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You are in: Special Report: 1999: 01/99: 1968 Secret History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() The year the world shook
The year 1968 brought turmoil and change.
And charismatic leaders of democracy Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were killed for their cause. The push for freedom was spearheaded by the young. They were disaffected by the culture of consumerism and obedience of the post-war years and had to break out. But their radical actions and beliefs spread further than they imagined, permeating almost every area and level of society in most of the western world.
As 1968 unfolded, it brought political and social upheaval, resulting in fresh attitudes to gender, culture and race in the UK. When the year was still young, the charged atmosphere on the international scene ignited tensions in the UK. In March 1968, Grosvenor Square in London became, for a few hours, a battleground as 80,000 protestors against the Vietnam war besieged the American Embassy.
British students caught their fever and one after the other universities fell under their control. Trouble in the House On the political field things were rough too. As the Labour government faced an increasingly difficult economic situation, it launched the "I'm Backing Britain" campaign. And many people did until they discovered that the campaign T-shirts were made in Portugal.
It was also the year Tory MP Enoch Powell made his "Rivers of Blood" speech urging the repatriation of African and West Indian immigrants that led to his expulsion from the Shadow Cabinet. On the same note, however, the increasing number of Indians arriving from Kenya did spark cross-party agreement on an immigration bill limiting the entry of migrants in future. Sporting strife Not even the sporting field was left untouched by the turbulence of the year. A riot over an umpiring decision led to the suspension of a Test match between the West Indies and England.
And on the wider scene at the Mexico Olympics, medal winning black American athletes raised defiant fists of Black Power from the rostrum. But things were not all doom and gloom. Manchester United won the European Cup against Benfica of Portugal in an enthralling 4-1 victory at Wembley in May. Freedom dance Despite the violence, there were signs that the protestors' calls for freedom were being heard. Plans were announced to reduce Britain's voting age to 18 while the country's first abortion clinic opened in November.
It was also a year of wild abandon in new music, fashion and culture. Pop was shocked by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown who sang Fire - and played with it in their act. While Julie Driscoll characterised the move from the sounds of Flower Power to progressive rock. And British entertainment scene would never be quite the same again with the arrival in London's West End of Hair - the American "tribal love" musical where performers danced naked on stage. To round the year off, the world was full of expectation as the US launched its Apollo 8 moon orbiter. As a mission of adventure and vision it marked a positive strive into the future and captured the spirit of the year as a whole.
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