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Retro: Charles becomes a 'Prince'
JULY 1969
THE BIG STORY
PRINCE Charles was invested with the title The Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle in Wales.
The grounds of the estate were sealed at 3am on July 1 as a massive security sweep began, nothing was being left to chance following a bomb explosion at a Cardiff sorting office the previous day.
Some 50,000 people were expected to turn up for the ceremony, watched over by some 2,600 police officers, including a contingent of 300 from West Yorkshire.
Every seat was checked for bombs and even the musicians of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers had to open their instrument cases and have their instruments inspected.
Newspapers wrote at the time that the investiture marked the start of the Prince's apprenticeship which would one day lead to him becoming king.
He became the 21st Prince of Wales after exchanging the kiss of fealty from his mother, the Queen.
THE HEADLINES
Plans to build a new concrete TV tower on Emley Moor were well advanced. The previous structure had collapsed in March. The new tower would be the third highest structure in the world, at 1,265ft.
General Franco's Spanish government offered nationality to the 25,000 occupants of Gibraltar, along with tax incentives. Britain pledged never to hand over control of 'The Rock' without approval from its residents, the majority of whom were against the Spanish proposal.
London's 26-storey, 320ft high stock exchange building was 'topped out' by Sir Martin Wilkinson. Work began on the building some two-and-a-half years earlier, however, builders Trollope and Colls said the building would not be fully completed until August 1973.
Jean Westerman, 38, of Intake Lane, Barnsley, became an overnight heroine after she prevented an out-of-control bus from running down dozens of pedestrians. Mrs Westerman had been aboard the fully-laden double-decker when its driver collapsed at the wheel. She managed to steer the vehicle away from market stalls and pedestrians and brought it to a halt.
Opticians across the country were inundated with people wanting to buy new pairs of spectacles ahead of the Government's charge increase for lenses on August 11. Under the plan, NHS charges for single lenses increased from 1 5s to 1 12s and bi-focals from 2 to 2 10s a pair.
THE GOSSIP
Robert Maxwell, the millionaire Labour MP, was pushing to seize control of The Sun newspaper after owners International Publishing Company said they could not guarantee publication after December 31, following losses of 12.7m over the past eight years. The paper had previously been known as the Daily Herald.
Cold War-inspired flick Ice Station Zebra, starring Rock Hudson and Ernest Borgnine, was showing at the Leeds Odeon, where a new wide screen had recently been installed. Also showing were: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, with Jane Powell and Howard Keel; and A Prince for Wales, starring Prince Charles.
Brian Jones, 27, former guitarist with the Rolling Stones, died after a midnight swim in the swimming pool at his 15th Century farmhouse in the Ashdown Forest, near Hartfield, Sussex. He was found at the bottom of the pool by a builder, who had earlier been swimming with him and his 22-year-old Swedish girlfriend Anna Vohlin. It was the same farm where A A Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh. Jones split with the Stones in June, despite being one of its founder members. A coroner later ruled he had consumed drink and drugs in the moments before his death.
THE WORLD
Johanna du Plessis, of Johannesburg, became one of the oldest people to give birth, aged 58. Her daughter, Magda, was her ninth child, the oldest of whom was 39 at the time. She already had 10 grandchildren.
The Space Race was well and truly underway as astronauts Neil A Armstrong and Edwin E Aldrin made history by being the first people to walk on the moon. On July 8, United States space officials announced they were cutting short a planned 30-day space trip of Bonny the monkey. They said that after nine days in orbit, the monkey had shown a decline in its condition. On July 14, Russia launched Luna 15, which they hoped would reach the moon on July 16, the same day the famous Apollo 11 mission blasted off from Cape Kennedy. The Russian mission was largely a failure and the craft smacked into the Moon at 300mph.
AND FINALLY...
The village of Wilton, near Pickering, was sold to Douglas Campbell, for 304,000. The 1,738 acre estate embraced eight farms, ten cottages, 15 acres of woodland and a limestone quarry, plus cattle.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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