July 30th: The USSR’s Krushchev unveiled his 20 year program for reform. The 47,000 words took up 9 of the 10 pages of Pravda, and there was a 6 hour programme on Radio Moscow. No wonder the population didn’t seem to smile much! The programme contained promises to reduce the working day to 6 hours by 1970, and the USSR’s industrial and agricultural production would overtake the USA’s. Another promise was that workers would enjoy free housing, free school meals and at the workplace, and free public transport.

July 31st: IBM started to market their Selectric typewriter. This used a revolutionary ‘typeball’ in place of the individual typebars, and the typeball moved along the paper while the carriage remainded still. The price was an eye-watering $395. Whilst just about everything has gone up in price in the last 50 years, the cost of electronic equipment has fallen in both actual and real terms. The Selectric became the most poipular typewriter in the world, only surpassed when word processors appeared.

August 2nd: A tour bus that was side-swiped by a lorry crashed into Lake Lucerne, Switzerland. 16 people drowned, all Americans, most were school teachers on a trip from New York. 22 people survived.

July 28th 1961: The United Kingdom informed the six members of the European Union that it would be applying for membership. The application was vetoed by France. The UK eventually joined the EU in 1967.

The first wristwatch to be made in India was presented to the Prime Minister Nehru. From little acorns…

July 29th: An IBM 7090 computer was used to calculate the value of Phi to 100,000 places for the first time. Previously the value of Phi had been calculated to 1,120 digits by hand in 1949. The computer took 8 hours and 43 minutes to perform the task. Now call me a ‘killjoy’, but what is the point?

KGB Director Alexander Shelepin presented Krushchev with a plan to combat the ‘Main Adversry’ (the United Staes) by finacing uprisings in Central America. The plan was revealed after the end of the Cold War when secret papers were declassified.

July 26th

– Krushchev agreed to let Easy germany’s leader Walter Ulbricht build the Berlin Wall. Officially called the ‘Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart’, the wall managed to stop the mass emigration of people into West Germany, although many still tried. About 5,000 people attempted tyo cross the wall and the estimates of the number of people who died trying to cross the wall is 100-200. Construction of the wall started on 13 August 1961.

Changed political circumstances led to more freedom of movement and on 9 November 1989 East berliners were allowed to cross to West Berlin. shortly after people started to climb on the Berlin Wall and strted to dismantle it.

July 27th

– a very boring day with nothing of significance to report!

July 25 2011: 50 years ago we were at the height of the Cold War. The USSR effectively controlled East Germany. The capital, Berlin, was in East Germany, although control of the city was shared between the USSR, the USA, Britain and France; and there was supposed to be free movement of people within Berlin. The Berlin Crisis was provoked by the USSR when they demanded the withdrawal of Allied forces from West Berlin.

To stop the emmigration of its people the East German authorities erected a wire fence along the border between East and West Germany in 1955, but Berlin was proving to be a ‘loophole’ and the flow of people crossing to the West continued. By 1961 around 20% of the population had fled to the West and the brain drain of skilled and professional people in particular was affecting the economic viability of East Germany. The Berlin Crisis 50 years ago was an attempt by the USSR/East German authorities to seal this loophole. Later that year the Berlin Wall was erected.

On 25th July 1961 President Kennedy addressed the nation and made it clear that if the USSR attempted to take control of West Berlin, the United States would be prepared to go to war. In preparation, he ordered the the doubling of the draft (recruitment to the armed forces) to increase the size of the armed forces to one million personnel. He also announced that he would be seeking funds from Congress to upgrade the early warning system to warn of nuclear attack , and for funds to build fallout shelters to protect citizens in the event of a nuclear attack. Kennedy’s speech was an unmistakable implication that nuclear war may be imminent.

July 22:

Britain agreed to pay £80,000 to San Marino in compensation for the bombing of the republic in June 1944. 59 people were killed. San Marino had previously the offer of the same amount in 1946.

July 23:

A quiet news day, although the French managed to kill 630 Tunisians during the Bizerte crisis. Tunisia gained independence from the French in 1956 but France kept control of the city and naval base at Bizerte. France had agreed to negotiate the future of the base but in 1961 they announced plans to expand it. The Tunisians were so incensed their forces surrounded the base hoping to force a vacuation by the French. The violence escalated resulting in the French launching a full scale invasion of the town. France eventually handed back the base in 1963 after the conclusion of the Algerian war.

July 24:

Eastern Airlines flght 202 was hijacked after takeoff from Miami and flown to Cuba. The crew and passengers were allowed to fly back to Miami the next day but Castro did not return the plane until August 15. The hijacker, Wilfred Oquendo was indicted for kidnapping by the federal grand jury but he never returned to the USA.

If you are celebrating your 50th anniversary you may be interested in what was happening 50 years ago – you were getting married and probably too busy to think about what else was happening that day!

On 21st July 1961 the world was watching the lift off of the Mercury space program’ capsule Liberty Bell. Gus Grissom became the second American to go into space, reaching an altitude of 118 miles but withour going into orbit. Liberty Bell then descended by parachute. The hatch opened prematurely and Grissom nearly drowned when his capsule and then his suit started to fill with water. The added weight of the water resulted in the capsule being too heavy to lift and it was cut loose and sank into the Pacific. It was eventually reclaimed in 1999! Grissom died in 1967 when Apollo 1 caught fire.