The recent world wide coverage of the late Pope’s funeral and subsequent arrival of the new Pope reminded me of the times when big state occasions happened in the 50s/ early 60s and were, for the first time, televised.

I have covered this theme before so apologies to readers who have heard these tales before.

Starting with funerals, when Winston Churchill died in 1965. We’d had a television for about two years but many households in our village didn’t yet have TV. On Saturday January 30th his state funeral took place. TV was still in its infancy. Daytime TV was nonexistent apart from a few exceptions. So my mum asked a few villagers and their children to come and watch the whole proceedings at our house. In those days the TV picture was so weak you had to close the curtains when watching in daylight. What an occasion. Sad, but so exciting too. Curtains closed, TV on, a room full of neighbours plus cake!!

Earlier in the 1960s, before we had a TV, there were a few notable state occasions.

The funeral of Sir Winston Churchill in January 1965. We watched in black and white. Not many households had colour tv in ‘65.