1957

Introduction

This is post number 1957. 1957 is the year I was born, and one or two other things happened.

I was born in 1957 in Mount Street Hospital Preston, across the street from Preston Catholic College where ten years later I would start my secondary education (I was ten, normally you had to be eleven). I started Primary school at four, my mum Margaret had taught me to read so I was well-prepared for each educational start, but I never got as far as university and in the year 2000, I was told I would never work again because I did not have a degree.

As usual, I ignored that statement, and went on my way through life, and I am still here and employed.

Obviously, I remember nothing from the year I was born, and I was only in it for two months, so this is just a collection of events that have caught my eye that happened that year. I wonder if any other Vocal members have done a similar thing. It is interesting to find out what happened in the year that you were born.

The song I have chosen is Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages" performed by The Byrds because it has so many great lines and the couplet below is one that sums me up

"Ah, But I Was So Much Older Then,

I'm Younger Than That Now"

So What Else Happened In 1957?

This is a previous piece I wrote on the year after Richard Osman mentioned something about it, so I will try to find new things for this article.

• This year the post World War II Baby Boom peaked.
• On January 6th Elvis Presley made his 7th & final appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Apparently "Hound Dog" by Elvis was the first record that I liked as a kid according to my uncle.
• The Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) was founded with Martin Luther King Jr. as leader at Ebenezer Church in Atlanta.
• On the 16th of January Cavern Club opens on Matthews Street in Liverpool, England, home of many performances by The Beatles and many other bands. Matthews Street is now a tourist centre but I spent a lot of time around there when I worked in Liverpool, buying records from Pete Burns behind the counter at Probe Records.
• The First Black Pilot, Perry H. Young Jnr, took the controls on a US-scheduled passenger airline.

• In March Random House and Houghton-Mifflin co-publish "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss.

• President Eisenhower sent Congress a proposal for civil rights legislation. The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

• Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb at Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean

• During July , test pilot and future astronaut, John Glenn Jr. set a new transcontinental speed record while piloting an F8U Crusader from Los Angeles to New York. He became the first pilot to average supersonic speed during a transcontinental flight and it took three hours and twenty-three minutes to complete. Glenn later became one of the first U.S. astronauts when he was chosen for the Mercury program by NASA in 1959. In addition to being an accomplished test pilot, he became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person to go into space in 1962 aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft.

• The Treaty of Rome was signed on March 25, by West Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands establishing the European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union. The Treaty of Rome created a common market to be shared between the six countries and was one of the main documents used to create the European Union in the 1990s. The European Atomic Energy Community Treaty was also signed at the same time with the goal of establishing peaceful atomic energy programs.

Conclusion

Quite a lot happened that year, including my birth, but I suppose that could be said of any year. If you have got this far, thank you so much for reading and for your time and support.