. The items were all stolen from washing lines in the district.

“Who is the greatest menace on the roads today? The safety-belt car driver. Eighty percent of them think that when they are strapped behind their wheels nothing can happen to them. How false!” – G Gooday, Enfield, Middlesex.

An engineer, Mr Robinson, inspected a hole in Normandy, Surrey, and drove into it. He was unhurt, but it took four men to get him and his car back on the road.

Doctors are warning of outbreaks of typhoid in South-East Essex.

More was spent on records in Britain in 1963 than ever before. The figure – £33,000,000, up £5,500,000 on last year. Some 80,000,000 discs were pressed, a quarter of them long-players. And the ten number one hits of 1963 were all home-grown.

Listen out for the Aces. They might do for Hull what the Beatles have done for Liverpool.

Football Results: First Division – Aston Villa 2 Wolves 2, Birmingham 1 Arsenal 4, Blackburn 1 West Ham 3, Ipswich 4 Fulham 2, Manchester United 5 Burnley 1, Spurs 0 West Bromwich Albion 2. Top three – Blackburn, Spurs, Liverpool.

Television highlights: No Star on the Way Back – Contemporary Nativity. Sunday Night at the London Palladium – all-star show organised by the Stars Organisation for Spastics. Play – One Night of the Year with Kenneth Cope and Warren Mitchell.

Radio highlights: The Countryside in December. The Trigger – serial.

Weather: fog patches, sunny spells later.

Monday 30 December 1963

An inquiry into the Christmas road death toll of 120 is anticipated. It’s suspected that many of these deaths were due to drivers being incapacitated by alcohol. The use of “breathalyser” drunkenness detectors is a popular proposal. However, Transport Minister Ernest Marples has been reluctant to implement road safety measures in the past.

Charlie Ashby, 73, was trying to remove a jackdaw’s nest from a neighbour’s chimney when he got stuck. Neighbours pulled Mr Ashby’s ankles, but they could not free him, so they called the fire brigade. The Bromley brigade arrived, dismantled part of the chimney and freed Mr Ashby. The jackdaw’s nest remains in place.

A family was covered in soot in Oldham, Lancashire when a balloon got stuck in a chimney pot. A fireman climbed on to the roof and burst the balloon.

At a restaurant in Reading, a man placed his thumb in a radiator and it got stuck. After an hour, police and firemen freed him.

A prediction for 1964: bedrooms will become more feminine with four-poster beds and brass bedsteads. Also for 1964, loose covers in flecked stretch fabric that will fit any armchair.

Hip words for 1964. Thread – dress. Short – car. Boss short – big car. Crumb-crusher – child. To be put down – to be insulted. To be shot through the grease – to be made a fool of. To jump salty – to get angry.

Football: In Division Two, the top of the table clash between Sunderland and Leeds United was a brutal affair. Two forwards kicked each other while another kicked an opponent in the back. A Sunderland player punched a Leeds forward. Two rugby scrimmages broke out in midfield. A Sunderland forward was kicked to the floor by a Leeds defender. A Leeds forward was punched in the face. Sunderland won the match 2 – 0.

Television highlights: The Hoot’nanny Show. Goldenhair – film from Czechoslovakia. Play of the Week – Three Roads to Rome with Deborah Kerr.

Radio highlights: Let’s Get Away From it All. The Pop Art of Soccer.

Weather: sunny then rain. Outlook – rain then sunny. 8c, 46f

Tuesday 31 December 1963

The gayest New Year Ball in London tonight will be at the Royal Albert Hall where stars of stage, screen and television will join thousands of revellers in a six hour non-stop greeting to 1964. The stars include Billy J Kramer, Kathy Kirby and Sid Phillips and his band. Tickets from 30s each.

1963 was a year of industrial peace. In the first eleven months just over 1,500,000 working days were lost because of stoppages – the lowest total for ten years. Over the same period last year 5,750,000 working days were lost. The lost time equates to only 29 minutes per worker in Britain.

Mr and Mrs Average Briton are spending more and more. The weekly budget stands at £18 7s 6d a week. The previous budget stood at £17 0s 6 1/2d. The biggest single item – £1 2s 3 1/2d is spent on cigarettes and tobacco.

A study of 90,000 patients who were first taken into mental hospitals in England and Wales during 1954 and 1955 shows that bachelors had the highest admission rate.

An outbreak of typhoid has been traced to a 93 year old woman who has been carrying the infection since 1917. Experts believe that between two and five percent of people who catch the disease become carriers. Medical checks are complicated because not all carriers develop typhoid.

“Giant rats” – coypus – are on the run in London. Hooligans released them from London Zoo. The coypus have been spotted in Regents Canal, where conditions are ideal for them to breed.

Nona Gaprindashvili, 21 from Georgia, is the first woman ever to qualify to compete with men at the Hastings International Chess Congress. Nona, the world’s woman chess champion, said, “Oh, I love chess. It is the most important thing in my life. Far more important than boyfriends and romance. Chess is my life. I shan’t be thinking about husbands and babies for a long time yet.”

Television highlights: This Wonderful World. A New Year Party from Scotland with Andy Stewart. Last Programme: At the Turn of the Year – Hope.

Radio highlights: Big Ben – Welcome to the New Year. Music For Your Party.

Weather: sunny periods. Outlook – changeable. 7c, 45f.

Wednesday 1 January 1964

Screenshot

Using a sack and an umbrella, John Watson and Ken Brightwell captured two of the coypus that had escaped from London Zoo. They captured the coypus when someone spotted the 2 foot long rat-like animal running along a girder 20 feet above a canal at Maida Vale. A third coypus is still on the loose.

Racing driver Roy John James’ fingerprints were found on a cat’s food dish at the Great Train Robbers’ hideout, Leatherslade Farm, a court was told yesterday. The fingerprints of antiques dealer John Thomas Daly were also found, on a Monopoly game. Eighteen other men and women will also face trial in connection with the robbery.

Police have warned that a highly poisonous Indian plant has been found growing in Canterbury, Kent.

Cricket captain Frank Worrell, whose West Indies team brought verve and gaiety to last summer’s Test matches in England, was knighted in the New Year’s Honours List. Frank, his men and their supporters lifted cricket out of the doldrums with their gay performances in 1963.

Ron Grainer, the Australian composer who has written theme music for a number of television programmes, is leaving Britain for a villa in Lisbon. Working under artificial light has affected his eyes and a specialist has recommended that he should work in bright sunlight.

The Beatles won Melody Maker’s best LP of the year award with Please, Please Me. They also won the single of the year with From Me to You.

Charlie Chaplin’s 38 year old film The Gold Rush won Christmas’ biggest TV audience the BBC claimed last night. The film – the first Chaplin has allowed to be shown in full on TV – was seen by 20,600,000 viewers. The BBC also claimed that during 11am and 11pm on Christmas Day 80 out of 100 viewers watched their programmes, the highest number since the start of the ITV network.

Television highlights: International Ski Jumping from Bavaria. New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna. Top of the Pops – new pop music show.

Radio highlights: Revolution, Change and Marxism. Old Prison Letters. 

Weather: mainly dry, sunny intervals, mild. Outlook – mild, showery, sunny intervals. 9c, 48f.

Thursday 2 January 1964

A firebug is on the loose in the West Country. Over the past eighteen months he has raided at least twenty-four top floor flats, robbed them and set them ablaze. The raids have been in Exeter, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Weymouth, Dorchester, Gloucester, Exmouth and Clevedon. The firebug is about 5 foot 8 inches tall, between 45 and 50, has receding brown hair and wears horn-rimmed glasses.

Hopes of a breakthrough in the dispute that has closed the giant Port Talbot steelworks crashed last night. A union official said, “The company has rebuffed our gesture. We are back where we started.” The union wants a pay increase, justified by the company’s profits.

Cadbury’s chocolate is to cost more from Monday. General increases include an extra penny for the quarter-pound bar (now 1s 2d), and 3d on a box of Milk Tray (now 3s 6d). A spokesman for Cadbury’s said, “Practically everything you can think of has gone up. We staved off putting up our prices for as long as we could.”

After a bumper 1963 in Discland, what will happen in 1964? We asked Parlophone boss George Martin, the man who produces all the Beatles’ hits. He said, “I don’t think there will be much of a change. The Beat mood will continue and spread more widely. The trend towards Beat will become part and parcel of the music scene. At the same time, there will still be the good ballads. There will be more groups too, but only the good ones will break through.”

Everton, the “soccer millionaires”, whose fans are often accused of unruly conduct, have had their headquarters smashed up – by a gang of hooligans. In the New Year’s Eve raid, the hooligans wrecked the players’ and trainers’ rooms causing £1,000 worth of damage. Everton, in an effort to beat the hooligans, made British soccer history by putting up special barriers behind each goal.

Football Results: Scottish First Division – Celtic 0 Rangers 1, Dundee 1 Aberdeen 4, Hibernian 1 Hearts 1, St Johnstone 2 Dundee United 2, St Mirren 1 Kilmarnock 3.

In the 3.15 at Liverpool, Tear Gas beat Saucy Song by a short head.

Television highlights: Tonight with Cliff Michelmore. Canada Playdate – The Looking Glass World, science drama. Road Works Report.

Radio highlights: The Authorship of Shakespeare. The Novel Today.

Weather: cloudy and mild. Outlook – no change. 9c, 48f

Friday 3 January 1964

A team of psychologists will be employed by Associated TeleVision to answer questions such as: should TV heroes have mistresses? Should heroines be blondes or brunettes? The answers will help programme makers to give viewers what they really want.

Scientists have been trying out plastic bags that can be used to take a sample of breath from drivers suspected of having had too much to drink. Drivers would be asked to breathe into one of the bags. The breath would then be analysed by a breathalyser – an instrument that measures the amount of alcohol in the breath.

The Rev Anthony Hart-Synnot, an Old Etonian, has been accused of removing lead from the vicarage roof, thus causing wilful and malicious damage. The vicar explained that he turned his vicarage into a refuge for homeless families. Later, he wanted to evict them, but they refused to move out, so he instructed builders to remove the lead from the roof.

Best buys this week: apricots, plumbs, peaches and indoor rhubarb. Tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce are also good value. Vegetables are cheap. New Zealand lamb is currently cheaper than English. Best fish buys are cod, haddock, plaice and sprats.

Ranks, who run the Odeon and Gaumont cinemas, are to raise their admission prices. The increases will affect 190 out of 390 Rank cinemas. Granada are also putting up their prices to 2s 9d, 3s 9d and 4s 9d. A spokesman for ABC (280 cinemas) said, “We have no plans to raise our prices.”

Exhibitions: camping at Olympia, 3 – 11 January.

More than 46,000 people bought television licences last November, bringing the total to 12,777,635.

Television highlights: Gala Performance – music, opera and ballet. It’s Dark Outside – new thriller series. Comedy Playhouse – The Mate Market with Lance Percival.

Radio highlights: German for Beginners. Readings on Record.

Weather: cloudy, dry. Outlook – cloudy, mainly dry. 4c, 39f.

Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

Categories
1963

Social History 1963 #60

Saturday 7 December 1963

Christine Keeler was taken last night to Holloway Prison to serve a nine-month jail sentence. She was found guilty of perjury and of conspiring to obstruct the course of justice. Defence counsel, Mr Jeremy Hutchinson QC, said that Christine Keeler had been led astray by unscrupulous men. He added, “With everybody who has met her, it is perfectly clear that her straightforward and curiously naive outlook contrasts very, very strongly with the public image she seems to have created. In the words of Lord Denning, ‘let no one judge her too harshly’.” If Miss Keeler behaves well, she will serve six months of her nine-month sentence.

Police have been protecting Labour Party leader Harold Wilson for the past two days because of a letter threatening to kill him. The letter was sent, anonymously, from Lancashire. Special Branch are taking the letter seriously because of the assassination of President Kennedy.

A mass march is being planned in protest against the forthcoming hangings of Russell Pascoe and Dennis Whitty, two young men who murdered farmer William Rowe in Cornwall. A spokesman for Bristol’s Abolition of Capital Punishment said, “Christmas – what a time of the year for a twin hanging! We are against hanging at any time of the year, but this is just making things brutal.” 

Sharp-shooter Terry English spends his time in Epping cemetery blasting rabbits with his twelve-bore shotgun. So far, he has shot thirty-seven rabbits. “I have to do this,” Terry said, “because the rabbits keep eating the flowers.”

Three masked men in a Jaguar rammed a car carrying wages, and used another car to get away with their £2,000 haul. 

Police warned last night that forged tickets are circulating for the Beatles’ show at the Wimbledon Palais. 

Britain’s biggest chocolate firm, Cadbury’s, has banned its chocolate from the giant Tesco chain of supermarkets. The ban is over Green Shield stamps. Tesco wants to give stamps with the chocolate, but Cadbury’s have objected to this plan.

Television highlights: Dr Who – The Forest of Fear. Juke Box Jury with the Beatles. It’s the Beatles! from the Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Radio highlights: Play – The Woman in the Woods. Variety Playhouse.

Weather: mainly cloudy, some sunny spells. Rather cold. Outlook – brighter. 4c, 39f.

Sunday 8 December 1963

A special squad of detectives is trying to track down who sent a threatening letter to Labour Party leader Harold Wilson. The letter writer stated that he would kill Mr Wilson. The letter was posted in Bolton. Threats have also been made to blow up cinemas, schools and the town hall.

Political viewpoint: rather than address the various crises, Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home is prepared to leave Office and leave it to Harold Wilson to clear up the mess.

A van loaded with £1,800 worth of radiograms was stolen in Marylebone, London, yesterday.

Thought: the hand that gives, gathers – John Ray 1628 – 1705.

There is something rather nasty in the national woodshed – a colour bar affecting the brightest West Indian children leaving school. Many of these children are denied a career simply because of the colour of their skin. Immigrants are frowned upon. But the fact remains that our hospitals and transport systems could not run without immigrant labour.

Experts have psychoanalysed dolls. According to the experts, if you choose the wrong sort of doll for your child it might ruin his or her life. Golliwogs, they say, are for three year olds. Eight year olds need dolls that walk, talk and sleep. Boys need dolls too. They should resemble heroic characters, and will make the boys grow into brave gentlemen.

Football Results: First Division – Arsenal 1 Liverpool 1, Bolton 1 Spurs 3, Fulham 4 Wolves 1, Ipswich 0 Blackburn 0, Manchester United 5 Stoke 2. Top three – Liverpool, Blackburn, Spurs.

Television highlights: Auto-Mechanics – the hydraulic system and drum brakes. Home Dressmaking. Tempo – more jazz unlimited.

Radio highlights: Fifteen 45s in Thirty. Family Favourites.

Weather: mainly dry, rather cold.

Monday 9 December 1963

Colonel Henry Smith shot a pheasant and placed it over his shoulder. The feet of the pheasant triggered the shotgun and shot the colonel’s wife, Mrs Helen Smith, in the back and arm. Mrs Smith is in hospital and is “as well as can be expected“.

Recently, Dr Robert Mortimer, the Bishop of Exeter, conducted an exorcism service to remove a ghost from a flat. However, now the ghost, Albert, has appeared in a flat next door. Dr Mortimer said he would not try to remove Albert again. Instead, he will ask the Metaphysical Society to send someone else.

Rev Vernon Mitchell of St Philip’s Church, Norbury, Surrey has created “Project X”, a battle for men’s minds. His sermon last night dealt with “girlie” advertising and Communist brainwashing methods. He was assisted by shapely Mrs Claire Shewring, 27, who wore a black leotard and black tights. Rev Mitchell insisted that “Project X” was not a gimmick, and pointed out that the Lord Himself illustrated the parables in many ways.

Raiders stole £6,000 worth of cosmetics from a depot in Cable Street, Stepney, London.

“How dare a Swansea reader suggest that Harry Secombe is no more than a music hall turn. Harry’s singing never fails to bring tears of pleasure to my eyes and I am sure there are plenty of “serious” music lovers who feel the same.” (Miss) S Cheal, Bromley, Kent.

Dick James is the name. He is the uncredited singer of the Robin Hood theme song. He is also the publisher of all the songs written by the two Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. His songs have been in the top ten since January, and Tin Pan Alley says he’s coining at least £1,000 a week.

Television highlights: Thinking Relativity Through. Whose Neighbour? – the story of a tramp. Discs a GoGo.

Radio highlights: Desert Island Discs – Millicent Martin. Melody Mixture.

Weather: fog early and late, dry, cold. Outlook – rain, milder. 3c, 37f.

Tuesday 10 December 1963

Six hundred and seventeen people were killed on Britain’s roads during September. This is an increase of three percent on the figure last year. If current trends continue, 1963 will be the worst year for accidents in recent memory.

Last year, about thirty people in Britain were killed by dirty saucepans. One place where germs are likely to multiply is in the milk film of a badly cleaned saucepan. Wooden utensils are difficult to keep germ free. Stainless steel, glass and vitreous enamel are healthier options. Dishes should be washed in water as hot as hands can stand then be left to drain dry.

“Most women drivers crawl along as if they are still on their test, slowly, all tensed up. They make male drivers impatient. I would suggest that, whenever possible, women drivers should be allowed to use the roadside cycle track.” – Beastly Male Driver, Coventry.

More than 1,000 people in the British film industry will be redundant by the end of the year, and that figure could rise to 2,000. The unions want a third cinema circuit set up to compete with Rank and ABC. They also want the quota of British films shown in cinemas to increase from thirty percent to fifty percent.

Britain’s miners have set up new records for coal digging. Stocks of household coal and boiler fuel now total well over 2,750,000 tons. This is 350,000 tons more than at this time last year.

“Tory MP Mr Henry Price insists that the Beatles must be beaten. Rubbish. The Beatles are the best thing to happen to the British pop scene in many years. Mr Price should spend his time on more serious things – like solving the unemployment problem in Liverpool.” – Two Girl Fans, London, EC2.

Television highlights: Rugby Union – Oxford v Cambridge, in full from Twickenham. Gala Performance with Geraint Evans. Miss TV Times, London regional final, judges include Roger Moore.

Radio highlights: Pop Inn. Piano Records.

Weather: fog and frost. Outlook – similar. 3c, 37f.

FA Cup Draw

Wednesday 11 December 1963

Drama of train raid swoop. CID grab “The Weasel” in rooftop chase. Racing driver Roy “The Weasel” James, wanted for questioning in connection with the Great Train Robbery, was caught in St John’s Wood after a tip-off. “The Weasel” climbed through a skylight and the chase began. He leapt fifteen feet into a garden – and into a trap, because the garden was ringed with Flying Squad officers. 

In a special effort to reduce Christmas accidents, there will be a 50 mph speed limit on Britain’s roads. The speed limit will be in place from 23 December until 27 December, but it will not apply to motorways.

America is to build a manned space warship that will orbit the Earth by 1967. The project is codenamed MOL – Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The MOL space warship will be attached to a two-man Gemini space capsule. 

Every housewife in Britain is being asked to entertain an “invisible” Christmas guest by sending the cost of an extra dinner to the Freedom From Hunger campaign. Supporters of the campaign include Millicent Martin, Jessie Matthews and Mrs Harry Secombe.

In Broadmoor Prison, three hacksaw blades were discovered in the back of a book of Shakespeare’s works.

Football Results: European Cup Winners’ Cup, Second Round Second Leg – Manchester United 4 Spurs 1 (aggregate 4 – 3). First Division – Arsenal 6 Everton 0.

A marathon discussion programme called Open End – linking-up speakers in London, Paris, Bonn and New York – will begin on the BBC’s Third Programme at 10.15 pm on Sunday. The programme will run until either the topic or the speakers are exhausted.

Television highlights: What’s Next in Toys? – discussion programme. Coronation Street – excitement for Florrie and Miss Nugent. The Face of Fraud – infamous confidence tricksters.

Radio highlights: Mrs Mills. Unread Classics.

Weather: occasional rain, rather cold. Outlook – similar, but with frost in places. 5c, 41f.

Thursday 12 December 1963

Labour leader Harold Wilson has received another death threat. This threat arrived by telephone and the caller said he intended to shoot Mr Wilson. Scotland Yard traced the call to Great George Street, Westminster. Later, police detained a man from that area.

Britain’s steel output was up last month for the fourth month in succession, 20,000 tons above the October figure.

Impresario Harold Fielding claims that he started the “Beatle Scream”. He said, “This type of ‘pop’ concert really started with Tommy Steele in 1956. I was responsible for the staging of his concerts. It seems to be that screaming is a great part of the enjoyment for the youngsters. It’s a psychological problem. To a great extent they are willing to pay their money to be allowed to scream. The biggest screams occur when the performers whirl their bodies around in a peculiar manner. Pop concerts have no lasting merit as music. Do I regret my involvement? Very much, yes.”

Views on marriage: Lord Boothby – “I wouldn’t marry anyone. They are all as bad as each other. I am not married and never will be.” Alan Whicker – “Some American women are as feminine as a boxing glove. They are loud, brash and strident, and not excited by the fact that they are women.” The Marquess of Hertford – “I’d turn down any woman like Elizabeth Taylor. Too bosomy. Having breakfast with her would be unbearable.”

More on marriage. Men reject the following because…

Athletes – too muscular 

Models – too boney

Actresses – too vain

Doctors – too clinical

Clippies – too tired

Waitresses – ditto

Pop singers – too noisy

Lawyers – too argumentative 

Accountants – too clever

Traffic in Trafalgar Square came to a standstill last night as thousands of people gathered to watch the first lighting of London’s Christmas tree. As the Mayor of Oslo switched on the 500 lights, Norwegian carols echoed around the square, sung by Norwegian girls in national dress.

Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – Scotland v Ireland from Glasgow. This Week – Britain’s rising population. Gallery – council housing.

Radio highlights: Music for Dancing. In Search of a Mutiny.

Weather: dull and cold with sleet and drizzle. Outlook – dry and cold. 3c, 37f.

Friday 13 December 1963

The gay but elusive little berry only appears on female holly. And it is necessary to plant one male tree for every three females. The leaf on the male holly is prickly, but the female is smooth. Meteorologists dismiss the folk custom that says plentiful berries mean that the winter will be harsh.

Vicars in Kent have been warned that a dark-haired housewife is going around the county telling hard luck stories so convincingly that vicars are giving her money. So far, it is believed that she has collected £800 from clergymen.

“I wish something could be done to stop half-crazed girls from shrieking when they go to see pop singers. I am in my sixties and think that the Beatles are a nice bunch of lads, but I worry that all this hysteria will destroy their act. Please don’t print my name because a mad mob of girls might go for me.” E.H., Southend, Essex.

The BBC claimed that two shows by the Beatles last weekend set a record for a Saturday night viewing audience. Mr Tom Sloan, Head of BBC TV Light Entertainment, said, “22,000,000 viewers watched Juke Box Jury, on which the Beatles formed the panel, and 21,500,000 watched the Beatles’ own show, It’s the Beatles.”

Figs are good value at the moment, but strikes on the Continent have pushed up the price of dates. Mixed nuts are a good buy, but expect to pay more for walnuts, almonds, chestnuts and Brazils. The cost of kissing is cheap – 6d for mistletoe, but holly is expensive at 7s 6d for one good spray.

“I posted a local letter at 6pm the other night and received a reply – by post – at 11am the following morning.” – R. Ayres, Beavers Lane, Hounslow. 

Snow fell for about ten minutes in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, last night.

Television highlights: Ready, Steady, Go! with the Dave Clark Five. Look – a forest diary. The Sky at Night.

Radio highlights: What’s the Idea? Victorian Album.

Weather: cold, mainly dry. Outlook – no change. 5c, 41f.

Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

Categories
1963

Social History 1963 #58

Saturday 23 November 1963

The world was horror-struck last night by the news that America’s president John F Kennedy was dead – shot in the head by a hidden assassin. Mr Kennedy was riding in an open-top car in Dallas, Texas. Mr Kennedy lived only 25 minutes after he was hit. He died at about 1pm local time, 7pm British time. 

Last night, police were questioning a Texan who had once defected to Russia. They had found his rifle with a telescopic sight. And they said that the assassin had been eating fried chicken at a sixth-floor window while waiting for the president.

In the building where the shots came from police entered a sixth-storey room and found a rifle with a bullet in the breech along with three spent cartridges lying beside it.

In a Dallas cinema, police closed in on 24 year old Lee Oswald. An officer was killed in the struggle to arrest him. And later Oswald was charged with the policeman’s murder. Police said it had not been established that Oswald was Mr Kennedy’s killer.

Oswald has denied any connection with either of the killings. He defected to Russia in 1959 but returned to America last year with his Russian wife and their two babies. Dallas is the centre of right-wing politics. Right-wingers were opposed to the president’s civil rights policy to give equality to coloured people.

Many viewers complained to the BBC last night because the Harry Worth comedy show was broadcast after the announcement of President Kennedy’s assassination. Independent Television broke into the middle of the Take Your Pick quiz show with news of the shooting. At 7.30pm there was a newsflash then two minutes silence. Then Emergency Ward 10 began, but it was faded after five minutes. Bach and Chopin piano music was substituted.

Television Highlights: Dr Who (science fiction series) – An Unearthly Child starring William Hartnell. Juke Box Jury with Sid James and Cilla Black. The Avengers – The Medicine Men with Honor Blackman.

Radio highlights: Hot Twenty. New Juke Box Show.

Weather: rain or drizzle. Rather mild. Outlook – sunny spells. 12c, 54f.

Sunday 24 November 1963

Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade is confident that he can send Lee Harvey Oswald to the electric chair for the murder of President Kennedy. Oswald has been formally charged with the murder. However, he insists that he did not shoot the president. 

Storm over £500 “snob fence” plan. A council in Orpington, Kent has been asked to build a a six-foot high wooden fence between private houses and newly constructed council houses. The request comes from the owners of the private houses who, council tenants claim, want to segregate the children. Mrs Doris Measures, a private house resident said, “We had no idea that council houses would be built. We think the council owes us this fence.”

A massive plan to keep Britain on the move until AD2000 and beyond will be unveiled this week. The plan will include restricting private cars in city centres, an urgent improvement on bus services, and the separation of traffic from pedestrians.

Experts have developed an instrument that takes a body temperature reading in three seconds instead of the usual two minutes. And it can be used in tropical and arctic conditions without being affected by prevailing temperatures.

The French have invented a spade that will take the back-ache out of gardening. It is a semi-mechanical spade that digs out the earth and throws it about three feet – simply by pressing your foot on an attached stirrup.

Football Results: First Division – Arsenal 5 Blackpool 3, Birmingham 3 Nottingham Forest 3, Ipswich 2 Spurs 3, Leicester 2 Chelsea 4, Manchester United 0 Liverpool 1, Sheffield Wednesday 5 Wolves 0, WBA 0 Blackburn 3. Top three: Liverpool, Blackburn, Spurs.

Television highlights: Sunday Night at the London Palladium with Morecambe and Wise. Play – The Way With Reggie starring Michael Caine. Kidnapped – episode seven.

Radio highlights: The Countryside in November. Your Hundred Best Tunes.

Weather: stormy with rain.

Monday 25 November 1963

Lee Oswald, the man accused of assassinating President Kennedy, was himself shot dead today. He was shot down while being transferred from one jail to another. And tonight Jack Ruby, a Dallas striptease club owner, was charged with killing Oswald.

Ruby told police that he shot Oswald because of “a deep sense of sympathy” for Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, and to save her from the ordeal of Oswald’s trial. Captain Will Fritz, Head of Dallas Homicide, said, “The case of President Kennedy’s assassination is now closed.”

Council house tenants have complained that a six-foot high “snob wall”, which has been insisted upon by private house owners, would cut them off from the community. Private owner Mrs Doris Measures said, “We are not snobs, but we don’t want people from council houses peering into our bedrooms.” This evening, a council meeting in Orpington, Kent will decide if the wall should be erected.

In twenty years time there be a third tap at the sink, for boiling water; a recorder for “storing” tv programmes to view later; garage doors that open at a code signal from a car; beds with a stream of warm air instead of blankets. Kitchens will dwindle to cupboard-size and microwave ovens will replace cookers. People will eat frozen dinners stored in deep freezers. Plastic plates will replace china plates. Dustmen will no longer call to collect our rubbish – instead they will empty our sludge pits. Washing machines will disappear, replaced by sound waves, which will remove dirt from clothes. Fabrics will be creaseless, so no more ironing. 

Five thousand frantic teenagers were turned away from a box office in Liverpool yesterday. Hundreds of girls sobbed when 5,100 tickets for two Beatles concerts were sold out in 4 hours 15 minutes. At one time 13,000 teenagers joined the over-night queue. Many of the youngsters were treated for exposure, exhaustion and a lack of food.

Television highlights: President Kennedy’s Funeral Service – via satellite. Panorama – President Kennedy’s death. Whose Neighbour? – alcoholics.

Radio highlights: Thought to be Writ by Shakespeare. Letter From America.

Weather: sunny spells and showers. Outlook – similar. 11c, 52f.

Tuesday 26 November 1963

The Salvation Army is to use guitars as well as tambourines and brass instruments. In their new “get with it” campaign, they will also visit coffee bars, dance halls and bingo palaces.

Two gangs of teenage girls, the Aristocrats and the Thunderbirds, stopped the traffic in a village street in Sunderland, Co. Durham. Using chains and knuckledusters, the teenagers – fifteen brunettes, two platinum blondes and two red-heads – fought and screamed. A woman armed herself with a hammer and tried to stop the fight. At court, the girls were bound over to keep the peace for twelve months.

With the engine on his truck smoking, driver Roy Frederickson abandoned his vehicle and ran to the police station in Essington, Staffs. He informed the police that his burning truck was loaded with gelignite and detonators. Firemen arrived and put out the fire, which had started because of an electrical fault. Later, the gelignite was transferred to another lorry.

The Housing Committee at Orpington, Kent has rejected a demand from private house-owners to build a six-foot high “snob wall” between the private houses and council tenants.

Bread prices will increase from 30 December. Ice cream and lolly prices will also increase, from 9 December. Bread prices will rise because Spillers Ltd are raising the prices on their sacks of flour.

Mrs Mole of Hammersmith was given a conditional discharge after being found guilty of placing “Ajax” in her husband’s coffee. The deputy chairman of the London Sessions said, “It was a very naughty thing to do. I’m going to look on this case as a sudden temptation to annoy your husband. It is a complaint from which quite a lot of married women suffer.”

Television highlights: University Challenge – finals, Leicester University v Balliol College, Oxford. The Plane Makers – factory series. Compact – magazine series – the taxman cometh.

Radio highlights: Our Changing Language. 208 Platter Party.

Weather: showers and sunny intervals. Outlook – showery. 9c, 48f.

Wednesday 27 November 1963

All-time production records are being set by Britain’s car makers. And export sales are rocketing. During October cars were being made at a rate of 32,500 a week – the greatest ever output. The Buchanan Report is due out soon, which aims to resolve how all these new cars can travel on Britain’s roads without causing traffic jams.

The village of Burley in the New Forest is fighting to keep its traffic jams. The locals believe that the cars parked in the streets slow down traffic and make the village safer. A spokesman said, “We haven’t had any accidents here for years.” Hampshire police want to build a car park to get the cars off the roads.

Christine Keeler has been committed to the Old Bailey on a charge of conspiring to obstruct the course of justice.

Bandits in Cambridge stole £20,000 from Barclays Bank – and two bottles of sherry. 

The visit of the Beatles to Wolverhampton cost the town £320 in police wages and overtime, and £5 for the ambulance service.

“The question of turnstiles at ladies lavatories is usually treated as a joke. But it is no laughing matter. I got trapped in one recently and had to feed it four pennies before it would release me.” – Mrs M.D.H., Purfleet, Essex.

Agony Aunt: “Robin” writes, “I’m madly in love with the girl next door, but she’s mad about Cliff Richard. Should I join a beat group to attract her?” Jane Adams’ advice, “Just stick around. Every year 10,000 girls fall in love with Cliff, and every year 10,000 girls fall out of love with Cliff.”

Television highlights: Our Strangled Cities – discussion about the Buchanan Report on road traffic. The Loved Ones – a look at the British love for animals. Our Man at St Marks – comedy series.

Radio highlights: Mrs Mills. Politics of Violence.

Weather: Light rain, drizzle, mild. Outlook – brighter and colder. 13c, 55f.

Thursday 28 November 1963

A vast new plan to resolve Britain’s traffic tangles was unveiled yesterday. Central to the plan is knocking down and reshaping whole shopping areas in London and other cities. Shops will be lifted above street level and pedestrians will use first floor pavements while traffic flows along new roads underneath. Private cars will also be controlled or limited in city centres.

President Lyndon B Johnson has pledged to proceed with John Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill and end racial hatred in America.

Two men who murdered farmer William Rowe will be hanged on 17 December, the Home Office said. The appeals of Dennis Whitty and Russell Pascoe were dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Whitty will be executed at Winchester Prison, Pascoe at Bristol. 

Curate, Rev John Marshall, received two black eyes at a church rock and roll dance when a fight broke out. After receiving three stitches, he carried on his church work as usual.

A nurse has been put on special duty to care for three year old Yvonne Nolan. Yvonne swallowed a small, gold ladies watch, and it is ticking inside her. The nurse has been told to listen for the ticks as the watch travels and leaves Yvonne’s body the normal way.

“Amorous wives” row latest: Councillor Terry Lyons of Camberley is taking legal action against former councillor Mrs Margaret Clark because of “defamatory” statements made in her resignation letter.

European Cup Winners Cup: Second Round, First Leg – Tottenham v Manchester United. Postponed because of fog. Inter-Cities’ Fairs Cup – Sheffield Wednesday 1 Cologne 2 (aggregate 3 – 5).

Television highlights: Criss Cross Quiz. Space Patrol – Time Stands Still. Double Your Money – all-Scottish edition.

Radio highlights: Does The Team Think? Who Knows?

Weather: fog then bright spells. Rather cold. Outlook – rather cold. 7c, 45f.

Friday 29 November 1963

Accidents are the plague of the modern era. To reduce them, experts recommend that people should wear crash helmets on motor cycles and scooters, protective clothing in industry, and lifejackets on boats, canoes and yachts. Accidents cost £500,000,000 a year and result in 20,000 deaths and over 6,000,000 injuries.

About £7,761,000 damage was done by fires in October. This means that fire damage to date this year amounts to £56,454,000, more than the total for 1962.

Christmas poultry will be plentiful this year, and cheaper too. A spokesman for the National Federation of Poultry Merchants said that there should be sufficient quantities of turkeys, oven-ready and fresh, to meet all requirements.

In her extra spending, the housewife bought more frozen foods, milk, butter, cheese, eggs and potatoes this year. However, she bought less bread, rice and flour. Overall, there was a greater prosperity in the South than in the North. But families in the lower income groups are now spending nearly as much on food as well-to-do families.

Sheffield United will stage boxing contests half an hour before the start of their home games.

The Beatles’ drummer, Ringo Starr, was rushed to hospital last night. He was suffering from earache. However, he returned to the ABC cinema in Lincoln where the group were performing and sang a solo number – which received the biggest scream from the fans.

Television highlights: Journal – European magazine programme. Ready, Steady, Go! with Manfred Mann and the Hollies. Background to Ballet.

Radio highlights: A Cornishman in Bath. The Countryside in November.

Weather: dry and sunny. Outlook – showery and colder. 8c, 46f.

Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

Categories
1963

Social History 1963 #53

Saturday 19 October 1963

A man without a face has been smuggled into 10 Downing Street and made premier-designate of Great Britain. The long-suffering public has been invited to go into battle led by a cipher – a man existing solely in the imaginations of the posher members of the Tory hierarchy and a handful of knicker-bockered, pheasant-shooting cronies. The arbitrary elevation of Lord Home to prime minister is designed to hide the cracks in the Tory Party. Lord Home is smiling tonight. But the man in Great Britain with the biggest grin is Labour leader Harold Wilson.

Ronald “Buster” Edwards and his wife June, sought by Scotland Yard in connection with the Great Train Robbery, are believed to be in Norway where employees at a hotel recognised them. The employees noticed June because she changed her hair colour from jet-black to vivid red.

Beauty specialist Micheline Lugeon wanted racehorses to boost her business, she told a doping-plot trial jury yesterday. The idea was to name racehorses after her beauty creams, she claimed. Miss Lugeon denied having anything to do with the doping of racehorses. The case continues.

Meat prices are easier this week, but fish prices are high because of the bad weather. There are very few plumbs about and those available are not nice enough for dessert. Vegetables are rather dreary this week, but leeks are good value at 8d. Cucumbers are up to their highest price yet – 2s 6d.

Mexico City will stage the 1968 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced today. It will be the first time the Olympics will be held in Latin America. The committee will vote today to exclude South Africa from the Olympics because of racial discrimination.

Television highlights: Juke Box Jury with Susan Hampshire and Dusty Springfield. The Avengers – The Nutshell. Robin Hood – The Truce.

Radio highlights: Old Time Music. Pop Track.

Weather: sunny spells. Outlook – rain at times. 18c, 64f.

Sunday 20 October 1963

Lights low, excitement high, and 500 youngsters standing toe to toe, shaking in a delirium of rhythm. Nothing special, really, just another jump night on Eel Pie Island. Eelpiland – as the kids have shortened it – an island on the Thames near Twickenham – is the place for the with its. It’s further out than far. It’s the living end.

Beauty Queen Maureen Gay lifts the lid on the beauty queen business. “In a contest in the north, a judge said to me, ‘You have a smashing chance tonight. I think I could guarantee it if we had lunch, just the two of us…’ I thanked him sweetly and said no. If you want the big money, you’ve got to go along with them, or you don’t stand a chance. Some of the contests are rigged. It’s a fact, and all the girls know it.”

A queue nearly a mile long was waiting when doors opened for the Motor Show at Earl’s Court yesterday. Some local residents complained that they could not get out of their houses. By noon, 117,501 people had paid for admission. A final attendance figure of over 500,000 is anticipated, reflecting the enthusiasm and optimism of the car industry.

Britain is experiencing its biggest ever boom in home movies, a fast-growing world of zoom lenses, pistol grips, blower coolers and projectors. Sales of cine-cameras have zoomed from 10,000 in 1959 to 150,000 last year. And this year they will top the 200,000 mark. 

Football Results: First Division – Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 1, Chelsea 1 Sheffield Wednesday 2, Liverpool 1 WBA 0, Nottingham Forest 1 Manchester United 2, Sheffield United 3 Birmingham 0, West Ham 4 Everton 2. Top three – Manchester United, Spurs, Sheffield United. The top ten teams are still within two points of each other.

Television highlights: Keeping Fit. Auto-Mechanics – carburettors. Play – Funny Noises With Their Mouths featuring Michael Caine. 

Radio highlights: Salute to Nelson. Concert – Beethoven. 

Weather: cloudy at first, brighter later.

Monday 21 October 1963

Other countries have industrial riots and army revolts. Britain has Beatle drives. This crowd gathered outside the TV studios in Birmingham where the Beatles were recording next Saturday’s Thank Your Lucky Stars. The crowd, mostly girls, chanted, “We want the Beatles!” They screamed every time a face appeared at an upstairs window.

The Tory Party’s joint-chairman, Mr Iain Macleod, has refused a seat in Prime Minister Lord Home’s new Cabinet. So has Mr Enoch Powell. The refusal of Mr Macleod in particular has thrown the Tory Party into complete disarray. Both men felt that it was wrong to select a prime minister from the House of Lords.

Postman John Smith rang the church bell at Llangendeirne yesterday to raise the alarm about an invading army of officials, and the villagers duly rushed to their stations, barricading the main road. This “war” is over a plan to build a reservoir above the village. On this occasion, with old farm machinery and bales of hay, the villagers blocked the land surveyors, and they vowed to “resist to the end”.

Communist East Germany went to the polls yesterday to select a new People’s Chamber of 434 deputies. There were no opposition candidates.

Personal Advertisements: Margs come home, all forgiven – Bri’s. Sheila Crall – please write, Ken and Vic. 

Television highlights: The Sound of Brass – National Brass Band Festival. Play of the Week – The Funambulists with Judi Dench and Francis Matthews. The Plane Makers starring Patrick Wymark and Patrick Magee.

Radio highlights: Paul Temple and the Jonathan Mystery. Men of Brass.

Weather: sunny spells, rain, windy, rather warm. Outlook – similar. 18c, 64f.

Tuesday 22 October 1963

The big beat of the Beatles, Merseyside’s top pop group, has been blamed by a college headmaster for a slump in homework standards. Mr Alfred Stevenson of Adelaide Private College, Ilfracombe  has appealed to all parents to switch off the pop music programmes on Radio Luxembourg so children can do their homework in silence.

Thirteen people were injured when two cars collided at Middleton Dale, Derbyshire yesterday.

It has taken two years, a musical sex-change and the emotional impact of Miss Shirley Bassey to get it into Britain’s top ten disc bestsellers – a doleful, soulful song called I (Who Have Nothing). Many have recorded the song, but it’s Miss Bassey, the stormy songstress from Tiger Bay, who has “got inside it” and with the assistance of Mr George Martin, a slim and talented music man, produced the definitive version.

Three out of every four homes in Britain now receive ITV programmes. Of 17,017,000 homes 12,814,000 now have two-channel televisions. And 83% of British homes now have a television set.

From the supermarket shelves: bread without holes – manufacturers say that the holes let the air in and the flavour out. Instant milk – just stir white powder into cold water (like wartime rations). Quick-frozen crepe suzettes – two plastic bags containing the crepes and their sauce are plunged into boiling water for ten minutes.

Television highlights: Badger’s Bend. World in Action – housing. University Challenge.

Radio highlights: Let’s Take a Spin. Dancing Party.

Weather: rain at times. Outlook – changeable. 15c, 59f.

Wednesday 23 October 1963

Labour MP Michael Foot is seriously ill in hospital after a car accident. Doctors and nurses are fighting to save his life. Mr Foot’s wife, Jill Craigie, who was driving the car when it crashed at a notorious black-spot, is said to be in a satisfactory condition.

London County Council will spend £2,000 on teaching machines for experimental use in schools.

Agony Aunt: “Cautious” from Liverpool writes, “About a year ago, I had a very big win on the Pools. I told no one, except my immediate family. I kept my job, and apart from a new home and car, we live modestly. Now, my teenage children are pressing me for all sorts of expensive things. I believe that they should continue with their jobs and not let the money make any difference to their way of life. Since the Pools win, our family has been at loggerheads.” Jane Adams’ advice, “Seek expert advice, and give your children a chance to develop their personalities, broaden their minds, and learn the value of money.”

Agony Aunt: “Young Husband” writes from Croydon, “I’m fond of my wife, but she drives me wild at mealtimes with her constant chit-chat. I wish she’d shut up.” Jane Adams’ reply, “Mealtime chit-chat is a part of family life. It sounds as if you need a landlady, not a wife.”

An unknown comedian has been invited to appear on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. He is Jimmy Tarbuck, who sports a Beatles-style haircut. From Liverpool, Mr Tarbuck went to school with George Harrison and John Lennon of the Beatles.

Television highlights: Attenborough and Animals. Home and Away – FA Centenary Film. Talent of Tomorrow – the Robbins Report on Higher Education.

Radio highlights: Round Britain Quiz. Aspects of the Renaissance.

Weather: rain or drizzle. Outlook – changeable. 16c, 61f.

Thursday 24 October 1963

British women will go on wearing stiletto heels – because they have short legs. Colonel Geoffrey Noakes, president of the National Association of Shoe Repair Factories, made this comment at the International Shoe Repairers’ Congress in Blackpool. He added, “Women want to be propped up in the air. The good news is, new materials have the ability to stand up to the strain of buxom females.”

The condition of Mr Michael Foot MP, seriously injured in a car crash, remains unchanged.

Seven cases of typhoid were confirmed in the Bedford area yesterday. Four families are affected. A health spokesman said, “There is no cause for alarm.”

Sheep rustlers have stolen about 2,500 sheep from North Riding farms over the past year.

A West Berliner, who climbed over the Wall into East Berlin after a quarrel with his wife, was sent back by the Communists the next day.

The Beatles have left for a five-day tour of Sweden, which means a well-earned respite for our police forces because wherever the Beatles go screaming teenagers and police officers are sure to follow. Meanwhile, a tv programme featuring the Beatles, The Mersey Sound, will be repeated to all regions on Wednesday, November 13, at 7.40pm.

Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – Scotland v Bulgaria. The British Association Granada Lectures. Crackerjack.

Radio highlights: Top of the Form. International Concert for United Nations Day.

Weather: warm and sunny, mist and fog early and late. Outlook – mainly dry. 18c, 63f.

Friday 25 October 1963

The Ancient Britons used Stonehenge as a “robot brain”, an American scientist has claimed. Professor Gerald Hawkins of Boston University said that Stonehenge enabled Ancient Britons to predict the seasons and the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon. Furthermore, for this purpose Stonehenge was extremely accurate.

Chemists are about to abandon their scruples, for the centuries-old method of weighing medicines by scruples, grains, drams and ounces is to be abolished and replaced by metric units. 

The price of sugar hit a new post-war record yesterday – £102 10s a ton. Shop prices are expected to rise to around 2s per 2lb bag. Storms in Cuba are responsible for the sugar crisis.

Mr Michael Foot, Labour MP for Ebbw Vale, who was badly injured in a car crash on Monday, was said to have “slightly improved” in hospital at Hereford.

Guests at today’s oyster feast in Colchester will eat turkey, ham, beef and pork because oysters are in short supply at the moment.

Ten town criers will roam towns in the West Country for three weeks shouting out the night’s programmes for Westward television.

Juke Box Jury is losing viewers. In October, 3,222,000 homes tuned into the programme compared with 4,314,000 homes in January this year.

Television highlights: The Rare Ones – the last strongholds of the great mammals. Richard the Lionheart. Supercar.

Radio highlights: El Alamein Reunion. Pick of the Week.

Weather: dry, cloudy. Outlook – no change. 14c, 57f.

Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

Categories
1963

Social History 1963 #51

Saturday 5 October 1963

Giving evidence at Christine Keeler’s perjury trial, her former business manager Robin Drury said that he had a tape recording in which she talked of her life experiences. On the tape, Christine said that she was being blackmailed by a man named “Watt”, also known as Fenton. She also said that Lucky Gordon had not hit her, despite her previous claim that he did. Instead, a woman hit her after  five people were involved in “some sort of sex orgy”. The case continues.

One of the Great Train Robbers told train driver Jack Mills, “When this is over, I’ll send you a few quid. You should keep your mouth shut. They are right bastards here.” Mr Mills, an engine driver for twenty-two years, was giving evidence at Aylesbury, Bucks where twelve men and three women faced charges arising from the robbery. Mr Mills, who was assaulted during the robbery, is still too ill to return to work.

Flying Officer Anthony Northmore, who broke his neck in a flying accident in Honolulu, was transported back to Britain yesterday in a special RAF flight over the North Pole. It was the first time that a mercy flight had been made over the North Pole, which cuts the journey by 3,000 miles.

It’s nearly bedtime for Britain’s thousands of pet tortoises. To protect your tortoise it’s important to tuck them up before the first winter frost appears. Ideally, they should be placed in a cold room or cupboard, in a bed of hay or dry leaves. Warm weather might disturb your tortoise, so check on him to see if he needs food or water.

The controversial BBC show That Was The Week That Was took a knock last weekend. ITV’s thriller series The Avengers starring Honor Blackman came out on top in the fight for viewers in the London area. The viewing figures: The Avengers 1,163,000 homes, TW3 905,000 homes.

Television highlights: The Telegoons – new puppet series. The Avengers – The Undertakers. Comedy Playhouse – Underworld Knights.

Radio highlights: Florence Nightingale. Play – She Shall Have Murder.

Weather: Drizzle. Outlook – cloudy with bright periods. 14c, 56f.

Sunday 6 October 1963

Old diseases, thought banished forever in Britain, are making a comeback, and nutrition is largely responsible. Cases of rickets, polyneuritis and scurvy are increasing. People, especially the elderly, are relying on tea, biscuits and tinned food instead of fruit and vegetables.

Colin Jordon, Britain’s number one Nazi, married Francoise Dior yesterday. Jordan and his bride greeted onlookers with Hitler salutes. The onlookers responded by showering the couple with stink bombs, rotten fruit, eggs and pieces of turf. To boos and jeers the couple, unhurt, hurriedly drove away in a taxi.

Jack “Spot” Comer, one-time “king” of London’s underworld, claims that the Mafia are controlling crime in Britain. “I know their identities,” he said. “I know I’m sticking my neck out by revealing the truth, but if hired thugs beat me up, the Mafia will be admitting their guilt.” Comer added that fruit machines – one-armed bandits – are the racketeers big source of income. The Mafia also control betting shops, amusement arcades, casinos and some race-course bookmakers. However, a Scotland Yard spokesman disputed Comer’s claims.

You can now buy a coloured bath for the same price as a white one. The new vitreous-enamelled steel baths cost under £20. They won’t lose their initial gloss and are harder to chip. Also, laboratory tests have scotched the theory that steel baths cause burnt or chilled bottoms.

Football Results: First Division – Arsenal 6 Ipswich 0, Birmingham 0 Everton 2, Chelsea 3 Stoke 3, Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 2, Sheffield United 3 Spurs 3. Top three – Manchester United, Spurs, Sheffield United.

Television highlights: Fireball XL5 – The Ghosts of Space. Home Dressmaking. Dig This Rhubarb.

Radio highlights: Pick of the Pops. The DJ Show.

Weather: cloudy with drizzle, sunny spells later.

Monday 7 October 1963

Former club boss Ronald “Buster” Edwards and his wife June Rose, both wanted for questioning about the Great Train Robbery, might be hiding in London. It is thought that they have altered their appearances with dyed hair and glasses. Scotland Yard reminded the public that there is a reward for Great Train Robbery convictions.

Max Mosley, son of fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, is to appear before his Territorial Army commanding officer this week. So are six fellow fascists in the Independent Parachute Brigade. Army regulations forbid any political activity.

Nottingham fire brigade want to put an end to back garden bonfires on Guy Fawkes night. Instead, they want organised displays on selected sites. A fire service official said, “We hope to educate people into realising that fires and fireworks in careless hands are a real danger.”

A power station explosion caused electric burglar alarms to ring all over Liverpool yesterday.

A £350 guitar belonging to George Harrison, one of the Beatles pop-song group, was recovered by detectives yesterday after it vanished from a car in Glasgow. Two youths will appear in court today.

Britain’s top guitarist Jet Harris has quit. He said, “Tell them I’m out of show-business for good.” His girlfriend, Billie Davis said, “Jet can’t take it any longer. He’s just been pushed too hard.” Jet caused a sensation on Friday when he walked out of a recording of Ready, Steady, Go!

Television highlights: World in Action – 21st birthday of Oxfam. The Plane Makers – factory series. Naked City – police series.

Radio highlights: Play – Women Beware Women. Good Points of Husbandry.

Weather: drizzle then brighter. Outlook – rain at times, bright intervals. 14c, 57f.

Tuesday 8 October 1963

Gerry and the Pacemakers have been banned from Glasgow’s concert hall because of what happened when the Beatles appeared there on the weekend. While the Beatles punched out their pop music, a teenaged girl punched her fist through a wall. The balcony swayed alarmingly as beat fans stamped to the rhythm. Council member Dick Buchanan said, “The audience members were semi-savages. We’re not taking any chances with this other lot.” A spokesman for Gerry and the Pacemakers said, “We’ll get another hall.”

The Space Age got a foot in the pub door yesterday. An “electronic barmaid” was demonstrated at the Casino Hotel, Hampton Court, Middlesex. It can fill six half-pint glasses in 25 seconds without spilling a drop. Cost – £150.

The gas cooker of tomorrow might not have an oven. With frozen foods and dehydrated meals becoming more popular, and the trend towards packaged meals, in twenty-five years time we might no longer use an oven.

Railway bosses are meeting this week to decide if they should ban all Football Specials from Liverpool. This is because Everton fans wrecked ten out of eleven coaches on Saturday. A British Railways spokesman said, “We have had enough. We are fed up with these vandals wrecking the trains. We’ve warned them, but they take no notice.”

Football Results: First Division – Aston Villa 0 Everton 1, West Ham 1 Burnley 1.

Television highlights: Kindly Leave the Stage – variety with the Mitchell Minstrels. The Rag Trade. The Five O’Clock Club with the Dave Clark Five.

Radio highlights: Folk Songs of Australia. Come Up the Hard Way.

Weather: mostly cloudy with drizzle. Outlook – changeable. 15c, 59f.

Wednesday 9 October 1963

At their party conference in Blackpool, the Tories will debate hanging and flogging. Despite liberal-minded speeches in recent years, the subject has come up again by special ballot motion. The conference will also discuss allowing votes to be cast by post.

After thirteen years of existence, the Tomato and Cucumber Marketing Board is set to end. The Board sought extra powers to regulate trade, but a poll of 5,000 producers failed to sanction those powers.

Christopher Hall admitted breaking into a butcher’s shop where he stole two white coats, a stitching skewer, a knife, an air bed and three frozen chickens. He told Leicester Magistrates, “When I realised I was going to be caught, I threw most of the stuff away and ate the chickens – it wasn’t much fun.” Hall was fined £15.

Hurricane Flora has destroyed a quarter of Cuba’s sugar crop. On the London market the price of sugar jumped from 30s to £78 then £80 a ton. The price is expected to rise further.

Miss Ellen Dart, believed to be England’s oldest inhabitant, died yesterday. She would have been 109 on 1 November.

Discussing the disbanded pop group The Springfields, blonde songstress Dusty Springfield said, “Sorting out our souvenirs, I’ve kept all our press cuttings while my brother Tom has settled for the memory of the money we made.”

Television highlights: The Mersey Sound – documentary. Football Special – Real Madrid v Glasgow Rangers, highlights. The Troubles – the story of the Irish rebellion.

Radio highlights: Parade of the Pops with Matt Munro. Book at Bedtime.

Weather: dry with sunny periods. Outlook – mainly dry with sunny periods. 16c, 61f.

Thursday 10 October 1963

Detectives are investigating a case of a man who had a two-inch nail driven into the top of his head. The man had a headache and the nail was driven into his head as a cure at a Black Magic party. Surgeons later operated on the man, 40 year old seaman Michael Fish. Mr Fish told doctors, “I don’t want to talk about what happened.”

In private, top Tories are saying that, for health reasons, prime minister Harold Macmillan should resign within a month. Lord Hailsham’s supporters were very active lobbying at the Tory Party conference. Lord Hailsham has been described as “ebullient, erudite and erratic.”

Scientist Dr Linus Pauling won the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize yesterday. The 1963 prize went to the international and Swiss Red Cross organisations.

Vicars in Berkshire have been told to keep a careful eye on their church organs because someone is stealing parts. So far, 87 pipes have been stolen. Police are working on the theory that the thief is trying to build his own organ.

Agony Aunt: New Town Wife writes, “My husband does not drink, smoke or gamble, and never swears. He gives me his wage packet to divide between us. He’s considerate and kind. But he’s so dull.” Jane Adams’ reply, “Quit moaning. You don’t deserve the husband you’ve got.”

Football Results: First Division – Blackburn 3 Bolton 0, Liverpool 3 Sheffield Wednesday 1, Sheffield United 3 Ipswich 1, Stoke 1 Arsenal 2. Top three – Manchester United, Tottenham, Blackburn.

Television highlights: Crackerjack – with Mr Pastry. Champions on Ice – international ice cabaret. Space Patrol.

Radio highlights: The Million Sellers. Integration – a Slow Process. 

Weather: dry and sunny after early morning fog. Outlook – mainly dry and sunny. 17c, 63f.

Friday 11 October 1963

Britain will have a new prime minister in a matter of days. This became clear after the sensational announcement that Harold Macmillan is to resign. Rab Butler is the favourite to replace him, although Reginald Maudling, Lord Hailsham and Lord Home are also in the running.

Gas that cannot kill will be fed into people’s homes next week, making Tamworth the safest town in England as far as gas is concerned. The gas is called Lurgi gas. The extraction process, removing the poisonous qualities from Lurgi gas, leaves it without the characteristic smell of town gas, so a chemical is added to give it the normal gas smell.

We are eating more bacon than ever – 94,000 tons more in the past eight years, an average increase of 1,800 tons a week. We are also becoming more adventurous with bacon. We glaze and garnish our bacon with treacle, cloves, honey, sugar, cranberries, mustard, prunes and ginger. Despite this, the traditional British breakfast is giving way to a bowlful of cereal and a cup of coffee.

Two dozen copies of What About Us by Liverpool beat group the Undertakers have been ordered by a jukebox operator in Iceland.

Welsh girls wearing their national costume can now show a leg – hemlines on their skirts can rise by four inches! And they can throw away their woollen stockings and wear black nylons instead! The changes were agreed by the Welsh Tourist Board. However, the tall black hats and flannel petticoats will stay. And a plea for plunging necklines, made by Councillor Harry Parry, was rejected.

Television highlights: The Marriage Lines – domestic comedy. The Story of a Jazz Musician. The Rare Ones – the land of the antelopes.

Radio highlights: In Your Garden. Play – Under Milk Wood.

Weather: generally dry. Outlook – continuing dry. 17c, 63f.

Available for order and pre-order, my Swinging Sixties Mystery Series

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG