Thursday, July 08, 2021

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 8 July 1961

Del Shannon and the Everly Brothers still lead the chart; at 3 is Ricky Nelson's 'Hello Mary Lou'


Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

Photo: Terence Donovan, 1990
1 July: Diana Spencer, future Princess of Wales, is born at Sandringham, Norfolk.

2 July: as refugees continue to flee the German Democratic Republic, East-West tensions mount. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev tells UK Ambassador Sir Frank Roberts six atom bombs could 'put Great Britain out of action' - and nine, for France. Weeks later, at a Warsaw Pact conference, Khrushchev declares, 'We rate Great Britain higher [than six], and we have several dozen atom bombs ready which we will use to carry out a strike against Great Britain and really put it out of action !'
First atomic bomb tests: USA 1945Soviet Union 1949UK 1952France 1960 (China coming in 1964)
First hydrogen bomb tests: USA 1952Soviet Union 1955UK 1957, (China 1967France 1968)

Immensely destructive: the H-bomb test 'Castle Bravo', at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 
was 2.5 times more powerful than expected and its fallout harmed many Marshallese.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russias-k-19-submarine-called-%E2%80%98hiroshima%E2%80%99-141187 
4 July: Russian nuclear submarine K-19, hastily developed to catch up with the USA, suffers a burst pipe in the cooling system, for which there was no backup. 'Captain Zateyev believed that if the reactor exploded, it could cause the United States and NATO to believe the Soviet Union was attempting a nuclear strike, potentially causing a preemptive retaliation and World War III.' 22 sailors volunteer to go in and fix it; all are dead within two years.

Photo: Daily Mirror
8 July: While swimming naked in the outdoor pool of Cliveden House, Berkshire, Christine Keeler meets British Cabinet minister John Profumo at a house party. She is aged 19 and has previously been a victim of sexual abuse from her stepfather; now she is being introduced to influential people by osteopath and socialite Stephen Ward. At the height of the Cold War, Profumo is Minister for War and begins an affair with her, but he is not the only one: 'When MI5 found out [she] was also sleeping with Ivanov, a naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy in London it was a clear conflict of interests.' Profumo eventually denies the improper relationship in Parliament, is later caught out and resigns.

UK chart hits, week ending 8 July 1961

Htp: Clint's labour-of love compilation https://www.sixtiescity.net/charts/61chart.htm

1

Temptation

The Everly Brothers

Warner Brothers

2

Runaway

Del Shannon

London

3

Hello Mary Lou / Travellin' Man

Ricky Nelson

London

4

Pasadena

The Temperance Seven

Parlophone

5

A Girl Like You

Cliff Richard and The Shadows

Columbia

6

Surrender

Elvis Presley

RCA

7

Halfway To Paradise

Billy Fury

Decca

8

But I Do

Clarence 'Frogman' Henry

Pye

9

Well I Ask You

Eden Kane

Decca

10

Pop Goes The Weasel / Bee*Bom

Anthony Newley

Decca

11

Runnin' Scared

Roy Orbison

London

12

The Frightened City

The Shadows

Columbia

13

Ring Of Fire

Duane Eddy

London

14

Breakin' In A Brand New Heart

Connie Francis

MGM

15

Weekend

Eddie Cochran

London

16

Time

Craig Douglas

Top Rank

17

I Told Every Little Star

Linda Scott

Columbia

18

Have A Drink On Me

Lonnie Donegan

Pye

19

You'll Never Know

Shirley Bassey

Columbia

20

Marcheta

Karl Denver

Decca


3 comments:

James Higham said...

Mandy Rice Davies news? :)

Sackerson said...

60 years ago. Not Mandy, Christine !

James Higham said...

Profumo: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman … not a lot anyway … practically nothing really.” :)