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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom, 2009/06/10 - With recession doom and gloom hitting the headlines in 2009, reminisce instead about what made the news in 1960!.
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Fifty years ago, the only source of news from your area was the local newspaper – until one day in October 1959, that all changed. The launch of Anglia Television brought local news to television sets across the region for the first time. Now, that rare first local news footage has been uncovered from the East Anglian Film Archive, and will be released on two new DVDs.
Released next month the new DVDs, Here Was the News 1960 (Parts 1 and 2), take a nostalgic look back at the stories making the headlines. Amongst the rare film included is the launch of Anglia Television and its first news feature – the announcement that the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk regiments were to merge to become the 1st East Anglian Regiment.
The issues hitting the headlines in the early days of local news were often the same as today; everything from flooding to fashions and that great universal talking point, football. But the news also tackled stories of how life was changing in 1959 and the early ‘60s; the coming of supermarkets, rapid urban development and the passing of the age of steam railways.
News programmes didn’t just discuss the news of the day though, the shows often included special features from a look round Lavenham presented by David Dimbleby, to an appearance by Douglas Bader at RAF Coltishall. Often, the intrepid reporters would be sent out on the street to talk to local people and get their opinions on the hot topics of debate, like “do women talk more than men?”, “should ladies wear trousers?” and even “what does ‘snogging’ mean?”
Of course, local news on Anglia brought with it some new household names – newsreaders and presenters like Colin Bower, Newman Sanders and Drew Russell became familiar faces and voices in homes across East Anglia.
“Until the launch of Anglia TV, people could only access one channel – the BBC. While Independent Television existed, two thirds of TV sets could not receive it.” explains Andrew Gray, Managing Director of Independent Studios UK. “For East Anglia, this was a momentous event. Today we take regional news for granted, but until then people could only see national news.”
“Television news from this period is incredibly rare. Studio news was live and therefore not recorded, and at this time it was common for film to be thrown away. However, enough film has survived, and some of the subject matter is amazing.”
“The great thing about news is that it covers most aspects of day to day life in East Anglia at the time - everything from football and shopping through to new roads and old buildings. Whether you remember those first days of Anglia Television well or just want to see what was making the headlines in the year you were born, these DVDs are the perfect way to take a trip down memory lane.”
Here Was the News 1960 Part 1 & 2 cost £9.99 each and are available from June 2009 from selected local retailers or online at Archivefilmshop.
Do you remember?
• Plans for an open prison at Stiffkey;
• John Bone, Cley’s “Donkey Cart Man”
• Norwich Cattle Market leaving the city centre;
• The closure of the M&GN railway;
• Ove Fundin’s speedway win at Wembley in 1960;
• The opening of Mr Pastry’s Aylsham store;
• The arrival of the Go-kart to East Anglia.
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bernadine.brewer[.]independentstudiosuk.co.uk 
