1963

[gulliver1]

Anyone watch the Big Freeze , Winter of 1963 Bbc 4 last night, how the hell did they cope. Amazing.

[Mamyalynne]

Harold Macmillan

[Buenchico]

The cold winter was that of 62/63, when Harold McMillan was PM (not that of 63/64, when Sir Alec Douglas-Home was in office).

[Bobbisox1]

Was it? Oops my mistake, anyway PMs were of no interest to me then I was 17 and it was a great time to be a teen

[andres]

It would seem that from the posts most of you remember 1963 as being one of the worst on record. Yes, it was cold and icy but nothing like the winter of 1947 when the snow drifts were as high as double decker buses. Rivers froze, fish died. Birds and small animals perished. We lived on a farm and had to dig sheep out of snowdrifts. Walk miles to school. Sit in freezing cold classrooms. Our well froze and we had to cut chunks of ice into the pan in order to get a cup of tea. Use snow to rub onto our hands and face . No cars or buses in our area. Use sledges to carry the shopping back from the one shop two miles away. Yes we did have some fun though . Built igloos in the field, snowball fights, a lovely fire at nights in the bedroom , candlelight (no electricity). 1963 was different. Lived in Rochdale then.Cold and icy but nothing like '47.

[gulliver1]

Bet even the fog on the Tyne, froze that year Bobbi.

[grumpy01]

Just as an aside.Alec Douglas-Home is the only Prime Minister to have played first class cricket.R.A.Butler probably should have succeeded Macmillan but was probably prevented by Macmillan’s recommendation of Alec D-H.

[Bobbisox1]

I think it did freeze I've once but not sure when tho

[Bobbisox1]

* over*

[dave50]

And all this before climate change was invented.

[bhg481]

They claimed that '63 was worse than '47 but people on this thread are claiming the reverse. I was only 18 months old in 1947, so no personal memory. I have a photo of me on the frozen River Ribble in 1947; in 1963 I walked on it but it was creaking so I didn't feel confident to walk right across. It makes me think 1947 was colder, certainly in my part of Lancashire.

[10ClarionSt]

Andres @ 22.53:
/ Lived in Rochdale then.Cold and icy but nothing like '47./
I wasn't born in 1947 but I remember the 1962/63 winter. I was 14, living on a council estate in Middleton and had my first and only paper round which I started at the end of January 1963. So don't forget us paper boys and girls everyone, who trudged through it morning and night just so you could have your Daily Wail! And all for 10/- per week!

[gulliver1]

Can you imagine the youth of today doing a paper round for 50p a week. Clarion. Wonder what 10/- 1963
would be worth today?

[barry1010]

"If anyone thought by the Sixties that those Forties weather extremes were a thing of the past, this winter set them right.

The so-called Big Freeze of 1963 is seen as the worst British winter of modern times, the coldest for 200 years.

Parts of the sea froze, which happens if it goes below -2°C, and it all dragged on from the week before Christmas until March!"

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/just-how-cold-were-britains-worst-ever-winters-looking-back-on-the-uks-biggest-chills/

"The winter of 1963 - the coldest for more than 200 years
With temperatures so cold the sea froze in places, 1963 is one of the coldest winters on record. Bringing blizzards, snow drifts, blocks of ice, and temperatures lower than -20 °C, it was colder than the winter of 1947, and the coldest since 1740."
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/case-studies/severe-winters#:~:text=The%20winter%20of%201963%20%2D%20the%20coldest%20for%20more%20than%20200%20years&text=It%20began%20abruptly%20just%20before,cold%20winds%20across%20the%20country.

[barry1010]

Gulliver, 10/ is equivalent to £7.32 today
https://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation2.html#calculator

[dannyk13]

bhg//They claimed that '63 was worse than '47//
Anybody making that claim obvously didn't live through it. Snow drifts were up to six feet high.Getting to school meant a walk of 2 miles ca.It was horrible.One good thing was the following suummer was great.

[barry1010]

danny, read the link from the Met office. I assume you were much shorter in 1963 :D

[10ClarionSt]

Gulliver, not just the 50p per week, but what about doing it in the weather that we had in Jan/Feb/March 1963? No lessons were cancelled in any schools as I recall. Everyone got to school on time, including the teachers! Hey ho!

[ToraToraTora]

interesting that we had odd weather now and agian even before we discovered clobal warming. What caused it then?

[bhg481]

danny - I suppose we all have only local memories whereas the met office have statistics for the whole country. I don't remember our school being closed at all in '63, although some of the farmers' sons didn't make it in to school on a few occasions. In those days most people, including teachers, lived within walking distance of work so getting to work wasn't the same problem as it is nowadays.

[dannyk13]

Barry, yes, much shorter.May be the Met office ignored West Yorkshire in it's calculations.In 1963 I was a beat constable and I never saw anything to remind me of 1947.
https://www.google.com/search?client=avast&ei=uO3JX7a4N9Kx8gLMnafoDw&q=1947+winter+pictures&oq=1947+winter&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgBMgUIABDJAzICCAAyAggAMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB4yBggAEBYQHjIGCAAQFhAeMgYIABAWEB46CAgAEOoCEI8BOgcILhBDEJMCOgUIABCRAjoOCC4QsQMQgwEQxwEQowI6CAgAELEDEIMBOggILhCxAxCDAToICAAQyQMQkQI6BQgAELEDOgQIABBDOgcIABCxAxBDOgoIABCxAxCDARBDOgoILhDJAxBDEJMCOgQIABAKOgcIABCxAxAKOggILhDHARCvAToICC4QxwEQowI6DQguELEDEMkDEEMQkwI6AgguOgUILhCxAzoHCAAQyQMQQzoOCC4QxwEQrwEQyQMQkwJQ-vYVWKHUlgFgkfSWAWgDcAF4AYABxQGIAYcWkgEEOC4xNZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXqwAQnAAQE&sclient=psy-ab