Thursday 13 December 1962
Transport minister Ernest Marples announced a new 50mph speed limit over the Christmas period, when driving at night, and a clampdown on drunken motorists.
The Mona Lisa is going to America despite a storm of protest from French art lovers. The painting will travel aboard the liner France in a first-class cabin, reserved for £157.
Pat Simmons, 42, will be the new voice of TIM, the telephone clock. Pat was picked from six finalists, five of them women. She will receive £100 for winning the contest, and £25 for being a finalist.
Television highlights: Rag, Tag and Bobtail. Popeye. Double Your Money.
Radio highlights: Woman’s Hour, Brian Matthew’s Pop Parade.
In the Top Thirty this week: The Loco-Motion – Little Eva, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee, Love Me Do – The Beatles.
Sportsman of the Year: Brian Kilby, a marathon runner who won gold at the AAA Championship, the European Championship, and the Empire Games.
Weather: snow, sleet, high winds. 3c 37f.
Friday 14 December 1962
The British press has grown timid, writes Mr Cecil H King, chairman of the Daily Mirror Group. Frequently, the Official Secrets Act is used as a threat or to deny information on matters not remotely connected with security. He added, “The present bias and unfair operation of the laws against the press reflects no credit on British justice.”
A new bid to get a forty-hour working week is to be made by the leaders of three million shipyard and engineering workers. Their chairman George Doughty said last night that the ultimate aim was a thirty-five-hour week.
Marie Cartnell, dance director at Radio Luxembourg, stated that the Twist, Madison and Shake would soon disappear and be replaced by the Beege, whose steps are not unlike an orangutang taking a shower on a rolling log.
A ban on BBC satirical programmes, such as That Was The Week That Was, will be discussed in the House of Commons next week.
ATV will insist on having the same access as the BBC to the new 625 lines transmission system.
Television highlights: Tales of the Riverbank, Gardening Club, Robin Hood.
Radio highlights: Friday Night is Music Night, Any Questions?
Agony Aunt Jane Adams: Question – My husband is a milkman and his women customers are always inviting him in for cups of tea. Jane’s answer: Who’s complaining – you, your husband, or his customers?
Weather: mostly cloudy with rain. Some frost. 7c 45f.
Saturday 15 December 1962
Christine Keeler, 20, a model, and Marilyn Davies, 18, an actress, leaned out of the window of a mews luxury flat yesterday and screamed as shots were fired. Neither girl was hit. One of the girls phoned Dr Stephen Ward, who has his surgery in nearby Devonshire Street. Dr Ward later said, “She gave me a running commentary on what was happening. I immediately telephoned the police.” Last night, a man was charged with intent to murder Christine Keeler.
Unemployment in Britain increased by 40.6% over the year. According to the latest figures, 544,451 people are now out of work.
Blonde Mrs Majorie Hutchinson, it was said yesterday, hired an assassin to murder her husband. The motive: sexual passion. Mrs Hutchinson pleaded “not guilty”. The case continues.
Green vegetables are in much better condition this weekend and prices are low for this time of year – potatoes 4d per pound, leeks 10d, turnips 8d, parsnips 8d, carrots 4d, lettuce 9d each.
Television highlights: Grandstand featuring boxing, snooker and motor racing. Boss Cat (this is Top Cat – the BBC insisted on a name change because of the cat food brand Top Cat). The Billy Cotton Band Show.
Radio highlights: Pops at the Piano, Transatlantic Tops.
Weather: mainly cloudy with rain and drizzle. Mild. 9c 48f.
Sunday 16 December 1962
The average British woman owns five bras and three girdles. Four years ago she possessed only three bras and one girdle. Now, a new man-made yarn called Spandex should increase sales further.
Party sandwich suggestions: liver paste mixed with fried bacon and sliced mushrooms. Hard-boiled egg with caviar. Meat and onion spread with horseradish. Pork luncheon meat with mustard and chopped pineapple.
Nearly 12,500 men at one of Britain’s biggest steelworks may be out of work by Christmas Eve because of a strike by 320 bricklayers. The strike, at the Abbey Steelworks, Port Talbot, was called on Friday. The bricklayers’ union called the strike after management suspended a bricklayer for not obeying a “normal instruction” – replacing twelve bricks in a hot open hearth furnace.
Football highlights: Everton 3 Burnley 1 (Everton remain top of the league). Manchester City 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3. Birmingham 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Spurs remain in second place).
Television highlights: Cheyenne, Maverick, Bugs Bunny.
Radio highlights: Top Twenty, Sing Something Simple.
Weather: showers. Sleet and snow over high ground.
Monday 17 December 1962
American space scientists switched off their faltering communications satellite Relay. Relay, launched last Thursday, was supposed to have replaced Telstar as a radio and television link, but its power supply went wrong.
The government has promised ITV colour television, and a second television channel to match the BBC’s. BBC2 will start in April 1964. However, no start date has been announced for ITV2.
Dozens of cars got stuck last night on a main road flooded with treacle. The treacle had poured from a tanker, which turned over after a collision in Hardwick near Gloucester. Nobody was badly hurt.
Television highlights: What’s My Line? Huckleberry Hound. Discs-A-GoGo.
Radio highlights: Inspector Scott Investigates. Marching and Waltzing. German for Beginners.
Joe Mears, Chelsea’s chairman, wonders if his £59-a-week footballers will like being paid by cheque in future. “I’m not sure the idea will be popular with them,” he said. “They like to have their pay handed to them in hard cash.”
Weather: rain at times, mild. Outlook – colder. 11c 52f.
Tuesday 18 December 1962
“The Frighteners” are stalking Soho again. Yesterday, a jury convicted four protection racket men who tried to get money from a Soho nightclub owner. Such rackets were common a few years ago, then they disappeared. Now, they have started up again.
Thousands of hosiery workers will be off work for ten days this Christmas, and only paid for two of them. This is because of a sharp fall in the nylon stocking trade.
Television highlights: Polish cartoon. Beat Your Neighbour. Danger Man.
Radio highlights: Pop Corn. Workers Playtime.
Pop singer Billy Fury left hospital after a kidney operation. Earlier this year he suffered bouts of bronchitis and measles. His best disc, Because of Love, was listed twenty-fifth in the Top Fifty.
Football: a proposal to scrap injury time – play ninety minutes and then call time.
Halifax Town, already several thousand pounds in the red, calculated that they lost £420 on Saturday’s home Third Division match with Crystal Palace. The gate, the lowest in the league, was 1,886. After paying their opponents, referee, linesmen, police and gatemen they had £60 left – to meet their weekly wage bill of £480.
Weather: sunshine and showers. Outlook – changeable. 9c 48f.
Coming soon, 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 🙂
Hannah Howe 