Rainbow Valley

"Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road" In 1969, British cinema delivered one of its most enduringly cheerful acts of grand larceny. The Italian Job had Michael Caine, three Mini Coopers, a coach balanced rather inconveniently above a precipice and a plan that looked perfectly sensible provided nobody examined it too closely. In this episode of Rainbow Valle...

Two number ones before breakfast. Adam Faith was just getting started. Adam Faith was not an accident. While some artists stumble into the charts through luck or timing, Terence Nelhams-Wright from Acton arrived at number one in the spring of 1960 as the result of a series of very deliberate decisions. The name. The image. The sound. All of it carefully assembled, and all of it working perfectly....

The accidental pop star who couldn't wait to get back to the theatre. Anthony Newley never really wanted to be a pop singer. He wanted to be in the theatre. The trouble was, the British public had other ideas, and in February 1960 they kept "Why" at number one for four consecutive weeks, making it very difficult for him to pretend the whole pop star thing wasn't happening. The route to the chart h...

The record that started a decade, and made history doing it. The 1960s didn't begin with a fanfare. They began with a carry-over. Emile Ford and the Checkmates had reached number one back in November 1959 with "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For" and when January 1st 1960 arrived, they were still sitting comfortably at the top of the British chart. The new decade started mid-song. There...

One week at the top, a lifetime of sadness behind the smile. The first brand new number one of the 1960s belonged to a man from Liverpool with a voice like warm honey and a stage name chosen for its lightness. Michael Holliday. It suited him perfectly. What it didn't tell you was anything about the anxiety and depression that shadowed every step of his career. "Starry Eyed" went to number one on J...

Episode 018 of The Rainbow Valley podcast – telling the stories that made the swinging decade. Join me as I tell the story of the movie that nearly brought 20th Century Fox crashing to the ground. The longest and most expensive movie ever made at the time. The movie that nearly killed it's leading lady, Elizabeth Taylor. The movie that sparked one of the greatest romances of the twentieth century....

In London in the 1880s, the city was gripped by fear. A killer was prowling the cobbled, fog heavy streets of Whitechapel murdering prostitutes in a chilling reign of terror. Fast forward seventy years and a new killer was on the loose, this time, not in the impoverished Victorian East End, but towards the west. Again his victims of choice would be prostitutes. Believed to have claimed anything up...

It can certainly be safe to say that the 1960s produced some of the most dramatic changes in the world of popular music. From the early days of rock and roll, through to the swinging beat scene, the British invasion, American surf music and right through to the San Francisco sound of the peace and love generation, there was a voice that was there from the beginning. That voice was still there at t...

Episode 019 of The Rainbow Valley podcast – telling the stories that made the swinging decade.   Join me as I tell the story of one of the finest singers Britain has ever produced.   A true icon in the world of popular music, and one of the defining voices of the 1960s.   Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of Dusty Springfield.       This and other episodes are avai...

1963 - a massive year in terms of news events.    A year that would see an increase in tensions in America as the battle for racial equality raged on. It would be the year in which a scandal in the UK involving call girls, Russian spies and MPs , would eventually bring down the government.   The Beatles would begin their dominance of the UK chart signalling the beginning of the British invasion, t...

Episode 020 of the Rainbow Valley podcast – telling the stories that made the swinging decade. Emil Savundra, for a brief period in the late sixties, was probably the most reviled man in the UK. A Sri Lankan swindler, the collapse of his Fire, Auto and Marine Insurance Company left about 400,000 motorists in the United Kingdom without coverage. As a post-war black marketeer, Savundra committed bri...

On August 1 st 1960, an album on the Warner Brothers label reached number one in the Billboard Mono Action Albums Chart. It was the debut album for this particular artist and would remain at the top for fourteen weeks. The album would stay in the chart for two years selling over 600,000 copies near release and ranking as the 20 th best selling album of all time on the Billboard charts. Its total r...

1966: The Year We Won...And Lost The World Cup   As we head rapidly towards the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar, you may be forgiven for thinking that this episode must surely recount the tale of how England won the world cup in the summer of 1966. You wouldn't be far off though as this episode of Rainbow Valley is the story of not how we won the World Cup that summer, but how we lost it. Three mon...

WE'RE BACK!! Our first episode in two years is finally with you – and it's a cracker. Join Scott as he tells the story of the making of the movie Zulu. RAINBOW VALLEY – THE MAKING OF ZULU Rainbow Valley is a monthly podcast where your host, Scott takes a look at key events and personalities that shaped one the most influential, vibrant, tumultuous and swinging decades in history. Join us as we cel...

The return of Rainbow Valley – the podcast that tells the stories about the swinging decade. Episode 023  The Theft Of The Duke Of Wellington Dr No, the first big screen outing for Ian Fleming's James Bond. Its 1962, and the movie would start to lay out a successful formula for most of the other movies that would follow in the series. Of course when we speak about  Dr No, most of us will remember...

The return of Rainbow Valley – the podcast that tells the stories about the swinging decade. Episode 021 – The Zapruder Film.   Season three opens with the story of a sequence of film that runs for approximately 22 seconds.   A piece of 8mm film that is only 25 feet in length and yet is possibly the most watched piece of celluloid in history….and certainly the most famous home movie ever.   For wi...

Rainbow Valley - bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. Episode 031 - Sinatra at the Sands (1966) January/ F ebruary 1966 and F rank Si natra is headlining at the C opa Ro om at the Sa nds Ho tel and C asino in L as Vegas . Performing twice a day with the legendary C ount B asie O rchestra, conducted by Quincy J ones, there is no doubt that Sinatra was at the top of his gam...

The Aberfan Disaster   9:13am on October 21st 1966, Pantglas School in the small Welsh mining village of Aberfan Inside the school, more than 200 children and nine teachers were waiting for their first lesson of the day to begin when the air was filled with the sound of a distant rumble. A massive coal tip - a mountain of waste generated by the town's mines that employed 8000 people had collapsed...

The return of Rainbow Valley – the podcast that tells the stories about the swinging decade. Episode 022 - Tammi Terrell Join us as we tell the story of one of Motown's greatest stars. The story of a life cut tragically short, but thankfully a life that brought us one of the greatest soul singers of all time.  Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of Tammi Terrell. You...

1964...and the world was still reeling from the assassination of John F Kennedy. Racial tensions continued in the southern states of the USA and tension was rising elsewhere as the conflict in Vietnam escalated. But it was also the year of the Tokyo Olympics, The Blue Streak, Donald Campbell and Radio Caroline. There was music from not only the Fab Four, but Dusty, Manfred Mann and the Beach Boys....

The Big Freeze Boxing Day evening 1962 The Christmas Number One at the top of the hit parade was Return to Sender by Elvis Presley All around the country, families were settling down after a busy two days of eating, drinking and making merry. Small screen entertainment on the tv that evening included a hilarious variety show from the London Palladium featuring Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom and t...

Rainbow Valley - The Sixties Podcast. Telling the stories from the decade that shook the world.   The Apollo One Disaster     January 27 th 1967, US astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed Whit e and Roger Chaffee way made their way into a brand new spacecraft perched atop a large powerful Saturn Five rocket at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. A routine dress rehearsal, and one of many, for their approaching l...

Rainbow Valley - bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world.   Episode 032 - Tere Jo Dupperault - Orphan of the Sea (1961) The name Tere Jo Duperrault resonates with a chilling tale of survival and unfathomable tragedy. In 1961, at the tender age of 11, she became the sole survivor of a horrific crime that unfolded aboard the sailing yacht "Bluebelle," a voyage that transformed...

Rainbow Valley - bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. Join your host, Scott, as this week he recounts the tale of Goldie—the golden eagle who soared into the hearts of Londoners in 1965 with his daring escapades!   Episode 033 - Goldie And His Bid For Freedom Picture this: it's a chilly February day, and Goldie, a majestic golden eagle residing at London Zoo, decides he's...

Rainbow Valley - bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world. Join your host, Scott, as he continues the story of the death of a young woman and a man destined to become President of the USA. Episode 035 - Chappaquiddick Part Two (1969)   9:32 am – Eastern Standard Time on W ednesday J uly 16 th 1969 and Apollo 11 blasts off from the K ennedy Space C entre in F lorida   On board,...