What were the 1960s like?

[hallow]

Both good and bad. What were the 60s like? Have any interesting stories?

....Oh a world away from where we are now.... Fabulous... Happiest days of my life. Will think of some tales at a later date.. but made me smile ... Such happy memories...

[bobjob]

What were the 60s like? Have any interesting stories?

The 60s were times of great change - just as the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the noughties etc. were.

[ameliorate]

The late 60s (into early 70s) is when the real change started to take place - flower power/hippies, make love not war - we thought love could change the world! - the powerful influential effect of students galvanised in protesting about helping to halt the Vietnam war, when street/recreational drugs really took off. Pyschedelia, music got freer/less mainstream, progressive rock, Woodstock!!

I was a fully fledged hippy (i.e. not just at weekends as some were), really into LSD (but taken for insights not the 'pretty colours'/hallucinations as was then fashionable). It was a time of free love (women being freed with the contraceptive pill) but I was deeply in love so not part of that promiscuity. Men had long hair and wore velvet bell bottom trousers - very gentle looking!

...I was a tad young to become a hippy and enter into the world of flower power/ make love, not war/ drugs / mini skirts /makeup / and beehives ....... But I DO remember it all being topical and in the news .... Twiggy ... And the whole new trends of liberation and freedom... Ban the bomb... And the older generation being disgusted beyond disgust at the shock of it all LOL... They were scandalised beyond scandalisation , although I'm sure there were many a scandalised dad/ grandad... Not averse to seeing the odd "leg" in a mini skirt !!! Hahaha .... For me... Hearing Petula clark singing "downtown" on the radio on a Sunday , as my mother prepared a Sunday roast , has always stuck with me.... I love that song, even to this day....Another lovely memory that is a lifelong love , was seeing the film "born free" as a six year old , and that film "shaping" somewhat, the person I would become..... But my happiest memories of the 60's , without a shadow of doubt, were all the times I spent with my brother.... All our adventures, bike rides... Pea- picking.. going on adventures ... Fighting LoL..... And let's not all forget folks... For how can we ever forget, when they ram it down our throats every year.... The world cup 1966 !!!!!!...... ( Also 1969 moon landing... Hmmm...)......

[Busby]

I married in 1962 and set up house with my new wife in north London. Looking back and hearing all the reports about the swinging sixties seems quite odd to me because all was just normal at that time. We didn't think there was anything special about music or fashion or anything. There was for a time a strong Italian influence, people were starting to go abroad for holidays so brought back the ideas of Spaghetti Bolagnese, Cappuccino, Wine, Bikinis, and so on. This led to the sudden appearance of coffee houses, Italian and other restaurants and very reasonably priced Chinese restaurants. Most pubs suddenly had wine bars and began to offer snacks.
Most women wore skirts or dresses, and jeans were rare. Stockings were still en vogue and stockinged legs very seductive. Women's trousers were called 'slacks' but were seldom seen. The advent of the miniskirt did fill the gutter press's desire for photo's and led partly to the release from the constraints of puritanical views on sex led to opened minds.
There were still plenty of steam trains on the railways, there were still very few jet planes, the de Havilland 'Comet' redesigned and still flying.
Television was black and white until about 1968, there were only a few households that had a telephone, washing machines and refrigerators were just coming on the market and washing-up machines far off. Central Heating was just a word, most people had to find means of heating the home which didn't cost too much. Cars broke down quite often so on a trip out to the country you could be sure of seeing quite a number of open bonnets. Not that there were many cars, therefore parking spaces were easy to find.
I worked in the City of London as a customer advisor and my wife in Saville Row as a translator. We both had to travel about 5 miles to work but this took 90 minutes with buses, tubes and walking.Wages and salaries weren't very high so we didn't have a lot of spending money for theatres and so on, of which my wife was very keen but we did manage to get around a bit.
We only had two weeks holiday, we worked between Christmas and New Year and had to plan very carefully for holidays.
Most men wore a tie and were I think better dressed than today. Jackets and pressed trousers were the norm. Shoes were made of leather, the so-called plimsolls (trainers today I suppose) were not for every day wear. Supermarkets were just arriving, everything was cash of course, any big expenses, say a new bedroom, was bought on hire purchase - that is you paid a deposit and then a certain amount every week. This got a lot of people into difficulties and many people tried to recoup their losses by betting on the 'football pools' a sort of Euromillions where you had to guess which football teams would win or lose or draw.
Swimming pools weren't heated and there were no warm showers, it wasn't as warm as it is today many people escaped the cold by going to the local library - of which there were many.
I could go on - but I thought I'd pay my respects to the sixties!!!!

...Lovely account Busby.... And once again.. one thing stands out.. I eventually , for 8 years worked for a company that had prestigious shops on saville row !!!.... The company I'm talking about made exclusive menswear for all the top football teams ( suits)...and made suits for the royal wedding of William. Not many people, as you say owned cars, therefore the roads were very quiet, indeed , not many of the routes from "A" to "B" had even heard of a motorway... And therefore took hours to get from a to b..... All a roads and minor routes... But probably far less stress. We had no radiators or central heating... Just a coal fire.... My mother eventually got a "twin tub" washing machine... !!.... And yes.... Only black and white TV with bbc1 and itv ... BBC 2 was there I think, but only as an open university channel... We did of course have the "test card" for when TV was off air.... Little blonde lass in middle of a pattern, holding a clown as I re-call..... And then there was "watch with mother " ...Andy Pandy ( which I always thought was a girl !!... The clue was in the name !!!)..... Bill and Ben, the treasured flowerpot men... Such happy days...

..... And BEST OF ALL.... Fish and chips from the fish shop every Friday tea time ....6 of us... And we could have whatever we wanted .... Yeeahhhh..... Thank you Palmer's fish shop in West Yorkshire at the end of our street...

[bobjob]

wow! I remember similar times involving me too but they don't have such apparently significant memories or significance for me.

Strange how differently we reflect on them - or more likely it's just me who's strange.....

[Busby]

Originally Posted by Elfin

..... And BEST OF ALL.... Fish and chips from the fish shop every Friday tea time ....6 of us... And we could have whatever we wanted .... Yeeahhhh..... Thank you Palmer's fish shop in West Yorkshire at the end of our street...

In London (I don't know about other places) there were Lyons Corner Houses. These were eating places all done up in the style of the chain that it then was. They offered quite a choice of really English meals. These included
Steak and Kidney Pudding - with chips. It was my favourite, I'd drool when it was on the table in front of me. So tasty and juicy - plenty of gravy. Lovely stuff!! Finish off with a cup of proper tea!!!