The sixties

Was a student in the 60s, and yes I loved it! The music, the clothes, the freedom of being away from home, doing what I loved, which was learning, Made a few mistakes along the way, but who doesn't? Went abroad to teach in 1969 and met DH there a few months later; the best time.

I loved that time, I was only sixteen in 1969 so I was a bit young. But I loved all the color, great clothes, mini-shirts boots and lots of fun. My mum used to make my clothes and they were fab. Bright orange paisley dress with burnt orange midi heels (little heals) and a burnt orange bag. Did I think I was the bees knees. Wow what a time. So glad I was there. Flowers in our hair, music so free.

Seems I spent too much time listening to Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, never interested in the Beatles . I went on the Aldermaston Marches . I had one of those suede jackets with imitation fur around the hem , neck and sides, my mother wouldn’t allow it in the house, it ponged when wet . Perhaps being in Aberfan in 1966 clouded the 60’s for me.

I loved the music, the fashions, and the emergence from the austere fifties. And my two babies were born in the sixties.

I loved Joan Baez too and Dylan's music but not his voice. In fact, the Beatles didn't inspire me for very long, I preferred jazz.

And yes, alongside the fun we did worry a lot about world events, the Vietnam war, the race riots in America, what was happening in South Africa.
I can see how experiencing Aberfan would colour your views Anniebach - we all wept but we were not there so did not experience it first-hand.

My friend had one of those long 'Afghan' coats - when they got wet they smelt rather like wet dog.

Every decade has had his bad times. I loved the sixties my friends and i loved the clothes, especially what twiggy wore.
Met my dh at a party and married in 1968 we had a great time together and then in the 70s we had two kids. This August we celebrate our golden anniversary
Lost my son in September 2007 and havecwatched many sad things on the news over the years. This week the queen of soul Aretha has gone loved her music and her voice.

anitampl I was also born in 1955, I do remember the 60s. We got our first tv in 1963, radio was always on, Home Service at Breakfast & Light Programme for the rest of the day. First record player in 1963 also + a Beatles record for Christmas.

I remember the Kennedy Assassinations, Martin Luther King & Malcolm X. Sharon Tate murder by Manson etc. Aberfan disaster & Moors Murders, I lived in a small village in Yorkshire.

By the time I went to Secondary School mini skirts had reached my part of the world. I remember listening to Radio One as we travelled to & from School, Tony Blackburn playing Flowers in the Rain on that first broadcast (we had a private hire coach & a driver who knew how to keeps teenagers happy)

I started part-time jobs in catering in 1969 & left School on my 17th Birthday in 1972. I discovered boys & although a bit too young for the permissive society in the 60s the 70s were a different matter, the Pill became available to 16+ if you had a sympathetic GP.

Loved the clothes, the make up & the music. Happy days

I turned 12 in January 1960 so had all my teens in the 60s. I remember Bay of Pigs, the political shootings, Mandela, the Vietnam war etc etc, but I also remember the freedom, the music, the foreign travel, the optimism, the I'm Backing Britain Campaign and the fun, oh so much fun!! I met my first husband in 1962, but didn't get married till 1969 so still had the lack of responsibility so I can honestly say the 60s were the best for me.

Yes Annie I remember hearing about this tragedy, was pushing DD1 round a supermarket- one of the first to open. I heard it over the loudspeaker and could hardly finish my shopping. Later I realised that being a mother had made me so sensitive to the fact of losing a child.
I think I grew up that day.

On more cheerful note foreign holidays were lovely, no huge hotels and lots of room on the beach and famous buildings to see and no queues and crowds. Perfect.

And in 1969 I left for a new life with my German husband to live there. He'd got a new job with a flat for us.
My mother died and I was glad to get away from dreary Sheffield.

No, I don't think looking back that the sixties were all that great, but we were young then and that makes all the difference.

I remember the grown-ups being worried by all the things OP mentioned and disgusted by the mini-skirt etc. but I was a teenager raring to get out of school and be a grown-up, so I just found it exciting.

No doubt today's teenagers feel the same about life and are not worried by our feeling that the world is going to hell in a handcart!

I was 10 in 1960 and spent all my young and teenage years in the sixties...... met my husband in '71 and my life has been downhill since then. I lived in London then and why oh why was I ever enticed to leave ....especially to live in the sticks!! If I could do it again I would. My husband came from the sticks we now live in and he never 'approved ' of the sixties. You'd think he was 20 years older than me but no ... just 4 years. Not 'approving' should have told me all I needed to know about him . He doesn't approve of much!

I just loved the sixties, Twiggy was my fashion icon. It took me ages to do the eye makeup with false eyelashes and all. I was a Mod and loved all the scooters. I worked in a hairdressers on a Saturday morning and got 5 shillings. My first full time job age 15 also in the same hairdressers i got £2 - 7 shillings and 6 pence. My first perfume was Avon Topaz. Does anybody remember sitting in the bath with their Levi jeans on to try and fade them.

I wore the flower dresses, had a go at smoking pot, thought we could save the world , peace and joy , failed didn’t we

I was a teenager in the 60’s and for me it was all about the music (I was lucky enough to have a Saturday job in a shop which sold records), dances, leaving school and going off to teacher training college. Happy days!

Oh I love these threads!
Is anyone inclined to post a picture of themself in the 60s?
I would love to see.

I remember making a circular skirt using the circumference of the top as my waist measurement and cutting a bit down for a zip. Then it was net petticoats! I can't remember the year and fortunately don't have a picture.

The only news item I remember well from the 60s was the Great Train Robbery.
I do remember all the music though and collecting cards with pop singers on them from the ice cream van.
My neighbours had four teenagers and oh how I loved their bell bottoms and hotpants.
I was born in 59.

Stiffening those net petticoats with sugar ?

OMG Sue01 I had no idea PJ Proby was still alive, let alone performing!
I was at a strict boarding school in the 60s (boo) and my friend and I snuck out on a Saturday afternoon (stricly verboten) to go and see PJ who was opening a record store at a town a fairly long bus-ride away. God knows why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.
When we got there it was bedlam, crowds of screaming girls surrounded his limo and I got my foot crushed by some huge copper's size 12s in the melée. I got just a glimpse of PJ in the back of the limo before he was hustled into the store.
I lost both my friend and my bag in the crush but somehow got back to the school in the early evening to find all hell had broken loose. My friend had got back before me but still quite late so our escape was clearly spotted and when bedraggled me arrived the brown stuff had well and truly hit the fan. We were gated (i.e. not allowed out AT ALL) for the rest of the term.
I was really into flower power and remember having driving lessons barefoot (WTF!) and with a flower in my hair at the age of 17, much to the bemusement of the middle-aged instructor -- but he still allowed it!
I was fortunate to get to University in 1968 at a time when only about 10 pct of the population did so, and loved every minute of it (free at last!) But I did work hard at school and did well in my A levels.
Mostly I remember it as a time of hope for the future, things were getting better despite the Vietnam war which we demonstrated against, of course. For me the era continued into the early 70s when I was living and working in London, loving the shops had a gorgeous Biba frock and Mary Quant makeup -- music, restaurants and parties.
Wordsworth's lines have never been bettered.
"Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive. But to be young was very heaven."

Oops. Sorry, major strike-out fail there.

The keywords were hope, optimism and change. I loved them. We had much less money than today - in fact were very poor, shared bedsits with almost complete strangers. But it was SO exciting and there seemed to be so many possibilities.

Legs55. I actually do remember more than I realised from the 60s. I remember the horror of the Moors murders and JFK assassination, Tate murders etc. I guess those things were so shocking at the time. Remember watching the moon landing with awe. Like you I wore very short skirts. Would leave the house with knee length and would roll the waist over and by time I got to school my skirt would be very short. We lived in Germany from about 64-67 as my dad was in the forces, but back in Scotland after that. Would listen to BFPO radio and can remember listening to Radio Caroline. I would record the charts every week from the radio. My school in Scotland used to produce a little news magazine every week. There was always a page dedicated to the lyrics of one of the latest chart hits. We couldnt wait to get our hands on it. How things have changed. Happy days.

Stiffening those net petticoats with sugar ?
In the bath.
and brother were muttering about it as we only had one bathroom (as did most people, if not a tin bath like my Granny).

brothers plural, sorry.

I was born in 1955, but i remember the news of Kennedy's assassination. I was watching Bonanza on the telly and they interrupted coverage to rely the awful news. Stayed up all night to watch the moon landings and nearly fell asleep and missed it. I was at school near Neath the day of the Aberfan disaster and we heard lots of sirens during our lunch hour, the emergency services must have been enroute for Aberfan as they were from all the surrounding areas we discovered later. Saw my parents in tears when they watched the news in the evening, will never forget it. Remember Radio Luxemburg and Radio Caroline. My first record was an EP of 'She Loves You'. My decade was really the seventies, went to uni in 73, met DH during that glorious summer of 76, married in 77, children in 82 and 86. Taught for 30 years at the same school, saw many changes in teaching, very few for the better. Should have let the teachers get on with teaching and caring for their pupils and not introduced league tables, SAT's, ASLevels - I could go on. Schools were happier places until all this nonsense. Kenneth Baker has a lot to answer for, not least his B days ?