Talk about the 1960s

[oggbashan]

I've been asked to talk to a class of 10-year-olds about what it was like living in the 1960s.

What can I tell them?

What should I tell them?

What can't I tell them?

What shouldn't I tell them?

Any advice?

PS. I can talk about the pop scene in London in the mid-1960s, the Cuban Missile Crisis when my role as a new Ministry of Defence recruit was to stay OUT of the bunker and tell my bosses when the bomb had dropped...

 

[PennLady]

I think it might be neat to talk about how technology has changed; I'm not sure how many 10yos would even be aware of the Cuban Missile Crisis, let alone its significance. But to watch their eyes bug out when you tell them there was only a 12" black and white TV screen -- that might be fun.

It's an interesting challenge; I'm trying to think what I'd like to know. And there's no reason you shouldn't tell them about the CMC - it'd be good for them to hear something new.

 

[3113]

I've been asked to talk to a class of 10-year-olds about what it was like living in the 1960s.

What can I tell them?
What should I tell them?

Stick to the important stuff. Mini-skirts, go-go clubs, groovy alternative lifestyles, rook-n-roll and, of course, tv dinners!

What can't I tell them?
What shouldn't I tell them?

Don't tell them anything that doesn't make you and your generation seem incredibly cool and awesome.

 

[bronzeage]

Bring an old dial telephone and ask them to show how a call was made.

I don't think the Cuban Missile Crisis would mean much to 10 year olds, but tales of life without microwaves, no video games and a television with only two channels will be better than any horror story.

 

[RjThoughts]

The 1960s:

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream....

Book banning was in vogue....

Hair was long on men and women....

Twiggy was the first supermodel without curves....

Astroturf was on ONE major professional sports field worldwide!!!!

 

[trysail]

Sportsmanship prevailed. One did not root "against" one's opponents. Rooting for the home team was fine but jeers, heckling, taunting and obscenities directed at opposing teams was not tolerated. That kind of behavio(u)r was considered ( and still is ) déclassé.



Only amateurs were permitted to compete in tennis' biggest tournaments.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I was living in the SF Bay Area then, and I remember color TV in the early sixties and more than two channels and sets that were a lot larger than 12 inches.

I think you definitely have to talk about the Beatles, both the musical group and what were known in the US as beatniks, and how they sort of evolved, or devolved into hippies. Possibly JFK and "Camelot" although this might not mean as much to British children.

You should probably stay away from the advent of topless bathing suits and how they led to nude waitresses, etc.l and the growth of the porn industry.

You might mention some famous scandals, such as John Profumo and Christine Keeler.

 

[Handley_Page]

You might get away with the assassination of JFK.

You might mention respect for elders,
being polite,
bicycles without gears
fish & chips at 4p
"Press button B and get your money back" public phones,
78 & 45rpm pop music
Newspapers reporting real news (for the most part).
The rapid development of transistors and technology in general
Jet airliners

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I was in University in the Sixties. It was a stupid time to be a student, all solipsistic, self-worshiping and shallow. Consider that Bill Clinton was a product of the time . . .

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I'm beginning to realise the scale of the task. These children were born in 2001. Their parents were born in the late 70s or early 80s, some of their grandparents were too young to remember the early 1960s. In 1960 I was much older than these children are now.

 

[oggbashan]

The 1960s:

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream....

Book banning was in vogue....

Hair was long on men and women....

Twiggy was the first supermodel without curves....

Astroturf was on ONE major professional sports field worldwide!!!!

The Beatles? Nearly hired them for a local gig but at 70 pounds they were too expensive.

Rolling Stones? Went to several of their early London performances (and was at school with one of them).

Cream? Was at their first ever appearance.

Yardbirds? Hired them for a private party (and Eric Clapton came too).

Hair? I had a flattop crew cut under my bowler hat.

Twiggy? No. Met Jean Shrimpton instead.

Edited for PS. I think I'll take some 1960s coins. Decimal currency came in on 15 February 1971 but 10p and 5p 'New Pence' coins were introduced in 1968. I got some from the bank on the first day. They were a curiosity in the pub that night. Ten new pence would have bought me a pint of Mild, but I had bitter at 2/6 (12.5 new pence but I passed over 15 new pence and got a sixpence as my change).

 

[jomar]

You might steer clear of the free love stuff....and wouldn't do to talk about changes in pubic hair preferences. So...

Humans orbited the Earth for the first time in 61 and landed on the moon in 69.

No remotes. Black and white tv that slowly moved to color...other tech as has been mentioned...people wrote letters and had to actually talk to each other (no texting). Also music technology.

They might have fun with safety changes...like back in the day cars had metal dashboards and no seatbelts! Dangerous times!

 

[3113]

I was in University in the Sixties. It was a stupid time to be a student, all solipsistic, self-worshiping and shallow. Consider that Bill Clinton was a product of the time . . .

Bill Clinton the dirt poor boy from Arkansas who became a Rhodes scholar then president and left us a surplus? You're right; why would we admire a time which gave us students like that?

You know, VM, seriously, I think the students of that time get a very bad rap now, unfairly so. How solipsistic were these students when they became strong environmentalists, arguing that we need to care about the planet over our own selfish wants and desires? How self-worshiping when they risked their lives Freedom-riding in the deep South? How shallow when they demanded justification for a war that killed so many of them, rights for women and others that the more arguably shallow establishment marginalized and insisted weren't human beings?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all students or members of that generation were all deep and wise and wonderful--but then neither were students in the 1900's or 1920's or those with money to be students in the 1930's, or in the 1950's....Youth is youth, it will be solecistic, self-worshiping and shallow. That's why it's youth, not wise old age. But for a group of students with very hard choices put on their shoulders, they seem to me to have risen, time and again above the usual shallowness and self-worship. That they gave into it was expected, all youth does, believing that they'll live forever, that they've got the most important ideas, and that sex and partying is paramount. They all do silly and stupid things, from flag-pole sitting and guzzling bathtub gin to dropping acid.

But let's give them a little credit for going beyond that as well. Not every generation has--in 1930's Germany, after all, most students "selflessly" joined the Nazi Youth Movement. There are far worse times to have been a student. Yours was not so stupid, nor so shallow.

 

[AllardChardon]

I would speak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kruschev, Castro, and Kennedy, when the entire world believed we were on the brink of a devastating nuclear war. Also, Kruschev scaring everyone by bashing his shoe on the podium at the United Nations and the constant talk of his secret doomsday bombs. All those bomb drills in school that were perfectly useless. I suppose I say this because that time period frightened me more than any other. Viet Nam was horrible, but the Cold War was worse.

 

[jomar]

People wore tires on their feet...remember those sandals?

Cutoff jeans for shorts instead of hemmed.

 

[trysail]

A millionaire was actually rich.


A 100 acre horse farm in prime fox-hunting country cost $100,000.


There were things that all the money in the world couldn't buy.


There was nothing but forest on both sides of Route 29 all the way to Barracks Road.


"Nice people don't sue."

 

[sr71plt]

There was nothing but forest on both sides of Route 29 all the way to Barracks Road.

That would be the 50s. By the mid 60s, 29 was developed out to Rio road. Better Living (a furniture store) was way out in the country then, though.

 

[DeeZire]

....
78 & 45rpm pop music....

Trying to explain the concept of paying for music on 45's and LP's rather than downloading it for free might be an interesting challenge. Kids these days haven't got a clue, and the entire entertainment industry is going off a cliff because of it.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Trying to explain the concept of paying for music on 45's and LP's rather than downloading it for free might be an interesting challenge. Kids these days haven't got a clue, and the entire entertainment industry is going off a cliff because of it.

By the Sixties, I think recording 78 rpm records had pretty much stopped. 45's were the usual singles and 33's as LP albums were also common.

 

[AllardChardon]

Added to my previous post; don't forget to tell the kids how angry Kruschev got when they wouldn't let him into Disneyland. Irony at its best.

 

[estragon]

Kennedy assassination and Man on the moon. Color television. Jet set. Women's liberation. The end of classical colonialism (the sun setting on the Empire). The jeans revolution--blue jeans and rock 'n' roll conquer the universe.

Oh, do I feel old!

 

[TE999]

Talk about the fun stuff; the clothes, the cars, the music, the trends ... to hell with that other crap ... that's as remote to these kids as black and white TV. Ten yo kids have short attention spans anyway. Too many facts will bore them.

 

[oggbashan]

By the Sixties, I think recording 78 rpm records had pretty much stopped. 45's were the usual singles and 33's as LP albums were also common.

I have a wind-up gramophone made in 1961, and 60s records to go with it, although you are right, 78s were old-hat by the 60s except in underdeveloped countries where electricity supplies were rare.

78s of Elvis and the early Beatles are now worth real money.

I have a 78 of Lonnie Donegan that was pressed on LP-type vinyl instead of the usual shellac.

I think I'll take the gramophone. Even in 78s were old technology in the 1960s, most teenagers (and their parents) didn't have enough cash to invest in the latest equipment which was very expensive at the time.

I bought a reel to reel tape recorder at £18 on Hire Purchase because my monthly take home pay was £32. It had a free tape - Schererzade. As it was the only tape I had, I now can't hear that music without a shudder...

 

[R. Richard]

Definitely show car pictures. A 1960 Ford Zodiac, 1960 Morris Minor, 1960 Ford Consol, etc. Then show pictures of contemporary English cars.

 

[AllardChardon]

My favorite classical piece, Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade, closely followed by Stravinsky's Petrushka and Debussy's La Mer.

A brief balanced view of the 60s is a tall order. I am sure you will entertain them in style, as well as inform them at the same time.