David Kynaston’s Deep Into The Sixties: Britain 1965-66 examines the social and political volatility of mid-decade England. Published by Bloomsbury, the study utilizes diaries and media reports to map a nation transitioning through intense cultural and sttructural upheaval.
The Beatles' MBEs and the arrival of Pizza Express
The mid-sixties are often remembered as a monolith of pop optimism, but as the report says, the era was defined by a sharp divide between celebrity culture and traditionalist backlash. While The Beatles were receiving MBEs and Tom Jones hit number one with "It's Not Unusual," the cultural elite remained skeptical. Harold Pinter's plays,for instance, were dismissed by some as incomprehensible nonsense, and a retired army colonel famously critiqued the Fab Four for exploiting "jungle rhythms" for profit.
This period also saw the birth of modern consumerist habits and workplace norms. The introduction of multi-flavoured Golden Wonder crisps and the opening of Pizza Express signaled a shift in British tastes, while the adoption of open-plan offices attempted to flatten corporate hierarchies. These changes provided a glossy veneer to a society that was simultaneously grappling with the trial of the Moors Murderers.
Harold Wilson's tax hikes and the 60 Pakistani shops in Birmingham
Under the leadership of Harold Wilson, the Labour Party implemented high taxation policies that drew ire from the financial sector, with one City analyst describing the moves as a "disgusting attack" on ambition. According to the report, this economic tension coincided with the collapse of traditional industries, including coal, cotton mills, and shipyards,creating a vacuum that foreshadowed the industrial strife of the 1970s.
This economic transition occurred alongside a significant demographic shift. By 1967, Birmingham had more than 60 Pakistani shops, reflecting a broader trend of immigration that sparked intense racial friction. The report highlights the severity of this tension through an incident in a Bristol pub where a Black man's entry triggered a police response involving eight constables and an inspector in a Land Rover. This climate of hostility set the stage for Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech in 1968.
Beeching's railway closures and the erasure of Adlestrop
The physical landscape of Britain underwent a radical and often violent transformation during this window. Richard Beeching's railway closure programme eliminated numerous rural halts, including the Adlestrop station on the Cotswold Line.. This shift toward motor traffic increased urban congestion and pollution, while local planning committees pursued a policy of "destructive philistinism."
Victorian terraces and Georgian squares were systematically demolihed to make way for concrete office blocks, car parks, and pedestrian precincts. The report notes that some observers claimed these planning committees did more damage to the urban fabric than the Luftwaffe. While John Betjeman used television documentaries to protest this loss, the official government line remained that conservation was not an economic priority.
The 37,800 divorces of 1965 and the Church of England's forced adoptions
Legal and moral frameworks shifted rapidly, evidenced by the rise in divorces to 37,800 in England and Wales in 1965 and an increase in illegitimacy to 70,000 by 1967. Despite the legalisation of abortion and the decriminalisation of homosexuality, social acceptance lagged. Many politicians feared that gay liberation would lead to a period of lawlessness, and figures like Mary Whitehouse campaigned against the "permissive" influence of mini skirts and adultery.
However, the most enduring trauma of the era was the treatment of single mothers. David Kynaston highlights the "shocking" cruelty of forced adoptions orchestrated by Church of England charities. While the report identifies these practices, it leaves open the question of exactly which institutional policies mandated these forced separations and whether any legal recourse existed for the mothers at the time.. Furthermore, the source focuses on the perspectives of the perpetrators and the victims, leaving the specific internal justifications of the Church of England charities largely unexamined.
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