The 1960s – 10 years of change and freedom through the eyes of my grandparents

The Global Sixties was a decade of turmoil with the Cold War and Vietnam War, freedom with the Civil Rights Movement, sadness with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Junior, and excitement with the first man landing on the moon. All of these were significant and life changing moments in history, but what impact did they have in Britain for an ordinary, middle class, nuclear family? The answer to this question is intriguing and led to some surprising results when I interviewed my partners’ grandparents, John and Joan Bignall.

 

For John and Joan life was just beginning, with two young children at the beginning of the 60s and another two by the end, it was an exciting time. John Bignall had just begun working for the ambulance service, which was challenging as many of his colleagues were ex-army therefore were dealing with their own issues post World War Two but it was also incredibly rewarding. Not only in terms of life-long friendships and experience gained but the financial stability this bought to the family. John highlighted that their “Income increased from five pound to twelve pounds a week. We thought we were rich!” Although life at the time was busy, the major world events did not pass them by. 

When asked about what they remembered of the Civil Rights Movement, they both straight away said, “Martin Luther King”. This is of course no surprise, from their perspective he played such an integral part to the movement and they were both very sad when he died as they viewed it as the end to the movement. A topic which I will explore in further detail in another post. Nevertheless, his passion, huge influence and amazing orator skills are still strongly in their minds. 

The Vietnam War and the Cold War, in their own words, “It didn’t really have an impact on us, it felt as though it was separate to our lives, but what was scary was the advancement of weapons” and they were scared at the prospect of any war “Turning into World War Three”. 

Another topic we discussed was the influence of the Beatles. Although John highlighted that they were heavily involved in their local church at the time so did not really like popular culture and music, they could not deny their talent and influence as they were the first British act to break America. 

To finish our interview, even though we talked about many of the significant world changes that occurred during the 60s, Joan Bignall wanted to highlight the smaller changes that for them, really highlighted that it was a period of change, excitement and freedom. Joan said “During World War Two and afterwards, everything seemed to be grey. Even in the 1950s there was still rationing. In the 60s things began to be in colour again, we painted our houses, clothes were more vibrant and flamboyant and people’s faith in each other and the world began to finally be on the up. It felt as though Britain was building itself back up again, brick by brick”. 

As with any first-hand account it is crucial to question the fact that their memories of the time could be wrong, would have very much been influenced by the public narratives of the period and can have bias. These mistakes reveal how inaccurate oral history can be and how this influences how the recent past is commonly understood and interpreted. 

Photograph 1 - John and Joan Bignall in June 2017

 

Photograph 2 - John and Joan Bignall in June 2017

By Alethea Coalwood