That Was the Year That Was - 1962
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Description
World Events The Cold War continued to worsen when the Russians placed Ballistic Missiles on Cuban land just 90 miles away from the coast of Florida in and JFK called the bluff by threatening war unless they were removed which they were but for a short time the world was on the brink of nuclear war and self destruction. France transfers sovereignty to new republic of Algeria (July 3). Pope John XXIII opens Second Vatican Council (Oct. 11). Cuba releases 1,113 prisoners of 1961 invasion attempt (Dec. 24). Burundi, Jamaica, Western Samoa, Uganda, and Trinidad and Tobago become independent. Marilyn Monroe dies of a drug overdose at age 36. The first transatlantic television transmission occurs via the Telstar Satellite, making worldwide television and cable networks a reality. The president then set a goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade and became more involved in politics in Southeast Asia by training South Vietnamese pilots. Folk music was evolving into protest music thanks to young artists like Bob Dylan and the birth of Surfing music by the beach boys grew in popularity meanwhile in England the Beatles record the single "Love Me Do". The new hit on TV for that year was "The Beverly Hillbillies" and the first of the James Bond movies "Dr No" was an instant success, some of the other movies released included "Spartacus" and "El Cid". In June of 1962 the iconic Marvel superhero Spider-Man made his first appearance in the Amazing Fantasy comic. The issue was dated for August of 1962 but had actually hit the shelves in June. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spider-Man was a teenage superhero whose nerdy alter-ego Peter Parker represented adolescent concerns and teenage tribulations in a way that no other comic book superhero had been able to previously. Many teen readers connected to the character making him one of the most popular and enduring comic series characters in history. 90% of US households own a Television Set. UK News & Events from the year 1962 Britain and France agree to develop the Concorde. The 1962 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Aintree on 21 July 1962. It was the fifth race of the 1962 Formula One season. This was the last race at Aintree. From 1963 onwards, the race would be held at Silverstone. Scotsman Jim Clark dominated the race, driving a Lotus 25. Jan 1st - Beatles' Decca audition is unsuccessful. 2 January – BBC television broadcasts the first episode of Z-Cars, noted as a realistic portrayal of British police. 5 January – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg), is released by Polydor. 18 January – Union-Castle Line ship RMS Transvaal Castle (1961) makes her maiden voyage Southampton–Durban, perhaps the last major British ship built to enter the regular passenger ocean liner trade. 22 January – James Hanratty goes on trial for the A6 murder. He denies the murder of 36-year-old Michael Gregsten and the attempted murder of Mr Gregsten's mistress Valerie Storie, who is paralysed by a gunshot wound. On April 4, 1962, James Hanratty, a 26-year-old petty criminal and car thief, was hanged for an apparently motiveless shooting of two lovers on the A6 main road near London, England. However, much of the evidence had been circumstantial, and also pointed towards another name, Peter Alphon. When the latter confessed during an interview that he had carried out the murder, many people were amazed that no charges were ever brought, and controversy still rages as to whether Hanratty was wrongly executed. The murder may have led to a major miscarriage of justice in a British court. On August 22, 1961, a couple were in the throes of sexual intercourse in a car parked in a field at Dorney Reach in Bedfordshire, England. Michael Gregsten, 36, was a scientist at the Road Research Laboratory at Slough and Valerie Storie, 22, was an assistant at the same laboratory. Suddenly a man tapped on the car window. Gregsten wound down the driver's window to find a black revolver gun pointing at him. The man brandishing the gun told the couple that he had been on the run for months and that he was desperate. He had a cockney accent. At 11:30 p.m., the abductor indicated that he wanted food and told Gregsten to start driving. They drove aimlessly around the suburbs of north London before stopping at a milk vending machine. At no point had the kidnapper disclosed to the couple what he wanted or planned to do with them. Despite the couple offering the man money, he still appeared to want to stay with them. Gregsten was ordered to go into a shop and buy cigarettes. Later they stopped to refuel. Around 1:30 a.m. while the car was driving south on the A6 road, the man said he wanted to sleep. His erratic behavior was changing constantly and after demanding that they turn off the road, he ordered them back on the A6 again. Finally he told Gregsten to pull over, and became aggressive, brandishing the gun at the driver when he refused. All the time the couple pleaded with the gunman not to shoot them. He then decided to tie them both up in order that he could sleep. He tied Storie's hands behind her back using Gregsten's tie. Then, after spotting some rope in the back of the car, he told Gregsten to pass a bag over. As he did, the gun went off twice killing Gregsten. A short while later the abductor raped Storie in the back of the car before forcing her to drag her lover's body out of the car. Rather bizarrely, he then told her to show him how to drive the vehicle. The gunman had clearly never driven before and his attempts were futile. Ordering Storie out of the car she assumed she was about to be killed and pleaded for her life before taking out a pound note from her pocket and offering it to him while screaming for him to go. The gunman then shot at her five times in the darkness hitting her legs. Storie fell to the ground next to the body of Gregsten and pretended to be dead. The car raced off. Storie lay on the ground, terrified and in shock for three hours until she was discovered by a farm laborer at 6:45 a.m. The laborer ran for help and came across a student, John Kerr, who was undertaking a road census. Kerr flagged down two cars shouting at them to get an ambulance. Later that evening Gregsten's 1956 Morris Minor was found abandoned behind Redbridge Tube station in London. Valerie Storie was rushed into hospital to undergo emergency surgery. Before she went in she had managed to make a brief statement about the events. The first aspect that did not seem to add up, apart from the crime appearing to be motiveless, was that despite the gunman saying he had been on the run for months, he was well dressed and not in the least unkempt. On the August 24, the gun was recovered under the back seat of a 36A London bus, still fully loaded, but with any fingerprints erased. After the police put out a request to hotel managers to look out for anyone suspicious, there were a few false starts with innocent people being put forward as suspects by an over eager public. By the August 29 it was tragically discovered that Valerie Storie's shooting had resulted in her paralyzation from the waist down. Although a witness who had allegedly seen the gunman driving the Morris Minor compiled a picture of the felon, Storie later gave a totally different description. One hotel owner contacted the police and informed them that a guest had stayed in his bedroom for five days after the shooting. The police went to the hotel and interviewed a Peter Alphon who had used the alias Frederick Durrant. Alphon was interrogated by the police for hours. Eventually they believed his story that on August 22, the day of the murders, he had been with his mother and then the next day had stayed at a low rent hotel called The Vienna, in Maida Vale. The story checked out. There were no further developments until September 11, when the actual owner of the Vienna Hotel, William Nudds contacted the police to inform them that he had found two cartridge cases in the basement guest room. The cartridge cases matched the bullets that killed Michael Gregston and also the ones found in the gun on the 36A bus. Nudds told the police that the last occupant of the room was a James Ryan and that he had also asked for directions for the 36A bus. Alphon had stayed in the hotel as claimed earlier, but Nudds insisted that the man had been in guest room number six all night. Later, Nudds then changed his story, perhaps realizing that the two men had swapped rooms during the night? Now it transpired that Peter Alphon had stayed in the basement room. Despite Alphon being the main suspect Valerie Storie failed to pick him out of an identity lineup. He was then released. Hanratty was charged with the murder. Trial On January 22, 1962, the trial began in Bedfordshire, having been changed from original plans to stage it at the Old Bailey courthouse in London. This was an unusual step, as such a change meant Hanratty was facing a credible level of prejudice from a local area where the murder and rape took place. The defense for Hanratty initially appeared sound, as they claimed their client was in Liverpool on the day of the murder. For some unknown reason, Hanratty then claimed he was in Rhyl in North Wales. Their was no forensic evidence to support the case against Hanratty other than the fact that he was a known petty criminal, not noted for violence or handling guns, but had at least been picked out by Storie herself. Hanratty's blood group was the same as the murderer, but it was a common blood group shared by millions. Still there was nothing linking him to being near the scene of the crime. Also Hanratty did not know the two victims and had no logical motive for abducting them. Although the first statement by Hanratty, that he had been in Liverpool on the day of the crime, was later dismissed by the defense, it was shown that the defendant had been in London. Hanratty had definitely collected a suit from a dry cleaners in Swiss Cottage and also been to a friend's house on the afternoon of Monday, August 21, before staying at the Vienna hotel in the evening. His defense argued that it was impossible for him to have gone to Liverpool the next day and then returned to London to carry out the crime at 9 p.m. Despite this compelling argument there was little information revealing where Hanratty actually was on the night of the murder on Tuesday August 22. Shortly afterwards Hanratty changed his alibi. It must have appeared odd to the jury that he now claimed to have been in Rhyl, in north Wales on the day of the murder. His reason for providing the Liverpool alibi was he said because he didn't know how he could prove where he really was. But the Rhyl alibi appeared to have greater potential for witnesses who may have seen him. According to the defendant he went to the Welsh coast town in order to fence a stolen watch. He had arrived late on the evening of Tuesday August 22 and stayed at a boarding house near a railway station. Hanratty described the hotel, his attic room and a green bath, which was inside it. Investigations tracked down the hotel and its landlady, Grace Jones. The room that Hanratty said he stayed in seemed to match his description and Jones did remember a man resembling Hanratty during the week of August 19-26. However, the prosecution took advantage of the fact that Jones's hotel registers were in disarray and little conclusive evidence could be gleaned from them. The prosecution also brought in several witnesses which showed that all the rooms were occupied at the time. Jones was accused of lying in order to get publicity for her hotel. Despite the claim that all the rooms had been full, the defence managed to prove that the attic was empty on the night of August 22. This was the bedroom that Hanratty had described as having a green bath. After six hours, the jury returned to ask the judge for a definition of "reasonable doubt." The defense put forward an appeal, but this was dismissed on March 9, despite a petition signed by more than 90,000 people. Hanratty was hanged at Bedford Prison on April 4, 1962. When Hanratty had claimed that he had been to Liverpool he revealed that he had lost his suitcase, which had been handed in to Lime Street Police Station by a man with a withered or turned hand. A man by the name of Usher, who had two fingers missing from one hand was found of that description and admitted to remembering Hanratty or the name Ratty . Oddly enough Usher was never called as a witness. Another anomaly, this time relating to Valerie Storie herself, was when during he first identity line up she picked out an innocent sailor instead of the police suspect Alphon. Then in the second line up she picked Hanratty despite admitting she only ever saw the face of the man for a second or two in the lights of a car headlamp while she was being raped. Despite a John Silkett identifying Hanratty as the driver of the Morris Minor as it sped down Eastern Avenue, his companion who had a closer view of the driver did not agree. Though the cartridge cases were found in the Hotel Vienna, no one ever adequately explained how they came to be there the day before the murder. No witnesses were able to place Hanratty in the vicinity of Dorney Reach near the murder scene. Mary Lanz of the Old Station Inn, Taplow, where Michael Gregsten and Valerie Storie had last been before they parked in the cornfield, was later able to identify Peter Alphon, the original suspect, as having also been there. A group of people called the A6 Defense Committee was set up to assist Hanratty in his posthumous defense. Twelve years after the execution, the A6 Committee found the original statement made by Valerie Storie, which was not referred to during the trial or the appeal. Storie had originally stated that the man who abducted her was in his thirties. In her second statement she changed this to mid-twenties. Hanratty was 25, but Alphon was 31. In 1968, the A6 Committee found six substantial witnesses to show that the defendant had in fact been to the north Wales coast town of Rhyl. A fairground worker named Terry Evans also admitted to letting Hanratty stay at his house early in 1961, and to fencing a stolen watch for Hanratty. Another man, Trevor Dutton, had just made a payment into his bank account and consequently his bank book was stamped with the correct date, August 23, when minutes later he was approached by a man with a "cockney accent" in a smart suit, trying to sell a gold watch. Charlie France, a friend of Hanratty's, testified that Hanratty had said to him once that "the back seat of a bus was a good place to hide something." Another prosecution witness, Roy Langdale, claimed that Hanratty had confessed his involvement in the murder while he was serving time in prison. However, this claim was countered by two other people that Hanratty exercised with, who said that the defendant consistently denied any involvement. Hanratty's legacy continues to serve as a rallying call for opponents of the death penalty, who maintain that he was innocent of the crime. However, in 2002, following an appeal by his family, modern DNA testing of Hanratty's exhumed corpse helped convince appeal court judges that Hanratty's guilt had been proven "beyond doubt." His family members maintain that DNA samples had been contaminated. 4 February – The Sunday Times becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement. The first edition of The Sunday Times Colour Section was published on 4 February 1962, and included some significant harbingers of the Swinging Sixties. These included 11 photographs on the cover of Jean Shrimpton wearing a Mary Quant dress, photographed by David Bailey, and a new James Bond story by Ian Fleming, entitled "The Living Daylights" – a title that would be used for a Bond film 25 years later. The publication subsequently changed its title to The Sunday Times Colour Magazine, and was modified shortly afterwards to The Sunday Times Magazine. The first editor was Mark Boxer; subsequent editors included Godfrey Smith, Hunter Davies, Ron Hall, Philip Clarke and Robin Morgan. The present editor, Sarah Baxter, took over in 2009. Over the past half-century, the magazine has published lengthy and detailed articles on many major events, from the Great Train Robbery to 9/11, from Beatlemania to Britart, and from the 1969 moon landing to the 2012 London Olympic Games. The magazine published images from the Vietnam war by the award-winning photographer Don McCullin, a photo-essay on the Vatican by Eve Arnold, many portraits and photo-essays by Lord Snowdon, and Bert Stern's final photoshoot with Marilyn Monroe, among many other photographic collections. The magazine's weekly columnists have included Jilly Cooper, Zoë Heller and Daisy Waugh and its best known cover artists have included Sir Peter Blake, David Hockney, Alan Aldridge and Ian Dury. Since 1977 the magazine has published the column "A Life In The Day", which has revealed intimate everyday details via interviews with many prominent people, including Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Paul McCartney, Nancy Dell'Olio, Muammar Gaddafi, Kate Winslet and Celine Dion. Recent highlights in the magazine have included David James Smith's account of the 9/11 victims who jumped from the World Trade Center ("The Fallen"), for which Smith won Features Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards for 2011; Lynn Barber's 2010 interview with the writer Christopher Hitchens; and John Arlidge's 2009 interview with Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs ("‘I’m Doing God’s Work.’ Meet Mr Goldman Sachs"). n 1990 the magazine established the Ian Parry Scholarship, in order to encourage young photographers and help them to undertake the assignments of their choice. The scholarship was created in honour of Ian Parry, who was killed in Romania in 1989, at the age of 24, while on assignment for the magazine. Prizes are still awarded annually to winning entrants. In December 2010, the magazine became viewable on the Apple iPad, and in February 2012 it celebrated its 50th anniversary. It now has a print circulation of almost 1 million, and nearly 69 million digital page views were recorded in April 2012. Elizabeth Lane appointed as the first female County Court judge. Advertising Standards Authority founded. National Economic Development Council first meets. Britain's motorway network expands with the completion of the first phases of the M5 between Birmingham and north Gloucestershire and the M6 bypassing Stafford. Mirror class introduced for dinghy sailing. Golden Wonder introduce flavoured crisps (cheese & onion) to the UK market. Safeway opens its first UK supermarket at a store in Bedford. 21 February – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first dance together in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle. 23 February – Twelve European countries form the European Space Agency. 26 February – The Irish Republican Army officially calls off its Border Campaign in Northern Ireland. 6 March – Accrington Stanley, members of the Football League Fourth Division, resign from the Football League due to huge debts. 7 March – An outlier of the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 destroys the Cornish community of Wherrytown near Penzance. 13 March – A by-election is held in Blackpool North. 14 March – A by-election is held in Middlesbrough East. 15 March – Orpington by-election, often described as the start of the Liberal Party revival in the UK, has Liberal Eric Lubbock upsetting the expected winner, Conservative candidate Peter Goldman for the seat in Orpington. 2 April – Panda crossings are introduced but their complex sequences of pulsating and flashing lights cause confusion amongst drivers and pedestrians. 4 April – James Hanratty is hanged at Bedford Prison for the A6 murder, despite protestations from many people who believed he was innocent, and the late introduction of witnesses who claimed to have seen him in Rhyl, North Wales, on the day of the murder. 18 April – Commonwealth Immigrants Act in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, requiring proof of employment in the UK. This comes into effect on 1 July. 27 April – Opinion polls show that less than half of voters now approve of Harold Macmillan as Prime Minister. 28 April – Ipswich Town win the Football League First Division title in their first season at that level. 5 May – Tottenham Hotspur retain the FA Cup with a 3-1 win over Burnley at Wembley Stadium, with goals from Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Smith and captain Danny Blanchflower. 8 May – The last trolleybuses run in London. 25 May – The new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated. 31 May - The Northern Ireland general election again produces a large majority for the Ulster Unionist Party, winning 34 out of 51 seats, though the Nationalist Party gains two seats for a total of 9. The British West Indies Federation collapses and is officially wound up due to internal power struggles. 2 June - Britain's first legal casino opens in Brighton, Sussex. Oxford United F.C., champions of the Southern League, are elected to The Football League in place of bankrupt Accrington Stanley. 6 June – The Beatles play their first session at Abbey Road Studios. 14 June – BBC television broadcasts the first episode of the sitcom Steptoe and Son, written by Galton and Simpson. 1 July – Another heavy smog develops over London. 3 July – Opening of Chichester Festival Theatre, Britain's first large modern theatre with a thrust stage. Laurence Olivier is the first artistic director. 11 July – Live television broadcast from the USA to Britain for the first time, via the Telstar communications satellite and Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station. 12 July – The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, Number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry. 13 July – In what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives", the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet. 20 July – The world's first regular passenger hovercraft service introduced between Rhyl in North Wales and Wallasey. 23 July – First live public transatlantic television broadcasts of full-length programmes, via the Telstar satellite. 28 July – Race riots break out in Dudley, West Midlands. 31 July – A crowd assaults the rally of the right-wing Union Movement of Sir Oswald Mosley in London. 4 August – Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society, is founded. 6 August – Jamaica becomes independent. 17 August – The Tornados' recording of Joe Meek's "Telstar" is released. 18 August – The Beatles play their first live engagement with the line-up of John, Paul, George and Ringo, at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight. 23 August – John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell in an unpublicised register office ceremony at Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. 31 August - Trinidad and Tobago gains its independence. Mountaineers Chris Bonington and Ian Clough becomes the first Britons to climb the north face of the Eiger. 1 September – Channel Television, the ITV franchise for the Channel Islands, goes on air. 2 September – Glasgow Corporation Tramways runs its last cars in normal service, leaving the Blackpool tramway as the only remaining one in Britain. 8–11 September – Last Gentlemen v Players cricket match played, at Scarborough. 14 September – Wales West and North Television (Teledu Cymru) goes on air to the North and West Wales region, extending ITV to the whole of the UK. 20 September – Ford launches the Cortina, a family saloon costing £573 and similar in size to the Vauxhall Victor, Hillman Minx and Morris Oxford Farina. 21 September – First broadcast of the long-running television quiz programme University Challenge, made by Granada Television with Bamber Gascoigne as quizmaster. 5 October - Dr No, the first James Bond film, is premiered at the London Pavilion, with 32-year-old Edinburgh-born Sean Connery playing the lead, a British Secret Service agent. The Beatles' first single in their own right, Love Me Do, is released by Parlophone. This version was recorded on 4 September at Abbey Road Studios in London with Ringo Starr as drummer. 9 October – Uganda gains its independence. 17 October – The Beatles make their first televised appearance on People and Places. 31 October – The UN General Assembly asks the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on 1 November. November – John Charnley makes the world's first successful whole hip replacement operation at Wrightington Hospital, Wigan. 17 November – Seaham life-boat George Elmy capsizes entering harbour after service to coble Economy: all five crew and four of the five survivors are killed. 22 November – A by-election is held in Chippenham, Wiltshire, where the Conservatives are narrowly re-elected ahead of the Liberals. 24 November – The first episode of influential satire show That Was The Week That Was is broadcast on BBC Television. 29 November – An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner. 2–7 December – Severe smog in London causes numerous deaths. 6 December – The last permanent inhabitants leave the island of Stroma, Scotland. 9 December – Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president. 10 December - British molecular biologists Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, along with American James D. Watson, win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".[25] British biochemists Max Perutz and John Cowdery Kendrew win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in investigating the structure of haem-containing proteins. David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia released. 19 December – Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation. 21 December – Nassau Agreement: Britain agrees to buy the Polaris missile system from the United States. Gary Hocking, Welsh motorcycle racer (born 1937; died in automobile racing accident) 22 December – "Big Freeze" in Britain: no frost-free nights until 5 March 1963. 30 December – United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia. UK Pop Charts Cliff Richard and The Shadows "The Young Ones" Elvis Presley "Rock-A-Hula Baby" / "Can't Help Falling in Love" Elvis Presley "Return to Sender" Elvis Presley "Good Luck Charm" Elvis Presley "She's Not You" The Shadows "Wonderful Land" B. Bumble and the Stingers "Nut Rocker" Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard "Come Outside Ray Charles "I Can't Stop Loving You" Frank Ifield "I Remember You" Frank Ifield "Lovesick Blues" The Tornados "Telstar" United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1962 "Ring-a-Ding Girl" by Ronnie Carroll won the national and went on to come 4th in the contest. -
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Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/20654194@N07/26260365413/
Resource type: Image
Added by: Peter Smith
Last modified: 4 years, 6 months ago
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Picture Taken: 2016-05-07T09:25:01 -
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