The London of the Beatles and James Bond

There are days destined to go down in history. On 5 October 1962 , a Friday in which Kennedy was still president of the USA and John XXIII sat on the throne of Peter, the first Beatles single (Love Me Do) and the first James Bond film (Agent 007 - License) were released at the same time to kill) . Since that day, world pop culture has never been the same : the " fabulous sixties " were born, the most creative and stimulating decade of the twentieth century.

Taking inspiration from that coincidence, the journalists Michelangelo Iossa and Franco Dassisti in the volume Swinging 60s (Hoepli Editore, 2024, Euro 32.90, pp. 336, also e-book) have chosen to retrace the epic of a season that saw the world of music, cinema, arts, fashion and customs is undergoing a jolt of gigantic dimensions. It is no coincidence that in those days Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue, defined London as "Swinging", that is, fashionable. We asked Michelangelo Iossa how the idea of a book about the fabulous London of the 1960s was born:

«It's an idea born about four years ago: I had dedicated many books and reports to the Beatles and James Bond, two pop culture phenomena that exploded in London in the Sixties. The coincidence between these two myths is incredible: on 5 October 1962 Love Me Do by the Beatles was released and Dr. No, in Italian Agent 007 – License to Kill, was screened, with a semi-unknown Sean Connery. From that day on, popular culture will never be the same. The world of visual and performing arts is shaken by an earthquake of gigantic dimensions. Friday 5 October 1962 is the day the Sixties were born. From that coincidence the book took shape, welcomed with enthusiasm by the publisher Hoepli, the curator Ezio Guaitamacchi and the late Matteo Guarnaccia, to whom we wanted to dedicate the entire book. With Franco Dassisti we talked about the music and cinema of that decade and the signatures of Tiziana Cipelletti, Michela Gattermayer and Guarnaccia himself have embellished the pages of our volume."

What kicked off that season of great creativity and vitality?

«The watershed year is probably 1948. The Olympic Movement is looking for a city willing to host and organize the Games in the post-war period: in 1946 the choice of the British capital as the first post-World War II Olympic Games venue was announced. The choice is not random and has a highly symbolic value: the United Kingdom strenuously opposed Nazism and London is the city that Adolf Hitler would have wanted to destroy more than any other. A free country that respects human rights is the right choice. The XIV Olympiad was held in London from 29 July to 14 August 1948. The heir to the throne, Elizabeth, also sat in the stands of Wembley Stadium and after a few months gave birth to her first-born Charles."

What did the Swinging London of the Sixties give us?

«In a matter of years, London transforms into the rock on which new cultural buildings are built, the ideal navel of the planet. London, simply, 'is' the world. It is the 'Place of the Seven Wonders' from which fashions, manners, music, films, neologisms and arts take shape. In 1966, the American weekly Time dedicated its cover to London, defining it - for the first time - 'swinging': that publication would transform into a baptism for the city and its Sixties."

Personally, what (or who) are you most connected to about that magical period?

«The Beatles and James Bond occupy a place of honor in my personal imagination, but it is undeniable that some 'architects' of the Sixties had an extraordinary weight in the growth of the city. I am thinking, in particular, of the Rolling Stones and the Who, of Mary Quant and George Martin, of Michael Caine and Tom Jones, of David Bailey and Twiggy, of Vidal Sassoon and John Barry."

That magical period lasts a handful of years. Already in 1970 it exhausted its momentum. Why such a sudden end?

«The last three years of the decade become, simultaneously, the peak of the phenomenon and the beginning of the decline. Paris and Prague were set on fire in 1968. San Francisco and California replace London as the countercultural capitals of the world. The dissolution of the Beatles in 1970 emblematically marked the end of the Golden Age. A new decade is upon us. Ultimately, let it be. It's time to say it to the Beatles: Let It Be."