WHATS GOING ON IN 1959
IN THE NEWS
Harold Macmillan wins the General Election and among his new MPS is the 34 yearold member for Finchley, one Margaret Thatcher. The first section of the M1 is opened between Watford and Rugby, Tyne Tees Television launches and Ronnie Scott opens his now legendary Jazz Club in Soho. An experiment begins in the city of Norwich, where they introduce special sequences of numbers and letters called postcodes… they will never catch on.
IN THE CHARTS
Juke Box Jury made its debut on TV, just in time to catch Cliff Richard’s Living Doll, recorded with the Drifters. Award yourself a trivia medal if you knew it was written by Lionel Bart. Cliff also did Mean Streak with the Drifters but was back with the Shadows to record Travellin’ Light. Some of the most famous rock n’ roll ‘oldies’ of today were not big hits at the time… Chantilly Lace by the Big Bopper was the 97th best-selling record of the year.
AT THE FLICKS
It was a thoroughly good year for Hollywood royalty. Charlton Heston helped make Ben Hur the dominant picture, collecting an impressive 11 Oscars, while Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot), Cary Grant (North by Northwest) John Wayne (Rio Bravo) and Jimmy Stewart (Anatomy of a Murder) all had movies that were amongst the top-ten grossing films of 1959.