1966 - a Year of Hits

1966 - a Year of Hits.

I spent a fair part of the summer of 1966 in hospital after a road traffic accident.  As I recall the prinicpal occupations at the time, for a fifteen year old bed-bound with their legs in plaster, were as follows -
listening to pop music on Radio Caroline - a pirate radio station broadcast from a ship;
watching the pretty nurses;
waiting for visitors' time;trying to catch the eyes of the pretty nurses;
doing crosswords;talking to the pretty nurses;
gambling on the gee gees (the cleaners used to place the bets for everyone);
getting told off by the Staff Nurse / Sister for chatting to the pretty nurses;
gambling within the ward on anything else that moved or could be timed;
falling in love with the pretty nurses (I rationed myself to no more than two at a time);
reading whole series of books (e.g. every Conan Doyle);
watching the pretty nurses and listening to Radio Caroline...

These were the top 100 in the UK charts that year.  I can still sing most of them (or my substitute for singing!)

Position	Artist	Title
01	Jim Reeves	Distant Drums
02	Frank Sinatra	Strangers In The Night
03	The Beatles	Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby
04	The Four Tops	Reach Out I'll Be There
05	Nancy Sinatra	These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
06	The Walker Brothers	The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
07	Tom Jones	Green Green Grass Of Home
08	The Kinks	Sunny Afternoon
09	Troggs	With A Girl Like You
10	Manfred Mann	Pretty Flamingo
11	Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass	Spanish Flea
12	The Beach Boys	Good Vibrations
13	The Beatles	Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out
14	The Beach Boys	God Only Knows
15	The Spencer Davis Group	Keep On Running
16	The Beatles	Paperback Writer
17	The Mindbenders	Groovy Kind Of Love
18	Chris Farlowe	Out Of Time
19	The Small Faces	All Or Nothing
20	The Beach Boys	Sloop John B
21	The Spencer Davis Group	Somebody Help Me
22	Dusty Springfield	You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
23	The Overlanders	Michelle
24	The New Vaudeville Band	Winchester Cathedral
25	Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich	Hold Tight
26	Roy Orbison	Too Soon To Know
27	Los Bravos	Black Is Black
28	The Who	I'm A Boy
29	Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich	Bend It!
30	The Rolling Stones	Paint It, Black
31	Dave Berry	Mama
32	Crispian St Peters	You Were On My Mind
33	The Lovin' Spoonful	Daydream
34	Troggs	I Can't Control Myself
35	The Mamas & The Papas	Monday Monday
36	Ike & Tina Turner	River Deep, Mountain High
37	The Hollies	I Can't Let Go
38	The Hollies	Stop Stop Stop
39	Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames	Get Away
40	Percy Sledge	When A Man Loves A Woman
41	Troggs	Wild Thing
42	Gene Pitney	Nobody Needs Your Love
43	The Merseys	Sorrow
44	Manfred Mann	Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James
45	The Bachelors	Sound Of Silence
46	Chris Montez	The More I See You
47	Val Doonican	What Would I Be
48	The Spencer Davis Group	Gimme Some Loving
49	The Small Faces	Sha La La La Lee
50	Eddy Arnold	Make The World Go Away
51	The Sandpipers	Guantanamera
52	The Rolling Stones	Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown
53	Cher	Bang Bang
54	Paul Jones	High Time
55	The Supremes	You Can't Hurry Love
56	Cliff Richard	Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)
57	The Beach Boys	Barbara Ann
58	David & Jonathan	Lovers Of The World Unite
59	Crispian St Peters	Pied Piper
60	Ken Dodd	Promises
61	The Kinks	Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
62	The Walker Brothers	My Ship Is Coming In
63	The Four Seasons	Let's Hang On
64	The Who	Substitute
65	Val Doonican	Elusive Butterfly
66	Napoleon XIV	They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha-Haa
67	The Yardbirds	Shapes Of Things
68	Cliff Richard	Visions
69	Sonny & Cher	Little Man
70	Petula Clark	I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
71	The Seekers	The Carnival Is Over
72	Herman's Hermits	A Must To Avoid
73	Ken Dodd	The River
74	Lee Dorsey	Holy Cow
75	Cilla Black	Love's Just A Broken Heart
76	The Seekers	Morningtown Ride
77	Dusty Springfield	All I See Is You
78	Elvis Presley	Love Letters
79	Cilla Black	Don't Answer Me
80	Gene Pitney	Backstage
81	The Easybeats	Friday On My Mind
82	Roy C	Shotgun Wedding
83	The Hollies	Bus Stop
84	Bob Lind	Elusive Butterfly
85	The Lovin' Spoonful	Summer In The City
86	Simon & Garfunkel	Homeward Bound
87	Bobby Darin	If I Were A Carpenter
88	Petula Clark	My Love
89	Herman's Hermits	No Milk Today
90	The Seekers	Walk With Me
91	Cilla Black	Alfie
92	Alan Price Set	Hi-Lili Hi-Lo
93	The Small Faces	My Mind's Eye
94	Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich	Hideaway
95	Mike Sammes Singers	Somewhere My Love
96	Otis Redding	My Girl
97	The Animals	Don't Bring Me Down
98	Lee Dorsey	Working In The Coalmine
99	The Kinks	Till The End Of The Day
100	The Rolling Stones	Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow