On the Cusp: Days of '62 - David Kynaston
Saturday, 27th November 2021, 19:30 - 21:00
About this event
The Hive, Belmont, SY1 1TE Tickets: Full £12 Friends £10 U18 £8
From one of our most celebrated historians comes a snapshot of 1962...a fascinating period of transition in Modern British history.
The 'real' Sixties began on October 5th, 1962. On that remarkable Friday, the Beatles hit the world with their first single, Love Me Do, and the first James Bond film, Dr No, had its premiere in London: two icons of the future heralding a social and cultural revolution.
On The Cusp, continuing David Kynaston's groundbreaking history of post-war Britain, takes place during the summer and early autumn of 1962, in the charged months leading up to the moment that a country changed. The Rolling Stones' debut at the Marquee Club, the last Gentleman versus Players match at Lord's, the issue of Britain's relationship with Europe starting to divide the country, Telstar the satellite beaming live TV pictures across the world, 'Telstar' the record a siren call to a techno future - these months were thick with incident, all woven together here with an array of fresh contemporary sources, including diarists both famous and obscure.
Britain would never be the same again after these months. Sometimes indignant, sometimes admiring, aways empathetic, On the Cusp evokes a world of seaside holidays, of church fetes, of Steptoe and Son - a world still of seemingly settled social and economic certainties, but in fact on the edge of fundamental change.
David Kynaston has been a professional historian since 1973. His works include a 4-volume history of the City of London, Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket (with Stephen Fay), Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem (with Francis Green) and most recently Shots in the Dark: A Diary of Saturday Dreams and Strange Times.
On the Cusp is the latest title in his continuing history of post-war Britain, 'Tales of a New Jerusalem', and is preceded by Austerity Britain, Family Britain and Modernity Britain.
"A compulsive read. He is such a fine historian and sociologist, with an eye and ear for the unexpected, and a sharp sense of humour that makes the reader laugh aloud. It's generous as well as sharp. For me, it was like reliving some of the most exciting and hopeful moments of my life, a illuminating exploration of such an important stretch of time." Margaret Drabble, novelist, biographer and critic
On the Cusp: Days of ’62 by David Kynaston review – dizzyingly varied | History books | The Guardian