New Books
It's My Life: 1960s Newcastle
Reviewed by Cathy Jenkins
The format of this book is based on a collection of anecdotal writings by seventy-two contributors, each chapter covering a topic very much connected with the 60’s : childhood, housing, music, fashion etc. Throughout, the book is well illustrated. Photographs show the city centre, suburbs and specific venues before they were demolished to make way for the extensive redevelopment that took place in the 1970’s and continued thoughout the following three decades. Even photographs showing buildings that still exist today, illustrate their ‘blackness’ prior to the introduction of the smokelass fuel policy and extensive cleaning of the city centre buildings.
The lifestyle reminiscences tend to be of childhood and teenage experiences concentrating on the more working class areas of the town when the majority lived in a Tyneside flat. The teenage culture of dance halls, clubs, pubs, cinemas and football is well documented. Substantial coverage is given to the then thriving music scene particularly in jazz and rock with several contributions being written by persons very directly involved. Naturally, fashion features largely. I was a student at Newcastle University from 1964 to 1970, so many of the writings and photographs jogged my memory of those times. Anyone who knew Newcastle in the 1960’s will wallow in similar nostalgia. For others, it is an excellent first hand historical record of life in Newcastle in the 1960’s.
City and County
February 2010
