Sterling falling, deadlock in the North, the US carrying out bombing raids on another country, strife in the Middle East, protesters on the streets… Sound familiar?
Sunday’s History Show wound the clock back fifty years to 1967 and the Summer of Love. Myles Dungan was joined by historian Kate O’Malley, archivist Caitríona Crowe and sociologist Niamh Hourigan to discuss, among other things, the first colour TV broadcast; anti-Vietnam War protests; homosexuality decriminalised in Britain; and Celtic’s "Lisbon Lions".
"At that time about a third of Ireland’s children were dropping out of education at 15 years of age."
Niamh Hourigan told Myles how minister for Education Donough O’Malley introduced free secondary education in Ireland fifty years ago, something that had a transformative effect on Ireland’s children.
The Six-Day War changed the nature of the conflict in the Middle East, according to Kate O’Malley. But less well known than the Six Day War was the Crisis of Aden, which ended in 1967 with Britain conceding defeat to the forces of nationalism in what is now modern-day Yemen.
"That changed the nature of British world power and that’s often forgotten."
The state of the women’s movement in Ireland in 1967 was outlined by Caitríona Crowe. The pill had, of course, become available in the early 60s, but, naturally, it was illegal in Ireland. At least, it was illegal in Ireland as a method of birth control, but it could be prescribed as a cycle regulator:
"And there are those who say that the number of women with peculiar menstrual cycles in Ireland was greater than anywhere else in the world at the time."
Myles Dungan’s guests couldn’t talk about 1967 without mentioning music – it was the Summer of Love, after all – and they picked their favourites from that year. Not an easy task. Their choices included Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Dubliners.
A terrific trawl through an unforgettable year, you can hear The History Show 1967 special in full here.
Photo credit: Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
