What was in in the 1960s

The tapered trousers and thin lapels of the Italian style, became a new youth cult in the early to mid sixties. To this look they added striped blazers, Fred Perry shirts and the Mod scooter, a Lambretta or Vespa if possible with wing mirrors, numerous headlights, crash bars, whip aerials, white wall tyres and high backed seats, they were possibly the coolest thing ever to hit the tarmac. The Mods listened to The Who, Small Faces, The Yardbirds and The Kinks and Carnaby Street in London was their fashion centre.

BBC2 was introduced in 1964, despite the power failure it faced on the first day of its broadcast. BBC2 was Europe's first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour, from 1967. Thus in 1969 BBC2 viewers were able to see shots landing on the Moon in colour. One of the first productions to establish the channel’s identity was The Forsyte Saga, with 6 million viewers tuning in for every episode (out of 9 million able to receive the channel).

In 1962 the Beatles recorded their first single 'Love Me Do', which reached No. 17 in the charts. Their second single 'Please Please Me' was the first of many to reach the number 1 spot. Beatlemania, as the hysteria demonstrated by fans both during the actual concerts and during the band's arrivals and travels to and from locations was described, quickly reached America and in 1964 73 million viewers tuned in to watch the band play on the Ed Sullivan show. The first printed use of the word appeared in The Daily Mirror 2nd November 1963 in a news story about the previous day's Beatles concert in Cheltenham.

One of the icons of the 1960s was the Mini. Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis to be a small, cheap, economic car with safe handling, it had a front wheel drive, revolutionary design at the time. Launched in 1959, it was in production until 2000, available as saloon, station wagon, pick-up, van, cabriolet, utility vehicle (Moke) and numerous other permutations. Once the Queen had been seen taking a drive in one in the early 60s, the car suddenly became a major fashion item.

Radio Caroline started transmissions on Easter Sunday 1964 from a ship anchored in international waters off the coast of Felixstowe, Suffolk. Unlicensed by any government, it was labelled as a pirate radio station. Named after the daughter of JF Kennedy, it was the first radio to broadcast music all day. By the autumn of 1964 Caroline had more listeners than the three BBC networks combined. Radio Caroline’s DJs, such as Tony Blackburn, Roger Day and Simon Dee, went on to become nationally famous.

Devised by the sociologist James Cooke Brown in the mid-1950s, Careers was a board game where the players set their own victory conditions. A player could choose to pursue Fame, Happiness, Money, or a combination of all three, having to reach the total of 60 points. The "careers" available to players of the game have changed over 50 years of new editions, reflecting changes in popular perceptions and thus occupations such as "Farming" and "Uranium Prospecting", which were included in the 1960s, were no longer available in the newer editions.

The mini skirt exploded out of Swinging London on to the fashion scene in 1966. Within a year anybody who had the body to pull it off was wearing a mini. Hemlines rose to 7 to 8 inches above the knee. Popularised (and some would claim invented) by British designer Mary Quant, whose boutique, Bazaar, in Chelsea was one of the first places that sold them, the mini skirt is the ultimate symbol of the 1960s.

Directed by Gerald Thomas the Carry On films with its mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres are seen as classic examples of 1960s British humour. The most successful series of British films ever made with twenty-nine original films and one compilation film made between 1958 and 1978 at Pinewood Studios, the films relied on a repertoire of comedy actors, one of the most iconic of them being Barbara Windsor, the ultimate Carry On girl.

Hippie psychedelia reached its peak in 1967, flooding the 'alternative' fashion world with kaftans, afghan coats, body paint and flowers in the hair. Rooted in opposition to the Vietnam War, flower power became the symbol of the younger generation's rebellion against their parents' values. The Summer of 1967 was known as the Summer of Love, when gatherings, happenings and open air concerts took place all over the country. One of the biggest events of the Summer was the "Festival of Flower Children" in Woburn Abbey.

'Action Man' was first introduced in the UK by Palitoy in 1966 causing a sensation as the first doll for boys. The concept was the first of its kind - a fully pose able artist's dummy style action figure. First figures available to the UK were a soldier, sailor and pilot complete with basic uniforms and dog-tags. The original Action Man had a moulded hard vinyl painted head, with a livid scar on the cheek registered as a trademark.

Green Shield Stamps were almost everywhere in the Britain of the 1960s. If you bought your groceries at certain shops the retailer gave you stamps to stick in a book. Once you had collected enough you exchanged the books for gifts. Originally, small local shops used to give out the stamps but later in the sixties, big stores such as Tesco signed up the scheme. You could get Regentone 19" television for 88 books or Kodak Brownie 8 Movie Camera for 13¼ books, however the gifts you earned with your stamps were usually much more modest.