In 1960 I was 12 years old and one year into senior School. In 1970, I was 22 years old and getting married.
The years between changed our outlooks and culture perhaps more than any other decade in history.

The 1950’s had seen a fairly set-in view of life. The Country was still getting over a World conflict which tore both Nations and families apart.
It was a time for reflection and a need of stability.
This was given to the Nation by a flow of pretty ‘safe’ Governments.

But by the end of that decade and at the dawn of the new, there were many things inside of us which wanted to get out.
Music played a major part in this. From ‘Swing’ of the 40’s came Rock and Roll, Sciffle and what was deemed as ‘Pop Music’.
In the early 60’s, things seemed to have come to a crawl in Politics, the Media, Music and Lifestyle.

One day, right out of the blue, came the Beatles and this was to see the start of a cultural change and near on idealogy through the Nation.
It was ‘new’ music, new fashion and a new freedom of speech.

Virtually the whole population were drawn toward this freshness and by 1964, the Beatles along with ‘The British Scene’ had swept America and the World.

Suddenly, for peaceful reasons, we were the centre of the World and were fronting changes which are still buzzing today.

The new Youth had long hair (although it was a bit overstated at the time!), they thought more about leisure than they did about work, sung the praises of Peace and we saw more fashion changes in 10 years than we had in the last 50 !

Mary Quant headed the mini skirt phase and if you were lucky enough to live in London, Carnaby Street was The Place to be. Red hipstered flares, flower patterned shirts, head scarves and white shoes were ‘in’ – and that was the blokes !!!
The changes happened so quickly, overnight came the likes of Hendrix and The Rolling Stones were wearing longer hair and making headline news almost weekly with their goings on.

The stale Conservative Governments made way for Socialism and as Harold Wilson said when asked what was the countries biggest achievement during his term, “Winning the World Cup and the Eurovision Contest”.
Although a joke, that was the mood of the times, Politicians could actually make jokes – unheard of!

The Sun newspaper came along in 1964 to match The Daily Mirror and nailed the closing down of the Daily Sketch.

Probably the biggest memories of the 60’s will be the Peace movements. People protested, something we hadn’t done for years. The only downfall was the Authorities didn’t know how to handle it and violence came into it a lot.
This led to young Anarchists who would turn up for a Demo often not knowing it was about. But that was the 60’s.

By the end of the decade, people were more motivated to get things they wanted, but it also became more expected.
Free(er) love and a more open outlook to birth control had come in. It was always there of course, simply hidden away underneath.

People didn’t care so much as they used to. Conformity to what was expected had changed. This would be taken forward to the 70’s and beyond in the fashion, our attitudes and life in general.

The country had ‘celebrity’ status – but what happened next!!
.
.