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“Toys of Christmas Past”
Image by brizzle born and bred
Did you know that toys and games have been part of childhood for thousands of years? As early as 4000 B.C. (before Christ), games became a source of entertainment. At that time, people of Babylon played a game that preceded the present day game of chess.
4000 BC – A Babylonian game, which is the ancestor of modern draughts begins to be played
3000 BC – First Game resembling modern Backgammon is played in Sumeria.
2000 BC – Stone marbles first used in Egypt.
1000 BC – Kites appear in China. Stone Yo-Yos begin to be used in Greece
600 BC – An ancestor of chess called ‘Chaturanga’ is played in India.
1759 – Roller skates are invented by Joseph Merlin.
Victorian Era – Victorian children had fewer toys than you have today. Poor Children – Poor families made their own, such as cloth-peg dolls and paper windmills. Children would save their pocket money to buy marbles, a spinning top, skipping ropes, kites or cheap wooden toys.
Rich Children had rocking horses with real horse hair manes, and dolls houses full of beautifully-carved miniature furniture. Other popular toys for rich children included china or wax dolls for the girls and clockwork train sets for the boys. Girls played with dolls and tea sets whilst boys played with toy soldiers and marbles.
During Victorian times, people became fascinated by toys that made pictures move. One of the earliest and simplest of these was the thaumatrope. This is a disc with a picture on either side that is attached to two pieces of string or a stick. When you spin the disc quickly, the two pictures appear to combine into one.
1901 – Meccano goes on sale in the UK. Invented by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, it captures the spirit of the age with a challenging construction toy. One of the century’s leading toy makers and creator of Hornby train sets (1920, and see 1925) and Dinky Toys, Hornby died in 1936.
1902 – In the USA, the Teddy Bear is created by a Russian emigrants Morris MiTchtom who had seen a report of US President Teddy Roosevelt who declined to shoot a bear cub while out hunting. Clifford Berryman’s celebrated newspaper cartoon captured this moment and Mitchcom launched his range of "Teddy" bears in his Brooklyn shop. German toymaker, Margarete Steiff began making jointed toy animals including bears, and they were also able to cash in on the teddy bear craze in the USA, which spread worldwide.
1903 – Edwin Binney & Harold Smith patent the first ‘Crayola’ crayons.
1908 – Plasticine goes on sale.
1909 – Kewpie Doll-devised by Rosi O’Neill patented in 1935
1910 – Daisy Air Rifles go on sale.
1914 – Tinker Toys – interlocking construction toy.
1914 – Frank Hornby manufactures ‘0 Gauge’ Clockwork model trains
1925 – The first electric ‘Hornby’ train appears..Hornby produce the first electric train sets in the world.
1928 – Mickey Mouse is created by Walt Disney. The licensed toy is born. Dolls from 1930
1929 – Duncan Yo-Yo’s are first launched in Los Angeles when Frank Duncan saw waiters from the Philippines playing with their tradit-ional Yo-Yo. It can be traced back to Ancient Greece – in the Philippines it was a weapon (like a boomerang) for hunting and war until later it became a sporting item then later a plaything. In 1930 Frank Duncan brought over demonstrators to Europe to play the music halls – and the craze took off.
1930 – Charlotte Cla in the USA starts making Micky Mouse dolls based on the first Disney cartoon first screened in 1928.
1932 – US architect, Alfred Butt begins work on what will become the board game, Scrabble. He calls it Lexico. (See 1940) In Denmark, Ole Kirk Christiansen started his Lego toy company. Lego means ‘play well’ in Danish. (leg godt). Later he discovered Lego in Latin means ‘to put together’.
1934 – Corgi starts to manufacture toy cars and other models. In 1965 their model Aston Martin from the first James Bond film became the very first BATR Toy of the Year.
1935 – Monopoly arrives in the UK. Invented in the USA by Charles Darrow in 1933, patent filed 31st August 1935 while on sale in America. It was made under licence in the UK by Waddingtons. Darrow died in 1967.
1935 – Minibrix made by the Premo Rubber Co. using the studs and cavity device which paved the way for plastic interlocking bricks pioneered by Hilary Page in the 1940s.
1943 – Richard James, researching a suspension device develops the Slinky. It goes on sale in 1945.
1948 – Criss Cross Words invented by Alfred Butt (originally Lexico) fails to sell well and is sold to James Brunot who changes the name to Scrabble. Sales average just 8,000, but from 1953 – 55 it suddenly takes off – sales reach 4.5million sets.
1949 – Leeds-based Waddington’s produces mystery board-game, Cluedo. This year (1999) it celebrated its 50th birthday.
1949 – Ole Christiansen, invents Lego bricks. Just six bricks will fit together in 102,981,500 ways !
1950 – Disney’s latest release, Cinderella, spawns toy products. Meanwhile, Disney was telling the toy industry to gear up for their next full-length cartoon, Alice in Wonderland, out in 1951. Popular Toys: a wind-up Cinderella dancing doll (with Prince) and Palitoy’s Archie Andrew Ventro Doll…Minibrix, ‘the world’s finest toys’ from Dean & Son, Flying Saucer from Cascelloid, Electric Contact Quiz – ‘lights up your party – mysterious, unique, amusing’ – claims the makers, Spears. Other events: First Toy Fair in Harrogate. First meeting of the NATR – the toy retailers association.
1951 – best selling toys: Alice (from Alice in Wonderland film), Talking Eggs from Selcol with a crank-handle to make Humpty Dumpty squeak (6/9d) – about 32p…Muffin the Mule push-along toy by Kohnstam…Kiddicraft’s ‘Sensible’ range of cot and pram toys designed by Hilary Page.
1951 – A Muffin The Mule push-along toy is the best seller this year.
1952 – Mr Potato Head is launched. Jack O’dell creates the first Matchbox car.
1952 – Popular toys: Crazy Ball from Louis Marx…Negro dolls from Pedigree called Mary Lou and Dixie…Flop: Loopo, a game with a ball and small hand-held loop promoted as ‘the sensation of the year’…Lines Brothers, Britain’s largest toymaker celebrated its 70th birthday…
1953 – A ‘Little Princess’ doll designed by Norman Hartnell is launched to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
1953 – Pedigree launch dolls with ‘flesh-like’ vinyl plastic heads with ‘hair that grows out of their heads!’ using a "Angela, the doll with magic flesh" – it also has ‘sleeping’ eyes and lashes. Another pedigree doll out this Coronation year, is Little Princess dressed by Norman Hartnell…retailers read for the first time that out-of-town shopping centres are being tried out in the USA…Dean’s Rag Books are 50 years old…New Toys: Flower pot Men based on the TV series. Wembley – the football board game, Keywords (from Waddingtons) which has some similarities to Scrabble. Novelty Toys: Atom Bomber with A-bombs with automatic releases, and Slinky, the toy that slithers down steps – still a big seller to this day.
1954 – Sooty appears on TV and turns out to be an actual Chad Valley glove puppet…sales soar. The British Toy & Hobby Association hold their first Toy Fair in Brighton. New Toys: Dan Dare Rota Spinner for the beach…and at Christmas: Matchbox vehicles, Painting By Numbers. Scrabble arrives.
1955 – Scrabble sold in the UK by Spears begins to grow in popularity. Scoop from Waddingtons challenges.
1956 – New Game: Beat the Clock (Spears) based on the game on TV’s Sunday Night at the Palladium…Flops: New Footy Table Soccer as recommended by Stanley Matthews, and Newcrikit , recommended by Freddie Trueman…the Corgi Model Club formed…Triang T-T Gauge trains launched…Radio comedian (and chairman of Chad Valley) Kenneth Horne is seen on TV trying out the new Rise’n’Shine shaving kit and beauty shop – the first seen on TV…and the launch of the sputnik inspires the Bleep Bleep satellite toy.
1956 – A Mr B. Francis puts small electric motors in his scale models of cars and ‘Scalectrix’ is born.
1957 – Combex brings out the Sooty toothbrush flute…and following the Disney film’s release, a rash of Davy Crockett hats and toys.
1958 – New: The Hula – Hoop arrives! 20 million sold in the first year. Scalextric electric model racing first introduced…but whatever happened to Pictorama which can create 14 million different combinations of pictures? It’s the 50th birthday for Plasticine…and Frisbees (invented 1957 at the Frisbee Pie Factory) compete for attention.
1959 – Barbie is created by Ruth Handler, and is named after her daughter Barbara.
1959 – Stanley Matthews endorses Frido playballs. Selling well: Matchbox’s Scammel Breakdown truck, Board Games: Careers, and Wack-O (based on Jimmy Edward’s TV series)
1960 – For the first time, the Brighton Toy Fair allows imported toys to be shown. The craze that swept France, Loopyloop is predicted to sweep Britain…it doesn’t…Lego is seen at the Toy Fair for the first time…plastic kits dominate the market and toy market (at retail) is worth £85m through 11,000 outlets.
1961 – A mini-boom in costume dolls…Airfix launch their Betta Bilda sets at 10 shillings each (50p)…Fuzzyfelt bring out Noddy finger puppets, Scalextrics slot car racing sets, and trains are amongst this year’s top sellers.
1962 – Tipped as the craze of the year, Airtoy’s Spinning Satellite…it isn’t. Dinky launch Ford Fairlane, Corgi offer a model Silverstone with pit stops, Chad Valley launches the Give-a-show projector…Barbie and boy friend Ken impress US market…the Pogo stick is fun again…and Dinky’s First Engine is the first ever with flashing lights.
1963 – The board game, Diplomacy arrives…Matchbox offer cars with doors that open…and there is ‘the greatest money spinner ever from Frido’ – Disky Discs and goal posts to play ‘1-dimensional football’.
1964 – The latest craze: Booma Boomerang, Corgi is 30 years old and celebrates by introducing Corgi Classics…Diana Dors promotes the Trolls.
1965 – Dr Who and the Daleks on TV and toys available this Christmas…the James Bond Aston Martin Car is the big seller and will be the first ever Toy of the Year (to be announced as it will be in future in January of the following year at the NATR Dinner). Waddington’s launch Spyring board game, and the Noise Abatement Society complains about the V-rroom roar maker fitted to bicycles…the Gonks arrive to challenge Trolls…Denys Fisher launch the Spirograph. Craze that never was – Nik Nok – cup and ball game.
1965 – The James Bond Aston Martin from Corgi is the most popular toys this year. A version of the toy is still on sale today.
1966 – Action Man, the first ‘Doll For Boys’ is launched and is a massive success. Toy of the year this year will be Action Man – causing a sensation as the first doll for boys…for girls there is Tiny Tears. To rival Action man, Pedigree launch Tommy Gunn. Another craze that never was: Ippy Op – ball come skipping rope…but party game, Twister is a success.
1967 – Spiro-Graph is toy of the year. Rolf Harris Stylophone (Musical toy with a strangely annoying pitch. Apparently invented by accident the Stylophone enjoys cult popularity among musicians and has been used by bands as diverse as David Bowie and Blur.
1968 – Sindy is top doll and will win Toy of the Year. Ride-a-Roo ball is launched, as are Joe 90 products, Beatles’s Yellow Submarine, and the Go Car game which includes a breathalyser test as a hazard. Other new products: a multi-cube game called Instant Insanity and Glow-Globs, modelling compound that glows in the dark, and paintwheels.
1969 – Hot Wheels cars will win Toy of the Year. The Newton’s Cradle (Klikkies) sells well…but Tic Tac Tosser has a shorter life.
1970 – Sindy wins Toy of the Year for a second time…the NATR launches their Toy Token scheme…"The computer is becoming such an important part of our lives that a mini-computer for kids is in the office"…Super markets begin selling toys, and Matchbox makes 900 redundant.
1971 – Space Hoppers, inflatable orange bouncers with horns for handles. Klackers, a modernised version of conkers that made a very annoying ‘Klick Klack’ sound and lead to dozens of imitations. Katie Kopycat writing doll wins Toy of the Year. The giant Lines Brothers collapses, the arrival of Space Hopper, Craze of the year Clackers or Klik Klaks – first seen on Spanish beaches. Fun Bubbles sell over 7 million in first year.
1972 – Plasticraft modelling kits win Toy of the Year.
1973 – The first Game of the Year – Invicta’s Mastermind…a shortage of plastic causes problems…children’s pocket money averages 9p. New dolls: Disco Girl, Chelsea Girl, Daisy. Toy guns concern when gunmen using toy guns are shot dead by police outside India House.
1973 – Mastermind, a game that had nothing to do with the TV show and everything to do with cracking the code of your opponents coloured plastic pegs.
1974 – Magna Doodle. The magnetic drawing toy which was invented in Japan by pen engineers trying to create a clean mess free chalk.
1975 – Wombles. Womblemania hit the UK and Womble toys where everywhere.
1976 – Raw Power. A handle that you added to your bike and ‘revved’ to create the sound of an engine.
1977 – Slime, a bright green PVA based blob that came in little plastic pots and ruined many a households soft furnishings! Othello, the strategy game of Black & White counters. Holly Hobbie, dolls based on the popular character. Skateboards, 1977 saw the high point of the 1970’s skate craze and featured thin ‘surfboard’ style boards.
1978 – Star Wars, after the release of the movie the previous year the toys soon followed and became one of the most successful movie licenced properties of all time, the toys dominated toy shops until the middle 1980’s when their popularity waned. Simon, the electronic game where you followed a sequence of lights and sounds before you threw it across the room in sheer frustration!
1979 – Space Lego, the humble building brick went where no man had gone before. Stop Boris, a game where you stopped Boris, a creepy spider, with a light gun.
1980 – Rubiks Cube, invented by Hungarian designer Erno Rubik over 100 million of these tricky little puzzles were sold between 1980 and 1982.
1981 – Lego Train. Lego launches their first electric ‘train set’ which featured strangely enough blue rails!
1982 – BMX Bikes, everybody went BMX crazy, BMX is short for Bicycle Motocross. ZX Spectrum, the first ‘affordable’ home gaming computer arrived in UK households.
1983 – My Little Pony, based on an Animated TV series there was an entire world of small plastic horses and accessories to collect. My Little Pony went on to become one of the most successful girls toy concepts of all time. Boys did not miss out this year as they got He Man & The Masters Of The Universe which followed the same based on animation format and became one of the most successful boys toy concepts of all time.
1984 – Care Bears. Following the successful ‘toys from an animated series’ format from the previous year the Care Bears arrived from Care-a-Lot. Shortly before Christmas Cabbage Patch Kids, created by artist Xavier Roberts also arrived and created chaos in toy shops across the land as parent competed to buy one of the sought after dolls. The Board game Trivial Pursuit was the best selling board game in 1984 and dolls based on popular Pop Stars Michael Jackson and Boy George was also big hits.
1985 – Transformers, robots in disguise. These ‘action figures’, which transformed from vehicle to robot and back, again confounded parents and delighted children. Optimus Prime was THE toy to have in 1985 and lead to huge shortages of product.
1986 – In this World Cup year the playground graze was Panini Football stickers. If you managed to complete an album you were a playground hero.
1987 – Sylvanian Families, a range of cute and cuddly animals with play-sets and vehicles. Rubiks Magic, a follow up to the Rubiks Cube.
1988 – Ghostbusters, based on the popular movie and animated series, children across the land strapped on ‘proton packs’ and set out to capture ghosts. Slimer, one of the lead characters was also a firm favourite in toy shops, along with the vehicle Ecto-1.
1989 – Another hit movie, another toy shop success. The Tim Burton movie ‘Batman’ breathed new life into an old favourite and Batmania swept the UK.
1990 – Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles arrived in toy shops and where an immediate hit. Originating in the US from a comic book the original word ‘Ninja’ in the title was replaced with ‘Hero’ in the UK for fears that it would violent connotations with parents.
1991 – Nintendo launched Game Boy in the UK.
1992 – Thunderbirds enjoyed a re-birth this year and dads of a certain age across the land re-lived there childhoods with their children. Shortages of the most popular toy, Tracey Island were so severe that Blue Peter ran an episode where the showed you how to make your own….
1993 – Power Rangers, the TV show arrived on our screens and children’s TV has not been the same since. Toys based on the show sold out immediately.
1994 – Magic Eye Pictures were all the rage and toys and puzzles featuring these pictures within pictures prompted even more people to ask ‘can you see it?’
1995 – POGS, small cardboard disks stormed into playgrounds and became a huge craze. Star Wars toys start production again after a short hiatus, 1970’s kids are now adults and collect the toys out of nostalgia but a new generation of kids also embraces the saga.
1996 – Toy Story, the animated film from Pixar was a huge hit in the cinema and toys from the movie were more than elusive. Parents went to desperate measures to secure a Buzz Lightyear doll. The rights to produce toys from the film went to a small independent Canadian toy company who simply could not cope with the demand. Why? Because all of the major toy manufacturers turned down the chance to make Toy Story merchandise, as they felt that the movie would never catch on. Corinthian figures, small figurines of football stars with oversized heads were the hot collectible and equally popular with adults and child collectors.
1997 – The year of T, Teletubbies, Tamagotchi and TY Beanie Babies are toy shop best sellers.
1998 – The humble Yo Yo returns as the craze of the year, after last being seen in the 1950’s and the 1970’s. The ProYo II is the Yo Yo of choice. Just before Christmas the interactive pet, Furby arrives in toy shops.
1999 – A board game based on the hit TV quiz show ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ is the best selling board game. Toys and games based on Pokemon the Nintendo game prove to be quite popular. The firm favourite are the trading cards hundreds of millions of which are sold, swapped and traded across the globe.
2000 – Robotic Pets and Aluminium Folding Scooters are this year crazes. They are also accompanied by another familiar face, The Thunderbirds return again and Tracey Island is another Christmas best seller.
2001 – Bob The Builder toys are big hits, Folding Scooters continue to be the must have accessory for both kids and style guru’s alike. Closely followed by Pogo Sticks which enjoyed a resurgence of interest this year.
2002 – Bratz Dolls, steal some of Barbie’s position as top fashion doll, a place she has held since she was born in 1959. Beyblades, customizable spinning tops and Micropets, miniature robotic pets are the favourite crazes
2003 – Beyblades continue to be the playground craze closely followed by Yucky Yo Balls, fluid filled stretchy balls on an elastic string. However Yucky Yo Balls are swiftly banned by the government over safety fears. This is the first time that the government has banned a toy in over 10 years.
2004 – Toy of the Year ‘Terrain Twister’ radio controlled vehicle.
2005 – Fisher-Price top-selling Dora’s Talking House"
2006 – The overall winner of the title Toy Of The Year 2006 was awarded to the Dr Who Cyberman Voice Changer Mask. This Voice Changer is a replica Cyberhead that will give you a robotic voice. It features speech, sound effects and lights! It has 3 play buttons, one that plays Cyberman phrases, one that changes your voice into that of the Cybermen and one with Cyber weapon sound effects.
2007 – The Toy of the Year Award was given to Blanket Time Iggle Piggle Dancing Soft Toy, from the massively popular ‘In The Night Garden’. Boys Toy of the year was chosen as the Ben 10 Omnitrix FX, which is like a wrist watch which transform Ben into different alien superheroes.
2008 – Toy of the Year Ben 10 Action figures 10" and 15" – Pre School Toy of the Year Kidizoom camera, Vtech – Collectable toy of the Year Go Go Crazy Bones – Construction toy of the year is Lego – Girls range toy of the year is Sylvanian families. – Boys range of the year is Ben 10, Bandai – Girls toy of the year is FurReal Biscuit my lovin’ pup.
2009 – Last year the toy of the year award as voted by the Toy Retailer Association went to the Ben 10 series. The year before it went to a set of toys from In the Night Garden. The theme seems to be a toy connected to a popular children’s television character and this will probably be the same pattern for the best selling toy of 2009/2010. Young children love toys that are familiar, toys that they identify with the television characters that they see. In 2008 the pre school toy of the year was again, In the Night Garden and toys such as Star Wars and toys featuring Thomas the Tank engine (pre school toys of the year in 2005) regularly win toy awards.
Toy Facts
Hasbro is the largest toy manufacturer in the world.
The 20th century saw the invention of dozens of much-loved toys as well. Still-popular board games like Tripoley, Sorry and Monopoly have been around since the 1930s, and Crayola Crayons are more than 100 years old! Twister, made by a division of Hasbro, sold more than 3 million games within a year of its release in 1966. It has sold more than 22 million since then.
Toys aren’t always a hit the year, or even the decade, they’re created. Unemployed architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game of Scrabble, which he first called "Lexiko" and later "Criss-Cross Words," in the 1930s. Entrepreneur James Brunot acquired the game in 1947, but it wasn’t until 1953, when the president of Macy’s — now owned by retail giant Federated Department Stores — discovered the game on vacation that things really took off. More than 100 million sets have since been sold worldwide.
The fortunes of other playthings are more cyclical. Troll dolls, which hit big during the 1960s, had all but disappeared by the 1980s until troll nostalgia ushered in a second boom in the early 1990s. As Generation Xers grow older, toys like Cabbage Patch Kids, now made by Mattel, and Koosh balls could stage a comeback as well.
And there’s serious money to be had. Mr. Potato Head, made in 1952 by Hasbro’s Playskool unit, was the first toy advertised on television, and it grossed more than million in its first year (that’s billion in 2005 dollars). Play-doh, which was originally designed for cleaning wallpaper, made inventor Joseph McVicker a millionaire by his 27th birthday. And Mattel sells an astounding 1.5 million Barbie dolls each week — that’s two dolls per second.
That Was the Year That Was – 1966
Image by brizzle born and bred
The swinging sixties were in full flow, but in some corners of the world the peace and love mantra of the flower-power generation could not be heard.
Even as hippies in London and San Francisco were weaving daisies into their hair, in China Mao Tse-Tung launched the Cultural Revolution, a 10-year political campaign aimed at rekindling revolutionary Communist fervour. Brandishing their copies of Mao’s Little Red Book of quotations, students of the Communist Party – the so-called Red Guards – pursued an ideological cleansing campaign in which they renounced and attacked anyone suspected of being an intellectual, or a member of the bourgeoisie. Thousands of Chinese citizens were executed, and millions more were yoked into manual labour in the decade that followed.
Meanwhile, the US government, under president Lyndon B Johnson, was escalating its military presence in Vietnam. By the year’s end, American troop levels had reached 389,000, with more than 5,000 combat deaths and over 30,000 wounded. The war was a brutal and dirty one, with many US casualties caused by sniper fire, booby traps and mines.
The Americans responded by sending B-52 bombers over North Vietnam, and by launching the infamous Search and Destroy policy on the ground.
"To know war," Johnson said in his State of the Union address before Congress, in January 1966, "is to know that there is still madness in this world".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=InRDF_0lfHk
There was bloodshed on the streets of London too, when Ronnie Kray, brother of Reggie, shot George Cornell dead in the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel in March.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rhr8Vjzy8E
Two years after his proclamations about the "white heat of technology" Harold Wilson was prime minister of a Labour government that included technology minister Tony Benn. If Benn was pleased to witness the introduction of the first homegrown UK credit card – The Barclaycard – in 1966, he was in the minority. The card was met with "a tidal wave of indifference", according to a Barclays executive.
Perhaps the UK public simply had other things on their minds.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRuVVqn63co
This was, after all, the year in which Bobby Moore’s England beat the Germans 4-2 to lift the World Cup at Wembley.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T6IY2fz_Mc
Musically, 1966 was a vintage year. Jim Reeves’ Distant Drums knocked the Small Faces’ All or Nothing off the top spot. Other number ones in the year included Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night, Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, the Walker Brothers’ The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore and The Green, Green Grass of Home by Tom Jones.
The Beatles and the Rolling Stones also continued their dominance of the music scene, with Yellow Submarine, Eleanor Rigby, Paperback Writer and Paint it Black all topping the charts.
A Man for all Seasons won Best Picture at the 1966 Oscars, and its star Paul Scofield won Best Actor. Other films released this year included Georgy Girl, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Alfie and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzQTF–oQ-U
On the small screen, viewers were subjected to the rants of Alf Garnet in Till Death us do Part; while US audiences were introduced to the delights of the Monkees and Star Trek. And the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin, thwarted lute-playing electronics genius the Minstrel as he tried to sabotage the computer systems at the Gotham City Stock Exchange.
"Batman heads off new corporate IT disaster" – now there’s a headline to conjure with.
The Queen opens the £10 million Severn Bridge on September 8. The Severn Bridge was opened in 1966 to replace the ferry service crossing from Aust to Beachley. The new bridge provided a direct link for the M4 motorway into Wales.
The Severn Bridge has now carried more than 300,000,000 vehicles since it was opened in 1966. Between 1980 and 1990 traffic flows increased by 63% and there were severe congestion problems in the summer and at peak times each day. Further increases in traffic flows were expected in the years ahead. The problems encountered on the Severn Bridge were made worse by the occasional high winds, accidents and breakdowns. It is for these reasons that the Second Severn Crossing was constructed as without it congestion would become more serious and frequent on the M4, M5 and the local road network.
Bristol’s Mecca Centre opens
1966 – Thursday May 19 is a glittering night in Bristol when 800 of the West Country’s VIPs are invited to the opening of the city centre’s brand new £32 million leisure complex on Frogmore Street With a dozen licensed bars, a casino, a cinema, a night club, an ice rink and a thousand plastic palm trees, this is the biggest entertainment palace anywhere in Europe and somewhere to rival the West End of London. There are girls! In bikinis! There’s even pineapple! On sticks! Drivers park their Hillman Imps in the multi-story car park!
And, amazingly enough, the venue has been an entertainment centre ever since. Bristol . . . entertainments capital of the South West, and one of the entertainments attractions of Europe. That was the talk of the town when Mecca moved into Bristol, splashed out a fortune and began building the New Entertainments Centre in Frogmore Street, towering over the ancient Hatchet Inn and the Georgian and Regency streets nearby.
The New Entertainments Centre wasn’t just big, it was enormous and it was what 60s leisure and fun-time were all about, Mecca promised. Here, slap bang in the middle of Bristol, the company was creating the largest entertainment centre in the whole of Europe. A dozen licensed bars, an ice rink, bowling lanes, a casino, a night club, a grand cinema, asumptuous ballroom and, naturally, a multi-storey car park to accommodate all those Zephyr Zodiacs, Anglias, Westminsters, Minis, Victors and Imps etc which would come pouring into town bringing the 5,000 or so customers who would flock to the centre every day.
London might have its famous West End. Bristol had its Frogmore Street palace of fun and the opening night of the biggest attraction of all, the Locarno Ballroom, on May 19th was the Night To Crown All First Nights, the Post proudly announced. Sparkling lights, plastic palm trees in shadily-lit bars, a revolving stage, dolly birds in fishnet tights and grass skirts . . . this was glamour a la mid-60s and Bristol loved it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNk8yuZ4lbI
Horace Batchelor K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M
1966 – KEYNSHAM became a familiar household name to millions of Radio Luxembourg listeners across Europe in the 1950s and 1960s — thanks to a local betting expert.
Self-styled ‘football pools king’ Horace Batchelor helped punters win a total of more than £12 million between 1948 and 1971 at a time when £75,000 was a fortune and his series of radio ads always mentioned mentioned Keynsham, which Horace would then spell out.
Customers followed his unique ‘infra draw’ tip system, which forecast which matches would be drawn in the pools. He put the otherwise little-known town on the map by spelling out its name letter by letter so listeners would address their applications correctly when ordering tips by post.
His ads included genial patter such as: ‘Hello, friends — this is Horace Batchelor, the inventor of the fabulous Infra-Draw system. You too can start to win really worthwhile dividends using my method.’
Members of the system clubbed together to enter very large permutations with a good chance of winning the pools and then sharing the takings — though each individual only received a small fraction of each big windfall. Horace himself set a world record by personally netting more than 30 first dividends and thousands of second and third dividends.
During his heyday up to 5.000 orders a day were delivered via Keynsham to his office in Old Market, Bristol. His first major pools win came in 1948 when he was presented with £11,321 at Bedminster’s Rex Cinema —part of the biggest dividend then paid by Sherman’s Pools.
It also included £45,000 which he shared with syndicate members. – By 1955 he had won enough to live in luxury, running three cars and puffing cigars in an 18-room house. He later retired to a 27-bedroom ‘Batchelor pad’ in Bath Road, Saltford, a small village just outside of Keynsham, which he named ‘Infra -Grange’ after his system.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU7MMdlATZQ
Pickles was made Dog of the Year in 1966
Pickles, the mongrel dog who found the World Cup in a London street after it had been stolen three months before the 1966 finals, became a bigger story than that year’s general election.
In March 1966, a few months before the start of the World Cup finals in England, a mongrel dog named Pickles found the missing Jules Rimet trophy in a London street.
One week before Pickles came to the rescue, the priceless trophy had been stolen from the Westminster’s Methodist Central Hall where it was being displayed, albeit in a glass cabinet.
And this despite the presence of no less than five security guards. On that fateful Sunday, however, the guard stationed next to the trophy had taken the day off. The thieves stole in through a back door and snatched away the World Cup.
For his winning role in the tale, Pickles was made Dog of the Year in 1966 and awarded a year’s free supply of dog food. His owner, a Thames lighterman named David Corbett, was a prime suspect in the case and police questioned him for hours before he was cleared.
With a dramatic goal in the final moments of what was a nail-biting match, England finally became soccer World Cup champions, securing a 4-2 win over West Germany at London’s Wembley Stadium. It was just one of the many highlights of 1966 that are etched on my memory from a year that had its fair share of controversy and tragedy as well as producing some outstanding music.
‘more popular than Jesus’
Controversy come in the wake of John Lennon’s quip in a newspaper interview that The Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus now’. It caused a furor and led to thousands of the group’s records being burned on bonfires in protest in some parts of America. I recall seeing the news coverage on TV showing angry groups of people tossing piles of vinyl in to the flames. It was far cry from the outpourings of adoration and admiration that the Liverpool lads usually enjoyed. And for a while threatened to damage their reputation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ6NL3iNNMs
The anti-Beatles outcry did however subside following an apology from Lennon and things eventually got back to normal on the Fab Four front. The catchy Paperback Writer topped the charts and their imaginative album Revolver reinstated their popularity.
Aberfan coal tip disaster in Wales
One of the most tragic events that year In Britain was the Aberfan coal tip disaster in Wales that claimed 144 lives, including 116 children. I was at work on a weekly newspaper on the October morning it happened. My colleagues and I had a radio on and listened to updates on and off throughout the day as rescuers dug through the tons of slurry that had roared down the hillside, desperately trying to find survivors in the mangled remains of the school building. I’ll always remember that it was a very dark period, particularly as so many young lives had been lost in what was later shown to have been an avoidable tragedy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lzJLww3DvM
On the music front, 1966 threw up several gems, not least some groundbreaking offerings from The Beach Boys. It was, of course, the year that the magical singles Good Vibrations and God Only Knows and the grandiose album Pet Sounds set new standards in rock recording. Indeed, such was the excellence of the band at that time that it spurred The Beatles on to experiment and push their own musical boundaries still further.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOMyS78o5YI
Motown was in its glory too, and The Four Tops epitomized all that was great about the sounds made under the guidance of Berry Gordy in the bustling, vibrant city that was Detroit. Reach Out I’ll Be There.
Other memorable songs, were Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, the Spencer Davis Group’s Somebody Help Me, the Rolling Stones Paint It Black, The Walker Brothers’ operatic The Sun Ain’t `Gonna Shine Anymore, and Chris Farlowe’s cover version of the Stones’ Out Of Time. All of them are classics of rock.
Tom Jones’ Green, Green Grass of Home was the biggest selling single. Way before The Voice!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSajFnkUxQY
George Harrison married Patti Boyd.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm8oTkuIJgs
Sergio Leone created the spaghetti western with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring Clint Eastwood. Due to the striking height difference between Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach of over 9 inches, it was sometimes difficult to include them in the same frame.
Because Sergio Leone spoke barely any English and Eli Wallach spoke barely any Italian, the two communicated in French.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PgAKzmWmuk
In the 1960s Michael Caine was a cocky young British movie star with a Cockney accent. He played a caddish womanizer in Alfie (1966) "Not a lot of people know that"
Adam Sandler, Halle Berry, David Schwimmer, David Cameron, Cindy Crawford, Helena Bonham Carter were all born in 1966.
The first episode of Star Trek aired.
Walt Disney died.
The Beatles achieved their 10th number 1!
The Sound of Music won Best Picture at the Oscars.
Twiggy was named the face of ’66 by Daily Express.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncuD39xi-7M
1966 was also the year that the term Swinging London was coined by Time magazine, and as they say the rest is history
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDIxIqc0Qkw
For a few years in the 1960s, London was the world capital of cool. When Time magazine dedicated its 15 April 1966 issue to London: the Swinging City, it cemented the association between London and all things hip and fashionable that had been growing in the popular imagination throughout the decade.
London’s remarkable metamorphosis from a gloomy, grimy post-War capital into a bright, shining epicentre of style was largely down to two factors: youth and money. The baby boom of the 1950s meant that the urban population was younger than it had been since Roman times.
By the mid-60s, 40% of the population at large was under 25. With the abolition of National Service for men in 1960, these young people had more freedom and fewer responsibilities than their parents’ generation. They rebelled against the limitations and restrictions of post-War society. In short, they wanted to shake things up… Added to this, Londoners had more disposable income than ever before – and were looking for ways to spend it. Nationally, weekly earnings in the ‘60s outstripped the cost of living by a staggering 183%: in London, where earnings were generally higher than the national average, the figure was probably even greater.
This heady combination of affluence and youth led to a flourishing of music, fashion, design and anything else that would banish the post-War gloom. Fashion boutiques sprang up willy-nilly.
Men flocked to Carnaby St, near Soho, for the latest ‘Mod’ fashions. While women were lured to the King’s Rd, where Mary Quant’s radical mini skirts flew off the rails of her iconic store, Bazaar.
Even the most shocking or downright barmy fashions were popularised by models who, for the first time, became superstars. Jean Shrimpton was considered the symbol of Swinging London, while Twiggy was named The Face of 1966. Mary Quant herself was the undisputed queen of the group known as The Chelsea Set, a hard-partying, socially eclectic mix of largely idle ‘toffs’ and talented working-class movers and shakers.
Music was also a huge part of London’s swing. While Liverpool had the Beatles, the London sound was a mix of bands who went on to worldwide success, including The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Rolling Stones. Their music was the mainstay of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline and Radio Swinging England. Creative types of all kinds gravitated to the capital, from artists and writers to magazine publishers, photographers, advertisers, film-makers and product designers.
But not everything in London’s garden was rosy. Immigration was a political hot potato: by 1961, there were over 100,000 West Indians in London, and not everyone welcomed them with open arms. The biggest problem of all was a huge shortage of housing to replace bombed buildings and unfit slums and cope with a booming urban population. The badly-conceived solution – huge estates of tower blocks – and the social problems they created, changed the face of London for ever. By the 1970s, with industry declining and unemployment rising,
Swinging London seemed a very dim and distant memory.
1966 in British music
14 January – Young singer David Jones changes his last name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones (later of the Monkees).
19 January – Michael Tippett conducts the performance of his cantata The Vision of St Augustine in London.
6 February – The Animals appear a fifth time on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform their iconic Vietnam-anthem hit "We Gotta Get Out of this Place".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D88vc_GWw-g
4 March – The Beatles’ John Lennon is quoted in The Evening Standard as saying that the band was now more popular than Jesus. In August, following publication of this remark in Datebook, there are Beatles protests and record burnings in the Southern US’s Bible Belt.
5 March – The UK’s Kenneth McKellar, singing "A Man Without Love", finishes 9th in the 11th Eurovision Song Contest, which is won by Udo Jürgens of Austria.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH8BQmfhUgo
6 March – In the UK, 5,000 fans of the Beatles sign a petition urging British Prime minister Harold Wilson to reopen Liverpool’s Cavern Club.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1SQ99AYudo
16 April – Disc Weekly is incormporated with Music Echo magazine.
1 May – The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Who perform at the New Musical Express’ poll winners’ show in London. The show is televised, but The Beatles’ and The Stones’ segments are omitted because of union conflicts.
13 May – The Rolling Stones release "Paint It, Black", which becomes the first number one hit single in the US and UK to feature a sitar (in this case played by Brian Jones).
17 May – American singer Bob Dylan and the Hawks (later The Band) perform at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Dylan is booed by the audience because of his decision to tour with an
electric band, the boos culminating in the famous "Judas" shout.
2 July – The Beatles become the first musical group to perform at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo. The performance ignites protests from local citizens who felt that it was inappropriate for a rock and roll band to play at Budokan, a place – until then – designated to the practice of martial arts.
11 August – John Lennon holds a press conference in Chicago, Illinois to apologize for his remarks the previous March. "I suppose if I had said television was more popular than Jesus, I would have gotten away with it. I’m sorry I opened my mouth. I’m not anti-God, anti-Christ, or anti-religion. I was not knocking it. I was not saying we are greater or better."
29 August – The Beatles perform their last official concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
16 September – Eric Burdon records a solo album after leaving The Animals and appears on "Ready, Steady, Go", singing "Help Me Girl", a UK #14 solo hit. Also on the show are Otis Redding and Chris Farlowe.
9 November – John Lennon meets Yoko Ono when he attends a preview of her art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhJIiEeMeF0
9 December – The Who release their second album A Quick One with a nine-minute "mini-opera" A Quick One While He’s Away.
16 December – The Jimi Hendrix Experience release their first single in the UK, "Hey Joe".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3JsuWz4xWc
1966 in British television
3 January – Camberwick Green is the first BBC television programme to be shot in colour.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUu-LTFJjE
3 March – The BBC announces plans to begin broadcasting television programmes in colour from next year.
5 April – The Money Programme debuts on BBC2. It continued to air until 2010.
23 May – Julie Goodyear makes her Coronation Street debut as Bet Lynch. She did not become a regular character until 1970.
6 June – BBC1 sitcom Till Death Us Do Part begins its first series run.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNSbMNl9K7Q
30 July – England beat West Germany 4-2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley.
Summer – Patrick McGoohan quits the popular spy series Danger Man after filming only two episodes of the fourth season, in order to produce and star in The Prisoner, which begins filming in September.
2 October – The four-part serial Talking to a Stranger, acclaimed as one of the finest British television dramas of the 1960s, begins transmission in the Theatre 625 strand on BBC2.
29 October – Actor William Hartnell makes his last regular appearance as the First Doctor in the concluding moments of Episode 4 of the Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet. Actor Patrick Troughton briefly appears as the Second Doctor at the conclusion of the serial.
5 November – Actor Patrick Troughton appears in his first full Doctor Who serial The Power of the Daleks as the Second Doctor.
16 November – Cathy Come Home, possibly the best-known play ever to be broadcast on British television, is presented in BBC1’s The Wednesday Play anthology strand.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMR8KYDkRqk
BBC1
3 January – The Trumptonshire Trilogy: Camberwick Green
5 January – Softly, Softly (1966–1969)
10 March – The Frost Report (1966)
7 May – Quick Before They Catch Us (1966)
17 May – All Gas and Gaiters (1966–1971)
24 May – Beggar My Neighbour (1966–1968)
7 August – It’s a Knockout (BBC1 1966–1982
17 November – The Illustrated Weekly Hudd (1966–1967)
BBC2
5 April – The Money Programme (1966–2010)
ITV
22 March – How (1966–1981)
1966 Events
3 January – British Rail begins full electric passenger train services over the West Coast Main Line from Euston to Manchester and Liverpool with 100 mph (160 km/h) operation from London to Rugby. Services officially inaugurated 18 April.
Stop-motion children’s television series Camberwick Green first shown on BBC1.
4 January – More than 4,000 people attend a memorial service at Westminster Abbey for the broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, who died last month aged 52.
12 January – Three British MPs visiting Rhodesia (Christopher Rowland, Jeremy Bray and David Ennals) are assaulted by supporters of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith.
20 January – The Queen commutes the death sentence on a black prisoner in Rhodesia, two months after its abolition in Britain.
Radio Caroline South pirate radio ship MV Mi Amigo runs aground on the beach at Frinton.
21 January – The Smith regime in Rhodesia rejects the Royal Prerogative commuting death sentences on two Africans.
31 January – United Kingdom ceases all trade with Rhodesia.
9 February – A prototype Fast Reactor nuclear reactor opens at Dounreay on the north coast of Scotland.
17 February – Britain protests to South Africa over its supplying of petrol to Rhodesia.
19 February – Naval minister Christopher Mayhew resigns.
28 February – Harold Wilson calls a general election for 31 March, in hope of increasing his single-seat majority.
1 March – Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan announces the decision to embrace decimalisation of the pound (which will be effected on 15 February 1971).
4 March – In an interview published in The Evening Standard, John Lennon of The Beatles comments, "We’re more popular than Jesus now".
Britain recognized the new regime in Ghana.
5 March – BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji soon after taking off from Tokyo International Airport in Japan, killing all 124 on board.
9 March – Ronnie, one of the Kray twins, shoots George Cornell (an associate of rivals The Richardson Gang) dead at The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, east London, a crime for which he is finally convicted in 1969.
11 March – Chi-Chi, the London Zoo’s giant panda, is flown to Moscow for a union with An-An of the Moscow Zoo.
20 March – Theft of football’s FIFA World Cup Trophy whilst on exhibition in London.
23 March – Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, meet in Rome.
27 March – Pickles, a mongrel dog, finds the FIFA World Cup Trophy wrapped in newspaper in a south London garden.
30 March – Opinion polls show that the Labour government is on course to win a comfortable majority in the general election tomorrow.
31 March – The Labour Party under Harold Wilson win the general election with a majority of 96 seats. At the 1964 election they had a majority of five but subsequent by-election defeats had led to that being reduced to just one seat before this election. The Birmingham Edgbaston seat is retained for the Conservatives by Jill Knight in succession to Edith Pitt, the first time two women MPs have followed each other in the same constituency.
6 April – Hoverlloyd inaugurate the first Cross-Channel hovercraft service, from Ramsgate harbour to Calais using passenger-carrying SR.N6 craft.
7 April – The United Kingdom asks the UN Security Council authority to use force to stop oil tankers that violate the oil embargo against Rhodesia. Authority is given on 10 April.
11 April – The Marquess of Bath, in conjunction with Jimmy Chipperfield, opens Longleat Safari Park, with "the lions of Longleat", at his Longleat House, the first such drive-through park outside Africa.
15 April – Time magazine uses the phrase "Swinging London".
19 April – Ian Brady and Myra Hindley go on trial at Chester Crown Court, charged with three so-called Moors Murders.
30 April – Regular hovercraft service begins over the English Channel (discontinued in 2000 due to competition with the Channel Tunnel.)
Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for the second time in three seasons.
3 May – Swinging Radio England and Britain Radio commence broadcasting on AM with a combined potential 100,000 watts from the same ship anchored off the south coast of England in international waters.
6 May – The Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sentenced to life imprisonment for three child murders committed between November 1963 and October 1965. Brady is guilty of all three murders and receives three concurrent terms of life imprisonment, while Hindley is found guilty of two murder charges and an accessory charge which receives two concurrent life sentences alongside a seven-year fixed term.
12 May – African members of the UN Security Council say that the British army should blockade Rhodesia.
14 May – Everton defeat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, overturning a 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday lead during the final 16 minutes of the game.
16 May – A strike is called by the National Union of Seamen, ending on 16 July.
18 May – Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces that the number of police forces in England and Wales will be cut to 68.
26 May – Guyana achieves independence from the United Kingdom.
6 June – BBC1 television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part begins its first series run.
23 June – The Beatles go on top of the British singles charts for the 10th time with Paperback Writer.
29 June – Barclays Bank introduces the Barclaycard, the first British credit card.
3 July – 31 arrests made after a protest against the Vietnam War outside the US embassy turns violent.
12 July – Zambia threatens to leave the Commonwealth because of British peace overtures to Rhodesia.
14 July – Gwynfor Evans becomes member of Parliament for Carmarthen, the first ever Plaid Cymru MP, after his victory at a by-election.
15 July – A ban on black workers at Euston railway station is overturned.
16 July – Prime Minister Harold Wilson flies to Moscow to try to start peace negotiations over the Vietnam War. The Soviet Government rejects his ideas.
20 July – Start of 6-month wage and price freeze.
26 July – Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
30 July – England beats West Germany 4-2 to win the 1966 World Cup at Wembley. Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick and Martin Peters scores the other English goal in a game which attracts an all-time record UK television audience of more than 32,000,000.
1 August – Everton sign Blackpool’s World Cup winning midfield player Alan Ball, Jr. for a national record fee of £110,000.
2 August – Spanish government forbids overflights of British military aircraft.
4 August – The Kray Twins are questioned in connection with a murder in London.
5 August – The Beatles release the album Revolver.
10 August – George Brown succeeds Michael Stewart as Foreign Secretary.
12 August – Three policemen are shot dead in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, while sitting in their patrol car in Braybrook Street.
15 August – John Whitney is arrested and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.
17 August – John Duddy is arrested in Glasgow and charged with the murder of three West London policemen.
18 August – Tay Road Bridge opens.
24 August – Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is first staged, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
29 August – The Beatles play their very last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
3 September – Barely five months after the death of Barry Butler, a second Football League player this year dies in a car crash; 30-year-old John Nicholson, a Doncaster Rovers centre-half who previously played for Port Vale and Liverpool.
5 September – Selective Employment Tax imposed.
15 September – Britain’s first Polaris submarine, HMS Resolution, launched at Barrow-in-Furness.
17 September – Oberon-class submarine HMCS Okanagan launched at Chatham Dockyard, the last warship to be built there.
19 September – Scotland Yard arrests Ronald "Buster" Edwards, suspected of being involved in the Great Train Robbery (1963).
27 September – BMC makes 7,000 workers redundant.
30 September – The Bechuanaland Protectorate in Africa achieves independence from the U.K. as Botswana.
4 October – Basutoland becomes independent and takes the name Lesotho.
18 October – The Ford Cortina MK2 is launched.
20 October – In economic news, 437,229 people are reported to be unemployed in Britain – a rise of some 100,000 on last month’s figures.
21 October – Aberfan disaster in South Wales, 144 (including 116 children) killed by collapsing coal spoil tip.
22 October – British spy George Blake escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison; he is next seen in Moscow.
Spain demands that United Kingdom stop military flights to Gibraltar – Britain says "no" the next day.
25 October – Spain closes its Gibraltar border against vehicular traffic.
5 November – Thirty-eight African states demand that the United Kingdom use force against Rhodesian government.
9 November – The Rootes Group launches the Hillman Hunter, a four-door family saloon to compete with the Austin 1800, Ford Cortina and Vauxhall Victor.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6aTt-zFlo4
15 November – Harry Roberts is arrested near London and charged with the murder of three policemen in August.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXp36IUpDkU
16 November – The BBC television drama Cathy Come Home, filmed in a docudrama style, is broadcast on BBC1. Viewed by a quarter of the British population, it is considered influential on public attitudes to homelessness and the related social issues it deals with.
24 November – Unemployment sees another short rise, now standing at 531,585.
30 November – Barbados achieves independence.
1 December – Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith negotiate on HMS Tiger in the Mediterranean.
12 December – Harry Roberts, John Whitney and John Duddy are sentenced to life imprisonment (each with a recommended minimum of thirty years) for the murder of three West London policemen in August.
20 December – Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to Rhodesian government and announces that he agrees to independence only after the founding of black majority government.
22 December – Rhodesian Prime minister Ian Smith declares that he considers that Rhodesia is already a republic.
31 December – Thieves steal millions of pounds worth of paintings from Dulwich Art Gallery in London.
Undated
Centre Point, a 32-floor office building at St Giles Circus in London, designed by Richard Seifert for property speculator Harry Hyams, is completed. It remains empty for around a decade.
London School of Contemporary Dance founded.
Mathematician Michael Atiyah wins a Fields Medal.
The motorway network continues to grow as the existing M1, M4 (including the Severn Bridge on the border of England and Wales) and M6 motorways are expanded and new motorways emerge in the shape of the M32 linking the M4 with Bristol, and the M74 near Hamilton in Scotland.
Japanese manufacturer Nissan begins importing its range of Datsun branded cars to the United Kingdom.
The 1966 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 16 July 1966. It was the fourth round of the 1966 World Championship. It was the 21st British Grand Prix and the second to be held at Brands Hatch. It was held over 80 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a race distance of 341 kilometres.
The race, the first of the new three-litre engine regulation era where starters reached 20 cars,
was won for the third time by Australian driver Jack Brabham in his Brabham BT19, his second win in succession after winning the French Grand Prix two weeks earlier. New Zealand driver Denny Hulme finished second in his Brabham BT20, a first 1–2 win for the Brabham team. The pair finished a lap ahead of third placed British driver Graham Hill in his BRM P261. Brabham’s win ended a streak of 4 consecutive wins by Jim Clark at the British Grand Prix. Brabham’s win put him ten points clear in the championship chase over Austrian Cooper racer Jochen Rindt with Hulme and Ferrari’s Lorenzo Bandini a point further back.
1965–66 in English football
7 October 1965: An experiment to broadcast a live game to another ground takes place. Cardiff City play Coventry City and the match is broadcast to a crowd of 10,000 at Coventry’s ground Highfield Road.
20 March 1966: The World Cup is stolen from an exhibition at Central Hall, Westminster, where it was on show in the run-up to this summer’s World Cup in England.
27 March 1966: The World Cup is recovered by Pickles, a mongrel dog, in South London.
16 April 1966: Liverpool seal the First Division title for the seventh time in their history with a 2–0 home win over Stoke City.
14 May 1966: Everton win the FA Cup with a 3–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the final at Wembley Stadium, despite going 2–0 down in the 57th minute.
11 July 1966: England, as the host nation, begin their World Cup campaign with a goalless draw against Uruguay at Wembley Stadium.
16 July 1966: England’s World Cup campaign continues with a 2–0 win over Mexico (goals coming from Bobby Charlton and Roger Hunt) that moves them closes to qualifying for the next
stage of the competition.
20 July 1966: England qualify for the next stage of the World Cup with a 2–0 win over France in their final group game. Roger Hunt scores both of England’s goals.
23 July 1966: England beat Argentina 1–0 in the World Cup quarter-final thanks to a goal by Geoff Hurst.
26 July 1966: England reach the World Cup final by beating Portugal 2–1 in the semi-final.
Bobby Charlton scores both of England’s goals.
30 July 1966: England win the World Cup with a 4–2 win over West Germany in extra time.
Geoff Hurst scores a hat-trick, with Martin Peters scoring the other goal.
Honours
Competition Winners
First Division Liverpool
Second Division Manchester City
Third Division Hull City
Fourth Division Doncaster Rovers
FA Cup Everton
League Cup West Bromwich Albion
Charity Shield Manchester United and Liverpool (shared)
Home Championship England