Although I was largely unaware of what was going on around me, 1964 saw some notable firsts, ones that would be part of my childhood years.
'Jackie' magazine was published for the first time. Getting to the newsagent before school every Thursday to buy it was part of my secondary school years!
'Play School' aired on the brand new channel, BBC 2. Oh the excitement of finding out which window you were looking through each day, and what was beyond it!
Habitat opened its doors in the Fulham Road.
My parents still have an Habitat day bed which was probably bought around 1968, and jolly comfortable it still is!
The Post Office Tower was completed. When we used to drive from our home in Oxfordshire to London to see our great-grandmother, us three children in the back of the MG would always look out for the tower, and eventually we did go and visit, though strangely I can't remember if we went up it!
Sir Winston Churchill retired from the House of Commons.
'Match of the Day' was launched. It's opening music makes me head straight to bed!
Crossroads Motel opened its doors. I remember it rather later as when my sister had glandular fever and was away from school for weeks, she got hooked on it. Maybe it's why she went into the hotel industry?
The Austin 1800 was named 'European Car of the Year'. 'Tank of the Year' might have been more appropriate.
The Daihatsu Compagno-Spider was the first Japanese car to go on sale in Britain. Like the look of this one!
'Mary Poppins' flew into our cinemas (and Dick Van Dyck perfected his Cockney accent - not!)
Cockney accents must have been de rigeur in the film industry, for we also had Audrey and Stanley in 'My Fair Lady'. My Mum once went to a fancy dress party in a replica of this outfit. And she looked as good as Audrey in it!
Again, I don't have any actual musical memories from the year, so I have chosen a track that I came to love, by an artist tragically lost in 1964.
Other hits of the year were:
Petula Clark - Downtown
Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By
Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman
Cliff Richard - Constantly
The Zombies - She's Not There
And here's me, beginning to branch out on my own...
Love my Dad's scooter!
Oh I love your reminiscent posts Alix! Jackie wa a firm favourite of mine too, and looked forward to it being delivered before school on a Thursday ... I always got it before everyone else and was popular on a Thursday morning!
ReplyDeleteRemember going to see Mary Poppins too ... one of my favourites as well!
Love Claire xxx
What lovely memories - and great tunes! A Change is Gonna Come always make me cry but Downtown and As Tears Go By are huge favourites over here! The MOTD theme tune has the same effect on me x Jane
ReplyDeleteAnother great post for sparking off memories...brilliant. Some great images. J.
ReplyDeleteJackie... oh my! I had Jackie in the late 70's, couldn't wait for the paperboy on a Thursday morning. We'd poor over the Cathy and Claire problem page over our school lunch. Thanks for taking me down memory lane... Sarah x
ReplyDeleteI was eight! My mum said to me we'll go and see the PO Tower, the night before we were due to go it was bombed and and after that never opened to the public again!
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxxxxx
Lots of memories for just one year! A lot of these didn't feature in my own childhood, but the cars looked similar. I do remember when the Beatles "She Loves Me" came out, as we used to sing it all the time! Wendy
ReplyDeleteGreat post, makes me feel very nostalgic!
ReplyDeletex
ps Btw, you seem to have forgotten to mention that 1964 is the year I was born. Just saying.
These are just brilliant posts.
ReplyDeletelooks like a great year - I loved Jackie, and Mary Poppins is one of my favourite ever films!
ReplyDeleteJackie, Playschool, Crossroads & the theme of Match of the day sending us to our bedrooms ... such great memories. I remember carefully pulling out the centre picture from Jackie over four issues to make a poster of Donny Osmond !
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a teenager, I played Downtown on a single over & over & started collecting mugs from Habitat for when I got a flat !
Great post from a 1963 girl x