Memories of the Swinging Sixties

I did chant with the Hari Krishna Temple, in an isolated country venue. Has to stop as I was getting carried away. Not one that you hear on the radio now!

My sister was given a transistor radio, very hip. We shared a bedroom and had the radio on at night, listening to Radio Luxembourg.

So many songs, but one that reminds me of those times is ‘Rag Doll’, by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

Singing along to so many of these remembered songs but not sure how I knew them. I had no money for concerts, a radio or records so it must have been from other people's radios and record players and of course Top of the Pops. At uni I did see The Animals in 1966 (which cost 7/6) and Spencer Davis in 1968 (wangled a ticket from someone who could not go) though wasn't that impressed . Most of the other well known groups I could not afford but I absolutely loved The Incredible String Band which was 3/6. I still have the tickets!

Dinsdale Landon, Dorothy Tutin, Judi Dench, Ian Holm and others but I don't remember all of them.
We lived near enough to go for rare day trips.
There weren't many school trips in those days but they were memorable.

Callistemon21

Oh!

Perhaps some of us had eclectic tastes. We went to the theatre at Stratford on school trips. Brilliant!

I liked Elvis Presley too. My friend and I went to see all his films.

We did a school trip to Stratford as well! Stayed in the Youth Hostel there. We were supposed to see Paul Schofield but he had a throat problem and didn't appear. Brilliant times!

As an art student in the 60s (and by definition one of the coolest people on the planet) the main thing I remember about the 60s was the feeling that anything was possible. People were coming from all sorts of backgrounds an being successful. Sadly the optimism of the 60s hasn't lasted.

Oh!

Perhaps some of us had eclectic tastes. We went to the theatre at Stratford on school trips. Brilliant!

I liked Elvis Presley too. My friend and I went to see all his films.

My memories of the 60s are mainly of ballet and theatre. I was a postgraduate student in London at exactly the right time to see Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. This involved a lot of queuing all night for the cheapest tickets. It was heaven (the ballet, not the queuing).

I loved the fashions, too, and was in the right place for them. Being tall and slim, I could wear most things.

I didn’t take a lot of notice of pop music, which just wasn’t my scene, but I did like the occasional song - A Whiter Shade of Pale being one of them. The only Beatles record I ever bought was Penny Lane - because I knew the street in Liverpool. The Beatles themselves did not appeal.

Can anybody remember a very brief period when there were topless dresses? I think it was about 1967 and we had a new female History teacher called Miss Everson. She came from London and wore one although she wasn’t topless!

It was like a short pinafore dress and there was a cut out U shape under the boobs but she wore a skinny rib jumper. We thought she was very daring.

I969 I was a student and had just split with a long-term boyfriend and" J'taime ", was released.
Summer of 70 he landed back with Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over troubled water" as a peace offering I know all the words.
No big groups came to our county, but I saw Lindisfarne and Coliseum as a student in concert.

I graduated in 1962, went on to teacher training and didn't have much time for the 'swinging' sixties by the time I got a job. I did like the fashions, though I never had the legs for a mini skirt and I dread to imagine the reaction of my teenage male pupils!
I think my favourite outfit was a black and white checked pinafore drtess - daringly just above the knees - worn with a white polo neck. An orange bouclé sleeveless keyhole dress was another big success. Black lacy stockings in those days before tights hit the market were my signature! I do well remember listening carefully to Top Ten (or was it Twenty?) on Radio Luxembourg every Sunday night so that I'd know how to communicate with the teenagers in my classes.

I remember all of these, every name, every song. I can't pick a favourite although the first one that came to mind was Gary Puckett and The Union Gap. Sitting in the Bamboo Cafe, all us young ones, a bottle of Fanta and a straw, making it last all evening (had to be home by 10.30pm). If we were flush my friend and I got a plate of chips between us.

Saw the Beatles in Belfast with Billy J Kramer and band as the support act. The Post Mistress in our local town organised a bus/tickets trip. On the way home the bus stopped at a chippy on the outskirts of the city and I had just enough for a bag of chips.
Saw Roy Orbinson in the Flamingo in Ballymena. He came on stage, sang his songs, and walked off, no chat. Still wonderful.
Oh... wonderful memories.

Alcon, The early 60’s was a lovely time for me but am probably now looking at it through ‘rose coloured glasses’. The opportunities for your granddaughter sound so good and if I’m honest both my own 2 daughters who were born in the mid 70’s were able to do much more than I could. I was supposed to go to university but my parents were not in a position to allow this so perhaps I should move on and accept today’s improvements.

Bonji Such a special time that sadly I don't think today's young people can experience .
Don't be sad. My granddaughter is eighteen. She has experienced the most wonderful teenage years. She has a large circle of friends. They have spent their summers swimming in the river in Oxford. Enjoyed parties at each others homes. They take the train to London for concerts, attend the big festivals with thousands of other young people. A few protest marches thrown in over the years. They study hard too.
My granddaughter is off to Greece for a holiday with friends once A levels are over. In her gap year she and several friends will 'do' Europe by train. She and her friends have made so many great memories.
I do of course realise it is not like that for everyone.
Her teenage years were far better than mine, 1956 onwards.

We also saw Long John Baldry in a venue above a garage in Derby. Rod Stewart and Elton John were in the band and, possibly, Ellie Brooke. I will eventually remember the name of the band.

We went to lots of folk clubs. Donovan and Maddy Prior lived locally .

I saw Long John Baldry play a gig in a small venue in London when he was just starting out. He was very nice! Rod Stewart was on the bill. Rod lived quite locally and was quite young. Didn’t think much of his voice, though.

Long John Baldry ❣

FoghornLeghorn

The Byrds, Mr Tambourine Man. I was 13 and on a family holiday in Looe in Cornwall. This was playing everywhere. I have it on my iPhone playlist and every time I hear it I’m reminded of happy, carefree times in the sunshine with my Mum and Dad.

I was older but going out with someone that summer who played this all the time, if it wasn't playing he was singing it. He was a lovely young man but he also played cricket. 😴

Marsh family have just done a Beatles Cover 30 mins ago
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVX2Qzu5u4k

not the best but fun.

joannapiano

In 1965 I was 16 and had a holiday job in a record shop. We sold so many copies of “Go Now” by the Moody Blues that we just kept them in a big box under the counter so they were ready to sell to all the teens who came in. I played it over the loudspeaker that was outside the shop.

So did I, at 16, working in the "pop" department. What a gig.

However boyfriend of that time and I used to go to a Folk Club in Hull where the Watersons played which led to a love of Steeleye Span and similar: also started to like Summer of Love stuff, Janis Joplin et al, but also Dylan, Mamas and the Papas...so many more.

The Byrds, Mr Tambourine Man. I was 13 and on a family holiday in Looe in Cornwall. This was playing everywhere. I have it on my iPhone playlist and every time I hear it I’m reminded of happy, carefree times in the sunshine with my Mum and Dad.

I had a great time in Liverpool in the 60s (no alcohol or drugs in the clubs). I remember seeing The Beatles at The Cavern and my first husband was in a supporting act. John Lennon had forgotten his guitar strap and OH loaned him one. He was a bit gutted when he realised that he had sold the guitar and included the strap!

I am sooo very envious of you all having these wonderful memories
Being born in the early 70's obviously I missed it all and have always been convinced I was born too late
I love modern music but, gosh, there was something magical about the music in that decade
Brilliant reading all of your posts

The sixties started for me with the advent of The Beatles, there were a couple of wilderness years before 1963 and then it exploded kind of peaking in the mid 60s

The thing I remember from the 1963 concert with Tommy Roe (Sweet Little Sheila and Dizzy) and Chris Montez (Let's Dance
and later on The More I See You) was that all the girls in the audience kept stamping their feet and shouting "We want The Beatles" after they'd been on as a supporting act!

It must have been difficult for the two stars of the show to come on stage after that.