Week 33 : 13th -19th August 1967

Here’s what’s happening around the world this week

• 13th August 1967 – The legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac made its debut, appearing at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor, Berkshire, with Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Jeremy Spencer and (instead of John McVie), bassist Bob Brunning.
• 14th August 1967 – All but one of the United Kingdom’s pirate radio stations played music for their final day, then signed off before the new Marine Broadcasting Offences Act went into effect at midnight. Only one station, Radio Caroline, would continue to broadcast the next day. 
• 15th August 1967 – Twenty-seven people in India fell to their deaths when struck by a tree branch while riding on top of a passenger train as it passed through the city of Katiharin. The branch was from a banyan tree that was considered sacred by worshipers of the Hindu goddess Kali. For several weeks, nobody would trim the branch until finally, an enterprising resident named Siaram Jha defied the goddess of destruction and sawed it off.
• 17th August 1967 – Demonstrators in Beijing forced their way into the Soviet Union embassy compound in China, smashed windows in the main building, destroyed furniture and set fire to files. A similar attack would take place on the British diplomatic quarters the following week.
• 18th August 1967 – Israel opened its border crossing at the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River and began the first of 14 days during which repatriation would be allowed for the 167,500 Palestinian refugees who had applied to return to their homes in the West Bank. On the first day, only 355 displaced people, most of them women and children, or elderly residents, came across the border.
• 19th August 1967 – NASA published the first extensive chart of the hidden side of the Moon ever to be compiled, in advance of the August 22 meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague. Most of the features were unlabeled, but the map did use two names that had been proposed by the Soviet Union for features identified when the USSR took the far side’s first pictures in 1959.

Here’s what Peggy and the family are up to back in Oxshott:

Sunday 13th August 1967
Up early – ironing and seem to have been on the go ever since!! At least everything is washed and ironed and I’ve cleaned out the interior of the car. We put some of the pictures on for the children.

Monday 14th August 1967
It was ghastly going back to work and such a lot there. I’ve worked nine hours today and made very little impression on the pile. Took the children for a little ride round after tea.

Tuesday 15th August 1967
Another very busy day. I worked till 12:15pm and have been back this evening for two hours and the pile is still formidable. Been raining nearly all day.

Wednesday 16th August 1967
Another wet day – at least a fine morning but ghastly afternoon. I’m really quite worried about all the work which is piling up at the office.

Thursday 17th August 1967
Debbie and Janet to tea.
Worked very late tonight – at home. It was quarter to eleven before I packed up. Managed to do some washing and ironing this afternoon. Philip and I went over to Chessington for petrol – exhaust pipe broke and the driver’s door jammed on the Anglia.

Friday 18th August 1967
Drove half a car to work today! To my great surprise, Cyril came home at lunch time with spare parts and a half day – and he’s done both jobs! And there I thought I would have to wait for Bill Parker to come home. Went to work this afternoon.

Saturday 19th August 1967
Poured with rain all day long. Cyril did the Esher shopping – I washed then did local shopping. Went to work all afternoon and managed to do quite a lot. There is still plenty for Mrs Stiles next week. Played Canasta.

 

 

Week 32 : 6th -12th August 1967

Here’s what’s happening around the world this week

• 6th August 1967 – Graduate student Jocelyn Bell of the University of Cambridge radio telescope observatory became the first person to discover a pulsar. She found “a peculiar train of radio signals” that repeated every 1.33 seconds when the telescope was viewing a particular section of the sky.
• 7th August 1967 – Lunar Orbiter 5, launched six days earlier by NASA, transmitted the most clear pictures up to that time of the far side of the Moon.
• 9th August 1967 – British colonial authorities in Hong Kong closed down three pro-communist newspapers, the Tin Fung Daily News, the Hong Kong Evening News and the Afternoon News, halting publication pending the resolution of lawsuits, and arresting five of the journalists on charges of sedition and the spreading of false or inflammatory reports.
• 9th August 1967 – Died – Joe Orton, 34, English playwright and film screenplay writer, was beaten to death at his Islington home by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, who then committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills.
• 9th August 1967 – ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)’ replaced the Beatles’ ‘All You Need Is Love’ as UK No. 1 single.
• 10th August 1967 – Section 127 of the Constitution of Australia, which provided that “In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted”, was repealed as the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginals) 1967 Act went into effect.
• 11th August 1967 – William C. Foster, the chief American representative at the 18-nation nuclear disarmament conference in Geneva, announced at the White House that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had agreed in principle on the conditions of a nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
• 12th August 1967 – The Prices and Incomes Act 1966, passed the previous year as a means of controlling inflation, went into effect in the United Kingdom, giving the British government the authority to delay increases in prices, surcharges, and salaries.

Here’s what Peggy and the family are up to in Cornwall:

Sunday 6th August 1967
We’ve had a lovely day at Tregarnon all day. Called at the farm we used to patronize two years ago and bought eggs which I boiled for lunch. We stayed there until 6:15pm Gillian enjoyed the swimming pool in the rocks.

Monday 7th August 1967
Went to Daymer and played cricket on the beach and had our lunch there. Very windy and dull so we left and went to Mevagissey where it was fine and warm. Leonard and Mary came back here to tea and we played Canasta.

Tuesday 8th August 1967
Wet morning, Children and we spent the morning doing jigsaws which they bought in the village. After lunch we went to Fowey where again it was fine and warm. Children had a river trip with Cyril at the helm. We had a lovely picnic at Carlyon Bay afterwards. Late home.

Wednesday 9th August 1967
Raining – a very wet morning the children played on the beach in anoraks and boots!! A good afternoon – Padstow – a trip on the boat to Coverack – then on to Trevone. Tea above the beach then the children swam and we played cricket till 8pm.

Thursday 10th August 1967
The hottest day we’ve had and we’ve all caught another layer of sunburn. Spent the whole day at Tristram – then on to Trevone where we played evening cricket. Home tomorrow.

Friday 11th August 1967
We left the caravan at noon as it wasn’t a good day. Had a very nice lunch at Tintagel – on to Boscastle. Left there at 3pm and made our way homewards via Dartmoor. Kids did a bit of exploring at Postbridge. No traffic problems. We were at Andover at 8:30pm, so stayed at Mur’s for an hour. Home 11:15pm All very tired.

Saturday 12th August 1967
Very busy washing etc. Line broke too! Had a drive round for an hour to break myself in again. Did a bit of ironing and then played Canasta.

 

 

Week 31 : 30th July-5th August 1967

Here’s what’s happening around the world this week

• 31st July 1967 – Mick Jagger and Keith Richard had their jail sentences revised by an appeal tribunal led by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Parker. Jagger had been sentenced three months imprisonment, and Richards to a year, after being convicted of possession of pep pills and marijuana respectively. “If you keep out of any trouble for the next 12 months,” Lord Parker told Jagger, “what has happened will not be on your record as a conviction.”
• 1st August 1967 – Nine Japanese high school students were killed by a lightning strike while they were descending Mount Nishihodaka, a 2,900m peak in Japan’s Hida Mountains, near Nagano. Ten others were injured, and the other 31 members of the group were unhurt.
• 2nd August 1967 – Israel issued an order canceling the municipal council elections that had been scheduled in the Palestinian towns of the West Bank prior to its capture from Jordan. The four-year terms of all of the members who had been elected in 1963 were extended indefinitely.
• 3rd August 1967 – U.S. President Johnson asked Congress to temporarily increase individual and corporate income taxes by 10 percent for the 1968 tax year and announced that he had approved sending an additional 45,000 American troops to fight in the Vietnam War before June 30, bringing the total number of U.S. personnel in South Vietnam to more than half a million.
• 4th August 1967 – The Defence Amendment Act, 1967 went into effect in South Africa, providing that every young, able-bodied white South African male was subject to military training and service with the South African Defence Force (SADF).
• 5th August 1967 – One hundred and thirty seven people died from poisoning at a new moon festival in Madras after drinking varnish, mixed in a cocktail with lime juice, because of a prohibition in Madras state against the sale of liquor. 

Here’s what Peggy and the family are up to in Cornwall:

Sunday 30th July 1967
Much to our surprise, as it was a dull day when we awoke, we have spent most of the day on the beach – I’ve even been in and had a surf. Lovely it was too. We’ve been for a walk this evening.

Monday 31st July 1967
Went to Wadebridge and from there to Daymer where we spent the afternoon swimming (glorious). To Padstow in the evening where, thank goodness, we found the boat Philip has been searching for.

Tuesday 1st August 1967
Coo – my neck is burning! Had an early (cooked) lunch, then went up the top at Polzeath – have spent a long time in the water – on the surf. Going to the pictures tonight to see ‘My Fair Lady’ – home nearly midnight.

Wednesday 2nd August 1967
Dull day today – we had lunch with Mary and Leonard and didn’t go out until close on 4pm – went to Tintagel and explored the ruins – home about 7:15pm. Children very tired after last night’s late night.

Thursday 3rd August 1967
A lovely day. We’ve had six hours on Tristram Bay today and have another layer of sunburn. Plenty of surfing. Gillian was still in the sea at 5:45pm! Her second session. Rained in the night.

Friday 4th August 1967
Another fine, warm day which we have spent at Daymer. Had a swim after lunch then the children and I with Mary and Di walked to Rock and took the boat to Padstow and bought fish for tea. Home about 6:30pm.

Saturday 5th August 1967
A fine morning – we walked to Rock from Daymer and caught the ferry to Padstow and had lunch there. Found Mary and Leonard parked next to us when we got back to Daymer. Weather worsened – turned cold so we came home to tea. Tried to do my accounts during the evening, but the lighting is very bad.

 

 

Week 30 : 23rd-29th July 1967

 

Here’s what’s happening in the world this week in 1967:-

• 23rd July 1967 – The 12th Street Riot, one of the most destructive riots in US history, occurred in the inner city of Detroit. Over the next five days, 43 people were killed, 1,189 were injured and 7,231 arrested.
• 24th July 1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle spoke to a crowd of over 10,000 French-speaking Canadians in Montreal. The crowd sang along when a band played the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, but booed when the same band began to play the Canadian national anthem, O Canada.
• 25th July 1967 – Canada’s Prime Minister Lester Pearson issued a public rebuke to visiting French President Charles De Gaulle for his speech in Montreal proclaiming, “Vive le Quebec libre!” “Statements by the president tend to encourage the small minority of our population whose aim is to destroy Canada,” Pearson said. De Gaulle cancelled his planned meeting with the Prime Minister and left Canada about 24 hours later.
• 25th July 1967 – Fifty miners near Carletonville, South Africa, were killed as they were descending a steep spiral staircase for their shift at the Western Deep Level Mine. When one miner slipped, a chain reaction followed as those below toppled down the stairs.
• 26th July 1967 – The Cunard Line steamship company announced that it had sold its famous ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary, to the Harbour Commission of Long Beach, California for $3,444,000.
• 28th July 1967 – The Mulford Act was signed into law by California Governor Ronald Reagan as one of the stricter means of gun control. It provided a five-year jail term for any person caught carrying a loaded gun on a public street within the state.
• 29th July 1967 – An explosion and fire on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal  killed 134 U.S. Navy sailors. While the crew was fuelling and arming aircraft, a rocket on an F-4 Phantom jet fighter was accidentally fired. The rocket travelled across the deck  striking an A-4 Skyhawk attack jet and setting it on fire. The carrier’s fire-fighting crew was working on putting out the fire when the heat caused the bomb on other planes to detonate. Future Arizona U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain was in the A-4 when it was struck by the rocket.

And here’s what’s going on in Oxshott:-

Sunday 23rd July 1967
Mary’s party.
Helping Mary on and off all day and by 6:30 I was worn out. Had a quick bath before going next door. Philip’s temperature has been normal all day, but he has stayed upstairs.

Monday 24th July 1967
Driving lesson 6-7:30pm – lousy!
Took Phil to Dr Little. He says his chest is quite clear so I’ll send him to school tomorrow. Only did a couple of hours at the office. Philip went up with me. Done a load of washing and even cleaned the dining room floor today. Had a lousy driving lesson!

Tuesday 25th July 1967
D.T. 2pm
A great day – I passed my test and still can’t believe it!!! I took the car out straight away and met the children. Have also been over to Molesey with Di tonight!

Wednesday 26th July 1967
Took the car to the office – very nice too! Had a hair-do, also very nice. Am told it takes years off me. Had to go out again and meet Gill from Brownies. Washed the car tonight – ready for Friday.

Thursday 27th July 1967
Prize giving – Infants 2:30pm; Juniors 7:15pm
Children were both disappointed that they didn’t get prizes. Must confess I found going to afternoon and evening session a bit boring. Mowed lawns. Cleaned car.

Friday 28th July 1967
Last day of term.
10pm and all in bed except me! Went to the office 8:30am-10:45am and have been on the go since then! Had lunch, Cyril and I, at the Steak House. Very expensive! Then Cyril had to unexpectedly buy a new tyre! Then Anne and Alan called! However, we’re packed and ready for off. I’m just going to bed!

Saturday 29th July 1967
Away we go!
Set off at 2am – a convoy of us, Dennis, Leonard and Cyril. Roads quite full but no hold ups. We kept with the Leyshons all the way and met up with Leonard outside Exeter. Rain started in Devon – after a beautiful night and we cooked breakfast in drizzle and mist on Dartmoor about 7:30am. Weather got worse and it’s raining well now. We all had a sleep this afternoon.

 

 

 

Week 29 : 16th-22nd July 1967

Here’s what’s happening this week around the world in 1967:-

• 16th July 1967 – In the village of Marzabotto in northern Italy, survivors and families of the victims of the October 1944 massacre voted on the fate of former German Army Major Walter Reder, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the killing of 300 townspeople. Reder had written from his prison cell to Marzabotto’s municipal council, expressing his remorse and asking for support for his petition for a release so that he could be with his ailing mother. Of 288 eligible people who cast ballots, four voted for forgiveness, and 282 voted against.
• 17th July 1967 – Died: John Coltrane, 40, African-American jazz composer and saxophonist died of liver cancer.
• 18th July 1967 – Minister of Defence Denis Healey announced the closing of the UK military bases in Malaysia and Singapore, with half of its 80,000 troops to be pulled out by 1970, and a complete withdrawal by 1977.
• 19th July 1967 – Born: Rageh Omaar, Somalia-born British journalist; in Mogadishu.
• 19th July 1967 – Beatles ‘All You Need Is Love’ replaced Procol Harum’s ‘ A Whiter Shade of Pale’ as UK No. 1.
• 20th July 1967 – The U.S. House of Representatives decided against approving a $40 million program that was intended to exterminate rats in inner city slums over a period of two years. President Johnson responded with, “an unusually bitter statement”, complaining that, “We are spending federal funds to protect our livestock from rodents and predatory animals. The least we can do is give our children the same protection that we give our livestock.”
• 21st July 1967 – Died: Albert Luthuli, 69, South African anti-apartheid leader, President of the African National Congress since 1952, and 1960 Nobel Prize for Peace laureate. Killed when he was struck by a freight train while walking along a railroad track.
• 22nd July 1967 – Explorer 35, launched by NASA to study and measure the shadowing effect of the moon on solar electrons, entered lunar orbit and began sending back data. Although its instruments would be switched off by 1973, Explorer 35 would still be orbiting the Moon half a century later.

Here’s what’s happening in Peggy’s world back in Oxshott:-

Sunday 16th July 1967
I’ve certainly more energy since I gave up taking my relaxing pills but I ought to start them again as my test is drawing nearer. Very hot again.

Monday 17th July 1967
Cyril’s gone to Cardiff. It’s a terribly hot day again – very damp and sticky. Cyril rang – it’s pouring hard in Cardiff. Expect we will get it later. Am expecting Mur and Dave, Caro and Dad on Saturday.

Tuesday 18th July 1967
Mary & Leonard’s Anniversary.
Overslept this morning after a disturbed night with a) Philip, b) thunderstorm and c) Philip!!!! Very close still. Cyril arrived home at 5:20pm

Wednesday 19th July 1967
Philip to tea with Andrew Buchan.
Started taking my pills in readiness for driving again and feel too tired to care! Must leave them off. Worked late.

Thursday 20th July 1967
Worked all day and at home in the evening trying to catch up and leave my house in order. Also working hard at home, windows, brass etc. Baking too, for the weekend.

Friday 21st July 1967
Driving Lesson 3:15-4:45pm
Completely taken aback by the new car Mr Green turned up in to take me for my lesson. A VIVA. Not at all happy about it. Busy in the kitchen all evening. Up half the night with Philip.

Saturday 22nd July 1967
Mur & Co today.
Worried about Phil – temperature of 101.4° so he’s in bed for the day. Mur and Co arrived at quarter to twelve (near enough) having lost their way a little. However, we had an early lunch then a long afternoon. Philip, of course, stayed in bed most of the day. We let him get up to see the films. We all (except Cyril – he stayed with Phil) went for a walk on the Heath about 8pm. Family left 9:15pm. I then helped Mary for a little while.

 

Week 28 : 9th-15th July 1967

Here’s what’s the world was up to this week in 1967:-

• 9th July 1967 – At least 371 people were killed in Japan when landslides, triggered by heavy rains from Typhoon Billie, hit the western half of the Kyushu island.
• 10th July 1967 – ‘Ode to Billie Joe’, one of the most popular songs of 1967, was recorded by songwriter and singer Bobbie Gentry.
• 11th July 1967 – The Irish parliament amended the Censorship of Publications Act to provide that the banning of a book by the Censorship of Publications Board would be limited to 12 years. Although the Board retained the right to ban a title again, the amendment resulted in the unbanning of thousands of books.
• 12th July 1967 – Five days of rioting in Newark, New Jersey began when an African-American taxicab driver, John Smith, was arrested by two city police officers. As rumors spread that Smith had been killed by the police, a crowd marched toward the Newark City Hall in what started as a nonviolent protest. An attempt was made to disperse the crowd and the riot started. When the riot ended on the 17th of July, 21 black residents were dead (including six women and two children) along with a white policeman and a white fireman.
• 13th July 1967 – The Abortion Act 1967 was approved by the House of Commons by a 167-83 margin. It would receive approval of the House of Lords, without significant alteration, on October 26 and given royal assent the next day.
• 14th July 1967 – The Bee Gees released Bee Gees’ 1st, which went on sale in the United Kingdom. Although it was their third album, it was the first to be distributed in the UK and the United States. The first two albums had been released only in Australia and New Zealand.
• 15th July 1967 – A settlement was established by Israeli citizens in the Golan Heights, which had been captured from Syria the previous month during the Six Day War. The settlers took over Aleika, an abandoned Syrian army camp, and created the Merom Golan kibbutz.

And here’s what Peggy and the family are up to:-

Sunday 9th July 1967
Another lovely day – children slept late – Phil had had a bad night coughing and crying. They were up in time for Sunday School. Bill Parker has serviced the car ready for the holiday.

Monday 10th July 1967
Have been feeling exhausted today – must be the heat – it’s very hot again. Too hot for me – can’t work up any energy to do any jobs!!

Tuesday 11th July 1967
Another scorcher – and an energy lacking day for me. Worked until 3:30pm. The children are wallowing in the pool – and I wish I were too!!

Wednesday 12th July 1967
Yet another very hot day. Oh dear – I’ve no energy at all – even writing this makes me perspire freely.

Thursday 13th July 1967
School Open Day
Worked till twelve. Went to Open Day this afternoon. There seems to be a little improvement in the children’s work. Have had a cold bath in an attempt to get some energy!!

Friday 14th July 1967
Another life-less sort of day. I have done some washing since school – but that’s about all and I’ve been on the sofa since then!

Saturday 15th July 1967
Only had village shopping today – that took long enough! We’ve been very busy. Cyril has cleaned the Corsair and me the Anglia. Cyril has done some plant (indoor) tidying up ready for the holiday and we’ve spent a couple of pounds at Claygate fete. Heard that Dad is going to Andover tomorrow. Played canasta.

Week 27 : 2nd-8th July 1967

Around the world this week in 1967:

• 2nd July 1967 – The Vela 3 and Vela 4 satellites, launched in May to monitor Soviet nuclear testing by detecting gamma rays, recorded the first of many gamma-ray bursts. US authorities were worried, but they soon realised that neither China nor the Soviet Union could test nuclear weapons every other week. Nearly 30 years later, in February, 1997, modern satellite technology would confirm that the gamma-ray bursts came from other galaxies.
• 3rd July 1967 – Norwell Gumbs began duty with the Metropolitan Police Service as the first non-white policeman in London. Gumbs, a 21-year old British citizen originally from the West Indies, had started training on March 29, and was assigned to the West End Central Police Station.
• 4th July 1967 – The House of Commons voted 99 to 14 to approve the Sexual Offences Act 1967, decriminalizing homosexuality in England and and Wales. The law removed penalties only for relations between men over the age of 21. Sexual relations between lesbians were still prohibited, and new the law did not apply to Scotland or to Northern Ireland.
• 6th July 1967 – Pan American Flight 100 from New York to London, became the first commercial airline flight to make a fully automated landing without the intervention of the crew. The passengers on board were not informed until after the “no hands” landing, but applauded the announcement.
• 8th July 1967 – Died: Vivien Leigh, 53, British film actress and winner of two Academy Awards, known for her roles in Gone With the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire.

Back in Oxshott:

Sunday 2nd July 1967
Gill, Phil and I went to church at 10am – back to a bit of gardening and all sorts. All had shampoos later. Didn’t go out. Joan rang.

Monday 3rd July 1967
Our 17th Anniversary.
Doris rang early with congratulations. Apart from that today has been much like any other. Did a bit of sewing this evening. Having a day off tomorrow.

Tuesday 4th July 1967
Gill’s Sports Day.
Had a soul destroying morning trying on bathing suits – it was hopeless. Bought one eventually at C & A, but think I’ll take it back. Gillian enjoyed her races, even though she came in last!

Wednesday 5th July 1967
Worked until 4pm today. Plenty to do at the office. Have done some washing and general cleaning at home. Going to Mur’s on Saturday. Have my watch strap – very smart.

Thursday 6th July 1967
Another fine day – I’ve worked most of it. Went down to see Mrs Findlay this evening and spent an hour or so chatting with her. Joan rang.

Friday 7th July 1967
Very hot! Went to Esher at lunch time – did the weekend shopping – back to work and then home to work. Have done the washing and ironing this evening. Children early to bed but not to sleep.

Saturday 8th July 1967
To Mur’s.
Set off at 8am – at Mur and Dave’s  by quarter to ten. Have had a very nice day and Mur and I went out to Andover during the afternoon while the men took the children out. Mur and Dave have a very nice house – all new utensils and furniture and they seem very happy there. Left 9pm, home 10:20pm.