1964: The Year the Swinging Sixties Began

On 2nd January 1964 The Mirror newspaper splashed its headline 'The Spirit of 1964' which the paper illustrated by a picture of a donkey-jacketed man sitting atop a high-rise beam on a building site in central Manchester with a 'glass of bubbly', literally straddling the two worlds. Elsewhere we learn that Prince Charles and Princess Anne enjoyed a 'Fab twist session' (ages 15 and 13) with more than 100 other youths, she sporting a 'light-coloured dress' of daring cut, a mere 'two or three inches below the knee'. The Daily Express carried the grim news that carpet prices are set to increase by a rather precise 7.5% during the year, while at The Telegraph they announce the compulsory destruction of hundreds of homes to make way for new speedways for gargantuan lorries and cars travelling at over 50 miles an hour. Adverts for Pontins, carpet shampoo and washing machines and household goods abounded, promoting the virtues of cars, cameras, cold remedies, denture repairs, trusses and more. The Wanted column still had rows of openings for household servants and private chauffeurs and you could buy a magnificent four-bedroom villa in Sutton Coldfield for £5,150 ono. 1964 in retrospect seems to have been one of reckless boom. Only one in four married women was working in 1964 and radio and TV, shops, products and whole industries bowed to young. A swinging year lay before them. We step back in time to a year of cultural upheaval and political transformation, from the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the US to the global phenomenon of Beatlemania. It was a year that gave us bold fashion, unforgettable music and social change that continues to shape society across the world today. On the world stage 1964 saw the escalation of the Vietnam War, Nelson Mandela's sentenced to life imprisonment, and the continued brinkmanship of the global arms race. Brand-new subcultures clashed at Margate beach, where thousands of Mods and Rockers fought over their differing values, while London's Carnaby Street shone vibrantly and women flocked to Mary Quant's iconic designs, rising hemlines, and psychedelic, abstract, bold colours. A captivating blend of historical events, cultural trends and personal anecdotes, Christopher Sandford tells the colourful story of a very special year. 288pp, illus.