‘68 a year of change
IT WAS all change for British shoppers in 1968 as the first decimal coins started to appear. The new five pence and 10 pence coins turned up on April 23, 1968 – a few weeks after April Fool’s Day – and went into circulation alongside the old shillings and florins.
It marked the UK’s first move towards decimalisation and the gradual countdown to Decimal Day on February 15, 1971. The new coins caused some confusion at first and some people were wary of the new-look money.
Adverts and brochures were brought out to help explain how it would all work and Lord Fiske, Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board, even demonstrated how to insert the five new penny coin into a parking meter.
Elsewhere Rosemary’s Baby, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, was terrifying cinema audiences with the publicity campaign urging: “Pray For Rosemary’s Baby.” Mia ate raw liver for one scene in director Roman Polanski’s first American movie and Ira Levin, who wrote the original bestselling novel the film was based on, dedicated the follow-up book, Son Of Rosemary to the actress.
Unfortunately it was during filming that Mia received divorce papers from then-husband Frank Sinatra.
In the sporting world, American Dick Fosbury revolutionised athletics at the Mexico Olympics when he tackled the high jump using a new back-first manoeuvre. It led to him picking up a gold medal at the Games with a record breaking 7 ft 4¼ inch jump and the “Fosbury Flop” was quickly adopted by other high jumpers.
He modestly said later: “I adapted an antiquated style and modernized it to something that was efficient. I didn’t know anyone else in the world would be able to use it and I never imagined it would revolutionize the event.”
The year 1968 also saw the birth of future James Bond star Daniel Craig in Chester, while other celebrities who turn 50 this year include Will Smith, X-Men star Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Catherine Tate and X-Files star Gillian Anderson.
One of the biggest music hits of the year was novelty comedy record Lily The Pink by Liverpool trio The Scaffold, aka John Gorman, poet Roger McGough and Paul McCartney’s brother Mike McGear. The track about a wondrous cure-all tonic spent 24 weeks in the charts.
People were also laughing at Frankie Howerd’s ITV sketch show Howerd’s Hour about the life of his grandfather Howerd, an intrepid explorer and adventurer. The 60-minute special was written by Eric Skyes and saw Hattie Jacques as Hot Seat Kate.
It was one of the TV hits of the year alongside A Special Royal Performance, Miss World, the Grand National and the Eurovision Song Contest – which saw Spain’s Massiel win with La La La. It beat UK entry Congratulations from Cliff Richard by just one point.
People all over the world were left shaken when assassins hit twice in America within a matter of months.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on April 4 as he stood on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis. He was 39. The shooter, James Earl Ray, escaped but was arrested a couple of months later at Heathrow Airport.
The site in Memphis is now home to the National Civil Rights Museum.
Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, JFK’s brother, was also assassinated in June during his run for the presidency. He was shot several times by PalestinianAmerican gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and died the next day at the age of 42.
Back in the UK, British children’s author Enid Blyton passed away on November 28 at the age of 71. Books like Noddy and the Famous Five stories made her internationally famous and sold in their millions.
A prolific writer – she published 44 titles in 1952 alone – Enid once said: “I am not really much interested in talking to adults, although I suppose practically every mother in the kingdom knows my name and my books.
“It’s their children I love.”