The year 1968 proved a tumultuous one for Britain, as the reforming spirit of the 1960s gained momentum across numerous fronts. With the decade’s cultural revolutions reaching their apex, once-rigid social and political boundaries faced escalating challenges from activists and avant-garde artists alike.

In the arts, groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones spearheaded innovations in music, fashion and the performing arts that rejected established conventions. The Beatles spent 1968 exploring new sonic territory on their eponymous double album, commonly known as ‘The White Album’, while Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull symbolised rising nonconformity. On television, groundbreaking comedies like Do Not Adjust Your Set and Dad’s Army found audiences hungry for irreverent humour and satire.

Youth counterculture and protest movements also escalated their activism, campaigning loudly against outdated establishment norms. Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations rocked London, Oxford and Grosvenor Square, provoking forceful police responses. The iconic hippie musical Hair debuted in the West End, blending anti-war themes with nudity and profanity. Calls grew louder to modernize Britain’s ossified institutions and values.

However, resistance to such liberalising currents remained potent. Conservatives denounced rising drug use, sexual freedom, and radical politics as corrupting influences. When anti-war activists besieged the American embassy in March, clashes with police erupted. As tensions escalated in Northern Ireland over civil rights abuses, the Troubles loomed, exposing unresolved divisions. Amidst the swelling tides of change, 1968 marked a pivotal junction as Britain underwent a sociopolitical awakening.

Music

The Beatles Release White Album

On November 22, 1968, The Beatles released their highly anticipated ninth studio album, officially titled The Beatles but better known as the White Album due to its plain white cover. The sprawling double album found the band exploring divergent musical directions and songwriting styles, capturing their fractured psyche amidst growing internal tensions. Containing 30 tracks, it stood as the group’s most eclectic and unconventional work to date.

After ceasing touring in 1966, the Beatles enjoyed creative freedom in the studio to push boundaries and reinvent their sound. Their previous album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had encapsulated the psychedelic Summer of Love with experimental production techniques. On the White Album, they pursued an even wider array of styles, from acoustic balladry to distorted hard rock, showcasing their prodigious talent and maturity as songwriters.

Each member contributed distinct material reflecting their individual personalities and inspirations. John Lennon led the way with avant-garde sound collages like “Revolution 9” alongside confessional piano-led tracks like “Julia”. Paul McCartney offered whimsical pop tunes like “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and heavy rockers like “Helter Skelter”. George Harrison flexed his songwriting with four contributions including “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar.

The band’s growing fragmentation emerged through this diversity – they recorded many songs individually or in pairs rather than as a foursome. Tensions simmered between members amid artistic differences and personal issues like Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono. Yet the richness of the White Album testified to the band’s astonishing creative powers even in troubled times.

Their innovations with tape loops, sampling, and musique concrète pointed towards sampling culture and hip hop. The album topped charts worldwide for weeks, though it received mixed reviews from music critics adjusting to its sprawl and discordance compared to Sgt Pepper’s cohesion. Nonetheless, the White Album features indelible classics like “Blackbird”, “Dear Prudence” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that rank among the Beatles’ finest work. Its bold experiments expanded rock’s palette. Today, it is widely considered one of the band’s greatest achievements, crystallising the Beatles’ spirit of sonic and social adventurousness amidst the transformations of the late 1960s. The White Album stands as a landmark that pushed rock towards new frontiers.

The Kinks Release “Days”

In June 1968, British rock band The Kinks released the single “Days”, a nostalgic ballad that became one of their biggest hits. Penned by lead singer Ray Davies, the song expressed wistful longing for the simplicity of the past, striking a chord with listeners during a tumultuous era. Its reflective lyrics, sweet melody and barroom piano captured the public imagination, catapulting The Kinks back to prominence.

After early hits, the band’s fortunes had declined somewhat by 1968 as harder-edged rock dominated pop music. However, Davies crafted in “Days” a gentle anthem perfectly attuned to the times. The song expresses disenchantment with the modern world’s complexity and pace, looking back poignantly to “the good old days”. Laden with rustic imagery of village greens, pubs and “draught beer”, it evokes an idyllic past of communal innocence.

Released in June as racial tensions, anti-war protests and student radicalism roiled society, “Days” touched a nerve with its soothing visions of tradition and nostalgia. Ray Davies’ tender vocals, imbued with wry sadness, drove home the elegiac lyrics mourning the disappearance of a simpler way of life. Backed by Mike Leander’s barroom piano and lush strings, the production completed the song’s transportive, pastoral atmosphere.

“Days” became The Kinks’ first Top 10 hit in three years when it reached #12 on the UK charts. It performed even better internationally, hitting #1 on Canadian charts and #14 in the US. The single announced The Kinks’ return as hitmakers capable of crafting reflective, meaningful pop amidst psychedelia and hard rock trends.

The band performed “Days” on television programs like Top of the Pops where its poignant lyrics about life passing listeners by clearly touched a chord with audiences. The song’s universal appeal lay in blending comforting musical nostalgia with lyrical themes exploring time, memory and longing that resonated widely.

Five decades later, “Days” remains one of The Kinks’ most beloved anthems. It encapsulated the band’s unique gift for fond, earnest songwriting led by Ray Davies’ insight into social themes. The single’s breakout success in 1968 highlighted The Kinks’ importance during a substantive era of rock music as articulate storytellers speaking to the times. For many, “Days” is the band’s finest distillation of remembrance, loss, and wistfulness.

Des O’Connor Has First No.1 Hit

On February 14, 1968, British entertainment icon Des O’Connor reached the peak of the UK pop charts for the first time when his single “I Pretend” hit #1. The multitalented singer and presenter, already a household name, proved he could also command the charts with the catchy love song and its sentimental lyrics. “I Pretend” kickstarted a successful recording career for O’Connor that flourished alongside his television work.

By 1968, London-born O’Connor was an experienced performer and variety show host renowned for his charm, polished vocals and cheeky repartee. Though he had released several singles with modest success, the breakout moment came with “I Pretend”. Penned by respected songwriters Les Reed and Barry Mason, the saccharine ballad played perfectly to O’Connor’s strengths.

Backed by an orchestral arrangement, O’Connor croons bittersweet lyrics about pretending his lost love remains near to him. With his smooth baritone conveying the heartache, “I Pretend” was a cathartic tearjerker that struck a chord with the public. O’Connor promoted it heavily on the popular Morecambe and Wise show where he guested regularly.

When it reached #1 and displaced The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna”, O’Connor was overjoyed at this unexpected pop chart zenith. He had proven his credentials as a versatile entertainer who could compete with rock’s best. “I Pretend” became one of the year’s highest selling singles, turning the amiable O’Connor into a pop sensation.

The single’s success won O’Connor prestigious invitations to perform on Sunday Night at the London Palladium and the Royal Variety Performance. He became 1968’s top selling recording artist, shifting over a million copies as follow-up singles also charted. Though relegated to nostalgic one-hit-wonder status today, “I Pretend” was a game-changing #1 for O’Connor at the time.

O’Connor later said he struggled to match the song’s popularity despite releasing many more singles and albums. Yet “I Pretend” opened the door to a thriving pop music career running parallel to his television work. He continued scoring Top 40 hits like “Careless Hands” and “1-2-3 O’Leary” throughout the 1970s.

At over 80 years old today, Des O’Connor’s six-decade career has secured his place as one of Britain’s most celebrated entertainers. But for many, his musical legacy remains defined by the surprise chart-topping ballad “I Pretend” which first propelled him to stardom in 1968.

Entertainment

Mary Hopkin Performs on Opportunity Knocks

On May 13, 1968, a shy unknown folk singer named Mary Hopkin delivered a show-stopping performance on the British talent show Opportunity Knocks that launched her music career. The 18-year-old Welsh starlet wowed the viewing public with her angelic vocals on a cover of Pete Seeger’s “Turn Turn Turn”, setting her on a path to 1960s pop stardom.

Opportunity Knocks was Britain’s top talent competition, drawing over 15 million viewers weekly. Amateurs competed for viewer votes, but most acts faded into obscurity afterwards. Mary Hopkin, however, left a mesmerising impression when she appeared in her first televised performance.

A little-known aspiring singer from Wales, Hopkin possessed an ethereal soprano voice perfectly suited to folk melodies. When she took the stage that night, few predicted this demure girl would captivate the nation. But her haunting rendition of “Turn Turn Turn” was a showstopper, earning her first place in the viewer vote.

Hopkin’s crystal-clear vocals and restrained delivery let the poetic lyrics shine on the melancholic folk tune. Accompanying herself on guitar, the raw simplicity of her performance conveyed a wisdom and presence far beyond her years. The audience sat spellbound by this unknown amateur with the voice of an angel.

That night, over 10 million people tuned in and were introduced to Hopkin’s immense talent. Phone lines lit up with viewers demanding an encore, confirming her breakout moment. Opportunity Knocks had delivered a future star.

Hopkin’s discovery led to a record deal and her debut single “Those Were the Days” produced by Paul McCartney, which became a #1 hit. Just months after her stunning debut, she had become a pop sensation.

Mary Hopkin rode her chance opportunity to nationwide fame and a thriving 1960s recording career. Her Opportunity Knocks breakthrough performing “Turn Turn Turn” sealed her destiny as one of the era’s iconic folk-pop songstresses. Decades later, that electrifying performance remains a remarkable example of an unknown star seizing the spotlight.

Civil rights drama In the Year of the Pig released

On March 11, 1968, American documentary filmmaker Emile de Antonio premiered his groundbreaking Vietnam War critique In the Year of the Pig at the London Film Festival, garnering critical acclaim. A radical cinema vérité documentary, the film condemned American foreign policy through a global lens by interweaving archival footage and interviews detailing geopolitical unrest. Its scathing anti-war themes resonated amid growing opposition to the Vietnam conflict.

Released at the height of 1960s activism, In the Year of the Pig provided searing perspectives on America’s divisive involvement in Vietnam. De Antonio constructed a vivid montage chronicling the war’s social impact, from Vietnamese civilians suffering to domestic protests intensifying. Interviews with intellectual figures like Daniel Ellsberg criticised the ethics of intervention and use of force to contain Communism abroad.

The film situated Vietnam within centuries of colonial exploitation in Southeast Asia, while arguing contemporary policy served corporate capitalist interests over democracy. Formally, it pioneered an associative editing style reliant on stock footage and no voice-over narration to convey militarism’s destruction. De Antonio described his approach as “building a film like a lawyer builds a case.”

In the Year of the Pig solidified documentary’s viability as hard-hitting journalism and counter-cultural political commentary. De Antonio bypassed official rhetoric to probe the war’s moral, economic and humanitarian dimensions with anger and idealism. The film brought American imperialism’s dark consequences into stark relief during a volcanic era.

Premiered just weeks after the Tet Offensive quagmire, the film galvanised anti-war sentiment. It earned praise as the best documentary yet on Vietnam, winning awards and acclaim at various film festivals. The Year of the Pig proved hugely influential on later counterculture documentaries and political new-wave films in Europe.

Emile de Antonio’s audacious anti-establishment documentary still stands as a pioneering work of activist cinema. In an era of rising dissent, In the Year of the Pig bravely challenged American military authority and imperialism from provocative global perspectives. Its volatile collage of images powerfully illuminated the Vietnam War’s devastating impacts.

Culture

Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” Speech

On April 20, 1968, Conservative Member of Parliament Enoch Powell delivered a controversial speech to a local party meeting in Birmingham criticising mass immigration from Britain’s former colonies. Powell warned that unchecked immigration was undermining British culture and identity and would lead to violence if not halted.

In the speech, Powell recounted anecdotes of elderly white Britons suffering abuse and discrimination in their everyday lives due to shifting demographics in local communities. He described citizens feeling like “strangers in their own country” and used the metaphor of the River Tiber foaming with blood to warn of violence if immigration was not strictly controlled.

Powell called for new legislation to severely limit immigration and encourage some repatriation of immigrants back to their countries of origin. He argued that without firm action, British-born descendants of immigrants would organise to fight racial discrimination, sparking anarchy and bloodshed in the streets.

The speech brought instant nationwide controversy and debate. Powell was strongly condemned by party leaders, religious figures and immigrant advocacy groups for using inflammatory racist rhetoric and unverified anecdotes to stoke xenophobia. He was dismissed from his Shadow Cabinet position within days. His supporters countered that he was voicing legitimate public concerns about cultural integration and economic impacts of high immigration rates.

Polls indicated a portion of the British public agreed with Powell’s conviction that immigration levels were too high and threatened British jobs and community relations. He received over 100,000 letters and telexes of support in the speech’s aftermath. However, his opponents characterised the speech as pandering to racist and fascist elements in society. Protests and acts of violence occurred against Powell sympathisers.

The “Rivers of Blood” speech brought issues of race, identity and immigration to the forefront of British politics. Some historians view it as a turning point which prevented bipartisan consensus on immigration policy and empowered far-right anti-immigrant groups, worsening social divisions along racial lines. The controversy thrust Powell into the political wilderness, but also reinforced xenophobic attitudes held by sections of society. Powell’s warnings of immigration-based conflict proved divisive but prescient in light of later race riots in British cities. The speech left a complex legacy of hardening anti-immigrant sentiment across Britain.

The Beatles Ashram Opens in Rishikesh

In February 1968, The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh, India to attend an advanced Transcendental Meditation training course at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram. Their highly publicised visit brought the ashram global fame and helped popularise Eastern spirituality in mainstream Western culture. The band spent over two months at the secluded forest retreat by the Ganges river, undergoing an intensely creative period that profoundly influenced their music.

Since discovering meditation in 1967, The Beatles had become ardent disciples of the Maharishi’s teachings. In 1968, they decided to deepen their practice by joining his course in Rishikesh along with fellow artists like Donovan and Mike Love of The Beach Boys. The remote ashram offered bare amenities but spectacular natural beauty and isolation conducive to meditation.

Arriving in India in February, The Beatles settled into a tranquil routine at the ashram. They meditated for hours everyday, attended lectures on Vedic philosophy, enjoyed vegetarian meals and occasionally gathered in the evening to play music. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were all prolific songwriters, collectively composing over 40 songs during the retreat.

The peaceful setting and focus on spirituality fostered intense creativity untouched by external pressures. The absence of distractions allowed the band to channel Eastern musical and lyrical influences into songs like “Dear Prudence” and “Across the Universe.” The twin albums The Beatles and Abbey Road grew out of this fruitful period.

By April, relations with the Maharishi had soured over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, causing The Beatles to leave abruptly. However, the magical weeks spent at his Rishikesh ashram left a deep imprint on the band’s sound and songwriting. Their trip popularised Transcendental Meditation and sparked Western interest in Indian spirituality and music.

The ashram was eventually abandoned in the late 1990s. But in 2015, it reopened as a heritage site celebrating The Beatles’ time there. Tourists can now view the modest bungalows and cave-like meditation chambers once inhabited by the world’s biggest rock band at the height of their creative powers. The Beatles Ashram stands as a relic of a pivotal chapter that shaped the band’s enduring legacy.

Miners’ Strike Begins

On January 9th 1968, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began the first major coal miners’ strike since 1926, sparking industrial action that lasted over two months. The strike stemmed from disputes between the NUM and Britain’s state-owned National Coal Board (NCB) regarding pay and working conditions. It exacerbated energy supply issues, resulting in electricity cuts that disrupted daily life nationwide. The bitter clash reflected escalating tensions between trade unions and authorities amid a tumultuous political climate.

Triggering the strike, the NCB offered miners pay raises far below union demands based on ability to pay claims. The NUM rejected this offer by an overwhelming majority vote in all British mining regions. Over 240,000 miners walked off jobs, commencing the largest strike since the General Strike of 1926. Pit-heads fell silent as production ground to a halt.

The NCB had underestimated miners’ solidarity and willingness to strike. By February, coal stocks were severely depleted. To conserve coal, the government declared a state of emergency and instituted mandatory electricity cuts for homes and businesses. Television broadcasts were stopped at 10:30 pm each night. The cuts inconvenienced millions, turning the strike into a national crisis.

Behind the scenes, the government urged the NCB to settle, concerned by growing public frustration. After tense negotiations, an improved pay offer finally convinced the NUM to end the strike in late February. Miners returned to work after 61 days, having achieved a partial victory.

The strike’s magnitude and impact demonstrated organised labour’s continuing leverage in postwar Britain despite declining mining employment. It also exposed fractures between unions and Labour politicians, as Prime Minister Harold Wilson privately opposed the strike. The clash exemplified rising industrial unrest and anti-establishment feelings characterising the late 1960s. Although the NUM strike concluded, it proved a prelude to the more dramatic miners’ strikes of the 1970s that paralysed Britain.

Politics

Student Protests Spread

A wave of student-led protests and demonstrations erupted on university campuses across Britain. Sparked by the revolutionary student uprisings in Paris and growing opposition to the Vietnam War, the protests gave voice to a rising anti-establishment youth counterculture disillusioned with the status quo. The unrest marked a decisive intensification of student activism that challenged traditional authority and hierarchies.

The protests incorporated a mosaic of related social justice causes – civil rights, feminism, anti-capitalism, and nuclear disarmament. But resistance to Vietnam and the western military-industrial complex united them in a broader questioning of establishment power and morality. Demonstrations initially focused on American institutions as the embodiment of imperialism, like the US Embassy in London which was blockaded by thousands in March.

However, as the Paris student revolt in May 1968 made international headlines, British students also mobilised to demand domestic reforms. At the London School of Economics, students occupied administrative buildings for over a week, calling for democratic participation in university governance. Student unions organised rallies, strikes, sit-ins and petition drives demanding educational reforms at campuses like Manchester, Leeds and Warwick.

Heavy-handed responses from university administrators often radicalised protests further. At the University of Essex, police forcibly evicted students occupying admin buildings in May, resulting in violent clashes. Student anger intensified as authorities resisted concessions, bringing tensions to a boiling point.

While the unrest petered out when universities closed for summer, the dramatic student mobilisation of early 1968 was a watershed moment. It proved students possessed political power and heralded the rise of youth counterculture. When campuses reopened in autumn, activism reignited with even greater momentum as the student protest movement coalesced into a coherent force. The protests of 1968 were merely the first salvos of a decade-long student revolt.

The anti-war and reformist spirit of demonstrations transformed student identity. By openly challenging injustices and outdated social norms, students spearheaded a cultural revolution that profoundly changed British society. The protests marked a political awakening heralding the radicalism of the coming decade.

Harold Wilson Condemns Soviet Invasion

On August 21st 1968, Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to ruthlessly suppress the Prague Spring, a period of political and cultural liberalisation under reformist leader Alexander Dubček. As Warsaw Pact forces occupied the country and overturned its government, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson swiftly issued a stern condemnation of the communist bloc’s aggression against a sovereign nation.

Wilson denounced the Soviet invasion as an “act of brutal intervention” trampling the Czech people’s democratic socialist aspirations. He criticised the ironic use of force to subjugate Czechoslovakia given its Communist Party leadership. Wilson lambasted the betrayal of socialist ideals, arguing the invasion made a “mockery of the effort of creating a world order.”

As leader of the Labour Party, Wilson faced pressure to temper his critique due to the British left’s historic sympathy for the Soviet Union. However, Wilson broke from appeasing Moscow to champion Czechoslovakia’s right to independent governance. He recognised the invasion’s broader geopolitical impact in escalating Cold War tensions between the Soviet bloc and the West.

Wilson backed a strong resolution at the UN Security Council demanding Soviet withdrawal. He also supported economic sanctions while urging NATO to avoid direct confrontation that could spark conflict. Domestically, he weathered criticism from left-wing factions sympathetic to Moscow’s propaganda that the invasion was necessary to secure socialism against internal subversion.

Historians characterise Wilson’s stern stance against Soviet aggression as a defining foreign policy moment. By upholding the core principles of national sovereignty and self-determination, Wilson asserted an independent voice distinct from pro-Moscow factions within Labour. His condemnation underscored a commitment to democratic socialist ideals rather than blind allegiance to the Soviet regime.

While powerless to prevent the invasion itself, Harold Wilson’s outspoken criticism helped galvanise international opposition to this violation of international law. His principled stand aligned Britain with the free world during a volatile Cold War crisis, despite political risks at home. While realpolitik interests still dominated, Wilson’s rhetoric signalled a moral clarity that earned global respect.

Sports

Manchester United Wins European Cup

On May 29, 1968, Manchester United defeated Portuguese club Benfica 4-1 after extra time in the European Cup final at Wembley Stadium. This thrilling and hard-fought victory made Manchester United the first English team to win the prestigious European Cup, marking the pinnacle achievement of the legendary ‘Busby Babes’ squad.

Going into the final, two-time defending champions Benfica were favourites over Manchester United, who were competing in only their second European Cup campaign. But manager Matt Busby had rebuilt United into an attacking powerhouse after eight of their players perished in the 1958 Munich air disaster. Led by veterans Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes, United were determined to claim England’s first European crown.

A nerves-filled opening half saw Benfica take a 1-0 lead into the break after Graça’s opportunistic goal. In the second half, United struck back through Charlton’s thunderous long-range equaliser on 53 minutes. Both teams pushed relentlessly for a winner in regulation time but 1-1 was the score as the match went into 30 minutes of extra time.

In extra time, 28-year-old George Best dazzled, scoring twice from close range in the final moments to clinch United’s comeback triumph. A Brian Kidd header completed a 4-1 demolition as United supporters invaded the pitch to celebrate the historic victory. Matt Busby had achieved his long-pursued European Cup dream at last.

United’s win overturned England’s prior futility in the competition and announced the Red Devils as a new continental force. Comeback stars like Charlton and Best achieved lasting fame, while manager Matt Busby’s legacy was enshrined in club lore. The 1968 European Cup marked the apex of United’s pioneering period under Busby rebuilding from the Munich tragedy.

The following decade brought more European glory for United with FA Cup and UEFA Cup wins, establishing them as an eminent English club. But their breakthrough 1968 European Cup victory remains an immortal milestone representing English football’s arrival on the world stage.

The year 1968 proved a watershed for cultural and political change in Britain. Students mobilised in growing protests against the Vietnam War, educational inequities, and established power structures, giving voice to a disaffected youth counterculture. Their activism on campuses and in the streets catalysed a societal awakening. Musically, bands like The Beatles popularised boundary-pushing styles like psychedelia, while Enoch Powell’s notorious “Rivers of Blood” anti-immigration speech highlighted racial divisions.

Politically, policies like lowering the voting age to 18 demonstrated a tilt towards youth empowerment. But industrial strikes also surged, revealing tensions between labour and the political establishment. Events overseas reverberated at home, from the revolutionary fervour of the global student protests to the suppression of Prague Spring reformists by Soviet tanks.

For the younger generation coming of age in the late 1960s, the year fostered a sense of rebellion against traditional mores. For their elders, the rapid pace of change proved alarming. But the polarised moods of optimism and apprehension that characterised 1968 Britain reflected a nation in flux, being reshaped by emerging attitudes and new social forces. Though ideals of liberty and equality united much activism, prejudice and inequality persisted as countervailing undercurrents. 1968 contained multitudes – of conflict but also progress, of discord but also creativity. In many ways, it augured the sweeping transformations to come.