This chapter is a story about a moment in time, in history, the Sixties. The baby boomers came of age in the Sixties. It was in the Sixties, the historical, cultural, and political context, that that generation developed their first real taste of independence as teenagers. The chapter explores that context with a sketch of the time, that story. The Sixties was to be an influence on the lives of the postwar generation.

‘My’ Sixties

The Sixties has been both demonised and romanticised. The story of that time has been told as a time of change or as a time when nothing much changed. In other words, there is no agreement on the importance of the events of the Sixties. Some writers identify ‘Swinging London,’ affluence, drugs, sex, fashion, and rock and roll as the story of the Sixties. To be sure, that is part of the story, but not the whole of it. Swinging London is not the only story of the Sixties. Notably, the media has had a heavy hand in popularising that story. In his critique of the Sixties Sandbrooke (2007) emphasizes that the young people involved in the events of the day were urban, middle or upper class, and represented a very small minority of the nation's youth. Although this may well have been the case in Britain, Sandbrooke's critique does not represent the influence of the ideas that developed during that period, on the lives of the postwar generation. I did interview a small number of people who identified as hippies, mods, or political activists. Throughout my research participants identified the story of the Sixties as an influence on their lives regardless of how and where they were during that time. A few mentioned that they never had been able “to find the party,” and what that meant for them. Some research participants used events of the Sixties as a comparative mirror. Although they may have stated that “I’m not like that,” they then went on to describe aspects of their lives that developed specifically out of events or attitudes of the time. Involvement in the Sixties cannot be defined by any set of activities. What is important is the influence of the ideas and events of the time on young people during that period.