Colour was not a problem in south west Herts in the 60s and 70s, or was it?

I canvassed people in south west Herts and we had many readers add their own recollections of the two decades, as I compiled the chapters for Watford in the 20th Century – South West Herts in the 1960s and 70s, which is out now price £12.99.

Incidentally, just in case you are wondering, I am not on commission for sales, something I have always stuck to with all publications, enabling me to discuss and publicise them without fear of being accused of feathering my own nest.

In the 70s, drugs were much more prevalent locally and I dabbled with what the cognoscenti would regard as the “tame” end of the spectrum, decided it was a lot of fuss about nothing, and got back after a couple of trips to sinking pints of Benskins best.

Yes locally there were a lot of mini-skirts about and long-haired, hippy, flower children, and there was less aggravation in pubs at closing time or parties at the end of the 1960s than at the outset, so there was certainly a current of peace, love and “just chill out man”.

When you are young it is always a special time but the 60s locally were very relaxed, easy-going and generally more pleasant than any other decade seems to have been, spiced with a general Pill-inspired lurch towards, if not embracing, wholesale promiscuity and all played out to a soundtrack of stellar music.

For my part I was a 50s teenager whose first record was Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and with the exception of Lonnie Donegan’s repackaged American blues and folk, I tended to regard British pop as lightweight and our rock records as generally tame. There were exceptions such as Cliff Richard’s Move it but while his backing group, The Shadows, were much vaunted, they did not seem to have that hard cutting edge you could find in Duane Eddy and The Ventures.

I remember, as a young journalist, wandering down Watford High Street on my Saturday afternoon off, frustrated by the ennui of being at a loose end, when I suggested to my mate we should go and interview Cliff Richard.

I was not a fan but I had press tickets for his concert, had publicised it and was duly ushered in.

“Local press, local press,” said Cliff with a reverence I found disconcerting as he arranged for us to sit in two seats and talked self-effacingly about their latest trip and tour in the USA, where they were almost unknown.

We left after being treated cordially and with frankness after which my mate turned to me: “The little runt. I wanted to dislike him and couldn’t.”

I saw Cliff and Billy Fury, Eden Kane and John Leyton, Peter Jay and the Jayhawkers, Adam Faith, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and a few other top Brits but felt uninspired for it was the Everly Brothers, Little Richard and Bo Diddley whose local appearance I rated best in those early 60s.

There were five scruffs who opened that show and I bumped into them back stage, but I did not pay them much attention. I should have because the English were beginning to get the knack of making half-decent records and the basics of the British Invasion had taken root, and those unknown scruffs, calling themselves The Rolling Stones, were to be an essential part of it.

As for the other cultural signposts, there was Enoch Powell and his “rivers of blood” speech on the problems of immigration. His views were supported by the majority as evidenced by the response to his speech but it was hard to imagine such a problem in Watford, Rickmansworth or Bushey, let alone the villages of south west Herts.

Yet it should not be denied that there was a degree of general racism prevalent in every-day life in the 60s and 70s, including the jokes and the observed humour such as dubbing Watford streets as “Turban Road East” and “Turban Road West” (for Durban Road) and later, “Whippendelhi Road”.

Memories of the Raj and seeming supremacy were still lingering but for people in certain walks of life, such as the medical profession, the inter-mingling of races was a natural development, however, demonstrating that you could all work together, observing the personal qualities as opposed to that of race and colour.

Subsequently many have had difficulty drawing the line between racism and the understandable resentment experienced when a large influx of foreigners enters their locality, many of whom with little interest in embracing the host culture or, in some cases, speaking the language. As it was argued, just because someone did not volunteer to give their spare bedroom to a homeless person, it would not render them selfish and indifferent to social concerns, The majority of the younger UK residents in the 1960s might have used a questionable nickname for a group of immigrants but, at the same time, express absolute amazement that black people could not use the majority of hotels in the USA or even ride on the same bus as whites in the South.

Colour prejudice was in evidence in 60s conversation (and in subsequent decades) but, apart from the general jokes, it was not something most people in south west Herts could practice if so disposed, because there were very few targets or opportunities. I am not for a moment suggesting that of the immigrants in SW Herts none suffered from racist abuse and such like, but racism was not a major or even a minor issue or consideration among the young white population of the area in the 60s..

It was far more chilled and relaxed but that, however, should not obscure the fact there were very real problems elsewhere.

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