12th January The 6pm news on the telly. Three visiting members of the British parliament have been attacked at a meeting in a hotel in Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia. Labour MPs Christopher Rowland, Jeremy Bray and David Ennals are on a private fact-finding mission in the southern African country that illegally declared independence from Britain last year. Mr Rowland had arranged what was to be a question-and-answer session with supporters of Ian Smith, Rhodesia's prime minister. But heckling among the 400 or so people who attended turned to violence and police had to break up the meeting and rescue the politicians from the shouting mob.
At one point Mr Rowland, MP for Meriden in Warwickshire, lunged across a table to get back some his papers that had been taken by a member of the audience. He fell down and was kicked, punched and had a jug of water poured over him. Mr Bray, MP for Middlesbrough, was also jostled as he tried to help his colleague. Special branch police moved in to hustle the three MPs to safety.
There was a large contingent of members of the pro-Smith Rhodesian Front and the left-wing Candour League who interrupted the session with shouts of "Good old Smithy". When the British MPs tried to answer questions raised their voices were drowned out by shouts of "Liar! Liar!" and "Rotten swine" and "Go to hell". They were called "dirty representatives of communism" and at one point were asked if they had ever been members of the Communist Party. Mr Rowland replied "no" but was greeted with the response "Communist, Communist." As the meeting became noisier, the MPs appealed for calm but to no avail.
Tonight the three men issued a statement saying they had since received written apologies from some Rhodesians who said the "disgusting reception" was "not typical of supporters of Rhodesia". The statement said: "We regret tonight's incident mainly because of the impression it will convey to the world outside in an already difficult situation." The authorities in Rhodesia said pointed out that the meeting was illegal under emergency laws which ban public meetings of more than 12 people without government permission. The deputy Minister of Information, Pieter van der Byl, said the MPs should have accepted his invitation to organise a programme for them during their visit.
19th January The 6pm news on the telly. Indira Gandhi, only daughter of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is to become the country's next leader. She was chosen at the end of a bitter leadership battle with former finance minister Morarji Desai.
Following her win, Mrs Gandhi pledged herself to serve the Congress Party and the country, and said she would "strive to create what my father used to call a climate of peace." Crowds had gathered outside Parliament House while the election was held, and cheered Mrs Gandhi wildly as she went to the President's House to report. She will not become prime minister until she submits her cabinet to the president.
Following her win, Mrs Gandhi pledged herself to serve the Congress Party and the country, and said she would "strive to create what my father used to call a climate of peace." Crowds had gathered outside Parliament House while the election was held, and cheered Mrs Gandhi wildly as she went to the President's House to report. She will not become prime minister until she submits her cabinet to the president.
Mrs Gandhi did not confirm she would be a candidate until four days ago, when chief ministers from 11 of India's 16 states let it be known they would support her to take over. Another leading candidate, Gulzarilal Nanda, withdrew once it was clear Mrs Gandhi would be running. He has been acting as prime minister since the unexpected death of Mr Nehru's successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, earlier this month.
Mr Desai was under extreme pressure to pull out as well and avoid a potentially damaging leadership contest, but he insisted on going to a vote. It was predicted he would get less than 100 of the 526 votes from Congress MPs, but he surprised many by winning 169 votes to Mrs Gandhi's 355. Afterwards, Mr Desai pledged to cooperate fully with Mrs Gandhi. It is the second time running he has been defeated in a leadership contest: the first time, against Mr Shastri, he withdrew his candidacy without a vote.
Mrs Gandhi, 48, was educated at West Bengal and Oxford and has two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, who are both studying in England. She gets her name not from Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary independence campaigner and founder of the Congress Party, but from her husband Feroze Gandhi, a lawyer who died in 1960. The couple spent 13 months in prison for subversion after fighting against British rule in India during the 1940s. She has played a key part in the Congress Party since 1955, and served as information minister in Mr Shastri's government.
David Joynes, one boy whom seemed to be drawn into bullying me with regular taunts and name calling me "Twittycus". One wonders what can be the explanation and reasons behind these provocations. I just tried to ignore these tribulations, not responding by fighting and got on with my schooling, but it was nevertheless unsettling.
21st January The 6pm news on the telly. The Monte Carlo rally has ended in uproar over the disqualification of the British cars expected to fill the first four places. The first four to cross the finishing line were Timo Makinen (Finland) driving a British Motor Corporation Mini-Cooper, followed by Roger Clark (Ford Lotus Cortina), and Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, both also driving BMC Minis. But they were all ruled out of the prizes - with six other British cars for alleged infringements of complex regulations about the way their headlights dipped. The official winner was announced as Pauli Toivonen, a Finn who lives in Paris, driving a Citroen.
BMC and Ford have lodged protests but even if they are upheld, the reputation of the rally has been severely dented. After the race, a British official said: "This will be the end of the Monte Carlo rally. Britain is certain to withdraw." Timo Makinen said: "None of us dreamed that the stewards would turn the results upside down - and for such a stupid reason."
The British cars were disqualified because they used non-dipping single filament quartz iodine bulbs in their headlamps, in place of the standard double filament dipping glass bulbs, which are fitted to the series production version of each model sold to the public.
According to new rules introduced at the end of last year, any car entering the rally must come off a standard production line, with at least 5,000 cars being built to a similar specification. The British cars were equipped with standard headlamps - but the only way of dipping them was to switch to non-standard fog lamps.
Richard Shepherd, from the BMC, said: "There is nothing new about the lights at all. They have been used in our rallies, on rally cars, including the Monte for two years now and we've had no trouble at all in the past." The confusion arose because the rally organisers initially said the race would be run under the old rules - and only announced the switch after entries had been accepted. The BMC says it spent £10,000 on preparing for the Monte Carlo rally - and is now considering withdrawing from next year's race.
According to new rules introduced at the end of last year, any car entering the rally must come off a standard production line, with at least 5,000 cars being built to a similar specification. The British cars were equipped with standard headlamps - but the only way of dipping them was to switch to non-standard fog lamps.
Richard Shepherd, from the BMC, said: "There is nothing new about the lights at all. They have been used in our rallies, on rally cars, including the Monte for two years now and we've had no trouble at all in the past." The confusion arose because the rally organisers initially said the race would be run under the old rules - and only announced the switch after entries had been accepted. The BMC says it spent £10,000 on preparing for the Monte Carlo rally - and is now considering withdrawing from next year's race.
M&D Bus route numbers 1 1A and 1B
The Maidstone & District bus company service numbers 1, 1A and 1B at the time operated as one of its major routes between Maidstone, the county town of Kent, and the Twydall ( pronounced as twiddle ) part of Gillingham. The routes in those days were Maidstone - Ringlestone - Running Horse (a public house) - Bluebell Hill - Davis Estate - Maidstone Road - Chatham, Military Road - Brompton - Gillingham, High Street - Bus Station - Livingstone Circus - Sturdee Avenue and Cornwallis Avenue to the terminating points, which were; 1 - Hawthorne Avenue via Twydall Green, 1A - Beechings Green via Twydall Green, 1B - Beechings Green via Beechings Way. There were no elephants or clowns at Livingstone Circus just a few shops including Elli's pet stores, Seaton's hairdresser, Harveys florist, A. Pearson fishmonger, King's sports outfitters, K. E. Horner baker's shop, and Fulks butcher. Twydall Green had a landscaped grassed area with some planted shrubs and flower beds, giving the residents, living in the modern shopping precinct, a pleasant rural touch..
3rd February The 6pm news on the telly. The Russians have made the first controlled landing of a spacecraft on the Moon. Luna 9 made its "soft" landing at 2145 Moscow time (1845 GMT). The probe immediately began taking pictures of its surroundings. It is the first time the Moon has been observed at surface level. The area viewed was to the west of the craters of Reiner and Marius in the Ocean of Storms. The Soviet Union has not so far released any of the photographs to the wider world.
The landing also confirms suggestions from photographs sent back by the American Ranger probes that the Moon's surface is firm, and not covered with a soft layer of dust as some astronomers had thought. The proof that astronauts visiting the Moon will not sink into a dusty quicksand will give added impetus to the race to land the first man on the Moon. The possibility of a Russian man on the moon by 1970 was mentioned by several commentators.
In a televised news conference, a Soviet scientist said the surface of the moon appeared to be stony where Luna 9 came down. He said the ground was made of dark, chocolate-coloured porous rock like volcanic rock or lava.
Sir Bernard Lovell, director of Jodrell Bank, the British radio telescope in Cheshire which has been tracking the Russian rocket, paid tribute to the achievement. "It is an historic moment," he said. "It is the final achievement ... necessary for a manned landing on the Moon."
The exact nature of the instruments on board Luna 9 remains secret, although it is thought they would have been able to record temperature, pressure and the nature of the lunar surface. There would also have been radio equipment to send information back to Earth. One of the things it will be measuring is the ability of the Moon's surface to support objects of heavy weight, such as manned spaceships. The methods used to achieve the landing are also the subject of some speculation. It is believed to have used an intricate coordination of retro-rockets to slow down the 3,000lb (1,360 kg) spacecraft from 6,000 mph (9,600 km/h) to six mph (9.65 km/h).
7th February The 6pm news on the telly. Talks between the US and South Vietnamese leaderships have opened in Hawaii. President Lyndon B Johnson said the purpose of the unexpected summit was to review the economic, social and political conditions in Vietnam with South Vietnamese Prime Minister Air Vice-Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky and his Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu.
The trip - which Mr Johnson only announced three days ago - coincides with the Washington hearings of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, which have been highly critical of America's role in Indochina. A dozen senior officials have joined the President in Honolulu - although some are wanted for questioning by the Foreign Affairs Committee - for his first visit outside the American continent since he took office in 1964.
In an opening address at the three-day conference Premier Cao Ky described the social reforms in his country but emphasised military strength was the only language the Communist forces understood. The American Commander in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland told a press conference bombing North Vietnam was important though supplementary to the strategy in the south of the peninsula.
President Johnson was keen to adopt a less belligerent tone in the tranquil surroundings of Camp Smith, overlooking Pearl Harbour. He accepted the difficulties of negotiating from weakness but explained social, political and economic reforms would improve conditions in South Vietnam sufficiently to cause the collapse of guerrilla movements.
Although both leaders spoke of the need to continue the search for peace Mr Cao Ky underlined South Vietnam's commitment to war as long as necessary and refusal to surrender to or compromise with the Communists. Mr Johnson's condemnation of those who "counsel retreat in Vietnam" attracted criticism from the anti-war faction in Washington, especially Democratic Senator for Oregon Wayne Morse.
7th February 1966 This film was released "Sky West and Crooked" Storyline. Seventeen year old Brydie White is emotionally stunted due to an accidental shooting death with which she was involved when she was an adolescent, the incident which she doesn't remember. Mrs. White, a widow, recluse and alcoholic, still treats her daughter like a child, although she pays her daughter little attention. However, Brydie is physically becoming a young woman. She meets a gypsy named Roibin, and the two fall instantly in love. Always fascinated by death, Brydie's new pastime is to bury any dead animal in the local church graveyard. She has convinced all the young children of her small English rural town to do the same, the animal plots complete with grave markers. These animal burials are the last straw for many of the townsfolk, who see Brydie as a menace and bad influence who should be locked away. The vicar, Reverend Phillip Moss, although as perturbed by the animal graves as anyone, does understand Brydie's position more than anyone in the town and wants to do what is best for her. When it looks that Brydie is in some real danger when she goes missing, amidst the suspicions from the townsfolk that the gypsies have abducted her.
9th February The 6pm news on the telly. A nuclear reactor described as "the system of the next century" is to be built at the Dounreay power station on the north coast of Scotland. Minister for Technology Frank Cousins made the announcement in Parliament today. Dounreay has been awarded the £30m Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) in the face of competition from the Winfrith nuclear power station in Dorset. Dounreay's remote location in Caithness, Scotland's most northerly county, was an important factor when construction of the nuclear power station began in 1955. Its remoteness is believed to be one of the reasons why the PFR will be built there.
But Mr Cousins said the government had also taken into consideration the fact that Dounreay already had many of the required skilled staff and the necessary facilities. At a press conference, Mr Cousins said there had been a change in attitude towards nuclear power and many local authorities had wanted the PFR built in their area. Mr Cousins said the new reactors were "the future". "They will be able to produce new nuclear fuel in the course of their operation and offer a prospect of even greater economy, as well as conservation in the use of uranium," Mr Cousins explained.
Scientists say the technology used by the PFR is the most economical way to produce electrical power. Current nuclear reactors can extract only 2% of the energy available in nuclear fuel compared with up to 10% for the new reactors.
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) will build and operate the prototype reactor. UKAEA chairman Sir William Penney said it was hoped to have commercial power stations in operation by 1978. But they would have a "real tough time" meeting that target, Sir William added, and it not come to fruition until a couple of years later.
Dounreay was the world's first electricity-producing "fast" reactor - the reactor itself being enclosed in a distinctive dome. The new reactor will benefit the local economy in Caithness with 700 construction jobs to be filled.
The British Tea Council promotions in the media of 1965/66
The importance of tea to the British. During the Second World War, the British government took control of all tea stocks, and ordered that the vast reserves then stored in London must be dispersed to warehouses outside the capital in case of bombing. When during 1940 enemy blockades prevented supply ships from getting through, the Ministry of Food introduced a ration of 2oz of tea per person per week for those over the age of five. This was not a lot, enough for two or three cups a day of rather weak tea. But there was extra tea for those in the armed forces, and on the domestic front for those in vital jobs such as firemen and steel workers. Tea was also sent in Red Cross parcels to British prisoners of war abroad. The peak of tea consumption in the UK occurred in the 1950s after it's rationing ceased in October 1952. The impact of instant coffee and also tea-bags with double the cuppage capacity in the 1960s caused tea consumption figures to slide. The setting up of the UK Tea Council in 1965 came about in direct response to this decline in tea's popularity. The individual interests of producers, importers and packer/blenders were set aside in a united campaign of generic promotion of tea.Mon 4 Oct 1965 The Tea campaign launch
Remembered, here are a collection of the Tea Council tea drinking television commercials, a campaign that was screened nationwide Autumn 1965 through to the next year, and their press advertisements promoting the drinking of tea which took place during the same period. The primary slogan used in the campaign was "Join the Tea Set". Obviously aimed to also appeal to the untapped youth market of consumers.
Following the lead set by 'The Who' mod pop groups' recording of "My Generation" released on 29th October 1965, a 45rpm 7 inch pop single record, the B-side of which was titled "My Degeneration" by a group called 'The Eyes' was released in January 1966. This song contained suggestive lyrics involving coffee, coupled with a sardonic vocal line mimicry of the Join the Tea Set 'TV' advertising jingle. Shocked, when they got wind of it, the overly sensitive British Tea Council concluded that this song was damaging their national tea marketing youth market programme.
Tea making video, soundtrack ..The Eyes - My Degeneration
Something had to be done to counteract any further chance subversion of their tea campaign message, by any other group or artists. It was decided by the Tea Council to sponsor their own pop group, to be chosen by an enticing competition set to find one suitable to use for the promotion of tea drinking.
A 'Tea Set' pop group were formed as a direct result of winning a song competition, sponsored by the British Tea Council. That story began when a 'Join the tea set' song competition was first advertised in the February 11th 1966, edition of the New Musical Express newspaper.The first and only prize included an audition for a major TV programme, a brand new Bedford Utilabrake van, publication of the winning song by Keith Prowse Ltd. plus a recording test with a major recording company.
Conditions of entry. Open to everyone aged 17 and over in the UK and Northern Ireland, subject to the rules of the competition. The winning group will be required to be known as 'The Tea Set'.
How to enter. Write a song entitled 'Join the tea set', record it on a demonstration disc, and send it to the advertised competition entry address, with a photograph, and other particulars asked for.
How to disqualify. Although the song must be entitled 'Join the tea set', it should in no way resemble the join-the-tea-set jingles sung on TV commercials for tea. Any such resemblance will be automatically disqualified.
The judges of the competition: Miss Sandie Shaw, J. Phillips the managing director of Keith Prowse Ltd, and M. Kinn the executive director of New Musical Express.
The composers of the winning song agree to assign the rights in it to Keith Prowse Ltd. The recording or the song can be used with or without the group for advertising or publicity purposes in any way the Tea Council thinks fit.
Members of winning group will be required;
(a) to make themselves available for a period of up to 2 years for publicity purposed at such places and on such terms as may be reasonable having regard to their existing employment.
(b) not to detract in any way during this period from the work of the Tea Council.
(c) during this period to keep the prize Bedford Utilabrake van painted in the same colours and with the name "The Tea Set" painted on it as when presented.
Entry for this competition shall be deemed to constitute consent under the Dramatic and Musical Performers Protection Act 1958 in favour of the Tea Council in respect of the matters referred to in the rules of the competition.
Each entry sent must include details, on a sheet of paper, a written declaration;
"We agree to be bound by the conditions of entry and rules of the Tea Song Competition in respect of the enclosed entry of our song 'Join the tea set'."
Give the full names and addresses and age of each member of the group.
Signature of each member of the group. (If any member is under 21, his or her parent or legal guardian should sign as well.)
Entries to be received not later than 21st March 1966. The winner will be announced in the New Musical Express newspaper at a later date.
I do not know when the 'N.M.E.' actually published the group names of the winning entry, but they are also named in the 'The Tea Flyer' … The newspaper of the Brooke Bond Group. "Meet the The Tea Set Group," The Tea Flyer 10, no 7. (July 1966). Neither of which I have found a copy of to read.
Thursday June 30th 1966. At last, the winning group has been unmasked and the members names published in The Harrow Observer and Gazette.
I have searched online catalogues for evidence of this supposed Decca record of the Tea Set:
A side "Cross My Heart"
B side "Join the Tea Set"
It was not in there, under any recording label. Probably was just their Decca demo test recordings. I doubt it was ever released.
This list of gig dates, also indicates group payment received for each performance (when known)
Fri. May 13th – Coronation Ballroom, Ramsgate, Kent. Marc Roman "Big L Show" - The Tea Set
Sun. Jun 26th – Eel Pie Island club, Twickenham - The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Jul 13th – Eel Pie Island club, Twickenham – The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Aug 3rd – Eel Pie Island club, Twickenham – The Tea Set (£10)
Wed. Sep 21st - Silver Blades Streatham ice rink, South London – The Tea Set
Wed. Sep 28th – Chelsea College London - The Tea Set
Wed. Oct 5th – Eel Pie Island club, Twickenham – The Tea Set (£10)
Fri. Oct 7th – Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, "Ealing Technical College Dance" - The Tea Set
Sun. Nov 20th – Eel Pie Island club, Twickenham – The Tea Set (£20)
A 45rpm 7 inch single record titled "Join the Tea Set" by a group called 'The Tea Set' was released on the small independent R and B discs "KING" label during December 1966. This record features the group that won the competition, the song publisher being Keith Prowse Music. The record was promoted and played on the offshore pirate radio station, 'Radio City', appearing in their "City Sixty Chart" for two weeks just before Christmas 1966.
The A side “Join the Tea Set”
The film cartoon animation thanks to Jin An Wong, with his team of artists: Jack Tom, Mark Matsuno, Ron Wong, Joey Valera, Phyllis Wong, Annabelle Valledor, Wendy McPhee, and many others.
The B side “Ready Steady Go!”
I've been unable to find proof of any appearance on a TV show. Their "Join the Tea Set" 45rpm single is their only known record released. The most valuable part of the prize was the “Join the Tea Set” promotional Bedford Utilabrake van, not necessarily a recording contract, that being no guarantee of any success as a pop group. It would doom them anyway to a short lived career of just two years (the maximum period of the Tea Council contract) and of using the group name of 'The Tea Set'. After that, the group would have been free to disband, or else change the name and carry on performing their own material in any style they wanted.
29th February The price of most 45 rpm record disks rises by 7 pence from 6s/8d to 7s/3d
1st March 1966 newspaper report: A School Probe
Upbury Manor Secondary school, Gillingham, has been one of the pioneers of the new approach to secondary education. Opened some six years ago, the school has developed with the new ideas that have occurred in that field of education. External examinations, once unheard of at secondary schools, became the accepted thing. Foreign visits, clubs after school, televisions, all have come along and have been embodied in Upbury's modern image.
The pride of Upbury this year, and for a long time to come, is the swimming pool built by the boys with assistance from teachers and some members of the Parents Association who raised £3,000 towards it. Measuring 82ft. by 28ft., the pool will hold 75,000 gallons of water that ranges from depths of four feet at the shallow end to a maximum of 9ft. 3in. Around £6,000 has been saved by doing-it-themselves and the pool will be of immeasurable value in years to come.
The school's stage and theatrical facilities are renown, as is the structure itself and its situation. For although in a densely populated urban area of Gillingham, the Lines provide an almost rural outlook for the 900 children that attend.
Being a co-educational establishment, anomalies in teaching do crop up from time to time. Girls may wish to follow industrial courses, and boys, commercial or catering. When this occurs they are given the appropriate opportunity.
A staff of 44 teachers, headed by Mr. J. McVie, instruct the students and achieve human relationships with them whereby they can grow happily. This is gained at Upbury by getting an atmosphere where the children take a distinct part in its life, giving them a taste of social responsibilities.
At the lunch sessions, for instance, meals are conducted on a family basis. Exceptions from this are the girls who cook there own meals during classes on equipment of which no home would be ashamed. These assignments, such as preparing a worker's lunch, a meal for uninvited guests, or food for a week-end trip, all go towards instilling experience for the world outside.
"Tools" for the same job are examinations which can now be gained at Secondary school, when before they were introduced, night school was the only answer. G.C.E. "O" and "A" level courses are open to them, a Royal Society of Arts commercial stream for girls and a pre - engineering course for boys of the same ability. For those less able, a more practical course catering for their vocational need is available.
It is an understatement to say that many people - including former Technical and Grammar school pupils would like to have had the education and fringe benefits those at Upbury now receive.
1st March The 6pm news on the telly. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan, has confirmed the "historic and momentous" decision to change over to decimal coinage. It was just one of a number of proposals announced in his "little Budget" statement in the Commons. Other proposals included a new gambling tax - the proceeds from which will be used to fund cheaper mortgages for the less well off.
Loud cheers greeted Mr Callaghan's announcement of the switch to decimal currency. He said: "It is the government's conclusion, shared I know by large sections of industry, commerce, science and banking, that the change to a decimal coinage will bring considerable benefit to the economy at large."
Preparations for the change-over will begin at once, with the introduction of a Decimal Currency Bill. One of its functions will be to establish a new Decimal Currency Board to oversee the switch which will take place in February 1971. There were more cheers as Mr Callaghan confirmed the pound would remain the major unit of currency. It will be divided into 100 units, to be called either cents or new pennies.
Preliminary estimates suggest the cost of switching to decimal coinage may be as much as £120m. However, Mr Callaghan said he hoped the long change-over period may mean the total cost was lower than this. Companies obliged to invest in new equipment will not be compensated, but they will be entitled to tax relief.
5th March At Sunk Head, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Tower Radio begins broadcasting
Our turn to conduct the school assembly
Sometime during our year term, one day just after the class morning registration was completed, Miss Lake announced that our form class 2B1 was to conduct a part in the morning school assembly in the next fortnight. On hearing this, there was an immediate simultaneous mass intake of breath in the classroom, followed by the buzz and murmur of nervous excitement, pupils looking around at each other and back again to Miss Lake. Arms were raised, for questions and an explanation as to what to do? This triggered class discussions of ideas and planning with Miss Lake over the next few days.
It's no surprise, our contribution in the forthcoming school assembly would have a French theme. And so it was thus so, and we were also taught the traditional French folk song, "Sur le Pont d'Avignon", with song rehearsals and speaking presentations taking place in class throughout the next week.
The song is the only memory I have of that particular school morning assembly that took place. Our class group standing on the wooden front stage steps, facing the rest of the school and a shaking form 2B1, knees a knocking, singing that French ditty about a bridge.
After the assembly had dispersed to their respective classrooms and we were again reunited with our class form teacher Miss Lake, ready to begin the normal business of the school. She gave many thanks for our splendid performance, which made us feel top of the world at least for that morning, before we came back down to Earth at the lunchtime break.
31st March The news on the telly. The Labour party is on course to win the general election with a majority of about 100 seats in the House of Commons. Prime Minister Harold Wilson has hailed the result "a great victory". It is only the second time a Labour government has been voted back into power. Across the country, the swing from Conservative to Labour was between 3% and 4%. Labour needed 316 seats to be assured of victory and although they have not actually yet reached that figure, the trend shows the party to be well on the way to it.
Loud cheers greeted Mr Callaghan's announcement of the switch to decimal currency. He said: "It is the government's conclusion, shared I know by large sections of industry, commerce, science and banking, that the change to a decimal coinage will bring considerable benefit to the economy at large."
Preparations for the change-over will begin at once, with the introduction of a Decimal Currency Bill. One of its functions will be to establish a new Decimal Currency Board to oversee the switch which will take place in February 1971. There were more cheers as Mr Callaghan confirmed the pound would remain the major unit of currency. It will be divided into 100 units, to be called either cents or new pennies.
Preliminary estimates suggest the cost of switching to decimal coinage may be as much as £120m. However, Mr Callaghan said he hoped the long change-over period may mean the total cost was lower than this. Companies obliged to invest in new equipment will not be compensated, but they will be entitled to tax relief.
3rd March. There were now urgent decisions to be made about the development of colour television broadcasting in Britain, the line standard and system that would be used. After much debate involving the European Broadcasting Union in attempts to agree Europe-wide standards, the Postmaster General, Anthony Wedgwood Benn, has announced the decision that a service using the PAL transmission system and broadcast on the 625-line standard would start towards the end of next year.
In making this announcement, the Postmaster General stated that if the Oslo conference of the International Radio Consultative Committee were to show that another transmission system found general acceptance, the Government would take such a development into consideration in the event the conference did not reach a common view on any transmission system. In general, the countries of Western Europe expressed a preference for the PAL system, and France and Eastern Europe for the SECAM III system. Accordingly, in the United Kingdom the colour service will be provided using the PAL system developed in Germany a few years before.
The B.B.C. today has also revealed plans to begin broadcasting scheduled colour television programmes using transmissions of PAL 625 lines on UHF towards the end of 1967, giving the TV receiver industry time to design test and perfect colour sets, and also enable the B.B.C. to train staff in the new techniques. However, it is already able to provide facilities for colour TV camera coverage of the forthcoming 1966 UK General election results programme to be transmitted using NTSC 525 lines transmissions via the Early Bird satellite for the American TV networks, and for the UK domestic coverage via the terrestrial network transmissions of black and white monochrome using 405 lines VHF.
The new colour service is expected to cost the BBC between £1m and £2m per year, for an initial four hours of television per week on B.B.C.2, rising to 10 hours a week after 12 months. The colour programmes will still be available on ordinary television sets in black and white. A colour receiver will cost about £250 and there will be a supplementary licence fee.
David Attenborough, controller of B.B.C.2, will be responsible for overseeing the new colour service. He said the promised four hours of colour programming was based on what the BBC could produce from its own studios and did not include imported programmes. He said the popular Western series, The Virginian, and the Danny Kaye Show were both available in colour, but currently shown in black and white.
Mr Attenborough denied the colour programmes would all be re-runs of old shows: "We have to remember that 95% of people initially will not be seeing these programmes in colour, they'll be seeing them in black and white. The shows that B.B.C.2 will be scheduling will be exciting new shows in black and white. They'll be that much more exciting and newer in colour."
The technique for delivering the colour service has not been finally agreed. European leaders are meeting in Oslo in Norway later this year to decide on a single system which will enable countries to be able to exchange programmes.
5th March At Sunk Head, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Tower Radio begins broadcasting
Our turn to conduct the school assembly
Sometime during our year term, one day just after the class morning registration was completed, Miss Lake announced that our form class 2B1 was to conduct a part in the morning school assembly in the next fortnight. On hearing this, there was an immediate simultaneous mass intake of breath in the classroom, followed by the buzz and murmur of nervous excitement, pupils looking around at each other and back again to Miss Lake. Arms were raised, for questions and an explanation as to what to do? This triggered class discussions of ideas and planning with Miss Lake over the next few days.
The song is the only memory I have of that particular school morning assembly that took place. Our class group standing on the wooden front stage steps, facing the rest of the school and a shaking form 2B1, knees a knocking, singing that French ditty about a bridge.
After the assembly had dispersed to their respective classrooms and we were again reunited with our class form teacher Miss Lake, ready to begin the normal business of the school. She gave many thanks for our splendid performance, which made us feel top of the world at least for that morning, before we came back down to Earth at the lunchtime break.
Sunday 20th March 1966. Associated Television (A.T.V.) London production of 'The London Palladium Show', in which the show as was normal transmitted on British television in a 405 lines black/white monochrome format and seen by millions of viewers. For the first time ever though, colour TV cameras were moved into the Palladium and together with the A.T.V. black/white ones were used during this show. The two sets of cameras had to record the performance simultaneously. The four colour cameras were directed from a special mobile outside broadcast colour TV camera control van, operated by a small niche independent company "Intertel (VTR Services) Ltd", parked outside the Palladium stage door.
A test colour NTSC system 525 line video tape recording edition of this show made for A.T.V., was to be shown as a promotion copy by A.T.V. for a deal with the American NBC TV network for a series of Palladium shows in colour, for the American market, which will be taped from next month to be broadcast across the U.S.A.
Some pictures to illustrate the colour camera technology used during that Palladium Show. The huge size of the Marconi BD848 (B3200) type Orthicon colour camera unit compared with its operator. The mobile camera control van was equipped with four operating console's (one for each camera), colour monitors, video tape recorder and mixer and power supply backup.
Left and centre: are the Marconi B3200 Colour Cameras and right: one of the four Operating Consoles
The music, the fashion, colour...1966 Now!
This unique moment in Britain, showcasing the colourful blending of pop music art fashion and experimental TV technology in London that was roaring out of 1965. My presentation here was formed through edits from that colour promotion copy, featuring Jimmy Tarbuck singing, with the Pamela Devis dancers performing on stage, the Kinks latest song release "Dedicated follower of fashion" with musical backing from the Jack Parnell orchestra. However, I have provided a replacement soundtrack for this video, using the Kinks own recorded alternative arrangement of the song which I much prefer because it better suits the dancers sequence.
The Kent Messenger 50 mile walk
Friday night 25th March 1966, the event you'll not forget when we were Fab. Between 9pm and midnight, using organised staggered starting, more than 7000 entrants set out from Dreamland, Margate, for Maidstone on the fourth annual Kent Messenger 50 mile walk. The entrants pre-paid fee of 5 shillings per person was charged to help offset some of the main costs of the walk, including transport and food. The Army, St. John Ambulance, Civil Defence and other volunteers were on hand when needed. The plan route was through Westgate, Birchington, Sarre, Canterbury, Chilham, Ashford, Charing, Lenham, Bearsted and finishing at Invicta Park Barracks Maidstone (50 miles). Certificates were also presented to those walkers for reaching the checkpoints at Wemyss Barracks Canterbury (16 miles) and at Templar Barracks, Ashford (32 miles).
Were you there walking the miles with friends or meeting new ones? The offshore commercial pop music station 'Radio London' (the Big L) was on-air specially broadcasting Fab 40 chart requests overnight to keep your spirits up. View the Big L Fab Forty records played, selected from the charts of the week beginning 13th March 1966 and the 20th March 1966. Philip Birch, the Radio London managing director, commented that the station had helped organisations such as the Institue for the blind, Oxfam, the Cancer fund, and the Lifeboat service, to raise funds for their very worthwhile causes and thanked the many advertisers and the millions of listeners for their support.
Here is the feature story and Kent Messenger pictures supplement from that time in 1966. It contains the full registered list, thousands of entrant names together with their home towns/villages and another list of all those names that reached each of the checkpoints and the finish point.
Previous Kent Messenger 50 mile walks have taken place on these dates;Friday night check in with midnight start 5th April 1963 Dover to MaidstoneFriday night check in with midnight start 17th April 1964 Margate to MaidstoneFriday night check in with midnight start 2nd April 1965 Margate to Maidstone
Shortly after midnight, Conservative leader Edward Heath admitted his party had lost. Speaking in his Bexley constituency in Kent, he insisted the Tories had fought the election on the right policies. He said: "The Labour Party has been fighting on the past. We have fought on the present and the future."
The B.B.C. successfully transmitted 'Live' in colour, the UK election results programme to America, via the Early Bird satellite.
Mr Wilson went into the election battle with a manifesto entitled, Time for a Decision, making his sole purpose clear - he wanted a mandate to govern. Labour had won the 1964 election with a majority of five seats, later reduced through by-election losses to just one seat.
The Liberals have had a night of mixed successes. No sooner had party leader Jo Grimond hailed Michael Winstanley's victory over the Tories to gain Cheadle than he heard that Roderic Bowen had lost Cardigan - and Richard Wainwright had at long last won Colne Valley from Labour.
Now Mr Wilson has a majority in the Commons some of the pressure of government will be eased. He is expected to bring some new faces into the Cabinet. There is already a vacancy for a Lord Privy Seal after the retirement from the Commons of Sir Frank Soskice.
The country is also facing a debt of £900m, much of which has been inherited from the Tory government and which must be paid off within four years. Inflation is continuing to rise but Mr Wilson insists Labour's prices and incomes policy is beginning to bring it into check.
MODEL AIRCRAFT
21st April 1966 Found in the national newspapers, a snippet picture of a young innocent looking girl slipped into view. An extension to the caption, added to the one printed, could have been "the sign of something fresh coming soon.."
Helping to brighten Saturday night this summer will be "Quick Before They Catch Us." This farcical adventure series will be taking over from "Dixon of Dock Green" on BBC-1. It will star l6-Year-old Pamela Franklin as a girl with two men in her life- an "egg-head" and a muscleman.
4th May The 6pm news on the telly. The Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, has announced the government is to increase doctors' and dentists' salaries by up to 30%, following recommendations made by a pay review body. The Cabinet decision was prompted by threats from thousands of family doctors to leave the Health Service for private practice. It goes against the national pay policy of 3 to 3.5% rises and is likely to infuriate unions representing blue-collar workers.
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| Buying a simple balsa wood model glider kit. Flying it on the Great lines. |
Helping to brighten Saturday night this summer will be "Quick Before They Catch Us." This farcical adventure series will be taking over from "Dixon of Dock Green" on BBC-1. It will star l6-Year-old Pamela Franklin as a girl with two men in her life- an "egg-head" and a muscleman.
Britain's 23,000 general practitioners will see an average rise of about £1,000 to be paid in two stages - half now and the rest next year. The cost of the award to GPs alone amounts to £28m. Hospital doctors and dentists will also get an immediate rise - with junior doctors pay increasing by an average 30%. The average for all hospital staff and dentists is 13.4%.
The Minister of Health, Kenneth Robinson, told the BBC: "I hope that the award for general practitioners will put new heart into family doctoring and I hope this is going to be a beginning of a new era for general practice. "I hope it will also stem the emigration of younger doctors that has disturbed us in the past and I hope it will encourage other younger doctors to come into general practice who wouldn't have done so."
The pay review body headed by Lord Kindersley made radical new and complicated proposals on GP pay structures and changes in hours and conditions of service. There will be financial incentives for good medicine and high standards of service.
There will be extra pay for doctors who:
- work in group practices
- practise in deprived areas
- agree to work out of regular hours
- treat patients over the age of 65
- achieve certain levels of seniority
4th May At Sunk Head, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Radio Tower ceases broadcasts
The Upbury Manor Swimming Pool... At Last!
Almost ready. It can be seen that the chalk soil spoil heaps, from the pool building excavations had been landscaped into a fenced grass bank beside the pool site adjacent to the sports field. The pool had been waterproof tested and painted but not yet filled with water.
This 1966 Upbury Manor ground floor plan map shows its layout and where school facilities were located after the swimming pool was completed. The cream coloured area depicts the lowest ground level of the site.
Quick Before They Catch Us
5th May 1966 Police Sergeant Dixon, curate of Dock Green's cosy cop-shop, mercifully disappears from BBC-1 this Saturday and for 20 weeks, will be replaced by what is "diffidently" proclaimed as "a light fast moving adventure serial story about three exciting youngsters." It is "Quick Before They Catch Us," a new kind of serial in the shape of five complete stories, each in four weekly parts.
The stories to be screened during the next five months;
"Power of Three" written by N.J. Crisp
"Mark of Distinction" written by George F. Kerr
"Season of the Skylark" written by Jack Trevor Story
"The Tungsten Ring" written by Margot Bennett
"The Weasel Goes Pop" written by John Gray
"Quick Before They Catch Us," introduces to television attractive Kate Lawrence and her two boy friends, Johnny Martin, the man of action, and Mark Dennison, the intellectual. Kate is played by 16 year-old actress Pamela Franklin, the juvenile lead in films "The Innocents" and "The Nanny"; Johnny, by Teddy Green, has appeared in "The Young Ones" and "Summer Holiday"; and Mark, by David Griffin, featured in "The French Mistress" and "Conflict." Also in the serial is actor Colin Bell as Don. Pamela, has been nominated for an American "Emmy" Award for her performance in the NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Eagle In a Cage, Pamela's co-star in Eagle In a Cage, Trevor Howard, has also been nominated for an Emmy.
Paddy, Klaus and Gibson, a pub trio a year ago at The Old King's Head, Blackfriars Road, southeast London and since signed up by Brian Epstein, for whom they have become a big attraction in ballrooms, theatres and clubs, play Monty Norman's theme music for the new BBC-TV series "Quick Before They Catch Us". The boys have a PYE recording of the number released next week and will also be seen occasionally in the series.
A feature of "Quick" will be Kate's fab gear, off-beat clothes especially designed by Michael Robbie, BBC-TV's costume supervisor of the show. The slick opening song, a half protest, half beat number, has been written by Monty Norman, composer of the musical "Make Me an Offer." Other features will include Kate's unusual pets, including a capuchin monkey. The considerable location film work, was done in and around London.
In the second episode, a story called "Mark of Distinction", by George Kerr, the hero is enrolled, after passing a stiff intelligence test, by a private detective and asked to investigate the actions of a young crook who has been distributing forged postage stamps.
What the reviews said..
The series ends with a 'tongue in cheek' view of the pop world. The last episode of "Quick Before They Catch Us" takes a rather flippant look at the world of pop music, pop art and art forgery. The final four part story of the series is called "The Weasel Goes Pop". The trio Kate, Mark and Johnny, form a pop group and become involved with a string of odd characters--Tom Kidd, an interior decorator, and a South American millionaire art collector.
They also encounter pop managers, assorted Chelsea - type girls (including twins Jennifer and Susan Baker) and an attractive stream of pets including twin boxer dogs and a Great Dane.
The last story has been written by the Canadian writer John Gray with, says the producer, "his tongue in his cheek." The location film shooting was done in the Portobello Road, parts of Soho, Trafalgar Square, Mayfair and Chelsea.
Am I the only one to have remembered seeing this BBC TV series of "Quick Before They Catch Us"? It has to my knowledge, never been re-broadcast after its first transmission in the summer 1966 and I have not been able to find any evidence of it being archived by the BBC. All the episodes are presumed wiped.
6th May The 6pm news on the telly. Ian Brady and his lover Myra Hindley have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the so-called Moors murders at Chester Assizes. Judge Fenton Atkinson imposed three concurrent life sentences on Ian Brady, aged 28, for what he called "three calculated, cruel, cold-blooded murders".
The couple were tried for the killing of Edward Evans, 17, Lesley Ann Downey, aged 10, and 12-year-old John Kilbride - a case that has shocked the nation. Hindley, 23, was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences for the murder of Edward Evans and Lesley Ann Downey and found not guilty of the killing of John Kilbride. The bodies of the three children were found on Saddleworth Moor in the Pennines seven months ago.
Brady, a stock clerk from Glasgow and Hindley, a shorthand typist from Manchester, lured the children into their home in Manchester, tortured, then killed them. It was Hindley's brother-in-law, 17-year-old David Smith, who called the police after witnessing the brutal murder of Edward Evans at the couple's home in Hattersley, East Manchester. He told them that Brady had boasted that he had buried other victims at the moors.
The judge praised the "utmost skill and thoroughness" of the police working on the case. They had discovered a left-luggage ticket in Hindley's communion prayer book. This led them to a suitcase containing pornographic photographs and tapes that proved to be valuable evidence against the pair. One of the photos showed Hindley posing with her dog at what turned out to be the site of John Kilbride's grave.
The Home Office has said that anyone sentenced to life imprisonment is liable to be held for the whole of his or her natural life but the Home Secretary could release a prisoner on licence. Two children believed to be victims of Brady and Hindley - Pauline Reade and Keith Bennett - are still missing.
An 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 Empire Theatre, Leicester Square. The film was "Doctor Zhivago" and our Chaperone on the coach and tour was the young Miss Lake. The enjoyable film run for almost three and quarter hours plus intermissions. I can recall a memory of there being a side trip and a meal whilst in London.
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| Carnaby Street, London 1966 |
23rd May The 6pm news on the telly. The British government has declared a state of emergency a week after the nation's seamen went on strike. The new emergency powers will allow the government to cap food prices, allow the Royal Navy to take control and clear the ports and lift restrictions on driving vehicles to allow for the free movement of goods.
Ports and docks around the country are becoming increasingly congested as ships are brought to a standstill by protesting members of the National Union of Seamen. The NUS is demanding their 56-hour week is reduced to 40 hours. The Minister of Labour Ray Gunter has been negotiating with the NUS to bring the strike to an end. He acknowledged conditions and regulations governing the seamen needed to be modernised, but said the pay demands could not be satisfied because the resulting amount of overtime pay would go counter to the prices and incomes policy that aims to reduce inflation by limiting wage rises to 3.5%.
The Prime Minister Harold Wilson told the House of Commons the state of emergency was being imposed. Mr Wilson said these powers would not be used until deemed absolutely necessary. Whatever its outcome, the government has ordered an inquiry into the terms and conditions of the seamen.
Shipowners estimate exports worth £40m will be delayed by the strike which has seen "dead" ships blocking berths in London, Liverpool, Southampton and other major ports. Passenger ships are also severely affected. Most of Cunard's fleet is out of action. Today, 900 crew members of the Queen Mary stopped work when the ship ended her voyage from New York at Southampton. The Queen Mary was carrying 850 passengers including the evangelist Dr Billy Graham about to begin a tour of Britain.
31st May The 6pm news on the telly. A 17-year-old Buddhist girl has committed suicide by setting herself alight in a street in the city of Hue. She was protesting against the South Vietnam regime.
It is the fifth such death in three days. A girl of 19 set herself alight two days ago outside a pagoda in Saigon and a monk did the same in the mountain town of Dalat. In June 1963 Buddhist monk Quang Duc became famous when he was photographed setting himself alight in a suicide protest against the South Vietnamese government then under Ngo Dinh Diem.
The Buddhists are demanding the resignation of the military government led by Prime Minister Air Vice Marshal Ky and Head of State General Nguyen van Thieu. But their spiritual leader, Thich Thien Minh, has appealed to his fellow Buddhists to stop this kind of self-sacrifice.
Today he met with a six-member government delegation in Hue to discuss the possibility of enlarging the government to include more civilians. The city has been under the control of Buddhist students for the past two months. They agreed to remove roadblocks and close the radio station after an order from Lt-Col Phan van Khoa, the pro-government mayor of Hue.
Yesterday, US President Lyndon Johnson condemned the recent Buddhist suicides saying these "acts of desperation" hampered progress towards a more democratic government. During his Memorial Day speech in the National Cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, he said such action obscured the sacrifice of many thousands of Vietnamese in their struggle for independence. He also pledged America's continued military support in the war against the communists in the north.
A NEW RADIO WANTED
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| Russian radio, best signal reception for pop pirate music sound quality |
2nd June The 6pm news on the telly. The United States has landed its first spacecraft on the Moon. Scientists were surprised and delighted that Surveyor 1 - America's first attempt at a "soft" landing - succeeded. They had expected it to take at least four tries. The Soviet Union was the first to achieve the feat four months ago. It is believed to have sent four failed missions before landing the Luna 9 probe successfully.
The Surveyor 1 craft landed at 0617 GMT in the Ocean of Storms, about 590 miles (950 km) from where Luna 9 came down. Just over half an hour later, it began transmitting a series of astonishing photographs of the Moon's surface.
The American President, Lyndon B Johnson, used the occasion to emphasise the openness of America's space programme. In a comment directed at the Soviet Union, which earlier this year delayed the release of photographs from Luna 9, he said Surveyor's "remarkable photographs" would be made available as soon as possible. In fact, national television networks in America broadcast the first pictures taken by the 10ft (3m) high triangular-shaped spacecraft as they came in.
Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California began counting down the spacecraft's descent from an altitude of about 60 miles (95 km) from the Moon's surface, when Surveyor was travelling at about 6,100 mph (9,800 km/h). The altitude marking radar started the powerful main braking rocket. This burned out in about 40 seconds, about 25 miles (40 km) above the Moon's surface. The rocket's speed had been reduced to 250 mph (400 km/h). By the time Surveyor was 13 feet (four metres) from its target it had been slowed to about eight mph (13 km/h).
"It settled on the surface in a fairly soft fashion, just a few degrees off the horizontal," said one of the scientists. The first pictures showed a number of objects which appeared to be rocks about an inch (2.5cm) across, and pebbles strewn about the lunar surface. Dr Leonard Jaffe, chief Surveyor project scientist, discounted previous theories about deep layers of soft dust, pointing at photographs taken after touchdown of the Surveyor's pad on one of the spacecraft's tripod legs. Scientists believe that the success of the Surveyor 1 mission has put the lunar landing program about a year ahead of schedule.
1966 Summer Term Upbury Manor School 4th Year Netball Team
(Click on picture for full size view)
back row L to R Carolyn Sharplin, Georgina Hulme, (Susan Lane?)
front row L to R Linda Brister, Jennifer Tottman, Mrs Chamberlain, Brenda Poulter, Gillian Fulcher
At present, Susan Lane is only the suggested name of the girl in the picture.
1965-66 Upbury Manor Prefects
photo image courtesy of Leslie Webb
(Click on picture for full size view)
The names so far as known here;
Includes Headmaster Mr J. McVie, Miss Gibbs (Deputy Head)
In the back row of boys, 6th left (Christopher May?), 2nd right Leslie Webb
In the middle row of girls, 3rd left Mary Giles
In the front row seated, 7th right Peter McLean (Head Boy)
3rd June The Musicians Union successfully closes television shows that feature miming. They also prevent taping for pirate radio stations.
6th June The 6pm news on the telly. James Meredith, the first black man to brave the colour bar at the University of Mississippi, has been shot and wounded after entering Mississippi on a civil rights march. Police have arrested a 41-year-old white man named Aubrey James Norvell from Memphis on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.
The 32-year-old civil rights activist began his solo 220-mile March against Fear yesterday in Memphis and was heading for Jackson to show his fellow black citizens how to stand up to white authority and also to encourage them to register to vote. At Hernando, Mississippi - 30 miles from his starting point - he saw an armed man aim at him and dived to the ground, but he was shot three times. Bleeding from the head, shoulder and leg he shouted: "Oh my God." FBI agents and reporters who were following the march witnessed the ambush. An ambulance took him to hospital where doctors later said his wounds were not serious.
In 1961 Mr Meredith became an icon for the civil rights movement when he applied to the University of Mississippi and was rejected on racial grounds. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) then brought a suit in a federal court which granted him the right to enrol. When he arrived to do so he was turned away by the university authorities and by the governor of Mississippi.
A court injunction for contempt removed this barrier but a white mob stopped him entering the university. After a riot in which two people were killed and 375 were wounded, President Kennedy sent 3,000 troops to restore order and allow Mr Meredith to register as a student. He graduated in 1963 and recently published his experiences in a book called Three Years in Mississippi.
20th June Pop pirate Radio City, Shivering Sands, Thames Estuary: After negotiations between Reg Calvert (Radio City) and Major Oliver Smedley (Project Atlanta) break down, Smedley and a boarding party seizes the pirate radio station and shuts it down.
21st June At Saffron Walden, Essex: Reg Calvert goes to Major Oliver Smedley's home for a confrontation over the seizure of Radio City. Smedley shoots and kills him with a shotgun.
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Day out, the lake, Kew Botanical Gardens,
with my elder brother a 5th form pupil
of the Gillingham Technical high school
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| After visiting the tropical glasshouse, cooling off at the lakeside |
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| At the Pagoda entrance, Kew Gardens, listening to radio Caroline |
23rd June At Parliament House of Commons, London: Anthony Wedgewood Benn introduces legislation to eliminate pirate radio stations.
Embarrassing moments while at Upbury Manor school. Imagine one of those times during the school morning assembly, the prayers and hymn singing is over, when members of staff, in turn, stand up front on the stage to make routine announcements of particular events or news that need to be addressed directly to the pupils. Usually it's not of interest and one can tune it out with the distraction of entering into a daydream letting your attention wander for a minute. It often happened, but this time though, I missed a relevant announcement and instruction barked out by Mr Rye. All a sudden, I became aware the assembly appeared to be in the process of dispersing. I immediately followed suit, before I realised that something was not quite as expected. By that time, it was too late to turn back, I was caught, helpless in embarrassment, amongst the mass flow of girls leaving the hall. The boys were staying put, waiting for Mr Rye to continue his speech after all the girls had left the hall. I then sat myself down at one of the dining tables, near the main entrance foyer. My excuse to save face, was that I couldn't breathe and felt sick when in the assembly hall. That sometimes happened with children, they end up fainting, then fall to the floor during assembly. You would then see them being carried out of the hall to the sick room until they recovered.
My parents never even gave me any advance warning of what follows. Every boy and girl in their second school year and age 13, were due an NHS medical examination. In this case for my age group, the mass event at Upbury Manor took place around late summer term time 1966. During a set day and time schedule, all of the 2nd year class groups were instructed to divide. Boys and girls in turn were lined up into separate orderly queues to enter either the school nurse's room or the sick room, boys in one room and girls in another. They all were given a BCG inoculation into their left upper arm. The nit nurse was also in attendance, then finally there was a thorough physical examination, as I recall during the examination, the doctor or a nurse, recorded our measurements of height, weight etc. and at one point we were (only the boys) asked to pull our trousers and underpants down, then you got your tackle felt and inspected and then you were instructed to cough. I've no idea what the girls were asked to do (as of their physical examination). It was all too much to speak about with a girl at that bashful stage of my life, my voice hadn't broken and I was yet to grow pubes and body hair.
Throughout that day, lurid tales and exaggerations passed around in the playground later, as some of the boys were boasting of having an erection when the nurse performed the drop and cough exam. Balderdash, they were mostly just as sexless as I. It was a year later when I was first visited by those uncontrollable feelings and erections at the most awkward moments in and out of school.
3rd July The 6pm news on the telly. At least 31 people have been arrested in London after their protest against the Vietnam War turned violent. Police moved in after scuffles broke out at the demonstration outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. The crowd of 4,000 became agitated after the general secretary of the Communist Party, John Gollan, urged them to disperse. A police motorbike patrolman was knocked over and a lit match was thrown into the petrol that leaked from the machine.
A force of 200 police officers had cordoned off Grosvenor Square by the time the protesters had marched there from Trafalgar Square. The demonstrators were chanting "hands off Vietnam" and other slogans as they waited for a five-strong delegation to hand over a resolution to embassy officials. They were calling for an end to US bombings and the withdrawal of US ground troops from Vietnam. The Americans have recently carried out air attacks in North Vietnam including on the capital Hanoi and Haiphong - another major town.
Amongst the demonstrators were 2,000 members of the newly formed Youth for Peace in Vietnam Movement (YPVM). Earlier the YPVM had marched to Downing Street, through the streets of the West End, chanting "Victory to the Vietcong". They joined the rest of the rally - then massing in Trafalgar Square - after they had handed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for the UK to disassociate itself from US policy in Vietnam.
Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart returned from south-east Asia yesterday. Speaking from London Airport he said the British approach to US policy was not one of "blanket approval". China issued a statement today about the American raids on Hanoi and Haiphong. The statement denounced the US for its "barbarous, wanton and criminal act of aggression and war". It also said: "In accordance with the interests and demands of the Vietnamese people we will at any time take such actions as we deem necessary."
Summer holidays
4th July 1966 This comedy film was released "The Wrong Box" Storyline. A tontine is established for twenty boys in 1818 England - a tontine being a kind of insurance wager in which money is invested by each participant, to grow with interest, with the last survivor to get the substantial payout. We watch the group dwindle until only two elderly brothers are left in 1882. One brother is watched by his nephews who will keep him alive at all costs; the other lives in ill health and poverty as the only support of his perpetually confused grandson. Statues and bodies are switched, in the wrong boxes, until everyone is sure that one (or both) of the brothers has died. Now if they can only make it seem as if the other brother died first, over a hundred thousand pounds will be theirs...
15th July The 6pm news on the telly. A West Indian refused a job at Euston Station will now be employed there after managers overturned a ban on black workers. Two months ago Asquith Xavier, a train guard from Dominica, was refused a transfer from Marylebone Station to Euston because of his colour. The new job would have meant a pay increase of around £10 a week for Mr Xavier who started work for British Railways (BR) as a porter 10 years ago.
He was informed about his rejection and the reason for it in a letter from Euston's local staff committee whose members belong to the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR). BR does not have to abide by staff committees' recommendations on appointments but they are very influential.
However, at a news conference on Friday BR spokesman Leslie Leppington said the colour bar at Euston Station had now been ended and Mr Xavier would be given a job. However, Mr Leppington insisted the ban - rumoured to have been in place for 12 years - had not been a "real" colour bar. He said it had been instigated by the workers out of a desire to protect their jobs and had never been management policy. "If we had wanted to impose a real colour bar we would not have done it this way. "We would have found some excuse to show he was not suitable for the job, wouldn't we?" Mr Leppington said.
Mr Xavier, 44, is currently off work due to ill health and was not at the news conference. But afterwards the secretary of the West Indian Standing Conference, Jeff Crawford, said they would be calling for the government to take action. "We are going to urge the government to conduct a full and independent inquiry into discrimination throughout British Rail - to find out the extent of the problem, the cause and effect and the solution," Mr Crawford said.
Similar bans to that ended at Euston are reported to be in force at other London stations including Camden and Broad Street. But under current law the government's options to curb them are limited. The Race Relations Act was passed last year but contains only measures to combat racial discrimination in public places such as hotels and pubs.
A new British pop musical was filmed this month July 1966 called 'The Ghost Goes Gear'. Great colour scenes of the fashions, dances and some top groups promoting their latest singles record releases captured on film. Here are three of the groups performing in the film.
A song not released on vinyl record, the glamour girl vocal trio, 'The Three Bells' perform 'No-One Home' from the film 'The Ghost Goes Gear'.
18th July The 6pm news on the telly. US police have charged a seaman with the murder of eight student nurses in their hostel in Chicago four days ago. Richard Speck was arrested yesterday in hospital where he had been taken after slashing his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt. He was discovered bleeding in a hotel in Chicago's Skid Row area but was only caught because a doctor discovered a tattoo while cleaning blood from his arm.
Details of the tattoo - the words "Born To Raise Hell" - had been widely circulated by police when they embarked on a US-wide hunt for Mr Speck. His fingerprints were found at the murder scene and his photograph had been picked out by a nurse, Corazon Amurao, who survived the nurse hostel slayings.
Miss Amurao had been tied up in a bedroom with the other nurses after the killer rang the doorbell and brandished a knife to gain entry. She survived by rolling under a bed when he left the room with nurses who were subsequently killed.
The killer apparently lost count of his victims and left without discovering Miss Amurao. The eight dead nurses were either stabbed or strangled. Examinations of the bodies revealed that some of the young women had also been raped or sexually assaulted prior to or after their deaths.
Richard Speck, 25, is known to been in Chicago at least a week. On 10 July he visited the National Maritime Union's recruitment section trying to get passage on a vessel going to New Orleans.
25th July UK Parliament votes an increase in taxation, will raise the cost of a 45rpm record single by 1 1/2 pence to 7s/4 1/2d
July 1966 This film was released "The Sandwich Man" Not much of a storyline but more like a time capsule of London life. A man with a sandwich-board (advert) wanders around swinging London meeting many strange characters, mainly played by prominent British actors and comedians of the 1960s.
30th July The 6pm news on the telly. England have won football's World Cup for the first time since the tournament began in 1930.
A crowd of 93,000 spectators - including the Queen and Prince Phillip - filled London's Wembley Stadium to watch the host nation play West Germany in the final game of the 1966 championships. Another 400 million people around the world watched the keenly fought match on television.
In the final moments of extra time Geoff Hurst powered home his third goal to give England a 4-2 victory and to become the first man ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. After Germany had taken an early lead, Hurst levelled the score for England by half time with a header from a free kick taken by captain Bobby Moore.
England came out with courage and determination after the break and glimpsed glory thirteen minutes from time as Martin Peters took their second goal. But a free kick to Germany 15 seconds from full time gave Wolfgang Weber a close-range shot into Gordon Banks' goal and took the score to 2-2.
In the crucial minutes before the decisive half hour of extra time England manager Alf Ramsey was heard to rally his team, saying: "All right. You let it slip. Now start again."
A dubious goal by Hurst - glanced off the line by Weber and only given after consultation between the Swiss referee and Soviet linesman - put England ahead in the last 15 minutes, before the striker's third goal put the game out of Germany's reach.
Bobby Moore went up to the royal box to collect the solid gold Jules Rimet trophy from Queen Elizabeth. In the largest World Cup ever - numbering 70 countries - England were among the favourites and got as far as the semi-final, against newcomers Portugal, before conceding a goal.
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This Summer lolly
ice cream treats
and the prices
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9th August 1966 Margate,
Upbury girl, Janet Forwood
digging herself right in it
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13th August The 6pm news on the telly. China has announced plans for a "new leap forward" after the first meeting in four years of the Communist Party's Central Committee. The blueprint unveiled by the committee shows Peking's determination to spread the words of leader Mao Zedong and purge all those "who have followed the path of capitalism".
According to news broadcast on Radio Peking, the committee wholeheartedly endorsed Chairman Mao's purge and "rectification" programme described as the "great proletarian cultural revolution". The radio report said the committee had strongly reaffirmed the nation's "hard line" at home and abroad. It also called on people for renewed efforts to fulfil economic goals.
Chairman Mao attempted to stimulate agricultural and industrial production during the first Great Leap Forward in 1958. By reorganising small collectives into great communes he hoped to release workers for industry with the aim of driving up steel production. But the plan backfired - grain output declined leading to the country's biggest famine while industry began producing masses of unwanted, shoddy goods.
Today's report from the Central Committee confirms that conditions now exist for a "new leap forward" - four good successive harvests, progress in nuclear technology and the "invigorating revolutionary atmosphere" prevailing in the country". According to Chinese News Agency reports, Chairman Mao received a tumultuous reception three days ago when he visited supporters in Peking and called on them to carry the great proletarian cultural revolution through to the end. Editorials in the People's Daily and Red Flag newspapers subsequently called on the nation's revolutionary masses to expose the "bourgeois rightists" who were marching "on the capitalist road".
The recent dismissal of Pen Cheng, the Mayor of Peking, who ranked sixth in the party's Politburo, can now been seen as a warning to leaders of equally high rank, such as, Premier Chou En-lai, who has been associated in the past with more moderate policies. The Central Party says anti-socialist right-wingers should receive "severe punishment" - but they should also be given a chance to repent and begin a new life. It suggests any errant party leaders should overcome their fear of becoming the objects of struggle by engaging in sincere self-criticism.
Thirty-five million copies of "The Selected Works of Mao Zedong" are to be printed within the next 18 months so his thoughts can be relayed to the masses said to be eagerly waiting to study and apply Mao's work.
19th August 1966 This comedy film was released "Carry on Screaming!" Storyline. The fiendish Dr Watt has an evil scheme going. He's using Oddbod, a Frankenstein monster inspired creation of his, that is roaming the woods each night and kidnapping beautiful young ladies it finds. Bringing them back to Dr Watt's laboratory, they are then to be turned into mannequins for sale and supply to local clothing stores. Fortunately for Dr Watt, Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung and Detective Constable Slobotham are on the case, and they haven't a clue! An early lead comes to nothing with the ghastly drowning while at work of lavatory attendant Dan Dann. Bung does seem to be having success with the sultry vamp Valeria Watt and her very obvious charms, but completely fails to realize her sinister country house holds the key to the unimaginable horrors going on.
22nd August The 6pm news on the telly. Britain's largest manufacturing company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) is cutting 1,000 staff at its nylon-fibre producing factories. Six hundred jobs will go at Doncaster, 200 at Gloucester and 250 at Pontypool in Monmouthshire. About half the staff will be given notice on Friday - the other half will be told a week later.
The company has blamed the government's tough economic measures for a fall in demand for nylon. Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced a pay and price freeze last month in an attempt to control runaway inflation. A statement issued by ICI said: "Economic conditions are unlikely to improve for some time and further, the tax changes and the various deflationary measures are beginning to be felt and will subject industry and commerce to a period of considerable financial stringency."
The redundancies come as a surprise after the company said last year it wanted to take on 2,200 extra staff to cope with an expected growth in demand for nylon. It means many of the staff being laid off will not qualify for severance pay - but they will be given a week's wages - about £15 to £18 for someone who has been employed six months.
The union representing nylon workers, the Transport and General Workers, says it has not been consulted about the reductions. Ron Mathias, South Wales regional organiser, said: "It is the old story of areas like South Wales, the North-East and Scotland being hit first of all by a government measure. "Already there is a scarcity of skilled men and if, as usually happens, some of the workers move away to the Midlands it could put us in a worse position," he said.
ICI still makes more nylon than all the other British producers put together - but it is facing growing competition from Courtaulds, British Enkalon and Chemstrand. In addition, there are new man-made fibres coming onto the market with a wide range of uses from clothing to industry.
Late August, on a hot Summer day out visiting our family relatives living at Minster, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. The small dog, in the picture, was sick on the patio later in the afternoon through the heat and running around & jumping up a lot in excitement of the days visitations. This was the last day out for me before the new school year Autumn term, which begins in just a little over a week.
8th September Back to school for my third year at Upbury.
- Mr Hedges; our Form group teacher; English
- Mr Fisk; Religious Education
- Mrs Marshall; History
- Mrs McDonald; Geography
- Mr Thompson; Mathematics
- Miss Fenton; Science, Biology
- Miss Lake and Mrs Garth; French
- Mr Elsegood; Technical Drawing
- Mr Brown; Art
- Mr Coulson; Woodwork
- Mr Twyman; Metalwork
- Mr McDouall; Physical Education
- Mr Hedges and Mr McDouall; Sports
- Miss Winkley; Music
After hearing that some of the boys and girls had got themselves part time jobs this summer, and were getting good pay as well as receiving pocket money from parents, I thought I want one too. You had to firstly obtain a work permit from the Kent County education department at Maidstone, to enable schoolchildren age 13 year and over, a licence to work part time. I think the permitted working times were subject to certain restrictions, though what they were I cannot remember. The girls were usually taking the jobs offered as Saturday girls and shop assistants in the high street retail stores and other shops. The boys went for the early morning newspaper delivery rounds, shelf stacking and many other odd jobs easily available.
My first paper round job was at the Spot newsagents in Canterbury street, near the road junction with the A2 Watling street. Starting pay was 15 shillings a week and was given 2s/6d pocket money from dad. I got on with job and in a matter of months the pay was increased to 17s/6d a week, as more streets were added to my round and the thick Sunday papers had new colour magazines included with them. So then, including the pocket money, I was receiving £1 weekly. My mum helped to open a Post Office savings account to keep my earnings therein. I felt rich, having some money of my own to spend if I wanted to.
21st September Plans to outlaw Pop pirate radio sales of advertised products.
22nd September Another salvo fired at the Pop pirates.
29th September 1966 This comedy film was released "After the Fox" Storyline. Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), is one of the greatest criminals of the world and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends and plans to retrieve the "gold of Cairo", a large shipment of gold that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devises the perfect plan- posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can't even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the "gold of Cairo"...
The film intro contained the song "After the Fox" which was also released on 45rpm single record.
6th October At Knock John Tower, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Radio Essex becomes BBMS
TOPO GIGIO
Maria Perego and her husband Federico, created "Topo Gigio", which became a 1960's highly popular Italian puppet mouse (albeit twee) character. It was made of a special moulded and sculpted, soft plastic sponge. Puppets, built with this new type of material, would have a soft, smooth face and body, because the material was ductile and malleable they could be operated by hiding small mechanisms that would permit the movement of the mouth, eyes, fingers, therefore creating the illusion the puppets were almost real.
Topo Gigio at the London Palladium in 1965
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| Maria Perego |
A Saturday afternoon 14 week TV series, first broadcast in Autumn 1966 was "Topo Gigio Comes to Town". Each show hosted by the actor Joe Melia, ran for 25 minutes and also included a 7 minute short film and animated cartoon episode of "The New 3 Stooges".
My view of life around me was expanding, possibilities to have this and that were all moving closer. After that school trip to London's Soho with Miss Lake at the helm, my eyes had been opened. Take a listen to a record that was released earlier in the year, the Kinks "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion". That's exactly how London's fashion world was going and spreading outwards to the rest of the UK at that time.
Plastic macs, Hipster trousers, paisley shirts, kipper ties, Chelsea boots and all the rest of it. We wanted all of that, we could not help ourselves, it was the in gear. Meanwhile, whilst waiting for these fashions to appear in small town high streets, most people improvised and altered their existing clothing in an attempt to copy the look of the latest in-thing craze.
It was during this fresh school year that I had begun to notice some peculiar fashion fads and crazes being adopted within the school life of some pupils. The girls were the most susceptible, taking to these new practices and did not hold back in experimenting in displaying themselves and with using the latest lipsticks, hair colouring and make up products, available from the cosmetic counter's of the Boots store and Timothy Whites.
Film clip 1966 remembered, girls carrying their baskets to school
DIPPITY-DO Setting Gel
Latest product for the mod girls.
Dippity-do was a hair gel, usually applied before rolling hair in curlers. Sometimes it was used to smooth down bangs or fly-away hairs. Its translucent pink appearance, unique smell and gelatinous consistency conjure up memories of childhood in the 50s and 60s. Regular Dippity-do was translucent pink; Extra Holding Dippity-do was translucent green and was described as “for body...easier setting.” Introduced in 1965, Dippity-do hair gel was initially marketed towards women, as a setting lotion for rollers. In the days before hand-held hair dryers, setting hair on curlers was commonplace. Well into the 1970's, women relied on time-consuming roller-sets for their 'dos...
The Regular Dippity-do label reads: “After Shampooing – apply to damp hair – comb through, set. Or apply to each strand as you roll. Between Shampoo Styling – apply each stand of dry hair as you roll; or use to smooth wild hairs, flatten bangs, etc. The Gillette Company, Personal Care Division, Chicago, Ill 60654 Made in U.S.A.”
The Extra Holding label reads: “This fresh, cool gel makes winding faster, easier. Hair feels clean…has body. Sets last longer. After Shampooing – apply to damp hair –comb through, then set. Or – apply to each strand as you roll. Remember – a little Dippity-do gives you a lot of hold. Between Shampoos – apply directly to dry hair, strand by strand as you roll. For Styling – use a tiny bit on fingertips to smooth “wild” hairs, flatten bangs, hold flip-ups, etc. The Gillette Company, Toni Division, Chicago, Illinois 60654 Made in the U.S.A.”
And for the mod boys..
VITALIS Hair Tonic
VITALIS Hair Tonic
Touted as a greaseless alternative to pomades and other grooming products, Bottles of Vitalis Hair Tonic was the new go-to hair product for up-scale gents who wanted shiny hair without looking like some greasy rocker. Vitalis is able to provide the shine without the grease because of “the greaseless grooming discovery V7.”The high alcohol content leaves your hair with a pleasant antiseptic smell to it. Keep your head away from any open flames as the alcohol is a fire hazard.
To use, simply pour a small amount of the golden liquid into your hand and massage into your scalp and hair for 60 seconds. Comb. Ta-da! You’re looking cool.
Vitalis signed up show business stars and famous sportsman to promote the product, for example found in Britain there were these during this era:
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| 1965 Billy Walker |
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| 1964 Fenella Fielding |
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| 1964 Product only |
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| 1966 Bobby Moore |
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| 1965-66 Freddie Trueman |
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| 1966 Jim Clark |
14th October 1966 This film was released "Fantastic Voyage" Storyline. Scientist Jan Benes, who knows the secret to keeping soldiers shrunken for an indefinite period, escapes from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of CIA agent Grant. While being transferred, their motorcade is attacked in an attempted assassination. Benes strikes his head, causing a blood clot to form in his brain. Grant is ordered to accompany a group of scientists on a special mission and in order to save Benes, a submarine with the crew of scientists is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream. The crew has one hour to get in Benes's brain, remove the clot and get out. However, problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream.
20th October It has been rumoured in the newspapers, that the government will close pirate radio stations in six months
English literature class episode.
Mr Hedges, teaching English literature. Our class were studying prose and poetry from some school syllabus text books. Who could ever recall what any of it was? He then set the homework, which was to compose a piece of our own written work. The best of the composition's would later be chosen to have read out in front of the class. I'm not sure how much time was allowed for this work, it may have been a day or two or over a weekend?
The task was not as easy as I had first imagined, and there were plenty of trivial distractions whilst at home to derail my thoughts of writing anything. Everyone of the class though, may have faced similar. In my case, I chose to look for some inspiration for my composition. By chance and a measure of curiosity, I picked up a school magazine booklet titled "Anvil" that had been left abandoned at the top of our shared bedroom cupboard during the summer holiday. It belonged to my elder brother Anthony, who had left school at this summer term ending of his 5th year at the Gillingham Technical school, Pump lane. I began to read through Anvil, just casually passing the time until I found something astonishing, a poem in it that I had been looking for, that I reasoned exactly matched the homework task set by Hedges. What luck! This was too tempting to let pass by and it was then I copy wrote it down into my school English literature exercise book as my homework. That was easy, and so when English class resumed, all our homework was collected by Hedges to be marked later for another day.
That day then arrived, and we the English literature pupils were awaiting most anxiously, anticipating the assessment and judgement of their written compositions. Three of us were named to have written the best of the bunch by far, to read out our work during the class session. Consecutively, two girls read out their homework, which were well received by the class and Mr Hedges. Then came my turn, by then my heartbeat rate had jumped, I was really feeling the mounting pressure of guilt and a cold sweat coming on.
Standing at front facing the class, and Mr Hedges listening while sitting in his chair behind his desk, I began reading my work of plagiarism. It was an 'Ode', all I can remember of it now is just one line. "Our boys face is one big spot". What the title was and the name of the author? I just don't know. That issue Anvil magazine was binned, not that long after.
When I'd finished my reading and before I moved to sit back down at my desk, Mr Hedges thanked me, but with a knowing look asked if it was all my own work? A long pause, a hesitant "yes sir" I answered red-faced. With that said, I filed passed the rows of desks, returning to my seat. The rest of the lesson, I was quiet, lost in thought about what had just taken place. Hedges obviously knew my work I had read out was of a writing standard beyond my then current ability. Stupid of me to think he'd be fooled. He had caught me off guard when he voiced his doubt about the work, but I maintained it was I that wrote the piece as original. He was right not to believe I wrote it. I should have admitted it then and there, the shame in public would have lasted a short term, but the private guilt of a cheat is a life sentence served on yourself.
21st October The news on the telly. More than 130 people, mainly children, have been buried by a coal slag heap at Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. At least 85 children have been confirmed dead after the tip engulfed a school, some terraced cottages and a farm in just five minutes. Many more are missing or injured.
At first the rescue was held up by fog, the same fog that delayed 50 children travelling to the Aberfan school by bus from the neighbouring village of Mount Pleasant. About 2,000 rescuers are now working under floodlights in the hunt for survivors, despite the danger caused by the still shifting slag tip.
The tragedy happened at 0915, just as the pupils of Pantglas Junior School were about to embark on their first lessons. Some children were still in the playground, others were filing in to classrooms ready for register. Dilys Pope, aged 10, said, "We heard a noise and we saw stuff flying about. The desks were falling over and the children were shouting and screaming."
In one classroom 14 bodies were found and outside mothers struggled deep in mud, clamouring to find their children. Many were led away weeping. The deputy head teacher, Mr Beynon, was found dead. "He was clutching five children in his arms as if he had been protecting them," said a rescuer.
Three people died in the farm hit by the disaster and a pregnant woman whose son was killed in the tragedy went into labour when she heard the tragic news. As people arrived at the scene, they could hear the cries of those still trapped on the fringe of the coal waste.
One of the biggest problems facing the rescue operation was getting vehicles to the site which is located in a cul-de-sac. Many local miners shovelled to get the debris clear and worked non-stop for 10 hours, including one whose young daughter was thought to be dead.
George Thomas, Minister of State for Wales, said: "A generation of children has been wiped out. There is an abundance of tips of this sort in Wales, and we shall be looking for the possibilities that it could happen again."
22nd October The 6pm news on the telly. One of Britain's most notorious double-agents, George Blake, has escaped from prison in London after a daring break-out believed to have been masterminded by the Soviet Union. Wardens at Wormwood Scrubs prison last saw him at the evening roll call, at 1730 GMT. An hour-and-a-half later, his cell was discovered to be empty. After a short search, the escape route was found. Bars in a window at the end of a landing had been sawn away and a rope ladder hung down inside the prison wall.
Blake is believed to have taken advantage of the free association allowed between prisoners on Saturday afternoons in the long-term wing, where he had his cell. He had served a little over five years of his 42-year sentence. He was not under high security at the prison, and the privileges he enjoyed have been heavily criticised in the wake of his escape. He was removed from the list of likely escapers after only a year, and wardens were said to have been lulled into a false sense of security by his seeming acceptance of his exceptionally long sentence.
Blake was charged under the Official Secrets Act in May 1961. During his trial, part of which was held in camera, he pleaded guilty to five counts of passing on secrets to the Soviet authorities. He was sentenced to the maximum of 14 years on each of three counts, to run consecutively - a total of 42 years. It was the longest jail term any British court had handed down to an individual to date.
He spent nine years as a double-agent after being converted to Communism while a prisoner of war in Seoul, during the Korean War. During this time, he is believed to have betrayed the names of more than 40 British agents to the Soviets. Many disappeared, and were thought to have been executed. His actions devastated British secret service operations in the Middle East. He is believed to have passed on the names of almost every British agent working in Cairo, Damascus and Beirut.
Lord Parker, Lord Chief Justice, the judge sentencing him, likened his actions to treason, and said, "It is one of the worst that can be envisaged other than in a time of war."
At school, the time had arrived for initiation into the world of cigarette smoking. It starts when one day, a boy in class or the playground unexpectedly pulls out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket to show off. It's not likely a girl would have done that in those days. One or two other boys from the same class would of noticed and gone along with the boy to find a sheltered spot in the sports field to have a closer look. The boy would then light one up and start smoking it. The others looking on at the boy, each being offered a cigarette to try. It's a game of chicken, a dare to see if any of them backs down. It could be seen as the seeds to the formation of naughty little school boy gangs, or simply a desperately lonely kid seeking attention, hoping to find mates?
In my class, a boy (his name now forgotten) showed us his packet of fags that he had hidden in his desk. The brand being Players No 10 (in the Red/White colour packet). It was his dare to see if anyone could go out and buy cigarettes and bring them into the classroom when the form teacher Mr Hedges was present. Me being me, I immediately took up the challenge. Then I later thought more about where and how I was going to buy them? I couldn't borrow a packet from dad, because he only bought tins of hand rolling tobacco to smoke. Ah Bingo! the Spot newsagent has a cigarette vending machine outside the shop, I can get some fags from it when I go for my paper round in the dark early morning, way before school starts.
When I'd finished my round, I stood staring at the vending machine, there were six different brands packs to choose from, in packs of ten for 2s/6d each. Which one to get? I looked and looked trying to decide. There were Kensitas, Guards, Players No 10, Embassy, Players Navy Cut, Players No 6
Crazy reasons for not choosing these..
Pushing my half crown coin into the slot, I heard the money drop into the inner mechanism of the beast. I pulled on the knob of the lower draw to slide it open and out it came presenting the pack of Players No 6 (in the Blue/White colour packet). Taking the packet from the open draw, I then quickly shoved the pack into my Duffle coat pocket, closed the draw, then rode home North, along Canterbury street, on my bike.
At school, after morning registration, my desk was opened to show the boy, the prized pack of cigarettes. I had passed the test of acceptance, though there is always another one soon on the way or some joker's booby trap waiting for you to fall into, as is the experience of growing up.
Each toy was constructed, first by twisting wire around a framework of metal pegs to form a particular core characters shape, a (rabbit, mouse, duck, deer) etc. The completed wire framework is then inserted into a mould and then a latex mixture rubber solution is poured into the mould. When set, the toy is then pulled out of the mould and ready to be painted. Next, the toy is spray painted with a base colour and then experienced artists, hand paint details onto the toys - eyes, feet and other character features etc.
The company also experimented in producing some animated films in the 1960’s for showing in Britain on children's TV shows.
The films consisted of various pop songs of the period with Bendy Toys acting out the theme. One was set in a zoo with a Bendy giraffe, a monkey etc. Another was set in a park with a Bendy rabbit, a dog and so on. They were the regular Bendy Toys products acting out parts rather than American cartoon characters made into Bendy Toys. These early films were animated by the team of Bob Bura and John Hardwick. They were used as fillers on the Blue Peter TV show in the days when Valerie Singleton was one of the presenters. The animators were responsible for such children's TV shows as Camberwick Green and Trumpton and also used Bendy toy Gonks as the basis of a 1966-7 stop-motion animation of the 1962 Bernard Cribbins song 'Right Said Fred'.
1st November The 6pm news on the telly. At least eight people have been killed and several wounded after Viet Cong artillery shelled the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. Altogether about 30 shells were fired into the city centre. The first round came as troops and spectators were getting ready to watch a parade to mark National Day, the third anniversary of the overthrow and assassination of former Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. There was a lull and then a second round of shells exploded as Prime Minister Nguyen Kao Ky was saluting his troops.
There was chaos as crowds tried to find cover on foot or by motor scooter. Many found their way blocked by American and South Vietnamese armoured vehicles coming from the opposite direction. One shell hit the Chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua in the cathedral. And another exploded just outside the cathedral killing an American officer. Five other Americans were wounded and at least two Vietnamese killed when a shell hit the crowded central market.
The Viet Cong were firing from bases at the edge of the jungle some three and half miles away from Saigon and amazed military observers with their accuracy. They also sank an American minesweeper in the Saigon River with a mine later in the day, killing several crew members. So far US armed helicopters and South Vietnamese ground forces have failed to track down any Viet Cong bases.
Yesterday, former US President General Dwight D Eisenhower called for more troops to be sent to Vietnam to bring about a swift end to the conflict. He told the US News and World Report that the war had been "going on too long" and said America should be "putting in the kind of military strength we need to win" as soon as possible.
30th November In London, In a case, the High Court declares pop pirate station Radio Essex to be illegal
Mr Thompson our class Maths teacher, was a tall thinly built man, good teacher, very helpful and got on well with him. One morning in the rain, during my walk to school under the shelter of trees, I'd reached part way along York Avenue when a man riding a motor scooter pulled up and stopped at the kerb just ahead of me. It was Thompson, he rode to school on his old Lambretta, when he could get it started. He gave me a lift, the rest of the way to school. What a great bloke he was!
The school clinic in Balmoral gardens is where I was sent by appointments for dental treatments during 1964 to 1969. Any earlier years than that, I cannot recall. These were the days when at the dental surgery they gassed you into submission in the chair. The long flexible rubber hose with the black surgical face mask attached to its end, covering your nose and mouth. I remember too well the cold feeling of the gas, low audible hissing sound of the flow into my lungs as I breathed whilst speaking a count of numbers until being swallowed into the numb nothingness of unconsciousness. In a strange way, I welcomed these dental diversions away from school because it meant a free morning or afternoon off school and a wobbly walk around the record shops in the high street after being knocked out by the gas. Apart from a few teeth extractions and fillings in the early days, the later work was geared towards teeth straightening, encompassing a jaw X-ray, and mould making to prepare for a brace plate fitting. I did have two front crooked rabbit teeth out of alignment in a slight V shape. This impediment contributed largely to my general shyness. Therefore it would be a rare photo of me smiling with teeth showing. There is just one school photo of me from my 1st year class 1964/1965, showing a full smile and the teeth. That was before I became acutely self-conscious of my appearance. Over the following weeks, the brace felt as if it was an instrument of torture, it became so uncomfortable wearing it and the dentist tightened it more on each visit. For relief, each night, I took it out so I could sleep. This went on for months until I accidentally left the brace in my trouser pocket and come wash day my mum took all the clothing to the local laundrette, Canterbury st near opposite the Westcourt Arms Hotel. All that was left of the brace was a tangle of wires on a misshapen polymer moulded mouth plate. On the next trip to the dental clinic, I had to explain why I had not been wearing the brace. Whatever my explanation being, a new moulded brace was prepared and fitted during my next appointment in the chair. And so my torture then continued and months passed by with not much sign of my front teeth ever being properly aligned in the course of treatment. My two teeth were just too large to move into the limited tooth gap space on my jawline. It could not be, and why couldn't the dentist see this and take my two front teeth out. In the end, I plucked up the courage to ask the dentist to end the treatment, take the brace away and leave me be. My last trip to the clinic was during my 5th form year of 1969. Then after leaving school the summer 1970, thirty years elapsed until I again ventured into a dental surgery. During that long time away, I'd yanked out several of my own teeth that had become loose including one front rabbit tooth.
- My mum, I had at one time seen her smoking a cigarette from a packet of Kensitas... So, NO
- Guards, representing image of 'stiff upper lip regimentation'... So, NO
- Players No 10, don't want the same fags as the boy in class... So, NO
- Embassy, imagine an image of the typecast characters the actor Richard Wattis plays... So, NO
- Players Navy Cut, a filthy thwooshpitt, into a spittoon... So, NO
Players No 6 brand was the new kid on the block, real cool to be seen with. This image concept being advertised on billboard posters and in cinema commercials. In fact there it was, plastered on the large billboard located at the public conveniences opposite the "Spot" the other side of the Watling street/ Canterbury street road junction.
Pushing my half crown coin into the slot, I heard the money drop into the inner mechanism of the beast. I pulled on the knob of the lower draw to slide it open and out it came presenting the pack of Players No 6 (in the Blue/White colour packet). Taking the packet from the open draw, I then quickly shoved the pack into my Duffle coat pocket, closed the draw, then rode home North, along Canterbury street, on my bike.
At school, after morning registration, my desk was opened to show the boy, the prized pack of cigarettes. I had passed the test of acceptance, though there is always another one soon on the way or some joker's booby trap waiting for you to fall into, as is the experience of growing up.
Origins of British Pop promo animation films
"BENDY TOYS"
These were manufactured by a company called Newfeld Ltd at their "Newfoam Works" factory in Ashford, Middlesex. In 1957 and after, they were producing foam rubber toys, mainly for the export toy market.
The company also experimented in producing some animated films in the 1960’s for showing in Britain on children's TV shows.
The films consisted of various pop songs of the period with Bendy Toys acting out the theme. One was set in a zoo with a Bendy giraffe, a monkey etc. Another was set in a park with a Bendy rabbit, a dog and so on. They were the regular Bendy Toys products acting out parts rather than American cartoon characters made into Bendy Toys. These early films were animated by the team of Bob Bura and John Hardwick. They were used as fillers on the Blue Peter TV show in the days when Valerie Singleton was one of the presenters. The animators were responsible for such children's TV shows as Camberwick Green and Trumpton and also used Bendy toy Gonks as the basis of a 1966-7 stop-motion animation of the 1962 Bernard Cribbins song 'Right Said Fred'.
1st November The 6pm news on the telly. At least eight people have been killed and several wounded after Viet Cong artillery shelled the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. Altogether about 30 shells were fired into the city centre. The first round came as troops and spectators were getting ready to watch a parade to mark National Day, the third anniversary of the overthrow and assassination of former Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. There was a lull and then a second round of shells exploded as Prime Minister Nguyen Kao Ky was saluting his troops.
There was chaos as crowds tried to find cover on foot or by motor scooter. Many found their way blocked by American and South Vietnamese armoured vehicles coming from the opposite direction. One shell hit the Chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua in the cathedral. And another exploded just outside the cathedral killing an American officer. Five other Americans were wounded and at least two Vietnamese killed when a shell hit the crowded central market.
The Viet Cong were firing from bases at the edge of the jungle some three and half miles away from Saigon and amazed military observers with their accuracy. They also sank an American minesweeper in the Saigon River with a mine later in the day, killing several crew members. So far US armed helicopters and South Vietnamese ground forces have failed to track down any Viet Cong bases.
Yesterday, former US President General Dwight D Eisenhower called for more troops to be sent to Vietnam to bring about a swift end to the conflict. He told the US News and World Report that the war had been "going on too long" and said America should be "putting in the kind of military strength we need to win" as soon as possible.
30th November In London, In a case, the High Court declares pop pirate station Radio Essex to be illegal
Mr Thompson our class Maths teacher, was a tall thinly built man, good teacher, very helpful and got on well with him. One morning in the rain, during my walk to school under the shelter of trees, I'd reached part way along York Avenue when a man riding a motor scooter pulled up and stopped at the kerb just ahead of me. It was Thompson, he rode to school on his old Lambretta, when he could get it started. He gave me a lift, the rest of the way to school. What a great bloke he was!
The school clinic in Balmoral gardens is where I was sent by appointments for dental treatments during 1964 to 1969. Any earlier years than that, I cannot recall. These were the days when at the dental surgery they gassed you into submission in the chair. The long flexible rubber hose with the black surgical face mask attached to its end, covering your nose and mouth. I remember too well the cold feeling of the gas, low audible hissing sound of the flow into my lungs as I breathed whilst speaking a count of numbers until being swallowed into the numb nothingness of unconsciousness. In a strange way, I welcomed these dental diversions away from school because it meant a free morning or afternoon off school and a wobbly walk around the record shops in the high street after being knocked out by the gas. Apart from a few teeth extractions and fillings in the early days, the later work was geared towards teeth straightening, encompassing a jaw X-ray, and mould making to prepare for a brace plate fitting. I did have two front crooked rabbit teeth out of alignment in a slight V shape. This impediment contributed largely to my general shyness. Therefore it would be a rare photo of me smiling with teeth showing. There is just one school photo of me from my 1st year class 1964/1965, showing a full smile and the teeth. That was before I became acutely self-conscious of my appearance. Over the following weeks, the brace felt as if it was an instrument of torture, it became so uncomfortable wearing it and the dentist tightened it more on each visit. For relief, each night, I took it out so I could sleep. This went on for months until I accidentally left the brace in my trouser pocket and come wash day my mum took all the clothing to the local laundrette, Canterbury st near opposite the Westcourt Arms Hotel. All that was left of the brace was a tangle of wires on a misshapen polymer moulded mouth plate. On the next trip to the dental clinic, I had to explain why I had not been wearing the brace. Whatever my explanation being, a new moulded brace was prepared and fitted during my next appointment in the chair. And so my torture then continued and months passed by with not much sign of my front teeth ever being properly aligned in the course of treatment. My two teeth were just too large to move into the limited tooth gap space on my jawline. It could not be, and why couldn't the dentist see this and take my two front teeth out. In the end, I plucked up the courage to ask the dentist to end the treatment, take the brace away and leave me be. My last trip to the clinic was during my 5th form year of 1969. Then after leaving school the summer 1970, thirty years elapsed until I again ventured into a dental surgery. During that long time away, I'd yanked out several of my own teeth that had become loose including one front rabbit tooth.
20th December 1966 Retail Radio and Television shops now had some demonstrator colour television sets available and the B.B.C. were broadcasting colour trade test films and cards during the day. Published today, the Government "Broadcasting" white paper. An extract from it follows.. "It has always been recognised that the decision to provide colour television on the 625-line definition standard is closely related to the intention to change over the two 405-line services of B.B.C.1 and independent television to 625 lines. The Postmaster General's Television Advisory Committee has been asked to report as soon as possible on the method of changeover to be adopted. It may well be that this will involve duplicating the existing 405-line programmes on 625 lines in UHF."
The main contents of the white paper were a massive blow to an industry expecting the go ahead for colour TV broadcasting of B.B.C.1 and ITV within a year of the B.B.C.2 starting their colour TV service, and no prospect whatsoever of any commercial radio stations being granted a licence to broadcast.
21st December 1966 A comment column in the newspaper
NO COLOUR, NO EXTRA CHANNELS… BUT SURELY THIS IS FULL-STOP TV
Colour TV looks like being stillborn in Britain if the Government sticks by its full-stop television policy outlined in yesterday’s White Paper.
TV stands still — no extra channels, no colour except on B.B.C.2 a year from now. After two years of waiting, gambling millions on the colour TV market, the Industry has been handed the biggest dud squib it ever got from any Government. There is not even the incentive of extra programme hours for the TV show-makers, who stand by in nail-biting frustration while the world export market slips away.
Decisions like the one to deny colour TV to the ITV channel seem to have been made in the face of all responsible advice, both from the equipment manufacturers and the programme planners. And indeed, some of the top men behind the TV scenes claim that the Postmaster-General was merely getting his well-digested White Paper out of the way before studying fresh proposals to give colour the chance of a fair start.
This very week a new plan to give colour to ITV will be considered by the Post Office — making the White Paper look slightly ridiculous. It is, in fact, the plan I have been advocating here for months — to use the extra aerials which already exist on B.B.C.2 masts in the big population areas for the future ITV channel and so give millions colour on both B.B.C.2 and ITV2 by 1968.
Though the Postmaster-General gave no hint of this yesterday as he stonily put the ban on ITV colour for three years, both the industry and the ITV companies believe that permission to get on with ITV colour stations will come in a matter of weeks. For a fortune is already either spent or in the pipeline for ITV colour programmes. More than £1 million has already been committed to colour studio development and colour mobile camera units by such companies as A.B.C. and A.T.V., and Granada has placed heavy orders for colour gear.
But the colour decision was only one shock for an uncertain industry which sees its markets slipping as the European countries move much more decisively towards colour and more channels. This puny pup of a White Paper, a mere eight pages long after two years of investigation, makes only two concessions to expansion — and neither of those is liable to cheer up the nation very much.
The idea the B.B.C. should run an all-day light music programme is likely to get a rough ride from the Musicians’ Union.
And the plan to give nine towns experimental radio run by the B.B.C. and local authorities reeks of boredom.
Anyone who has ever heard the only legal local radio station — in Douglas, I.O.M.— catches on at once to the fact that a good deal of its success and appeal are strictly because it is commercial. It isn’t the records which tempt the listeners from Radio Caroline — it is the small ads about lost dogs and bicycles for sale, the swop-shop programmes which help Mrs. Williams lose an unwanted sewing machine and gain an ironing board. There is also the vital fact that radio stations are not run on charity. Who is going to foot the bill for Radio Heckmondwyke — the Co-op?
But the main thing about this depressive White Paper is the lack of reasons for delaying the long-overdue advance of the TV service. There may be a credit squeeze — but what is more than £6 million of public money doing in the ITA’s bank if it is not specifically for re-investment in the television service? This nest-egg is enough to give the massive ITV public in the North, the Midlands and London colour programmes within a few months of the start of colour on B.B.C.2.
I do not feel disgusted merely because I shall be denied the sight of Charlie Drake in colour — it is because the future growth of broadcasting has its own importance in the state of the nation. A healthy colour TV Industry, like America’s, is vital if we are to export our equipment for hard cash and our programmes for both hard cash and prestige.
Within months, colour programmes will be flying over the satellites from Tokyo to Sydney, to San Francisco to London. But their only outlet in Britain will be for the selected viewers of B.B.C.2. That and a £10 licence fee will keep the audience small — and a small audience means a small industry. I hope the television advisory committee can persuade the Postmaster-General to think again. This is no time to say goodbye to the millions and the effort which have already gone into colour TV.
25th December At Knock John Tower, Thames Estuary: Pop pirate Radio BBMS goes off the air
Christmas Gifts
Michael Fairservice and Iain MacVicar were the two boys that were always telling me about angling and tall tales of the fish they had caught on their weekend days out freshwater fishing in the lakes at Higham, Cooling and other places on the Isle of Grain. Their enthusiasm rubbed off on me to the extent that I persuaded my mum to buy me a Christmas present of a Junior fishing rod and kit, floats, lead shot weights etc. She had purchased the lot via one of the glossy mail order catalogues (John England), and weekly payments were required for 20 or 36 weeks. It was about the time that Jack Hargreaves was appearing quite often on Southern TV programs about country life and crafts. The TV series was called "Out of town". The theme tune was sung by Max Bygraves. The song lyric began something like this, if my memory is right?
Michael Fairservice and Iain MacVicar were the two boys that were always telling me about angling and tall tales of the fish they had caught on their weekend days out freshwater fishing in the lakes at Higham, Cooling and other places on the Isle of Grain. Their enthusiasm rubbed off on me to the extent that I persuaded my mum to buy me a Christmas present of a Junior fishing rod and kit, floats, lead shot weights etc. She had purchased the lot via one of the glossy mail order catalogues (John England), and weekly payments were required for 20 or 36 weeks. It was about the time that Jack Hargreaves was appearing quite often on Southern TV programs about country life and crafts. The TV series was called "Out of town". The theme tune was sung by Max Bygraves. The song lyric began something like this, if my memory is right?
'Say what you will,
The countryside is still
The only place where I could settle down
Troubles there are so much rarer
Out of town'
Although Jack was very interesting and informative to listen to, the more I found out about angling, my interest waned because it wasn't as straightforward as I had imagined. One needed a rod licence, the correct rod, reel and grade line, bait, groundbait, hooks, float, flies, nets. Too much stuff to carry around without convenient public transport. To top it all, you couldn't fish anywhere you chose without permission from the land owner and only at certain times of the year (In season). Well I never did go fishing or ever listen to Fairservice and MacVicar again. My mum was quietly disappointed and sad about the waste of much needed money that had been spent on buying the kit. The rod and reel was eventually sold off after a small add was placed in the window space of the local newsagents shop.
THE THING - Coin bank box from The ADDAMS FAMILY
"The Thing" coin bank. It was a battery operated novelty toy modelled on the disembodied hand ("Thing") from the 1960's US TV show "The Addams Family". The small black shiny plastic box had a coin holder slot on top for a sixpence or other similar sized coin. Place a coin in the slot, the box starts to wobble and move slightly like there's something alive in it, then the hinged lid slowly opens, whereupon a pale Green hand cautiously emerges up and grabs the coin and then whips away the coin into the box, disappearing out of sight back into its box as the lid snaps shut.
The Addams Family TV show main theme intro and closing credits
First aired in Britain on parts of the ITV network from Saturday January 9th 1965, but London ITV waited until Friday 1st October 1965 to first run this show.
30th December 1966 This film was released "One Million Years B.C." Storyline. Caveman Tumak is banished from his savage tribe. He finds a brief home among a group of gentle seacoast dwelling cave people until he is banished from them as well. Missing him, one of their women, Loana leaves with him, deciding to face the harsh prehistoric world with its monsters and volcanoes as a couple. All things dangerous and prehistoric catered for, with Ray Harryhausen's special effects creatures.
Two photos of New year eve 1966 with Martin Sandmann and his Minic motorway set. My new little transistor radio (centre of photograph) tuned to pirate radio.
