LOSE YOURSELF IN 1960

RHD SAABS AT EARLS COURT

The keen driver could experience the Saab 96, described by the chaps at

Motor Sport as ‘another individualistic machine the existence of which makes the world a more amusing place in which to dwell’ for £885 2s 6d. They also noted ‘suspension arrangements, and road-holding and cornering qualities of a kind that make the Saab a factor very much to be reckoned with under stern rally conditions’.

TONY HANCOCK AND SIDNEY JAMES’ TELEVISION FINALE

The Birmingham-born comic and South African character actor were never a formal double act, but they were as indivisible as Laurel and Hardy or Morecambe and Wise to their fans.

The Poison Pen Letters episode of Hancock’s Half Hour was to be the last time that Sid graced the portals of 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, marking the end of one of television’s finest partnerships.

THE BATTLE OF BEAULIEU

Fans of modernist jazz pitched a battle with ‘trad’ devotees in one of the most exciting events to hit the New Forest since the demise of William Rufus. To quote The Observer report of the riots at the Beaulieu Jazz Festival:

‘ The piano collapsed when fans climbed onto the platform. Mr Acker Bilk’s band were playing at the time.’

ENTER THE STRANGE WORLD OF GURNEY SLADE

This sitcom, created by and starring the actor/writer/composer Anthony Newley for ATV, defied virtually every convention of the genre and made The

Prisoner seem vaguely straightforward by comparison. Once seen, never forgotten, and in many ways a precursor to Monty Python.