This week, we take a look back at hits and news bits from 1967.

January
The famous White Inn in Bell Lane was demolished to make way for the new development of what would become Boots the chemists and the new shopping centre.
The Price Right supermarket opened its doors at its new Eastgate Street branch.
Restoration work began on the tower of St. Andrews Church in Churcham.
For one week only starting 26th January, the film Georgie Girl was showing, starring James Mason, Lynn Redgrave and Charlotte Rampling. The film’s opening credits were backed by The Seekers’ Georgie Girl track.
Tom Jones’ single The Green Green Grass of Home was still at No. 1 in the UK singles chart. It had been there since 1st December 1966.
The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations was still in the charts after peaking at No. 1 in November 1966.
The Mamas and the Papas released Dedicated To The One I Love.
One time member of the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, released Hi Ho Silver Lining.

February
Saturday night TV on the BBC: Juke Box Jury hosted by David Jacobs. Doctor Who – the Doctor was actor Patrick Troughton, with companion Frazer Hines (he was Joe Sugden Emmerdale Farm) who played Jamie McCrimmon. Actress Deborah Watling played Victoria Waterfield. After Doctor Who was The Monkees television series, then The Val Doonican Show.
Saturday night TV on ITV Midlands: Just Jimmy starring Jimmy Clitheroe, Batman, Doddy’s Music Box with Ken Dodd and Diddy David Hamilton, Life With Cooper (Tommy Cooper) and On The Braden Beat.
Train times were disrupted because of railmen working a ‘Go slow’ over pay.
Gloucester swimming baths (now GL1) – swimming lessons 30 shillings for eight lessons.
On 8th February, heavy fog descended on Cole Avenue, resulting in a road traffic accident (RTA) of five cars. In a separate accident, a crash involved 12 cars. Luckily, no injuries were reported.
Whitminster Police Station and Magistrates Court was demolished to make way for a new station, which would open in May 1967.
City entertainment activist Susan Rigby attended a meeting held at the Co-op meeting hall in Queen Street. She stood up and protested that Gloucester was not providing entertainment facilities for the city’s teenagers. The department of Education and Science gave the green light of approval for the new Matson Youth Centre (named Matson Youth Club) to be built at a cost of £22,000. The club opened from Monday to Friday. The building is now known as the Redwell Centre.
On 10th February, Blues singer Long John Baldry appeared for one night only at the Blue Moon Club on Cheltenham’s High Street. At this time he was an unknown artist but he went on to have a hit in November with Let The Heartaches Begin. Trivia: Elton John took Baldry’s first name as his second name, and ‘Elton’ was taken from Elton Dean, the jazz saxophonist in his first band, Bluesology.

March
On 6th March, the Learners swimming pool at the Gloucester baths was reopened after being closed for two months for improvements.
Teenager Pauline Woodward of Passage Road, Saul received her Duke of Edinburgh Award.
The Gloucester Operatic & Dramatic Society (The GODS) staged their production of The Flower Drum Song.
Horsley’s new village hall was opened by Mr. Tom Kent and Mrs Isaac. The hall cost £5,000 to build and is still in use (Priory Fields, Horsley, Stroud).
Looking for a flat? How about this bed-sitter on Elmbridge Road in Gloucester for £2 per week? Or a furnished two-bedroom flat just outside of the city at 5 pounds 5 shillings per week?
Joy Webb, leader of pop group The Joystrings, visited the Gloucester Salvation Army (then ‘The 125s’).
UK singles charts: Engelbert Humperdinck’s Release Me began its six-week run at No.1. We Beatles fans were ‘pig sick’ because it prevented the Mop Tops from scoring twelve consecutive number one singles in a row with Penny Land/Strawberry Fields Forever. The NME and Record Mirror asked the band if they had a comment. “No comment”.
On 1st November 1963, The Beatles’ fourth British tour opened with a performance at the Odeon Cinema in Cheltenham. The reason I mention this when I’m looking back at 1967 is to highlight the importance of The Cheltenham Odeon when staging live music with the stars. On 31st March 1967 at The Odeon: Roy Orbison, The Small Faces, Twins Paul and Barry Ryan (their mother, Marion Ryan, was a big star in the UK during the late 1950s), Jeff Beck, and the Settlers (a strange genre of Folk music to mix in the good raw pop). Tickets cost 9 shillings and 6 pence and  and 15 shillings.
The Blaenavon Male Voice Choir performed There’s Lovely! at the Northgate Methodist Church.
Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, made his final public appearance in 1967 at the unveiling of Queen Mary’s plaque at Marlborough House, even though his health was declining significantly at this time (he died 14th June 1974).
The Monkees entered the UK charts at No. 14 with their third UK single, A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You written by Neil Diamond (he had written I’m A Believer). The single eventually peaked at No.3.

April
The MOT became law on 1st April, meaning you had to have an MOT test every three years.
The BBC were on location filming scenes for Softly Softly in Painswick and Cranham woods. The show starred Frank Windsor, Stratford Johns and Norman Bowler.
The shop steward at the Walls ice cream factory in Gloucester was Hywel Morgan. He called for 85 maintenance staff to work to rule and turn down any overtime opportunities. The workers wanted better pay. They were offered an extra one shilling per hour but turned it down.
Actress and comedienne Joyce Grenfell had a one night appearance at the Cheltenham Town Hall. Tickets cost 4 shillings and 6 pence and 12 shillings and 6 pence.
High jinks along Deans Way in Gloucester when Mrs E. Stephens won a staggering £855.
On the twelfth night of April, the Cheltenham Young People’s Orchestra, with choir conducted by Malcolm Smith, put on a concert at the majestic Gloucester Cathedral.
TV celebrity Percy Thrower opened the new garden centre on Cheltenham Road East in Churchdown. Sadly Hurran’s is no longer there.
The cit’s Registry Office opened on Spa Road. The first couple tying the knot there were Miss Deniese Holden and Mr Roger Lee (as of 2026 they would be married for 59 years).
Sandra Swaine of Nailsworth’s Bath Road was voted the GPO Inter Flora Personality Girl of 1967. Sandra worked as a telephonist at the Nailsworth Exchange.
Beatle fans were delighted to see Engelbert Humperdinck’s No. 1 hit Release Me knocked off the top spot by an American father and daughter act Frank and Nancy Sinatra with Something Stupid.
Jimi Hendrix was shooting (no pun intended) up the UK Top 20 with his second UK single Purple Haze. Sandie Shaws’ Puppet on a String prevented Jimi getting to No.1.
New into the charts: Jeff Beck’s High Ho Silver Lining, The Mamas and The Papas’ Dedicated To The One I Love and Jimmy Mack by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

May
Gloucester Saro landed a 2 million pound contract to make automatic vending machines.
The foundations of the new Land Registry headquarters building on Bruton Way (opposite the central station) were beginning. The building is still there.
Suffolk House near Greyfriars was demolished preparatory to the construction of the Eastgate Shopping Centre market hall. Back in 1966, the government’s Ministry of Public Buildings and Works began the restoration of the church. Post-dissolution alterations were cleared and the last surviving two bays of medieval roof, in poor condition, were removed. The floor was lowered to the level it was in 1538 and the ruins consolidated into the shell they remain today. Suffolk House was a large, early 19th-century house that had previously served as a private school and the Liberal club. In 1938, it had become the children’s library for the city. When it was demolished it made way for the new market hall.
On 20th May, a new police station was opened to replace the old, with accommodation – two houses – plus a purpose built courthouse to cater for the soon to be opened M5 and, therefore, motorway offences (Gloucestershire Police Archives URN 10880-57).
Fifteen elephants belonging to Billy Smart’s Circus broke the law by making an illegal right turn from Northgate Street into Westgate Street, heading to the Oxleaze and the big tent. The elephants had just got off a train at the Central Station. I believe they were travelling third class.
Gloucester Docks ground to a halt when a fire broke out at the Abbey Mills sack works. The building was destroyed and a huge smoke cloud covered Southgate Street. 
Starting at the ABC King’s Square for one week: The Bachelors, The Kaye Sisters, Mike Yarwood, Mike Newman and sixteen tiller dancing girls (I was there). Lord knows where the dancers changed, as backstage was fairly small compared to some. If you frequent the pub (now The Regal Wetherspoons) which has taken over the old theatre building and you sit at the very back you’ll be sharing the space with the feel of the dressing rooms where all of the act changed. Legends like Tony Hancock, Morecambe and Wise, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Beatles and hundreds more.
The 530-foot-long 89-year-old Dowdeswell Railway viaduct near Cheltenham was demolished by high explosives. It used to be the railway line between Cheltenham and Kingham. The Tremolos entered the charts at No. 29 with Silence is Golden. Within three weeks it replaced Sandie Shaw at No.1 with her Puppet on a String.
The Beatles’ landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in the UK on 26th May and in the US on 2nd June, becoming a defining soundtrack for the ‘Summer of Love’ and pioneering concept albums, studio experimentation, and iconic psychedelic art with its famous cover. Its influence was immediate and massive, leading to later anniversary editions, including a 50th-anniversary release in 2017. 

June
Radio presenter Derek McCullock (Uncle Mac) died on the first of this month. He was 69 years old. He had hosted the Saturday morning show on the BBC Home service ‘Children’s Hour’.
Nineteen-year-old Faith Hughes from Churchdown was crowned ‘Miss Churchdown’.
Procol Harum’s Whiter Shade Of Pale was No. 1 on the UK singles chart.
Gloucester’s ambulance service employed its first ever women drivers – Irene Tyler and Josephine Webb (I knew her and remember her getting the job, she was so excited).
Yet more trouble brewing in the Suez canal and as a result petrol pumps in Gloucester were having to ration petrol.
Dowty Rotal Factory at Staverton opened its doors to Japanese engineers who made a special visit to the company to educate and to learn from Dowty’s first rate engineers.
Newly designed food mixers appeared at Bon March basement for £9.
British Rail train fares from Gloucester: to London – 39 shillings; to Western Super Mare – 14 shillings.
Teenager Lynette Todd was crowned The Sharpness Carnival Queen.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club played matches against Essex (3rd-5th June) and Surrey (21st-23rd June) in Bristol.
Shopping in Gloucester: we had Boots (the chemist), and clothing/footwear retailers such as Freeman Hardy Willis and True Form. The city had a significant market tradition. While the large livestock market had moved to St Oswald’s Road by that time, the Eastgate Market Hall was a core part of the city centre. Eastgate Shopping Centre (where Marks and Spencer once stood) was a popular store known for its variety of goods including toys and the pick ‘n’ mix counter. Pick ‘n’ mix was one of the many reasons we youngsters at the time visited Woolworths. The Cadena Café was a posh place to go if you had a spare shilling or two or three.
Nicole Mary Kidman was born on 20th June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Notable celebrity deaths included iconic American actor Spencer Tracy, actress and satirist Dorothy Parker, and American bombshell actress Jayne Mansfield who died tragically in a car crash (emergency crews at the scene told reporters that she had been decapitated).

July
A semi-detached house in Gloucester with three bedrooms and a garage would have set you back £2,900.
The Prospect Works were officially opened by Sir George Dowty. They referred to the redevelopment area around Prospect Place/Street, where archaeological digs occurred due to urban renewal, uncovering remnants of the historic Greyfriars Friary, while simultaneously modern civic projects like new colleges and offices were planned for the wider area.
Actor and singer Cy Grant opened Gloucester Carnival (singer-songwriter Julie Felix was booked to open it but failed to turn up). I was working at shoe shop True Form. We closed the shop and watched the carnival travel along Westgate Street. The pavements were heaving with families watching the glorious spectacle.
Eighteen-year-old June Morgan was crowned ‘Miss Gloucester’.
Fifth form pupils (now called students) at Hucclecote County Secondary Modern School were having driving lessons on the school’s playing fields.
Eighteen-year-old London model Lesley Hornby rose to fame. Her nickname was Twiggy, which came from her childhood nickname of ‘Twigs’, given to her because of her extremely thin, slender frame, much like a small tree branch (a twig). Her boyfriend and future manager, hairstylist Nigel Davies, popularised it as ‘Twiggy’, which stuck, and it became her iconic stage name. She is now known as Dame Lesley Lawson.
The ‘Summer of Love’ was the word on the street. I was still wearing ‘Beatle Boots’, corduroy slacks and a flowery silk shirt I bought from a men’s boutique, which was part of the Odeon cinema building on Eastgate Street.
Gloucester experienced a month with periods of hot sunny weather punctuated by severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. July was generally the second warmest month of the 1960s.
Showing at the ABC Kings Square for one week from 16th July was a movie that launched an unknown actor into the stratosphere. The actor? Michael Cain – real name Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. The movie? Zulu. Cain played Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead.
Yachtsman and aviator Sir Francis Chichester attended a local wedding in Gloucester, a few weeks after receiving a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

August
The Beatles manager Brian Epstein died of an accidental overdose of Amphetamine. On 27th August 1967, Epstein’s butler attempted to rouse Epstein through his locked bedroom door. The butler then called Epstein’s physician assistant Joanne Petersen, who also failed to rouse him through the locked door. Petersen then called Epstein’s doctor, who, with the butler, broke down the door and found Epstein in his bed, eyes closed as though asleep, an open book near his hand, and some digestive biscuits on the bedside cabinet. When they realised that Epstein was dead, staff swept the house for contraband, then called the police. At the time of Epstein’s death, The Beatles were on a retreat with the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Bangor in North Wales. Epstein had agreed to travel to Bangor after the August bank holiday. The second of two shows by Jimi Hendrix at the Saville Theatre were cancelled on the evening of Epstein’s death (Epstein owned the theatre at that time).
The Gloucester Society for Industrial Archaeology published its 10th Newsletter in this month, focusing on the Gloucester & Berkeley Canal, completed in 1827. For much of its length the canal runs close to the tidal River Severn, but it cuts off a long loop in the river at a once-dangerous bend near Arlingham. At one time it was the broadest and deepest canal in the world. The canal is 26.5 km (16.5 miles) long.
The Gloucester Cranham Feast is a historic, multi-day village festival in Cranham, featuring traditional events like the deer roast, boundary race, tug of war, live music, food stalls, bouncy castle, flower festival, parades and bake-offs. It celebrates community spirit with free entry for all, and is rooted in medieval traditions of landlord feasts for tenants. It is usually held on the Saturday before the second Monday in August and lasts the whole weekend.
The iconic Cheltenham venue The Blue Moon Club, which hosted legends like Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds, Long John Baldry, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton and David Bowie, was in its final year of operation (1965–1967).
The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love hit No. 1 on the UK singles charts. Other hits associated with the ‘Summer of Love’ included Scott McKenzie’s San Francisco, Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play, Small Faces’ Itchycoo Park, The Rolling Stones’ We Love You/Dandelion. 
The Flowerpot Men were an English pop group created in 1967 as a result of the single Let’s Go To San Francisco, recorded by session musicians with Tony Burrows on lead vocals. It became a major UK Top 20 hit on the singles chart. Burrows was also lead vocalist on the hits Love Grows by Edison Lighthouse, United We Stand by the Brotherhood of Man, My Baby Loves Loving by The White Plains, Gimme Dat Ding by The Pipkins and Beach Baby by The First Class.
Joe Orton, the brilliant and controversial 1960s British playwright, was brutally murdered at his London home on 9th August by his long-term lover and mentor, Kenneth Halliwell. Halliwell then committed suicide with a barbiturate overdose, leaving a suicide note mentioning Orton’s diary as an explanation for his jealous rage after years of simmering resentment over Orton’s rising fame and promiscuity. Orton, just 34, was found bludgeoned to death with a hammer, marking a tragic end to a short but influential career that transformed theatre with dark, satirical comedies like Entertaining Mr. Sloane, What The Butler Saw and Loot.

September
The new scientific laboratory opened at Gloucester’s Kings School.
A three-bedroom semi-detached house on the new Grange Housing Estate cost £3,700. Nowadays (2026), it’s worth £232,000.
A twin tub washing machine for your new home would set you back 68 guineas. A constellation vacuum cleaner cost 17 guineas. Fitted nylon sheets were 50 shillings for a double bed and 34 shillings for a single.
The Gladiator pub opened on what was known at the time as the Tuffley estate.
The footbridge across Escort Road was opened.
British Rail put on a special train service for families to go to Blackpool to see the illuminations. Tickets cost 36 shillings.
The 400-year-old Bell Hotel closed, marking the end of an era for Gloucester.
Railway enthusiasts enjoyed a rare sight of a Western Courier (WC) locomotive at Horton Road Shed. The locomotive 34002 Salisbury was diverted to the Gloucester Horton Road Shed after suffering a mechanical ‘hot box’ whilst on route to a scrapyard in Barry South Wales. Local trainspotters famously spent days cleaning and repainting the dirty engine before its final journey.
Foot and mouth epidemic (the devastating epidemic of 1967) was still affecting the county, with strict control measures, movement restrictions and disinfection efforts ongoing as the virus was gradually contained.
The railway branch line to Cinderford closed, indicating a shift in the Forest of Dean’s transport landscape.
Gloucestershire’s cricket team faced Yorkshire at Harrogate from 6th-7th September 1967. Earlier in the season, they had participated in the Gillette Cup, eventually won by Kent on 2nd September.
American singer Macy Gray was born, as was actor Toby Jones. Jones has worked tirelessly on film and TV over the years, however in recent times he’s been known for his role as Alan Bates in the 2024 ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, a dramatisation of the the British Post Office scandal. His father was Freddie Jones, known for his unique roll in The Ghosts of Motley Hall. He also played Sandy in Emmerdale.
American country pop singer and actress Faith Hill was born in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
BBC Radio One was launched on Saturday 30th September at 7am as a direct response to popular pirate radio stations (like Radio Caroline) taking over from the BBC Light Programme to offer a dedicated pop music service. DJ Tony Blackburn hosted the first show, playing Flowers in the Rain by The Move as the first full record, with George Martin’s Theme One marking the official start before that.

October
The annual Stroud Festival began on 15th October for 14 days. Jazz stars Cleo Lain and her husband John Dankworth played two nights at the Odeon Stroud, with tickets costing 15 shillings.
A 400-year-old oak tree on Matson Lane was literally “blown out of the ground”. It took a fair amount of explosives to get the tree to give up its home after 400 years. The Matson Youth Centre was built on the space.
The Adge Cutler Show was on at the Causeway Club in Cinderford. A week later they were playing at the Dolphin Club on Worcester Street in Gloucester.
Cheltenham Odeon staged a ‘Sixties package’ with Engelbert Humperdinck, Anita Harris, Lance Percival and the Rockin’ Berries. Tickets cost 9 shilings and 6 pence, and 15 shillings.
The GPO launched its new ‘Dial-a-Disc’ service in Gloucester, officially opened by telephonists Pat James, Sharon Matthews and Jennifer Badham. If my memory serves me right, we had to dial 160 to listen to the hit song of that day.
Gloucester’s Junior Library at Greyfriars opened on 7th October.
Baxter’s Butchers’ bargains: English topside – 5 shillings and 6 pence a pound; stewing steak – 3 shillings a pound; rib of beef – 3shillings and 6 pence a pound; minced steak 3 shillings a pound.
On 28th October, Gloucester experienced one of the worst autumn floods in living memory. The River Severn overflowed significantly, impacting Gloucester and the surrounding western regions.
Drivers who liked to drive whilst under the influence had a shock on the 7th, as the new breathalysing test became law. Publicans said, “This will hit our trade”. They obviously were not concerned that a customer of theirs ran over and killed a 30-year-old mother with a baby. Say no more.
The ABC cinema on King’s Square was showing The Dirty Dozen starring Telly Sevalas, Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. Marvin and Bronson didn’t like each other, so it would have been interesting being in the middle of that on set!
The Bee Gees had their first No.1 single in the UK, Massachusetts, which remained on top for four weeks. The Foundations replaced them at No.1 with Baby Now That I’ve Found You.
The song which had launched BBC Radio One in September was climbing the charts – The Move’s Flowers In The Rain. 
American soul singer Stevie Wonder (who back in 1963 was called Little Stevie Wonder. Real name Stevland Hardaway Judkins) had a new entry in the charts at No. 39 with I Was Made To Love Her.

November
Cinema goers were in for a treat this month. The ABC cinema on King’s Square was showing Bonnie and Clyde, with Faye Dunaway as Bonnie and Warren Beaty as Clyde. Beaty’s sister is actress Shirley MacLaine. The song You’re So Vain by Carly Simon is allegedly about him.
The Odeon on Eastgate Street was showing The St Valentine’s Day Massacre, starring Jason Robards as Al Capone and George Segul as Peter Gusenberg.
Currys held a toy fair – Noddy cars cost 3 shillings and 11 pence, an Action Man cost 32 shillings and 11 pence, and a Spirograph cost 35 shillings and 6 pence.
Gloucester had its first ever 24-hour automatic petrol pump installed at Sparkes Garage on Lower Barton Street.
A multi-story car park between Bruton Way and Gloucester bus station was under construction. The new car park Q-Park The Forum now stands in its location.
On 28th November, Detective Sergeant Brian Marshall of the Gloucestershire Constabulary was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for his role in apprehending a man armed with a shotgun.
On the 29th, a lorry heading out of the city along Westgate Street crashed into the island of Westgate Street bridge. The crash happened during the evening rush hour; traffic in and out of Gloucester was at a standstill for over an hour.
NASA launched Apollo 4, a vital unmanned test for the Saturn V rocket, while the Surveyor 6 probe soft-landed on the Moon.
Engineer Sir Percy Lister, a prominent figure in the Dursley-based engineering firm R A Lister & Co, celebrated his retirement during the 1967–1968 period.
Letitia Dean, British actress (Sharon Watts in EastEnders), was born in Potters Bar, England.
Boris Becker was born in Leimen, a town in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg.
The end of the Aden Emergency took place on the 29th. The Union Flag was lowered in Aden, Yemen, marking the end of British involvement. This event is still commemorated annually in Cheltenham due to the heavy losses sustained by local service personnel.
Sociologist John Berger published his influential work A Fortunate Man, which was famously set in and inspired by the Forest of Dean.
Englebert Humperdinck had three singles in the UK charts during this month: Release Me, There Goes My Everything and The Last Waltz. 

December
Booze for Christmas:
• Gin: 43 shillings and 11 pence per bottle
• Whisky: 46 shillings and 11 pence
• Vodka: 43 shillings and 11 pence
• Brandy: 54 shillings and 11 pence
• Sherry: 24 shillings and 9 pence

The G.O.D.S put on their annual pantomime at the Olympus Theatre Kingsbarton Street – this year was Babes In The Wood. All seats cost 5 shillings.
The actor William Payne (Ned Larkin in The Archers) died on his way to the BBC studios in Birmingham. He was 71.
The Police were searching for robbers who stole £12,000 worth of whisky from the British Road Services depot. The loot was never recovered so someone was having a very happy Christmas.
Gloucester railway workers were on a ‘work to rule’ over pay and conditions. Cabin staff and pilots working for B.O.A.C. were on strike over pay.
The Secretary of State for Education and Science was Anthony Crosland and he was in discussion with the government regarding raising the school leaving age to 16.
The Royal Forest of Dean grammar school at Five Acres was under construction. It was known as the Royal Forest of Dean until 1971.
In the United Kingdom, certain clauses of the charter remained in force until the passing of the 1971 Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act, which abolished “any prerogative right of Her Majesty to wild creatures (except royal fish and swans)”.
Mrs Williams of Elmleaze, Longlevens won £2,032 on the Bingo held at the Mecca Casino on Barton Street.
The new extension to Shire Hall was under construction. It was being built on the site of the old domestic science school in Barrack Square. The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour premiered on UK television on Boxing Day at 8.35pm on BBC1 – a prime-time slot that surprised viewers with its experimental, ‘stoned’ nature, leading to largely negative reviews, despite the soundtrack’s success. The film was broadcast in black-and-white on BBC1 and later shown in colour on BBC2 in January 1968. One criticism aimed at the BBC by The Beatles was that Magical Mystery Tour was shown in black and white, rendering some scenes pointless. In the Anthology series, Ringo Starr said: “Being British, we thought we’d give it to the BBC, which in those days was the biggest channel, who showed it in black and white.” Initial press reviews were mixed, but often praised its psychedelic originality (EP), though critics found the accompanying film confusing, leading to a poor TV reception in the UK despite its musical strengths. Later retrospective reviews often highlighted the album’s solid songwriting and iconic tracks like Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and I Am the Walrus as masterpieces of the era, even if the film wasn’t as successful.

Christmas Day was on a Monday.

Christmas Day Top Ten
1. The Beatles – Hello Goodbye
2. Tom Jones – I'm Coming Home
3. The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (EP)
4. Val Doonican – If The Whole World Stopped Loving
5. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart
6. Long John Baldry – Let The Heartaches Begin
7. Cliff Richard – All My Love
8. The Monkees – Daydream Believer
9. The Scaffold – Thank U Very Much
10. Traffic – Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush


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