January 1, 1970

This cultural sea change in Britain and around the world is epitomised by the music of the time. While British popular culture tended to be heavily influenced by North America, British bands also had an influence across the Atlantic. In the 1960s the Beatles, already hugely popular in Britain, took America by storm. The term ‘Beatlemania’ was coined to express the hysteria they caused amongst their fans. The Beatles’ Shea Stadium concert in the US, one of the most famous concerts of the era, took place in August 1965, only a few months after Churchill died.

Today we look back to the 1960s as a defining and perhaps still unrivalled decade of cultural output. Darker times were to follow, but the ideals of the decade continued to grow and influence many of the aspects of popular culture we experience today.