Memories of the Swinging Sixties

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

Glorianny

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!

I went on a school trip to Stratford in the 1960s as well. We stayed in a B&B and there were fights over who had to share the double beds!!! Girls only.
On the way home we were called Philistines by the Head for saying our favourite was Dr Faustus....of course, we would Helen of Troy walked across the stage completely nude sprayed in Gold.

Oooh, calli, Dinsdale Landon!!

I remember David Whitfield the crooner. He later also owned the Gainsboro fish restaurant in Hull where I used to have Halibut and Chips, bread and butter and a cup of tea for 3 shillings and 6 pence. Those were the days!

David Whitfield ( did he have a hit with Cara Mia Mine?)had a fish and chop shop? I was an early fan.
Halibut and chips sounds exotic, it’s only get cod or plaice round here.

kittylester

Oooh, calli, Dinsdale Landon!!

You're ok, kittylester, I claimed Ian Holm! 😁

“Will you still love me tomorrow” sends me into a dream and memories of a first kiss by the boss’s son, innocent and lovely.

Callistemon21

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.

We were taken to York as well to see the Mystery Plays. Judi Dench was Mary and Ian McShane was the devil. We all fell for the devil!

Ooh, he always looked like an attractive bad boy, Glorianny 😁
The kind your mother never wanted you to bring home!!

Callistemon21

Ooh, he always looked like an attractive bad boy, Glorianny 😁
The kind your mother never wanted you to bring home!!

He was! We were seated on a sort of scaffolding arrangement and in one scene he climbed up the back and appeared just at the end of the row. Not very tall, but devastatingly handsome.

My mother would have said "He seems very nice, dear. Where did you meet him?"
With a wary look in her eye and her fingers crossed that he'd last a couple of weeks then be sent on his way 😁

He's 80!!

Callistemon21

My mother would have said "He seems very nice, dear. Where did you meet him?"
With a wary look in her eye and her fingers crossed that he'd last a couple of weeks then be sent on his way 😁

He's 80!!

Oh I know! A couple of years older than me. We would have been Lower 6th. He must only have been 19 or 20.
I did like it when Lovejoy was on.
My mother would have flirted with him. I only realised when I was older what a flirt she was. Even in her 80s she waved at a hotel chef and he blew kisses to her!

Hey Jude, being snogged by a John Lennon look alike at a freshers party at Trinity College, Oxford. never saw him again!

I went to many balls in various colleges during my time as an art student at Oxford. Most memorable was Marmelade, the week they went to No 1 with Obla di obla da, Creedence Clearwater revival with their hit Proud Mary, and Four tops Buttercup Baby. Dudley Moore playing the piano and Monty Python cabaret with first outing for the Albatross sketch.

Mary Hopkins Those Were the Days is very nostalgic for that time. Bob Dylan Lay Lady Lay and Jane Birkin Je T'aime. All canons at that time.

My ex husband has a spreadsheet of it all! Can't think why I divorced him! Still a boring old fart.

My white broderie anglaise mini dress was a winner and I loved my white Lulu boots, my mini suede skirt.

Those really were the days.

I too spent my teenage years at the Cavern watching all the merseyside groups, the Beatles a few times too when they did a marathon. Doing the stomp in our all black clothes we thought we were really cool. Also spent a week with friends in Blackpool and saw the Rolling Stones at the tower and The Animals who were at number one at the time with House of the Rising Sun and Manfred Mann with Do Wa Diddy Diddy. I loved every second of my teens.

Well, I was nine in 1960 and only interested in classical music, so the sixties and seventies were mainly a matter of wondering what on earth everyone else saw in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

My hero was Yehudi Menuhin.

From the seventies I do remember Sandie Shaw's "Puppet on a String" and the various Spanish entries to the Eurovision Song contest that either were winners or runners up and played all summer the years they won.

If I remember correctly ABBA was the first pop group to interest me even remotely.

Just turned 16, Easter of 1967, in Germany for 3 weeks to improve my German language. Met the nephew of my hosts who was staying over the Easter weekend on holiday from uni. He was unbelievably handsome and I was amazed that he showed an interest in me. We went to a disco (with his aunt and uncle also there - chaperoning!) Procul Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ was played over and over again. It was a blissful evening .

Such wonderful songs and times. Any of these songs take me straight back to the sixties, the best time. Motown and all the fantastic groups we had in this era. It was a great time to be young and wear the fabulous fashions from Biba etc. So many memories.

I loved reading this thread. Looking back is so nostalgic. I had never heard of David Whitfield so looked him up. I read that he died in Sydney when he was only 54. I asked Alexa to play him singing. What a voice! I loved Cara Mia. I was already married with 2 children in the 60s and living in Australia. I still listen to 60s music and love the memories it evokes. So Big Louis is a Liverpudlian! We are everywhere. Did you go to Grove Street Big Louis or another city school?