Popular Nostalgia

Popular Nostalgia from the 1960s. Memories of events and items from popular culture recorded in words and pictures on the internet. Share, remember and get wonderfully sentimental…

The Derby has been run on the Downs near Epsom since 1780 and is named after Edward Smith Stanley, the 12th Earl of Derby. The original race was The Oaks, named after Derby’s estate, and was exclusively for three-year-old fillies. The race became so successful that The Derby was created to find the best colts [...]

We’ve been renovating a very old cottage and found this old wallpaper under several layers of paint, plaster and paper. The owner informs us that this design is from the 1960′s. We also found this design from the 1950′s. The design is very colourful and abstract.

George Formby was born George Hoy Booth on 26 May 1904 in Wigan, Lancashire. He started out as a professional jockey because his father didn’t want his son to follow him into showbusiness. Once his Father died, George went into stand-up. He bought a ukelele from an actor for £2.50 with a bet that he [...]

Concorde quickly became a symbol of technological advance and British pride despite being a joint enterprise with the French government. More than 2.5 million passengers flew supersonically on British Airways’ Concorde since she entered commercial service in 1976. The most frequent passenger, an oil company executive, clocked up almost 70 round trip transatlantic crossings a [...]

A comprehensive history of the Grand National from its official beginning in the 1800′s. From paintings to photo finishes and radio commentary to internet broadcasting. 1839 The Grand National was run at Aintree for the first time on Tuesday, February 26 and a horse named Lottery took the honours. Captain Martin Becher was unseated from [...]

Beltran de Osorio y Diez de Rivera, the “Iron” Duke of Albuquerque (1919-1994), was a Spanish aristocrat obsessed with horse-racing. After receiving a film of the Grand National as a gift for his eighth birthday, the Corinthian Duke set his sight on England’s greatest equestrian prize: “I said then that I would win that race [...]

So-called because of the sharp pointy toes of the shoe -similar to the tools used for prising winkles out of their shells. Winkle pickers were worn by “Teddy Boys”, Modernists and Mods. They had Cuban Heels and in the 60′s were best worn with laces down the side and extra-long trousers.

On the 21st of July 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. He walked into the Sea of Tranquility at 0256 GMT and reported back with the words: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” He had earlier set up cameras to capture the first steps and said: “That’s [...]

The pythons were: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin and they broadcast on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their madcap approach to comedy broke all the boundaries and they were as controversial as they were successful. If I could, I would play every Python episode and film [...]

Son of a Preacher Man was a massive hit for Dusty Springfield on her first album and was a staple of the soul classics that emerged in the 60′s. Here are the words for those who would like to sing along to the video below: Lyrics for “Son of A Preacher Man” Billy-ray was a [...]

When The Beatles came out they were highly controversial with their long hair and lyrics criticising the Church. Their formation began in the fifties but they were signed in the early sixties and by 1964 had fomented “Beatle-mania”. They engaged in anti-Vietnam War activism and courted danger by snubbing Imelda Marcos in the Phillipines. They [...]

Me and my brothers used to try and do this dance with our plastic guitars when we were little. The Shadows were dead cool back then. They didn’t sing any lyrics and had a distinctive tinny sound to their guitar leads. Here’s a video of them performing in 1961. The Shadows actually did a Final [...]

Flower Power was all about peace and the hippy movement. When the Vietnam war was on, hippies protested by burning their draft cards, placing flowers in the barrels of guns and by wearing flowery clothes. Small circular glasses and headbands were also popular amongst hippies. The 1960′s saw the civil rights movement in America and [...]

The first James Bond film to hit the screens, Doctor No changed the course of movie-making for the rest of the century. Unutterably cool, calm and collected, the gentleman killer-spy was to cultivate a generation of admirers. Here is the first use of those famous words: “Bond. James Bond”.

A hapless bunch of Home Guard “soldiers” attempt to defend their homeland to little effect. Dad’s Army has a brilliant start sequence with song that was specially written for the show and military progress arrows fighting each other. Lyrics to Dad’s Army Theme Tune: “Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler?” Who do [...]