This is Carnaby Street in the West End of London.
Half a century ago, this was the beating heart of a fascinating period in modern British history, the so-called Swinging Sixties.
There was more affluence and optimism about in the post-war years, and by the 1960s young people had started to push for more social freedoms. Was this just youthful rebelliousness, or was there something of greater cultural significance going on beneath the surface?
There's one way to find out - sources. And I'm off to the National Archives to find some. In the mid-1960s, teenagers were involved in violent battles in coastal towns. These were fights between the Mods and the Rockers. The Mods were very stylish, and the Rockers liked their biker jackets. I have in front of me a file. It contains a report by the National Association of Youth Clubs, and it says, "Brighton is a Mod town. Forays of Rockers turned up throughout the two days, and this caused running fights. There were several ugly scenes, including hooliganism in the main shopping street."
This sounds like a complete loss of law and order, and the newspapers certainly thought of it in these terms. They were obsessed with the Mods and Rockers. They wrote headlines about the clashes between them. But I think this report's really interesting, because it does say it's only a minority who are doing this type of thing. The report concludes, "Most of the boys and girls on the loose in Brighton were looking for excitement, 'kicks' and adventure, not for violence."
As an historian, I think I can understand what's happening. Young people in this decade had more money than ever before, and they were using this money to try and grab a little bit of freedom. They created subcultures like the Mods and the Rockers, and sometimes these subcultures clashed. There were other violent clashes that took place in this decade, and they weren't always over matters of lifestyle or fashion.
Some young people wanted to fight the system. One massive demonstration took place here in Grosvenor Square, on the 17th of March 1968, in front of the American Embassy. It was a demonstration against the British and American involvement in the war in Vietnam, and it ended in violence, as this newsreel clip shows.
London. It started as an anti-Vietnam war demonstration, but also there were troublemakers - people not content to just voice their disapproval of the war in Vietnam. A hard core with intentions to drag the majority of well-intentioned demonstrators down to their sickening level. And so they marched to Grosvenor Square, and the American Embassy. Riot was being incited.
For me, the main story here isn't the violence that broke out, it's the peaceful majority who wanted to protest at the way the world was being run. They saw America's war in Vietnam as a symbol of the unfairness in the world. This might not be evidence of a social revolution, but it certainly looks like there was a change in attitudes.
I'm back at the National Archives in London, and, looking through the records for the 1960s, I've found a source that tells us about another well-publicised demonstration. This one took place a few months later at the London School of Economics. The LSE was one of the country's top universities. It was part of the Establishment. So what's going on here?
I have in front of me a Government source, and it contains a note of a meeting that took place between Shirley Williams, the Labour Education Secretary, and Lord Robbins, a key LSE figure. And in it, Lord Robbins said that there were a minority of dedicated dissidents, and he says that their aim was "to create a new university to serve as a revolutionary centre".
So there's this radicalised minority, but what's really interesting about what Robbins said at this meeting is he brings in what he calls "the ordinary student" into all of this. He says the ordinary student, who was "disturbed by world affairs and questioning society's values, felt confused and frustrated and gave expression by demonstration and protest".
So the 1960s does seem to be a period when some people, at least, were trying to change the society that they lived in, and this wasn't all just about fun and fashion, like the Mods' and Rockers' unrest might suggest. The Pathé film gives us a real sense of challenges to authority, and the minutes from the LSE meeting show that even ordinary students were beginning to change their thinking.
And what's so great about the 1960s is that this is really modern history, which means that there's thousands of sources around which can tell us about this fascinating time of social change.
This film looks at historical sources relating to the social, political and cultural changes in 1960s Britain.
Dr Sam Caslin from Liverpool University looks at how archive film and documents from the time can provide an insight into young people’s attitudes.
She considers eyewitness reports of Mods and Rocker skirmishes in Brighton, Pathe archive film of a demonstration against British and American involvement in Vietnam, and minutes of a meeting between government ministers and senior administrators at the London School of Economics.
She concludes that even among ordinary young people, there was a growing willingness to question and challenge the status quo.
This clip is from the series Hunting for History.
Teacher Notes
In this film, Dr Caslin shows how a historian uses sources, then checks on the sources and cross references them with other sources.
Students could be asked to carefully record the source types she uses and the inferences she makes from the sources.
From this they could be asked to write a short student guide to using sources for social history.
This clip will be relevant for teaching KS3 History in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 4th level People, past events and societies in Scotland.