The Big Freeze of 1963

[Derek R.]

The story of the Big Freeze of '63. There were others of course, but here Cliff Michelmore, Derek Hart, and Kenneth Allsop tell the story (without computer graphics!).

Could it happen again? Almost certainly. Waterways gets its mention from 24mins on.

 

Edited November 25, 2017 by Derek R.
Typo

[J R ALSOP]

I remember it well, was working for Peter Froud, lets have a bit more of it, sort a few out.

[mrsmelly]

I was only a baby eight years old and as every child always walked to school in those days long before mums taxis had arrived I recall several winters being " Proper " whereas now they are just " Mucky " and wet. 2010 was the latest that was anything like cold but as we all know since then we havnt had anything whatsoever. I luv the old B and W filming and remember Cliff well as a kid.

[Tim Lewis]

We built an igloo in the road outside the house, it didn't melt until April (If I remember rightly, I was only 4)

Tim

[X Alan W]

I a long with 9 other pairs were Iced in at Suttons Stop (Hawksbury Jcn) for a number of weeks I was the only pair loaded with coal I didn't unload the same tonnage as I loaded we walked to Coventry outskirts for Bread /milk etc along the frozen section to wards Coventry I was told true I know not that the ice was 18" thick

[Athy]

I've just watched the whole programme, quite enthralled. I remember plenty of snow but not much actual disruption. I'd recently started at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Grammar School, Dad had started a new job at Coalville Grammar, and we were living in  flat at Bardon Hill House outside Coalville while our own new house was being built. So I had a 'bus journey of some six miles each way. 

   Luckily Bardon Hill House stands beside the A50 which I assume was snowploughed regularly. I don't remember missing any days of school, nor any power cuts (though from the data presented in the programme, we must have had a few). BHH belonged to a school governor who, being wealthy (he and his wife owned Everard's Brewery and part owned Ellis & Everard's quarries), had ample staff who kept the paths and driveways clear and the central heating stoked up.

   We have been lucky indeed with winters recently. This spring we had stocks of coal and logs remaining, as we had had to light the stove in the lounge less frequently than hitherto.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Athy

[nb Innisfree]

I was 16 at the time and enjoyed the crisis, not such a crisis in Sheffield as we were used to some severe winters in the preceding years, but the south, unusually, copped it worse than the north, I recall on the TV weather map a line running NE diagonally down to the SW with Sheffield centrally just above. Below that line was where the Siberian blast had swept across and crippled the south of England. 

Surprised by the video saying the 'old Fahrenheit scale', didn't realize we had already changed over then. 

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

 

Surprised by the video saying the 'old Fahrenheit scale', didn't realize we had already changed over then. 

Yes, I noticed that with surprise too. It may have been that an impending change-over had just been announced and that Cliff Michelmore, who did not lack a sense of humour, was making a gentle joke about it.

Some people haven't changed over yet. I had to understand centigrade, and metric measures, because I taught French, but I still think in fahrenheit and in imperial measures. Metric seems to have failed to catch on in the world of waterways too: a few years ago, the length of narrowboats was described by brokers in metres - obviously to public bafflement, as I think that most of them are now cited in feet once more.

[Richard10002]

I think in feet, but am beginning to recognise that 4m is 13ft, so some progress has been made. When providing measurements for houses I still use feet and software converts to metres to show both. I also use square feet, rather than square metres, to compare sizes and, therefore, value, (to a degree).

I still understand Farenheight better than Centigrade, but have an idea of what is cold, warm, and hot, when presented with temperature in Centigrade, and dont tend to do a mental conversion any more).

[matty40s]

Something on the scale of 1963 would absolutely cripple this country beyond belief. The manual workers are not available to keep anything moving on the ground. Distribution chains for all retail would fall apart and there is no longer the stocks of grit /salt that would be needed to keep roads open for more than a limited period.

It will happen again, 2010 was a small warning - a notable event in our recent memories but nowhere near the length of time or depth of cold/snow that 1963 gave us.

[twbm]

Given the effect of two blokes having a barney on Oxford Circus tube station, running out of Ciabatta and dried tomatoes could have apocalyptic consequences for the South.   

[Mike Hurley]

Out here in Kosovo we get half a metre of snow regularly in the winter along with -25c, snow chains and winter tyres and life goes on. I remember 63, great fun as a kid.

[Derek R.]

What caught my attention during the documentary was the inventiveness and adaptability shown in making ice sailing craft from not just dinghies, but bits of 2 x 1 nailed together. Where there's a will etc. Adapting to life in the near future will almost certainly be a necessity if our present government carry on as they are doing - clueless. Adapt and survive. Whether it's weather, food, or fuel - plan ahead, cut back to essentials. We've had it cushy for a long time.

[Athy]

1 hour ago, Richard10002 said:

 

I still understand Farenheight better than Centigrade, but have an idea of what is cold, warm, and hot, when presented with temperature in Centigrade, and dont tend to do a mental conversion any more).

Yes, likewise (almost). I find it a useful aide-memoire that 28 = 82.

[Athy]

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

Something on the scale of 1963 would absolutely cripple this country beyond belief. The manual workers are not available to keep anything moving on the ground. Distribution chains for all retail would fall apart and there is no longer the stocks of grit /salt that would be needed to keep roads open for more than a limited period.

It will happen again, 2010 was a small warning - a notable event in our recent memories but nowhere near the length of time or depth of cold/snow that 1963 gave us.

You raise interesting points. I was discussing the programme with Mrs. Athy a little while ago and did say, only partly in jest, that if we have such snowdrifts again it will be Lithuanians and Poles who will be wielding the shovels. On the other hand, we are far more highly mechanised than we were 54 years ago (compare the size of modern tractors, JCBs and such with the little grey Fergies and Muir-Hill dumper trucks which were prevalent back then) so less manual labour would be needed to shift the drifts.

What makes you think that we have less grit and road salt stockpiled now?

[Laurie Booth]

I was trapped in at my boarding school, with food running out.

 

[matty40s]

59 minutes ago, Athy said:

You raise interesting points. I was discussing the programme with Mrs. Athy a little while ago and did say, only partly in jest, that if we have such snowdrifts again it will be Lithuanians and Poles who will be wielding the shovels. On the other hand, we are far more highly mechanised than we were 54 years ago (compare the size of modern tractors, JCBs and such with the little grey Fergies and Muir-Hill dumper trucks which were prevalent back then) so less manual labour would be needed to shift the drifts.

What makes you think that we have less grit and road salt stockpiled now?

You can see from the film that cars and litters with skinny wheels could still drive on snow, modern cars with low profile fat tyres can't,  especially if they can't turn certain abs functions off.

Some councils ran out of grit in 2010 and only gritted key routes, that was after 4 weeks of sub zero, not 3 months.

[alan_fincher]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

I find it a useful aide-memoire that 28 = 82.

Only to the nearest integer!

[nb Innisfree]

Sub zero +brexit, we'e doomed! 

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

You can see from the film that cars and litters with skinny wheels could still drive on snow, modern cars with low profile fat tyres can't,  especially if they can't turn certain abs functions off.

 

On the other hand, four-wheel drive vehicles, which are good on snow, which were almost unknown in 1963, are plentiful now - I don't know the proportions, but I'd guess that at least a quarter of cars on today's roads are 4X4s.

Believe you me, many cars with skinny wheels could make very little progress in heavy snow. Not quite sure about your reference to "litters".

[mrsmelly]

4 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

Sub zero +brexit, we'e doomed! 

I think we will survive even after Brexit. 1963 was pre " Common market " and they did very well then to survive it all. Perhaps if the big freeze had been 73 there would have been problems

[Athy]

1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

Only to the nearest integer!

The nearest wot? 

If you mean that it's not an exact translation, fine - just as 1 gallon = 4.5 litres is a useful ready reckoner, but it's not totally exact.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Athy

[mrsmelly]

5 minutes ago, Athy said:

On the other hand, four-wheel drive vehicles, which are good on snow, which were almost unknown in 1963, are plentiful now - I don't know the proportions, but I'd guess that at least a quarter of cars on today's roads are 4X4s.

Believe you me, many cars with skinny wheels could make very little progress in heavy snow. Not quite sure about your reference to "litters".

The problem with four wheel drive cars is they are also four wheel skid vehicles as many numpties do not understand the concept or how it all works and believe it or not, I kid you not many people think ABS braking stops you quicker than non ABS. I prefer cadence techniques as I can optimise necessary braking without the intervention of the vehicle itself. Having said this my present car is four wheel drive with abs but that's because thats what the manufacturers do now. Thankfuly it doesn't have parking sensors  as I can drive.

7 minutes ago, Athy said:

The nearest wot? 

If you mean that it's not an exact translation, fine - just as 1 gallon = 4.5 lites is a useful ready reckoner, but it's not totally exact.

4.546 iirc ?

[artleknock]

You lot make me feel old. I was in the RAF at the time, stationed at RAF Bishops Court in N.Ireland. I was recently married and had a flat in Belfast, traveling to work each day. For a full week the camp was snowed in and I couldn't get there. I was marked up as absent with permision. Snow did me a favour. The only vehicle moving was the camps 6 wheel drive fire tender and that was doing 'humanitarian' work around local farms and smallholdings.

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, artleknock said:

You lot make me feel old.

That's because you are I'm afraid to have to say