Tag Archives: 60s
A Smashing Time: Murray Melvin on busting taboos in the 60s
This is one of the most read pieces on my website but the link had stopped working so I’ve re-posted it here. The interview is still available to listen on the iplayer One to One link just below. For the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Media, Radio, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, A Taste of Honey, Alfie, cinema, culture, Damn The Defiant, Dirk Bogarde, elitism, FTW, HMS Defiant, Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell, kitchen sink drama, michael caine, Murray Melvin, oliver reed, Rita Tushingham, The Devils, Theatre Royal Stratford
4 Comments
The curious idea of museums
This article originally appeared in The Big Issue magazine. Journalism worth paying for. What are museums for these days? Are collections passé? Northampton City Council’s decision to sell off an ancient Egyptian statue to fund a museum extension, after striking … Continue reading
How RBS bankers wiped The Life of Brian rushes: Stories from Missing Believed Wiped
TV archiving is, it turns out, a lot like classic archaeology. “What archaeologists want to find most is the midden – [the dump] full of waste, and ephemera which tell you the most about a society.” Chris Perry ofKaleidoscope … Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, Culture, Film, History, Media, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, BBC, bfi, Chris Perry, culture, Dick Fiddy, Doctor Who, Joy Whitby, Kaleidoscope, media, satire, Small Films, Steve Bryant, Sue Malden, Terry Jones, tv
66 Comments
LBJ and JFK: Assassination & the struggle for power
“The King – the President – is dead. The King has a brother. The brother hates the Vice-President. You have a really Shakespearean struggle for power here.” Robert Caro, Lyndon B Johnson’s biographer talking to me about the assassination. It … Continue reading
Posted in History, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged 1963, 60s, asassination, elitism, JFK, LBJ, Martin Luther King, Michael Goldfarb, politics, Robert Caro, US Congress, US Presidency, US Senate
4 Comments
Oh What A Lovely War Commemoration!
Recently the Prime Minister spoke of his hopes that events to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War would be a “commemoration that, like the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, says something about who we are as … Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, History, Media, Music, Politics, Radio, Theatre, Uncategorized, War
Tagged 1963, 60s, BBC, culture, David Cameron, David Kynaston, elitism, Erica Whyman, Field Marshall Haig, First World War, Joan Littlewood, Michael Billington, Murray Melvin, Oh What A Lovely War!, politics, satire, Theatre Royal Stratford, war
14 Comments
People at work: Richard III and The 60s Town Planner
This piece was about Leicester’s repentence for planning atrocities against its medieval past. Thought it worth reposting as the High Court ruled in favour of a “dignified” burial in the city. Full details and judgement here. Maybe you used to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Business/Economics, Culture, Design, History
Tagged 60s, Bentall Centre, Bentalls, books, culture, FTW, JG Ballard, Kingdom Come, Kingston-upon-Thames, Ladybird books, Leicester, Richard III, Urban planning, York
15 Comments
Billy Liar, Bradford and the birth of the dollybird
“A lazy, irresponsible young clerk in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.” Everyone loves Billy Liar. Apart from whoever wrote imdb’s current bizarrely censorious plot summary … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comedy, Film, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, books, Bradford, cinema, culture, feminism, film, Helen Fraser, John Schlesinger, Julie Christie, kitchen sink drama, Peter Handford, tom courtenay
12 Comments
From avenger to screamer: How Dr Who assistants remain trapped in time
The Reunion programme for Radio 4, produced by Peter Curran, recently brought together some of the original cast and crew of the first episode of Doctor Who. The first Dr Who team was notable for its diversity — Waris Hussein … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Science Fiction/Fantasy, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, BBC, Carole Ann Ford, culture, Doctor Who, feminism, Matt Smith, tv, Verity Lambert, Waris Hussein, William Hartnell
6 Comments
Philip Larkin and how internet porn began in 1963 (sort of)
1963 was a remarkable year. Among the glut of cultural and historical anniversaries — Dr Who, the assassination of JFK, Billy Liar and Oh What Lovely War! — we should I reckon be marking 50 years since the invention of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, Media, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, advertising, Betty Friedan, culture, feminism, junk food, media, Philip Larkin, The Feminine Mystique
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Poor Cows and Angry Young Men: 50 years of Kitchen Sink Drama
The director Ken Loach and the theatre critic Michael Billington remember the dawn of the 60s well. “The 50s weren’t bleak and depressing,” spluttered Loach, listening to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston explain the grim postwar era that spawned the new … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 50s, 60s, British social realism, cinema, culture, elitism, feminism, film, FTW, Ken Loach, kitchen sink drama, music, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, tv
3 Comments
