LOSE YOURSELF IN 1966

DISTANT DRUMS ROLLS…

In a year when both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were at their creative peak and The Beach Boys released their revolutionary Pet Sounds album, Britain’s best-seller was… Distant Drums by country singer Jim Reeves, who had sadly died in a plane crash two years earlier.

THE ‘MAD AXEMAN’ ESCAPES FROM PRISON

Okehampton residents trembled in their beds on the night of 12 December after ‘Mad Axeman’ Frank Mitchell, an associate of the Kray twins, escaped from Dartmoor prison while part of a work party. He was shot dead on Christmas Eve on orders of the Krays. His body was never found.

CATHY COME HOME

Arguably the most influential television play ever, Cathy Come Home, written by Jeremy Sandford, directed by Ken Loach and aired on BBC1 on 16 November, deals with a family’s descent into homelessness. The many issues raised by the play ultimately led to the formation of the charity Crisis.