1962 - English invasion
"I'm not easily shocked but The Twist shocked me......half negroid, half Manhattan and, when you see it on its native heath, wholly frightening......I can't believe that London will ever go to quite these extremes.....The essence of The Twist, the curious perverted heart of it, is that you dance it alone"
Beverly Nicholls - New York, Jan. 1962 (From ...Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom - Nik Cohn(pub: 1969)
The Pop Year:
- Decca turns down The Beatles
- Peter Paul and Mary sign for Warner Bros
- Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies open The Ealing Club
- Pete Best sacked by The Beatles
- Twist craze comes to the UK
- Little Richard and Sam Cooke tour the UK
- Rolling Stones play their first gig at the Marquee club.
Singles:
top
- Acker Bilk - Stranger on the Shore
- Neil Sedaka - Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen; Breaking up is Hard to Do
- Chubby Checker - Let's Twist Again
- Elvis Presley - Rock a hula baby/Can't Help Falling in Love With You; Good Luck Charm; She's Not You; Return to Sender
- Everly Brothers - Crying in the Rain
- Dion - The Wanderer
- Roy Orbison - Dream Baby
- Bruce Chanel - Hey Baby
- Del Shannon - Hey Little girl
- B. Bumble and the Stingers - Nut Rocker
- Cliff Richard - Do You Wanna Dance/I'm Looking out the Window; The Next Time
- Mike Sarne (with Wendy Richard) - Come Outside
- Brian Hyland - Ginny Come Lately; Sealed With a Kiss
- Jimmie Rogers - English Country Garden
- Duane Eddy - Deep in the Heart of Texas; Guitar Man
- Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You
- Frank Ifield - I remember you; Lovesick Blues
- Pat Boone - Speedy Gonzales
- Brenda Lee - Here comes that Feeling
- Bobby Darin - Things
- The Tornados - Telstar
- Little Eva - The Locomotion
- Jerry Lee Lewis - Sweet little Sixteen
- Carole King - It Might as Well Rain Until September
- Mark Wynter - Venus in Blue Jeans
- Chris Montez - Let's Dance
- Del Shannon - Swiss Maid
- Susan Maughan - Bobby's Girl
- Marty Robbins - Devil Woman
- Rolf Harris - Sun Arise
- Sherry - The Four Seasons
- Beatles - Love Me Do
- The Shadows - Dance On
- Ray Charles - Your Cheating Heart
- Burl Ives - A Little Bitty Tear
- Bernard Cribbins - Hole in the Ground
- Norman Vaughn - Swinging in the Rain
- Springfields - Island of Dreams
Albums:
top
- Elvis Presley - Blue Hawaii
- Cliff Richard - The Young Ones
- Kenny Ball, Chris Barber, and Acker Bilk - Best of Ball Barber and Bilk
- West Side story - Soundtrack
- The Shadows - Out of The Shadows
- Joe Brown - A Picture of You
- Chubby Checker - Twist With Chubby Checker
- Helen Shapiro - Tops With Me
- Bobby Vee - Take Good Care of My Baby
In the news:
top
- James Hanratty hanged for A6 murder
- Nelson Mandela imprisoned for trying to organise a general strike
- President Kennedy increases aid to Vietnam
- Six British anti - nuclear protesters jailed
- First issue of Private eye
- Brazil wins world cup
- Adolph Eichmann hanged in Israel
- Rwanda Burundi and Algeria gain independence
- Martin Luthor King jailed for one monthfor illegal march
- Telstar TV satellite launched
- Kennedy blockades Cuba - Krushchev backs down over Cuban missile crisis
- Street battles as Moslyite fascists march in East London
- Amnesty international founded
- Soviet missile bases in Cuba destroyed
- OAS gunmen try to assisinate De gaulle
- Chinese troops invade India
- Pop art makes the covers of 'Time', 'Life' and 'Newsweek'
T.V:
Top Ten
- Z cars
- Steptoe and son
- Dr Finlay's casebook
- That Was the Week That Was
- On the Braden Beat
- Ken Russel's Elgar
- The Saint
- The Rag Trade
- Animal Magic
- Compact
top
- Royal Variety Performance
- Coronation Street
- Miss World 62
- Sunday Night at the London Palladium
- European Cup - Spurs v Benfica
- Armchair Theatre
- Val Parnell
- Crazy Gang Last Night
- No Hiding Place
- Bernard Delfont Show
Films:
- A Kind of Loving
- Summer Holiday
- The L - Shaped Room
- Dr No
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Lolita
- Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Books:
- One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey
- Life at the Top - John Braine
- A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
- Anatomy Of Britain - G. M. Trevelyan
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury