1968




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    General 1968

Miss World 1968
Penny Plummer
( Miss Australia )


Miss Universe 1968
Martha Vasconcellos (Brazil)
Miss World 1968
1968 Olympics   Mexico
British Olympic Gold Medal Winners
David Hemery 400metres hurdles
Chris Finnegan  Middleweight boxing
Bob Braithwaite  Clay pigeon shooting
Rodney Pattison and Ian Macdonald-Smith  Flying Dutchman yachting
Derek Alhusen, Richard Meade and Reuben Jones  3 day event team


1968 Academy Awards - The 'Oscars'
Best Actor: Cliff Robertson ( Charly )
Best Actress ( shared ):
Katharine Hepburn ( The Lion In Winter ) Barbra Streisand ( Funny Girl )

Best Film:
Oliver
 
   


1968 Eurovision Song Contest

Winner: Spain
Massiel  'La La La'



1968 - General

The Average Wage: £22.19s.11d

Virginia Wade wins the U.S. Tennis Open ladies singles
American bombing of North Vietnam ceases
Pop groups '
The Shadows' and 'The Seekers' both break up
Princess Marina, Duchess of Gloucester dies aged 61
The Russian TU144 makes first supersonic passenger flights
Wimbledon
goes 'open' and admits professional players
The 'Trinitron' colour TV tube is developed by Sony
Unemployment quoted at 578,400
Olympic Games held in Mexico
Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble
The Trade Descriptions Act becomes law
Author Enid Blyton dies
Starvation sweeps Biafra
Rolf Harris
is awarded the M.B.E.

Sony produce the first mini radio, half the size of a cigarette packet

Black Power salutes are seen from Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the Olympic award ceremonies

Bob Beamon becomes the only man to long jump over 29ft ( 2.5 ins ) at the Mexico Olympic Games

Manchester United become the first English team to win the European Cup, beating Benfica 4-1

Richard Nixon wins the U.S. presidential election to become the 37th President

Two of Roy Orbison's sons, Roy and Tony, die in a fire at their family home

Pope Paul publishes 'Humanae Vitae' which condemns use of 'The Pill'

Dick Fosbury introduces his 'Fosbury flop' high jump technique at the Olympics

Linda Thorson succeeds Diana Rigg in 'The Avengers'





January 1968

The Beatles' Apple boutique opens in London

1st Cecil Day Lewis becomes Poet Laureate, succeeding John Masefield

1st Sislin Fay Allen, a Jamaican, becomes Britain's first coloured policewoman

5th Alexander Dubcek becomes First Secretary of Czechoslovakia

7th The unmanned 'Surveyor 7' lands on the moon

17th The British Leyland Motor Corporation is formed

25th Great Train robber Charles Wilson is recaptured at Rigaud in Quebec, Canada








February 1968

4th Radio Nottingham launches the first phone-in programme 'What Are They Up To Now?'

10th The Beatles shut down all their business in the U.S.A. and turn everything over to Apple

15th The Royal Navy's first Polaris submarine is successfully tested

18th Permanent British Summer Time ( B.S.T. ) is adopted

18th London Bridge is sold to an American oil company for £1,015,000

20th The government announces plans to end free milk in secondary schools

20th England bowler Fred Titmuss loses four toes in a boating accident in Barbados

27th 25 year old pop singer Frankie Lymon dies of a heroin overdose





March 1968

2nd In America Lockheed present the world's largest aircraft, the Galaxy

4th Joe Frazier becomes World Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( N.Y. State Title )

6th Pop singer Sandie Shaw marries fashion designer Jeff Banks at Greenwich register office

7th Dr. Emil Savundra is sentenced to 8 years imprisonment and fined £50,000 for insurance fraud

21st The 'breathalyser' cuts road deaths by 23% in its first 3 months

27th 34 year old Yuri Gagarin is killed in a plane crash

29th Rolls-Royce wins a £150 million order, its largest ever, for RB2-11 engines, from Lockheed









April 1968

4th Martin Luther King is assassinated by James Earl Ray

7th Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany
Other Grand Prix drivers to lose their lives during the year were
Ludovico Scarfiotti, Jo Schlesser and Mike Spence

11th President Lindon B.Johnson signs the U.S.A. Civil Rights Act

21st Enoch Powell makes his 'rivers of blood' speech in Birmingham

23rd The first decimal coins are introduced, the 5p and 10p coins

29th The musical 'Hair' is first seen on Broadway









May 1968


Ten million workers come out in a general strike in France

The U.S. atomic submarine 'Scorpion' is lost off the Azores with 99 crew

3rd The first British heart transplant operation is carried out

6th Student revolution closes the Sorbonne University for the first time in its 700 year history

9th Scottish actor Finlay Currie dies

16th A gas explosion causes Ronan Point tower block to collapse, killing only 4 people










June 1968

Andy Warhol, working on a film, is shot by actress Valeria Solanis

5th Sirhan Sirhan shoots Senator Bobby Kennedy at The Ambassador hotel in Los Angeles
after his victory speech in the California primary election. He dies early the following day

5th Post codes are launched in London W1

6th James Earl Ray is arrested at London Airport

7th Mrs E. Matthews becomes the first woman to receive a heart transplant

10th Prescription charges are re-introduced at 2s 6d per item

11th The Rolling Stones are involved in a studio fire while recording 'Sympathy For The Devil'

24th Comedian Tony Hancock commits suicide in Sydney, Australia




July 1968

RAE1, the first radio astronomy satellite, is launched

4th Alec Rose completes his solo round the world voyage in 'Lively Lady'

5th Lone yachtsman Alec Rose is knighted

9th The Monopolies Commission vetoes a merger of Lloyds, Barclays and Martin's banks

10th Dr. Spock and three others are sentenced to two years jail in America for draft evasion

12th 'Monkee' Mickey Dolenz marries 'Top of the Pops' co-presenter Samantha Juste

25th Barclays Bank merges with Martin's Bank

31st Apple Records is formed but the Beatles'
Apple boutique closes down after only 8 months






August 1968

1st The first Mountbatten class SRN4 hover ferry, Princess Margaret,
is used by Seaspeed on the Channel crossing

3rd The Countryside Act comes into force

21st Russian tanks move into Prague, Czechoslovakia

31st Gary Sobers becomes the first man to hit six sixes in one over in County cricket












September 1968

1st The first part of the £80 million Victoria line opens between Walthamstow and Highbury

6th GEC announces a n £892 million merger with General Electric

13th Banks open on a Saturday for the last time

16th The two-tier post system comes into operation

26th Stage play censorship is abolished

27th 13 cast members appear nude when the musical 'Hair' opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London












October 1968

13th British publisher Sir Stanley Unwin dies

14th The new Euston Station is opened by The Queen

16th The Foreign and Commonwealth offices merge

18th John Lennon appears in his first solo film role in 'How I Won The War'

18th The National Giro Bank opens at Bootle, Liverpool

20th Comedian Bud Flanagan of 'The Crazy Gang' dies aged 72

20th The Yardbirds make their last performance, playing at Liverpool University

21st Jackie Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis




November 1968

5th Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits marries Mireille Strasser

6th 2300 jobs are lost as British Eagle airlines stop flying

8th The last uncaught Great Train robber Bruce Reynolds is arrested in Torquay

8th Actor Wendell Corey dies aged 54

14th Edward Heath appoints Margaret Thatcher as shadow Transport Minister

26th The Race Relations Bill becomes law

26th Cream hold their last concert, playing at The Royal Albert Hall

28th John Lennon is fined £150 for possession of cannabis




December 1968

Peter Tork leaves The Monkees

6th Tory chiefs ban Enoch Powell from making a planned speech on Rhodesia

7th Nat Hiken, producer, director and writer of 'Bilko' and 'Car 54 Where Are You?' dies

12th Hammer horror actress Tallulah Bankhead dies of pneumonia aged 66

15th World Heavyweight boxing champion 1915-1919 Jess Willard 'The Pottawatomie Giant' dies

19th Colin Davis is chosen to succeed Georg Solti as Director of the Royal Opera House

20th In Spain, Franco banishes Prince Carlos, pretender to the Spanish throne

20th American 'Grapes of Wrath' and 'East of Eden' author John Steinbeck dies aged 66

29th Cunard postpone the first voyage of the QEII as she is still unfit to sail