Flower power, love-ins — and lies

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Flower power, love-ins — and lies
Martin Wainwright
The Guardian
07 Jul 2006

History records that it was the Swinging Sixties. A decade that included the summer of love, the Beatles, hippies and outrageous drug-taking.

And if it ever seemed odd that everyone who was around at the time seemed to be indulging in all of the above, a survey today reveals why.

Fibs. Lots of them.

Parents who have been trying to impress their children have resorted to exaggeration and outright lies over what they did during the flower power decade. Claims of liberated teenage years at love-ins and being at live Beatles gigs have led to the coining of a new phrase — generational gazumping — to describe 50-somethings desperately trying to appear cool.

The number of false claims also raises wider questions about the supposed scale of drug taking in the 1960s, which emerges as almost innocuous by today’s standards. Although a quarter of respondents admitted boasting that they had been “too stoned to remember the sixties”, only 8% had actually taken cannabis and fewer than 1% acid or LSD.

The 60s generation also emerges as being as starstruck as any other, with large numbers pretending that they met famous figures of the decade. The favourite fantasy friends by far were the Beatles, with Paul McCartney top at 12%. The model Twiggy came next at 5%, followed by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones two points behind.

The survey questioned 3,000 adults including control groups who were teenagers in the 1970s and 80s, and whose flair for invention was notably more controlled. They were on average a third less likely to come up with whoppers comparable to “The 1966 World Cup Final — I was there” or “Sure I was at the Isle of Wight rock concert, and I took off all my clothes.”... read more...