The sixties 1964-70

• How did mass media expand?

  -Availability of television supplanting cinema as main means of entertainment
• How did TV grow?

  -13.3mn TV licences in 1965 compared to 344k in 1950

  -75% of population in 1961 to 91% of population in 1971 with a TV

  -New programming with Hugh Greene as BBC director

  -Advertising expanded with ITV
• Who was Hugh Greene?

  Director-General of the BBC from 1960 to 1969- Directed funds to TV over radio
• How did programming change?

  -More satire- TW3

  -Z Cars- Police show with violence!!

  -The Wednesday Play- Anthology series with controversial plays such as Up the Junction, depicting an illegal abortion
• How did radio consumption change?

  -Portable and car radios increased consumption

  -Teens could listen to portable radios alone, leading to more shows catered to them
• What were pirate stations?

  -Radio stations that broadcast without a licence from ships outside UK waters

  -Radio Luxembourg and Radio Caroline for example- Played pop music unlike the BBC

  -Once these were banned in 1967, Radio One was set up by the BBC to play pop music
• How did print media change?

  -Declined but the papers that stayed were able to adapt

  -The Daily Herald, the TUC paper was relaunched as The Sun, a broadsheet until being purchased by M*rdoch in 1969 who shifted it to more 'permissive' attitudes
• Why were more people spending time on leisure?


  -Less people expected to work on Saturday mornings

  -End of National Service in 1960 gave young people more time

  -Car ownership allowed for travel to shopping and leisure centres

  -Growth of air travel though only for the middle-upper classes
• What were the most popular leisure activities?

  -TV accounted for 23% of leisure by 1969

  -DIY and gardening increased due to home ownership

  -Cookery, needlework and knitting remained but live events (theatre, sport) declined in favour of TV
• How did car ownership grow?

  -77% of journeys were by car in 1974 compared to 39% in 1954
• How much did total holidays increase? (i cant think of a better way to word this)

  -27 million holidays in 1951 to 41mn in 1971

  -Foreign holidays also increase from 2-7mn

  -Britannia Airways from 1964- Mostly for wealthier people

  -Package holidays grew from 4% to 8.4% 1966-71
• What other cultural change is associated with the 1960s?

  -Growth in music- Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Cream, Yardbirds etc.

  -'Swinging London' and Carnaby Street- Fashion changes

  -Teenager culture- Mods, Rockers then Hippies later

  -Drug use
• How realistic were the stereotypes of the 1960s? (Music)

  -Not very- Sensationalism of media exaggerates roles of counter-culture movements, music and fashion etc.

  -Skilled workers (e.g in the car industry) who had more disposable income were able to spend money (£10/£280 per weekend) on records, clothes and going out, but most of the working class could not

  -Musical Soundtracks still sold much more than rock music and the record market peaked in 1964
• How realistic were the stereotypes of the 1960s? (Counter-culture)

  -Most people probably weren't actually radicals but instead conformed to new trends

  -University students were especially not radicals, though more liberal in wanting more social mobility

  -Much less changed outside of cities and unis

  -Only 4% of young people identified with the far-left, and far more voted Tory at 35%

  -The Rolling Stones all had other jobs and just wanted to buy a house- Most people, including rock stars, were not that radical

  -88% of the public thought the Stones should be imprisoned for drug possession when arrested in 1967
• What were the main changes for women in the 1960s?

  -Control over reproduction

  -Equality in marriage and divorce reform

  -Some growth in higher education and workplace equality
• Who were the main feminist campaigners?

  -Juliet Mitchell- Published "Women- The Longest Revolution" in the New Left Review in 1966

  -Germaine Greer-"The Female Eunuch" in 1970

  -National Women's Liberation Conference held at Ruskin College, Oxford in February 1970- Demanded equal pay, educational opportunity, contraception and abortion on request, and free childcare
• How was equality in marriage expanded?

  -1970 Matrimonal Property Act- Women's pay was now accounted for in divorce

  -Easier to get divorced

  -BUT still a lack of economic independence mostly
• How did education and employment improve for women?

  -More middle class women in higher education (28% of students by 1970) but the working classes still left school and married young to become housewives

  -Women that did work were often paid poorly and antagonised

  -Equal Pay Act 1970- Triggered by Dagenham Ford Sewing Machine strike 1968; Only came into force after 5 years
• How did women have greater control over reproduction?

  -Invention of the pill- Women had more freedom though in turn, men could avoid responsibility

  -NHS (Family Planning) Act 1967- Provided contraceptives and advice through the NHS

  -Did also lead to more divorce and illegitimate births (5.8 to 8.9% from 1960-70)
• What scientific developments helped women?

  -The pill and contraception

  -Labour-Saving devices- Freed up time for housewives though it also reinforced the image of women as solely housewives
• Overall how much progress was made towards women's equality by 1970?

  -Legally, a lot, with many laws allowing for similar legal rights

  -However society still needed to catch up, though these attitudes could not have changed within 6 years, and the legal steps were very important
• What limits were made to immigration?

  -1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act- Limited immigration to only those with a job, close relatives or certain skills

  -Limited again from 1965 to only 8,500 Commonwealth migrants per year, then to 1,500 after the Kenyan Asian Crisis in 1968

  -1971 Immigration Act- Limited even further to only those with family ties within the UK, without being allowed to bring others

  -However, 29,000 Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin were allowed in in 1972
• What was the Kenyan Asian Crisis?

  -Kenyan Asians who had worked as civil servants etc. when both India and Kenya were colonies were increasingly discriminated by the newly independent government led by Jomo Kenyatta

  -Many fled to the UK but were eventually restricted
• What evidence was there of growing multi-culturalism?

  -Growing tolerance of immigrants and co-existence

  -More 2nd generation immigrants

  -Notting Hill Carnival became an annual event from 1967

  -Influence of other cultures on music and fashion e.g. Hippies and India

  -Asian businesses (ie corner shops, takeaways) becoming more common (Yes this is a stereotype but also it comes from truth and I'm Indian don't shout at me!!!)
• How did racism get worse/more apparent?

  -British Union of Fascists campaigns during 1959 but recieved only 8% of vote

  -1964 Smethwick by-election- Tory candidate beat Labour using slogans such as "If you want a N. for a neighbour, vote Labour"

  -1967 creation of the National Front- Won 16% of vote in a by-election in West Bromwich in 1973 (but didn't have an MP ever)
• Who was Enoch Powell and what did he do?

  -Conservative MP, resigning as First Secretary to the Treasury in 1958 over increased government expenditure with Thorneycroft

  -Made his "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968 after the Kenyan Asian Crisis- 'We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents'

  -Racist prick
• What evidence is there for opposition to Powell?

  -Sacked from the Tory party and shadow cabinet very soon after

  -Efforts from Labour to curb racism through Race-Relations Acts
• What evidence is there for support for Powell?

  -74% of those asked in a Gallup poll agreed with him and was supposedly 'the most admired man in Britain' according to them

  -Sent 120,000 letters, mostly positive

  -Pro-Powell demonstrations including ~1,000 dockers' march in Westminster
• What are examples of racism within society?

  1965 North London Survey finding that:

  -1 in 5 respondents objected to working with a POC

  -1 in 2 said they would refuse to live next to a POC

  -9 in 10 disapproved of mixed marriages
• What was the Race Relations Board (1965)?


  -A board created by Wilson to deal with inciting racial disorder or discrimination in public places

  -Did not apply to employment or housing, however, where these were big problems
• What was the Community Relations Committee (1968)?

  -Made it illegal to discriminate in housing, employment, and provision of services

  -Committees set up to deal with this
• What was the Race Relations Board replaced by?

  -1976 Commission for Racial Equality

  -People could now be prosecuted for 'threatening or abusive' language BUT police were exempt (ofc)
• Why did Wilson not do more towards immigration?

  -Immigration was very high and very unpopular so lowering restrictions would not be possible

  -Some restrictions would limit violence and protests in opposition to the government
• How successful was Wilson with immigration?

  -By 1972, only ~10% of the 1241 complaints about employment were upheld

  -BUT it would have been very difficult to get better legislation passed without hurting the government, he didn't actively deport migrants nor did he go back on any policies
• Who was Mary Whitehouse?

  -Christian schoolteacher was concerned about TV's effects on pupil's 'sexual and moral standards'

  -'Clean Up TV' petition received ~500k signatures in 1963

  -Founded the National Viewers' and Listeners Association in 1965 with 100k members

  -No impact on BBC's programming however
• What were the changes to themes in media?

  -More CRUDE, DEPRAVED content due to 1968 Theatres Act

  -X-rated films category introduced

  -Lady Chatterly trial
• What changes were there to political attitudes (protest)?

  -More protest movements e.g. CND

  -New Left emerges after Soviet invasion of Hungary and Czechoslovakia
• How did religion change?

  -Decline in CofE membership, though this was already happening in the 1950s (only 10% attended church)

  -Growth in the Catholic Church from Irish migrants, modern practices (Vatican II) as well as in other churches (charismatic ones)