THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 10 March 1962

 At #2 is Cliff Richard with 'Wonderful Land':

Giles cartoon for this week: RCP reports on links between smoking and diseases

(see 7 March, below)

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

4 March: 'The Eighteen Nation Disarmament Conference, which included non-nuclear powers in addition to the U.S., the U.S.S.R., the U.K. and France, opened in Geneva.'

5 March: 'A B-58 Hustler jet, piloted by U.S. Air Force Captain Robert Sowers, and a crew of two, set three new records by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 2 hours, 01:15, then back again in 2 hours, 15:02. The sonic boom, from the jet's speed of more than 1,000 mph, broke windows in Riverside, California and Chillicothe, Missouri when it accelerated at 30,000 feet and during a refuelling, and emergency calls were made in cities beneath the flight path. The USAF received more than 10,000 complaints as a result of the flight.'

6 March: 'Rated by the U.S. Geological Survey as "The most destructive storm ever to hit the mid-Atlantic states" of the US, and as one of the ten worst U.S. storms in the 20th century, the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 began forming off of the coast of North Carolina and continued for three days as it moved up the Eastern seaboard as far as New York. Heavy winds and rain coincided with a perigean spring tide, when a new Moon occurred when the Moon was making its closest approach to the Earth. The combined tugging of Moon and Sun made the tides higher than normal. Forty people were killed and $500,000,000 of damage was incurred.'

    'In a joint statement issued by U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Thailand's Foreign Minister Thanat Khoman, the United States pledged to go to war to defend any attack on Thailand by Communist guerrillas.'

7 March: 'In London, the Royal College of Physicians issued its report, "Smoking and Health", declaring that "Cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer. It also causes bronchitis and probably contributes to the development of coronary heart disease and various other less common diseases. It delays healing of gastric and duodenal ulcers." Sir Robert Platt, the president of the organization, led a committee of nine physicians to compile the research. A panel led by the U.S. Surgeon General would draw a similar conclusion nearly two years later on January 11, 1964.'

    'OSO I, the first of nine Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites, launched by the United States, was launched from Cape Canaveral put into orbit around the Earth, to measure radiation from the Sun.'

8 March: 'American drug manufacturer Richardson-Merrell Pharmaceuticals withdrew its request for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the prescription of thalidomide, which the company had developed under the name Kelvadon. On the same day, the company withdrew the drug from sale in Canada. American marketing of the medicine, which had caused severe birth defects in 15,000 babies, primarily in West Germany, had been blocked by FDA reviewer Frances Oldham Kelsey, who was later given an award by President Kennedy.'

    'The Beatles made their radio debut, with a three-song session, recorded the day before, and broadcast on the BBC Manchester programme Teenager's Turn (Here We Go). They performed the songs "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)", "Please Mr. Postman", and "Memphis, Tennessee."' 

10 March: 'Newly independent from France, the Kingdom of Morocco adopted its first constitution.'

    'Scottish football club Kilmarnock's home attendance record was broken when a crowd of 35,995 turned out to see them play Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Cup, at the Rugby Park stadium.'

UK chart hits, week ending 10 March 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

1	Rock-A-Hula Baby / Can't Help Falling In Love	Elvis Presley	RCA
2	Wonderful Land	The Shadows	Columbia
3	The Young Ones	Cliff Richard and The Shadows	Columbia
4	Let's Twist Again	Chubby Checker	Columbia
5	March Of The Siamese Children	Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen	Pye
6	Tell Me What He Said	Helen Shapiro	Columbia
7	Wimoweh	Karl Denver	Decca
8	Forget Me Not	Eden Kane	Decca
9	Crying In The Rain	The Everly Brothers	Warner Brothers
10	The Wanderer	Dion	HMV
11	Stranger On The Shore	Acker Bilk	Columbia
12	Walk On By	Leroy Vandyke	Mercury
13	Softly As I Leave You	Matt Monro	Parlophone
14	Little Bitty Tear	Burl Ives	Brunswick
15	Hole In The Ground	Bernard Cribbins	Parlophone
16	Lesson No 1	Russ Conway	Columbia
17	Don't Stop, Twist	Frankie Vaughan	Philips
18	Theme From Z Cars	Johnny Keating Orchestra	Piccadilly
19	I'll See You In My Dreams	Pat Boone	London
20	Frankie And Johnny	Acker Bilk	Columbia

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 3 March 1962

At #3 is Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen with 'March of the Siamese Childen':

Giles cartoon for this week: IRA Ceasefire

(see 26 February below)

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

26 February: 'The Irish Republican Army officially called off its five-year Border Campaign in Northern Ireland. In press releases dropped off at newspapers there as well as in Ireland, the IRA publicity bureau wrote, "The Leadership of the Resistance Movement has ordered the termination of 'The Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation'... all arms and other materials have been dumped and all full-time active service volunteers have been withdrawn." With the exception of a series of 17 bank robberies to finance the organization, the IRA violence halted until 1969.'

27 February: 'After getting word that U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy was preparing to fire him from his job as Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover gave the Attorney General a memorandum of an FBI investigation of Judith Exner, noting that she had made phone calls to the private line of Robert's brother, U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Hoover remained FBI Director until his death in 1972.'

    'The United Kingdom's House of Commons voted 277-170 in favour of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, designed to limit the immigration into Great Britain by residents of India, Pakistan, and the West Indies.'

28 February: 'A group of 15 American Jupiter missiles, with nuclear warheads, became operational at the Izmir U.S. Air Force Base at Çiğli [western Turkey], within range to strike the Soviet Union 1,000 miles away. The presence of American nuclear missiles in a nation bordering the U.S.S.R. became an issue during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Soviet nuclear missiles were brought to Cuba, within striking distance of the United States. The missiles were withdrawn from both Turkey and Cuba following the crisis.'

    'The Beatles appeared at the Cavern Club in Liverpool on a triple bill with Gerry & the Pacemakers and Johnny Sandon and the Searchers.'

1 March: 'Benedicto Kiwanuka became the interim Prime Minister of Uganda as the African colony was granted self-government by the United Kingdom. He would be replaced by Milton Obote the next month, before Uganda's independence on October 9, and would later be murdered by Ugandan President Idi Amin in 1972.'

    'The very first K-Mart discount store (now Kmart) was opened by the S.S. Kresge Corporation, in Garden City, Michigan, United States. Kresge CEO Harry Cunningham founded and oversaw the growth of what would be the largest chain of American discount stores by 1964. In 1990. K-Mart's #1 spot would be yielded to Wal-Mart, also founded in 1962.'

'"The Incredible Hulk" was introduced as the first issue of the comic book, by that name, on the shelves of US stores and newsstands. Issue #1 was post-dated to May 1962 in accordance with industry practice.'

2 March: 'In Burma (now Myanmar), General Ne Win and the Burmese Army staged a nearly bloodless coup d'état against the civilian government of Prime Minister U Nu. U Nu was arrested, along with the nation's president, the Chief Justice, and five of his cabinet members. Ne Win would rule the nation until his retirement in 1988, and military rule continued.'

    'In a nationally broadcast address, President Kennedy announced that the United States would resume atmospheric nuclear testing within six weeks unless the Soviet Union ceased above-ground testing while pursuing the proposed Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The U.S. would resume atmospheric testing on April 25 after the U.S.S.R. continued. A limited test ban treaty would be signed on July 25, 1963.'

3 March: 'The United Kingdom designated all land south of 60°S latitude and between longitudes 20°W and 80°W as the British Antarctic Territory, making a claim to an area of 1,710,000 square kilometres or 660,000 square miles. In addition to the wedge of the Antarctic continent, the territory included the uninhabited South Orkney Islands and the South Shetland Islands, while putting South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands under the jurisdiction of the Falkland Islands. The claim to the territories was not recognized by Argentina.'

    'Liu Cheng-sze, a second lieutenant in Communist China's air force, defected to Taiwan, bringing with him a Soviet-built MiG-15 jet fighter. Liu had broken away from a training mission, then flew the jet 200 miles south and landed near Taipei, where he surrendered to the Nationalist Chinese Air Force.[20] A parade was held in his honour on March 10, with 200,000 people turning out to honour him.'

UK chart hits, week ending 3 March 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 24 February 1962

At #5 is Leroy Vandyke with 'Walk On By':

Giles cartoon for this week: The first American in space

(See 20 February below for details of John Glenn's historic spaceflight)

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

18 February: 'Two pilots of the French Air Force, described as "renegades", defied orders, broke away from a routine mission over French Algeria, flew their planes across the border into Morocco, and then attacked a rebel camp in the city of Oujda with rockets and machine gun fire. The two, believed to be members of the Organisation Armée Secrète, then flew their planes to Saïda, Algeria, landed, and deserted.'

20 February: 'The United States placed an astronaut into orbit for the first time, as John Glenn was sent aloft from Cape Canaveral aboard on third Project Mercury mission, in the space capsule Friendship 7. Glenn was launched at 9:47 a.m. local time and attained orbit 12 minutes later. After three circuits of the Earth, Glenn left orbit at 2:20 p.m., landed in the Atlantic Ocean at 2:43, and was recovered by the destroyer U.S.S. Noa at 3:04. Glenn, the first American astronaut, returned to outer space on October 29, 1998, at the age of 77, becoming the oldest man to orbit the Earth.'

21 February: 'Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev first danced together, in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle at Covent Garden in London, creating one of the greatest partnerships in the history of dance. Nureyev had defected from the U.S.S.R. almost eight months earlier on June 16, 1961. He and Fonteyn received 23 curtain calls from the audience.'

    'On the day after John Glenn's historic flight, Soviet Premier Khrushchev sent a telegram to U.S. President Kennedy, proposing that the two nations co-operate on their space program. The first joint venture took place in 1975.'

22 February: 'Pope John XXIII signed Veterum sapientia ("Ancient Wisdom") as an apostolic constitution, the highest possible papal decree. The declaration, published the next day, directed that Roman Catholic seminary students should not only be instructed on the use of the Latin language, but that lectures should be given in Latin, "a bond of unity between the Christian peoples of Europe". The Pope also prohibited priests from arguing against the use of Latin, and created an institute to create new words in Contemporary Latin to keep it apace of modern developments. In 1963, the second Vatican council approved an order retaining Latin for specific rituals, but native languages for most other purposes.'

23 February: 'Astronaut John Glenn arrived in Cape Canaveral to a hero's welcome and was reunited with his family for the first time since before going into space. U.S. President John F. Kennedy, for whom Cape Canaveral was renamed during the 1960s, greeted Glenn and personally awarded him the NASA Special Services Medal. Kennedy praised Glenn for "professional skill, unflinching courage and extraordinary ability to perform a most difficult task under physical stress." It was then that Glenn revealed in an interview that the heat shield on his capsule began to break up upon re-entry, the loss of which would have been fatal. Glenn calmly said, "it could have been a bad day for everybody."'

24 February: 'The United States government began its first telephone and television transmissions via satellite, bouncing signals off of Echo 1, which had been launched on August 12, 1960.'

UK chart hits, week ending 24 February 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 17 February 1962

At #4 is Eden Kane with 'Forget Me Not':

Giles cartoon for this week: Crufts

The famous dog show started in 1891 and has been held annually since then, apart from some of the years in the two World Wars.

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

11 February: 'Negotiations, between the government of France and Algerian independence leaders, opened at Les Rousses, a remote village in the French Alps, leading to a preliminary agreement on a transitional government.'

12 February: 'Spike Milligan and John Antrobus's play, The Bed-Sitting Room, is premièred at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury.' Here is the film version (1969):

13 February: 'A crowd of between 150,000 and 500,000 people marched in Paris in the first massive protest against the continuing Algerian war, which had gone into its eighth year. The occasion was the funeral ceremony for five of the nine people who had been killed by police in the Charonne metro station the previous Thursday. With many of the participants walking off of their jobs to protest, business in Paris and much of France was brought to a halt.'

14 February: '"A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy", produced by CBS News and hosted by American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and CBS reporter Charles Collingwood, was broadcast on television by CBS and on NBC at 10:00 pm Eastern time. Attracting 46,000,000 TV viewers, or three out of every four households in America, it was the highest rated television program up to that time.' Video address: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x74jyr0

15 February: 'In Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi), the legislature for the Republic of Katanga voted to ratify President Moise Tshombe's declaration that the breakaway state should end its secession and return to the Republic of the Congo.'

16 February: 'Voting in India's national parliamentary election commenced, with 210 million voters going to the polls. There were 14,744 candidates for the 494 seats in the Lok Sabha and the 2,930 seats in the legislatures of 13 Indian states. The final result was that 119,904,284 eligible voters participated, and the Indian National Congress, led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, won 361 (or about 73%) of the seats. The Communist Party of India was a distant second with 29 seats (6%).'

    'U.S. President Kennedy issued nine Executive Orders, numbered 10095 to 11105, delegating "emergency preparedness functions" for various federal agencies and departments, to be implemented in the event of a national emergency that required a declaration of martial law.'

17 February: 'In the North Sea flood of 1962, Hurricane-force winds and heavy rains swept across West Germany's North Sea coast and sent the waters flooding over the seawalls. There were 345 deaths in West Germany, 281 of them in Hamburg, when the Elbe River overflowed. An estimated 500,000 people were left homeless.'

    'U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara outlined the doctrine of flexible response, the nuclear strategy of the Kennedy administration, in an address to the American Bar Foundation in Chicago. The plan called for building a large enough nuclear arsenal that the United States would have the ability to launch a second strike of nuclear missiles against the Soviets even after an initial exchange of destruction.'

UK chart hits, week ending 17 February 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 10 February 1962

At #3 is Chubby Checker's 'Let's Twist Again':

Giles cartoon for this week: When the world didn't end

See the first news item below for details. A not-yet-disproven reading is that the planetary alignment indicated that the Anti-Christ might be born on this day - he would now be 60 years old.

Here is an astrological chart for 5 January 1962:

Source and comment

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

5 February: 'During a solar eclipse, an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical planets occurred, for the first time since 1821. It included all 5 of the naked-eye planets plus the Sun and Moon), all of them within 16° of one another on the ecliptic. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus were on one side of the Sun, while Mercury and Earth were on the opposite side. When the Moon crossed between the Earth and the Sun, the eclipse was visible over India, where predictions of the world's end had been made.'

    'French President Charles de Gaulle informed the nation that he was negotiating with the FLN for the independence of Algeria, conditional on a guarantee of the rights of "the minority of European origin in Algerian activities", and "an effective association" between Algeria and France.'

    'Hours before the Beatles were scheduled to play at the Cavern Club, drummer Pete Best told his fellow musicians that he was ill and wouldn't be able to appear. Determined not to cancel the show, the group called around for a replacement and Ringo Starr, whose group had the day off, appeared in Best's place.'

6 February: 'The city of Memphis, Tennessee, ordered the desegregation of its lunch counters, formerly limited to white customers only.'

7 February: 'A coal mine explosion in Saarland, West Germany killed 299 people. The blast occurred at the coal mine, located near Völklingen, at around 9:00 am.'

    'The United States Air Force announced that in the first 15 years of its Project Blue Book investigation of U.F.O. sightings, there was no evidence that any of the 7,369 unidentified flying object reports indicated a threat to national security, any technological advances "beyond the range of our present day scientific knowledge", and no sign of "extraterrestrial vehicles under intelligent controls".'

    'The United States government ban against all U.S.-related Cuban imports (and nearly all exports) went into effect at one minute after midnight. The next day, the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. approved a $133 million program of military aid to Cuba, after having delayed action on it for four months.'

8 February: 'A demonstration against the Organisation armée secrète, called for by the PCF (Communist Party), was repressed at the Charonne metro station. Nine members of the Confédération Générale du Travail trade union were crushed to death after police chased a crowd down into the gates that closed off the subway station, in an event later called the "Charonne massacre".'

    'The United States and the United Kingdom announced an agreement between the two nations to allow the U.S. to test nuclear weapons at Christmas Island, a British possession in the Pacific Ocean.'

    'The British government announced that it would grant independence to Jamaica effective August 6, 1962.'

9 February: 'Spain requested admission to the European Economic Community. Membership was not be approved until 1986.'

10 February: 'At 8:52 a.m. local time, captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin, at the Glienicke Bridge between Wannsee and Potsdam. Powers had been shot down over Russia on May 1, 1960 while flying a U-2 spyplane. Abel had been arrested in New York on June 21, 1957. Frederic L. Pryor, a 28-year-old American student who had been arrested in East Berlin on August 25, was released as part of the deal as well.'

UK chart hits, week ending 10 February 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 3 February 1962

At #2 is Elvis with 'Rock-A-Hula Baby':

Giles cartoon for this week: the Transport Strike

The Conservative government's decision to impose a 'pay pause' on public sector workers and override decisions by third part arbitration bodies (see more on Broad Oak for 6 January) continued to cause trouble in industrial relations. 

On 29 January 1962 there was an unofficial one-day strike by railway workers on parts of the London Underground and 'the South-Eastern Division of the Southern Region, where about 40 per cent. of normal services were run during the peak hours,' the Minister of Transport (Ernest Marples) reported to Parliament. Commuters were forced to find other ways to get to and from work.

From The Spectator, 2 February 1962:

'The worst day for London traffic since the invention of the motor car' was the result of Monday's one-day token strike by railwaymen on the Underground and on British Railways Southern Region. Mr. Gunter, the 'shadow' Minister of Labour, told the strikers that they were wrong and doing their cause harm, and the Government that it had lied to the railway- men and cheated them. At 8.45 that evening (according to a letter from a Liberal MP to the Times) there were six Conservative MPs in the House to take part in the debate on industrial relations and the transport crisis. Mr. Gaitskell told Mr. Woodrow Wyatt that his idea of a Liberal-Labour pact to fight the Tories at the next election was a red herring that had become a dead duck. The post office workers ended their work-to-rule.'

At that time the railways were administered by the British Transport Commission, which had its own financial difficulties - 'Rising costs, industrial action and competition from road traffic meant that the British Transport Commission was in financial trouble by 1955.' The Commission was replaced with new authorities under the Transport Act 1962 with effect from September 1962.

Labour MP Ray Gunter argued in Parliament that industrial relations were not only a matter of the ethical treatment of workers but had implications for morale affecting British competitiveness as we headed towards membership of the European Common Market:

'Do the Government ever stop to think how our industries are to be geared to the European market if we are to go in? How are we to keep pace with modern techniques if there is to be bitterness, sourness and frustration? if the men whose aid we wish to call upon have been soured, how can we expect to achieve results?'

Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

30 January: 'Fourteen of the 21 member states of the Organization of American States voted to oust Cuba. Six other nations abstained, and Cuba voted against the resolution, which barely passed by a 2/3rds majority.'

    'In what became known as the "Tanganyika laughter epidemic", three students at a girls' boarding school in the Tanzanian village of Kashasha began laughing, and other students reacted. Within six weeks, 95 of the school's 159 students were laughing uncontrollably, and on March 18, the school closed and sent the pupils back to their home villages. The mass reaction spread to the villages of Nshamba, Ramanshenye, and Kanyangereka and affected hundreds of people before halting in 1963.'

1 February: 'U.S. President Kennedy delivered "the first presidential message entirely devoted to public welfare", proposing that federal aid to the poor be extended to include job training programs and day care for children of working parents.'

    'The Soviet Union and Ghana ratified a $42,000,000,000 trade pact, with Soviet engineers to assist in the construction of new industries and railroad lines in the West African nation.'

2 February: 'Three U.S. Air Force officers were killed when their Fairchild C-123 Provider became the first USAF plane to be lost in Vietnam, as the U.S. carried out Operation Ranch Hand. The cause of the crash was not determined, although the concern, that it was shot down by Communist insurgents, led to orders that the defoliant spraying aircraft receive a fighter escort.'

    'Pope John XXIII announced the date for "Vatican II", the first worldwide conclave of the Roman Catholic Church in almost 100 years, to begin in Rome on October 11.'

    'The last underground shift was worked at the colliery in Radcliffe, Northumberland.'

    'The Soviet Union conducted its very first underground nuclear test. Previously, the Soviets had conducted all of its atomic and hydrogen bomb explosions in the atmosphere, including more than fifty since ending a moratorium on testing.'

3 February: 'The United States embargo against Cuba was announced by President Kennedy, prohibiting "the importation into the United States of all goods of Cuban origin and all goods imported from or through Cuba". Presidential Proclamation 3447 was made pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, "effective 12:01 A.M., Eastern Standard Time, February 7, 1962."'

    'At 7:05 am Indian Standard Time (0135 UTC), a "doomsday period" (as predicted by Hindu astrologers, began. It was reported that the astrologers had predicted that on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the earth would be "bathed in the blood of thousands of kings" because of the alignment of six planets, the Earth, the Sun and the Moon. In Britain, Aetherias Society director Keith Robertson spent February 4th awaiting disaster along with many of the society's members. He had forecast that "very soon the world will do a 'big flip' when the poles will change places with the equator... 75 percent of the world's population will be killed", but the alignment and eclipse ended without any notable disaster.'

UK chart hits, week ending 3 February 1962 (tracks in italics have been featured previously)

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

1	The Young Ones	Cliff Richard and The Shadows	Columbia
2	Rock-A-Hula Baby / Can't Help Falling In Love	Elvis Presley	RCA
3	Multiplication	Bobby Darin	London
4	Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen	Neil Sedaka	RCA
5	Stranger On The Shore	Acker Bilk	Columbia
6	Let's Twist Again	Chubby Checker	Columbia
7	Forget Me Not	Eden Kane	Decca
8	I'd Never Find Another You	Billy Fury	Decca
9	Walk On By	Leroy Vandyke	Mercury
10	Let There Be Drums	Sandy Nelson	London
11	Crying In The Rain	The Everly Brothers	Warner Brothers
12	The Twist	Chubby Checker	Columbia
13	Run To Him	Bobby Vee	London
14	Lonesome	Adam Faith	Parlophone
15	Peppermint Twist	Joey Dee and The Starlighters	Columbia
16	The Lion Sleeps Tonight	The Tokens	RCA
17	The Comancheros	Lonnie Donegan	Pye
18	Wimoweh	Karl Denver	Decca
19	Midnight In Moscow	Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen	Pye
20	The Language Of Love	John D. Loudermilk	RCA