The 1960's - A Decade of "Firsts".

I heard someone say recently that the 1980's is now regarded as "vintage".  Well, I am going even further back in my life. This week I decided to follow a prompt passed onto me by an American friend and write about my life in the 1960s.

 

I was a typical product of a 1960's girl of conventional, sheltered upbringing. My parents had both left school at 14 to go to work, and put great store on the benefits of education, and I was keen to do well. I left sixth form school in 1962, went through university, (still living at home), had one year working abroad (an eye-opener) and returned to life in Edinburgh, marrying in 1971.
 

The 1960s began with me being a schoolgirl in York preparing for my Advanced Level exams, and experiencing the fun of singing in my first G&S Opera -  "Patience".   We lived in the quirky named Upper Poppleton (try saying that quickly)  - a typical English village with its  green, with a maypole  (and yes, I danced around it),   pub, church and school. 

 

 Home was going up in the world - a detached new build property, with a through lounge (very fashionable instead of two small public rooms, fitted carpets, and bulky storage heaters to give us some background heating downsstirs - still nothing upstairs  in the bedrooms or bathroom.
 

1960 was the first time I flew and my first journey abroad, to visit my German pen friend. On the way back home, landing by plane in London, I had time to kill before I taking  my train north, so I did a whistle stop tour of the main ceremonial sights, feeling quite the seasoned traveller on my first time in the capital - until I suddenly realised I had got on the wrong tube line to get me back to Kings Cross Rail Station. Slight panic set in!  I stopped being so cocky and retraced my steps   I term  that trip - my first taste of independence.

 

A year later Dad's work took us to  Edinburgh  and a lovely bungalow with our  first central heating - bliss! The colour scheme was rather strong - red units in the kitchen and a bathroom with a yellow suite and black tiles, which my mother could not wait to get rid of. 

 

I quickly had to get used to a new school - my first co-ed and male teachers, plus getting used to different accents and broadening my knowledge with Scottish history, literature, songs and country dances.    

 

1962 saw me at Edinburgh University for the next three years, studying history and taking part in more wonderful Gilbert & Sullivan productions.  I had a variety of summer jobs, ranging from helping in a fishmongers (totally out of my comfort zone) to more amenable working  in a cake shop, a bookshop and on what we termed "the tartan trash counter"of a well known national store - think of tasteless souvenirs in bright red Royal Stewart tartan. 

 

Taking part in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Trial by Jury" (a case of breach of promise of marriage).

  - I am in the chorus in the public gallery.

                                   

A family photo with my parents and brother, before I set off for the USA.

In September 1965 after graduation, I flew to Boston,USA , to begin a year of working as a trainee librarian as part of an exchange scheme with Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass. A wonderful experience that concluded with me and another British girl  touring the States by a Greyhound bus on their offer of “99 days travel for 99$”. I loved New England in particular  and it was 30 years before I managed a return visit. 

 

At the Grand Canyon, 1966

                                        

Homeward bound by one of the last scheduled transatlantic liners -The Sylvania, sailing between Boston, Ireland and Liverpool, where my father met me.

Another stage in my life - a year at Strathclyde University in Glasgow to gain a Diploma in Librarianship & Information Work, before in 1967 I  entered the world of professional employment in Edinburgh. first  with the Scottish Youth and Community Centre, and later at Moray House College of Education to set up a Modern Studies Information Unit - this was years before the internet, so paper files were king.

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My contribution to the “Swinging Sixties” was slight.  Fashion wise the decade began with my favourite mauve gingham summer dress with broderie anglais trim, popularized by Bridget Bardot, and ended with shift dresses, pinafore dresses  and mini skirts. Fur hats were popular for winter after the release of the film "Dr. Zhivago.  I bought a black duffle coat  (the iconic symbol of being  a student) with my first university grant.  My father did not like me in it, but really I was not much of a rebel. I did my best to create a bouffant hair style, but I was hopeless at backcombing and my fine hair did not respond; 

My first professional job was in  a new organization.  We held an official opening with a wine and cheese party, and as the girls on the staff we obviously chose to forego our work garb for these typically late 1960's outfits of frills & miniskirts.   I am in the middle  with my new look, having succumbed to vanity and started wearing contact lenses instead of glasses.

 

Pop culture generally passed me by - I did not even join in the hysteria for the Beatles.  I quite liked rock and roll, and wanted to learn to jive.  I sang along to Frank Ifield, Pat Boone, Perry Como, Jim Reeves, Val Doonican, the Carpenters and the New Seekers   My tastes were more easy listening, musicals and popular classics than pop. So in this respect I was not a typical 60s girl.   I was into my 20's before I got my first transistor radio. 

I had a major crush on film star Dirk Bogarde and shed tears at his fate in “Tale  of Two Cities”. Living in Edinburgh meant there was plenty of opportunity to enjoy the arts throughout the year -  theatre, ballet, opera, concerts, art exhibitions etc.  I saw Ian McKellan in memorable  Shakespearan performances in the Assembly Hall  at Festival time  and   took the train to Glasgow after work especially to see Margot Fonteyn dance in “Swan Lake”.

On the world stage, I saw on TV the  moving funeral  of Sir Winston Churchill, the shock of President Kennedy's assassination  and its aftermath,   and  the first landing on the moon, where at some unearthly hour in the night we dashed outside into the garden to  "view" the event happening on the moon, 

This was the era of the Cold War and at school I took part in a debate "Rather be dead than red".    Other key events included the Cuban Crisis with its threat of nuclear war, and the Vietnam War.

Onto 1969 saw me sharing a flat with three friends.   As we moved into a new decade, a new life for me was in prospect, with meeting my husband and getting engaged in 1970.

Goodbye to the eventful 1960s.  

 

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