Web Page  No 2118

27th  December 2014

Top Picture: The Film hit of 1965

Middle Picture: Well the new Ford Anglia must have been popular with someone!

Bottom Picture: Proof set of UK coins

1965

As we approach the turn of the year, just what was happening in England fifty years ago. (Doesn’t that sound terrible)

1 January - New style road signs were introduced.

7 January - Ronnie and Reggie Kray are arrested on suspicion of running a protection racket in London.[

14 January – The Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.

30 January – Thousands attend Winston Churchill's state funeral. During the three days of lying-in-state, 321,000 people file past the coffin.

6 February – Sir Stanley Matthews plays his final First Division game, at the record age of 50 years and 5 days.

18 February – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

10 March – Goldie, a London Zoo golden eagle, is recaptured after 13 days of freedom.

1 April -The Greater London Council replaces the London County Council.

6 April – Government publicly announces cancellation of the BAC TSR-2 nuclear bomber aircraft project.

26 April – Manchester United win the Football League First Division title.

1 May – Liverpool win the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating Leeds United 2-1 at Wembley.

7 May – The Rhodesian Front under Prime Minister Ian Smith win a landslide election victory in Rhodesia.

17 May – An underground explosion at Cambrian Colliery in Clydach Vale kills 31.

19 May – West Ham United become the second British club to win a European trophy, defeating West German 1860 Munich 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.

18 June – The government announces plans for the introduction of a blood alcohol limit for drivers in its clampdown on drink-driving.

8 July – Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs escapes from Wandsworth Prison.

12 July – The Secretary of State for Education and Science, requested local authorities to convert their schools to the Comprehensive system.]

22 July – Sir Alec Douglas-Home suddenly resigns as a head of the British Conservative Party.

24 July – Freddie Mills, former British boxing champion, is found shot in his car in Soho.

27 July – Edward Heath becomes leader of the British Conservative Party following its first leadership election by secret ballot.

29 July – The Beatles film Help! debuts in London.

August – Elizabeth Lane appointed as the first female High Court judge, assigned to the Family Division.

1 August – Cigarette advertising is banned on British television.

24 September – The British governor of Aden cancels the Aden constitution and takes direct control of the protectorate, due to the bad security situation.

30 September – First episode of ATV 'Supermarionation' series Thunderbirds.

7 October – Ian Brady, a 27-year-old stock clerk from Hyde in Cheshire, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old apprentice electrician Edward Evans.

8 October – The Post Office Tower opens in London.

16 October – Police find a girl's body on Saddleworth Moor near Oldham in Lancashire. The body is identified as 10 year old Lesley Ann Downey, who disappeared on Boxing Day from a fairground Manchester. Ian Brady, arrested the previous week for the murder of Edward Evans, is suspected of murdering Lesley, as is his 23-year-old girlfriend Myra Hindley, who on 11 October was also charged with the murder of Edward Evans. Police suspect that other missing people from the Manchester area, including 12-year-old John Kilbride could be also be buried on the moor; some reports state that as many as 11 murder victims may have been buried in the area.

20 October - It is reported that suspected mass murderer Ian Brady tortured his victims and tape-recorded the attacks on them. Detectives in Brady's native Scotland are also reportedly investigating the disappearance of 12-year-old Moira Anderson in Lanarkshire eight years earlier as a possible link to Brady.

21 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are charged with the murder of Lesley Ann Downey and remanded in custody.

22 October – African countries demand that the United Kingdom use force to prevent Rhodesia from declaring unilateral independence.

24 October- Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Arthur Bottomley travel to Rhodesia for negotiations. Police find the decomposed body of a boy on Saddleworth Moor. The body is identified as that of John Kilbride, a 12-year-old boy who disappeared from Ashton-Under-Lyne in November 1963.

29 October – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley appear in court, charged with the murders of Edward Evans, Lesley Ann Downey and John Kilbride.

October – Corgi Toys introduce the all-time best selling model car, James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the film Goldfinger.

1 November – Three cooling towers at the uncompleted Ferrybridge C electricity generating station in West Yorkshire collapse in high winds.

5 November – Martial law is announced in Rhodesia. The UN General Assembly accepts British intent to use force against Rhodesia if necessary.

8 November - The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act suspends capital punishment for murder in England, Scotland and Wales, for five years in the first instance, replacing it with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. The Race Relations Act outlaws public racial discrimination.

11 November – In Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), the white minority regime of Ian Smith unilaterally declares independence.

29 November – Mary Whitehouse founds the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association.

December. EMI release Jacqueline du Pré's recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with John Barbirolli and the London Symphony Orchestra. National Coal Board closes the last deep coal mine in the Forest of Dean (Northern United at Cinderford).

3 December – The first British aid flight arrives in Lusaka; Zambia had asked for British help against Rhodesia.

12 December – The Beatles' last live U.K. tour concludes with two performances at the Capitol, Cardiff.

15 December – Tanzania and Guinea sever diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom.

17 December – The British government begins an oil embargo against Rhodesia; the United States joins the effort.

22 December

A 70 mph speed limit is imposed on British roads.

24 December – A meteorite shower falls on Barwell, Leicestershire.

27 December – The British oil platform Sea Gem collapses in the North Sea, killing 13 of the 32 men on it.

30 December – President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia announces that Zambia and the United Kingdom have agreed to a deadline before which the Rhodesian white government should be ousted.

Well that was 50 years ago. How many events did you remember?

Take care

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

You Write:

Anida Writes:-

I was really interested in the picture of the High Street end of the    Droke, I guess the new houses are on the site of the dairy, has the school gone too?

The Droke is a very ancient path and appears on some of the oldest maps of the area, I can't quite see if it is still open but I assume it    hasn't been closed off?

Also of interest are the blocked up windows on the left.  These are  the windows of what was the doctor's waiting room.  I guess there  are many people with memories of this building, the entrance was  on the High Street, just one shop up from the Droke.  Down a long narrow corridor to the Reception hatch which was smartly              answered by the redoubtable Mrs Fox. Having been ticked off her   list you were given a number on a coloured wooden board which    you held until it was your moment.  Each doctor was represented   by a different colour and having found a seat, I remember the hard bentwood chairs and Rexene covered bench, in the very cramped  waiting room everyone eyed up the next number in the sequence to your own, there were rarely any words spoken.  When your turn     arrived you hung your r number on the hook by the door and went   to the consulting room.

When I was small my doctor was Dr Doyle, he was fond of a little dram or two and my mother remembers him swaying up and down the stairs on a home visit!  He was replaced by Dr Read who          became our true 'family doctor' for many years.  Most people will   remember Drs Read, Sladen and Duff, the latter being a bit of a pin-up boy and was certainly my mother in law's hero, lots of hand     holding and long prescriptions!

Although it was all a bit archaic and some of the equipment was     straight out of the Victorian era somehow it worked.   The move to the new Health Centre seemed very impersonal and conveyor belt   like in comparison to the journey down the long corridor and I am 

sure the close confines of the waiting room ensured you came out with more than you went in with but it had character and a homely feel.

Thanks for the picture.

Griff Writes:-

I wonder how many of you reading this still have their pet from the 1960's?  Not possible you say after 56 years?  Well, it is if you have a tortoise as I have had since I was 12 years old.    Purchased for the princely sum of 2/6d from the pet shop in Drayton in the Summer of 1958.   I can't remember the name of the pet shop now but no doubt Peter will fill in the blank  < ( the shop was just called Pet Supplies, Peter).  Tiggy the Tortoise is alive and well and currently in his Winter hibernation home. When I left home at 16 my Mum looked after Tiggy until her passing in 2009.   Tiggy then came back to me for a short while but it was decided he was actually a living family heirloom so he has been passed to my Son & Family where he now resides with a huge garden that is fenced off all round and he cannot escape from.  He is a bit of character and in the Summer he can be seen charging around the flower beds and lawns. Contrary to popular belief a tortoise is pretty quick at covering ground. Do tortoises recognise  people?   Well, I say they do because he never puts his head back into his shell when I pick him up to look at him but if a stranger does this he will not come out for a long time, if ever. This is a photo of Tiggy taken in the Summer of 2014.  Isn't he a hansome Chap.

News and Views:

On this day 27th December 1960-1965

On 27/12/1960 the number one single was I Love You - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was The Arthur Haynes Show (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68. End of National Service in Britain The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada)

On 27/12/1961 the number one single was Moon River - Danny Williams and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Geologist explains Continental Drift.

On 27/12/1962 the number one single was Return to Sender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the month was Tax reduced to 25% on TVs and radios.

On 27/12/1963 the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 27/12/1964 the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Donald Campbell sets water speed record.

On 27/12/1965 the number one single was Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out - The Beatles and the number one album was Rubber Soul - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.