Thinking young and growing older is no sin

Our very own "Lady Mary"

A rather special timeslip moment today - we're skipping way back to the year 1966..

Born in that year were a wide variety of British cultural icons: "Swinging London"; the first cross-channel hovercraft; the Severn Bridge; Alfie (the film and Cilla Black's hit song); "Bet Lynch" (in Coronation Street); Camberwick Green; Action Man toys; the Cybermen (in Dr Who); the Ford Cortina Mark II; Doctor Zhivago; Centre Point; "Alf Garnett" (in Till Death Us Do Part); the prototype Harrier Jump Jet; The Frost Report (which launched the careers of The Two Ronnies and John Cleese); Cathy Come Home; Longleat Safari Park; It’s a Knockout; the Barclaycard; Superdrug; David Hockney's The Splash; "Twiggy" (née Lesley Hornby)...

...and my sister Hils!

Fifty years?! My heavens, where do they go..?

Sharing, as she does, her birthday celebrations today with (among others) the late, great Terry Wogan (1938), Tony Bennett (1926), Martin Sheen (1940), Dolores del Rio (1905) and P. D. James (1920), I and Tony - and all our loyal "gang" of friends - celebrated the lady's fabulousness at her party on Saturday, but I am certain the celebrations will go on and on (not least at our annual picnic in a few weekends' time)!

So, what about some music to mark the occasion?

In the charts on this very day in 1966, at Number 1 was Chris Farlowe's soulful cover of the Stones' Out of Time, and the rest of the chart looked like this:

2 Black is Black - Los Bravos
3 With a Girl Like You - Troggs
4 Getaway - Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames
5 Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks
6 I Couldn't Live Without Your Love - Petula Clark
7 The More I See You - Chris Montez
8 Love Letters - Elvis Presley
9 River Deep, Mountain High - Ike And Tina Turner

A pretty cool list, I must admit! However, at the #10 slot was a song that is - especially on a milestone day like this - a poignant one (it has been known to make me cry on occasions; let's see if it does the same for Hils).

It's the sublime Miss Dusty Springfield and Going Back...

Dusty Springfield - Going Back

I think I'm goin' back
To the things
I learned so well
In my youth

I think I'm returning to
Those days
When I was young enough
To know the truth

Now there are no games
To only pass the time
No more colouring books
No Christmas bells to chime

But thinking young
And growing older
Is no sin
And I can play
The game of life to win

I can recall the time
When I wasn't ashamed
To reach out to a friend
And now I think I've got
A lot more than
A skipping rope to lend

Now there's more to do
Than watch my sailboat glide
And every day can be
My magic carpet ride
And I can play hide and seek with my fears
And live my days instead of counting my years

Let everyone debate the true reality,
I'd rather see the world the way it used to be
A little bit of freedom, all we're left
So catch me if you can
I'm goin' back.