The Summer of Love

Britain couldn’t escape from the hippies in 1967. This was the year of Scott McKenzie’s hit San Francisco, kaftans, free love and body paint. But only months later flower power was overtaken by a different type of rebellion in the form of student riots.

1967 also saw David Steel’s Abortion Act passed by Parliament which – combined with the arrival of the contraceptive pill – gave women more sexual freedom. And the Sexual Offences Act finally made consensual sex between two men aged 21 or over (and in private) legal – well, if you happened to live in England or Wales.

Change in Britain wasn’t always instant. But this small collection of films provides a window onto some of the changes, moods, fashions and attitudes of the period.