The Sixties - real or imagined?

I've had the laziest day I've had in weeks. Shopping this morning at Sainsbury's, bought some pastels from Hobbycraft in Hull to help me in my portrait drawing and paid the paper bill at the newsagents (I wouldn't care, it's for magazines and none of them for me!) Other than that, I had a snooze this afternoon after lunch and watched a bit of the England versus Bangladesh cricket this afternoon - I know how to party!

It's a long while since I did a memory test on here which is a great exercise. I was thinking this morning that while I love music, I know little about it. That became obvious at the end of course 'disco' at the bar at the psychic college in Essex a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was singing along with the words to the songs as I made some strange awkward alleged dancing movements, and all I knew were some popular one-liner choruses. I wondered what happened to the sixties?

You would imagine as a child in the formative part of his life in the sixties, that I would be very knowledgeable about the music of the time bearing in mind the legends that were at the height of their popularity but frankly, I haven't got a clue. I remember my mother listening to Radio Caroline - a pirate radio station on a small portable radio. I had to look this up, but Radio Caroline had its heyday between 1964 and 1967 broadcasting to Ireland, Scotland and the north of England from a ship in the Irish Sea and was eventually towed off because of alleged debts in 1968.

I can recall little from that era strangely, I joined three schools in Cottingham, the Infants (4 to 6 years of age), the Juniors (7 to 10) and the County Secondary School (11 to 16). I loved school but left with just one O'Level (Ordinary Level, yesterday's equivalent to today's GCSE - General Certificate in Secondary Education) which by today's standards would be considered a failure. The one qualification in English has never, in truth, opened any doors for me, but my love of school and education clearly has. There were many inspirational teachers for whom formal qualifications were not the main objective, just making the experience enjoyable was their main aim in life - God bless them. All of my few academic achievements have been obtained in the workplace.

I remember being bollocked as an eleven year old after moving to senior school for using a pencil in my school books and being told to use an ink pen and I can recall the move from shorts to long trousers. I often had a second hand school jacket because they were so expensive for my parents. I get quite moved because memories are so thin, just random snippets, mainly of people drift across the radar as I struggle to cast my mind back. Yet the over riding feeling is that I loved my childhood.

What did I miss in the swinging sixties? Well swinging for a start which has a different connotation today. Hippies, the Beatles, drugs, sex and rock and roll (I was too young to experience that first hand), JFK, the Cold War, Berlin Wall and I have absolutely no first time around memory of man landing on the moon. Burning the bra and Telstar, and the list of famous bands of the sixties is just too extensive to list. Notable films from the sixties which I still like are Pink Panther; the Good, Bad and the Ugly; Midnight Rider; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid and many more I daren't admit.

Television was delivered by a small black and white set (actually more a dark green and white set.) Bewitched with the dishy Elizabeth Montgomery, the Flintstones and the Beverly Hillbillies. Doctor Who (William Hartnell) used to frighten me with the dreaded Daleks and Cybermen.

Bizarrely, I do remember the theme to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. I remember going to Blankenberge in Belgium for summer holiday in 1966 and watching England win the FIFA Jules Rimet World Cup on TV with a Belgian commentary. The mascot for the England side was World Cup Willie!

All of a sudden, the memories don't seem so distant after this little cathartic exercise, forgive my indulgence and for being patient.

Today's story has nothing whatsoever to do with the sixties, but it made me giggle.

Fred walked into a crowded doctor's waiting room and approached the desk. The Receptionist said, 'Yes sir, what are you seeing the doctor for today?'
'There's something wrong with my dick', Fred replied.
The receptionist was shocked and said 'You shouldn't come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that.'
'Why not, you asked me what was wrong and I told you,' said Fred.
The Receptionist replied; 'Now you've caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.'
Fred walked out, waited several minutes, and then re-entered.
The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, 'Yes?'
'There's something wrong with my ear,' he stated.
The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice. 'And what is wrong with your ear, Sir? '
'I can't pee out of it,' said Fred.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.
The photograph above is a non copyrighted photograph from Wikipedia, author unknown of The Beatles in America, 7 February 1964.