This week, we take a look back at hits and news bits from 1969.

January
Richard Nixon was officially elected President of the United States as Congress certified the electoral college votes on 6th January. During this period, Les Jones was serving as the High Sheriff of Gloucester (1968–1969). He later transitioned to the role of Mayor of Gloucester for the 1969-1970 term.
Former English international rugby union player and Gloucester RFC legend Sid Smart (1888-1969) died in Gloucester on 25th January at the age of 80. He earned 12 caps for England and played 196 matches for Gloucester.
Local pop group Zachery Boot were enjoying a well deserved rest after a busy Christmas and New Year’s Eve shows.
The Beatles’ iconic rooftop concert took place on 30th January 1969 on the roof of their Apple Records offices at 3 Savile Row, London, serving as their final public performance before the band’s breakup. The impromptu 42-minute set included nine takes of five songs before police shut it down due to noise. 

February
Happy Hour had arrived in Gloucester for the first time, although it was ‘Happy Hour’ in all but name. Chas Phipps introduced the first nightclub to the city – the Club Dolphin in Worcester Street (we customers used to call it the Dolphin Club, however the owner Chas Phipps insisted it be called Club Dolphin). Stars like Val Doonican, Les Dawson, Bob Monkhouse and many others rolled into town. The unnamed ‘Happy Hour’ was between 9 and 10pm, and all drinks were half price. These days an Indian Restaurant occupies the same building.
The 50,000th Volkswagen Beetle was sold in the UK. It is estimated that 3% were bought by drivers in Gloucestershire.
Thirty two years earlier, tyrant, dictator and autocrat Aldof Hitler commissioned car designer Ferdinand Porsche to create what Hitler called the by “people’s car” (Volkswagen).
The night before Valentine’s Day, the ABC cinema in Kings Square welcomed Gene Pitney (this was the first time I had met him), Marmalade and Joe Cocker (who gave me a suspicious glance backstage). Tickets were ten shillings and seventeen shillings.
Sharpness’s new village hall was under construction.
The all new and exciting shaped Ford Capri arrived at Taylor’s Gloucester. Back then I knew ‘people’ and was able to drive the very first Capri along St Oswalds Road!

March
Gloucester experienced significant local events this month, including a major railway accident at Ashchurch, involving a goods train and passenger express. No fatalities were reported.
Plans were being finalised for the redevelopment of our city’s Kings Square – fountains and a new loo were on the cards. The toilets were eventually closed because of a different kind of use by the lower end of the community at that time.
The Concorde ‘supersonic jet’, with manufacturing in nearby Filton, was gearing up for its test flights. I remember it flying over Kingsholm, exciting days.
The House of Commons held an adjournment debate specifically regarding the state and future of hospitals in Gloucestershire. It was around this time that the green light was given for the construction of a new multistorey hospital on Great Western Road.
Firestone Tyres opened a new garage on the corner of Stroud Road and Bristol Road.
My dear friend Howard Carpenter (80 at the time of writing), held a disco at St Barnabas Hall in Tuffley, with tickets costing half a crown. In those days, Howard used to call himself Zak.
Sheile Morgan of Brookfield Road Churchdown was photographed taking her seven dogs for ‘walkies’ (her vet bills must have been enormous).
Pharmacists in the UK had to start using the new to Britain metric measuring system.
Apple Records released The Beatles Get Back.
Paul McCartney of the MopTops produced the new release from Welsh songstress Mary Hopkin, Goodbye.
The late Clodagh Rodgers released her debut single Come and Shake Me.

April
The Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie, began life in prison for the murder of George Cornell (shot by Ronnie in 1966) and Jack the Hat McVitie (stabbed by Reggie in 1967), both associates of rival gangs.
Guy Thomas, Adrian Gough, Donna Ward and Susan Griffin took part in a singing competition at a party for children of Gloucester Labour club members.
April saw the EC-121 shootdown incident by North Korea and the conviction of Sirhan Sirhan for Robert Francis Kennedy’s assassination in June 1968.
Tony Benn, then the Minister of Technology, was a prominent figure in the region during April, championing the aerospace industry that supported thousands of families in Gloucestershire and Bristol.
Gloucester Rugby was a dominant force in the amateur era, playing their home matches at the historic Kingsholm Stadium.
The most significant event in April 1969 for the region was the maiden flight of the British-built Concorde prototype (002). The Flight (9th April 1969) was piloted by Brian Trubshaw, CBE, MVO. He was a leading test pilot, and the first British pilot to fly Concorde. The supersonic aircraft took off from Filton (near Bristol) and landed 22 minutes later at RAF Fairford. Thousands of spectators witnessed the text book landing of ‘The beautiful bird’. Concorde’s first commercial flights with paying passengers occurred on 21st January 1976, simultaneously by British Airways from London-Heathrow to Bahrain (BA300) and by Air France from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Rio de Janeiro (AF085) with a stop in Dakar, marking the dawn of supersonic passenger travel.
Soul singer Marvin Gaye spent his final week at No. 1 on the UK singles chart with I Heard It Through The Grapevine (he had enjoyed three weeks at the top).
New to the chart, Fleetwood Mac’s Man of The World.
New at No.1, The Beatles’ Get Back remained there for six weeks.
Other songs released around the same period included Thunderclap Newman Something in The Air and a song which would be banned by BBC Radio One, Wet Dream by Max Romeo. The BBC also later banned Je Taime - Moi Non Plus by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg (released in September 1969).

May
HM Prison Gloucester was an active Category B prison, housing remand and short-term male prisoners. Known for its historical depth, paranormal stories (like the ghost of Jenny Godfrey in Cell 25), and its eventual closure in 2013, it was a significant site with dark pasts, even housing infamous figures like Fred West later on, but in ’69 it was just another working prison with its own ghost stories. The prison opened in 1792, making it well-established by 1969, with a history involving executions.
Around 225,000 to 250,000 miles above Gloucester, space rocket Apollo 10 was orbiting the moon – a dress rehearsal for the first moon landing.
The Mayor of Gloucester in May ’69 was Leslie Robert Jones, who served in the role from 1969 to 1970.
The manager (or ‘Store Director’) of the Bon Marche in Gloucester was David Pope. He was a well-remembered figure who was known to speak with and support staff, and was described as a “true gentleman”. He held a senior management position and was associated with the store’s ‘Debentured Management Training Scheme’. The Bon Marche was a prominent local department store that eventually became Debenhams in 1973. The store was a central part of Kings Square in Gloucester and was often referred to simply as ‘The Bon’ by locals and staff.
In 2025, the former Debenhams building in Gloucester was transformed into the University of Gloucestershire’s new City Campus, which opened to the public in August. The department store chain itself closed all remaining stores in May 2021. The campus opened to staff in mid-August 2025 and began welcoming students in September 2025. Almost £75 million was spent on the redevelopment project, which covered 20,000 square meters.

June
The W.R.V.S. (Women’s Royal Voluntary Service) held an open day at their new headquarters on the city’s Commercial Road.
Local bus drivers were on a ‘Work to Rule’ over pay. This meant that the services were cut by 50%.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono did a ‘Bed In’ as a non-violent protest against wars, initiated by John and Yoko during a two week period in Amsterdam and Montreal as an experimental test of new ways to promote peace. Give Peace A Chance was recorded during this time.
Remaining with Pop Stars, Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones quit the band. Less than a month later, he died by drowning in the swimming pool at his home at Cotchford Farm, East Sussex. He was 27 and is buried in Cheltenham. Theories surrounding Jones’s death developed soon afterwards, with associates of the Stones claiming to have information that he was murdered. According to rock biographer Philip Norman “the murder theory would bubble back to the surface every five years or so”.
An unnamed Doctor from Lydney warned teenagers of having music too loud. He said, “Youngsters could end up deaf by their early 20s”.
The Dean of Gloucester Rev. Serirol Evans was awarded a C.B.E. for services to the Church.
A lorry containing furniture was dragged out of the River Severn at Maisemore. The only injury was to the lorry driver’s pride.
Upton St Leonard’s School held a poster competition as part of an anti-litter campaign, and local helpers were noted for selling comics to benefit the Spastics Society (now Scope).

July
On the first of this month, Prince Charles became the Prince of Wales at an investiture held at Caernarvon Castle North Wales. The 1960s movement surrounding the investiture has historically been described as the “anti-investiture movement” and “anti-investiture sentiment”. The investiture occurred during a period of revival of the Welsh national consciousness, with an outspoken section considering it as an English prince being imposed upon Wales. The investiture faced fierce opposition from the Welsh who saw the Prince of Wales as symbolic of Wales’s occupation by the English crown. I knew a lot of Welsh people and they had no opinion at all.
In early July, 30 professional chauffeurs applied to be the new driver for the Mayor of Gloucester. The position was given to Stan Jeffcutt (I knew him well – he was 6ft tall and a true gentleman).
Post office engineers at the Hempstead Bridge depot were on strike for more and more money. On 16th July 1969, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Centre, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, thus beginning humanity’s historic first journey to land on the moon and concluding in Armstrong’s famous first steps on the lunar surface four days later. The Saturn V rocket lifted off with massive crowds watching, fulfilling President Kennedy’s goal and marking a pivotal moment in space exploration, with Armstrong and Aldrin exploring the moon while Collins orbited above. The first steps on the moon were on my 18th birthday. I remember watching it on the TV then going out into the street (St. Mark’s Street, Kingsholm, Gloucester) to join many other residents looking at the moon to see if we could see them up there. The skies were mainly clear.
Thunderclap Newman was at No.1 in the UK Charles with the fittingly titled song Something In The Air.
Historically, July was always the month that a new Miss Gloucester was chosen. In 1969, seventeen year old Susan Pring of Charlton Kings was crowned Miss Gloucester (not exactly a girl from Gloucester – in my view, Miss Gloucester should be from the city).
The detestable murders by Fred and Rose West and their evil acts became public knowledge much later (in the 1990s), but their early lives and activities in Gloucester were occurring around this period.

August
The 1969 piano smashing competition was won by the Tuffley Community Association. Whilst the members of the Tuffley Community Association were destroying things, a long stretch of new road was being constructed on the outskirts of Gloucester. When the new road was finished it was named the M5. A member of the British Royal family would later use the M5 and pick up a fair few speeding fines – Princes Anne. She celebrated her 19th birthday on the 15th August.
The junction of Escourt Road and Cheltenham Road was closed for a few hours after 500 hundred gallons of out-of-date ice cream from Walls factory spilt onto the road.
Seventeen year old Valeria Stevenson was crowned Miss Walls 1969.
Driving lessons would have cost you £1, 2 shillings and 6 pence for one hour.
The Rolling Stones spent five weeks at No. 1 with Honky Tonk Woman. As the Stones made way for a new No.1 from Zager and Evans with In The Year 25 25, the city’s pop fans enjoyed an open aired pop concert at Gloucester Park.
The new Jet and Whittle pub opened in Tuffley.
Teenager Pauline Goddard was crowned the Coop Miss Dairy Queen.
A major £250,000 fire destroyed some of the Gloster Saro factory on the Gloucester Trading Estate.

September
Mr Frank May became the new manager of the Natwest bank in Westgate Street (he was my bank manager during the period and got me out of a financial hole several times).
The Golden Valley by-pass was opened between Gloucester and Cheltenham at a cost of two and a quarter million pounds. It made the journey to Cheltenham 50% shorter, which was great if you were a regular going to the Wednesday night dances at Cheltenham Town Hall (tickets 5 shillings and 6 pence).
The Stroud Subscription Rooms hosted an evening on the 27th September to Simon Dupree and The Big Sound, whilst Deep Purple performed a 90-minute set at the Winter Gardens in Malvern.
Gloucestershire played Surrey at The Oval. A few days prior, from 13th-16th September, they faced Sussex at The Saffrons in Eastbourne, where Sussex won by seven wickets.
During this period, Gloucester was one of several major towns and cities (including Oxford and Cambridge) where local councils were actively debating and refusing the introduction of sodium fluoride into public water supplies. Sodium fluoride (NaF) is an inanimate compound, a white crystal or powder, famous for preventing tooth decay by strengthening enamel, used in fluoridated water, toothpaste, and prescription dental treatments, but also has industrial uses as an insecticide or cleaner. It’s a mineral that helps teeth resist acid and bacteria.
Schools in Gloucestershire underwent significant structural changes. Notably, some local schools transitioned into the comprehensive system, following the scrapping of the 11-plus exam, which resulted in significant increases in student intake.
Roy Orbison released his final single of the 1960s, Penny Arcade.
Johnny Cash released A Boy Named Sue. 
New into the Top 30 was Jimmy Ruffin with I’ve Passed this Way Before.
On the 22nd September, The Swinging Place disco re-opened after a short break. Radio One DJ Emperor Rosko opened it. Five years later he would open Tiffany’s nightclub where Lee Jay and myself were the resident hosts and DJs.

October
Thursday night TV on BBC1: Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Top of the Pops, Dad’s Army and Softly Softly.
Friday night TV on ITV (Midlands): Thunderbirds, Randall and Hopkirk, Doctor in the House and Hawaii Five-0.
From the first of October for one week at the ABC Kings Square, The Wonder of Love was about a group of students living together to explore love openly.
A short walk away, The Odeon in Eastgate Street were showing The Longest Day – a World War II film made in 1962, starring a massive international cast (John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery). The film details the D-Day landings from both Allied and German perspectives, known for its historical scope, docudrama style, and authenticity in portraying the massive invasion, with 1969 marking a 25th-anniversary re-release in some countries.
Disco fans had a choice of venues back in 1969 – The Library, The Swinging Place and The Y.M.C.A. in Sherbert Street just off Kingsholm Road, Gloucester.
The wedding of local solicitor Mr. Roger Eggleton to Miss Avril Scott was a low-key affair.
Paul McCartney appeared in public for the first time since the ‘Paul is Dead’ rumour that had been circulating for several weeks, bringing an end to the speculation that clues to his apparent accidental death had been included in backward messages within Beatles songs, and images on albums. Paraphrasing Mark Twain, American writer, humourist  and playwright, McCartney told reporters, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. During this time, The Beatles were effectively disbanded, with John Lennon having privately quit in September, though they released the successful double A-side single Something/Come Together and worked on mixing Across The Universe for charity, while also dealing with Apple Corps financial issues and promoting their final album, Abbey Road, with individual interviews and promotional films. This was all amidst growing tensions within the band.
American band The Archies were an American fictional rock band featured in media produced by, and related to, Archie comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series The Archie Show, their one time UL hit Sugar Sugar began its long eight-week stint at No. 1 on the UK single charts.

November
The Apollo 12 Mission launched on the 14th of this month, becoming NASA’s second crewed mission to land on the moon, with Commander Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean landing in the Ocean of Storms. Officially named Oceanus Procellarum, it is the largest lunar sea, a vast dark basalt plain on the western near side, named for early beliefs that it meant bad weather, but now understood as ancient volcanic plains from rifts, not impacts, rich in radioactive elements, contrasting with the far side and inspiring topics from space exploration to watch design. Meanwhile, Richard Gordon orbited above, collecting samples and deploying experiments before safely returning to Earth on 24th November 1969.
Whilst the astronauts were enjoying a short stay on the moon, David Bowie was enjoying a long stay in the charts with Space Oddity. A massive “Moratorium to end the war in Vietnam” happened in Washington D.C. on 15th November, with large protests in other cities and in London’s Piccadilly. Most of our city’s ‘Stop the war’ and ‘Ban The Bomb’ made their way to London Paddington.
Dave Sims, the late English rugby union lock who played for Gloucester RFC and the Barbarians, was born in Gloucester on 22nd November 1969. He died on 19th March 2022.
Rock musician Bryan Adams was born on 16th November. 32 years later his song (Everything I Do) I Do It for You – theme tune to the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – was at No.1, breaking all records by holding the position for sixteen weeks until it was eventually replaced by U2 with The Fly.

December
All of the hospitals in Gloucester were cutting back on admissions because of flu hitting nursing staff. However, staff at Over Hospital were entertaining patients with a good old fashioned sing-song.
The day after Boxing Day, 18 members of the Barnwood Venture Scouts went on a 34-mile sponsored walk, pushing an archaic commode. This was to raise funds for the Scout unit and the north Gloucestershire Hydrotherapy appeal fund.
Cheltenham’s Tesco’s supermarket was gutted by fire. Before the fire, popular items cost:
• Turkeys: 3 shillings and 10 pence per pound
• Cornflakes (giant size): 1 shilling and 11 pence
• McVities chocolate biscuits: half a crown
• Heinz tomato soup: one shilling
• Christmas trees from half a crown
Father Christmas visited Barnwood Infant School. Pupils Julie White and Ian Matthews were pictured stood next to him.
The Gloucester Eastgate Shopping centre was just a massive hole.
A British Road service lorry became stuck under the railway bridge at Rowcroft Stroud.  

Christmas Day was on a Thursday.

Christmas Day Top Ten
1. Rolf Harris – Two Little Boys
2. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition – Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
3. The Archies – Sugar, Sugar
4. Stevie Wonder – Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday
5. Blue Mink – Melting Pot
6. Elvis Presley – Suspicious Minds
7. Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell – All I Have To Do Is Dream
8. Engelbert Humperdinck – Winter World of Love
9. The Tremolos – (Call Me) Number One
10. The Cufflinks – Tracy


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