1960s Timeline: Key Dates, Events And Milestones

The 1960s in order, one year at a time, from 1960 to 1969.

Each year gives the headline of the year, the news that mattered, and the music, screen and sport people remember.

Useful for quizzes, school projects, reminiscence sessions and milestone birthday cards.

1960

• Coronation Street began, national service ended and the sixties had not started yet.
• National service ended, with the last conscripts called up in 1960.
• The farthing had already gone; pounds, shillings and pence continued.
• Princess Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones in May, televised from Westminster Abbey.
• Cliff Richard and the Shadows were the biggest British act of the year; 'Apache' by the Shadows was one of the year's best sellers.
• Coronation Street began on 9 December.
• Burnley won the First Division title.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1960

1961

• The Beatles started playing the Cavern and Yuri Gagarin went into space.
• Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space on 12 April.
• The Berlin Wall was built in August.
• The contraceptive pill became available on the NHS, initially to married women.
• Elvis Presley's 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' and 'Wooden Heart' were both number ones.
• The Avengers began on ITV.
• Tottenham Hotspur won the league and FA Cup double.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1961

1962

• Love Me Do, the first James Bond film and the Cuban missile crisis.
• The Cuban missile crisis in October brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any other point.
• The Sunday Times launched Britain's first colour supplement in February.
• Coventry Cathedral was consecrated in May.
• The Beatles released 'Love Me Do' in October; it reached the top twenty rather than the top.
• Dr. No opened in October and James Bond was on screen for the first time.
• Brazil won the World Cup in Chile; England reached the quarter-final.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1962

1963

• The big freeze, Beatlemania, Doctor Who and the assassination of President Kennedy.
• The big freeze lasted from Boxing Day 1962 until March, with snow lying for weeks.
• The Great Train Robbery took place on 8 August.
• John F. Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November.
• The Profumo affair ran through the summer and ended Harold Macmillan's premiership.
• The Beatles had three number ones in the year and two of the year's biggest sellers.
• Doctor Who began on 23 November, the day after the Kennedy assassination, and the first episode was repeated a week later.
• Manchester United won the FA Cup.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1963

1964

• Top of the Pops, pirate radio, mods and rockers, and BBC Two.
• Harold Wilson won the October general election for Labour.
• Radio Caroline began broadcasting from a ship in March.
• Mods and rockers clashed at Clacton, Brighton and Margate over bank holidays, and the newspapers made it a moral panic.
• The Beatles and the Rolling Stones both had number ones; 'Can't Buy Me Love' sold in enormous numbers.
• Top of the Pops began on 1 January.
• Match of the Day began on BBC Two in August.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1964

1965

• Churchill's funeral, the 70mph limit and the Beatles at Shea Stadium.
• Winston Churchill died on 24 January and had a state funeral watched by millions.
• The 70mph motorway speed limit was introduced as a trial in December.
• The death penalty for murder was suspended in November.
• Cigarette advertising was banned on television in August.
• The Beatles' 'Help!' and 'Ticket to Ride' were both number ones.
• The Sound of Music was released and ran in some cinemas for years.
• Manchester United won the league.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1965

1966

• England won the World Cup, and then Aberfan happened in October.
• The Aberfan disaster on 21 October killed 116 children and 28 adults when a colliery spoil tip slid onto a school.
• Harold Wilson won a second general election in March with a large majority.
• The Moors murders trial took place in April and May.
• 'Green, Green Grass of Home' by Tom Jones was the year's best-selling single.
• Cathy Come Home was broadcast in November and led directly to the growth of Shelter.
• England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley on 30 July, with a Geoff Hurst hat-trick.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1966

1967

• Sgt. Pepper, Radio 1, colour television and the summer of love.
• Radio 1 launched on 30 September with Tony Blackburn.
• The pound was devalued in November.
• The Sexual Offences Act and the Abortion Act both became law.
• Donald Campbell died on Coniston Water in January.
• Engelbert Humperdinck's 'Release Me' was the year's best-selling single and famously kept the Beatles' 'Penny Lane' off the top.
• BBC Two began colour broadcasts on 1 July, starting with Wimbledon.
• Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup, in Lisbon in May.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1967

1968

• Manchester United in Europe, Dad's Army and a year of protest.
• Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in April and Robert Kennedy in June.
• Student protests spread across Europe, with demonstrations in Grosvenor Square in March and October.
• The Ronan Point tower block partially collapsed in May.
• The Beatles' 'Hey Jude' was the year's best-selling single.
• Dad's Army began on 31 July.
• Manchester United beat Benfica at Wembley in May to become the first English club to win the European Cup.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1968

1969

• The moon landing, the Beatles on the roof and the end of the decade.
• Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on 20 July, and Neil Armstrong stepped out in the early hours of 21 July UK time.
• Troops were deployed in Northern Ireland in August.
• The voting age was lowered to eighteen in 1969, taking effect for the 1970 election.
• The death penalty for murder was abolished permanently in December.
• 'Sugar, Sugar' by the Archies was the year's best-selling single.
• BBC One and ITV began colour broadcasts in November.
• Leeds United won their first league title.
• Full year page: /blogs/news/look-back-to-1969

How to use this timeline

• Quiz round: read an event and ask for the year, or read a year and ask for what happened.
• Reminiscence: start at the year someone left school and read forwards.
• Milestone birthday: read the timeline from their birth year to the year they turned 18.
• Anyone born in 1960 turns 50 in 2010, 60 in 2020 and 70 in 2030.

Shop prints and posters

How to write it so it lands

• Read the timeline alongside the decade history guide: one gives the order, the other gives the story.
• For a birthday card, pick the one event from their birth year that still gets a reaction.
• Years rarely change neatly at the decade line. Check the year either side before setting a quiz question.

Where to shop next

• Look back to 1960
• Look back to 1961
• Look back to 1962
• Look back to 1963
• Look back to 1964
• Look back to 1965
• Look back to 1966
• Look back to 1967
• Look back to 1968
• Look back to 1969
• 1960s history: events, politics and culture
• 1960s calendar: year by year
• 1960s music: songs, genres and trends
• 1960s films and directors
• 1960s books, films and TV
• 1960s books: novels and authors
• 1960s art: artists and styles
• 1960s fashion: styles, designers and trends
• 1960s food: dishes, restaurants and trends
• 1960s travel: destinations and holidays
• 1960s technology: gadgets and computers
• 1960s shopping guide: what to buy
• 1960s games: board, card and video
• 1960s trivia: fun facts
• 1960s quiz: questions and answers
• 1960s party playlist
• The 1960s: the whole decade
• Retro gift guide: the 1960s
• The decade before: the 1950s
• The decade after: the 1970s
• All decade guides in one place
• Card messages by occasion: every guide in one place
• Card hub: cards, badges and messages by occasion
• Decade history by era
• Decade calendars: every year from 1920
• Decade timelines: key dates and events by era
• Decade music: songs, genres and trends
• Decade films: best movies and directors
• Decade books: novels, authors and reading trends
• Decade art: artists, styles and trends
• Decade fashion: styles, designers and trends
• Decade food: dishes, restaurants and eating trends
• Decade travel: destinations and holidays
• Decade technology: gadgets and computers
• Decade shopping guides
• Decade games: board, card and video games by era
• Decade trivia: fun facts by era
• Decade quizzes: questions and answers by era
• Decade trivia game: play for points
• Decade quiz: test your memory
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• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Sympathy and bereavement cards
• Sympathy cards guide
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• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What are the key dates of the 1960s?

The timeline above runs from 1960 to 1969, with the headline events of each year in order. Coronation Street began, national service ended and the sixties had not started yet.

What happened in 1960?

Coronation Street began, national service ended and the sixties had not started yet. There is a full page for 1960 at /blogs/news/look-back-to-1960.

Are the dates accurate?

Yes. Every date, name and event on this page is real and comes straight from our year-by-year pages, so the timeline and the year pages always agree.

Can I use this for a quiz or a school project?

Yes, freely. Print it, read it out, copy it - no permission needed. We make greeting cards, prints and pin badges; these pages are free.