Thursday, October 14, 2021

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 14 October 1961

 At #2 this week is John Leyton's 'Wild Wind':



Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

8 October; the Berlin Wall story continues: 'The first of at least 134 residents of East Berlin escaped to the West through a manhole that led to an underground sewer that ran underneath the Berlin Wall. West German students Dieter Thieme and Detlef Girmann organized the Unternehmen Reisebüro, also called the "Girmann Group". The operation lasted for four nights until East German police learned what was happening and closed off the route.'

10 October: 'The United Kingdom began negotiations with the six-member European Economic Community to seek membership in the Common Market, with an opening speech in Paris by Prime Minister* Edward Heath.' [*Incorrect; at that time he was Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and Deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Wikipedia misinformation.]

    On the same day: 'All 260 residents of the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha were evacuated by two small fishing boats, following a volcanic eruption on destroyed the crayfish canning factory that was the source of many islanders' livelihood. The group then spent the night on Nightingale Island, a 0.75 square mile patch of rock, 13 miles away, to await the arrival of the Dutch liner Tjisadane, which took them to South Africa.'

11 October, Vietnam War: 'The United States presence in South Vietnam was increased as President Kennedy authorized the deployment of an entire U.S. Air Force unit, the 4400th Combat Crew Training Squadron, to fly combat missions from the Bien Hoa Air Base.'

13 October: 'Prince Louis Rwagasore, the popular eldest son of King Mwambutasa and who had been selected by the new legislature to be the first Prime Minister of Burundi in advance of the African nation's independence from Belgium, was assassinated. Rwagasaore was dining with his cabinet at a restaurant on Lake Tanganyika, when he was killed by a single shot fired by Jean Kageorgis, a Greek national. "Perhaps no other event has weighed more heavily on the destinies of Burundi," noted one historian, adding that "many believe that if only fate had given him a chance, he might have spared his nation the traumas that would soon tear it apart."'

14 October: 'For twelve hours, all commercial flights in the United States and Canada were grounded in order to conduct the NORAD exercise Operation Sky Shield II. Starting, as scheduled, at 1:00 pm Washington DC time, civilian airline flights were halted and military planes conducted an exercise simulating a foreign bombing attack on North American targets. Commercial flights were allowed to take off again twelve hours later. It was the longest scheduled halt of air traffic in United States history, exceeded only by the emergency grounding following September 11, 2001.'


UK chart hits, week ending 14 October 1961 (tracks in italics have been played in earlier posts)

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

1

Walkin' Back To Happiness

Helen Shapiro

Columbia

2

Wild Wind

John Leyton

Top Rank

3

Michael Row The Boat

The Highwaymen

HMV

4

Jealousy

Billy Fury

Decca

5

You'll Answer To Me

Cleo Laine

Fontana

6

Wild In The Country / I Feel So Bad

Elvis Presley

RCA

7

Kon*Tiki

The Shadows

Columbia

8

Sucu Sucu

Laurie Johnson

Pye

9

Johnny Remember Me

John Leyton

Top Rank

10

Together

Connie Francis

MGM

11

Get Lost

Eden Kane

Decca

12

You Don't Know

Helen Shapiro

Columbia

13

Granada

Frank Sinatra

Reprise

14

Hats Off To Larry

Del Shannon

London

15

Who Put The Bomp

The Viscounts

Nixa

16

Michael Row The Boat / Lumbered

Lonnie Donegan

Pye

17

Sucu Sucu

Nina and Frederik

Columbia

18

My Boomerang Won't Come Back

Charlie Drake

Parlophone

19

Bless You

Tony Orlando

Fontana

20

Hard Hearted Hannah / Chilli Bom*Bom

The Temperance Seven

Parlophone


3 comments:

Chromatistes said...

In 1961, Heath was Lord Privy Seal*, and would not become Prime Minister until 1970.

* Remember the David Frost visual joke about that office?

Sackerson said...

Quite correct, Chromatistes, I thought there was something funny there. What was Frost's joke?

And have you bought the last version of The Great Deception?

Sackerson said...

JD clarifies:

You were asking in the comments about the lord privy seal joke. Here it is - https://youtu.be/AVlfvdH7qwY

I remember it well, from the days when Frost was all over the telly.