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Home , Geoff Stephens, Jean Shrimpton, Mary Quant, Power pop, Swinging Radio England, Swinging Sixties

The swinging 60s: is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in in the . It consisted largely of music, discotheques, and fashion. It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the British economy after post-World War IIausterity which lasted through much of the 1950s. "Swinging London" was defined by Time magazine in its issue of 15 April 1966 and celebrated in the name of the station, Swinging Radio , that began shortly afterward. However, "swinging" in the sense of hip or fashionable had been used since the early 1960s, including byNorman Vaughan in his "swinging/dodgy" patter on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. In 1965, Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, said "London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment." Later that year, the American singer Roger Miller had a hit record with "England Swings", which steps around the progressive youth culture (both musically and lyrically). 1967 saw the release of Peter Whitehead's cult documentary film Tonite Lets All Make Love in London which accurately summed up both the culture of Swinging London through celebrity interviews, and the music with its accompanying soundtrack release featuring .

Music: Already heralded by Colin MacInnes' 1959 novel Absolute Beginners, Swinging London was underway by the mid-1960s and included music by , , ,, The , and other artists from what was known in the United States as the "". from artists such as The Experience, Cream,Pink Floyd, and Traffic grew significantly in popularity. This sort of music was heard in the over pirate radio stations such as , Wonderful Radio London, andSwinging Radio England because the BBC did not allow this on their radio station.

Fashion and symbols: During the time of Swinging London, fashion and photography were featured in Queen magazine, which drew attention to fashion designer . The Jean Shrimpton was another icon and one of the world's first . She was the world's highest paid and most photographed model during this time. Shrimpton was called "The Face of the '60s", in which she has been considered by many as "the symbol of Swinging London” and the "embodiment of the 1960s". Other popular models of the era included Veruschka, Peggy Moffitt, and Penelope Tree. The modelTwiggy has been called "the face of 1966" and "the Queen of Mod," a label she shared with others, such as Cathy McGowan, who hosted the television rock show, Ready Steady Go! from 1964 to 1966. Mod-related fashions such as the stimulated fashionable shopping areas such as and King's Road, Chelsea. The fashion was a symbol of youth culture. The British flag, the , became a symbol, assisted by events such as England's home victory in the 1966 World Cup. TheMini-Cooper car (launched in 1959) was used by a fleet of mini-cab taxis highlighted by advertising that covered their paintwork. The 1960s featured a number of diverse trends. It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time. In the middle of the decade, culottes, go-go boots, box-shaped PVC dresses and other PVC clothes were popular... The widely popular came into fashion in 1963 after being featured in the musical Beach Party. Mary Quant invented the mini-skirt, and Jackie Kennedy introduced the pillbox hat, both becoming extremely popular. False eyelashes were worn by women throughout the 1960s, and their hairstyles were a variety of lengths and styles. People were dressing in psychedelic prints, highlighter colors, and mismatched patterns. The movement late in the decade also exerted a strong influence on ladies' clothing styles, including bell- bottom jeans, tie-dye, and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints. In the early-to-mid-1960s, the London Modernists known as the Mods were shaping and defining popular fashion for young British men while the trends for both changed more frequently than ever before in the history of fashion and would continue to do so throughout the decade. Designers were producing clothing more suitable for young adults, which led to an increase in interest and sales

Films: The phenomenon was featured in many films of the time. These include Darling (1965), …and How to Get It (1965), the film (1966),Alfie (1966), Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), Georgy Girl (1966), The Jokers (1967), (1967), Smashing Time (1967), To Sir, with Love (1967),Bedazzled (1967), Poor Cow (1967), I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967), Up the Junction (1968), Joanna (1968), Otley (1968), The Magic Christian (1969), and Performance(1970). The comedy films : International Man of Mystery (1997) and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) resurrected the imagery, as did the 2009 film .

Tv: One television series that reflected the spirit of Swinging London was The Avengers (1961-1969). In the episode "Beauty is an Ugly Word" (1966) of BBC's Adam Adamant Lives!, Adamant (Gerald Harper), an Edwardian adventurer suspended in time since 1902, was told, "This is London, 1966 – the swinging city. The BBC Television show Take Three Girls (1969) is noted for Liza Goddard's first starring role, an evocative folk-rock theme song ("Light Flight" by Pentangle), West location, and scenes in which the heroines were shown dressing or undressing. "Jigsaw Man", a 1968 episode of the detective series Man in a Suitcase, opened with the announcement: "This is London... Swinging London.”

Swinging 60s - Capital of Cool

For a few years in the 1960s, London was the world capital of cool. When Time magazine dedicated its 15 April 1966 issue to London: the Swinging City, it cemented the association between London and all things hip and fashionable that had been growing in the popular imagination throughout the decade.

London’s remarkable metamorphosis from a gloomy, grimy post-War capital into a bright, shining epicentre of style was largely down to two factors: youth and money. The baby boom of the 1950s meant that the urban population was younger than it had been since Roman times. By the mid- 60s, 40% of the population at large was under 25. With the abolition of National Service for men in 1960, these young people had more freedom and fewer responsibilities than their parents’ generation. They rebelled against the limitations and restrictions of post-War society. In short, they wanted to shake things up…

Added to this, Londoners had more disposable income than ever before – and were looking for ways to spend it. Nationally, weekly earnings in the ‘60s outstripped the cost of living by a staggering 183%: in London, where earnings were generally higher than the national average, the figure was probably even greater.

This heady combination of affluence and youth led to a flourishing of music, fashion, design and anything else that would banish the post-War gloom. Fashion boutiques sprang up willy-nilly. Men flocked to Carnaby St, near , for ‘Mod’ fashions. While women were lured to the King’s Rd, where Mary Quant’s radical mini skirts flew off the rails of her iconic store, Bazaar.

Even the most shocking or downright barmy fashions were popularised by models who, for the first time, became superstars. Jean Shrimpton was considered the symbol of Swinging London, while was named The Face of 1966. Mary Quant herself was the undisputed queen of the group known as The Chelsea Set, a hard-partying, socially eclectic mix of largely idle ‘toffs’ and talented working-class movers and shakers.

Music was also a huge part of London’s swing. While had the Beatles, the London sound was a mix of bands who went on to worldwide success, including The Who, The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Rolling Stones. Their music was the mainstay of pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline and Radio Swinging England. Creative types of all kinds gravitated to the capital, from artists and writers to magazine publishers, photographers, advertisers, film-makers and product designers.

But not everything in London’s garden was rosy. Immigration was a political hot potato: by 1961, there were over 100,000 West Indians in London, and not everyone welcomed them with open arms. The biggest problem of all was a huge shortage of housing to replace bombed buildings and unfit slums and cope with a booming urban population. The badly-conceived solution – huge estates of tower blocks – and the social problems they created, changed the face of London for ever. By the , with industry declining and unemployment rising, Swinging London seemed a very dim and distant memory.

The is Britain’s most defining decade The swinging sixties has been named as the most defining decade of the 20th

Century in British history a study revealed yesterday.

Research has found that nearly half of UK adults said that the decade famed for its iconic fashion, ground-breaking music and significant moments in history was the most defining.

The sixties beat other eras hands down when it came to music – only 17 per cent said the 70s would be remembered for its music and even less said the

1980’s.

Thanks to the arrival of the mini-skirt championed by fashion designer Mary

Quant respondents also voted the 1960’s as the best decade for fashion with runner up being the 70s.

The study was commissioned to coincide with the launch of The Sixties, a new

TV show on Yesterday, Tuesdays at 9pm from 30th September.

Executive produced by multiple Emmy award-winning producers and Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, The Sixties explores how and why this decade became a period of such consequence, and still today remains an epoch of such fascination.

Neil Armstrong landing on the moon was named as the most defining moment of the 60s, followed by the assassination of JFK in 1963.

Other significant milestones included the death of Marilyn Monroe and the first ever movie. The arrival of the contraceptive pill and the meteoric rise of were also listed as defining moments of the 1960s.

Adrian Wills, General Manager of Yesterday said; "We conducted this research to find out which decade in history was viewed as the most defining. By far and away the 1960s won every category. Regardless of whether we were around in the 1960s or not, Brits tend to have a real sense of nostalgia when it comes to the music and the history surrounding that era. Even teenagers of today will be aware of the significance of key figures in history like Marilyn Monroe, the

Beatles and the story of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King"

Over ten episodes The Sixties examines key moments of the era using archival newsreel footage, personal movies, expert commentary from historians, and interviews with eyewitnesses to history.

The study also found the Beatles dominated the music scene – with five of the top 10 singles of the decade being by the fab four.

Still a favourite of kids’ today, Mary Poppins was named the best film, closely followed by The Sound of Music, both of which starred Julie Andrews.

Nearly two-thirds of people said there was a feeling of great optimism in the swinging sixties that doesn’t exist today. And a third said if there was any era they could go back and live in it would be the sixties, with 10 per cent choosing the fifties and 17 per cent opting for the seventies.

Of the 2000 adults polled a third said despite the technological advances people had a better standard of living in the sixties.

Adrian Wills continued:

Few decades have had the breadth of impact as the 1960s. From protest and war, to the space race, The Beatles, innovative technologies, fashion and politics. The events of that tumultuous ten-year period transformed the world, making it the most transformative decade of the modern era.

MOST DEFINING MOMENT OF THE 1960s 1969: Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon - 63%

1963: Assassination of JFK - 61%

1968: Martin Luther King was assassinated - 48%

1966: England win’s world cup - 47%

1962: Beatle’s recorded their first single - 42%

1963: Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His I Have a Dream Speech - 41%

1960: Birth control pill was approved - 40%

1961: The Berlin Wall was built - 34%

1962: Marilyn Monroe was found dead - 32%

1965: Miniskirt first appeared - 31%

1964: Nelson Mandela Sentenced to Life in Prison - 31%

1963: started - 25%

1962: First James Bond movie - Dr.No - 24%

1965: The Rolling Stones’ Mega Hit Song, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” - 21%

1965: Malcolm X Assassinated - 19%

1966: Twiggy was named the face of 1966 - 18%

1963: First Doctor Who episode aired - 17%

1969: Manson family murders - 15%

1962: Andy Warhol displays his Campbell’s Soup Can artwork - 14%

1967: First Super Bowl - 3%

BEST RECORD OF THE 1960s

1 She Loves You - The Beatles - 20.9%

2 Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles - 13%

3 - The Beatles - 12.8%

4 It's Now or Never - 11.7%

5 We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper - The Beatles - 9.9%

6 Green Green Grass of Home - Tom Jones - 7.4%

7 The Carnival Is Over - The Seekers - 5.8%

8 I Feel Fine - The Beatles - 5.6% 9 Release Me - Engelbert Humperdinck - 3.2%

10 Tears - - 2.7%

BEST FILM OF THE 1960s

1 Mary Poppins - 16.5%

2 The Sound of Music - 16%

3 Psycho - 10.1%

4 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 10%

5 Doctor Zhivago - 8.2%

6 The Graduate - 7.7%

7 Lawrence of Arabia - 6%

8 To Kill a Mockingbird - 5.3%

9 Bonnie and Clyde - 5.2%

10 Easy Rider - 4.4%

GREATEST FEMALE ICON OF THE 1960s

1 Marilyn Monroe (Actress)

2 Twiggy (Model)

3 Audrey Hepburn (Actress)

4 Brigitte Bardot (Model)

5 Jacqueline Kennedy (Wife of JF Kennedy)

6 Elizabeth Taylor (Actress)

7 Grace Kelly (Actress)

8 Aretha Franklin (Singer)

9 (Singer)

10 (Media personality)

11 Mary Quant (Model)

12 Julie Andrews (Actress)

13 Judy Garland (Actress)

14 (Singer) 15 Doris Day (Actress and singer)

16 (Actress)

17 (Singer and actress)

18 Tina Turner (Singer)

19 Lulu (Singer)

20 Ursula Andress ()

21 Sophia Loren (Italian Actress)

22 Shirley Bassey (Singer)

23 Cher (Singer)

24 Joan Collins (Actress and author)

25 Catherine Deneuve (French Actress)

26 Barbra Streisand (Singer)

27 Jean Shrimpton (Model)

28 (Model)

29 (Model)

30 Edie Sedgewick (It girl)

GREATEST MALE ICON OF THE 1960s

1 Elvis Presley (Musician)

2 Martin Luther King (Activist)

3 George Best (Footballer)

4 (Musician)

5 (Actor)

6 Sean Connery (Actor)

7 (Actor)

8 Steve McQueen (Actor)

9 Clint Eastwood (Actor)

10 Muhammad Ali (Sports man)

11 Bob Dylan (Musician)

12 (Singer) 13 Paul McCartney (Musician)

14 (Singer)

15 Jimi Hendrix (Musician)

16 Bruce Lee (Actor)

17 Paul Newman (Actor)

18 Jim Morrison (Musician)

19 (Actor)

20 Marlon Brando (Actor)

21 Johnny Cash (Singer)

22 Malcom X (Activist)

23 John Glenn (Astronaut)

24 Andy Warhol (Artist)

25 Dick Van Dyke (Actor)

26 Woody Allen (Comedian)

27 Truman Capote (Author)

28 Brian Wilson (Musician)

29 Dustin Hoffman (Actor)

30 John Coltrane ( artist

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDIxIqc0Qkw

British invasion: The British Invasion was a phenomenon that occurred in the mid-1960s when rock and acts from the United Kingdom, as well as other aspects of British culture, became popular in the United States, and significant to the rising"" on both sides of the Atlantic. Pop and rock groups such as the Beatles, , the Kinks,the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits and the Who were at the forefront of the invasion.

Outside of music: Outside of music, other aspects of British arts became popular in the US during this period and led US media to proclaim the United Kingdom as the center of music and fashion. The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night marked the group's entrance into film. Mary Poppins, released on August 27, 1964, and starring English actress Julie Andrews as thetitular character, became the most Oscar- winning and Oscar-nominated Disney film in history, and My Fair Lady, released on December 25, 1964, starring British actress Audrey Hepburn as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, won eight Academy Awards. Besides the Bond series which commenced with Sean Connery as James Bond in 1962, films with a British sensibility such as the "Angry Young Men" genre, What's New Pussycat? and Alfie styled London Theatre. A new wave of actors such as Peter O'Toole and Michael Caine intrigued US audiences. Four of the decade's Academy Award winners for best picture were British productions, with the epic Lawrence of Arabia, starring O'Toole as British army officer T. E. Lawrence, winning seven Oscars in 1963. Fashion and image marked the Beatles out from their earlier US counterparts. Their distinctive, uniform style "challenged the clothing style of conventional US males," just as their music challenged the earlier conventions of the rock and roll genre. "Mod" fashions, such as the mini skirt from "Swinging London" designers such as Mary Quant and worn by early supermodels Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and other models, were popular worldwide. John Crosby wrote, "The English girl has an enthusiasm that American men find utterly captivating. I'd like to import the whole Chelsea girl with her 'life is fabulous' philosophy to America with instructions to bore from within.” Even while longstanding styles remained popular, US teens and young adults started to dress "hipper". The evolution of the styles of the British Invasion bands also showed in US culture, as some bands went from more clean cut to being more hippie. In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the British Invasion, comics such as Nowhere Men, which are loosely based on the events of it, have gained popularity. Influence[edit] The British Invasion had a profound impact on , internationalizing the production of rock and roll, establishing the industry as a viable centre of musical creativity, and opening the door for subsequent British performers to achieve international success. In America the Invasion arguably spelled the end of instrumental , pre-Motown vocal girl groups, the folk revival (which adapted by evolving into ), and (for a time) the teen idols that had dominated the American charts in the late 1950s and 1960s. Television shows that featured uniquely American styles of music, such as Sing Along with Mitch and Hootenanny, were quickly canceled and replaced with shows such as Shindig! and Hullabaloo that were better positioned to play the new British hits, and segments of the new shows were taped in England. It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Chubby Checker and temporarily derailed the chart success of certain surviving rock and roll acts, including Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley. It prompted many existing bands to adopt a sound with a British Invasion inflection and inspired many other groups to form, creating a scene from which many major American acts of the next decade would emerge. The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based around guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-. Though many of the acts associated with the invasion did not survive its end, many others would become icons of rock music. The claim that British beat bands were not radically different from US groups like and damaged the careers of African-American and female artists was made about the Invasion, even though theMotown sound actually increased in popularity during that time. Other US groups also demonstrated a similar sound to the British Invasion artists and in turn highlighted how the British 'sound' was not in itself a wholly new or original one. Roger McGuinn of , for example, acknowledged the debt that American artists owed to British musicians, such as The Searchers, but that "they were using licks that I was using anyway. So it's not that big a rip-off." The US group the Buckinghams and the Beatles-influenced US Tex-Mex act the Sir Douglas Quintetadopted British-sounding names, and San Francisco's Beau Brummels took their name from the same-named English dandy. Roger Miller had a 1965 hit record with a song titled "England Swings". Englishman (or ) reciprocated the gesture a la Rudy Vallée a year later in the New Vaudeville 's "Winchester Cathedral". Even as recently as 2003, "Shanghai Knights" made the latter two tunes memorable once again, in London scenes. Anticipating the by more than a decade, two British acts that reached the Hot 100's top 20 gave a tip of the hat to America: Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas and the Nashville Teens. The British Invasion also drew a backlash from some American bands, e.g., Paul Revere & the Raiders and New Colony Six dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms, and Gary Puckett & The Union Gap donned Civil War uniforms. Garage rock act the Barbarians' "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl" contained the lyrics "You're either a girl, or you come from Liverpool" and "You can dance like a female monkey, but you swim like a stone, Yeah, a ." In Australia, the success of the Seekers and (the latter a band formed mostly of British emigrants) closely paralleled that of the British Invasion. The Seekers had two Hot 100 top 5 hits during the British Invasion, the #4 hit "I'll Never Find Another You" in May 1965 and the #2 hit "Georgy Girl" in February 1967. The Easybeats drew heavily on the British Invasion sound and had one hit in the United States during the British Invasion, the #16 hit "Friday on My Mind" in May 1967. According to Robert J. Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, the British invasion pushed the counterculture into the mainstream. It's difficult to pinpoint when the British Invasion can be said to have "ended." Some point to the release of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper in 1967. Others maintain that it lasted until played their first concert in the United States, at New York's Fillmore East, in 1968. The British Invasion's influence on rock music in the United States waned from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. Early 1970s exceptions were , The Raspberries, and Sweet, who played a heavily British Invasion-influenced style deemedpower pop. In 1978 two rock magazines wrote cover stories about power pop and championed the genre as a savior to both the new wave and the direct simplicity of the way rock used to be. New wave power pop not only brought back the sounds but the fashions, be it the mod style of or the skinny ties of the burgeoning Los Angeles scene. Several of these groups were commercially successful, most notably the Knack, whose was the number 1 U.S. single of 1979. A backlash against the Knack and power pop ensued, but the genre over the years has continued to have a with occasional periods of modest success. USA: The music of the sixties consisted of two movements—folk and rock-and-roll. Music always coincided with political moods. Folk music was the first movement, which the songs were about political idealism. With musicians such as Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, folk music reached its peak between 1963 and 1965. In 1965, rock-and-roll took America by storm, especially the “British invasion.”

The biggest and most influential group from the “British invasion” was the Beatles. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starkey (a.k.a. Ringo Starr) swept America off its feet. They landed at Kennedy Airport in America on February 1964. Then came their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. From then on, teenagers were so caught up with the Beatles that women (some) would faint during their performances. The Beatles last performance came in 1966 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. By 1970, the group separated when McCartney officially announced his departure, pursuing a solo career. The Beatles experimented with drugs, which was referenced in their album, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. In their psychedelic cartoon, The Yellow Submarine, they referenced many political concerns. As much as the Beatles’ music influenced America, they too were influenced by America, the . The birth of the hippies was in the Haight- Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. In 1965, LSD spilled out of top-secret government laboratories and onto city streets, which unleashed a wave of psychedelic madness that transformed America overnight. America was suddenly overridden by a drug-induced revolution against traditional American values. Rock bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead (both fromSan Francisco) and drug gurus such as Leary and Kesey led this revolution of hippies and drugs. Tens of thousands of almost entirely white middle-class teenagers followed Leary and became hippies. They “turned on, tuned in and dropped out.” They became rebels and challenged every traditional social practice, including marriage, child rearing and religion. Men grew long hair and beards, while women wore peasant dresses and love beads. Women used birth-control pills, which allowed them to experiment sexually for the first time in an era before AIDS. With the superfluous availability of marijuana and LSD millions of people were sold to the ideas of the hippies—free love and free thinking. By the late sixties, hippie innovations such as organic health food, environmentalism and a relaxed society were accepted by mainstream American culture

Beatles, Civil Rights: Two days that shaped America in the '60s DEFINING A DECADE The 1960s were shaped, in large part, by the fight for equality for black Americans and the rock-and-roll revolution that changed music and . Fifty years ago, in February 1964, these two touchstones of a decade took center stage. USA TODAY Network looks back at two key moments in history -- The Beatles' appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the House -- when it became clear: America was changing.