Generation '66

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0:00:03 > 0:00:05CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:00:05 > 0:00:07As Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup at Wembley...

0:00:07 > 0:00:09CHEERING

0:00:09 > 0:00:13..the summer of 1966 became the stuff of legend.

0:00:17 > 0:00:19We were on top of the world.

0:00:19 > 0:00:22The euphoria still hasn't worn off 50 years later.

0:00:25 > 0:00:28In that moment, Britain went from grainy black and white

0:00:28 > 0:00:31to glorious Technicolor,

0:00:31 > 0:00:34and across the country, people's lives were doing the same.

0:00:36 > 0:00:39We love talking about many, many subjects, but here's something.

0:00:39 > 0:00:441966, it was such an exciting time.

0:00:44 > 0:00:46What were you doing?

0:00:46 > 0:00:52Revolutionary times, without a doubt.

0:00:52 > 0:00:53If I wanted to have sex with someone,

0:00:53 > 0:00:55I just had sex with someone.

0:00:55 > 0:00:58I didn't really bother to get clearance from anyone.

0:00:58 > 0:01:00Erm...

0:01:02 > 0:01:04Did you take drugs?

0:01:04 > 0:01:06Did you do blueys?

0:01:06 > 0:01:10Would you call keep-awake pills drugs today?

0:01:11 > 0:01:13Do you remember the World Cup?

0:01:13 > 0:01:14Men in short shorts.

0:01:14 > 0:01:15Oh, happy days!

0:01:16 > 0:01:19That's me there. I used to score with a lot of girls!

0:01:21 > 0:01:28It was a golden moment for Britain - the peak of the '60s wave -

0:01:28 > 0:01:32but what was life really like at the time?

0:01:32 > 0:01:35The big problem in those days for me was my sexuality,

0:01:35 > 0:01:36because it was illegal.

0:01:36 > 0:01:38So, you live a lie.

0:01:38 > 0:01:41'66, I was living a lie.

0:01:41 > 0:01:45We were caught between the old world and the new.

0:01:45 > 0:01:50I honestly never felt, at any time during 1966, secure,

0:01:50 > 0:01:52and one was just sort of hoping,

0:01:52 > 0:01:55digging in until something good came along.

0:01:55 > 0:01:58It's interesting, isn't it? 1966.

0:01:58 > 0:02:00Give us a ring.

0:02:12 > 0:02:15CHEERING

0:02:15 > 0:02:17We all remember the World Cup final,

0:02:17 > 0:02:21but what about the other 364 days of the year?

0:02:21 > 0:02:24The real revolution of '66 was happening

0:02:24 > 0:02:26far away from the football pitch,

0:02:26 > 0:02:31in the lives of a new generation who would shape modern Britain.

0:02:31 > 0:02:35As the bells struck 12 and 1966 began,

0:02:35 > 0:02:4023-year-old Chris and 18-year-old Linda were seeing in the New Year

0:02:40 > 0:02:42in Central London.

0:02:42 > 0:02:45They had no idea what was just around the corner.

0:02:45 > 0:02:47To celebrate New Year's Eve,

0:02:47 > 0:02:51I went with some friends to the Blind Beggar pub.

0:02:51 > 0:02:56A few of the lads that we'd met took us back to the train.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58We happened to be talking about where we were going and I said,

0:02:58 > 0:03:00"Oh, I'm going to Barking."

0:03:00 > 0:03:04And they both said, "No, you're not. The train's going the wrong way."

0:03:04 > 0:03:06And I went, "Oh, no."

0:03:06 > 0:03:10Chris said to me, "I'll take you home, if you like."

0:03:10 > 0:03:12I was shy, to be honest - very shy.

0:03:12 > 0:03:15It was meeting Linda that brought me out of myself.

0:03:15 > 0:03:18So, for me to have picked up Linda the way I did

0:03:18 > 0:03:19was totally out of character,

0:03:19 > 0:03:22so something must have happened, mustn't it?

0:03:22 > 0:03:25MUSIC: Land Of 1,000 Dances by Wilson Pickett

0:03:25 > 0:03:29Chris wasn't the only one who was feeling more confident.

0:03:29 > 0:03:34The grey post-war days of the 1950s were being swept away by

0:03:34 > 0:03:37a new generation determined to live a very different kind of life.

0:03:40 > 0:03:4521 years on from the end of the war, modern Britain was coming of age.

0:03:46 > 0:03:51I was aware that things were changing, usually through music.

0:03:51 > 0:03:55Everything was different from the way Ma and Pa

0:03:55 > 0:03:58and Uncle John and Uncle Bill had done it.

0:03:58 > 0:04:02It was a freedom in the '60s, because we had nobody to follow.

0:04:02 > 0:04:05There was no... "the generation before".

0:04:05 > 0:04:08The older ones, well, stayed at home, I should imagine,

0:04:08 > 0:04:10but the youngsters thought it belonged to them.

0:04:10 > 0:04:12You know, if you wanted to do it, you did it.

0:04:12 > 0:04:15If you wanted to wear whatever you wore, you wore it, so...

0:04:15 > 0:04:18You were there to enjoy, you know, so I did.

0:04:18 > 0:04:20- We did.- Yeah, we did. Yeah.

0:04:20 > 0:04:26In 1966, over 40% of the population were under 25 -

0:04:26 > 0:04:29including every member of the Beatles and the Stones.

0:04:31 > 0:04:33In just a few short years,

0:04:33 > 0:04:36British pop music had conquered the globe

0:04:36 > 0:04:40and inspired a huge shift in attitudes at home.

0:04:40 > 0:04:44Time Magazine declared the capital to be "swinging",

0:04:44 > 0:04:46and it certainly seemed to be true.

0:04:46 > 0:04:50London in 1966 is the equivalent of Florence during the Renaissance,

0:04:50 > 0:04:54or something. It's like the peak, the place to be, and I was there.

0:04:56 > 0:05:00Much of London was still bomb-damaged and swathed in smog,

0:05:00 > 0:05:05but in the very centre was a splash of colour - Soho.

0:05:06 > 0:05:11Fashionable Carnaby Street was the destination by day, but after dark,

0:05:11 > 0:05:15there was only one place to be seen for the true music fan -

0:05:15 > 0:05:20a rough and ready basement club called the Flamingo.

0:05:20 > 0:05:23Well, the thing about the Flamingo was it was really packed and sweaty.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25It was a really hot atmosphere.

0:05:25 > 0:05:28There was a bit of an edge to the Flamingo.

0:05:28 > 0:05:32There was a bit of a dodgy... gangster vibe about it.

0:05:32 > 0:05:34It was fabulous.

0:05:34 > 0:05:36Run by Johnny Gunnell and his brother Rik,

0:05:36 > 0:05:39the Flamingo often stayed open until dawn.

0:05:41 > 0:05:44In '66, Eddie Tan-Tan was playing trumpet

0:05:44 > 0:05:48for Georgie Fame's house band, the Blue Flames,

0:05:48 > 0:05:50though sometimes, it was more than just music

0:05:50 > 0:05:53keeping the party jumping.

0:05:53 > 0:05:56- The raids. The raids. - Oh, the raids!- The red...

0:05:56 > 0:06:00The red light would come on and everybody throwing it on the floor.

0:06:00 > 0:06:03I got jailed at one of those nights.

0:06:03 > 0:06:06- He arrested me, and took me to West End Central.- Yeah.

0:06:06 > 0:06:10They searched me - I had £600 on me.

0:06:10 > 0:06:11- Yeah, yeah.- £600.- Yeah.

0:06:11 > 0:06:14"Ha! Purple heart dealer, are ya?"

0:06:14 > 0:06:16Ah, yeah!

0:06:16 > 0:06:19In the whole of London,

0:06:19 > 0:06:23- where else could you find a club like the Flamingo?- No, no...

0:06:23 > 0:06:27Nowhere. There wasn't even one that was close.

0:06:30 > 0:06:33For the 23-year-old GI Geno Washington,

0:06:33 > 0:06:35the Flamingo was like a second home.

0:06:36 > 0:06:38It's got a great vibration in there.

0:06:38 > 0:06:41What you need, an American away from home...

0:06:41 > 0:06:44it's just so right, this music.

0:06:47 > 0:06:51The Flamingo was soon to give Geno his big break.

0:06:53 > 0:07:00I went and asked Georgie, "Could I sing a song with your band and you?"

0:07:00 > 0:07:02He said, "Can you sing?"

0:07:02 > 0:07:03I said, "Sing?

0:07:03 > 0:07:07"Well, my sister is in Martha and the Vandellas

0:07:07 > 0:07:10"and my auntie is Dinah Washington."

0:07:10 > 0:07:12Of course, I'm lying, you know.

0:07:12 > 0:07:14I'm lying my tail off.

0:07:14 > 0:07:17They started up and I hit that singing, man,

0:07:17 > 0:07:21and the house was rocking. You know?

0:07:21 > 0:07:24I was very popular with the ladies, you know?

0:07:24 > 0:07:28Yes, yes, yes. I didn't have to beg no more.

0:07:34 > 0:07:35On the edge of Soho,

0:07:35 > 0:07:3919-year-old Janet was in her first year of architectural school,

0:07:39 > 0:07:42one of only a handful of girls in her year.

0:07:44 > 0:07:46When I go see Georgie Fame, that's...

0:07:46 > 0:07:48In my diary, that's rated as just about as important

0:07:48 > 0:07:50as everything else.

0:07:50 > 0:07:53"Go to see Georgie Flame at the Flamingo," 9th of July.

0:07:53 > 0:07:5711th of July, "Start work, Wembley, four weeks. Yuck."

0:07:59 > 0:08:01By the summer of 1966,

0:08:01 > 0:08:05the college had said we have to have work experience.

0:08:05 > 0:08:07We had to work in a real architect's office.

0:08:07 > 0:08:11I thought, "Oh, my God, it's real people."

0:08:11 > 0:08:12Anyway, my father,

0:08:12 > 0:08:15he pulled a load of strings to get me a job

0:08:15 > 0:08:19as a temporary architectural assistant, and he said,

0:08:19 > 0:08:22"For Christ's sake, whatever you do, don't embarrass me."

0:08:22 > 0:08:26And yet I turned up at their offices on Wembley High Road

0:08:26 > 0:08:31in a very, very short miniskirt with the silver hair

0:08:31 > 0:08:33and they asked me if I was the new secretary.

0:08:33 > 0:08:36I went, "No, I'm the new architect!"

0:08:36 > 0:08:39And they just looked ill.

0:08:40 > 0:08:43To add to everything, it was the World Cup.

0:08:43 > 0:08:45England were at Wembley.

0:08:45 > 0:08:48You couldn't get in or out or anywhere near the building.

0:08:48 > 0:08:51It was like World Cup fever,

0:08:51 > 0:08:52including with my dad,

0:08:52 > 0:08:54and all I was doing was sitting in an office

0:08:54 > 0:08:56trying to draw a bloody sports centre.

0:08:58 > 0:09:01I've actually found two of my payslips.

0:09:01 > 0:09:03"JV Bull, 23rd of July."

0:09:03 > 0:09:05This is 1966,

0:09:05 > 0:09:08so I'm a temporary architectural assistant,

0:09:08 > 0:09:11blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, tax.

0:09:11 > 0:09:16"Net, £10.16."

0:09:16 > 0:09:18No wonder I made all my own clothes!

0:09:26 > 0:09:31The average weekly wage for a woman in 1966 was £12,

0:09:31 > 0:09:33while men were earning £23.

0:09:33 > 0:09:35Despite this inequality,

0:09:35 > 0:09:39wages had been on the rise and much of the '60s optimism came from

0:09:39 > 0:09:43having a bit more money in our pockets.

0:09:43 > 0:09:46'66 was the peak of British industry.

0:09:46 > 0:09:50Our factories were producing more than they ever had before

0:09:50 > 0:09:51and they ever would again.

0:09:54 > 0:09:57In the Midlands, Sandi was 21 years old

0:09:57 > 0:10:00and working at the Botterill boot factory.

0:10:00 > 0:10:03We were making all sports footwear, really,

0:10:03 > 0:10:05and I can remember working on running shoes, mainly,

0:10:05 > 0:10:07and football boots.

0:10:08 > 0:10:12Ordinarily, making football boots wasn't anything to shout about,

0:10:12 > 0:10:17but the impending World Cup had the factory buzzing with excitement.

0:10:17 > 0:10:21I think we lived in hope, because you do, don't you?

0:10:21 > 0:10:23"Oh, wouldn't it be lovely if they did win?"

0:10:23 > 0:10:26Especially, you know, being in England, as well.

0:10:28 > 0:10:32But Sandi was about to play a bigger role in the World Cup

0:10:32 > 0:10:35than anyone could have imagined.

0:10:35 > 0:10:37Somebody along the line said,

0:10:37 > 0:10:40"Oh, we're going to do the World Cup football boots.

0:10:40 > 0:10:41"Better not mess them up."

0:10:42 > 0:10:47I went home and told my dad, and he was over the moon

0:10:47 > 0:10:49because he was a sports fanatic.

0:10:49 > 0:10:51He said, "That's really, really good."

0:10:51 > 0:10:53"Oh, is it?" He said, "Yes. It's really good." You know?

0:10:53 > 0:10:55And I think he made some kind of remark.

0:10:55 > 0:10:59"Well, if you're helping make them, girl, they're bound to win."

0:11:01 > 0:11:03The boots were being made for the German brand Puma,

0:11:03 > 0:11:05and once finished,

0:11:05 > 0:11:08they were shipped off ready for the England team's first match.

0:11:09 > 0:11:11It was magical, I think.

0:11:11 > 0:11:16I was young and it was just really nice to be part of something

0:11:16 > 0:11:19that was so important at that time to our country.

0:11:19 > 0:11:23You know, because we'd had the really dark days when I was a child,

0:11:23 > 0:11:24of just after the war,

0:11:24 > 0:11:27and then you've got this really nice golden era.

0:11:27 > 0:11:30You were a lot more free than you had been in the past, I think,

0:11:30 > 0:11:35and it was just nice to be able to be part of something

0:11:35 > 0:11:37that was national.

0:11:39 > 0:11:43Young women were feeling these new freedoms most keenly.

0:11:43 > 0:11:45Though many still married young,

0:11:45 > 0:11:49new opportunities were starting to open up.

0:11:49 > 0:11:54Even outside of the big cities, things were changing.

0:11:54 > 0:11:58In Cornwall, 20-year-old secretary Gwyn Haslock had taken up

0:11:58 > 0:12:00the new sport of surfing.

0:12:00 > 0:12:03MUSIC: Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

0:12:05 > 0:12:07# Good, good, good Good vibrations... #

0:12:07 > 0:12:14This is the first beach that I surfed in a competition in 1966.

0:12:14 > 0:12:17I had to enter with the men because there was

0:12:17 > 0:12:20no lady competitor, so as far as I was concerned,

0:12:20 > 0:12:22we were just surfers.

0:12:22 > 0:12:28Well, in '66, it was really the start of a whole way of life.

0:12:29 > 0:12:33Gwyn caught that revolutionary wave and never looked back.

0:12:33 > 0:12:37She went on to become our first female surf champion.

0:12:38 > 0:12:41Having an older brother who was four years older than me,

0:12:41 > 0:12:44he was a very good surfer, so whatever my brother did,

0:12:44 > 0:12:47I wanted to do as well.

0:12:47 > 0:12:49# Ah... #

0:12:49 > 0:12:5350 years on, Gwyn still surfs most days.

0:12:53 > 0:12:55# I don't know where but she sends me there... #

0:12:55 > 0:12:58I just liked to get out on the water as much as I could,

0:12:58 > 0:13:02and I'm one of these people that if the surf looks good, get in there,

0:13:02 > 0:13:05and it's just freedom, really, from everywhere else.

0:13:11 > 0:13:15MUSIC: Groovy Kind Of Love by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders

0:13:18 > 0:13:22# When I'm feeling blue All I have to do... #

0:13:22 > 0:13:24Just outside London,

0:13:24 > 0:13:27Chris and Linda had been dating almost every night

0:13:27 > 0:13:29for six whole weeks.

0:13:29 > 0:13:32We usually went to the cinema locally, didn't we?

0:13:32 > 0:13:36- Yes.- But on Valentine's Day we went into London to see

0:13:36 > 0:13:38- The Sound Of Music, didn't we? - We did.

0:13:38 > 0:13:41We had a lovely evening and we came home on the train

0:13:41 > 0:13:44and we went back to your house, didn't we?

0:13:44 > 0:13:46- And...- I think you said...

0:13:46 > 0:13:51I was certainly getting ready to propose, but...

0:13:51 > 0:13:54You said to me, "Will you..."

0:13:54 > 0:13:57And I said, "Marry you? Yes!"

0:13:57 > 0:13:59Linda got it out first.

0:13:59 > 0:14:01It was the 14th of February, after all.

0:14:01 > 0:14:03That's right, and it was 1966.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05# When I taste your lips... #

0:14:05 > 0:14:08For all the talk of '66 swinging,

0:14:08 > 0:14:12most of Britain was still pretty uptight about sex.

0:14:12 > 0:14:14If you didn't have a ring on your finger,

0:14:14 > 0:14:16then you shouldn't be sharing a bed.

0:14:16 > 0:14:19# Baby, you and me Got a groovy kind of love... #

0:14:19 > 0:14:23Michael Palin was 22 and heading to London to find work.

0:14:23 > 0:14:25# A groovy kind of love... #

0:14:25 > 0:14:30At the start of 1966, my girlfriend, who I'd met in 1959,

0:14:30 > 0:14:33she and I decided we wanted to get married.

0:14:33 > 0:14:36It was just the only way we could really live together at that time.

0:14:36 > 0:14:39Slight disapproval if you were, you know, sort of

0:14:39 > 0:14:41unmarried and living together.

0:14:41 > 0:14:46So, the big thing at the beginning of '66 was to get married

0:14:46 > 0:14:49and to find enough work to pay for our life together.

0:14:49 > 0:14:51# Got a groovy kind of love... #

0:14:51 > 0:14:53Michael wasn't alone.

0:14:53 > 0:14:5896% of couples who got married in 1966 hadn't lived together

0:14:58 > 0:15:00before their wedding.

0:15:00 > 0:15:03But attitudes were changing fast.

0:15:03 > 0:15:05The BBC even produced this documentary

0:15:05 > 0:15:08about the thorny issue of cohabitation.

0:15:09 > 0:15:14I think a lot of young people who live together do it for kicks,

0:15:14 > 0:15:19do it to be smart and because it's a kind of "in" thing to do.

0:15:19 > 0:15:22There'll probably be a great big swing of the pendulum

0:15:22 > 0:15:26when the children of this generation

0:15:26 > 0:15:29will go back to being frightfully Victorian.

0:15:29 > 0:15:31MUSIC: It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones

0:15:31 > 0:15:33Well, that didn't turn out to be true.

0:15:33 > 0:15:35Sex was here to stay.

0:15:36 > 0:15:38Everything was talked about

0:15:38 > 0:15:40in a way it hadn't been about five or six years before.

0:15:40 > 0:15:43I remember buying my first condom in London.

0:15:43 > 0:15:45You know, I was terrified, and I went into the shop

0:15:45 > 0:15:47which just said "Durex" in enormous letters.

0:15:47 > 0:15:49So I thought, well, that must be OK, then.

0:15:49 > 0:15:51I didn't just want to go into a chemist and...

0:15:51 > 0:15:54- HE MUMBLES - "Condom, please."

0:15:54 > 0:15:57"Excuse me, this is a book shop."

0:15:57 > 0:15:59I mean, I managed to lose my virginity at about...

0:15:59 > 0:16:02I think I was about 15. It took a lot of doing.

0:16:02 > 0:16:04I had asked someone before and they weren't very keen

0:16:04 > 0:16:08because I was so young, and I was really curious.

0:16:08 > 0:16:10And that was it - it was like, job done.

0:16:15 > 0:16:19Not everyone was so keen to dispatch their virginity.

0:16:19 > 0:16:23In Skegness, Terri Channon was 21 and starting the holiday season

0:16:23 > 0:16:25as a Redcoat at Butlins.

0:16:26 > 0:16:31It was still a popular family destination, but by 1966,

0:16:31 > 0:16:34the camps had acquired a bit of a reputation.

0:16:35 > 0:16:39I'd got the contract to go to Butlins,

0:16:39 > 0:16:43and Mum and Dad were... not really happy about it.

0:16:43 > 0:16:47And one of my really good friends, her mum said to my mum,

0:16:47 > 0:16:49"You shouldn't let her go to Butlins.

0:16:49 > 0:16:52"It's only tarts and slappers who go to Butlins

0:16:52 > 0:16:54"and she'll come back pregnant."

0:16:55 > 0:17:00My mum was mortified and it really, really hurt her and upset her.

0:17:00 > 0:17:04So I think with that, that was probably in my mind

0:17:04 > 0:17:07that I wasn't ever going to let that happen.

0:17:07 > 0:17:09I was never going to let my mum and dad down.

0:17:12 > 0:17:19My cousin had a baby out of wedlock and that was absolutely frowned on.

0:17:19 > 0:17:22I always remember her walking down the aisle with a rather large

0:17:22 > 0:17:27bouquet of flowers in front of an off-white dress covering the bump.

0:17:29 > 0:17:33Dave Manvell was 17 and living at home in Sheffield.

0:17:35 > 0:17:38I know people that did get their girlfriends pregnant.

0:17:38 > 0:17:42Some of them either kept the child, or they were adopted.

0:17:42 > 0:17:44Having been in that position myself,

0:17:44 > 0:17:47I remember going home and saying to my mum and dad,

0:17:47 > 0:17:50"I've got a girlfriend pregnant."

0:17:51 > 0:17:53My dad said to me, "What are you going to do?"

0:17:53 > 0:17:55So I just said, "Oh, I'm going to marry her."

0:17:55 > 0:17:57And we just carried on, that was it.

0:18:01 > 0:18:04The pill had become available in 1961,

0:18:04 > 0:18:08so you might think that everyone was over it by 1966,

0:18:08 > 0:18:11that the fear of pregnancy had faded into the past,

0:18:11 > 0:18:14but the truth is rather different.

0:18:14 > 0:18:20By 1966, there were still fewer than 500,000 women actually on the pill.

0:18:20 > 0:18:23It was expensive, hard to get hold of,

0:18:23 > 0:18:26and, for some, morally questionable.

0:18:26 > 0:18:31The doctor would turn round and ask you, had you not got any morals?

0:18:31 > 0:18:33They would try to convince you that you were morally wrong

0:18:33 > 0:18:35in wanting contraceptives.

0:18:35 > 0:18:36You couldn't go to a doctor for advice.

0:18:36 > 0:18:39Yeah, I'm quite convinced you wouldn't get it.

0:18:40 > 0:18:43GPs were instructed to only prescribe the pill

0:18:43 > 0:18:45to married women -

0:18:45 > 0:18:48with the written permission of their husbands, of course.

0:18:48 > 0:18:51Why couldn't I have sex with whoever I wanted?

0:18:51 > 0:18:53Why should someone else decide?

0:18:53 > 0:18:55I still get angry about it.

0:18:57 > 0:19:01With no access to the pill and still doing her A-levels,

0:19:01 > 0:19:03Janet discovered she was pregnant.

0:19:05 > 0:19:09Abortion was illegal, but backstreet practitioners were commonplace.

0:19:11 > 0:19:17I realised I was pregnant and there was no pill or anything, then,

0:19:17 > 0:19:20and someone told me about somewhere I could go in Camden Town,

0:19:20 > 0:19:25or Kentish Town, and the woman would do it for 25 quid.

0:19:25 > 0:19:29I waited until a weekend when my parents had gone away

0:19:29 > 0:19:31and I phoned this woman up and I went up there.

0:19:31 > 0:19:33I don't really want to go into details,

0:19:33 > 0:19:35but it wasn't very pleasant.

0:19:35 > 0:19:41And...I came back to Perivale and I lost a lot of blood, but I was fine,

0:19:41 > 0:19:45and then just went back to school on Monday.

0:19:45 > 0:19:47Actually, I can't tell you it affected me mentally.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50I just felt a huge sense of relief.

0:19:50 > 0:19:52I mean, obviously now you'd think,

0:19:52 > 0:19:55"Oh, God, you let a woman do stuff to you with washing-up liquid,

0:19:55 > 0:19:57"or whatever it was."

0:19:57 > 0:19:58God knows what it was.

0:19:58 > 0:20:01But I had tried before to take pills.

0:20:01 > 0:20:03You used to go to these chemists around Leicester Square

0:20:03 > 0:20:07and ask for this, that and the other, but they didn't work.

0:20:07 > 0:20:11An estimated 100,000 illegal abortions were carried out

0:20:11 > 0:20:13every year during the '60s.

0:20:13 > 0:20:17A bill to legalise failed in 1966,

0:20:17 > 0:20:19but was finally passed the following year.

0:20:19 > 0:20:22It didn't change the country overnight, but gradually women

0:20:22 > 0:20:26began to have more control over their bodies and their lives.

0:20:30 > 0:20:34Back in Barking, anticipation was building for the big event.

0:20:36 > 0:20:37No, not that one.

0:20:37 > 0:20:39Chris and Linda's wedding!

0:20:41 > 0:20:43We got married on June the 16th.

0:20:43 > 0:20:44On the 11th.

0:20:44 > 0:20:47June the 11th, yes. June the 11th.

0:20:47 > 0:20:49And then we went to Stratford-upon-Avon

0:20:49 > 0:20:51- for our honeymoon.- Yes.

0:20:51 > 0:20:54We stayed in a hotel.

0:20:54 > 0:20:57But somebody had brought a book with him.

0:20:57 > 0:20:59- Had I?- Yes.

0:20:59 > 0:21:02He always did things right, and he still does,

0:21:02 > 0:21:05and he always did things by the book,

0:21:05 > 0:21:08and we sat in bed with a book

0:21:08 > 0:21:11telling us exactly how to do it.

0:21:11 > 0:21:15- I do not remember this! - Oh, yes, you did.

0:21:15 > 0:21:17You used to be able to go into the chemist

0:21:17 > 0:21:22and there'd be a stand of books on haemorrhoids and diabetes

0:21:22 > 0:21:23and having a baby,

0:21:23 > 0:21:25and one of them was on sex.

0:21:25 > 0:21:28# Yeah, yeah, yeah Well, here it comes... #

0:21:31 > 0:21:36Sex manuals were a thriving market in 1966, and a happy marriage

0:21:36 > 0:21:39promoted as the cornerstone of respectable adult life.

0:21:45 > 0:21:47Over on the Wirral,

0:21:47 > 0:21:5019-year-old Pete Price realised that his own feelings about sex

0:21:50 > 0:21:54were not being explained in a pamphlet.

0:21:54 > 0:21:56When I started to feel the way I felt,

0:21:56 > 0:21:58I didn't know what I was feeling.

0:21:58 > 0:22:02You know, it wasn't talked about. It was still a criminal activity.

0:22:02 > 0:22:04It was illegal to be gay.

0:22:06 > 0:22:10In 1966, being gay could feel like a life sentence,

0:22:10 > 0:22:13and that wasn't far off the truth.

0:22:15 > 0:22:19If caught or even suspected of homosexuality,

0:22:19 > 0:22:21you faced a prison term.

0:22:24 > 0:22:26I lived a lie. I lived a lie.

0:22:26 > 0:22:28I went out with girls,

0:22:28 > 0:22:32I dabbled with a couple of pals who were experimenting with sex,

0:22:32 > 0:22:34but it was a lie.

0:22:34 > 0:22:38The whole thing was a lie because I was frightened.

0:22:38 > 0:22:39When you got married,

0:22:39 > 0:22:42were you consciously aware of the fact that you were

0:22:42 > 0:22:45- marrying somebody with homosexual tendencies?- No.

0:22:45 > 0:22:47I was marrying somebody I loved, and that was it.

0:22:47 > 0:22:50'This woman married a homosexual.

0:22:50 > 0:22:52'Twice during their marriage, he was arrested for importuning.

0:22:52 > 0:22:55'The second time he killed himself rather than face

0:22:55 > 0:22:59'the punishment of a court and the disgust of his friends.'

0:23:00 > 0:23:02Still living at home with his mum,

0:23:02 > 0:23:05Pete had to be careful to hide his secret.

0:23:07 > 0:23:10I came home one Thursday night, 2am in the morning,

0:23:10 > 0:23:14and my mother was lying in bed, and normally she wasn't awake,

0:23:14 > 0:23:18and she had a letter in her hand, which had fallen out of my bureau,

0:23:18 > 0:23:21which was referring to other guys.

0:23:21 > 0:23:24And my mother said, "What's this?"

0:23:24 > 0:23:27And she was white as a sheet, and I was white as a sheet,

0:23:27 > 0:23:29and I thought, "It's got to be done,"

0:23:29 > 0:23:31and I said, "I'm homosexual."

0:23:31 > 0:23:35To which she was physically sick - absolutely distraught.

0:23:35 > 0:23:38She cried herself to sleep for three years.

0:23:43 > 0:23:47There wasn't so much a gay scene in Liverpool as a gay pub.

0:23:49 > 0:23:53The Magic Clock offered Pete a rare opportunity to let his guard down -

0:23:53 > 0:23:56once he made it inside, that is.

0:23:56 > 0:23:58So, this was the area where it was all happening,

0:23:58 > 0:24:01and the Magic Clock was about here.

0:24:01 > 0:24:06It was a small pub, but we had to be careful when we went there,

0:24:06 > 0:24:07because of the theatre.

0:24:07 > 0:24:09Because all the people coming out of the theatre,

0:24:09 > 0:24:11if they saw you, what were you doing?

0:24:11 > 0:24:12Going into a gay bar.

0:24:12 > 0:24:15You couldn't go to a gay bar, and it was really weird.

0:24:15 > 0:24:18So we would wait outside and then somebody would say,

0:24:18 > 0:24:20"Now! Come on in."

0:24:20 > 0:24:24Gay life was so well hidden in '66, most people didn't know it existed.

0:24:25 > 0:24:29What was gay? No idea, because it didn't become part of the game.

0:24:29 > 0:24:32You know, the biggest stars in the world may have been gay

0:24:32 > 0:24:34but we didn't know, and we didn't really care.

0:24:34 > 0:24:37Not the era I'm talking about - not '66.

0:24:37 > 0:24:40Maybe in sophisticated London,

0:24:40 > 0:24:42maybe, but not in Sheffield.

0:24:44 > 0:24:50Like Liverpool, Sheffield was a city of macho men and heavy industry.

0:24:50 > 0:24:51Sheffield was a tough city.

0:24:51 > 0:24:54Steel and tough, tough people.

0:24:54 > 0:24:55A peculiar mix of everything,

0:24:55 > 0:24:58because it was still the old Sheffield -

0:24:58 > 0:25:00the steelworks were still there.

0:25:00 > 0:25:02Yeah, you were factory fodder.

0:25:02 > 0:25:04When you failed your 11-plus, that was it.

0:25:04 > 0:25:05Nobody wanted to know.

0:25:08 > 0:25:11The Beatles may have made working-class accents cool,

0:25:11 > 0:25:14but the majority of work available in Sheffield

0:25:14 > 0:25:17was still hard manual labour.

0:25:18 > 0:25:22Peter Stringfellow had found his strengths lay elsewhere

0:25:22 > 0:25:24and got a job as a door-to-door salesman

0:25:24 > 0:25:28touting carpets to housewives.

0:25:28 > 0:25:30I could talk. You know, too much.

0:25:30 > 0:25:33I could talk, which transferred into being a salesman.

0:25:33 > 0:25:34I didn't know what a salesman was.

0:25:34 > 0:25:37I just would talk to people about what I was trying to sell them

0:25:37 > 0:25:39and somehow it worked.

0:25:39 > 0:25:45But that also got me into trouble, and I actually...

0:25:45 > 0:25:49transferred some stock from the company I was working for

0:25:49 > 0:25:52into my car, which became mine, and I mixed it up,

0:25:52 > 0:25:53their stock with my property.

0:25:53 > 0:25:55In other words, I was stealing their carpets.

0:25:55 > 0:25:58And I starting selling those for cash,

0:25:58 > 0:25:59knocking on doors and selling them.

0:25:59 > 0:26:01And I went, "Wahey, this is a lot of money."

0:26:01 > 0:26:04Then someone reported these carpets going missing

0:26:04 > 0:26:08and I went to court, and the magistrate decided

0:26:08 > 0:26:10that I needed teaching a lesson.

0:26:10 > 0:26:13I was 20 years old, just married.

0:26:13 > 0:26:17My wife was about...was pregnant, and he really sussed me,

0:26:17 > 0:26:19so he sent me to prison for three months.

0:26:19 > 0:26:22I thought that was the end of my life. That was me finished.

0:26:22 > 0:26:25You couldn't come out of prison in those days and get a job.

0:26:25 > 0:26:28You were finished. There was no, like, "Give this boy a chance."

0:26:28 > 0:26:30You know? No. They liked me.

0:26:30 > 0:26:32I had about three or four interviews...

0:26:32 > 0:26:35They liked me, but no way were they going to give me a job.

0:26:37 > 0:26:40Michael had left Sheffield for Cambridge University

0:26:40 > 0:26:42a few years earlier,

0:26:42 > 0:26:44but was still very involved with the fortunes of

0:26:44 > 0:26:46the local football teams.

0:26:47 > 0:26:50Sheffield Wednesday were in the cup final.

0:26:50 > 0:26:54This meant more to me than the World Cup in any shape or form.

0:26:54 > 0:26:59We were coasting home and suddenly, Everton we were playing,

0:26:59 > 0:27:01scored two late goals.

0:27:01 > 0:27:04It was an absolute disaster. I felt absolutely mortified.

0:27:04 > 0:27:07I'm a Sheffield United supporter and this was Sheffield Wednesday,

0:27:07 > 0:27:08but it was because I was from Sheffield.

0:27:08 > 0:27:13I wanted - so much wanted - them to win in the World Cup year.

0:27:16 > 0:27:19The FA Cup had whet our appetites.

0:27:20 > 0:27:23Television sets were flying off the shelves

0:27:23 > 0:27:27as we got ready for the World Cup.

0:27:27 > 0:27:30For the first time, the matches would be broadcast live,

0:27:30 > 0:27:35and by the summer, nine in every ten homes owned a TV.

0:27:37 > 0:27:40The growing popularity of television provided Michael

0:27:40 > 0:27:42with his very first job,

0:27:42 > 0:27:47presenting a new youth show, appropriately called "Now!".

0:27:47 > 0:27:51The ordinary pop show, Ready Steady Go! and Top Of The Pops

0:27:51 > 0:27:55had sort of led the way but there was something more now.

0:27:55 > 0:27:58So I was there, really, to do little comedy links

0:27:58 > 0:28:01and I happened to be able to do a Harold Wilson accent.

0:28:01 > 0:28:04- AS HAROLD WILSON: - "Hello, good evening. This is your Prime Minister here."

0:28:04 > 0:28:07And the rest of it was doing all sorts of strange things.

0:28:07 > 0:28:10I remember acting with a wonderful actor called Arthur Mullard

0:28:10 > 0:28:13who did a piece where I'm playing "dum-dum-dum-dum"

0:28:13 > 0:28:16and ended up smashing the piano in the middle of a field.

0:28:16 > 0:28:19So whatever the guys wrote,

0:28:19 > 0:28:22I would have to do these little sort of links.

0:28:25 > 0:28:28Anarchic television was proving popular,

0:28:28 > 0:28:32and it wasn't long before a new opportunity came along for Michael.

0:28:33 > 0:28:35Quite out of the blue, the BBC rang up and said,

0:28:35 > 0:28:37"We've got this new series called The Frost Report.

0:28:37 > 0:28:40"It's going to have a theme to it each week.

0:28:40 > 0:28:41"David Frost is going to present it.

0:28:41 > 0:28:43"There are going to be sketches.

0:28:43 > 0:28:45"We've got a cast of ten new performers -

0:28:45 > 0:28:46"Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett,

0:28:46 > 0:28:49"and a man called John Cleese you might have heard of."

0:28:49 > 0:28:51I said, "Oh, yes, I've heard of him from Cambridge."

0:28:51 > 0:28:53- LAUGHTER - Does it hurt you if I do this?

0:28:53 > 0:28:55LAUGHTER

0:28:55 > 0:28:56Of course it does!

0:28:56 > 0:28:57Oh, you see, it hurts.

0:28:57 > 0:29:01"And we would like you to submit material."

0:29:05 > 0:29:08A new kind of comedy was being born.

0:29:08 > 0:29:12The Frost Report brought together all of the British Monty Pythons

0:29:12 > 0:29:13for the very first time.

0:29:15 > 0:29:18The first thing we sold to them - the Two Ronnies did it -

0:29:18 > 0:29:20was just a police man coming in and saying...

0:29:20 > 0:29:22Good morning, Super.

0:29:22 > 0:29:24- Morning, Wonderful. - LAUGHTER

0:29:24 > 0:29:27'It was a very silly thing.'

0:29:27 > 0:29:29The embers were burning.

0:29:30 > 0:29:33Television was changing as quickly as we were.

0:29:34 > 0:29:40In 1966, the BBC even announced the move to colour broadcasting,

0:29:40 > 0:29:41but this radical innovation

0:29:41 > 0:29:45didn't apply to the colour of the people appearing on it.

0:29:46 > 0:29:49It was completely dominated by white people,

0:29:49 > 0:29:51and when they saw a black face on the television

0:29:51 > 0:29:53they used to call everybody and say,

0:29:53 > 0:29:56"Come, come! There's a black person on the television!"

0:29:56 > 0:29:59Well, "a coloured person on the television".

0:29:59 > 0:30:03Nina Baden-Semper became a huge star in the '70s,

0:30:03 > 0:30:07appearing in the frankly quite racist sitcom Love Thy Neighbour.

0:30:07 > 0:30:09Perhaps we ought to go next door

0:30:09 > 0:30:11and introduce ourselves to our new neighbours.

0:30:11 > 0:30:12Come on. Let's get settled in first.

0:30:12 > 0:30:14I can't help feeling that we are going to come as

0:30:14 > 0:30:16- a surprise to them.- If you ask me,

0:30:16 > 0:30:19- I'd say it'll be more of a shock. - LAUGHTER

0:30:19 > 0:30:21But back in 1966,

0:30:21 > 0:30:24she had arrived from Trinidad and was struggling to find work.

0:30:26 > 0:30:30There weren't many parts written for women, for a start -

0:30:30 > 0:30:33therefore, they weren't many parts written for black women,

0:30:33 > 0:30:34so it was...

0:30:34 > 0:30:38You had to take whatever there was in those days, you know?

0:30:38 > 0:30:41You didn't have a choice, really.

0:30:41 > 0:30:45There weren't very many black people around so it was difficult for them

0:30:45 > 0:30:48to identify with us, you know?

0:30:48 > 0:30:53Because they treated us with suspicion because of the colour.

0:30:53 > 0:30:55They didn't know - it was ignorance.

0:30:57 > 0:31:01In 1966, a new sitcom appeared on our screens that captured

0:31:01 > 0:31:06that ignorance perfectly - Till Death Us Do Part.

0:31:08 > 0:31:11I mean, the ones I'm talking about, they're your proper blacks,

0:31:11 > 0:31:15ain't they? The ones that was born in the jungle, your natives.

0:31:15 > 0:31:17I mean, don't tell me they're educated.

0:31:17 > 0:31:21Half of them are still eating each other.

0:31:21 > 0:31:24- Poor devils.- You talk such ruddy nonsense, the pair of you.

0:31:24 > 0:31:27- Oi, oi, oi! That's enough of that! - What?

0:31:27 > 0:31:29- All that swearing. I won't have it. - LAUGHTER

0:31:29 > 0:31:32What's the matter with these nails, then?

0:31:32 > 0:31:36The programme quickly became the most-watched show on television.

0:31:36 > 0:31:40The irascible Alf Garnett and his bigoted, racist tirades

0:31:40 > 0:31:45drew an incredible 16 million viewers an episode.

0:31:45 > 0:31:49Though Till Death Us Do Part was intended as satire,

0:31:49 > 0:31:53it certainly reflected some very real attitudes of 1966.

0:31:55 > 0:31:57I've got a lovely story from my sister, actually,

0:31:57 > 0:32:02who is a nurse and the surgeon said to her, "Oh, Miss Baden-Semper,

0:32:02 > 0:32:05"how come you speak such good English?"

0:32:05 > 0:32:09And she said, "Well, an Englishman lived in the tree next to mine."

0:32:10 > 0:32:14How did you find that, Geno? The black-white thing in those days?

0:32:14 > 0:32:15How did you hack it?

0:32:15 > 0:32:16Well, I just...

0:32:16 > 0:32:20- Went with the flow.- ..like most GIs, stayed away from the whites.

0:32:20 > 0:32:23- Yeah.- Cos, you know, it's just trouble.

0:32:23 > 0:32:25It's going to cause trouble and all of that,

0:32:25 > 0:32:28- and you go somewhere where blacks hang out.- Hmm.

0:32:29 > 0:32:34As a matter of fact, in England, you have a country, a variety,

0:32:34 > 0:32:35the changes of the seasons,

0:32:35 > 0:32:38and it has entered into the people themselves,

0:32:38 > 0:32:43yet the Englishman - or the white man, for that matter -

0:32:43 > 0:32:47doesn't want the variety of the human species.

0:32:47 > 0:32:49He likes to see white only.

0:32:52 > 0:32:56The impending World Cup only added to the international feel

0:32:56 > 0:32:58of Britain in 1966.

0:32:58 > 0:33:00Alongside the footballers,

0:33:00 > 0:33:03thousands of migrants were arriving to make a new life here.

0:33:06 > 0:33:10The Asian population of the UK had quadrupled in the five years

0:33:10 > 0:33:11leading up to '66.

0:33:13 > 0:33:17Yasmin Sheikh was 21 and had arrived in Leicester from East Africa

0:33:17 > 0:33:20to live with her sister and brother.

0:33:20 > 0:33:23The city now has an abundance of Asian shops,

0:33:23 > 0:33:27but back then you were lucky to find a bulb of garlic.

0:33:27 > 0:33:29This is tamarind.

0:33:29 > 0:33:32Bittersweet - you make chutney out of this.

0:33:32 > 0:33:34Lovely stuff.

0:33:34 > 0:33:37Ladies' fingers - okra.

0:33:37 > 0:33:40Not gentlemen's fingers, not men's fingers.

0:33:40 > 0:33:43Thank God somewhere the women got the preference!

0:33:44 > 0:33:48Yasmin and Parveen had been teachers in East Africa and found work at

0:33:48 > 0:33:52a local school, changing quickly with the influx of new faces.

0:33:54 > 0:33:58I used to volunteer to sit with the kids,

0:33:58 > 0:34:00only to eat the dessert,

0:34:00 > 0:34:04because I loved the English, you know, puddings and all those things.

0:34:04 > 0:34:08Spotted Dick? Spotted Dick with custard.

0:34:08 > 0:34:12Everyone was talking against school meals but we loved them, didn't we?

0:34:12 > 0:34:15- Yes, yes. - Because it was a change for us.

0:34:18 > 0:34:22The first school I taught was Medway Junior School

0:34:22 > 0:34:25and that is myself on this side here.

0:34:25 > 0:34:28And you can see the diversity at that time

0:34:28 > 0:34:31because of the influx of the immigrants.

0:34:35 > 0:34:38Many of the new arrivals didn't speak any English at all,

0:34:38 > 0:34:41so for a while, daily life was mystifying.

0:34:44 > 0:34:46One of our friends was a doctor,

0:34:46 > 0:34:51and he was having problems because the health visitors were not allowed

0:34:51 > 0:34:56in the homes of the women who had just delivered a baby

0:34:56 > 0:34:59because they were suspicious, "Why this woman is coming?"

0:34:59 > 0:35:01They had no idea that that's part of the system here.

0:35:01 > 0:35:07So he then remembered that these two sisters can speak the language,

0:35:07 > 0:35:10and we suggested that because we can't expect these women,

0:35:10 > 0:35:12who had never been to school in their life,

0:35:12 > 0:35:14to learn English straight away,

0:35:14 > 0:35:17but we thought if the health visitors can pick up

0:35:17 > 0:35:20a few greeting words and build a bridge,

0:35:20 > 0:35:25so I had to teach Urdu in 1966 to the health visitors.

0:35:25 > 0:35:26Like...

0:35:26 > 0:35:29SHE SPEAKS URDU

0:35:29 > 0:35:31You know, very friendly words.

0:35:31 > 0:35:35And they went to these homes and they would come and greet them

0:35:35 > 0:35:38and the women were, "Oh, Urdu!

0:35:38 > 0:35:41"That you can speak Urdu. Oh, come, come, come."

0:35:41 > 0:35:42And they would let them come in.

0:35:42 > 0:35:45And then the problem was they wouldn't let them go,

0:35:45 > 0:35:47because that's the Asian culture, you know,

0:35:47 > 0:35:49until they've fed them so much.

0:35:54 > 0:35:58It wasn't only new arrivals who had stigma to overcome.

0:35:58 > 0:36:03In Sheffield, Peter had served his time and needed to earn money.

0:36:03 > 0:36:07The booming youth scene provided the perfect opportunity.

0:36:07 > 0:36:11Alongside his brother Geoff, he decided to open a music venue.

0:36:13 > 0:36:14That was another club,

0:36:14 > 0:36:18I had great times and he helped me when he could -

0:36:18 > 0:36:20Pete Stringfellow,

0:36:20 > 0:36:22the Mojo Club.

0:36:24 > 0:36:27'65 and '66, I was having an absolute ball.

0:36:27 > 0:36:31I was having a great time in my King Mojo Club.

0:36:31 > 0:36:32I'd got an ear for music.

0:36:32 > 0:36:35I heard something, I liked it, I booked them.

0:36:36 > 0:36:40In '66, Dave and Paul were working for the electricity board

0:36:40 > 0:36:42and the department store C&A,

0:36:42 > 0:36:46but they were at the club every night it was open.

0:36:46 > 0:36:50Paul even got a job painting psychedelic murals on the wall.

0:36:50 > 0:36:53'66, it was a whole world for me.

0:36:53 > 0:36:55Tuesdays, Thursdays was records.

0:36:55 > 0:36:59Friday, Saturday, Sunday could be live music, a live band.

0:36:59 > 0:37:01We got all the top London heights

0:37:01 > 0:37:03that we would never have seen in Sheffield.

0:37:03 > 0:37:06So we got everybody - Rod Stewart, Elton John...

0:37:06 > 0:37:10The Kinks, Pink Floyd, and on and on it goes.

0:37:10 > 0:37:12The Who were so loud,

0:37:12 > 0:37:14I think you could have heard them in Peterborough.

0:37:16 > 0:37:20What do you reckon was one of your favourite nights in the Mojo?

0:37:20 > 0:37:23The one that I remember is the Small Faces.

0:37:23 > 0:37:26And I'll tell you another one, Ben E King. You know why?

0:37:26 > 0:37:29- Because he invited me to sing. - You sang. You sang.

0:37:29 > 0:37:31I sang with him, yeah.

0:37:31 > 0:37:34I sang with Ben E King, and I can't sing.

0:37:34 > 0:37:37It gives you a little idea how big that stage was. Remember?

0:37:37 > 0:37:41Well, I couldn't figure out how Little Stevie Wonder

0:37:41 > 0:37:43- and his orchestra... - And his orchestra.

0:37:43 > 0:37:46..and Ike and Tina Turner and their big band.

0:37:46 > 0:37:49- And the Ikettes. - Yeah, how they all fit on.

0:37:49 > 0:37:51MUSIC: My Generation by The Who

0:37:51 > 0:37:54When the groups weren't playing, you had to fill in time.

0:37:54 > 0:37:57I had a piccalilli sandwich eating competition.

0:37:57 > 0:37:59I'd have dancing competitions.

0:37:59 > 0:38:02Anything to keep them focused, because if you didn't,

0:38:02 > 0:38:03a fight would start.

0:38:03 > 0:38:05A fight would start, bang, wallop, crash,

0:38:05 > 0:38:08and it would only stop when the group came on.

0:38:13 > 0:38:17The King Mojo didn't look like any club you'd see today -

0:38:17 > 0:38:19a suburban house on a residential street -

0:38:19 > 0:38:23but it became the beating heart of the music scene in Sheffield,

0:38:23 > 0:38:26and Peter was the king.

0:38:26 > 0:38:29We'd invented all-nighters, which came from London -

0:38:29 > 0:38:32a club called the Flamingo which had all-nighters

0:38:32 > 0:38:33with all the blues boys.

0:38:33 > 0:38:36And we were booking some of the biggest soul names in the world

0:38:36 > 0:38:39for 4am in the morning, cos there was nowhere else would book them.

0:38:39 > 0:38:41Of course, for the few years it was there,

0:38:41 > 0:38:43the neighbours were going mad.

0:38:44 > 0:38:47They thought they was the almighties.

0:38:47 > 0:38:49That's how the Stringfellows worked.

0:38:49 > 0:38:52They just wanted to push everyone around.

0:38:52 > 0:38:56They didn't think about the children or the old people or anyone else,

0:38:56 > 0:38:59or the residents.

0:38:59 > 0:39:03The police soon had Peter in their sights, again.

0:39:03 > 0:39:07He was back in court, this time to try and save his club.

0:39:08 > 0:39:11Everyone outside gets an idea that it's nothing but a dirty cellar,

0:39:11 > 0:39:14when, in fact, it's just a wonderland for young people.

0:39:14 > 0:39:16They've got to come inside to assess this.

0:39:16 > 0:39:18Even the magistrates never came in.

0:39:18 > 0:39:20Nobody is interested, that's what it really was.

0:39:20 > 0:39:23They just want to get rid of the Mojo, and that's it.

0:39:23 > 0:39:26The story goes that the guy was breeding budgies

0:39:26 > 0:39:29next door to the yard as you come into the Mojo Club,

0:39:29 > 0:39:31and when we went to court and I was asking for

0:39:31 > 0:39:33a licence and they were opposing,

0:39:33 > 0:39:35and he went up in front of the magistrates

0:39:35 > 0:39:37and he actually said, this guy,

0:39:37 > 0:39:39"Look, I've been breeding budgies all my life.

0:39:39 > 0:39:42"Since that Mojo has had the all-nighters,

0:39:42 > 0:39:45"all those eggs have cracked and we've never had a new budgie."

0:39:45 > 0:39:49And the magistrate went, "Oh, that's terrible. That's awful."

0:39:49 > 0:39:52And they turned the licence down.

0:39:52 > 0:39:54I blame the budgies.

0:39:56 > 0:39:59The authorities may have been clamping down,

0:39:59 > 0:40:01but the genie was out of the bottle.

0:40:01 > 0:40:04The morals and attitudes of the older generation

0:40:04 > 0:40:07were fast becoming a thing of the past.

0:40:10 > 0:40:15After six months of marriage, my husband became allergic to...

0:40:15 > 0:40:19- To latex...- Which is... - ..so I could no longer use condoms.

0:40:19 > 0:40:23We had to start using the pill, and my mum said,

0:40:23 > 0:40:26"It's no good going to see your doctor here,

0:40:26 > 0:40:29"because she's Catholic and she won't prescribe the pill."

0:40:29 > 0:40:31So you went to your doctor, didn't you?

0:40:31 > 0:40:35And he said, "Tell Linda to come to me and I'll prescribe it to her,"

0:40:35 > 0:40:39because I wasn't on his list, and so I didn't get pregnant.

0:40:47 > 0:40:51Chris and Linda weren't the only ones looking for medical advice.

0:40:51 > 0:40:55In Liverpool, Pete and his mum had booked an appointment with her GP.

0:40:57 > 0:41:00We went to the doctor because it was seen as a medical problem.

0:41:00 > 0:41:03The doctor informed my mother that I could be cured of

0:41:03 > 0:41:06being a homosexual.

0:41:06 > 0:41:11There was a treatment, if I went to a mental institute in Chester.

0:41:11 > 0:41:15They put me into this place with a false name,

0:41:15 > 0:41:19which I had to have, a false name, because I was a criminal.

0:41:19 > 0:41:24And then the big day came when I had to have my treatment

0:41:24 > 0:41:30and what they did was they recorded me talking about sex for an hour

0:41:30 > 0:41:32on a Grundy TK20,

0:41:32 > 0:41:35the old tape recorders, I'll always remember that.

0:41:35 > 0:41:38And they would ask me everything about sex,

0:41:38 > 0:41:41but using the graphic description.

0:41:41 > 0:41:45They then put me in a room with no windows with a male nurse

0:41:45 > 0:41:49and I was in a bed and I had magazines, dirty magazines.

0:41:49 > 0:41:51And then they asked me what I drank,

0:41:51 > 0:41:55and I drank Guinness in those days, so there was cases of Guinness.

0:41:55 > 0:42:00So, I listen to the tape, drink the Guinness and look at the books,

0:42:00 > 0:42:03and halfway through the hour, they injected me,

0:42:03 > 0:42:08which made me vomit and also made me go to the toilet.

0:42:08 > 0:42:15I sat in my own excrement and my own vomit, and that lasted an hour,

0:42:15 > 0:42:22and then they did it again and again and again and for 72 hours.

0:42:22 > 0:42:24There wasn't much left of me at the end of it.

0:42:24 > 0:42:27I wasn't being cured of being gay.

0:42:27 > 0:42:30All I was was lying there thinking,

0:42:30 > 0:42:32"I am never going to be seen again alive

0:42:32 > 0:42:35"because nobody knows I'm in here cos I'm under a false name.

0:42:35 > 0:42:38"I'll never, ever get out of here."

0:42:38 > 0:42:40And I was really, really frightened.

0:42:40 > 0:42:43That's all I was thinking of, so I said, "I want out."

0:42:43 > 0:42:46And from that day onwards, I said, "Enough is enough.

0:42:46 > 0:42:48"I've got to try and accept who and what I am."

0:42:48 > 0:42:50MUSIC: I Feel Good by James Brown

0:42:50 > 0:42:54# Whoa I feel good... #

0:42:54 > 0:42:57Mod, rocker, moon maiden or dandy,

0:42:57 > 0:43:01your clothes told the world who you were in 1966.

0:43:01 > 0:43:06Fashion had exploded into a sea of colour and combustible nylon.

0:43:07 > 0:43:11I can't believe I walked down the street in Liverpool

0:43:11 > 0:43:16in a pair of blue leather hot pants with Mickey Mouse braces

0:43:16 > 0:43:17and a leather cloak,

0:43:17 > 0:43:19and I didn't think I was gay.

0:43:19 > 0:43:21I thought I was getting away with it.

0:43:21 > 0:43:25I really shake my head in disbelief at what I got away with.

0:43:25 > 0:43:27# So nice, so nice I got you... #

0:43:27 > 0:43:31Pete wasn't the only one stretching his sartorial wings.

0:43:31 > 0:43:34Let's be honest, we were all dressing like lunatics.

0:43:34 > 0:43:37Well, apart from Chris, maybe.

0:43:37 > 0:43:38You had a knitted tie.

0:43:38 > 0:43:40I had a knitted tie, yes.

0:43:40 > 0:43:42I can still see the knitted tie.

0:43:42 > 0:43:47- It was the same width all the way down with a square end.- Bottom.

0:43:47 > 0:43:52Well, I was probably just on the transition from corduroy...

0:43:52 > 0:43:53to jeans, you know?

0:43:53 > 0:43:55I looked fantastic in 1966.

0:43:55 > 0:43:57I used to wear all the modern clothes

0:43:57 > 0:44:00and my favourite shop was Biba.

0:44:00 > 0:44:05Well, here's a little Biba dress, very nice, very simple.

0:44:05 > 0:44:08It so revolutionised the whole thing - a very clever lady.

0:44:08 > 0:44:11I loved Biba.

0:44:11 > 0:44:14They always produced nice swimsuits, I think, in the '60s.

0:44:14 > 0:44:17They were quite fashionable, weren't they?

0:44:17 > 0:44:20And the bathing hats, they were very flowery.

0:44:20 > 0:44:23Lots of hair, lots of eyelashes -

0:44:23 > 0:44:26the traditional, iconic Twiggy look.

0:44:28 > 0:44:31Very short skirts, but my legs were better then.

0:44:33 > 0:44:38They had bikinis, but not me because I've always been quite buxom,

0:44:38 > 0:44:41as I would say, and if I dived under a wave,

0:44:41 > 0:44:44the bikini wouldn't be there at the top any more,

0:44:44 > 0:44:47so I never liked bikinis.

0:44:47 > 0:44:49It would be off!

0:44:50 > 0:44:54Here's another one, with a short skirt.

0:44:54 > 0:44:57and we always had to wear boots with it

0:44:57 > 0:44:59because it was the fashion in those days.

0:44:59 > 0:45:01We just thought we could do anything.

0:45:01 > 0:45:04We were so cocky, it was unbelievable,

0:45:04 > 0:45:05and I just thought,

0:45:05 > 0:45:07"Well, I might have funny teeth and glasses,

0:45:07 > 0:45:09"but, you know, I look great."

0:45:09 > 0:45:13But we did look and dress outlandish.

0:45:14 > 0:45:17And if you really wanted to look unique, well,

0:45:17 > 0:45:18you had to break out the needle and thread.

0:45:21 > 0:45:22From the age of 14,

0:45:22 > 0:45:25I'd always made loads of my own clothes,

0:45:25 > 0:45:29and I didn't want to look like anybody else.

0:45:29 > 0:45:31I made myself a silver leather coat,

0:45:31 > 0:45:33and it just looked fabulous.

0:45:36 > 0:45:38Janet's silver jacket was soon to land her a part

0:45:38 > 0:45:41in a legendary film of '66.

0:45:42 > 0:45:44Set in swinging London,

0:45:44 > 0:45:47Blow-Up follows a young mod photographer in a world of fashion,

0:45:47 > 0:45:49pop music and easy sex.

0:45:51 > 0:45:54The Italian film director Antonioni was looking for extras

0:45:54 > 0:45:57at Janet's university.

0:45:57 > 0:46:00He needed to shoot in a nightclub,

0:46:00 > 0:46:05and he was using Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds to play in the nightclub,

0:46:05 > 0:46:07so he needed a lot of London trendies.

0:46:08 > 0:46:10Antonioni picked me out,

0:46:10 > 0:46:13and I got to dance with this black guy,

0:46:13 > 0:46:16and we got extra money, and I remember the others got the hump

0:46:16 > 0:46:18cos I got action.

0:46:18 > 0:46:23The others had to stand around, and I was, like, dancing.

0:46:25 > 0:46:29'66 may have been swinging for London singles, but in Leicester,

0:46:29 > 0:46:33Yasmin realised that her sister's arranged marriage was in trouble.

0:46:34 > 0:46:38'When I came here, it was like a grey cloud everywhere,

0:46:38 > 0:46:39'and I thought,'

0:46:39 > 0:46:42"What's happened to her?", you know? I mean...

0:46:42 > 0:46:43this is not normal.

0:46:43 > 0:46:45It was great to have her.

0:46:45 > 0:46:46If she wasn't there...

0:46:50 > 0:46:51..we wouldn't be here today.

0:46:51 > 0:46:53SHE CHUCKLES

0:46:53 > 0:46:57Yasmin arrived to discover that her Indian brother-in-law

0:46:57 > 0:47:00was living with another woman, and had been for years.

0:47:01 > 0:47:05My husband wasn't with me, he was with an English woman.

0:47:05 > 0:47:07I didn't know. When I came, I found out.

0:47:07 > 0:47:08He never stayed with me.

0:47:08 > 0:47:11And in fact, I went to see him.

0:47:11 > 0:47:13She saw him, she said,

0:47:13 > 0:47:15"He's not good for you.

0:47:15 > 0:47:17"Just forget him and leave him."

0:47:18 > 0:47:23In 1966, Parveen did something unheard of in the Asian community -

0:47:23 > 0:47:25she filed for a divorce.

0:47:25 > 0:47:28Muslim women, it was unheard.

0:47:28 > 0:47:31But what my ex-husband thought -

0:47:31 > 0:47:34"She will not do anything, so I'll have English and Asian."

0:47:34 > 0:47:37That's what he had in mind, but I said, "No way."

0:47:37 > 0:47:40I'd rather be alone than as a second wife.

0:47:40 > 0:47:43And I took the...

0:47:43 > 0:47:46very difficult decision, but I did.

0:47:47 > 0:47:49I think we set the precedent after that, didn't we?

0:47:49 > 0:47:51SHE LAUGHS

0:47:51 > 0:47:54A lot of Muslim girls started coming out of the deadlock, you know.

0:47:54 > 0:47:58They realised that you can do it, you know?

0:47:58 > 0:48:02You can't just suffer, while the man is having another woman on the side.

0:48:06 > 0:48:08It wasn't just women who were asserting their rights.

0:48:09 > 0:48:12In Belfast, sectarian prejudice meant that Catholics

0:48:12 > 0:48:14were being treated as second-class citizens.

0:48:15 > 0:48:19Jobs were being advertised "Protestant only,"

0:48:19 > 0:48:22and many Catholic families were living in slum conditions.

0:48:26 > 0:48:28But young Catholics in Northern Ireland

0:48:28 > 0:48:30were growing in confidence, too.

0:48:32 > 0:48:36Queens University student Eamonn McCann picked up a loud-hailer

0:48:36 > 0:48:39and started campaigning for change.

0:48:40 > 0:48:42'I was perhaps naive and romantic'

0:48:42 > 0:48:46to believe that we were about to transcend,

0:48:46 > 0:48:49to sweep over the old sectarian divides

0:48:49 > 0:48:53because we were young, cool, international people.

0:48:53 > 0:48:56Sadly, it wasn't to be, but it was a very attractive idea at the time.

0:48:56 > 0:48:58For me, anyway.

0:48:59 > 0:49:02Inspired by the civil rights demonstrations in America,

0:49:02 > 0:49:06the students saw that peaceful protests could have a huge impact.

0:49:10 > 0:49:14There was a tendency always within the Catholic community

0:49:14 > 0:49:17to see ourselves as the equivalent of black people

0:49:17 > 0:49:18in the United States.

0:49:20 > 0:49:23Martin Luther King's speech would have been listened to and read

0:49:23 > 0:49:26and celebrated as much, I think,

0:49:26 > 0:49:27by young people in Northern Ireland

0:49:27 > 0:49:31as by anybody outside the Afro-American people themselves.

0:49:35 > 0:49:39The emerging civil rights movement offered many people hope

0:49:39 > 0:49:40that change was on the way.

0:49:42 > 0:49:46A huge housing estate was even being built on the Falls Road,

0:49:46 > 0:49:49to provide better housing for the Catholics there.

0:49:50 > 0:49:53Tommy Fisher was eight years old and living nearby

0:49:53 > 0:49:55when he saw the Divis flats going up.

0:49:57 > 0:50:00People were sold on the idea. It was going to be wonderful.

0:50:00 > 0:50:02They were going to have central heating,

0:50:02 > 0:50:03they were going to have baths.

0:50:03 > 0:50:04A bath!

0:50:04 > 0:50:07You know, I don't remember anyone having a bathroom.

0:50:07 > 0:50:10You had a tin bath that was put in front of the fire.

0:50:10 > 0:50:12Tough luck if you were the last one!

0:50:12 > 0:50:13HE CHUCKLES

0:50:15 > 0:50:20In 1966, the threat of violence in Northern Ireland felt very far away.

0:50:20 > 0:50:25In fact, the province had the lowest crime rates in the whole of the UK.

0:50:27 > 0:50:29The peace didn't last long.

0:50:31 > 0:50:33In the May of '66,

0:50:33 > 0:50:36a loyalist paramilitary group called the UVF re-formed

0:50:36 > 0:50:40amid rumours of a resurgence of IRA activity.

0:50:42 > 0:50:45By June, they had killed two Catholic civilians -

0:50:45 > 0:50:48John Scullion and Peter Ward.

0:50:50 > 0:50:51For Eamonn McCann,

0:50:51 > 0:50:56the killings seemed like the last gasp of the old sectarian ways.

0:50:58 > 0:51:00But others saw what was to come.

0:51:01 > 0:51:04My aunt Cissie said to me when we were marching for civil rights -

0:51:04 > 0:51:06very, very early days - she said,

0:51:06 > 0:51:10"Son, if you keep this up, we'll be burned out of our house."

0:51:10 > 0:51:11HE GASPS

0:51:11 > 0:51:14"Eh?" She says, "We'll be burned out of our house

0:51:14 > 0:51:17"if you people keep up this marching in the streets and causing trouble."

0:51:17 > 0:51:19"Yeah, right."

0:51:19 > 0:51:20She was right.

0:51:20 > 0:51:23She WAS burned out of her house just a couple of years later.

0:51:27 > 0:51:31The Divis flats became an iconic image, not of progress,

0:51:31 > 0:51:33but of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

0:51:36 > 0:51:41Those shots fired in '66 would echo for another 30 years.

0:51:46 > 0:51:49America was influencing Britain in other ways, too.

0:51:51 > 0:51:55In London, Geno was finding that his new career as a soul singer

0:51:55 > 0:51:56was perfectly timed.

0:51:58 > 0:52:02Black American artists were now leading a charge on the charts.

0:52:03 > 0:52:05Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band.

0:52:08 > 0:52:13Geno and his Ram Jam Band had become the hottest live act in town.

0:52:13 > 0:52:15# You don't know like I know

0:52:15 > 0:52:19# What that woman has done for me

0:52:19 > 0:52:20# Cos in the morning... #

0:52:20 > 0:52:25Geno became the biggest act ever to draw a crowd at the Mojo Club.

0:52:25 > 0:52:28We could play him once a month, no problem.

0:52:28 > 0:52:32It cannot be denied - we was the best house-rocker.

0:52:32 > 0:52:34- Geno! - HE CLAPS RHYTHMICALLY

0:52:34 > 0:52:35- Geno! - HE CLAPS RHYTHMICALLY

0:52:35 > 0:52:38- Geno! - HE CLAPS RHYTHMICALLY

0:52:38 > 0:52:41Geno's reputation as an electrifying live performer

0:52:41 > 0:52:44meant that the Ram Jam Band were playing high up

0:52:44 > 0:52:46on the festival bills that summer.

0:52:46 > 0:52:49I just got me some new clothes out of Carnaby Cavern.

0:52:49 > 0:52:51Off Carnaby Street, here.

0:52:51 > 0:52:56I'm going to the festival. I'm looking sharp, I'm feeling sharp.

0:52:56 > 0:53:00And we get there - the crowd dragged me out of the van

0:53:00 > 0:53:02and put me on their shoulders, right?

0:53:02 > 0:53:08Now, my trousers are all split, my butt is hanging out and everything.

0:53:08 > 0:53:09You know what I mean?

0:53:09 > 0:53:13They're carrying me through the audience, about 100 yards there,

0:53:13 > 0:53:19and you got the Small Faces, they are playing, right?

0:53:19 > 0:53:22Steve Marriott's doing his thing and everything,

0:53:22 > 0:53:25and so when they put me up on the stage, he says,

0:53:25 > 0:53:28"All right, you want the nigger, you can have him!"

0:53:28 > 0:53:31HE LAUGHS

0:53:31 > 0:53:34It didn't bother me, you know what I mean?

0:53:34 > 0:53:37I was worried more about my trousers!

0:53:37 > 0:53:38HE LAUGHS

0:53:38 > 0:53:39# Come on, baby

0:53:39 > 0:53:41# Come on, baby. #

0:53:45 > 0:53:46CHEERING

0:53:46 > 0:53:47Yeah!

0:53:47 > 0:53:48Geno Washington.

0:53:53 > 0:53:56- Do you know why the flags are flying in Birmingham here today?- Yes.

0:53:56 > 0:53:57Why is it?

0:53:57 > 0:53:59Oh, the World Cup.

0:53:59 > 0:54:01You remember the excitement building, cos,

0:54:01 > 0:54:03"Oh, we've got through that, we've got through that."

0:54:03 > 0:54:07And sort of all of a sudden, we're in the final, aren't we?

0:54:07 > 0:54:10And you think, "Oh, wow.

0:54:10 > 0:54:12"Oh, we've got to stand a chance."

0:54:12 > 0:54:15- Who do you think's going to win? - England, I hope.

0:54:15 > 0:54:18Wer den Cup gewinnt?

0:54:18 > 0:54:19The German!

0:54:19 > 0:54:23World Cup fever had broken into a sweat.

0:54:23 > 0:54:27England had got into the final, and the whole world was waiting to see

0:54:27 > 0:54:32whether Alf's boys could beat their arch-enemy, West Germany.

0:54:32 > 0:54:36I got out of going out to a wedding to watch the World Cup final.

0:54:36 > 0:54:40Everybody was sort of full of World Cup football fever.

0:54:40 > 0:54:42I wasn't even remotely interested in the World Cup.

0:54:45 > 0:54:48In the Midlands, Sandi counted down the days,

0:54:48 > 0:54:50waiting for the team to walk onto the pitch

0:54:50 > 0:54:54wearing the Puma boots she had helped to make.

0:54:54 > 0:54:58But the beautiful game was about to turn ugly.

0:54:58 > 0:55:02Rival brand Adidas had offered the England players £1,000

0:55:02 > 0:55:05to wear their boots instead.

0:55:05 > 0:55:08Jack Charlton was so annoyed at the dealings

0:55:08 > 0:55:10that he threatened to wear one Puma boot and one Adidas.

0:55:12 > 0:55:15The day of the World Cup final arrived.

0:55:15 > 0:55:2032 million Brits gathered around television sets to watch the game.

0:55:20 > 0:55:25For the eagle-eyed, it looked like a clean sweep for Adidas,

0:55:25 > 0:55:26but not quite.

0:55:26 > 0:55:30One key player was wearing Puma boots.

0:55:30 > 0:55:34I think the only person that actually wore those boots

0:55:34 > 0:55:37was Gordon Banks, which was the goalkeeper.

0:55:37 > 0:55:39I know he definitely had Puma boots,

0:55:39 > 0:55:41cos I was quite a fan of Gordon Banks.

0:55:41 > 0:55:42SHE CHUCKLES

0:55:42 > 0:55:45I thought he was quite cute, the goalkeeper.

0:55:49 > 0:55:53Even if you weren't rooting for England, for those 120 minutes,

0:55:53 > 0:55:56the eyes of the world were on Britain,

0:55:56 > 0:56:01in a year when more than just a football match hung in the balance.

0:56:01 > 0:56:02It's the equaliser!

0:56:02 > 0:56:06The first time I went to London, I got to Euston Station,

0:56:06 > 0:56:09I took my coat off, put it on my shoulders,

0:56:09 > 0:56:14got my cigarette holder out, and I minced down the platform,

0:56:14 > 0:56:15and I was home.

0:56:15 > 0:56:19We were taking control of our destiny.

0:56:19 > 0:56:20It's in!

0:56:22 > 0:56:26I went home, and my mother was shoving washing in the machine,

0:56:26 > 0:56:29and I just looked at her and went, "Well, that's it, I'm off."

0:56:29 > 0:56:32I just got a bag of stuff and walked out,

0:56:32 > 0:56:34and I never went back home after that.

0:56:34 > 0:56:38'66 put us on the path to the lives we live today.

0:56:45 > 0:56:46A live album.

0:56:46 > 0:56:48Cool. It sold.

0:56:48 > 0:56:49"It sold?! Did it?

0:56:49 > 0:56:52- "What, it sold?!" - HE LAUGHS

0:56:52 > 0:56:59It kept bouncing from number two to five for 42 weeks.

0:56:59 > 0:57:04We were making choices that would shape our entire lives.

0:57:04 > 0:57:07Geoff Hurst saw an opening in the defence and achieved the hat-trick!

0:57:10 > 0:57:12For Terri and her boyfriend Dave,

0:57:12 > 0:57:15that day would stay with them forever.

0:57:15 > 0:57:19'Dave walked me back to my little tiny poky chalet,'

0:57:19 > 0:57:22and he proposed to me that night,

0:57:22 > 0:57:25and I think it was because we were just on a bit of a high, really.

0:57:25 > 0:57:28That was my sort of recollection of the World Cup,

0:57:28 > 0:57:30was me getting engaged, really.

0:57:30 > 0:57:33That was far more important to me than the World Cup.

0:57:33 > 0:57:34It was lovely.

0:57:41 > 0:57:42You know what?

0:57:42 > 0:57:44SHE LAUGHS

0:57:44 > 0:57:46They may have thought it was all over...

0:57:46 > 0:57:48THEY LAUGH

0:57:48 > 0:57:49But actually...

0:57:49 > 0:57:50Oh, yeah...

0:57:50 > 0:57:52..it had only just begun.

0:57:53 > 0:57:561966 changed our lives completely.

0:57:56 > 0:57:59We're where we are today because of 1966, aren't we?

0:58:00 > 0:58:02And you won the World Cup.

0:58:02 > 0:58:04And West Ham won the World Cup.

0:58:04 > 0:58:06# ..thunder

0:58:06 > 0:58:08# Lightning

0:58:08 > 0:58:12# The way you love me is frightening

0:58:12 > 0:58:14# I'd better knock

0:58:14 > 0:58:17# On wood

0:58:17 > 0:58:19# Baby

0:58:23 > 0:58:25# I'm not superstitious

0:58:25 > 0:58:28# About you

0:58:28 > 0:58:31# But I can't take no chance... #