![]() As Ian MacDonald writes in Revolution in the Head, his seminal history of The Beatles' records and the sixties, the release of Love Me Do "blew a stimulating autumnal breeze through an enervated pop scene, heralding a change in the tone of post-war British life matched by the contemporary appearance of the first James Bond film, Dr No…" The serendipity of this moment probably passed entirely unnoticed at the time, but the world we inhabit today is still enjoying its aftershocks. They were also, incredibly, born on the same day – 5 October 1962 – with the release of the first Beatles single, Love Me Do, and the premiere of the first James Bond picture, Dr No. These two great pop cultural phenomena would help to redefine Britain and Britishness for a receptive global audience. "London is not keeping the good news to itself… London is exporting its plays, its films, its fads, its styles, its people."Ĭhief amongst these cutting-edge cultural exports were the music of The Beatles and the films of James Bond. It swings it is the scene… The city is alive with birds (girls) and Beatles, buzzing with mini cars and telly stars, pulsing with half a dozen separate veins of excitement," she wrote in April 1966. ![]() Time Magazine correspondent Piri Halasz captured the mood vividly "In a decade dominated by youth, London has burst into bloom. ![]() This was only the beginning of a liberating cultural revolution that would eventually sweep the world, with "swinging" London as its wellspring. "Sexual intercourse began / In nineteen sixty-three… / Between the end of the 'Chatterley' ban / And the Beatles' first LP." So wrote Philip Larkin in his 1967 poem Annus Mirabilis, reflecting on how British society was transformed in the early 1960s.
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