what was life like in the 60s ?

[James Anderson]

I sometimes think what life like back then when the only great show on a 10inch b/w tv was Dr who.

I mean no computers , no mobile phones , not many people had cars and there was only one tv channel and that was the BBC

[Deleted]

A joke surely?! Nothing on in the '60s other than Dr.Who? I lived through that decade and there was no end of good stuff on television back then. And that's without all that was happening in other fields (e.g. popular music).

[Sue Butcher]

Actually, three TV channels on a 25" screen if you had an up-to-date set, and because television was a relatively new and exciting medium, it attracted a lot of talented performers. Honestly, it wasn't THAT awful! (And almost everyone could afford to run a second-hand car.)

[jlaird69]

I think you will find most people couldn't afford to run a second hand car in the 60s 70s yes not 60s

[Jaspal Cheema]

I agree with Sue when she says that TV in the 60's attracted A LOT of talented performers as well as nuturing talent which would become household names in the coming decades.If you look at the Radio and TV times listings,especially from the late 60s you will find the first appearances of so many great future stars such as Les Dawson,Judy Dench,Mike Yarwood etc-all appearing around 1968/69.I don't really remember the 1960s as I was only born in very late 67 but I do remember how primitive and how unreliable TV sets were.But no doubt about it,there was a wealth of great TV as well as Dr Who-Callan,the Prisoner,Man from Uncle-the list is endless!

[Brian Denton]

Any answer to this thread will be clouded by the 'good old days' syndrome. I was born in 1958 so remember the [mid-late] sixties pretty clearly. I can assure you that not every family could afford to run a second-hand car! There was certainly a more 'educational' aspect to the programming, and I do feel that our present multiplicity of channels is a case of 'more means less'. I don't know if the BBC's disgusting nepotism was quite as egregious then as it is now - as a child I wouldn't have been aware of such things - or whether the laws of mathematics and reproduction simply mean there are now more scions requiring 'positions'.

I do admit sometimes when I see something on BBC4 which I have eagerly anticipated from my childhood, it has turned out to be something of a disappointment. In my opinion the standard of acting, or perhaps more accurately, the naturalness -of today's acting, is far superior to that which obtained then.

The politics and music were far more interesting........

[Charles Daniels]

Mar 24, 2013 10:03:39 GMT James Anderson said:

I sometimes think what life like back then when the only great show on a 10inch b/w tv was Dr who.

I mean no computers , no mobile phones , not many people had cars and there was only one tv channel and that was the BBC

Well I wasn't there. But a lot of your points are things I can remember a life before.

Computers.

In the 1960s, why would you want one?
It simply wouldn't cross your mind I don't think.
A big blocky tower bigger than a full sized family refrigerator that spun around and had blinky lights, and worked out how to get people to the moon or something like that.
I can't imagine you'd spend any time missing what you didn't know. I guess some small number of people were curious about them, but they wouldn't be "fun" until the mid-70s.

Mobile phone? I bought my first mobile phone in...2005?
I use it heavily, and it's great for meeting up with friends.
But its a means to an end. Life without a mobile phone was perfectly enjoyable.

A car? I drove a car when I lived in California -- I HAD TO, to have a job and live. But now I live in Oxford. Why would I even want a car? I can walk everywhere. If I need to go farther, I take a train or bus.

I imagine, if I was around in the 60s I'd watch Top of the Pops, The Prisoner, Monty Python, The Avengers, Z Cars, Sherlock Holmes, The Saint, so on and so on.

Assuming my basic personality was the same, I was just SHIFTED in time - I'd probably spend a lot of money on 45s and going to gigs.

Hell, I know me, I'd spend most my free time at rock gigs trying to chat up birds. I'd drag myself into work on a Monday, work through Friday, get pissed up, go off to a gig, try to chat up birds, be a mix of hung over and disappointed all the rest of the weekend -- and repeat. For a decade.

[Rob Moss]

Lets also not forget than in the 60s, there were more buses and trains, because more people used them. Plus, because people tended to travel less far afield, you could find shops and abilities much closer to home.

[Rob Moss]

Mar 24, 2013 10:03:39 GMT James Anderson said:

I sometimes think what life like back then when the only great show on a 10inch b/w tv was Dr who.

I mean no computers , no mobile phones , not many people had cars and there was only one tv channel and that was the BBC

ITV started in 1955, BBC Two started in 1964, so for most people, for most of the 1960s, there were two, if not three channels.

In all seriousness though, if you think Dr Who was the only great tv show during the 1960s, you really need to get out more.

[simonashby]

People couldn't start trivial threads back then.

[Dave Wood]

It was great! Just two or three TV channels operating for a few hours a day meant that there had to be a quality product to get viewers subscribing to the TV licence and tuning in, no mater how small the production budget. The opening up of breakfast TV stirred things up a bit, as did Channel4 in the 1980s, with lots of innovative, challenging and damn right filthy new product. TV didn't go massively wrong until the 1990s and then it seemed to be about quantity rather than quality. Dozens of channels desperate to fill their 24 hour air time, so either a reliance on archive TV or just chat and crass reality/gardening/DIY shows. I think we're in a better place now with BBC3, BBC4, Film4 etc but 1990s was a pretty bleak time for TV, back when it was a about cost rather than talent.

[Tony Ingram]

Mar 24, 2013 10:03:39 GMT James Anderson said:

I sometimes think what life like back then when the only great show on a 10inch b/w tv was Dr who.

Far from it. The sixties were a great time for quality TV, much of which is still better than half the rubbish we get now.

I mean no computers , no mobile phones , not many people had cars and there was only one tv channel and that was the BBC

There were three TV channels, at least by the end of the decade. And I could quite happily live without a car (I don't drive) or a mobile phone (got one, but rarely turn it on). As for computers-why would anyone have needed one?

[Charles Daniels]

Mar 25, 2013 8:53:53 GMT Tony Ingram said:

There were three TV channels, at least by the end of the decade. And I could quite happily live without a car (I don't drive) or a mobile phone (got one, but rarely turn it on). As for computers-why would anyone have needed one?

Well to help repell the alien invasions, which were pretty much happening on a weekly basis back then.

I mean, if Zoe hadn't have been able to speak to that computer in Algol, the entire Cyberfleet could have landed with impunity.

[Sue Butcher]

I hate needing to buy new things I don't actually want. It's one of the most irritating things about 21st Century life.

[Rob Moss]

Mar 25, 2013 12:16:55 GMT Charles Daniels said:

Mar 25, 2013 8:53:53 GMT Tony Ingram said:

There were three TV channels, at least by the end of the decade. And I could quite happily live without a car (I don't drive) or a mobile phone (got one, but rarely turn it on). As for computers-why would anyone have needed one?

Well to help repell the alien invasions, which were pretty much happening on a weekly basis back then.

I mean, if Zoe hadn't have been able to speak to that computer in Algol, the entire Cyberfleet could have landed with impunity.

That doesn't explain why people need computers. It just explains why people need women in sparkly catsuits.