A Brave New World Wales in the Sixties

During the '60s the youth of Wales threw away the rule book

and set about creating a better world

with new ideals and opportunities.

This is really revolutionary stuff.

We were very serious in the '60s.

You know, especially people like me, who were political.

Everybody else, they shared this dream, and so I realised,

that I'd have to pour this political zeal into my work if possible.

We started protesting about things in Welsh.

OK, there were problems in America,

OK, there were problems all over the world,

but we had our own problems here in Wales.

This is the story of the younger generation,

whose fight for a brave new world helped revolutionise Wales

in the 1960s.

From the beginning of the decade,

the industrial and cultural landscape of Wales

started to change.

There was full employment, and a mood of optimism in the air.

Even those entering mining had high hopes for the future.

Tyrone O'Sullivan grew up in Merthyr Tydfil and left school aged 15.

At 15 years of age, the world turns upside down

cos you go from being a boy

rapidly into being a man.

No doubt about it, the choice I had was to go underground

and start off in the same pit as my father for ?5 a week,

or go and work in Burtons with a nice smart suit for ?2.50.

I loved the idea of going into a coal mine.

I was in a place 23 inches high

and we were working about 45 metres up the face...

So you had to crawl up in about that much height.

TV COMMENTARY: It's an industry of men

and machines undreamed of a few short years ago.

There was a drive to modernise coal mining

pioneered by the National Coal Board,

that needed to attract new blood for an old industry.

So in mining today there's a new call for boys

to become mining apprentices, to spend up to three years

of paid and fascinating training to fit them for an important future.

We were the only people who went

to be educated to become apprentices.

Prior to us, you'd work with an electrician

and he'd show you what to do, never went to exams.

He'd show you how to do this and do that.

We were the first people who went through

college education.

We thought we were the kiddies.

The young generation brought a new popular culture to mining

and the struggle for a better future.

WELSH CHOIR SINGS

Older miners did sing in work

because many of them were in the same choir.

If you were in the choir and there's five or six of you there,

I think it would be natural to sing some of the pieces

you're going to sing the following day or that night.

But of course we...used to be having Mick Jagger,

and one guy with us, he could take Mick Jagger off to a T,

stance as well. And these older guys would be shaking their head,

and they thought we were crazy

but we took our lifestyle outside,

our rock'n'roll into the mine.

MUSIC: "Walk The Dog" by the Rolling Stones

# If you don't know how to do it

# I'll show you how to walk the dog... #

The strange thing was,

although we were down there three miles underground

holding Glamorgan up,

it was a wonderful place to work because the politics were fantastic.

I loved going in in the morning. I loved the talks,

I loved walking out at the end of the shift

cos you'd have your chats, "Do you know what's going on, you know?

"We've come from the end of the war,

"we're looking forward to a better world,"

and these men'd be talking to you like that, so you'd be pulled in.

Tyrone O'Sullivan went on to become branch secretary

of the NUM in South Wales,

and an iconic figure in the fights to save the last pits.

The '60s were boom years for light industry in the Valleys,

supported by government grants.

Young women took advantage of the huge demand for their skills.

Even when they started a family,

they could dictate the hours they worked to suit them best.

Barbara Evans worked at Kayser Bondor,

manufacturer of ladieswear in Merthyr.

I enjoyed working there because of the hours.

The half past nine till half past three were wonderful,

and then school holidays when the children had six weeks off,

they'd leave you go in at eight in the morning till half past twelve.

And then some of the girls would go in at half past twelve till five,

so his machines were never stopped, you see.

One did mornings, one did afternoons.

Suited us and it suited the boss.

It was wonderful.

We made nighties, negligees,

pyjamas, dressing gowns,

full slips, half slips, briefs, pants, bras...

All ladies' underwear.

Everything, which was new.

Some seasons they'd be all frills, you know,

and then the next season, oh, very classy.

We used to make beautiful nighties and the girls were calling them

Ginger Rogers because there was so much lace.

Oh, they were just glamour itself.

MUSIC: "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small

In the underwear part there were about 600 of us working there.

So you can see we were well dressed with Kayser Bondor underwear,

and of course you bought for the families,

and then next door to our factory was Hoover's.

And then the Hoover ladies would come down and they could buy.

Oh, everybody bought from Kayser Bondor,

and my one aunt in London, she worked off the West End,

and she'd say to me,

"The so-and-so window's all been dressed up in Kayser underwear,

"Barbara, looking beautiful."

With such high employment in manufacturing and heavy industries,

many working class parents were keen for their teenage sons and daughters

to bring in extra wage packets for the family.

So school leavers with a dream of being a rock'n'roll star

could find the going tough.

Musician Andy Fairweather-Low grew up in Llanrumney, near Cardiff.

My mother took me to the youth employment place

and she sat me down and said, "He needs a job,"

and then the guy looked at me and said, "What kind of job do you want?"

I said, "I want to work in a music shop."

And she went bang, clipped me, "No, you don't. He wants a proper job."

Andy got his way, and it was through working in a Cardiff record shop

that he met other local, budding musicians.

They formed a group called the Taff Beats

and joined the vibrant club circuit in the Valleys.

Got together with a couple of guys, so now we were doing gigs.

You could go up the Valleys play a social club, you know?

They'd stop the bingo and then you'd come up

and they all complained, "You're too loud."

There's a cafe behind you,

you know, and the woman would come out with a frying pan,

"Turn it down!" you know, cos all she'd hear was the drummer.

So it was pretty rough.

MUSIC: "Johnny B Goode" by Chuck Berry

# Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

# Way back up in the woods among the evergreens... #

So while you're playing, a fight breaks out

and a fight would always break out, you know, and mayhem

and then the vicar would come out, "Keep playing, boys. Keep playing".

So you'd play Johnnie B Goode three times while the fight's going on.

And then all of a sudden one policeman would come in

and he'd get in the middle and he'd sort it out

and that'd be it, and he'd sort it out.

MUSIC: "Bend Me, Shape Me" by Amen Corner

# You're the only woman I need

# And baby, you know it... #

Just two years after leaving school,

Andy hit the big time with his new band, Amen Corner,

and became the heart-throb of every teenage girl.

# Cos I got nothing to hide

# Just the peace of mind... #

Being on stage, yeah, that's it

but once they'd struck up the beginning of a number,

these people are hearing it in their heads and they've gone crazy.

And I don't even have to sing it, cos I'm spending a lot of time

either parting my hair or shaking their hands.

Even if I did sing, it didn't make any difference, and I knew that.

So my job then as the front man

was to entertain and make a contact.

# Bend me, shape me

# Any way you want me

# Long as you love me

# It's all right

# Bend me, shape me

# Any way you want me

# You've got the power... #

There was a moment where there was ?1,000 after Bend Me Shape Me

and we were sent down Carnaby Street

to spend some money and buy some clothes, which we did.

We get to Carnaby Street

and it's the ones with the strangest shirts, satin, all furry collars,

we get into all of that.

We got paid a wage, each week, out of what we made from gigging,

from the gigs, not from anything else,

but we were a hard-working band and we were getting paid well.

We were one of the highest paid bands at that time on the circuit.

MUSIC: "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" By The Amen Corner

That whole '60s period, three years, that's all.

Three years, certainly three years that made their mark.

We signed one contract as a band,

and we decided to bump our wages up to ?35 a week.

Outside of that, never seen anything to this day.

Andy has since enjoyed a much respected international career

as a singer and guitarist.

MUSIC: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones

Rock musicians had a powerful influence on the youth of Wales.

They were an inspiration for a generation

searching for a new identity.

The world was changing fast

and young people wanted to be a part of it.

MUSIC: "I'm A Soul Man" by Sam And Dave

With race becoming a major issue,

many black people in Wales were inspired by

the Black Power Movement in America.

# I'm a soul man... #

Clive Sweet grew up in Llandudno.

I noticed when the Black Power Movement started that people started,

you know, grow their hair and make it look good,

and make themselves, you know,

the hair was rounded off and all this kind of stuff, you know?

"Wow," I thought, "Bloody hell, now we can do something," you know?

And then of course Hendrix come with his hair, you know,

and his hair wasn't exactly an Afro,

it was just sort of all sticking out here and there.

I really got into Hendrix because he was the image of somebody

that I wouldn't have minded being. You know, he played the guitar,

obviously I couldn't play the guitar like he, nobody can,

but I just thought he was a fantastic representation of a black person.

But one night, Clive Sweet was to find out that not everybody

in Llandudno thought like him.

There was a fancy dress party at a club in the town,

and Clive thought he'd make fun of the patronising image

of the black and white minstrel.

I went up as Al Jolson cos, you know,

I just wanted to change the er... You know, stand it on its head

because I'd realised a lot by this time.

I'm going to put white round me eyes, white on me mouth

and see what kind of response I'm going to get.

Well, so I go up to this fancy dress, to this hall

and the guy comes out and said, "You can't come in here."

And I said, "What do you mean?" I'm with some mates.

"You can't come in here. We don't let your type in here."

I said, "What do you mean, my type?" "Well, you know,

"you black people, cos you cause trouble.

"And you flaunt yourself, you people, you flaunt yourselves."

With the owner of the club refusing him entry,

Clive left in disgust with his friends.

But the incident was reported to the papers.

Went to work the next day and then the next thing the papers come round

and they want to know about the story.

So I told them about what happened and he denied it,

and he tried to make out that I was a liar,

even though it wasn't me that had phoned up.

It was somebody that overheard it, who was on the committee of the club.

And then it was taken to Parliament, a fellow called

Ednyfed Hudson Davies raised the issue

and I thought it was a good thing.

The incident was taken up by Conwy MP Ednyfed Hudson Davies.

This, together with other cases of racial discrimination

brought before Parliament, led to the Race Relations Act of 1968.

MUSIC: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles

# It was 20 years ago today

# Sgt Pepper told the band to play

# They'd been going in and out of style

# But they're guaranteed to raise a smile

# So may I introduce to you

# The act you've known for all these years

# Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band... #

The youth of Wales were at the forefront of change in the '60s,

yet their radical beliefs were often shaped outside Wales

when they were students at universities across Britain.

SONG: "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" by The Beatles

# Picture yourself in a boat on a river... #

Some were drawn into a new counter-culture

that was experimenting with mind-expanding drugs.

Writer Howard Marks was studying at Balliol College, Oxford,

when he was first introduced to marijuana at a party.

He pulled out, looked like a home-rolled cigarette

and sort of lit it and offered it to me.

And I said, "What is this?"

And he said, "Keef."

I'd never heard of keef before, but I smoked it

and I remember Please Please Me by James Brown was being played

on the record player there,

and it seemed as if I was now hearing it for the first time.

The first thing I noticed was that, you know,

was how time seemed to slow down so much

that I could listen to this music for the first time.

I just found the experience so enjoyable, you know,

absolutely so enjoyable in every way

and so I immediately wanted another one.

You know, it was a very rational reaction, really,

to an enjoyable experience.

I wanted to have another one and another one and another one...

On it went.

I just loved it, I loved smoking marijuana.

MUSIC: "Itchycoo Park" by Small Faces

# We'll get high... #

I would bring drugs back to Wales, you know, acid and cannabis

and give them to my friends in Wales, who were still in Wales.

I remember taking acid and watching the blast furnaces in Port Talbot,

you know, Margam Mountain was wonderful.

Despite the fact that it was illegal,

Howard decided to turn his love for marijuana

into an alternative career.

The '60s were definitely one of the happiest times of my life.

There was a feeling of change happening,

and I felt that, you know, life as a dope dealer or dope smuggler

would be short-lived anyway,

so let's do it, get it out of the way, get some money and some fun

under the belt and then straighten out after.

In fact, Howard Marks became an international drugs baron

and spent seven years in jail.

In such hedonistic times,

there was often a lack of awareness of the real damage drugs could do.

But in the '60s not all students were obsessed with drugs.

The passion of the most idealistic was to change the world

and make it a better place.

Students took to the streets

to protest about a great range of issues,

from human rights to war.

Here at the Hornsey College of Art,

its high standard of education was transformed into a hotbed

of radical politics.

Kim Howells was a student there in 1968.

London is where it was happening and where I wanted to be,

and being at art college was very, very special, you know,

you were at the heart of what was happening in swinging London.

It was a very vibrant place, but it was also

an incredibly rigorous education.

You were talking about your work, you were studying art history.

It was a very intense education

and we'd spend a lot of time arguing about politics.

Kim Howells, seen here at Hornsey, helped inspire students

all over Britain to take control of their education.

The conflict with college and university authorities

mushroomed into a symbolic challenge

against the British political establishment.

And a Welshman was at the heart of it.

I remember when in May 1968

we started the great occupation of Hornsey, which of course

galvanised student politics in Britain.

And for weeks and weeks we occupied that building and ran it ourselves,

and everybody who was anybody came there.

This was very revolutionary stuff.

We were very serious in the '60s.

You know, especially people like me who were political.

If we're all in agreement, I propose that we now march down to

Wood Green Civic Centre in quarter of an hour and demand an answer.

Kim Howells went on to become Labour MP for Pontypridd

for more than 20 years.

In Wales itself, many students were inspired by the campaigns

for the promotion of the Welsh language

and against the investiture of the Prince of Wales.

These protests epitomised the spirit of Welsh nationalism

sweeping the country in the late 1960s.

Actor Sharon Morgan was a student at Cardiff University.

There were quite a few of us

who were sort of very strong Welsh nationalists at the time.

And then my life there became

a sort of round of protesting and marching and sit-ins,

because I think almost as soon as I got there

they announced there's going to be

the investiture of the Prince of Wales.

But it was really exciting,

it was fantastic cos you were with a bunch of like-minded people.

It was also very black and white at the time.

The issues that we were raising, we don't want an investiture,

we want Welsh road signs, we want forms in Welsh.

Sharon joined the march to the BBC's broadcasting house in Llandaff

to protest for an increase in the number of Welsh language programmes.

The protest culminated in an overnight sit-in,

but in the process Sharon was to discover just how far

her political beliefs had alienated her from her boyfriend.

The police were sort of outside, the police knew we were there.

We knew we were going to leave peacefully in the morning,

the statement had been made, we'd been on the news, etc.

But the policeman came in and said, "Is there a Sharon Morgan in here?"

I said, "Yeah." "Well, there's someone outside for you."

I thought, "This is strange."

So I went outside of the door and it was my boyfriend of the time,

and he said, "Come out of there, no wife of mine is going to jail."

And I just laughed and said, "I'm not coming now, I'm going back in.

"I'll see you, see you later."

Everybody else was of the same mind. They'd been on the protests,

they'd been on the marches as well because they shared this dream.

That's when I realised that I'd have to pour this political zeal

into my work, if possible,

and that's what I've tried to do, really, all my life.

Since then Sharon has tirelessly promoted many forms

of Welsh language drama in her work as an actor.

Despite the support for Prince Charles

and his efforts to learn Welsh,

the investiture of the Prince of Wales generated some of

the most passionate protests of all.

The vast majority of those opposed to the imposition

of an Englishman on the Principality of Wales

were the new young generation.

Their sentiments were captured in Dafydd Iwan's hit single Carlo,

which in 1969 remained Number One in Wales for ten weeks.

HE SINGS IN WELSH

This new genre of Welsh protest song had been a huge influence

on singer Heather Jones.

When I heard protest songs for the first time

I knew that was my next big thing I wanted to sing. I wanted to protest,

I wanted to be on those marches, you know,

so I started singing protest songs

and thinking that I was going to be a protest singer.

SHE SINGS IN WELSH

Then, of course, I got into the Welsh thing,

and we started protesting about things in Welsh then,

about the drowning of the valleys and the losing of the language.

I started to really, really get filled up with all that

sort of thing and I wanted to be part of that scene.

You know, Meic Stevens, the iconic Welsh singer wrote a wonderful song

about the drowning of the Welsh valley, Tryweryn,

and I loved that song.

MEIC STEVENS SINGS IN WELSH

Tryweryn was the river dammed in the early 1960s

to create a reservoir for Liverpool.

The Welsh-speaking people of Capel Celyn

were forced to leave before their valley was flooded.

Despite the mostly peaceful campaign against the reservoir,

there was a tiny minority, as in later protests,

who took to sabotage and bombing.

The valley was lost, but Tryweryn became a symbol for nationalism

in Wales.

I found that I was fuelled with this.

OK, there were problems in America.

OK, there were problems all over the world,

but we had our own problems here in Wales

and it inspired me to become more of a nationalistic singer.

One of the iconic songs that was written in the '60s

was a song called Colli Iaith, To Lose Your Language.

My parents, they were dead against the Welsh language

and it was sort of ostracised,

you know, you don't speak it in the house,

you don't give this to your children. They won't get on in life

if they have the Welsh language, which is so ridiculous

cos the whole of my life has been singing in Welsh.

I sing in English occasionally, but, you know,

the main-stay of my career has been through the Welsh language.

This very Welsh protest movement created new careers

for many of its young pioneers.

They were part of a new generation,

building a land of much greater freedom and opportunity

than ever before.

Next week, we look at the lifestyle revolution

that transformed homes and families throughout Wales.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd