Britain in the 60s

[tex]

Re: Britain in the 60s

It’s funny how nostalgia gets attached to a decade. Obviously I wasn’t around in the 60’s but my mother paints a very different picture of life then. She says it might have been swinging in places like London but it definitely wasn’t in our North Eastern town!

No, it was pretty grim actually but looked upon with great nostalgia by many. I was only 10 when the 60s expired so dont recall much of the hardship but as stated previously there were very few going to san-francisco with flowers in their hair.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Britain in the 60s

It’s funny how nostalgia gets attached to a decade. Obviously I wasn’t around in the 60’s but my mother paints a very different picture of life then. She says it might have been swinging in places like London but it definitely wasn’t in our North Eastern town!

[Arran]

Re: Britain in the 60s

There was more to the 60s than the Beatles. In fact had the Beatles never existed then the 60s would have been 99% the same.

It was a decade when the majority of adults smoked. Smoking at work was the norm even in offices. Teachers were known to smoke in class in front of kids. There were always ashtrays and a thick haze of tobacco smoke in reception areas. You could even get on a bus and spark up a fag.

[tex]

Re: Britain in the 60s

They were together for a few years before they got famous, honing their craft in Hamburg etc.

that is true but they played very few of there own compositions and had no recording contract, mainly covers of Buddy holly,Little richard etc

[George 1978]

Re: Britain in the 60s

God I hope not...!

I hope not either.

[zabadak]

Re: Britain in the 60s

The Beatles were prolific for the whole of their careers...

1967 was a particularly prolific year for them, look at what they achieved!

All You Need Is Love
Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
Hello Goodbye
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour (music and film)

[zabadak]

Re: Britain in the 60s

Hard to imagine the Beatles were only together eight years...

They were together for a few years before they got famous, honing their craft in Hamburg etc.

[tex]

Re: Britain in the 60s

Weren't they ridiculously prolific during the first few years before they encountered drugs of various forms ??


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The Beatles were prolific for the whole of their careers, although all drugs are bad they did nothing harder than LSD which was for recreational use and not dependence. Many maintain that the use of LSD brought out the more experimental elements in their music, the song A DAY IN THE LIFE for example is a million miles away from TWIST AND SHOUT, SHE LOVES YOU etc. The 60s generally was probably the most creative decade of our generation particularly in the field of music, art,cinema

[Zincubus]

Re: Britain in the 60s

Hard to imagine the Beatles were only together eight years but during that short time they wrote and recorded some of the most enduring music of all time and IMO there will never be another group that will achieve what they did. Contrary to popular belief flower power as it was called was was very short lived and very few people were going to San-francisco with flowers in their hair, more like coal dust and smog.

Weren't they ridiculously prolific during the first few years before they encountered drugs of various forms ??


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[tex]

Re: Britain in the 60s

A few things to recall Beatlemania when girls were screaming their heads off.1963 The great train robbery.When Harold Wilson became the labour prime minister famous for smoking a pipe,winning the 1964 election.Coal fires to keep warm no radiators in my parents home.Christmas time was tough not many presents but we were grateful for what we received,no gadgets in those days.

Hard to imagine the Beatles were only together eight years but during that short time they wrote and recorded some of the most enduring music of all time and IMO there will never be another group that will achieve what they did. Contrary to popular belief flower power as it was called was was very short lived and very few people were going to San-francisco with flowers in their hair, more like coal dust and smog.

[amethyst]

Re: Britain in the 60s

A few things to recall Beatlemania when girls were screaming their heads off.1963 The great train robbery.When Harold Wilson became the labour prime minister famous for smoking a pipe,winning the 1964 election.Coal fires to keep warm no radiators in my parents home.Christmas time was tough not many presents but we were grateful for what we received,no gadgets in those days.

[staffslad]

Re: Britain in the 60s

In the 50s and 60s Britain was indeed quite socially conservative, with liberalism being a kind of counter-culture that gradually grew stronger in the late 60s until now it is social conservatism that is the counter culture. Looking from 2018 back to the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, social attitudes of the time are derided by many--lots of phobes and isms. However, in a few decades I expect that people of that time will look back at the social attitudes of the 2010s with equal contempt. Each generation thinks it social attitudes are the correct ones and derides those of earlier generations. It has been like that for a long time and will continue for a long time.

[zabadak]

Re: Britain in the 60s

God I hope not...!

[George 1978]

Re: Britain in the 60s

Good points, Arran - do you think that the 2020s will see Britain go back to being an independent country just like it was before we joined the EU? In other words, do you think we would go full circle in that respect?

[Arran]

Re: Britain in the 60s

It could be argued that the 1960s were the last of Britain as a free and independent country before we joined the EU. There were probably a lot of Leave voters in the EU Referendum who based their decision on this fact.

Information I have from people who lived through the 1960s is that society back then was a lot more socially conservative than the media in more recent times makes it out to be. The liberalism and the change in attitudes associated with 1960s didn't really take off amongst the masses until the 1970s.

Enoch Powell was overwhelmingly viewed as a hero by ordinary people after delivering his famous speech.