England in 1966
England won the World Cup in 1966. On 30 July 1966, England beat West Germany 4-2 in extra time in front of a packed crowd at the old Wembley Stadium. The match is always remembered for Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous remark - "They think it's all over, it is now" and for that controversial 3rd goal for England by Geoff Hurst.
The Match
The match started badly for England when Helmut Haller put West Germany ahead. However, England equalised when a free kick from Bobby Moore was headed in by Hurst. Then with only 12 minutes remaining Martin Peters put England ahead. However, agonisingly West Germany equalised seconds before the final whistle, putting the match into extra time.
Before the players went back on, the Manager, Alf Ramsey (later Sir Alf) told them "You've beaten them once now you've got to do it again. Look at them they're finished!". The much-disputed goal that put England 3-2 up came 10 minutes into extra time. Then seconds before the end of the match, Hurst made sure of England's victory, but failed to curb debate about the outcome of the match for years to come.
More on the World Cup
The English Football Archive - 1966BBC - 30 July 1966
The Teams
| England | West Germany |
|---|---|
| Banks | Tilkowski |
| Cohen | Hottges |
| J Charlton | Schulz |
| Moore | Weber |
| Wilson | Schnellinger |
| Stiles | Haller |
| B Charlton | Beckenbauer |
| Ball | Seeler |
| Hunt | Held |
| Hurst | Overath |
| Peters | Emmerich |
Path to victory
England won their group; they won two matches and drew one. The winners and runners up in each group went through to the last 8. England played Argentina in the quarter finals, beating them 1-0 in a match that lead Alf Ramsey to call the Argentinians "animals". In the semi-final, England beat Portugal 2-1.
..but what else was happening in 1966
England in 1966 was a very exciting place to be. Music was changing from "Swinging London" to Psychedelia. Mods were soon to be replaced by hippies. Flower power would have to wait another year - but it was on its way.
Other sport in 1966
- Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 to win the FA Cup and Liverpool were League Champions, six points clear of Leeds and Burnley
- Anglo, ridden by Tim Norman and trained by Fred Winter, won the Grand National at odds of 50-1
- Billy-Jean King won her first Wimbledon Women's Singles Championship and Manual Santana from Spain took the men's title
- Henry Cooper was beaten by Cassius Clay, (now known as Mohammed Ali) when the referee stopped the fight in the sixth round
- British cars finished in the first four places at the Monte Carlo Rally, but were disqualified on a technicality. Revenge came the following year when Rauno Aaltonen and Henry Liddon won in a Works Mini Cooper S.
In the charts
The most controversial event in the music world was when John Lennon told us that "the Beatles were more popular than Jesus".
Number one in the charts, when England beat Germany, was the Beatles with "Paperback Writer". The biggest hit of that year was Tom Jones with "The Green, Green Grass of Home". Signs of changing taste can be seen though later that Summer when the Beatles had a hit with "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby" in August and more so later in the year when the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" reached number one.
Politics
Harold Wilson called a General Election in 1966 and won with an increased majority. He had previously only narrowly beaten Alec Douglas Home, but won a convincing victory over the new Tory leader, Ted Heath.
Life style
Barclaycard
Shopping changed forever in 1966 when Barclaycard was launched. Credit cards had only been "charge cards", like American Express, before then. They were mainly for well-off businessmen. Barclaycard brought credit cards to the ordinary man on the street.
Pounds, Shillings and Pence
In 1966 people in Britain were still using the old system of pounds, shillings and pence or l.s.d. We didn't go decimal until 1971. However, 1967 was the last year in which the old coins were minted and the new 5 pence and 10 pence coins were minted in 1968 and 1969. In new money, one shilling was five new pence.
For more see Pounds, shillings and pence
Technology
In '66, the must-have gadget for any teenager was a pocket transistor radio. They had been around since the early sixties and were as common as mobile 'phones are today. You only needed medium wave and many people would have listened to the World Cup commentary if they couldn't see it on TV.
Cars
In 1966 cars were becoming squarer and boxier. The fins and chrome of the late fifties and early sixties were disappearing and styling was clean cut and minimal. The new Hillman Hunter saloon typified the look. Ford brought out the Cortina MkII, which set the new standards for family saloons. It was, according to Ford's publicity, to be "more Cortina".
Ford's attention was also concentrated on the top end of their range. The new Zephyr Mk IV was announced. The finned look of the outgoing model disappeared in favour of a larger and squarer looking car. The grill seemed almost invisible. New that year too was the upmarket "Executive" which set new standards in luxury for Ford. Vauxhall was not to be outdone; they brought out the glamorous Viscount in the same year.
The big new model for '66 though was the Jenson FF - Ferguson Formula - four wheel drive. This car and its sister model, the Interceptor, brought Italian styling to the more conservative looking Jensons.
Reliant introduced the Scimitar GTE in '66 and Triumph gave the straight '6' sports saloon, the Vitesse, a 2 litre engine, as well as making a GT version of the Spitfire with this engine in the form of the GT6. Power it certainly had, but the handling was questionable.