The Sixties! What are your memories?

Here you are Kate, you can re-live the Kings Road in the 1960s. I worked at Boots on Saturdays so I keep thinking I might appear in these shots. They are brilliant and there are plenty more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouciDfZExU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqLyMt3sPQ

Thank you Chestnut that was great. Fascinating. Lovely fashions. I didn't see me or Sandra!

Thank you so much for sharing those links, Chestnut! It brought back memories of happy teenage years.

I remember horrible stories at school about women getting cockroaches in their hair because of the beehive hairstyles which were left in place, heavily laquered, for days on end

Haha! One of those urban myths I think.

Gin

Callistemon, whilst still at school, from the age of 15 I had a Saturday job in C&A Marble Arch selling coats just like that but that was in the late fifties. I loved that job because I got paid the same amount as my friends working in Woolworths did but I only worked a half day as all the London West End stores only opened for a half day on Saturday.

It was definitely in the 60s, Gin, because I didn't go to Leeds until I was 18.
Probably 1964?

It had tassels on the attached scarf and was quite short and swirly 😃

At 16 (1963) met my DH on holiday on a caravan site in mid Wales. In September started A levels but from then on no interest in education! Left school and started work then got engaged in 1965, married 1967 (and still together).
Queued with a friend from early hours of morning to get tickets to see The Beatles. Would have been unlucky if it hadn't been for another friend's father, who was a Police Inspector on duty that night, and seeing me in the crowd got me two tickets. Great experience but could hardly hear anything for the screaming!!
Remember JFK assassination, Moon landing, Prince (King) Charles Investiture, England winning the World Cup, etc.

When the 1960s began I was at a Girls' Grammar School studying for O-levels. When the 1960s ended I was married and was the mother of an 11-month-old baby. What a decade..... leaving home for three years at university in London, living in dodgy student accommodation, mixing with a great crowd of new and interesting friends. Parties crammed into small chilly rooms, trying to find a shilling coin to put into the gas meter. A Saturday evening "hop", a Sunday evening concert standing in the gods at the Albert Hall, cheap student theatre tickets standing at the back of the stalls. Romantic walks through Kensington Gardens, agonising waits outside telephone boxes trying to call my boyfriend. Reader, I married him. We were 22 and are now approaching our 58th anniversary. So many events and changes over a lifetime, but the 1960s will always remain special. I don't envy today's young people and I fear and regret the challenges we are leaving them.

merlotgran

^That quote has always irritated me. I tuned 12 in january 1960, so the whole of my teenage life was during the 60s and I remember it very well^

‘If you remember the sixties you really weren’t there!’ has been attributed to an American comedian called Charlie Fleischet whom I’ve never heard of but has been repeated by others.

It was a joke, missdeke so not intended to be taken seriously!

I thought you were saying it a bit tongue in cheek, but so many use the quote seriously it can be a bit wearing at times. No offence intended.

I envy the freedom to live together which young people have now. It wasn’t done’ in the sixties, or not where I lived and amongst the people I knew anyway - I lived at home until my wedding day. If I had had that freedom I wouldn’t have spent nearly a quarter of a century in an abusive marriage - but I do have my wonderful son from that marriage.

That's sad GSM

I live on the Wirral and used to travel to Liverpool on the ferry to visit the Cavern etc. I saw the Beatles at the cavern in the early days.
it all felt very safe and there was no alcohol in the clubs that I visited. I had a great time in my circular skirt with nets and hoop!

Liz46
Just remembered wearing those full net petticoats, or "paper nylon" stiffened in sugar water! our school uniform for 4th/5th years (1961/2/3) was a pleated skirt, however did we think a net petticoats underneath was fashionable!!

Thanks Kate. I made the wrong choice but I have my lovely son - his father doesn’t. 💐

My memories are more 70's than 60's - strict parents and only reached 16 in 1970 - but I made up for it at uni in the early 70's. In the 60's I sang with my school choir and we appeared on TV on Cliff Richards' show. We went to London for the weekend to the BBC TV centre and saw a fair few celebrities in the BBC canteen. I was chatted up by Rolf Harris but too shy to join him and sing to him as requested. In light of later revelations I may have had a lucky escape!

I didn't see many bands until I was a student having lived all my life in Lancashire and not able to get to things easily, but was at uni just outside London so gigs most Saturday nights.
I was a huge fan of the Strawbs before they were well known and did go to see them in Manchester - by myself as none of my friends liked their music and I'd been introduced to them by older boys who by then had gone to uni themselves!

I do remember Beatle mania - the girl next door who was older than me was a big fan.

I was a music student in London in the 60’s & used to love going down the Kings Road. I still have a Biba cape I used to be very proud of, but stupidly cut the label off. Otherwise, today it would be worth a lot of money, apparently !

Lots of battles with my parents in the 60s. I wasnt allowed mini skirts so had to make do with rolling the waistband over and over. Wasnt allowed makeup so had to apply it on the top deck of the bus, peering through the fog bank of cigarette smoke into the mirror on my powder compact (also not allowed). Any evening bops were curtailed by having to catch the last bus and boys were out of the question because I was supposed to be studying for A levels. Needless to say the minute I left home for teacher training college I went wild. Drink, drugs and rock and roll with a vengeance (although drugs confined to the odd puff of someone elses joint). Lots of trips to London to The Marquee Club, but it wasnt until the early 70s I saw Led Zep, Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac live. I had the time of my life. So fortunate to have been young in that era.

full flared skirts with paper nylon petticoats and net ones.

boppers, flat slip on velvet shoes with a bow on them

Callistemon21

flappergirl

TerriBull

Thanks NannyJan, Callistemon and Chestnut.

I always think of the 60s as a seminal decade, a bit like the 20s I suppose, but without the crash at the end. Although the 70s, economically had an air of the depressed landscape of the 1930s in some ways.

Having been born in the 50s and therefore remembering very little of that decade, but perceiving it to be somewhat dreary with post war austerity hanging over us. The sixties, was our roaring 20s, we'd well and truly emerged from WW2, there was an optimism a seismic culture shift and for the first time a whole new generation made their mark working class heroes trailblazing in kicking aside the entrenched establishment elite, possibly a rose tinted vision, but it was a time of possibilities.

My children having reached their teens latched on to my record collection with awe and wonder, all my coveted vinyl, Jimmy Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones yes even The Beatles have long since disappeared with them when they left home, with one saying "well you were going to leave it to us anyway, might as well have it now" They laboured under the impression I was out there living it up in the 60s, albeit with odd embellishment from me about what I was doing, the fact of the matter I was still at school, so not a lot! a mere spectator wishing I could have been out there in the cut and thrust, work, boyfriends, concerts and travel all came along in the 70s for me. Someone posted up thread, "if you remember the sixties you weren't actually there" fair comment, I often wonder why unlike the 60s, the 70s don't hold those memories, it was a fast decade it didn't go slowly, it was just one thing after another, I was participator rather than a spectator, with less time to ponder.

I echo your thoughts entirely TerriBull and you and I sound a similar age. I was born in 1957 so I remember a lot about the 60's but I wasn't participator. I've always likened it to the 20's too. There are huge similarities except that the bright young things of the 20's were usually wealthy/aristocratic.

The seventies was my time, especially the early part. I embraced hippiedom (is that a word?). I wore kaftans, lots of beads, went bare footed and listened to Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Hendrix. I went to the the Windsor Free Festivals of 73 and 74, the latter where everyone got arrested. I don't know how my dad survived the shock.

In April 1976 a friend and I got seasonal jobs working as chambermaids in a motel in West Wales near the coast. Of course we had no idea it was going to be the best summer on record. We chose well! Spent most afternoons in our string bikinis by the pool trying to recreate Charlie's Angels and then off to the local alternative music bar.

I'd happily live it all again.

I've always likened it to the 20's too. There are huge similarities except that the bright young things of the 20's were usually wealthy/aristocratic.

I know that wasn't the case. My mother certainly wasn't wealthy or aristocratic!

Callistermon, I really meant "bright young things" in the sense it was used at the time. The expression denoted society men and women who mixed with the Mitfords and the like. Their life styles were hedonistic in the extreme and devoid of responsibility.

You would be very wealthy, have influential connections or possibly be a much lauded bohemian type to be a part those circles.

When i think of the 60s i think of freedom, we seemed to be breaking down barriers and certainly breaking free of the post war doom. It was a wonderful decade for many people

Unforgettable- so lucky to have had 3 years in Cambridge (62-65) then 5 years in London - what a decade - the Beatles, the Stones, the Seekers etc - Mary Quant introducing short skirts, tights (goodbye to horrible suspenders) , to have straight dark brown hair was ok(instead of blonde curls being the thing) We had at last recovered from the aftermath of WW2 - such freedom!

I mustn’t forget the humour also - John Cleese, Eric Idle, David Frost - so many more…. Wonderful memories.

Germanshepherdsmum

I envy the freedom to live together which young people have now. It wasn’t done’ in the sixties, or not where I lived and amongst the people I knew anyway - I lived at home until my wedding day. If I had had that freedom I wouldn’t have spent nearly a quarter of a century in an abusive marriage - but I do have my wonderful son from that marriage.

Ditto, GSM. I spent 16 years in an abusive marriage but at least have a lovely son and daughter.

flappergirl

Callistemon21

flappergirl

TerriBull

Thanks NannyJan, Callistemon and Chestnut.

I always think of the 60s as a seminal decade, a bit like the 20s I suppose, but without the crash at the end. Although the 70s, economically had an air of the depressed landscape of the 1930s in some ways.

Having been born in the 50s and therefore remembering very little of that decade, but perceiving it to be somewhat dreary with post war austerity hanging over us. The sixties, was our roaring 20s, we'd well and truly emerged from WW2, there was an optimism a seismic culture shift and for the first time a whole new generation made their mark working class heroes trailblazing in kicking aside the entrenched establishment elite, possibly a rose tinted vision, but it was a time of possibilities.

My children having reached their teens latched on to my record collection with awe and wonder, all my coveted vinyl, Jimmy Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones yes even The Beatles have long since disappeared with them when they left home, with one saying "well you were going to leave it to us anyway, might as well have it now" They laboured under the impression I was out there living it up in the 60s, albeit with odd embellishment from me about what I was doing, the fact of the matter I was still at school, so not a lot! a mere spectator wishing I could have been out there in the cut and thrust, work, boyfriends, concerts and travel all came along in the 70s for me. Someone posted up thread, "if you remember the sixties you weren't actually there" fair comment, I often wonder why unlike the 60s, the 70s don't hold those memories, it was a fast decade it didn't go slowly, it was just one thing after another, I was participator rather than a spectator, with less time to ponder.

I echo your thoughts entirely TerriBull and you and I sound a similar age. I was born in 1957 so I remember a lot about the 60's but I wasn't participator. I've always likened it to the 20's too. There are huge similarities except that the bright young things of the 20's were usually wealthy/aristocratic.

The seventies was my time, especially the early part. I embraced hippiedom (is that a word?). I wore kaftans, lots of beads, went bare footed and listened to Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Hendrix. I went to the the Windsor Free Festivals of 73 and 74, the latter where everyone got arrested. I don't know how my dad survived the shock.

In April 1976 a friend and I got seasonal jobs working as chambermaids in a motel in West Wales near the coast. Of course we had no idea it was going to be the best summer on record. We chose well! Spent most afternoons in our string bikinis by the pool trying to recreate Charlie's Angels and then off to the local alternative music bar.

I'd happily live it all again.

I've always likened it to the 20's too. There are huge similarities except that the bright young things of the 20's were usually wealthy/aristocratic.

I know that wasn't the case. My mother certainly wasn't wealthy or aristocratic!

Callistermon, I really meant "bright young things" in the sense it was used at the time. The expression denoted society men and women who mixed with the Mitfords and the like. Their life styles were hedonistic in the extreme and devoid of responsibility.

You would be very wealthy, have influential connections or possibly be a much lauded bohemian type to be a part those circles.

Yes, I've heard of the term, they were also called flappergirls in the USA I think 😁

However, lots of bright young people managed to go out and enjoy themselves too. Although my mother did get into trouble from her employer for having her hair cut off short in the 1920s!

I was at teacher training college near Cambridge, met a boy at a party there in 1964, and spent most of my weekends there with him.
Remember lots of parties in dark smoky rooms, red wine and Beatles on the record player......
Went to two May Balls, danced to the Yardbirds.
Miniskirts, knee high boots, Miners and Mary Quant make-up from Woolies.
We split up in 1968, I went to Singapore to teach in 69, met DH there, and the rest is history.....