The Atkins twins (Ann and Joan) In my 1st year form class 1B2 1964/65. These identical twin girls, the names stick in my mind for no particular reason other than they were a novelty to gawp at. Trying to search for any differences between them was futile, as I never got to know them at all well. It just wasn't my time yet for girls. They might have been living in Mereworth close Twydall or Meresborough road Rainham. Anyway it was a bus ride to school for them.
7th January The 6pm news on the telly. Identical twin brothers Ronald and Reginald Kray have been remanded in custody charged in connection with running a protection racket in London. The brothers, described in court as company directors of the Glenrae Hotel, in Seven Sisters Road, North London, have been charged with demanding money with menaces in the County of London between 1 October 1964 and 6 January 1965. The twins, who are 31, were distinguishable in court only by their clothes. Ronald wore a dark suit and Reginald a light one. They have been remanded in custody for a week to give police time to make more arrests in connection with the case.
Officers arrested the brothers at the Glenrae Hotel last night. Detective Chief Superintendent Frederick Gerrard told Old Street magistrates' court he and a number of other officers had gone to the hotel the previous evening at 2115. They found the brothers in the basement bar of the hotel, where they were cautioned, before being taken to Highbury Vale police station and later to City Road police station. When they were told they would be charged, Ronald Kray said: "It's taken you long enough. You have been after us long enough."
Superintendent Gerrard said he objected to bail because there were two other men involved who had not yet been arrested. He continued: "If they are granted bail I feel sure that we would be impeded in our endeavours to trace these men, and that essential witnesses will be intimidated by these men or friends acting for them."
Victor Durand QC, who is defending the brothers, said they did not know from whom they were supposed to have demanded money - nor how much money was involved. "One does not know whether the amount is 5s, £5 or £50," he said. On the direction of magistrate Neil MacElliot, Superintendent Gerrard wrote the name of the person at the centre of the case on a piece of paper and passed it to him. But Mr MacElliot ruled the sums involved did not need to be disclosed at this stage of proceedings. Agreeing to the police request to keep the brothers in custody, Mr MacElliot said: "I am satisfied, as far as I can be at this stage, that there are other persons at large who are in a position to, and will perhaps be in a better position to, interfere with witnesses and to impede the investigation were you at large."
24th January The 6pm news on the telly. Sir Winston Churchill has died at the age of 90 with his wife Lady Clementine Churchill and other members of the family at his bedside. He suffered a stroke 15 days ago and gradually slipped into a deep sleep from which he never awakened. Sir Winston died in his London home at Hyde Park Gate.
Earlier in his illness, there had been crowds anxiously waiting for news at the top of the quiet Kensington cul-de-sac - but when the announcement finally came there was only a handful of journalists in the street. News of his death was announced on the BBC shortly after 0800 GMT. Within half-an-hour, crowds began to gather near his home to pay homage to Britain's greatest wartime leader.
When Sir Winston fell ill, he was visited by one of the country's leading neurologists, Lord Brain, who advised on his treatment.
Since then, regular medical bulletins have been issued by Sir Winston's own doctor, Lord Moran. Sir Winston has spent the past few days lying in the downstairs room he converted to a bedroom after a fall four years ago in which he injured his back.
Members of the family were summoned to his bedside at 0700 GMT. Lady Churchill and the couple's eldest surviving daughter, Mary Soames, have been with him throughout his illness. Their son, Randolph Churchill was seen arriving with his son, Winston. Soon after, Sir Winston's actress daughter, Lady Sarah Audley, looking pale and drawn, arrived with her daughter, Celia Sandys.
Many television and radio programmes have been cancelled or re-scheduled to make way for tributes to Sir Winston. Sir Winston will lie in state in Westminster Hall - an honour not accorded any English statesman since Gladstone in 1898. His body will remain there for three days, before the funeral at St Paul's cathedral on Saturday.
GONKS GO BEAT
A British produced colour musical fantasy filmed at Shepperton Studios late 1964, made to capitalise on the British craze for Gonks and the pop music of the era. The one saving grace in it, was seeing a class performance by The Graham Bond Organisation. Also I can imagine that the enterprising school girls of this era would soon turn their needlework classes into a Gonk workshop production assembly line.
Gonks Go Beat is set on the planet Earth at some time in the future. The world is divided into two rival factions; Beatland - populated mainly by teenage beat musicians and singers and Balladisle, devoted in turn to the propagation of ballads.
Into this tense atmosphere arrives Wilco Roger, an ambassador from the Congress of the Universe charged with the task of settling the feud between the two groups of inhabitants. He meets Mr. A & R, a local inhabitant who has managed until now to keep the two parties in a state of reasonable peace. He is responsible for judging the annual 'Golden Guitar' contest between the two islands but in recent times in order to avoid an outbreak of war has been forced to declare each contest a draw. This has only resulted in a strengthened rivalry between them.Wilco decides to bring the two opposing forces together, by encouraging a boy and girl from each island to meet. Steve from Beatland and Helen, the daughter of the Prime Minister of Balladisle, are brought together and fall in love. After a series of adventures the two young people flee to the Echo Chamber, the home of Mr. A & R where they seek refuge. In the meantime the two opposing countries declare war on each other. Steve and Helen manage to stop the hostilities but because of their behaviour are barred from entering the annual contest. Wilco and Mr. A & R indulge in a spot of subterfuge before the contest and evolve a neat little plot which they hope will solve the prevailing mood of acrimony which surrounds the competition.
After each group has performed Mr. A & R declares the contest to be yet another draw and then announces that he himself has an entry which the audience will judge. Steve and Helen and their respective groups appear, successfully steal the show and all the quarrels are forgotten. The two islands unite as Musicland and the strife between them is ended. All unite and mingle as one happy family.
30th January The 6pm news on the telly. Thousands of people have paid their last respects to Britain's greatest wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill who was buried today after a full state funeral. Silent crowds lined the streets to watch the gun carriage bearing Sir Winston's coffin leave Westminster Hall as Big Ben struck 0945. The procession travelled slowly through central London to St Paul's cathedral for the funeral service.
Sir Winston died six days ago, following a stroke earlier in the month from which he never regained consciousness. A total of 321,360 people filed past the catafalque during the three days of lying-in-state. Today, millions around the world watched the funeral procession at home and abroad as television pictures were beamed from 40 BBC cameras placed along the route. The mourners were led by Sir Winston's wife, Lady Clementine Churchill, his son Randolph and daughters Mary Soames and Lady Sarah Audley. The Queen and other members of the royal family, the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, and representatives of 112 countries packed into the cathedral for the service.
The funeral cortege was accompanied by a 19-gun salute and an RAF fly-past as it began the journey to Sir Winston's final resting place. At Tower Hill, the coffin was piped aboard the launch Havengore for the voyage up the Thames. From Waterloo, it was placed onto a train drawn by a Battle of Britain locomotive named Winston Churchill. Thousands gathered to pay tribute at wayside stations. At many football matches a two-minute silence was observed. Sir Winston was finally laid to rest in the Oxfordshire parish churchyard of Bladon, close to Blenheim Palace where he was born 90 years before, with only family members present.
8th February In Britain, the government bans cigarette advertising on television
16th February The 6pm news on the telly. A second report from the British Railways Board chairman, Dr Richard Beeching, has outlined transport needs for the next quarter of a century. The report follows his first controversial review of the state of Britain's railways, published two years ago. In that report, he said the railway system was uneconomic and under-used, and recommended that a quarter of the railway system should be shut down.
Today's report, called "Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes", elaborates on those conclusions. Dr Beeching's rail modernisation scheme is to cater for a growing population and freight movements, increasingly served by alternative means of transport such as cars and aeroplanes. Speaking at a press conference to unveil his proposals he said it was "necessary to establish how the through-route system can best be developed to match the future pattern of rail traffic demand."
The 100-page report explained the "bloated" network is a legacy from the private foundations of the railways but is no longer cost-effective. It estimates savings of £50-£100m by closing down selected, superfluous lines. There are currently five routes over the Central Pennines, three routes between London and Glasgow, and two between London and Birmingham. The document emphasizes: "This report is not a prelude to closures on a grand scale," but its author anticipated controversy.
Transport Minister Tom Fraser has refused to commit the Government to Dr Beeching's proposals and issued a statement to say the report would be "subject to constructive criticism". Dr Beeching was head of British Railways from 1961, but is set to return to his old job at ICI in June after being sacked by the government at the end of last year.
17th February The 6pm news on the telly. The Duke and Duchess of Kent have celebrated the end of 300 years of colonial rule in Gambia with 35 chiefs. At midnight Gambia will become the smallest - and 37th - sovereign state in Africa and the last of Britain's West African colonies to gain independence. It was the first African nation conquered by the British and will become the 21st member of the Commonwealth, as well as the 116th member of the United Nations.
Representing the Queen, the royal couple was escorted to the mansa bengo - gathering of kings - by Gambian Prime Minister Dawda Jawara and Governor Sir John Paul. All the Gambian leaders showed their respect by removing their shoes before greeting the British dignitaries. The oldest chief, Toure Sagniang, said: "It gives us confidence to know that as a monarchy we are members of that family of which the Queen is head." And he thanked the UK for its assistance in making the transition to independence.
The traditional ceremony - in the village of Brikama, 22 miles from the capital, Bathurst - included soothsayers and standard bearers, accompanied by drumming and string instruments. Guests from around 30 nations were present, including the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, George Mennen, and the Soviet Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Grigori Pashchenko.
The major celebration will begin tonight when the Union Jack is lowered for the last time and replaced with the red, white, blue and green of the Gambian national flag. Presentations from the Gambian and British delegations will complete the formal beginning of independence. The British Government has promised to provide support for Gambia, valued at £3m for the next two-and-a-half years. Smaller than Yorkshire in the UK, Gambia extends 295 miles inland from the Atlantic, along the River Gambia, and has a total population of 320,000.
21st February The 6pm news on the telly. Controversial black leader Malcolm X, who once called for a "blacks-only" state in the US, has been assassinated. He was shot several times as he began a speech to 400 of his followers at the Audubon Ballroom just outside the district of Harlem in New York. Malcolm X, who was 39, was taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
Two men believed to have carried out the shooting were cornered outside the ballroom by a crowd and badly beaten. It took 10 police officers several minutes to rescue them. One of the arrested men, Thomas Hagan, 22, had a bullet wound to his leg and was taken to hospital. It is believed the men are members of the black Muslim group, the Nation of Islam (NoI).
Malcolm X had long been tipped to take over from the NoI's ageing leader, Elijah Muhammad. He gave up his "slave" family name of Little when he joined the black Muslim group while serving a jail term. But he broke away from the NoI acrimoniously two years ago to set up his own organisation which he said was for "Negro intellectuals who favoured racial separation but could not accept the Muslim religion". However, after a recent trip to Mecca he appeared to be taking a more conciliatory approach to white people.
Sanford Garelick, assistant chief of New York police said Malcolm X's death could most probably be put down to rivalry between the two groups. "This is the result, it would seem, of a long-standing feud," he said. Only last week Malcolm X and his family survived the firebombing of their home in the Queen's district of New York. Malcolm X's lawyer, Percy Sutton, said he was aware his life was in danger. "Malcolm knew he would be killed," Mr Sutton said. Police said they were investigating reports that some of Malcolm X's followers were planning a revenge attack.
25th February At Red Sands, Thames Estuary: Pop music pirate KING Radio replaces Radio Invicta
On the Great lines, used as common land, one would find cows grazing, tethered bulls, bullocks and of course horses. These were once common on the Great Lines in my childhood years. Cow pats is what we called the dung and the horse droppings were like large brown brussel sprouts coated in thick gravy. The dung beetles and flies were a sight to watch, an education in natural history. Dirty games were afoot as when breaking off a long thin branch from a bush shrub, we poked the stick into the mass of poop dumplings to gather a lump on one end to use as ammunition when lobbing the pretend grenades at each other, in a mock attack.
7th March The 6pm news on the telly. State troopers and volunteer officers in the southern US state of Alabama have broken up a demonstration of black and white civil rights protesters, injuring at least 50 people. They assaulted a group of about 500 demonstrators using tear gas, whips and sticks after Governor George Wallace ordered the planned march from Selma to the state capital Montgomery to be halted on the grounds of public safety. At least 10 of the injured have been taken to hospital with skull and limb fractures and suffering the effects of tear gas.
They were stopped by 200 police this morning at the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they were heading east out of Selma on US Route 80. When they refused to turn back the state troopers, some on horseback, attacked in full view of photographers and journalists. As they were pushed back to the Browns Chapel Methodist Church area, some protesters threw bricks and bottles at police but were chased into their homes by troopers wielding sticks, riot guns, pistols and tear gas bombs. The streets were patrolled for an hour after the violence had subsided.
Among the injured was John Lewis, the chairman of the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC), who along with Hosea Williams, led the silent marchers from the Browns Chapel Church towards the outskirts of town. He told the New York Times: "Next time we march we may have to keep going when we get to Montgomery. We may have to on to Washington." One of the doctors at Selma's Good Samaritan Hospital said it looked as if there had been "a moderate disaster". Another hospital official said most of the injuries had been sustained by heavy blows. FBI agents will be interviewing the wounded and other witnesses tomorrow to establish if there are grounds for legal action against the officers involved.
The protest march had been planned to highlight discriminatory practices in the state that prevented black people from registering to vote. It was also meant to commemorate the death on 17 February of Jimmie Lee Jackson who was shot by a state trooper on a civil rights march in Selma. There is widespread outrage at events in the city. Congressman William Ryan of New York said the Federal Government should send marshals, or even troops down to Alabama to protect the marchers. But Governor Wallace remains steadfast in his views saying: "These folks in Selma have made this a seven-day-a-week job but we can't give one inch. We're going to enforce state laws."
24th March The 6pm news on the telly. A ground-breaking 15-minute live broadcast has shown ordinary Americans what it feels like to be a space probe hurtling to destruction on the Moon. The extraordinary pictures from the Ranger 9 moon lander were beamed out directly from the spacecraft's internal cameras. They were switched on at about 0850 local time (1350 GMT) as the probe fell from a height of 1,468 miles (2,363 km) towards the Moon's surface. Television viewers were then taken on a dizzying journey as Ranger 9 crashed headlong into the pock-marked crater Alphonsus, near the centre of the Moon's face.
Ranger 9 was the last of the moon probes sent on so-called kamikaze missions in which they are deliberately aimed at the surface of the Moon to take as many images as possible before being destroyed on impact. The previous two, Rangers 7 and 8, sent back thousands of photographs of the Moon before hitting its surface. But Ranger 9 was equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, and brought images of the Moon into ordinary homes.
Viewers of the astonishing live broadcast saw a series of pictures, starting with three flat craters - Ptolemaeus, 85 miles (137 km) in diameter, Alphonsus, 50 miles (80 km) across, and Albategnius, 60 miles (96 km) wide. As the spacecraft drew closer to the Moon's surface, the area photographed became large in scale and focussed on the crater Alphonsus. At five minutes from impact, 400 miles (644 km) from the surface, pronounced channels looking like large roads appeared. At 177 miles (285 km) away, the surface appeared pockmarked and rough, like a close-up of human skin.
Pictures remained sharp and clear as little as a third of a mile (540 metres) from the surface, and then the screen suddenly went black as the probe landed. The final picture was made when the spacecraft was just two-tenths of a second from impact, and scientists hope it will reveal new details about the Moon's crust. Scientists will now analyse the pictures, along with over 11,000 images from Rangers 7 and 8.
The successful mission comes just 24 hours after the launch of Gemini III, the second stage in America's race to land a man on the Moon. The spacecraft has two astronauts on board - the first time America has sent two astronauts into space at the same time - and will orbit the Earth three times before coming down to land.
28th March The 6pm news on the telly. Dr Martin Luther King has taken a crowd of nearly 25,000 people to the steps of the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama to highlight black grievances. The procession marks the end of a five-day march which started in Selma last week and it brings to a close a month of civil rights protests in Alabama. Troops policed the roads surrounding the capital and army helicopters hovered overhead as the crowd swelled to nearly 25,000.
Dr King, who addressed the protesters from a podium in the square, described the trek as "one of the greatest marches in the history of America". "Our aim is not to humiliate and defeat the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding," he added. Dr King tried to present a petition of black grievances to Governor George Wallace but he refused to meet the delegation. The civil rights leader said he would ask trade unions to refuse to transport or use the state's products and he urged the Federal Government and the Treasury to withdraw all assistance from the area. Dr King also said that demonstrations would have to continue where essential conditions remained unmet.
When the march began last week, large bombs were planted at a black church, a funeral parlour and a leading black lawyer's home. They were later discovered and detonated by experts from the army base at Anniston, Alabama. To prevent further attacks, US President Lyndon Johnson gave the marchers the protection of nearly 3,000 troops, plus FBI and local police assistance. But three days ago Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights advocate who had been ferrying demonstrators to their homes, was shot dead on a lonely stretch of road near the route of the march.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Ku-Klux-Klan movement have reportedly tried to contact President Johnson to discuss his aversion to their organisation. There was no immediate response from the US President, who recently launched a scathing attack on the group, describing it as "a band of hooded bigots, whose loyalty was not with the United States".
A new and most unusual television series 'Public Eye'
Produced for commercial ITV by ABC TV (a subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation), part of the very same company that operated ABC cinemas in Britain.
From the intro visuals sequence showing a section of a page of a type written list of contacts, addresses and telephone numbers, followed by bleak urban black/white still pictures through peephole shots and the completing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The cymbals playing throughout the score of downbeat jazzy blues themed music of the title, you feel this new weekly modern fictional drama series is something pioneering on TV. I viewed the first episode of its debut run at 10:10 pm on the London area networked weekend ITV on 10th April 1965. From then on every Saturday night at 9:10 on ITV was an hour not to miss. I was hooked on the realistic story lines involving the main character 'Frank Marker' the lone, backstreet, private "enquiry agent" played superbly by the actor Alfred Burke. A different case story for each hour long episode of the fifteen made for the first series. In this year, during weekends, I had been allowed to stay up late evening to watch adult TV programs.
The Public Eye theme title music arranged and orchestrated by Robert Earley (aka Robert "Bob" Sharples).
I believe my father would also have been a fan of this show, my mother not so, her preference was variety and musical entertainment, my surviving older siblings might not remember the original 'Public Eye' showing in 1965. It is known that most of the 41 episodes, ABC recorded between the years 1965 and 1968, were erased out of existence soon after. If the later series of 'Public Eye' made post 1968, are ever again rebroadcast on TV, then do have a look at it to experience the spirit of its origins and a dose of real life in the 1960's.
13th April 1965 This comedy film was released "The Intelligence Men" Storyline. A chance meeting with a Schlecht agent forces a humble coffee shop manager into the secret world of spies in Swinging London. With the help of his MI5 friend, he poses as the recently dead Major Cavendish who had managed to infiltrate the dreaded organisation; he knows that they are intending to assassinate someone - could it be the famous Russian ballerina who has recently arrived for an appearance at Covent Garden?
7th May The 6pm news on the telly. White voters in the African colony of Rhodesia have overwhelmingly backed Prime Minister Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front which is demanding independence from the UK. Mr Smith's party took all 50 parliamentary seats reserved for whites and now has more than the two thirds majority necessary to change Rhodesia's constitution. The main casualty was the Opposition Rhodesian party with both the leader, David Butler, and his deputy losing their seats.
Last month Britain's Prime Minister Harold Wilson warned Mr Smith of the consequences of unilaterally declaring independence and of "defying Britain, the whole of the Commonwealth and nearly the whole of Africa and the United Nations". But it is now expected Ian Smith will push ahead with independence, with or without Britain's permission. He is also expected to increase the number of seats reserved for MPs serving the country's 217,000 Europeans.
The Rhodesian Front did not put up candidates against Africans running for the 15 seats set aside for representatives of the country's four million black residents. Only about 11,000 black Rhodesians are entitled to vote and black MPs are elected on a separate, subordinate 'B' election list. After the overwhelming reversal of the white opposition's fortunes the next leader of the Opposition is certain to be black. The man tipped to assume the post is Josiah Gondo who was shadow internal affairs minister in the last parliament.
14th May Britain adopts the metric system, to use alongside with the established imperial weights and measures.
The pop music film Go-Go Big Beat
Released in USA. May 1965
Run time 82 minutes
The U.S. company, (Eldorado Pictures International Corp.) of New York City, attempted the commercial exploitation of the first wave of British pop beat music of [1963-64], specifically geared to the teenage market of America. They compiled and edited three earlier released British short musical films into one musical feature film and retitled it 'Go-Go Big Beat'.
The three films used in this, were all made in England during 1964, and comprised of:-
In the US. there was a pre-release, intense advertising and marketing campaign to promote the Go-Go Big Beat film, the music, the artists and all the linked product merchandising to the American consumers. This was all done by heavily relating all on the popularity of the Beatles, but without their licence and approval.
Instrumental cover versions, of the song compositions written by Beatles group members, were performed by a group named the 'The Cheynes' in the film. Also, the film makers did not even seek legal permission to use the Beatles songs that were performed.
In fact, the Beatles group did not take part or perform in any of the film at all. The film posters and the theatre advertising publicity film display packs prominently featured iconic Beatle lettering artwork in which the Beatles' name loomed large, mostly without any reference to The Cheynes involvement performing the Beatles songs in the film, and some clever repeated word phrasing throughout, which led to widespread belief that the Beatles were featured in the film.
One other mention, concerning another group not appearing in Go-Go Big beat. Did anyone recognise the image of Jack Bruce (of The Graham Bond Organization group), of whom his picture was used in the main poster? It was lifted from a promo photo still of another British cine film "Gonks Go Beat". Refer to the film clip sequence Graham Bond Organization - Harmonica.
When Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, was alerted to the situation, he instituted legal proceedings after publicity material for the film suggested that The Beatles would appear in it. Seven compositions by John Lennon & Paul McCartney and George Harrison were used in the Western Theatre Ballet 'Mods And Rockers' part which was included in the original release of 'Go-Go Big Beat'. The US film showings were stopped shortly after the premiere, and the film was quickly withdrawn and pulled from the theatres following the litigation, primarily because of the misleading publicity and display material.
It's my opinion, the musical content of the 'Go-Go Big Beat' film was already outdated by the time of its release. The pop music tastes had evolved and moved on in variety and at an astonishing pace from those early Beatles songs of 1963 and the beat sound.
The Upbury Manor summer term school class day trip out to a London cinema film screening of a film, which had recently been premiered at the Warner West End Cinema, Leicester Square. The enjoyable film musical was "My Fair Lady" and our Chaperone on the coach and tour was Mrs Rose. Run time was almost three hours plus intermissions. I am unable to recall any memory of there being a side trip and a meal whilst in London. How much money did each of us pay for this day trip out? It surely could not have been without cost to us.
3rd June 1965 This comedy film was released "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes" Storyline. In the early days of the 20th century, a British Newspaper offers a prize for the winner of a cross channel air race which brings flyer's from all over the world. There are many sub-plots as the flyer's jockey for position and the affections of various women.
Released in USA. May 1965
Run time 82 minutes
The three films used in this, were all made in England during 1964, and comprised of:-
'Swinging UK' filmed at Kay, Carlton Hill Film Studio, Maida Vale, London
'UK Swings Again' filmed at Kay, Carlton Hill Film Studio, Maida Vale, London
'Mods and Rockers' filmed at Twickenham Film Studios
'UK Swings Again' filmed at Kay, Carlton Hill Film Studio, Maida Vale, London
'Mods and Rockers' filmed at Twickenham Film Studios
In the US. there was a pre-release, intense advertising and marketing campaign to promote the Go-Go Big Beat film, the music, the artists and all the linked product merchandising to the American consumers. This was all done by heavily relating all on the popularity of the Beatles, but without their licence and approval.
Instrumental cover versions, of the song compositions written by Beatles group members, were performed by a group named the 'The Cheynes' in the film. Also, the film makers did not even seek legal permission to use the Beatles songs that were performed.
In fact, the Beatles group did not take part or perform in any of the film at all. The film posters and the theatre advertising publicity film display packs prominently featured iconic Beatle lettering artwork in which the Beatles' name loomed large, mostly without any reference to The Cheynes involvement performing the Beatles songs in the film, and some clever repeated word phrasing throughout, which led to widespread belief that the Beatles were featured in the film.
It's my opinion, the musical content of the 'Go-Go Big Beat' film was already outdated by the time of its release. The pop music tastes had evolved and moved on in variety and at an astonishing pace from those early Beatles songs of 1963 and the beat sound.
The Upbury Manor summer term school class day trip out to a London cinema film screening of a film, which had recently been premiered at the Warner West End Cinema, Leicester Square. The enjoyable film musical was "My Fair Lady" and our Chaperone on the coach and tour was Mrs Rose. Run time was almost three hours plus intermissions. I am unable to recall any memory of there being a side trip and a meal whilst in London. How much money did each of us pay for this day trip out? It surely could not have been without cost to us.3rd June 1965 This comedy film was released "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes" Storyline. In the early days of the 20th century, a British Newspaper offers a prize for the winner of a cross channel air race which brings flyer's from all over the world. There are many sub-plots as the flyer's jockey for position and the affections of various women.
Young Enterprise...What is that?
One morning in June at the tail end of an Upbury school assembly, on stage a teacher, I believe to be Mr Elsegood, made his way to stand at the rostrum to make an announcement. This would have been the first time for to hear him speak in public, because at that point I had never sat in one of his classes. Usually a teacher would talk about a planned event or team results or congratulations or a special award to someone.
His address was only for the senior pupils, and so my mind went a wandering, but I did catch fragments of his speech. It being something about holding a meeting during lunchtime in the library for any pupil, 4th year and above, whom may be interested in taking part in the Young Enterprise scheme.
Can anyone from Upbury remember any activity or actually joining that scheme?
To jog your memory, this is how it began.
 |
| Colonel Pat Adams and Walter Salomon |
Young Enterprise, is a sponsored educational organisation which offers young people a chance to learn business by doing it themselves. A pilot scheme was set up and run in a shared industrial building at 1 Old Road, Chatham during the early months of 1963. The scheme provides the chance for two hours on one evening a week for boys and girls, age from 15 to 19, between September and May, to form and run their own miniature companies under the guidance of volunteer advisers from local firms. It soon attracted 113 local teenagers who formed eight student companies.
.jpg)
Young Enterprise marked in red in map Young Enterprise operated here from 1963
The companies are more than just paper organisations. They are concerned with making real practical products, such as coffee tables or assembling first-aid kits, just about anything useful, and then selling them at economic prices.
The aim is to train young people in busines and industry to give them a head start in their future, with the first-hand knowledge and understanding, whether it be as traders, managers or in other related opportunities.
The Home Office and police will enforce the new law when it is revealed in the Road Safety Bill expected next year. The move is part of the government's campaign to make people to take more care on the roads and look out for themselves, other drivers and pedestrians. "I think we are all of us conscious of the need to strengthen enforcement if this is possible at all" the government spokesman said. "What is most desirable is that more and more people exercise greater responsibility in the use of our roads" he added.
20th June The 6pm news on the telly. Police in the Algerian capital Algiers have broken up demonstrations by hundreds of people who have taken to the streets chanting slogans in support of deposed President Ben Bella. The protests began with an orderly march by students but police attempts to disperse the crowds turned them into rioting groups running through the streets. Ex-president Ahmed Ben Bella is being held prisoner in a remote Sahara outpost. He has been deposed by chief of the armed forces Colonel Houari Boumedienne and his National Revolutionary Council.
In the early hours of yesterday morning, two tanks moved into position at the presidential villa in Algiers. Police guards were quietly relieved by soldiers. There was a sound of breaking glass and a light was briefly seen before being turned off again. By the time dawn broke, tanks had moved into various strategic points throughout the city, the airport was under military control and all communications with the outside world were cut off.
After several hours of military music on the radio, Colonel Boumedienne broadcast a long statement accusing Ahmed Ben Bella of treason and promising him the "fate of all despots". The statement broadcast in the name of the Revolutionary Council also pledged to work for a "democratic, serious state" and the recovery of the economy.
One of the colonel's first actions has been to order the release of political prisoners held on "arbitrary" grounds. He has also given assurances no French people or property in the country will be harmed. The coup has taken place 10 days ahead of an Afro-Asian Conference due to be held in Algiers. There is some speculation it may have been inspired by the Russians to prevent the meeting - from which they were excluded - from taking place.
8th July The 6pm news on the telly. Ronald Biggs - a member of the gang who carried out the Great Train Robbery in 1963 - has escaped from Wandsworth prison. Biggs, 35, escaped by scaling a 30ft wall with three other prisoners at 1505 BST today. A ladder was thrown over the wall from the outside during the prisoners' afternoon exercise session. The escapees climbed the ladder and lowered themselves into a waiting van. They were driven away from the prison in three cars. Every police car in London has been notified and all ports and airports have been alerted.
Biggs is the second of the Great Train Robbers to escape from jail - Charles Wilson is still at large after escaping from Winson Green prison in Birmingham in August last year. Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Lewis, who is investigating the escape, said the break-out was well prepared and "was engineered without a doubt with collusion inside the prison". He added this did not suggest prison officers had been involved.
A Home Office spokesperson explained what happened. He said: "At 3.05pm one of the four officers on duty in the yard saw a man's head appear above the outside wall. "The officer immediately rang the alarm bell and at the same time the man on the wall threw over a rope and tubular ladder. "The four prisoners immediately made for the ladder and climbed over the top. The prison officers tried to stop them, but were stopped by some of the others in the exercise yard. "The officers went outside and discovered a van with a platform on top parked against the wall and the ladders secured to the top of the van."
Police said a green Ford Zephyr, involved in the escape, had been found abandoned tonight outside Wandsworth Common railway station. Police also found a loaded shotgun and a set of overalls inside. An operations room has been set up inside the prison and the area cordoned off. People living near the prison are being interviewed by police. Scotland Yard has warned members of the public not to approach any of the men as they may be armed and dangerous.
MILK AND FRUIT SQUASH VENDING MACHINES
Who remembers the old drinks machines sited outside some shops and at the seaside resorts?
Dispensing cartons of pasteurised milk, strawberry flavoured milk, and KIAORA fruit squash.
The coin operated milk vending machines were of their time, ultra modern looking, fitting so well into the urban landscape of 1960s Britain, conveniently supplying a carton of milk or orange squash drink, for a sixpence (6d) coin, anytime day or night. No need waiting until the morning for a milkman's doorstep delivery or the corner shops to open.
These machines began to vanish from our shopping streets during the transition into the 1970s and after the switch over adaptation to the new decimal currency, when the vending carton drink price increased 60% to 4 new pence 4p (equivalent to 9½d of the old currency). On top of that situation, in the wake of the supermarket revolution along with cheap fridges, who would want to stand at what was often a shabby and knocked about machine, fumbling for the coins only to discover a coin had got stuck, the machine refused to accept it or worst still there were no cartons left?
19th July The 6pm news on the telly. The former leader of the Republic of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, has died in exile in the US state of Hawaii at the age of 90. In 1948 Mr Rhee became South Korea's first president after elections in which he gained 180 of the 196 votes of National Assembly members. Mr Rhee spent much of his life in the US after leaving Korea in 1904. Prior to his departure he had spent seven years in jail for leading demonstrations against the Korean monarchy. He returned briefly to Korea in 1910 when it was under Japanese control but, after clashing with the new leadership, left again to head a Korean Government in exile Syngman Rhee did not return until Japan's defeat in the Second World War and the occupation of Korea by American and Soviet troops.
In 1948 the country was divided at the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union set up a Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north while the US helped establish the Republic of Korea in the south. Mr Rhee emerged as the main anti-communist politician in South Korea and in 1947 he received the unofficial support of the US Government in his bid to become president. Although first elected on a popular mandate Mr Rhee's style became increasingly autocratic. In 1954 he forced through amendments to the South Korean constitution to allow him to extend his term of office indefinitely. However, in 1960 he was forced into a final exile after public unrest over election fraud which saw him returned to office with a massive majority.
22nd July The 6pm news on the telly. The leader of the Opposition, Alec Douglas-Home, has surprised colleagues by resigning from his post. The former Conservative Prime Minister made the announcement at a news conference at Conservative Central Office, London.
Sir Alec - as he is known, after renouncing his title to enter the House of Commons - says he made the decision after spending the weekend at one of his homes in Scotland. Some Conservative MPs blame press criticism for their leader's sudden departure after less than two years in office. Sir Alec said: "I have enjoyed every moment of my political career and it is part of political life that decisions have to be taken." "I have no regrets and shall enjoy my future life just as I have enjoyed the past few years," he continued.
A new leader should be in place next week, chosen for the first time by a ballot of Conservative Members of Parliament. Sir Alec implemented a new selection procedure after the discontent following his appointment by the retiring Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, in 1963. The two most likely candidates are shadow Foreign Secretary Reginald Maudling and shadow Chancellor Edward Heath.
Commentators claim Mr Maudling has the broadest support within the Tory Party, whilst Mr Heath has alienated some members with his ambition, although his supporters are regarded as younger and more dynamic. Sir Alec would not name his preferred choice and said he would serve the Conservative Party in any capacity required by the new leader.
The first election is due to take place on Tuesday, with nominations closing on Monday morning. The winner must have an overall majority and achieve 15% more votes than any other candidate, otherwise another election will be called for Thursday, which will be won simply by a majority vote. A third ballot will be called on the same day, if the second is inconclusive, when voters must select two choices, in order of preference.
27th July The 6pm news on the telly. Shadow Chancellor Edward Heath has beaten off his rivals in the Conservative leadership contest triggered by last week's unexpected resignation of Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Mr Heath's victory comes as a surprise - shadow Foreign Secretary Reginald Maudling had been widely tipped to win. Two polls of Tory MPs published this morning indicated a large majority intended to vote for him in today's ballot. However, in the event many backed Mr Heath instead giving him 150 votes to Mr Maudling's 133. The third challenger, maverick Enoch Powell, managed just 15 votes meaning Mr Heath had a slim overall majority.
Under Conservative Party leadership election rules Mr Maudling could have forced a second ballot but in view of Mr Heath's majority he bowed to tradition and announced his withdrawal. In a statement issued late this evening Mr Maudling said: "I am very grateful to all the friends who have supported me but I have no doubt that it is in the interest of the party I should not continue to another ballot." I hope to have the opportunity of working under Mr Heath's leadership to defeat the present government as soon as possible."
Many are attributing Edward Heath's success to Mr Maudling's poor performance as Chancellor in the last Conservative government. Mr Heath formally takes over as leader in a week's time when he makes the traditional address to a meeting of Conservative peers, Young Conservatives, the party's national executive and constituency delegates.
28th July The 6pm news on the telly. President Johnson has committed a further 50,000 US troops to the conflict in Vietnam. Monthly draft calls will increase from 17,000 to 35,000 - the highest level since the Korean War, when between 50,000 and 80,000 men were called up each month. It will take the US force in Vietnam up to 125,000 but officials say at this stage demands should be met by conscription, without calling upon the reserves.
Speaking in a televised address from the White House President Johnson said: "We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences no one can foresee." "Nor will we bluster, bully or flaunt our power. But we will not surrender, nor will we retreat," he continued.
The President gave the news conference after a week of intensive talks with senior military and security advisers in Washington. He explained the decisions were in response to requests made by General Westmoreland, the US Commander in the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. Mrs Johnson and her daughter looked close to tears as Mr Johnson admitted: "I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle."
The US leader also made clear his desire for peace and recalled the - unsuccessful - efforts of 40 countries to bring an end to the fighting on 15 occasions. He called upon the United Nations to redouble its efforts to restore peace to Vietnam and detailed a personal letter to that effect being personally delivered to the UN Secretary-General, U Thant, in New York by the new US Ambassador to the UN, Arthur Goldberg.
The Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, and the Secretary of Defence, Robert S McNamara, are to persuade Congress of the need to finance the US' new military commitments, in the light of a reduced defence budget this year. President Johnson explained: "We intend to convince the communists that we cannot be defeated by force of arms or by superior power."
28th July Other news: In London, the Ministry of Labour and the Variety and Allied Entertainments Council announce new restrictions on American entertainers limiting them to one television appearance per month.
2nd August The 6pm news on the telly. Thousands of British campers on holiday in the south of France have been forced to abandon their tents when forest fires threatened to engulf them. At least 7,000 people, mostly holidaymakers, spent a sleepless night on the beach as fires swept the hills between the Provence resorts of Hyeres and St Tropez. Narrow roads were clogged with cars trying to make their escape from the hills to the safety of the coast. There they were rescued by pleasure boats, steamers and four minesweepers requisitioned by the French authorities. Most of the campers lost all their equipment and some no longer have their passports or money.
Mr Barnott from Hampstead in London told The Times newspaper of his escape to the beach from the Camp du Domaine site last night. "The whole area was thick with smoke. We had to go to the water's edge to breathe and we put wet towels round our heads. People were kneeling on the sand praying and children were crying," he said.
The fire brigade chief at Le Lavandou has made assurances that there was no "further danger to life". But last night two elderly residents of Borme-les-Mimosas died just yards from their home, overcome by smoke as they were trying to run from the flames.
Fire brigades and volunteers from all over the region are helping 1,000 troops and hundreds of gendarmes to control the fires with the aid of a dozen helicopters and Catalina "water bomber" aircraft. But the hot wind known as the "mistral" is fanning the flames and making their job very difficult.
The blazes have destroyed farmland, campsites, villas and more than 30 square miles (77 sq kms) of forest land that could take years to recover. Forest fires occur every summer in this part of France - usually as a result of arson or carelessly discarded cigarette ends, or a combination of the two. But this year has been described as one of the most savage in the region's history. Now local residents are demanding serious action from the government to tackle the problem.
15th August The 6pm news on the telly. At least 28 people have died and hundreds have been injured after a weekend of rioting in Los Angeles. Armed National Guards have been deployed on the streets of the Californian city, where many of the shops and businesses now lie in smouldering ruins. About 500 businesses, most of them white-owned, are reported to have been destroyed or damaged in what is a predominantly black neighbourhood.
The trouble began in the Watts area of the city four nights ago when a black man was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. A crowd gathered around the car as the driver and his brother began arguing with the police officers. Their mother then joined the argument. When all three were arrested the trouble began. The crowd began throwing bricks and bottles. Shop windows were broken and stock looted. Black youths ran through the streets setting fire to churches, offices and other buildings.
The Governor of California, Edmund Brown, who has just flown back from Europe, said: "We are involved in a state of insurrection there." William Parker, the police chief of Los Angeles, said: "We haven't the slightest idea when this can be brought under control."
Over the weekend, sniping and looting have continued. The cost of repairs is now put at $100m. Television pictures show black shopkeepers have posted notices on their businesses reading "Blood brother" or "Negro-owned" in an attempt to prevent attacks on the premises. One National Guard officer was injured when he was hit by a car reportedly driven by a black man. After that incident, officers were authorised to load their rifles and attach bayonets. Some 18,000 National Guards have been deployed. About 2,000 were flown in from San Francisco.
President Lyndon Johnson, who spent the weekend at his Texas ranch, has called for an end to the violence. He said: "Killing, rioting and looting are contrary to the best traditions of this country. "Every person has the responsibility to uphold law and order. I call upon all Americans to fulfil that responsibility." Civil rights leader Martin Luther King is on his way to Los Angeles. He claims the poor social conditions are the underlying cause for the discontent.
29th August The 6pm news on the telly. Two American astronauts have splashed down safely in the Atlantic after setting a space endurance record. Charles Conrad, 35, and Gordon Cooper, 38, spent just short of eight days orbiting the earth in their space ship Gemini V - three days longer than any previous missions to space. The capsule dropped into the Atlantic south-west of Bermuda at 1256 GMT, 80 miles (130 km) away from their recovery vessel, aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. Gemini V returned to Earth slightly earlier than expected because the NASA control centre at Houston feared a storm was developing in the landing area.
In 1948 the country was divided at the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union set up a Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north while the US helped establish the Republic of Korea in the south. Mr Rhee emerged as the main anti-communist politician in South Korea and in 1947 he received the unofficial support of the US Government in his bid to become president. Although first elected on a popular mandate Mr Rhee's style became increasingly autocratic. In 1954 he forced through amendments to the South Korean constitution to allow him to extend his term of office indefinitely. However, in 1960 he was forced into a final exile after public unrest over election fraud which saw him returned to office with a massive majority.
22nd July The 6pm news on the telly. The leader of the Opposition, Alec Douglas-Home, has surprised colleagues by resigning from his post. The former Conservative Prime Minister made the announcement at a news conference at Conservative Central Office, London.
Sir Alec - as he is known, after renouncing his title to enter the House of Commons - says he made the decision after spending the weekend at one of his homes in Scotland. Some Conservative MPs blame press criticism for their leader's sudden departure after less than two years in office. Sir Alec said: "I have enjoyed every moment of my political career and it is part of political life that decisions have to be taken." "I have no regrets and shall enjoy my future life just as I have enjoyed the past few years," he continued.
A new leader should be in place next week, chosen for the first time by a ballot of Conservative Members of Parliament. Sir Alec implemented a new selection procedure after the discontent following his appointment by the retiring Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, in 1963. The two most likely candidates are shadow Foreign Secretary Reginald Maudling and shadow Chancellor Edward Heath.
Commentators claim Mr Maudling has the broadest support within the Tory Party, whilst Mr Heath has alienated some members with his ambition, although his supporters are regarded as younger and more dynamic. Sir Alec would not name his preferred choice and said he would serve the Conservative Party in any capacity required by the new leader.
The first election is due to take place on Tuesday, with nominations closing on Monday morning. The winner must have an overall majority and achieve 15% more votes than any other candidate, otherwise another election will be called for Thursday, which will be won simply by a majority vote. A third ballot will be called on the same day, if the second is inconclusive, when voters must select two choices, in order of preference.
27th July The 6pm news on the telly. Shadow Chancellor Edward Heath has beaten off his rivals in the Conservative leadership contest triggered by last week's unexpected resignation of Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Mr Heath's victory comes as a surprise - shadow Foreign Secretary Reginald Maudling had been widely tipped to win. Two polls of Tory MPs published this morning indicated a large majority intended to vote for him in today's ballot. However, in the event many backed Mr Heath instead giving him 150 votes to Mr Maudling's 133. The third challenger, maverick Enoch Powell, managed just 15 votes meaning Mr Heath had a slim overall majority.
Under Conservative Party leadership election rules Mr Maudling could have forced a second ballot but in view of Mr Heath's majority he bowed to tradition and announced his withdrawal. In a statement issued late this evening Mr Maudling said: "I am very grateful to all the friends who have supported me but I have no doubt that it is in the interest of the party I should not continue to another ballot." I hope to have the opportunity of working under Mr Heath's leadership to defeat the present government as soon as possible."
Many are attributing Edward Heath's success to Mr Maudling's poor performance as Chancellor in the last Conservative government. Mr Heath formally takes over as leader in a week's time when he makes the traditional address to a meeting of Conservative peers, Young Conservatives, the party's national executive and constituency delegates.
28th July The 6pm news on the telly. President Johnson has committed a further 50,000 US troops to the conflict in Vietnam. Monthly draft calls will increase from 17,000 to 35,000 - the highest level since the Korean War, when between 50,000 and 80,000 men were called up each month. It will take the US force in Vietnam up to 125,000 but officials say at this stage demands should be met by conscription, without calling upon the reserves.
Speaking in a televised address from the White House President Johnson said: "We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences no one can foresee." "Nor will we bluster, bully or flaunt our power. But we will not surrender, nor will we retreat," he continued.
The President gave the news conference after a week of intensive talks with senior military and security advisers in Washington. He explained the decisions were in response to requests made by General Westmoreland, the US Commander in the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. Mrs Johnson and her daughter looked close to tears as Mr Johnson admitted: "I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle."
The US leader also made clear his desire for peace and recalled the - unsuccessful - efforts of 40 countries to bring an end to the fighting on 15 occasions. He called upon the United Nations to redouble its efforts to restore peace to Vietnam and detailed a personal letter to that effect being personally delivered to the UN Secretary-General, U Thant, in New York by the new US Ambassador to the UN, Arthur Goldberg.
The Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, and the Secretary of Defence, Robert S McNamara, are to persuade Congress of the need to finance the US' new military commitments, in the light of a reduced defence budget this year. President Johnson explained: "We intend to convince the communists that we cannot be defeated by force of arms or by superior power."
28th July Other news: In London, the Ministry of Labour and the Variety and Allied Entertainments Council announce new restrictions on American entertainers limiting them to one television appearance per month.
2nd August The 6pm news on the telly. Thousands of British campers on holiday in the south of France have been forced to abandon their tents when forest fires threatened to engulf them. At least 7,000 people, mostly holidaymakers, spent a sleepless night on the beach as fires swept the hills between the Provence resorts of Hyeres and St Tropez. Narrow roads were clogged with cars trying to make their escape from the hills to the safety of the coast. There they were rescued by pleasure boats, steamers and four minesweepers requisitioned by the French authorities. Most of the campers lost all their equipment and some no longer have their passports or money.
Mr Barnott from Hampstead in London told The Times newspaper of his escape to the beach from the Camp du Domaine site last night. "The whole area was thick with smoke. We had to go to the water's edge to breathe and we put wet towels round our heads. People were kneeling on the sand praying and children were crying," he said.
The fire brigade chief at Le Lavandou has made assurances that there was no "further danger to life". But last night two elderly residents of Borme-les-Mimosas died just yards from their home, overcome by smoke as they were trying to run from the flames.
Fire brigades and volunteers from all over the region are helping 1,000 troops and hundreds of gendarmes to control the fires with the aid of a dozen helicopters and Catalina "water bomber" aircraft. But the hot wind known as the "mistral" is fanning the flames and making their job very difficult.
The blazes have destroyed farmland, campsites, villas and more than 30 square miles (77 sq kms) of forest land that could take years to recover. Forest fires occur every summer in this part of France - usually as a result of arson or carelessly discarded cigarette ends, or a combination of the two. But this year has been described as one of the most savage in the region's history. Now local residents are demanding serious action from the government to tackle the problem.
15th August The 6pm news on the telly. At least 28 people have died and hundreds have been injured after a weekend of rioting in Los Angeles. Armed National Guards have been deployed on the streets of the Californian city, where many of the shops and businesses now lie in smouldering ruins. About 500 businesses, most of them white-owned, are reported to have been destroyed or damaged in what is a predominantly black neighbourhood.
The trouble began in the Watts area of the city four nights ago when a black man was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving. A crowd gathered around the car as the driver and his brother began arguing with the police officers. Their mother then joined the argument. When all three were arrested the trouble began. The crowd began throwing bricks and bottles. Shop windows were broken and stock looted. Black youths ran through the streets setting fire to churches, offices and other buildings.
The Governor of California, Edmund Brown, who has just flown back from Europe, said: "We are involved in a state of insurrection there." William Parker, the police chief of Los Angeles, said: "We haven't the slightest idea when this can be brought under control."
Over the weekend, sniping and looting have continued. The cost of repairs is now put at $100m. Television pictures show black shopkeepers have posted notices on their businesses reading "Blood brother" or "Negro-owned" in an attempt to prevent attacks on the premises. One National Guard officer was injured when he was hit by a car reportedly driven by a black man. After that incident, officers were authorised to load their rifles and attach bayonets. Some 18,000 National Guards have been deployed. About 2,000 were flown in from San Francisco.
President Lyndon Johnson, who spent the weekend at his Texas ranch, has called for an end to the violence. He said: "Killing, rioting and looting are contrary to the best traditions of this country. "Every person has the responsibility to uphold law and order. I call upon all Americans to fulfil that responsibility." Civil rights leader Martin Luther King is on his way to Los Angeles. He claims the poor social conditions are the underlying cause for the discontent.
29th August The 6pm news on the telly. Two American astronauts have splashed down safely in the Atlantic after setting a space endurance record. Charles Conrad, 35, and Gordon Cooper, 38, spent just short of eight days orbiting the earth in their space ship Gemini V - three days longer than any previous missions to space. The capsule dropped into the Atlantic south-west of Bermuda at 1256 GMT, 80 miles (130 km) away from their recovery vessel, aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. Gemini V returned to Earth slightly earlier than expected because the NASA control centre at Houston feared a storm was developing in the landing area.
The two men - who travelled 3,312,993 miles (5,331,745 km) and orbited the Earth 120 times - are reported to be in "excellent condition". Colonel Cooper radioed Lake Champlain shortly after their capsule hit the sea with the message: "We are on the water and in good shape". The two men were taken by helicopter to the carrier where doctors gave them a preliminary examination.
A medical report said they were "perfectly happy with no need to sit down and rest." It added: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with them - it is as though they had taken a short airplane flight." Chief Doctor Charles Berry said the astronauts' heart rates had gone up to 180 beats a minute during the stressful re-entry stage, but that they had dropped back to normal levels by the time they splashed down. Colonel Cooper and Commander Conrad now face another 11 days of tests before they are allowed home.
The voyage of Gemini V has not gone completely to plan. Soon after launch the astronauts reported a serious fall in oxygen pressure in their fuel cells and NASA controllers considered ending the mission early. The reduced power meant the pair had to suffer low temperatures and their capsule tumbling and rolling in its orbit when steering rockets failed.
6th September The 6pm news on the telly. Indian troops have invaded West Pakistan, crossing the border at three points in an attack which appears to be aimed mainly at the city of Lahore. Authorities in Delhi say their action was intended to prevent a direct attack by Pakistani forces against India.
On 25 August, Pakistani soldiers had launched a covert operation across the ceasefire line, established in 1949 after the first Indo-Pakistani war, into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Since then there have been a number of clashes along the ceasefire line, but this is the first time Indian troops have crossed into West Pakistan in what is being seen as an act of war. Since the first Indo-Pakistan war, both countries have continued to lay claim to the entire state of Kashmir. Currently Pakistan controls the smaller, northern sector of Azad Kashmir and the remaining area of Jammu and Kashmir, known commonly as Kashmir, is held by India.
Details of today's invasion are sketchy. There have been reports of the Indian Air Force in action, striking against military targets, including an oil tanker train, a group of military vehicles, a goods train carrying supplies, an army camp and some gun positions. A spokesman for the Indian government said: "Our policy is that when Pakistan has bases from which it is mounting attacks on our territory we have to destroy those bases."
The Defence Minister Yashwantrao Chavan blamed recent attacks by Pakistani forces for the invasion. Although there have been a number of air attacks against Indian installations in Punjab, these seem to have been mostly by single aircraft. But Mr Chavan said: "It was quite apparent Pakistan's next move was to attack Punjab across the international frontier."
Reports from the Pakistani city of Karachi say forces have beaten back the Indian Army from Lahore. They said advances at the border towns of Jasar, Wagah and Bedian had all been "fully stopped". Pakistani officials say the number of Indian dead in the Lahore sector is 800, their own casualties are reported to be "very light".
The Pakistani President Ayub Khan has made an emergency broadcast to the nation saying, "We are at war". He said the Indian attack was proof of the evil intentions which India had always harboured against Pakistan. Reports from Delhi say Pakistani paratroopers have landed in the Punjab. Small groups have dropped in three places, Pathankot, Patiala and Ambala in an apparent attempt to damage military installations.
9th September. The new term begins for my second year at Upbury.
- Miss Lake; our Form group teacher; Religious Education, English, French
- Miss Cain; History
- Mrs McDonald; Geography
- Miss Shellock; Mathematics
- Mr Dear; Science
- Mr Brown; Art
- Mr Peters; Handicrafts
- Mr Twyman; Woodwork, Metalwork
- Mr McDouall; Physical Education and Sports
- Mrs Rose; Music
22nd September At Red Sands, Thames Estuary: Pirate music KING Radio closes down
23rd September At Red Sands, Thames Estuary: Pirate music Radio 390 begins broadcasting
My first pair of chisel toe shoes and Chelsea boots. Well it was the 60's era fashion explosion and I had to have a pair to be with it.
A sign of the times, I'm sure there was a Beat group amateur talent contest event during Saturday morning pictures at the Odeon Cinema Gillingham. I was there, though I could not now say any of them struck a chord that created anything to clinch a recording contract. It was good to see the young teens having a go at it.
SILLY PUTTY STORY
During World War II, the United States experienced a shortage of rubber. Rubber was vital in the production of tyres, vehicle and aircraft parts, gas masks, and boots, and became in short supply after Japanese raided several rubber producing countries. The United States government encouraged its citizens to conserve and reuse rubber products until the end of the war or to donate unusable rubber products to the government. In addition, in an effort to find a suitable replacement for synthetic (man-made) rubber, the U.S. government contracted General Electric’s New Haven, Connecticut Labs to find a substitute rubber-like product that would meet all the needs traditional rubber provided.
General Electric and the U.S. War Production Board examined the putty but felt it provided no measurable advantage over synthetic rubber that was already in use. Still, the unusual material with a variety of odd characteristics, was a favourite around the lab.
The unusual characteristics of Silly Putty are what make is so interesting and fun for kids. When rolled up into a ball, the material retains its shape and can be bounced as like any rubber ball. Given enough time, it will also flow like a liquid. If you pull it apart, it will tear. It also exhibits adhesive properties and can be sticky. If you get it in your hair, the manufacturer recommends using alcohol, which breaks silly putty down, to remove it.
Hydrogen bonds between its molecules are the key to its unique properties. When large amounts of pressure are applied to silly putty, only a few of the hydrogen bonds are broken and the putty “flows”. When larger amounts or pressure are applied, more of the covalent hydrogen bonds break and the material tears.
Hydrogen bonds between its molecules are the key to its unique properties. When large amounts of pressure are applied to silly putty, only a few of the hydrogen bonds are broken and the putty “flows”. When larger amounts or pressure are applied, more of the covalent hydrogen bonds break and the material tears.
The original coral-colored Silly Putty is composed of 65% dimethyl siloxane (hydroxy-terminated polymers with Boric acid), 17% silica (crystalline quartz), 9% Thixatrol ST (castor oil derivative), 4% polydimethylsiloxane, 1% decamethyl cyclopentasiloxane, 1% glycerine, and 1% titanium dioxide.
In 1961, with the help of his son, Peter Hodgson Jr., Silly Putty was introduced to the children of the USSR at the US Plastics Expo in Moscow. Soon after, it was introduced to Europe. It was a huge success in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and, in 1963, the craze was introduced to England. It was the mid 1960's when I first became aware of it.
Fun Facts about the original formula:
• Silly Putty’s original colour was pinkish-beige.
• Silly Putty is classified as a solid-liquid.
• Silly Putty has been introduced in 13 different colours, including four that glow in the dark.
• A marshmallow-cutting machine was used to cut Silly Putty for packaging.
• Silly Putty can bounce higher than a rubber ball. Cooling the putty will improve its bounce.
• Although denser than water, if you shape Silly Putty into a boat or similar shape, it will float.
• Silly Putty was able to lift print from newspapers and comics.
• Silly Putty will stretch and stretch if you pull slowly. Pull too fast and it will break.
• Silly Putty can melt. Just as it gets softer when cupped in the hands for a length of time
• It can melt to a puddle when exposed to warmer temperatures.
• Silly Putty has been called the toy with one moving part.
4th October The 6pm news on the telly. The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced plans to introduce a new service for Asian immigrants starting next week. The programmes will go out every Sunday on radio on the BBC's Home Service and on television on BBC1. Titled 'Making Yourself at Home', the programmes will offer informal language lessons in everyday English and music from Indian and Pakistani films.
David Gretton, organiser and producer of the series says the English lessons will provide an opportunity for people who have recently moved to Britain from India and Pakistan to cope with everyday situations. He said: "They teach the words and phrases needed...and convey a reassurance that these situations are not too difficult to be faced". Guests on the programme will discuss carrying out essential domestic routines such as taking children to school or finding their way on the bus.
According to Mr Gretton the target audience is approximately 250,000 listeners and viewers, with emphasis placed on serving recently-arrived wives and school-age children joining their Asian fathers and husbands. "Our task here is to answer questions, and to sweeten the jaw-breaking complexities of housing or nationality with a little traditional song and dance," Mr Gretton said. Contributors will speak in a combination of Hindu, Urdu and English.
The radio programme will be broadcast at 0810 hours on Sunday mornings and last for half-an-hour. The television programme will be shown at 0900 and last 15 minutes. The TV version will be repeated on Wednesdays at 1225 hours.
TV CENTURY 21 comic
 |
TV21 October 9th 1965
|
The primary setting was the 2060s, with each newspaper-style issue covering the "top stories" of the decade. Earth was depicting as having a World Government - based in the fictional Unity City, Bermuda and incorporating a President and a Senate - whose authority encompassed most of the planet. Besides Spectrum, the World Navy, the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) and the World Space Patrol, all of which were seen in the Anderson series, the future Earth also boasted a World Army, World Air Force and Universal Secret Service (USS).
A recurring plot element was the fictional Eastern European nation of Bereznik, a country not part of and hostile to the World Government. It appeared most frequently in the Thunderbirds and Lady Penelope strips, usually as an antagonist.
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
At 5pm to 5:25pm Tuesday, 12th October, BBC1 TV broadcast a new drama production for children, the first instalment of a thirteen part weekly serial of this classic story. Everything about this serial, I was watching, was of the highest quality and together with the theme title orchestration and incidental musical soundtrack worked on all levels. A work of genius.
This is a short extract film clip from the 2nd episode of the serial.
A 45rpm 7 inch single record of the music from the BBC TV serial was later released in mid February 1966.
A side: The Franco-London Orchestra - Main Theme From Robinson Crusoe
B side: The Franco-London Orchestra - Adrift'Adrift' contained some more examples of the incidental theme music used in the serial.
Also please do listen to this BBC radio documentary "Robinson Crusoe - Rescued Again"
14th October 1965 This comedy film was released "The Great Race" Storyline. Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the scheming, moustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.
Going picking edible mushrooms: Late in the month, we somehow formed the idea to look for mushrooms because we had noticed them growing the year before but at that time were not interested in them as food. My older brother Anthony was sure they were edible. I don't know how he could know that, but I trusted his word because he was my elder. They were found growing in the ground where the cows had been grazing the grass. Wild white mushrooms were picked and eaten raw, with no regard as to whether they were poisonous. We were lucky to have edible fungi growing there and suffered no ill effects. Circular patches of the growing fungi and toadstools were called "Fairy Rings"
27th October At Knock John Tower, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Radio Essex begins broadcasting
An old classmate, Peter Jefford, from my Byron road school days, in one of Miss Lakes class discussions, talked about a club he'd joined and I was interested in adding a new sports activity to the gymnastics I was already involved in. I was a member of the Nile road Co-op gym club. Peter, had the unfortunate nickname of "Pea bug". He was boss-eyed, and so he was stuck with that awful nickname.
The club was run by Jack Cook and his friend called Derek (Tug) Wilson. Jack was the instructor, Tug was mostly the organiser and arranger. It had all started in the early 1960's. Jack Cook had finished his time in the army and started practising judo at the age of 35. He continued the development of Medkwai Judo Club while Tug travelled the world. The club moved it's location a few times in Chatham and was once at the back of the Old Music Hall. Jack managed the club for nearly 30 years until his death in 1992.
The first few times of going to the Medkwai Judo club, was just to see what it was like and to make up my mind as to join? Peters' dad with Peter would pick me up from Rock Avenue and drive into Chatham to the once a week evening club meetings held under the stage at Chatham central hall. He would then drive me home after the meetings.
After I had joined the Judo club, I had to ask my mother to buy the special suit kit Judogi clothing in order to take part in practice and training in the arts at the club. Needless to say that it was much more expensive than standard gym kit. During my time at the club, I also learnt Japanese culture, words and phrases as part of the training. There were also girls at the club, taking part in the training sessions, some in mixed bouts I had to fight in contests with. I wasn't keen on that part of the activities, but I really need not have worried as much as I did at the time.
One occasion that is ingrained in my mind, was Harold Wilson's visit to give a speech, onstage, at the Chatham central hall, during one of our club night meetings. Jack interrupted our training for half an hour so as all our club members could go up into the foyer to meet the Prime minister as he was arriving at the hall. The national and local press with photographers were also there to report and capture the scene.
A picture of Harold meeting with all the club members was published in the local Chatham Standard and the Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham newspapers. If anyone has that picture, I'd like to have a copy.
11th November The 6pm news on the telly. The Rhodesian Government, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, has illegally severed its links with the British Crown. Mr Smith made the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) after days of tense negotiations with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
His address to the people of Rhodesia said he had taken the action, "so that dignity and freedom of all may be assured". After the proclamation he explained: "There can be no happiness in a country while the absurd situation continues to exist where people, such as ourselves, who have ruled themselves with an impeccable record for over 40 years, are denied what is freely granted to other countries."
British authorities were only prepared to permit independence on the basis of giving the black majority population a fair share of power. Under Mr Smith's system there will be white minority rule, where 220,000 white Rhodesians will enjoy privileges over nearly four million black Rhodesians.
Harold Wilson told a packed and solemn House of Commons the Labour Government would not be sending troops to deal with the crisis. Instead he announced a full-range of sanctions including ceasing all British aid to and preferential treatment for Rhodesia, banning the import of Rhodesian tobacco and recalling the British High Commissioner.
Both Rhodesian opposition parties - the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu) have declared breakaway governments. They have both called upon the British Government to use force to suspend the Smith Government. Zanu has also petitioned the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity for assistance. Zapu National Treasurer Jason Mayo gave a statement before leaving London - where he has been in exile - to set up his rival government in Lusaka, Zambia. "Treason and rebellion have been committed. The lives particularly of four million unarmed Africans are in jeopardy," he said. The Kenyan Government has offered support to "our African brothers in Southern Rhodesia", but did not refer specifically to Zanu or Zapu.
SUPER BALL
I remember when Super Balls first came out. If you weren't careful how you bounced it, inevitably, they would wind up on the roof of someone's house or in the guttering, never to be seen again.
Super-Ball is a toy, invented by Norman H. Stingley, and manufactured by Wham-O in 1965. It is an extremely elastic ball made of Zectron, which contains the synthetic rubber polymer polybutadiene vulcanised with Sulphur at a temperature of 165 degrees Celsius and at a pressure of 80 atmospheres. The Super Ball has an amazingly high coefficient of restitution. Dropped from shoulder level, Super Ball bounced nearly all the way back to the same height; thrown down, it could leap over a three-story building.
In 1965, the Super-Balls were coloured Black or Blue. In 1966 other solid colours and multicolour were introduced, Wham-O also released Super-Ball Dice and the Super-Ball Baseball. The Green Giant company had a mail away for a Giant Pea, a Dark Green Super-Ball. The large Super-Ball is 1 15/16", the small at 1 1/8" and the mini at .780 sold in packs. A Super-Ball golf ball, the same size as a regular golf ball was also sold. By 1967 the Super-Ball fad was dying out.
John Redsell and I had a fight on the sports field adjacent to the lower school playground. I don't think it was serious or what triggered it or what it was really all about? It wasn't about rivalry about a girl, I wasn't yet interested in them. I can only assume it was about bullying or rough and tumble adolescent muscle flexing? It ended up in a stalemate, both unhurt, but with him pinned to the ground in a Judo hold I had learnt. We must of settled our differences, whatever they might have been? It wasn't reported, and so no teacher intervened and we had both escaped a caning.
1st December The 6pm news on the telly. The Labour Government has put forward a plan to improve production in farming and decrease Britain's reliance on imports of beef. But the Agriculture Bill has provoked opposition from Conservative MPs.
Speaking in the House of Commons during a debate on the second reading of the bill, the Minister of Agriculture, Frederick Peart, said the proposals were designed to "bring lasting benefit to all who cared for and worked on the land or who were concerned with the great meat industry". An independent statutory body - to be known as the Meat and Livestock Commission - would have sweeping powers from the breeding and slaughter of animals to marketing of meat to the consumer. The commission would initially be funded by a tax on every animal slaughtered.
The bill also aimed to:
- encourage modernisation of farm structure by making it easier to organise farm mergers,
- promote better use of hill farm land
- encourage wider co-operation in agriculture and horticulture;
- allow farmers to increase borrowing to improve welfare of their animals
- improve the marketing and distribution of livestock and meat,
While Mr Peart acknowledged the commission would have a great deal of power he had decided against support buying - whereby if market prices fall the government would buy up produce to keep prices buoyant. He said the system would be expensive to the Treasury and would benefit neither the consumer nor the farmer.
The other major thrust of the bill was the amalgamation of small farms to improve production by buying land from those who could not find a buyer. Rural development boards would also co-ordinate development of agriculture and forestry in their regions. But the Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Joseph Godber, accused the government of rushing the bill through Parliament, as a collection of "odds and ends". He also expressed doubt that it would increase production and efficiency and concerns about the extent of the new commission's powers. He said the scheme to buy up large tracts of land for amalgamation would be wasteful and expensive.
2nd December 1965 A Disney film was released "That Darn Cat!" Storyline. A woman bank teller is kidnapped. While in captivity, she manages to send an SOS message note out using a neighbour's wandering cat. The cat's owner calls the FBI. The FBI assigns a cat-allergic agent to the case and tries to keep a track of and follow the cat on its travels around the neighbourhood. Jealous boyfriends and nosey neighbours also get in the act.
3rd December The 6pm news on the telly. An all-white jury in the southern US state of Alabama has convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen over the murder of white civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo. The mother of five from Detroit was shot and killed while driving a young black activist, Leroy Moton, back to the town of Selma following a protest march to the state capital Montgomery on 25 March. A car pulled up alongside Mrs Liuzzo's car. She was shot twice in the head and killed instantly. Her car veered off the road and crashed but Mr Moton was unhurt.
Collie Leroy Wilkins, aged 22, Eugene Thomas, 42, and William Eaton, 41, were convicted in a federal court on conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of 39-year-old Mrs Liuzzo. They were given the maximum 10-year sentence. The men were not able to be convicted on a murder charge because homicide is not within federal jurisdiction. Wilkins had already been acquitted of the same murder in a state court in neighbouring Lowndes County, a decision which sent shock waves across America.
The US President, Lyndon B Johnson, had intervened in the case from the very beginning. The day after Mrs Liuzzo's murder he announced on television that four members of the KKK had been arrested, including Gary Rowe - later revealed as an undercover FBI agent and who testified against the other three. The president also condemned the Klan as "a hooded society of bigots". Robert Shelton, leader or Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America, called the president "a damn liar" and suggested Mrs Liuzzo's death, along with that of Rev James Reeb, were a "trumped up communist plot to destroy the right wing in America".
Both the president and civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King have been calling for legislation to prevent courts in the southern states from refusing to convict those who kill black people and civil rights workers. Last month President Johnson promised new laws "to prevent injustice to Negroes at the hands of all-white juries".
The pressure for change seems to be having an effect. Today's ground breaking verdict comes a day after an Alabama court made history by convicting a white man of the second-degree murder of a black man. Hubert Damon Strange, aged 26, was found guilty by the Anniston state court in Alabama of murdering foundryman Willie Brewster last July. He was sentenced today to 10 years' in prison. Two other white men charged with the murder will be tried at a later date. All the convicted men have given notice of appeal.
8th December The 6pm news on the telly. The new Race Relations Act comes into force today making racial discrimination unlawful in public places. The new act forbids discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places and covers both British residents and overseas visitors. But there have already been claims by anti-racist groups and Labour backbenchers that the new law does not go far enough, as it does not cover housing or employment. The new law does not make racial discrimination a criminal offence - and only the very worst offenders will be referred by the Attorney General to county court.
Conservative opponents of the law forced the change from a proposed criminal offence to a civil offence. They feared making racial discrimination a crime would only exacerbate race relations in areas where it was already a problem. But Labour backbenchers wanted the new law to go further to penalise employers who discriminated against applicants on the grounds of race, and local authorities which barred people renting council homes because of their ethnic background.
The new law applies only to "places of public resort" which include hotels and restaurants - but excludes private boarding houses. Shops are also excluded from the new act. Acts of discrimination include refusing to serve a person, an unreasonable delay in serving someone, or overcharging.
Under the terms of the act, a Race Relations Board will be set up to monitor the work of local conciliation committees which will consider any complaint of discrimination. They will be encouraged to negotiate with the parties involve and seek to persuade them against further discrimination. In cases where the discrimination continues, the matter will be referred to the Attorney General or in Scotland to the Lord Advocate, who will then apply for a court injunction.
The new law comes into force as the number of immigrants to the country continues to rise. Figures for 1964 show British citizenship was granted to 5,943 people from Commonwealth countries, the Irish Republic and the Republic of South Africa.
Christmas gifts
 |
| Pocket Transistor radio |
MINIC MOTORWAYS
 |
| Racing Set |
JOHNNY SEVEN O.M.A.
This was one of the top-selling toys of the year in Britain 1965. The Johnny Seven O.M.A. (One-Man Army) gun was the ultimate boy's dream and the biggest toy machine gun you could get back then. When fully assembled it weighed 4lb and measured an impressive 3ft long. All of the firing mechanisms were attached to the main rifle - the pistol (based on a design for a real 1950s gun) inserted from the bottom to provide the rifle grip (the pistol also held caps for authentic firing sounds). The Rifle function shot 12 white bullets one at a time via a bolt action spring mechanism through the silver barrel. Three different rockets (The green Anti Tank, Anti Bunker and the red Armour Piercing fired via spring-action on the main barrel. The Grenade Launcher was on top of the gun. Johnny Seven also featured a folding bipod that provided stability for the various rockets and grenade. The stock could be removed to shorten the weapon while in the Tommy Gun mode. Its popularity due in part from the James Bond craze and other similar action adventure films of the time, and the gun was marketed by heavily advertising on TV. Kevin Sandy's younger brother Chris, was given one for Christmas and he took it around to our house to show it off.
SLINKY
It's a spring, named Slinky, another brilliant accidental invention and toy. Created by mechanical engineer Richard James in 1943, it was the unintended by-product of a new line of sensitive springs that would help keep fragile equipment steady on ships. After knocking one of his newly created springs from a shelf, James watched as it "walked" down from its spot instead of falling to the ground. With a machine designed to coil 80 ft. of wire into a 2-in. spiral and a name chosen by his wife Betty, when leafing through the dictionary in search of an appropriate term, Betty found a word meaning sinuous and graceful—just the way the spring moved and sounded as it flopped along. The word was "slinky." Slinky got its big break during the Christmas shopping season of 1945, when the Gimbels department store in Philadelphia let James demonstrate his new creation. Within minutes, he sold 400 Slinkys. Millions of these springs have been sold worldwide and still as popular a toy as ever.
The 5,600-ton steel barge had been converted into an oil rig comprising a drilling platform, living quarters and a helicopter landing pad. It was supported on 10 steel legs 50 feet (15 metres) above the waves. Two of these legs gave way as it was being prepared to move to a new location, and then the whole rig tilted sideways and sunk.
7th December The 6pm news on the telly. Britain's first off-shore drilling platform has capsized off the north-east coast of England killing four men. Nine of the crew of 32 are still missing. The British ship Baltrover happened to be passing and was first to spot the collapse of the Sea Gem at 1409GMT. It sent a radio message to shore for further help, and then picked up 19 survivors and two bodies from the sea.
Men were seen jumping into the freezing cold sea - stained red with fuel - and clinging onto wreckage. Survivors were brought ashore to Hull tonight. They had been rescued in a joint effort by passing ships and two helicopters - one RAF and the other civilian.
Rescuers on the Leconfield-based RAF helicopter, which rescued three men, said that by the time they had arrived only one leg of the converted barge was left visible. Flight Sergeant John Reeson described the horrendous conditions as he had tried to save them. "We went out through a snowstorm," he said. "It was clear weather around the oil rig but it was rough. There were waves 15ft to 20ft high. I went down the winch line to men I could see in the water. It was freezing cold. They had been in the water an hour or two before we got there. "One man hanging on to a life raft clutched me with a grip of iron when I reached him. It was almost impossible to pick him up, but I managed it. He was desperate."
One of the rig workers, Robert Hessey, said the structure collapsed without any warning. "I saw the crane topple over the deck," he said. "There was a loud sound of grinding and rumbling. I hadn't realised what was happening until I heard someone shouting, 'She's sinking.'"
Last September, after much public anticipation, British Petroleum's rig was the first to discover natural gas in the British sector 42 miles (67km) off the Lincolnshire coast. Earlier this month Sea Gem also became the first rig to light a flare over the North Sea. BP said the tragedy will delay its drilling programme. A new purpose-built rig, Sea Quest, is currently under construction in Belfast but it will be some months before it's ready to operate.
31st December At Red Sands, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Radio 390 returns to the airwaves after some technical problems.
