Back to the Future, 1975

That was the year when...

• USA finally withdrew from the Vietnam war
• The movie Jaws became the biggest box office hit of all time
• The Suez Canal was reopened after 8 years of the Arab-Israeli war
• Bruce Springstein released the Anthemic 'Born to Run'
• Prince Juan Carlos crowned King of Spain after the death of General Franco

About 1975
1975 brought with it a number of classic comedies to British TV audiences. Queen topped the charts for nine weeks with 'Bohemian Rapsody' while in America Union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.

You Have been Watching...
• Fawlty Towers
• Carry On Laughing
• The Good Life
• Doctor On The Go
• The Cuckoo Waltz

At the Cinema
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Best Film Oscar)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Love & Death
• Tommy

Back to the Future, 1974

That was the year when...

• The Watergate scandal brings about Nixon resignation
• West Germany won the football World cup (in West Germany)
• Mikhail Baryshnikov became the latest Soviet Ballet dancer to defect to the west
• Haile Selassie Deposed as Ruler of Ethiopia after 58 years in power
• Famous Radio & TV comedian Jack Benny died, aged 80

About 1974
While Nixon was squirming and Evel Knievel was trying to leap the Grand Canyon Swedish pop sensations Abba were hitting the top of the charts with Waterloo.
You Have been Watching...
• Porridge
• Rising Damp
• It Ain't Half Hot Mum
• Man About The House

At the Cinema
• The Godfather partII (Best Film Oscar)
• Monty Python's The Holy Grail
• Emmanuelle
• Lenny

Back to the Future 1973

That was the year when...
• The United Kingdom joined the EEC
• The Watergate scandal took hold as Nixon denied all knowledge
• The twin towers of the World Trade Center were completed
• Baseball legend Willie Mays retired from the game
• Artist Pablo Picasso died at age 92

About 1973
1973 was the year that Bruce Lee died, having made arguably the best film of his career.
You Have been Watching...
• Michael Bentines Potty Time
• Last Of The Summer Wine
• Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
• Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads

At the Cinema
• The Sting (Best Film Oscar)
• The Exorcist
• Enter The Dragon
• Serpico

Back to the Future, 1972

That was the year when...
• FBI Boss for 48 years, J Edgar Hoover died, aged 77
• David Bowie unleashes the "Ziggy Stardust" Album on the world
• 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland when British troops killed 13 protesters
• Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals at the Munich Olympics
• Two Britons become the first people to row across the (8,000 miles) Pacific Ocean

About 1972
In 1972 terrorist activity from the IRA escalated following the horrific murder of protesters by the British Army on, what became known as, 'Bloody Sunday'. Arab terrorists threatened the Olympic games, killing 11 Israeli Olympians.

You Have been Watching...
• Are You Being Served?
• My Good Woman
• Doctor In Charge
• Sykes

At the Cinema
• The Godfather (Best Film Oscar)
• Deliverance
• Cabaret
• And Now For Something Completely Different

Back to the Future, 1971

That was the year when...

• Charles Manson was found guilty in LA of murdering Sharon Tate amongst others.
• Comedic poet Ogden Nash died, aged 68
• China was admitted to the United Nations
• London Bridge was officially opened to the public, in the Arizona desert
• Disney World opens its gates in Florida

About 1971
During 1971 the Manson trial dominated the headlines in America, while on a lighter note Disney World opened its gates for the first time and gave millions of kids somewhere else to plead with their parents to go to.

You Have been Watching...
• Bless This House
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show
• Dave Allen At Large
• The Comedians
• The Two Ronnies

At the Cinema
• The French Connection (Best Film Oscar)
• A Clockwork Orange
• Fiddler On The Roof
• Dirty Harry

Back to the Future, 1970

That was the year when...

• Brazil won the football World cup (in Mexico)
• Edwarth Heath became British Prime Minister
• The Beatles broke up after McCartney announced he was leaving the band
• In a further escalation of the Vietnam war Nixon sent troops into Cambodia
• Jimi Hendrix (27) & Janis Joplin (27) both died through drug abuse

About 1970
The start of a new decade saw the escalation of America's involvement in the Vietnam war and the death of sixties Icons Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

You Have been Watching...
• For The Love Of Ada
• The Goodies
• The Liver Birds
• Monty Python's Flying Circus

At the Cinema
• Patton (Best Film Oscar)
• M*A*S*H
• Ryan's Daughter
• Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls

Back to the Future, 1969

That was the year when...

• "One small step for man..." as Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon
• Woodstock: Three days of love and peace created another icon for the sixties
• Concorde first flew on a twenty minute test flight in Toulouse, France
• Rolling Stones Guitarist Brian Jones died
• British parliment voted to outlaw capital punishment

About 1969
1969 was a historic year as the space race was won by America who finally landed a man on the moon. The hippie movement culminated in the Woodstock festival in New York State and the Beatles released 'Let It Be'.

You Have been Watching...
• Sez Les
• Doctor In The House
• Dear Mother... Love Albert
• On The Buses

At the Cinema
• Midnight Cowboy (Best Film Oscar)
• Once Upon A Time In The West
• Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
• Easy Rider

Back to the Future 1968

That was the year when...

• Martin Luther King (39) was assassinated in Memphis
• Yuri Gagarin (35), first man in space, died in a plane crash
• Prague Spring brings with it the hope of new political freedom in Czechoslovakia
• National strikes and large scaling rioting caused French President Charles De Gaulle to dissolve the National Assembly
• The Viet Cong Launched the Tet offensive across many S. Vietnam cities

About 1968
1968 was a year of uprising all over the world with race riots and Vietnam protests in the US, National strikes and student demonstrations in France and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring.

You Have been Watching...
• Dad's Army
• Do Not Adjust Your Set
• Father, Dear Father
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in

At the Cinema
• Oliver (Best Film Oscar)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Planet Of The Apes
• The Odd Couple

Back to the Future, 1967

That was the year when...

• The Green Bay Packers won the first ever Superbowl
• Che Guevara captured and killed by government forces in Bolivia
• Muhammad Ali stripped of World boxing title after refusing to enter military service
• The Beatles release the "Sgt Pepper" album
• The Monterey Pop festival opens the floodgates to the 'Summer of Love'

About 1967
1967 bore witness to the first ever Superbowl in American Football. The hippie movement reached full force and descended on places like the Ashbury disctrict of San Fransisco and the music festival became huge.

You Have been Watching...
• Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width
• Before The Fringe
• Not in Front Of The Children
• At Last, The 1948 Show

At the Cinema
• In the Heat of the Night (Best Film Oscar)
• Cool Hand Luke
• The Graduate
• Casino Royale

Back to the Future, 1966

That was the year when...
• England won the football World cup (in England)
• Comedian Lenny Bruce (39) & Silent film star Buster Keaton (70) both died
• Timothy Leary arrested on drugs charges
• Boxer Hurricane Carter was arrested for Murder. He eventually had the conviction overturned in 1985, some 19 years later
• Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California

About 1966
1966 was dominated in England by one event: The World cup which was both hosted and won by a jubilent nation. Lenny Bruce, a long term heroin user, sadly succumbed to an overdose and the Silent Film legend Buster Keaton fell silent for the last time.

You Have been Watching...
• Till Death Us Do Part
• The Monkees
• The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
• The Vital Spark

At the Cinema
• A Man for all Seasons (Best Film Oscar)
• Modesty Blaise
• Blow Up
• The Professionals

Back to the Future, 1965

That was the year when...

• Malcolm X assassinated during a speech in New York
• Winston Churchill dies, aged 90
• Americans planes drop Napalm on Vietnam as the conflict turns into war
• A newly electric Bob Dylan was booed off stage at the Newport Folk Festival
• Race Riots in Watts (LA) last five days and leave 30 dead and 2,200 arrested

About 1965
1965 saw the passing of comedy great Stan Laurel and America joining a war that was to cause the biggest loss of life their country had ever witnessed.

You Have been Watching...
• The Worker
• The Danny Kaye Show
• The Munsters
• Milligan's Wake

At the Cinema
• The Sound of Music (Best Film Oscar)
• Lord Jim
• The Ipcress File
• Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines

Back to the Future, 1964

That was the year when...

• Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev deposed and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev
• Lenny Bruce obscenity trial for offensive language held in New York
• The Beatles conquer America, touring while 'I want to hold your hand' tops the Billboard charts
• 22 year old Cassius Clay steals the world Heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston
• James Bond author Ian Flemming dies of a heart attack, aged 56

About 1964
By 1964 the Beatles had conquered the rest of the world and were now busy doing the same in America. Harpo Marx died leaving only Groucho from the classic trio.

You Have been Watching...
• The Addams Family
• Bewitched
• Car 54, Where Are You?
• The Likely Lads

At the Cinema
• My Fair Lady (Best Film Oscar)
• Dr Strangelove
• A Hard Day's Night
• Mary Poppins

Back to the Future, 1963

That was the year when...
• UK: The Great Train Robbery netted the infamous gang a cool £2.6m
• John F Kennedy was shot and a thousand conspiracy theories were born
• The infamous Alcatraz closed it's doors for the last time as a prison
• The British government revealed that newspaper correspondant Kim Philby was a Soviet spy
• Civil rights leader Medger Evers murdered outside his home

About 1963
1963 was a time of great political unrest with the assassinations of JFK and Medgar Evers sparking race riots across the country. In the UK the Profumo scandal broke causing John Profumo to resign and Dr Stephen Ward to commit suicide.

You Have been Watching...
• The Stanley Baxter Show
• The Beverly Hillbillies
• The Dick Van Dyke Show
• The Dick Emery Show

At the Cinema
• Tom Jones (Best Film Oscar)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
• The Pink Panther
• Cleopatra

Back to the Future 1962

That was the year when...
Marilyn Monroe died in suspicious circumstances in Los Angeles
Brazil won the football world cup (in Chile)
Popular TV Comic Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash
John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth
Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann was Hanged in Israel

About 1962
1962 is the year that the first Television satellite pictures were seen in America using the Telstar satellite. The James Bond legend hit the big screen and the Americans caught up with Russia by putting their own man in space.

You have been watching
The Lucy Show
The Bruce Forsyth Show
Steptoe & Son

At The cinema
Lawrence of Arabia (Best Film Oscar)
Dr No
That Was The Week That Was
The Longest Day
Merrill's Marauders

Back to the Future 1961

That was the year when...
• East Germany was divided by the Berlin Wall
• Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, orbiting the Earth aboard Vostok 1
• Old Western star Gary Cooper died, aged 60
• Chubby Checker hit the big time with 'The Twist'
• Writer Earnest Hemmingway committed suicide

About 1961
In 1961 history changed as the space race hotted and the Russians got the first man in space. Bob Dylan appeared on the music scene and in Liverpool a band, later to be called the Beatles had started to play together.

You Have been Watching...
• The Arthur Askey Show
• It's A Square World
• Comedy Playhouse
• Here's Harry

At the Cinema
• West Side Story (Best film Oscar)
• Breakfast At Tiffany's
• The Misfits
• La Dolce Vita

Back to the Future, 1960

What was happening.
• The French conducted nuclear tests in the Sahara desert
• John F Kennedy became President (USA)
• Floyd Patterson became the first boxer to regain the World Heavyweight title
• Premier of the Alfred Hitchcock classic 'Psycho'
• Mack Sennet, the man responsible for the 'Keystone Kops films, died age 80.

About 1960
At the start of the 'swinging' sixties, things weren't swinging too much yet. The decade that was to bring the Beatles, Woodstock, a war in Vietnam and the landing of the first man on the moon, was still a little naive.

You Have been Watching...
• Hancock's Half Hour
• The Arthur Haynes Show
• I Love Lucy
• The Larkins

At the Cinema
• The Apartment (best film Oscar)
• Spartacus
• The Magnificent Seven
• Psycho