Rewind the 60s - 1966-67

Today, Lulu is joined by DJ and broadcaster Tony Blackburn in the Rewind the 60s studio, and the two share their memories of 1966 and 1967. It was the age of psychedelia, flower power, and free love, and for Tony especially these were momentous times. A successful pirate radio DJ, Tony had an offer to come ashore and join a new BBC radio station just starting up. It was to be known as Radio 1. He tells Lulu about the experience of first walking into the BBC: everyone was in hippy gear while he turned up wearing a suit and tie. His stint on the new Radio 1 breakfast show broke new ground in broadcasting, and within a matter of weeks Tony was the most famous DJ in Britain. Elsewhere, lives were being changed by tragedy. We hear an intensely emotional account of what it was like to be caught up in the Aberfan disaster. Gaynor was one of the 200 children inside Pantglas Junior school when it was engulfed by a landslide of mud and debris from Aberfan’s coal tip. She tells us how she lost a sister and brother in the disaster, and movingly recounts how she survived that fateful day. Other news headlines included England winning the 1966 World Cup, a victory which was given the rare honour of being immortalised on the 4d stamp; Hendrix was in a Purple Haze; the Severn Bridge opened. And Lulu tells us how she first heard The Beatles’ LP Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when she was round at John Lennon’s house. Photographer Philip Townsend takes us on a tour of Carnaby Street and Swinging London. Through his skills with a camera, Townsend found himself at the centre of the 60s zeitgeist. Even though he was hanging out with the likes of The Rolling Stones, he didn’t realise the importance of the moment he was part of: “I didn’t look on them as famous or special. They were just going around trying to make a penny like the rest of us.” We also learn how British food changed, as supermarkets and overseas travel led to a broadening of the British palate. We meet Brian Cotterill who enjoyed the honour of being the youngest British chef in a top London restaurant, Le Caprice, and who cooks for us one of his signature dishes. And Charlie Ross explores how new technology revolutionised the way we listened to music, with the portable transistor radio becoming ubiquitous, along with the immortal Dansette record player.