Chapter 2

‘A new baby is like the beginning of all things – wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities’. Eda LeShan

I was born on 23rd July 1963, at 2am at St Mary’s Maternity Hospital in Armley, Leeds. I was eager to get going, life was waiting for me. At the time women who had given birth were required to stay in hospital for 10 days. Today, it’s a lot less if mum and baby are doing fine, which isn’t such a bad thing. Mum gave birth to me at the height of the Profumo Affair, a political scandal involving sexual exploits that led to the ultimate downfall of the UK government. She told me one of the midwives used to cheer everyone up by telling them ‘I went home last night and gave my husband a good whipping’, no doubt a reflection of the ‘sexual exploits’ going on at the time. It must have been a hoot; anything to keep the sheer boredom away of being ‘confined’.

I was born under the star sign of Leo and in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Whether you believe in the zodiac signs and the meanings behind them is entirely up to you, but why not take a look at yours. You might be quietly amused. Apparently, born under the sign of Leo, I am creative; passionate; kind-hearted and generous; arrogant and stubborn. I’m also meant to be a good leader. Not sure about that one! Being born in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, I am quiet, polite and thoughtful, responsible and patient. Those who know me, well… I’ll let you decide for yourself.

I was also born in the ‘Baby Boomer’ generation. Being born between 1946 and 1964, these ’boomers’ have long retired or are in the throes of retiring. Sadly, for many, their lives haven’t been as gratifying or as fulfilling as they may have liked. I am grateful this didn’t happen to me.

I was named Anita simply because mum had a friend called Anita. Anita is a Hebrew and Spanish name meaning Grace and is a relatively rare name today; but back then it was very popular. A year later came along my younger sister, Carol and 10 years after that my baby sister, Catherine. I call her my baby sister, but she towers over me.

I was born in the year when Martin Luther King Junior made his famous – ‘I have a dream’ speech and John F Kennedy was assassinated. Almost five years later King was to experience the same fate as, was Kennedy’s brother, Bobby.

Jan and Dean were at number one in America with Surf City and here at home Confessin’ [that I love you] by Frank Ifield, was in the same spot. This was a time when if you got to that prestigious spot you had quite often sold millions of records.

With temperatures so cold the sea froze in places, 1963 was also one of the coldest winters on record, bringing blizzards, snow drifts, blocks of ice, and temperatures lower than -20°C. It was so cold frost appeared on the inside of windows, which wasn’t unusual; no central heating back then. It was the time of outside toilets, inconceivable by today’s standards; when national conscription ended and when the Great Train Robbery took place. It was also the time of that most heinous of crimes, the Moors Murders.

The decade witnessed, the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world held its breath as we stood on the brink of nuclear war. There was also the Aberfan Disaster, which killed 116 children and 28 adults in a small mining village in Wales, the UK’s worst ever coal mining disaster. And of course, everyone remembers where they were when England won the World Cup in 1966; probably sat around the TV.

The James Bond film franchise came to our cinemas in the 1960’s; the very first being Dr. No in 1962. Concorde made its maiden flight; Harold Wilson became prime minister for the first time in what came to be known as the 10-year duel with Ted Heath and Coronation Street, affectionately known as ‘Corrie’ came to our TV screens.

The era was also marked by the civil rights movement in America; the Vietnam war and anti-war protests and in 1969, man walked on the moon for the very first time. The long running sci-fi series Doctor Who was launched and that little-known group the Beatles released their very first album.

The decade also embraced, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Honeycombs, Elvis, Cilla and Tom Jones and so many more fabulous groups and singers. It was the swinging sixties; when women wore high hemlines, burned their bras and sought freedom from their mundane lives. It was the decade when ‘the pill’ became available and abortion became legal in certain situations, reducing maternal mortality by making it safer and more acceptable. It was also when homosexuality was partially decriminalised.

The 1960’s was a defining decade in more ways than one and I don’t remember any of it. Granted, I don’t suppose I’m meant to. And, although these events were to significantly shape and influence much of my young and adult life; I clearly wasn’t aware at the time.