Tag: Writing

Wednesday 17 April 1963

A “millionaire-class” mini-car conversion with electrically-operated windows and a chromium-plated gear lever, is announced today by Harold Radford, the London coach-building firm. It is based on the £567 mini-car with the Cooper engine, and will cost £1,088.

American scientists have promised to design within six months a robot spaceman that can be landed on Mars or Venus to explore the planets. The Americans hope that a robot spaceman aboard their Voyager long-range  spacecraft will blast-off for Mars in 1966.

Many murders remain undetected because a thorough examination is not made of the victims. Poisoners in particular may be walking around without fear of arrest because there is no expert pathological check. To combat this, Dr Polson, a professor of forensic medicine, suggested that all coroners’ examinations should be made by a national team of pathologists.

Four times a gang blasted a safe with gelignite, but no one reported the explosions. The gang got away with £50,000. Police believe that they may be amateurs, and injured, because they used too much gelignite.

Nine days after arriving in London, the West Indies touring cricketers still await the chance to “thud” their bats against a ball on a grass wicket. They went to Lords yesterday, but normal net practice on the soaked grass was out of the question. In England’s bleak spring, sweaters remain the order of the day.

Television highlights: Wednesday Magazine – women’s art. The Sky at Night – exploding stars. I’m Going to Be…a dentist.

Radio highlights: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Rave-On.

Weather: showers at first, brighter later. Outlook – similar. 12c, 54f.

Thursday 18 April 1963

The population of the world, 3,000 million people, will double by the end of the century predict America’s National Academy of Sciences. The scientists call for a world-wide birth control programme.

Erich Rajakovic, 58-year-old alleged henchman of Adolph Eichmann, walked into the office of a Viennese investigating judge and surrendered himself “to prove his innocence”. However, the judge ordered that Rajakovic should be arrested on a charge of suspected complicity in murder. Since the war Rajakovic has been on the run in Argentina, Italy, Switzerland and Austria.

Up and up goes our intake of frozen food. New figures just published show that in 1962 we ate our way through 79,800 tons of the stuff. This was 11,800 tons more than the previous year. Our favourite frozen food? Peas, which account for over 30% of the total sales.

Two nine-mile stretches of barriers will be put up along the centre of the M1 in an attempt to cut accidents – particularly through cars crossing on to the oncoming lanes.

ITV clams that in the first three months of the year it attracted 57% of the viewing audience. However, the BBC claims that the viewing audience was equally shared, 50% – 50%.

Television highlights: Perspective on the Bath – Are We a Clean Nation? Music For Guitar. Father of the Bride.

Radio highlights: French Flute Music. Requests.

Weather: sunny spells and showers. Outlook – sunny spells and showers. 12c, 54f.

Friday 19 April 1963 

The government plans to spend £117,000,000 on old people’s homes during the next ten years. By 1972 it is hoped that more than 1,000 new residential homes for elderly people will have been built. The number of people aged over 65 is expected to increase by one third in the next twenty years.

The Big Freeze cut the number of road deaths in February. There were 365 road deaths in that month – ninety-four fewer than in February 1962. Traffic was down nine percent because of the bad weather.

Masked bandits got away with about £800 when they ambushed a car on hire to the Westminster Bank yesterday. The bank car was stopped when a green Jaguar pulled up in front of it and a van rammed it from behind. The three bandits escaped with the money in the Jaguar.

There are now 68 typhoid cases in Britain, all linked to the outbreak in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Westland are now offering three Hovercrafts for delivery within nine months, and expect to announce first order details at any time. The craft are: the SRN2, 27 tons, 70 passengers, 90mph, £325,700; the SRN Mark 2, 37 tons, 150 passengers, 83mph, £450,600; the SRN 5, seven tons, 20 passengers, 80mph, £75,600.

Television highlights: It’s a Square World with Michael Bentine. Indoor Athletics. Wuthering Heights – a repeat of the 1962 play.

Radio highlights: The Navy Lark. Climbing Kilimanjaro.

Weather: sunny periods, heavy rain, hail and thunder. Outlook – wet and warm. 13c, 55f.

Saturday 20 April 1963

Britain’s biggest ever trade show – the London International Engineering Exhibition – opens next week. The ten-day exhibition will be housed at Olympia and Earls Court. The number of exhibitors will total 1,000 with more than 200 from Europe.

Richard Beeching, the man who axed Britain’s railways, said, “The British public are so filthy.” He was responding to a question about dirty trains and stations. Sir Ronald Garrett, former chairman of the Central Transport Consultative Committee replied, “British railways are filthy, but the British public are no dirtier than any other nation.”

Britain’s exports smashed all previous records last month. They soared £26,000,000 above the February total to reach an all-time high of £361,000,000. 

A Christmas pudding thrown by a spectator hit a wrestler in the face and stopped the contest at Malvern, Worcestershire, yesterday.

Football: International Youth Tournament Semi-Finals: England 1 Scotland 0. Northern Ireland 3 Bulgaria 3. Northern Ireland won the tie on a draw of lots.

The gates will be closed at Goodison Park where Everton will meet Tottenham Hotspur in a fixture that could decide the league title. Leicester City, who are also in contention, are home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Television highlights: Grandstand. The Third Man – series. That Was The Week That Was.

Radio highlights: Sports Parade. Bandstand.

Weather: rain at times. Outlook – sunny spells and showers. 13c, 55f.

Sunday 21 April 1963 

Girls are reading up on judo since Honor Blackman showed how easily men can be thrown around in The Avengers TV series. Collins, the publishers, have sold more than 12,000 copies of their book “Judo” in two weeks. It costs 5s.

Gentlemen don’t prefer blondes anymore. Women know it and the stampede to the hairdressers to get their hair dyed a darker shade is something to see. Edward, a top stylist said, “The most popular shade at the moment is a rich dark browny-black. What has finally killed-off the blonde, according to a psychiatrist, is the “whole-hog” blonde like Jayne Mansfield. He said, “She’s the wrong image for today.”

Women spies with mops and pails might mop up secrets from government offices unless there is a proper check on cleaners, a union official warned. 

Last year we spent £1,121,000,000 on drink – nearly equal to what the whole country paid out in rents and rates. In 1961 there were 82,000 drink convictions – a 40 year record. Of these nearly 8,000 were for drunken driving – a fifteen percent increase on the previous year.

Wales is to become the land of wine as well as song. A scheme has been launched to turn the slopes of Pembrokeshire into a vast vineyard. The newly planted vines will be producing the first 1,500 litres of Welsh wine in 1965. In 30 years Wales could become a big name in the wine markets.

Television highlights: The Nation Tomorrow – ideas that might shape our future. About Religion. Jane Eyre – episode three. 

Radio highlights: Melody on Strings. Top Twenty.

Weather: sunny spells with heavy showers.

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Thursday 11 April 1963 

Pat Moss, Britain’s top woman driver, is one of the favourites to win the tough 3,300 mile East African Safari. One of her main rivals in this international rally is her fiancé, Swedish ace Eric Carlsson in his Saab.

The Conservative government has rejected a plan for workers to move towards a forty-hour week. A spokesman said, “This plan is not consistent with the methods by which conditions of employment are normally determined in Britain.”

Australia is facing a serious money problem…what to label her decimal coinage, which will take over from £ s d in 1966. One suggestion is to name the equivalent of a dime a kangaroo. Another suggestions are the emu, koala, wallaby and merino. The favoured suggestion is the Down Under Dollar.

Transport Minister Ernest Marples has suggested that young couples should ease Easter road congestion by travelling by moonlight. He said, “A young woman, whose mother might object to such a journey, can always say ‘Mr Marples told me to.’” Meanwhile, the BBC will commence a new experimental service of weekend traffic reports.

Agony Aunt. Samantha writes, “My mother won’t allow me to buy pointed-toe shoes.” Jane Adams’ reply, “Your mother is right. Pointed-toe shoes can lead to a condition known as winkle-picker toes, which will need medical treatment.”

Agony Aunt. “I am 32 and I would like to meet a refined man with no bad habits.” Jane Adams’ reply, “So would a lot of other women.”

Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – championship finals. Music for Guitar. Interpol Calling.

Radio highlights: Eroica Without Conductor. German Songs.

Weather: sunny intervals and showers. Outlook – similar. 13c, 55f.

Friday 12 April 1963 

No newspapers – Good Friday.

Saturday 13 April 1963 

A hunt for seventeen stuffed alligators was ongoing yesterday. They were being transported from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex to St Ives, Cornwall, but were noticed missing in Exeter. A spokesman said, “They might have bounced out.”

In a fantastic Good Friday joyride, more than 3,500,000 cars swarmed across Britain yesterday. Well over half the country’s car owners were out. They put more traffic on the roads than on any previous Easter. Most popular attractions – the seaside, rivers and lakes. Inevitably, there were traffic jams as motorists streamed out of London at a rate of 27,000 cars per hour.

British motorist Pat Moss, competing in the East African Safari Rally, was right out of luck last night. She was ninety minutes behind her fiancé and rally leader Erik Carlsson. At one stage, Pat lost her shoes in deep mud and had to drive her Ford Cortina in bare feet.

A wife was granted a separation in Milan, Italy after she told a court that her husband played chess all day.

The hit-parading Beatles come in with From Me to You. Not as strong as usual, I feel, but likely to succeed.

Television Highlights: Grandstand. The Andy Stewart Show. International Detective.

Radio highlights: Variety Playhouse. Record Round-Up

Weather: dry and sunny. Outlook – rain and drizzle. 12c, 54f.

Sunday 14 April 1963

The possibility of lie detectors being used in the fight against crime is to be explored by Home Office Inspectors of Constabulary. They are to visit United States Service bases to see the detectors being used in court martial cases.

I would like to walk into Scotland Yard and charge Transport Minister Ernest Marples with obtaining money by false pretences because I think the Conservative government has made the British motorist the victim of the biggest confidence trick ever attempted. I am referring to the Road Fund licence. The government receives £700,000,000 a year from motorists, but only a small fraction of this money is spent on roads. Where is the money going? We deserve to know. – Pat Moss, Britain’s leading female driver.

Please use your influence with the producers of Fireball XL5 to cut out the horror creeping into it. The ghoulish puppets and violence surrounding Steve Zodiac’s exploits are terrifying. – Mrs Margaret Longmuir, Chiswick.

If you are entertaining at home, throw a paté party. The thing now is to serve seven varieties of paté on toast squares or small wafer biscuits. Paté is easily available, fresh or tinned.

A mallard duck walked into a police station in Grantham, Lincolnshire and laid an egg. The police handed the mallard and egg to the RSPCA.

Television highlights: Chess Masterpieces. Bob Monkhouse. Space Patrol.

Radio highlights: Adam Faith. Eleventh Safari Rally of East Africa.

Weather: dry and sunny. Outlook – rain at times.

Monday 15 April 1963

Half a million Britons are spending £5 million a year on snuff and more and more women are joining the ranks. “It’s becoming the vogue,” a spokesman for the snuff industry said. “And it’s not unusual now for a woman to take a box of snuff out of her handbag – in public.”

Men’s fashion. Shirts – gingham checks and pastel shades are in; pink and spice are the most popular colours. Ties – suede is still in, but wear a tie with an embroidered pattern and square end. Suits are in. A brown-black mixture is the with-it colour. Waistcoats are also back in fashion.

Eleven thousand actors and actresses, members of Equity, have been asked to support a ban on amateur performers. Equity wants to expand its Closed Shop from the theatre to film, television and radio performances. A number of leading television performers and personalities are not members of Equity. This resolution could end their careers.

In a morning of shocks, two of the favourites dropped out of the world’s toughest rally – the East African Safari Rally. The first victim was Britain’s Pat Moss. The second was her fiancé, Sweden’s Eric Carlsson. Disaster hit Pat’s Cortina on a mud track in Tanganyika, while the suspension on Eric’s Saab broke near Dar-es-Salaam. 

Lester Pearson, a Liberal, won the Canadian general election and will form the new government.

Television highlights: Dancing Club. All Our Yesterdays – the Spanish Civil War. Puffin’s Birthday Greetings.

Radio highlights: Hancock’s Half Hour. Book: Mine Own Executioner. 

Weather: cloudy with rain, windy. Outlook – brighter. 14c, 57f.

Tuesday 16 April 1963

Eight battalions of German tank soldiers will be drafted to Castlemartin, south Wales this summer. Each battalion will have fourteen day’s extensive training on the British tank ranges. At the ranges it is expected that the Germans will reveal their “hush-hush” wonder tank.

About one woman in five now uses hair colour in some form or another. Twenty years ago, hair colouring was only used by those women seeking to defy convention, women seen as brazen, brassy or immoral. But today’s women can be blonde one week and brunette the next. She can change her hair colour as she changes her dress or hat.

Personal messages: Richard Hill – come home, you need not go to the dentist: Mum and Dad.

Dorothy Tyler, who won the silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, won the high jump at the Carshalton Trophies meeting. She cleared 4’ 8”.  

Football results. Division One – Everton 2 Birmingham 2; Manchester United 2 Leicester City 2; Spurs 7 Liverpool 2. Top three: Spurs 50 points, Leicester City 49. Everton 48 with a game in hand.

Television highlights: Andy Pandy. Germany Since Hitler. The 625 Show with the Beatles and Hank Locklin. 

Radio highlights: Woman’s Hour. Family Favourites.

Weather: cloudy with drizzle. Outlook – changeable. 14c, 57f.

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

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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

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Monday 1 April 1963

Sir Edmund Hillary has halted his latest Himalayan climbing expedition and ordered his whole team to help fight a smallpox epidemic that is sweeping through Sherpa villages. Doctors are already in the district and vaccines will be flown in.

“There’s too much pop music on the radio. Two hours are devoted to it every Saturday morning and an hour every Sunday morning followed by more in the afternoon. And in the mid-week we have programmes like Get With It and Go Man Go. I’m all for music, but not this stuff.” – (Mrs) F Hall, Folkestone, Kent.

Stanley Baker, now producing and starring in Zulu in Natal, South Africa is making sure his film crew do not get too homesick. “I have built a replica of a London pub,” he said. “It is called the Pig and Whistle – and it has darts and shove ha’penny to go with the beer.”

A £10,000 film about Dylan Thomas, made by TWW, has been rejected by the ITV network. Instead, it will be shown on the BBC. Richard Burton appears in the film and speaks the commentary. The film has been selected as Britain’s documentary entry for the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Traffic Wardens Wanted. Age range: 25 – 55. Pay: £658 – £731 a year. Training with pay. Uniform provided. Opportunities for permanent pensionable appointment. Send a postcard to Secretary, Room 565, New Scotland Yard.

Television highlights: World in Action – a report from Zermatt on the typhoid crisis. Blue Peter. What’s My Line?

Radio highlights: Memory, Dreams and Imagination. Talking About Music.

Weather: sunny, warmer. Outlook – mainly dry. 11c, 52f.

Tuesday 2 April 1963

Colour TV tests with a French system called SECAM will be started by the BBC this month. ABC television, who have been testing this method for two years, will give a demonstration in Birmingham next month.

Medical “identity cards” giving details of blood group, allergies and a short medical history may be issued to everyone in Britain to carry at all times. Already, 25,000 cards have been issued in Scotland as an experiment. A Heath Ministry spokesman said, “The results of the experiment are now being carefully studied.”

Office workers are pouring into London at the rate of 30,000 a year. Nearly one-third of the population of England and Wales now live in London and adjacent counties. A report says it is uncertain how long the mushrooming requirements of work, traffic and living can all continue to be met in central London.

A 100mph Mini has arrived. The Mini-Cooper S will top 100mph with ease and with further tuning it will go even faster. The S will be a real challenger to the Lotus Ford, which has a maximum speed of 115mph. However, production will be limited. Prices: £575 basic, £695 7s 1d with purchase tax.

South Vietnam has banned Twist music because it “stirs up base passions.”

Message flashed on a local cinema screen: will the owner of number 158 BRA please remove it.

Television highlights: Torchy. Professional Ballroom Dancing – England v Germany. The 625 Show – Artists of the Future: Gerry and the Pacemakers. 

Radio highlights: Ballet Music. Family Favourites.

Celtic and Rangers could meet in the Scottish FA Cup Final for the first time since 1928. Semi-final draw: Celtic v Raith. Rangers or Dundee v Queen of the South or Dundee United.

Weather: sunny and rather warm. Outlook – mainly dry. 14c, 57f.

Wednesday 3 April 1963

Women who want to “spend a penny” in public conveniences will soon be freed from the tyranny of the turnstiles installed by many local councils. However, sixty-nine councils have so far refused to agree to the government’s suggestion of removing the turnstiles while eighteen councils are undecided.

Leaders of the major churches in Britain hit out at a proposed alteration to the law to allow “divorce by consent” after a seven year separation. The State laws of marriage have been framed on the assumption that marriage is a life-long covenant. Church leaders believe that if divorce by consent is allowed couples will not take their marriage vows seriously.

Two British submarines were back in home waters last night after carrying out an exercise more than 30 miles under the Arctic ice pack at depths of more than two miles. The submarines, 295 feet long, both have seventy-one man crews, bunks with foam mattresses, a cinema projector, and a tape recorder.

Last month, a record 24,600 cars were sold on hire purchase, 10.000 more than a year ago, and 57,580 refrigerators were bought in February, 2,800 more than last year.

Two demolition workers who found £5,728 in an old safe on a building site are to receive £600 each. The men handed the money to the police and it was never claimed. After making a claim at the High Court, the men received their reward.

Television highlights: The Budget. I’m Going to Be…careers advice on becoming a footballer with Tommy Docherty and Terry Venables. Here and Now – folk singers.

Radio Highlights: Parade of the Pops. Music We Love.

Weather: sunny and warm. Outlook – continuing sunny and warm. 16c, 61f.

Thursday 4 April 1963

On the menu, radishes, mustard and cress, grown on a submarine that cruised for fifty miles under the Arctic pack-ice. After the meal, the submarine surfaced and the crew played football on the pack-ice (📸 below).

Scotland Yard detectives are studying at the Metropolitan Police Detective Training School. They are learning how to go over the scene of a crime like scientists, and spot clues that can trap a criminal. In recent years, forensic science has bounded forward. However, the probing skills of a good detective are still required.

A £1,000,000 television deal was announced yesterday by Mr Lew Grade, Associated TeleVision’s managing director. Under the deal, Associated TeleVision, the London week-end and Midlands week-day programme company will go into co-production on a new series with America’s National Broadcasting Company. The series will be called Espionage. Its 26 hour-long films, costing £45,000 each, will tell the stories of British and Allied agents during World War II.

John Barry, the music man who guided Adam Faith to disc fame, has just landed a big job – writing the score for the new James Bond film, From Russia With Love. He is also likely to have a hit on his hands with the TV theme The Human Jungle.

London has displaced Paris for the dubious honour of being Europe’s number one sin city, says the News Call Bulletin newspaper.

Football result: Home Nations Championship – Northern Ireland 1 Wales 4. Hockey result: RAF 2 Army 3 – Army win the Inter-Services Championship.

Television highlights: The Kilt is My Delight – Scots Songs and Dances. Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Table Tennis.

Radio highlights: The Twenties to the Twist. Disc Break.

Weather: bright spells then showers. Outlook – cold with rain. 9c, 48f.

Friday 5 April 1963

Not so long ago wearing an ankle bracelet meant that you were either a film starlet with an eye for a publicity gimmick, or a woman who put impact before good taste. But today things are changing fast and rings on her toes are just as acceptable as rings on her fingers. Foot jewellery is selling fast and likely to become a fashion trend.

Many modern chairs look good, but just try sitting on one for half an hour. They are uncomfortable. The loudest complaints come from women. Many feel that modern chairs are designed with men in mind. And that should come as no surprise because out of 59 designs submitted to a competition organised by the  British Latex Foam Manufacturers’ Association only three were by women.

Most motorists are wearing out their cars by not driving them enough. Two-thirds of Europe’s motorists use their cars on journeys of eight miles or under. And that is wearing out the engines. Why? Because the engine never gets to its proper working temperature and therefore never works efficiently. A car thrives on a good long run whereas stop-and-start motoring has the opposite effect.

There’s a drive to persuade us to eat turkey for Easter, not with quite the same abandon as at Christmas; just a modest turkey dinner. Oven-ready mini-turkeys weighing between 4lb and 6lb, and costing 23s, are available this weekend. Don’t expect quite the same succulent flavour of a big bird, but with the right trimmings they do make a change.

Abolish the policeman on the beat and replace him with patrol cars, says a report in Police Review. A criminal can evade a constable on the beat, but a police car is better equipped to give chase.

Television highlights: Gardening Made Easy. Donegan’s On Again! with Lonnie Donegan. Close-Up – Peter Sellers’ films.

Radio highlights: The Navy Lark. Latin-American Music.

Weather: cold and cloudy with showers. Outlook – little change. 7c, 45f.

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 🙂

Wednesday 27 March 1963

The Battle at the Commons: Mounted Police Stop Invasion. Five hundred police fought a bitter battle yesterday with 3,000 protesters who tried to invade the House of Commons. Men and women chanted, “We want work! Tories out! Mounted police were sent in and the protesters engaged in a sit-down. Eventually, a delegation was allowed in to meet ministers.

Britain is changing fast. Tomorrow, Beeching will announce his blueprint for the revolution of the railways. Attitudes towards intimate relationships are changing. And the BBC has awoken from its long slumber and is knocking hell out of the Establishment. Now, a radical thought: the playing of God Save the Queen should be abandoned at the end of public meetings and entertainments. Instead, the anthem should only be played when the Queen is present.

Purple Heart tablets, a stimulant drug, are eaten like sweets in some East End cafes, a detective said yesterday. Purple Hearts are habit forming and the medical dose should never exceed one taken three times a day. Carmelo Brincat, 22, of Islington was fined £5 for unlawfully possessing 90 tablets.

In a few weeks time, tens of thousands of Easter motorists will be battling with frost damaged roads, and potholes, for Britain’s roads have still not recovered from the Big Freeze. Reduced speeds, down to 10mph, are now common on many trunk roads. Some of these roads were built hundreds of years ago. They are relics of the past that were never meant to take today’s heavy traffic.

British Railways laid on a train yesterday for one man. He turned up at Rochdale to catch the 5.44 am to Manchester. But he missed it. The train was not announced and the platform indicators were not working, so a diesel was put on to take him the ten miles to Manchester.

Television highlights: Your Life in Their Hands – slipped discs and sciatica. Let’s Dance. Tubby Hayes Plays.

Radio highlights: Round Britain Quiz. Duane Eddy.

Weather: sunshine and showers. Outlook – similar. 10c, 50f.

Thursday 28 March 1963

Beeching’s Blockbuster. The Railway Revolution. 2,228 Stations to Go. Dr Beeching proposes to close half of the country’s railway stations and rip up 5,000 miles of track. London fares will go up 2s in the pound and some season tickets will be stopped. One of the stations to close is the Welsh station of Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch.

Britain’s new £52,000,000 atomic power station at Bradwell, Essex has made certain that hundreds of thousands of gourmets will be able to enjoy oysters later this year. Warm water pumped out of the station protected the Blackwater Estuary’s oyster beds during the winter. Many oysters elsewhere were killed by the cold.

Twelve US Treasury Bonds worth $3,000,000 are feared stolen. If true, this would be the single biggest theft in American history. A spokesman in Washington said, “This looks like an inside job.”

In the average household, £23 worth of food gets thrown away every year because it has gone bad. Only three homes in Britain have a fridge, so why don’t more people buy one? Housewives reply: “There’s not enough room in the kitchen.” “Cool larders are good enough.” “Too expensive.” Manufacturers should listen to women and discover what they want out of a refrigerator.

Football: Gordon Banks, the Leicester goalkeeper, will win his first cap against Scotland. The rest of the team – Armfield (captain), Byrne, Moore, Norman, Flowers, Douglas, Greaves, R.Smith, Melia, Charlton. Reserve – Milne.

Television highlights: Amateur Boxing – Midland and Western Counties v Wales. Road Works Report. Robin Hood.

Radio highlights: Use Your Italian. Smash Hits.

Weather: showers, some heavy. Outlook – similar. 9c, 48f.

Friday 29 March 1963

Anyone who tries to escape from a new skyscraper prison in Stuttgart, West Germany will be seen on television. For a tv escape detector is one of the startling innovations at the jail. The whole of the inner-prison wall is covered by a photo-electric cell ray, which, once broken, lights the area, switches on the television screen and spotlights the departing jailbird for the warders. 

The Swiss TV service has protested to the BBC over the result of Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest. They say that there was a muddle over the voting and that the result should be declared a draw. Denmark won by two points. The BBC said this was a matter for the European Broadcasting Union to resolve.

Mungo David Malcolm Murray, seventh Earl of Mansfield, believes that prisons should bring back the treadmill. “I totally disagree with the modern theory that punishment should be of a reforming nature,” he said. However, the Earl believes that reintroducing the cat-o-nine-tails would be too brutal.

Independent Television has got into a terrible rut with its seven – nine evening shows, complained Mr Donald Chapman, MP. “I don’t want to be thought a spoilsport, but for years we have had these awful Emergency Ward 10, Double Your Money, and Bootsie and Snudge programmes,” he said.

Television highlights: Comedy Playhouse. Television Playhouse. Richard the Lionheart.

Radio highlights: Fats Domino. Pick of the Week.

Football: the Scotland team to face England: Brown, Hamilton, Caldow, Mackay, Ure, Baxter, Henderson, White, St John, Law, Wilson. Reserve: McNeil. Dave Mackay replaces Pat Crerand. The last time Mackay played for Scotland, on 15 April 1961, they lost 9-3 to England, but he is certain they will not lose by that margin this time.

Weather: sunshine and showers. Outlook – similar. 10c, 50f.

Saturday 30 March 1963

Detectives wearing grass skirts arrested a rock singer. The detectives, who were also carrying mouth organs, called on American rock singer and band leader Jimmy “Baby Face” Lewis. They were there for an interview, but instead charged Lewis with peddling drugs to other entertainers. A list of 100 customers, including prominent show people from Hollywood, was found.

The government has ordered a team of top scientists to produce, by autumn, plans for a series of robot post offices to be set up in space. Plan 1 calls for the launching of a dozen satellites about 8,000 miles above the Earth. Plan 2 calls for the launching of three or four satellites 23,000 miles above the Earth. Mr Roy Mason, Labour MP, warned that Britain should not be dependent on America for satellite links.

The special levy on the advertising of Independent Television companies may rise to £4 in every £10. Their first £1,250,000 a year gross advertising revenue will be free of any special levy. But on the next £8,000,000 22 1/2 percent will have to be paid, and above £9,250,000 the levy will rise to 40 percent.

The Goons are to appear on BBC television, in a series of 26 puppet shows lasting 15 minutes each. The BBC is believed to have bought the British rights for more than £150,000. The last radio Goon show was in 1959.

Grand National favourites: Springbok 10/1, Loving Record 12/1, Dagmar Gittell 14/1, Owen’s Sedge 16/1, Kilmore 16/1. Only four clear favourites have won this century.

Television highlights: Juke Box Jury with Hattie Jacques and Eric Sykes. Saturday Sport – the FA Cup and Grand National. The Third Man – new series of adventures.

Radio highlights: Shanty Time. Motoring.

Weather: rain, sunny intervals. Outlook – warmer. 6c, 43f.

Sunday 31 March 1963

Dr Beeching, the man who axed the railways this week, was stopped in Totnes and informed that his Road Fund Licence expired in February.

Craftmaster are producing oil painting by number sets featuring Adam Faith and Acker Bilk, amongst others. Cost : 30s. A pocket-sized Dictaphone is now available in Britain – it plays back at normal speaking volume. Stick-on shelves – you moisten the edge with water and they stick on to any surface. The shelves are of unbreakable white plastic.

In less than five seconds smash and grab raiders got away with diamond rings worth £10,000. A blue Ford Consul pulled up outside a jeweller’s in Regent Street, London. A lounge-suited raider leapt out of the car and swung a heavy car jack at the shop window. The three-quarters of an inch glass shattered, the man grabbed a tray of diamond rings and jumped into the Ford Consul, which roared away.

Slim – no dieting, no exercise, no drugs. A slim, trim figure can be yours. Simply wear a Slimwear slimming garment over the areas you wish to slim and the fat just disappears.

Pop Charts: This week’s top three – 1. Foot Tapper by The Shadows 2. Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard and The Shadows 3. Like I’ve Never Been Gone by Billy Fury.

Television highlights: Chess Masterpieces. Songs of Praise. Comedy Hour.

Radio highlights: Gardeners’ Question Time. Pick of the Pops.

Grand National: winner – Ayala 66-1, second – Carrickbeg, third – Hawa’s Song. One horse died – Avenue Neuilly.

FA Cup Sixth Round Results: Coventry 1 Manchester United 3; Liverpool 1 West Ham 0; Norwich 0 Leicester 2; Nottingham Forest 1 Southampton 1.

Weather: dull with drizzly showers. Brighter later.

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

https://books2read.com/u/bMqNPG

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