Leicester in the 1960s: Ten Years that Changed a City

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On Saturday only, station tours will take place, enabling you to learn more about the history of Loughborough Central and about what it meant for the railways to be called 'common carriers'. Talks will be given at 10.30am, 12.50pm and 2.30pm. You'll also be able to find out all about Dr. Beeching in an exhibition in the Loughborough waiting room. Well, here’s one answer: You are booked to play the Speakeasy club in London and you do a version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe”, which happens to be in the charts. In the front row of the club is none other than Hendrix himself – hard to imagine now, but that’s exactly what happened to Leicester-based band Legay one night in 1967. “He stood up and applauded, he loved it,” recalls John Knapp, guitarist with Legay. I’d always found it extraordinary that a group of my Dad’s friends and contemporaries from Leicester in the sixties went on to achieve remarkable successes in their respective creative fields, including: Closer to home and slightly better news, the Beatles played their first session at Abbey Road and their friends the Rolling Stones had their first gig at the Marquee Club in London. I’ve been particularly enlightened by the comments being shared on the Facebook group and the interesting characters that I’ve met. One of Dad’s old friends William English introduced me to the highly respected fashion stylist Roger K Burton. In turn this has led to Roger bringing his extensive collection of original Mod clothing to the exhibition, including many of the costumes featured in the cult movie Quadrophenia.

It was taken over 50 years ago, from the old Pex knitwear factory, later the Land Registry office, by reader Richard Marvin, of Leicester. After numerous rumours were circulated regarding the future of the company, it came as no surprise when announcements were made in the local press, regarding the company’s future. In the early 20th century a Jewish community grew up in the Highfields area and after 1945 Polish and Latvian refugees moved into this area. In the 1950s West Indians moved into the area. In the 1960s some Asians came to Leicester and their numbers were swelled in the 1970s when Indians were forced to leave Uganda. Leicester is now a multicultural city. Nowadays, we associate the age of private bus companies with the deregulation of the 1980s. However, just decades before, small private bus companies ran throughout Leicestershire. The collection covers events reported from the 1960s-1990s only, and does not include copies of the newspapers themselves.

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Colin Hyde (East Midlands Oral History Archive) carried out a range of interviews about growing up in Leicester in the 1950s and 1960s and began to map where all of the venues of the day were. [3] He identified a number of clubs, pubs, and coffee bars like the Chameleon, run by Pete Joseph, the El Casa, or the El Paso – cafes which stayed open after the pubs closed. Among others, people also remembered the Blue Beat club on Conduit Street, run by Alex Barrows who later started the House of Happiness on Campbell Street. Night clubs such as the Burlesque or the Nite Owl became more popular as the 1960s progressed, and they opened up the opportunity to dance all night. [ citation needed] Robin Pizer, Legay guitarist, said: “We just had so much fun we thought this is going to happen, regardless. We had no leader and were very insular, it was almost like a marriage. Maybe if one of us had been a leader, things might have been different. All in all, I look at it as a bit of a mixed blessing we didn’t make it because I think some of us wouldn’t be here now if we had been successful.” There were more outbreaks of plague in Leicester in 1604, 1606, 1610, 1625, 1636, and 1638. But the outbreak in 1638 was the last. e.g. British schools), all Anglican church schools, and all other major schools which are known to have taken The archive documents the history of Leicester and Leicestershire during the second half of the twentieth century. Prior to its transfer to the University, it formed a working newspaper library at the paper's offices in St George's Street. Until the mid-1990s stories were cut from the paper on a daily basis and filed by subject for future reference.

Other Leicester acts enjoying chart success in the Official UK Singles Chart during the 2000s include bassline act H "Two" O eventually reaching number two, and remaining there for three weeks, with their hit single " What's It Gonna Be". Dance music project Stunt eventually reached number nine with their collaborative hit single " Raindrops (Encore Une Fois)" (with Sash!). They have also gone on to collaborate with Europop sensation Basshunter. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

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I first met John Nixon, who’s often known as ‘Jelly’, in the early 2000s and it was because I wanted to record memories of being a teenager in post-war Leicester and Jelly was so well known as being one of the gurus of the local music scene from the early sixties onwards. Everyone said “oh you’ve got to go and talk to him, he knows everything. So I did go and talk to him and I recorded his memories over a couple of visits for quite a few hours. He did know everything and he was just this great source of information about loads of different aspects of youth culture through the 1960s.” Amenities in Leicester improved during the 19th century. In 1821 Leicester obtained gas street lighting. Furthermore, by 1830 most of the streets were paved. Then in 1836 Leicester got its own police force. There was a house system to encourage team building and also to promote a competitive spirit which was deemed necessary to prepare the girls for later life. It taught how to be gracious winners and how to lose gracefully. There was a house points system, the houses being named after famous British authors, historic cities, philosophers and the like. Girls would earn points for their house by winning events at Sports Day and by doing well in end of year examinations. We hope you enjoy these pictures and please leave a comment if you have memories you would like to share from the time.

We are thrilled that with money from the National Lottery we are able to support this innovating and exciting project. Nottingham and Leicester had a fascinating mod scene and this project is the perfect opportunity to explore and celebrate this!” There's a policeman on point duty as blurred vehicles whizz by. Imagine how much traffic there would be at this spot today. There was sex education of a sort. One elderly biology teacher spent three lessons discussing, with diagrams, the anatomy of rabbits. When it at last it came to describing the sex act, she said abruptly “And it’s the same with men and women” and left the room! Part one covers the story of Legay, a band that almost made it into the big time, but didn’t. Instead, they trod a path for other bands who did make it big, to follow. Part two takes a more general look at the Leicester music scene: the venues like the Il Rondo, The Palais, The Nite Owl and The White Cat Café. The other bands on the circuit are also profiled: Cert X, Vfranie, The Beatniks, Pesky Gee!, The Farinas, The Roaring Sixties and Family. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Lawrence Brown. Better known as “Laurie”, he was the founder of Leicestershire’s largest independent bus and coach company, which started on January 1, 1924, under the name of L D Brown. He named his first vehicle “The Nancy”, after his sister, who helped this venture during the early years.

Thames Tower, to the right of Corah’s, must have been quite new when this photograph was taken and I must say, looks better. The development of the award-winning music festival Summer Sundae with connecting Summer Sundae Fringe Festival (predominantly run by the local arts collective 'Pineapster') focused on blues and folk music may well provide the city with more of a focus for its local bands to break out nationally. Described by Steve Lamacq as 'the Grandson of Glastonbury [ citation needed] and sponsored by BBC Radio 6 Music, the festival took place in the city's Victoria Park from 2011 until 2013 and featured headlining acts including Mumford & Sons, Public Image Ltd and McFly. Dr Su Barton said: “This book is about some of the young people of Leicester around half a century ago but it could be part of the story of any British town. Although none of them realised it at the time, they really were an amazing bunch. Their rebellion – in lifestyle, music, fashion, politics and aspiration – really did change not only Leicester but, together with others of their generation, the wider world forever. Life was fresh, exciting and different to that of earlier generations.”