Tyneside in 1961: from the skyscrapers of Newcastle to the crowds at Whitley Bay in 10 photographs

Sixty years ago, the horizon of Newcastle was changing.

Our main image shows three multi-story towers that had just opened in the East End at Shieldfield.

Tall buildings would emerge elsewhere in the city, like Heaton Park and Cruddas Park, as long-term massive demolition of Victorian-built terraced houses continued in earnest.

This was April 1961 and the start of a decade in which phrases such as “cities in the sky” were used to describe a bold new vision for post-war Newcastle.

READ MORE: Newcastle’s iconic nightclub that opened 50 years ago

Our photograph is one of 10 of the ChronicleLive archives, which give a taste of what was going on around Tyneside that year.

We also see huge crowds on the beach at Whitley Bay; the newly opened Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle; and the Arndale Mall in Jarrow, as retail began to move away from the old world of corner stores.

In the news 60 years ago, the Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space; the Cold War became even more icy when East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall; and an invasion attempt to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro by a force of CIA-trained Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs failed.

And in this country, the United Kingdom applied to join the EEC, the World Wildlife Fund was inaugurated and the human rights organization Amnesty International was created.

On the pop charts 60 years ago, as the first wave of rock ‘n’ roll subsided, UK number one numbers included Blue Moon by the Marcels, Temptation by the Everly Brothers and Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton.

At the movies, they watched The Hustler with Paul Newman, Breakfast At Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn and Blue Hawaii with Elvis Presley.

And on television, at a time when there were only two channels (BBC and Tyne Tees, the latter of which started broadcasting in 1959), there were debuts for Songs of Praise, The Avengers and The Flinstones.

Discover our 10 photographs that recall part of what was happening around Tyneside in 1961.

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