The sixties was a time of revolution. New things were coming out, things that children hadn't ever thought of. This decade changed the way families lived with the introduction of new entertainment such as cassettes, video games, comics, sports, festivals and concerts.
Sport
Olympics For the 214 athletes that travelled to Rome in 1960 to compete in the Olympics was not only a great honour but also great entertainment. The Olympics held in Rome in 1960 was the first games at which broadcaster paid The Olympic Organising Committee a fee for the broadcast rights to the Olympic games.
Four years later the Olympic games were held in Tokyo. Television pictures were broadcast via satellite for the first time. This provided pictures and audio of the 1964 Tokyo Games. In total, 40 countries tuned in to the Tokyo Games.
Cricket Cricket was also a big sport in Australia. Not only could people play cricket or even backyard cricket with their families and friends, they could also watch the team they support on television. With legends such as Gordon Rorke who was famous for 'dragging' back his foot during his delivery stride so that when he let the ball go he was several feet beyond the bowling crease.
Tennis In the sixties tennis was a popular sport to play and watch. Some families would go out and watch a tennis game on an afternoon, some would watch it on the television, while some might go down to the local courts and play a few games. Tennis was a great game to play in Australia, not only in the sixties but now too.
Tennis icons such as Margaret Court were the reason people were so entertained. Her style of playing the game became known to Australians in the sixties. She was known for her heavy ground strokes and strong serve. She was one of only three players to complete what is called the 'boxed set' by winning the singles, doubles and mixed titles at all four majors. She collected 62 major titles all together.
Horse Racing Families got dressed up in their smartest outfits to attend a major horse racing event in Australia in the 1960's. It was great entertainment for the whole family especially when you're watching your own horse run.
Horse races such as the Melbourne cup were described as the best. Tension throughout the whole event. Hi Jinx, Lord Fury, Even Stevens, Gatum Gatum, Polo Prince, Light Fingers, Galilee, Red Handed and Rain Lover were all Melbourne Cup winners from 1960 to 1969.
Music Festivals & Concerts
It became more common in the sixties for music artists to tour different countries sharing their talent. Various festivals, concerts and gigs were put on in Australia for entertainment. Bands such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys came out to Australia to perform their hit songs.
The new idea of concerts became popular among people. It showed people what natural talent was and also gave them the opportunity to see their favourite artists perform for them.
Comic Strips & Books
Comics entertained young and old for mere seconds in the sixties with comics like 'Peanuts'. This particular comic strip has been made into cartoons. The cartoon and its characters, such as Snoopy and Charlie Brown are still popular today, even though the author, Charles Shultz has passed away.
Video Games
In 1961 Mouse in the Maze was created. This allowed players to place maze walls, bits of cheese and martinis using a light pen. One could ten release the mouse and watch it obstacle through the maze created to find the goodies. A very simple game that could keep people entertained for hours.
Even games like tic-tac-toe had the same influence on people. Just by using a light pen you could play a game of tic-tac-toe against the computer. Again, entertaining people for hours.
In 1966, Ralph Baer and co-worker, Bill Harrison created a simple video game named 'chase'. This was the first video game to be displayed on a standard television set.
In 1969, Ken Thompson made a video game called 'space travel' for the Multics operating system. This game let players attempt to land various spacecraft on bdies of the solar system. However, to run this system it cost around $75 per hour. Thompson then looks for a cheaper alternative. He found an under used PDP-7.Thompson and Dennis Ritchie started porting the game to PDP-7. The process proceeded and space travel had been called the first UNIX application.
Margaret Court was born July 16, 1942 in Albury, Australia. Court dominated women's tennis in the 1960's, winning 62 grand titles. She went on to win the singles and doubles grand slam championship.