LOSE YOURSELF IN 1964

CROSSROADS AIRS

One of Britain’s best-loved – and simultaneously most ridiculed – TV series premieres on ITV.

Crossroads is set in a fictional motel near Birmingham and is famed for its ropey sets, dubious acting, cheap production and making a star out of Noele Gordon.

CHURCHILL RETIRES

After a political career that started in 1900, Sir Winston Churchill retires as an MP at the 1964 General Election, nine years after he’d stood down as prime minister. He dies just a few months later.

BBC2 BEGINS

Play School launches BBC2 – belatedly and unintentionally. The Beeb debuts BBC2 on 20 April. Except that it doesn’t. Thanks to Battersea Power Station catching fire, much of west London loses power, so all that can be shown is an embarrassed announcer. Play School eventually becomes the first proper programme, shown at 11am the following day.

THERE BE PIRATES

Following pirate music stations Radio Caroline in March, and Atlanta in May, Radio Sutch starts broadcasting from the Shivering Sands Army Fort network of World War II anti-aircraft towers in the Thames Estuary. Its mastermind is Screaming Lord Sutch, using the transmitter from a Handley Page Halifax bomber.