1960s Britain

Music, fashion and television changed how Britain saw itself during the 1960s. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks reached new audiences at home and overseas. In London, Carnaby Street, King’s Road and designers including Mary Quant helped make youth fashion a major part of the decade’s public image. The miniskirt became one of its most recognisable styles.

New housing, household goods and more spending money changed everyday routines, though the benefits were uneven. Television brought news, entertainment and events into the home. Britain’s social and political life was also shaped by arguments over class, race, gender, sexuality and war.

Legal change had limits. The Sexual Offences Act 1967 partially decriminalised consensual sexual acts between men aged 21 or over in private in England and Wales. It did not introduce equal rights across Britain.

Personal photographs add places and experiences to this history. Here, the 1960s include a seaside audience in Colwyn Bay, football in a Heywood street, family groups in Wokingham and Beckenham, and a May Queen in Manchester.

Historical context: The National Archives’ Sixties Britain collection, the V&A on 1960s fashion and Parliament’s account of the 1967 Act.

These photographs keep a record of particular people, places and occasions. Some have a year and a full name; others carry a place and an approximate date. The information supplied with each photograph stays alongside it.

The selection covers places including Bolton, Swanley, Rochdale, Staveley, Crewe and Barnsley. Two photographs from Croydon are dated 1969, including the image captioned “Moon Landing Fever”. They sit alongside days out, family photographs and scenes of everyday life.

Further details can make the record more useful. If you recognise someone, remember the occasion or have photographs from the same place, your knowledge can help identify and explain what is shown.