Rainbow Valley - The Sixties Podcast. Telling the stories from the decade that shook the world.   The Apollo One Disaster     January 27th 1967, US astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White 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 launch into orbit less than a month away. All three astronauts were experienced pilots,...

On August 1st 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 20th best selling album of all time on the Billboard charts. Its total running time was just short of thirty two minutes, it consisted of just six tracks, and was a...

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 and a landslide of mud and debris flooded into the classroom, burying the school and...

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 months before the World Cup finals were due to take place, the much coveted solid gold Jules...

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 the BBCs big Boxing Day movie was Moulin Rouge starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor And...

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 celebrate the 1960’s with the stories surrounding the music and news events of the decade that...

Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of the Hits and Headlines of 1964. Tokyo Olympics, Blue Streak, Donald Campbell, Radio Caroline, Beatles, Beach Boys, Dusty, Manfred Mann...and more.

Rainbow Valley - the sixties podcast - telling the stories from the decade that shook the world: Episode 023 - The Theft Of The Duke Of Wellington

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. 

Join me as I tell the story of the most famous home movie ever…22 seconds of film that captured the death of the most powerful man on the planet in November 1963.

Episode 020 of the Rainbow Valley podcast – telling the stories that made the swinging decade. Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of David Frost, Emil Savundra, and the trial by television.

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.

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. Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of the making of Cleopatra...

Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of the hits and headlines from 1963.

The story of the Sixties answer to Jack the Ripper in the west of London. Six, possibly seven victims – all prostitutes…murdered in a chilling reign of terror in the early years of the swinging decade.

Matt Monro was described as the UK’s answer to Frank Sinatra, a label he detested. For Matt Monro was not an answer to anything. Matt Monro was unique, he was his own entity, had his own marvellous style, and was possibly the finest male popular music singer the UK has ever produced.

To many people, James Bond is only an entity that can be found on the big screen. Bond was born long before 1962 when Sean Connery first introduced himself to Sylvia Trench at the casino in Dr No. Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of Dr No and the birth of James Bond on the big screen.

1962 – A year of worldwide upheaval, the continuing space race and the death of Hollywood’s biggest sex symbol. Join us as we celebrate the hits and the headlines of 1962.

If the sixties had ended on August  17th 1969 instead of the 31st December, Woodstock would be considered  a fitting finale to a turbulent decade but instead, just a few months later the sixties dream became its nightmare at another free concert, this time headlined by the Rolling Stones. With support from Santana, Jefferson Airplane and a host of other acts, events would unfold that led to the ugliest scenes in the history of rock music culminating in the deaths of four people.

The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the8 August 1963, at Bridego Bridge, Mentmore in Buckinghamshire.   A robbery that took less than 30 minutes from start to finish, spread over a distance of 28 miles, and would net the gang involved the equivalent of over £38 million in today’s money. The gang consisted of 15 members, four of which , still to this day, were never caught-their names not even known.

  THE MAKING OF SERGEANT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND   On June 1st 1967, The Beatles released what was and is still considered by many the greatest album of all time. It was an album of firsts. It featured the first gatefold sleeve, the first time lyrics had ever appeared on a record cover and it was the first album the band would release following their decision to stop touring. It was the most expensive sleeve design in record distribution history featuring a host of celebrities...

  THE MAKING OF BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS   The 1960s heralded in a new era in a variety of ways. Society and political events influenced the cultural and art world throughout the decade. The early sixties would begin to be seen as the start of the permissive age. Lady Chatterley and the pill would nudge open the door to  a new world of liberation that would reach out to people’s attitudes, the way they dressed, the music they listened to and the movies they would watch.   1960 brought us...

    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 celebrate the 1960’s with the stories surrounding the music and news events of the decade that shook the world.     The 1960s was a decade that would prove itself to be one of the most culturally significant decades of all time. And now looking back, it’s probably quite safe...

    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 celebrate the 1960’s with the stories surrounding the music and news events of the decade that shook the world.   On October 14th 1964, African American civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice...