1960 Newspapers

The beginning of the 1960’s brought with it a burst of colour after the stark black and white conservatism of the 50’s. Decades of war, hopelessness, and poverty had given way to hope, promise and prosperity.

The 60’s was characterised by rock and roll, and the British Invasion groups that initiated a music revolution. It was the decade of the Hippie movement, which celebrated freedom and love, and brought recreational drugs into the mainstream. Fashion mirrored the freedom mentality of the decade. Women’s clothes were designed to be liberating, allowing them to run and jump after the restrictive clothes of the 50’s. The miniskirt was invented, and geometric and psychedelic prints took over.

1960 Newspaper Articles: A Summary

Which 1960 headlines captured the attention of the British public and kept reporters writing and photographers snapping? Find out what happened with an authentic 1960s newspaper chronicling all the events of the year as they happened. For a full review of this eventful year, view our 1960 timeline.

Some key events that mark the year include the first episode of Coronation St was aired, the first successful kidney transplant was carried out in Edinburgh, and Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” scandal. Read about these shocking events and much more in an original newspaper from 1960.

3rd February 1960
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the ‘Wind of Change’ speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town. He had originally made the speech in Accra on 10th January 1960, but it had received little publicity.

18th February 1960
The 1960 Winter Olympics open in Squaw Valley, California.

3rd March 1960
Elvis Presley returns home from Germany after being away on military duty for two years.

26th June 1960
British Somaliland gains independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites with the former Italian Somaliland to create the modern Somali Republic.

10th July 1960
The Soviet Union beats Yugoslavia 2-1 to win the first ever European Football Championship.

11th July 1960
Harper Lee releases her critically acclaimed novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

21st July 1960
Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives in New York aboard ‘Gypsy Moth II’, having made a record solo Atlantic crossing in forty days.

16th August 1960
Cyprus gains independence from the United Kingdom.

25th August 1960
The 1960 Summer Olympics open in Rome, Italy.

29th October 1960
Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, wins his first professional fight in Louisville, Kentucky.

30th October 1960
Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

2nd November 1960
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ case.

2nd December 1960
The Archbishop of Canterbury talks with Pope John XXIII for approximately one hour in the Vatican. It is the first time in more than 500 years that a head of the Anglican Church had visited the Pope.

9th December 1960
The first episode of the long-running drama “Coronation Street” airs on ITV. It was originally planned to be a sixteen-part drama, but became such a success that it is still running today, with highly impressive ratings.

More from this Decade

• 1961 Newspaper
• 1962 Newspaper
• 1963 Newspaper
• 1964 Newspaper
• 1965 Newspaper
• 1966 Newspaper
• 1967 Newspaper
• 1968 Newspapers
• 1969 Newspaper