Talking about modern times

 Using the year 2026 as our present day, someone who was a teenager during the height of the Swinging Sixties (roughly 1960–1969) would be between 70 and 82 years old today.

If they were specifically at the age of going to university, getting their first job, and diving into the counterculture around 1965 to 1967, they would have been born around 1945 to 1948, making them 78 to 81 years old right now.

Here is a look at what life was like for that exact generation of teenagers growing up right here in Norwich during that legendary era—and how history is repeating itself today.

The Swinging Sixties in Norwich

While London was the epicenter of the 1960s cultural revolution, the ripples were felt strongly by the youth in Norfolk.

• The Music Scene: Rock music felt completely dangerous and fresh. Local teenagers flocked to venues like the Orford Cellar on Red Lion Street, which became a legendary hub. If you were a teenager then, you might have seen local gigs by emerging giants like Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie (as The Lower Third), or Rod Stewart.
• The University Boom: The University of East Anglia (UEA) opened its doors in 1963. This brought a massive influx of politically active, free-thinking young people into Norwich, completely altering the city's nightlife, fashion, and social dynamics.
• The Generation Gap: The introduction of the contraceptive pill and a rise in recreational drug use fueled the "sexual revolution." To the older generation of Norwich—many of whom had lived through WWII—the mini-skirts, long hair, and loud music felt like the collapse of society.

1960s vs. 2026: The More Things Change...

You made an excellent point about the older generation moaning. The complaints aimed at the youth of Norwich in the mid-1960s are nearly identical to the complaints heard in 2026:

Youth Complained About in the 1960s	Youth Complained About in 2026
"No respect for authority or elders"	"The entitlement generation / no resilience"
Listening to "noise" (Rock & Roll)	Consuming "brain rot" (TikTok / Drill music)
Ruined by new-age university radicalism	Ruined by being "woke" or politically correct
Obsessed with fast fashion (Mod gear)	Obsessed with fast fashion (Shein / online trends)
Lazy, experimenting with drugs, and sleeping around	Lacking work ethic, vaping, and obsessed with dating apps

In reality, the teenagers of the sixties who were being scolded by local newspapers for their "lack of respect" grew up to become the grandparents and retirees of Norwich today.

Are you researching this era for a family history project, or are you looking for specific memories and locations from 1960s Norwich?

Could say the same thing about the 1920's , with Jazz, and that had it own style of change too ,

You are spot on. The 1920s ("The Roaring Twenties") followed the exact same pattern of generational panic. Just like the 1960s and 2026, the older generation of the 1920s was absolutely convinced that the youth were ruining society.

If a teenager was 18 years old in 1925, dancing to jazz and shocking their parents, they would be 119 years old today. While that generation has now passed away, the legacy of their rebellion feels incredibly modern.

Here is how the 1920s youth culture mirrored the 1960s, bringing its own massive waves of change:

The "Dangerous" New Music: Jazz

Just as rock and roll was viewed as "noise" in the 60s, Jazz music was seen as a moral threat in the 1920s. Older generations called it "the devil's music" and claimed its syncopated rhythms literally caused moral degradation. It was the first time a distinct youth culture rallied around a completely new, high-energy soundtrack that their parents genuinely detested.

Changing Styles & The "Flapper"

The 1920s saw a massive rebellion against strict Victorian and Edwardian standards, especially for young women:

• The Look: Young women (Flappers) chopped their hair into short bobs, wore makeup in public, and raised their hemlines to the knee—which was considered scandalous at the time.
• The Behavior: For the first time, young people were unchaperoned. The invention of the automobile gave them "rolling bedrooms," leading to massive panics about young people kissing and drinking in cars. They smoked cigarettes, drank bootleg alcohol at speakeasies, and danced the Charleston.

The 1920s vs. The 1960s vs. 2026

The complaints from the older generation follow a timeless cycle. When we look at them side-by-side, the anxiety is always the same:

Feature	The 1920s Youth Rebellion	The 1960s Youth Rebellion	The 2026 Youth Rebellion
The "Scandalous" Music	Jazz (Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton)	Rock & Roll / Psychedelia (The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix)	Drill / Hip-Hop / Electronic
The Fashion Shock	Knee-length Flapper dresses & Bobbed hair	Mini-skirts, tie-dye, & long hair on men	Oversized streetwear, gender-fluid styles, & fast fashion
The Social Outrage	Smoking in public, drinking, unchaperoned dating	The Sexual Revolution, recreational drug use, anti-war protests	Vaping, internet culture, dating apps, social justice activism
What Elders Said	"They have lost all modesty and respect for tradition."	"They have no respect for authority or hard work."	"They are fragile, entitled, and glued to screens."

Every single century, the older generation looks at the younger generation and mistakes "change" for "ruin." The teenagers of the 1920s shocked the parents of the 1800s; those teenagers grew up to be the strict parents of the 1960s rebels; and those 60s rebels are now looking at the youth of 2026!

Are you interested in how this 1920s jazz and flapper culture specifically played out in British towns like Norwich, or are you looking at the sociological cycle of generations in general?

Mae West was one young person who seemed to shock many people, she even try and did well controlling her work, and career, something no woman should do ? 🤡

You hit the nail on the head, and that clown emoji 🤡 is the perfect summary of how ridiculous society's reaction was! Mae West was the ultimate nightmare for the 1920s establishment because she wasn’t just a performer—she was a shrewd, independent businesswoman who wrote her own scripts, directed her own plays, and owned her own image.

In an era where women had only just won the right to vote, a woman commanding her own career and openly talking about female desire was viewed as an absolute threat to civilization.

Here is how Mae West completely broke the rules of the 1920s and took total control of her empire:

1. She Wrote the Script (Literally)

Most actresses of the era were at the mercy of male studio heads and male writers. Mae West refused that dynamic. When she couldn't find roles that suited her, she wrote them herself.

• In 1926, she wrote, produced, and starred in a Broadway play cheekily titled Sex.
• The older generation and city officials were so outraged by a woman controlling such "filthy" material that the theatre was raided, and Mae was arrested for "corrupting the morals of youth."
• Proving her business genius, she refused to pay a fine and spent 8 days in jail instead. The resulting publicity made her an overnight superstar and an absolute icon to young people.

2. She Controlled the Men (On and Off Screen)

In her plays and movies, West flipped the traditional gender roles upside down. She was the one chasing men, delivering the predatory one-liners, and treating romance as a game. Off-screen, she negotiated unprecedented Hollywood contracts with Paramount Pictures that gave her full screenwriting credit and the power to choose her own leading men—which is how she famously discovered and cast a young Cary Grant.

3. The Ultimate 1920s Generational Clash

The panic surrounding Mae West perfectly mirrors the complaints we talked about earlier. The "moral guardians" of the 1920s moaned that she was destroying the sanctity of marriage and making young women "wild."

But just like the youth of the 1960s or 2026, the younger generation of the 1920s saw right through the panic. They loved her sharp wit, her unapologetic independence, and her famous philosophy: "When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."

She proved that the older generation wasn't just afraid of the new music or short skirts—they were terrified of young women gaining actual power and financial independence.

Mae West is such a fascinating figure for this topic. Are you interested in other rebellious women of that era who ran their own shows, or would you like to look at how Hollywood censorship (like the Hays Code) was invented specifically to try and stop women like her?

Other rebellious woman of that era, or other eras too

History is filled with fiercely independent women who looked at the rules of their era, laughed, and broke them anyway. Just like Mae West, they seized control of their own careers, bodies, and images—leaving older generations completely scandalised.

Here are a few of the ultimate trailblazers from different eras who completely redefined what a woman "should" be doing:

1920s: Josephine Baker (The Global Disrupter)

If Mae West shocked America, Josephine Baker conquered and scandalised Europe. Escaping the fierce racism of the United States, she moved to Paris in 1925 and became an overnight sensation with her uninhibited, high-energy dancing.

• The Rebellion: She completely owned her sexuality, performing in her famous "banana skirt" and turning the racist caricatures of the era on their head to mock the audience's assumptions.
• The Business & Power: She became the most photographed woman in the world, the highest-paid entertainer in Europe, and used her massive wealth to support the French Resistance during WWII (smuggling military intelligence written in invisible ink on her sheet music).

1930s: Amelia Earhart (The Practical Maverick)

In the 1930s, society firmly believed that high-stakes mechanics, engineering, and aviation belonged strictly to men. Amelia Earhart shattered that concept by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

• The Rebellion: Earhart refused to dress or act the way a "lady" was expected to. She cropped her hair short, wore practical trousers, leather bomber jackets, and heavy boots.
• The Business & Power: Like Mae West, Earhart was a marketing genius. To fund her flying, she launched her own wildly successful line of functional, durable clothing for "active women" (complete with hidden pockets and easy-wash fabrics) and even designed functional luggage.

1960s: Mary Quant (The Architect of the Mini-Skirt)

By the time the Swinging Sixties rolled around, a British designer named Mary Quant completely revolutionized the way young women dressed, operated, and moved through society.

• The Rebellion: Quant opened her famous boutique Bazaar on London's King's Road and popularised the mini-skirt. Elders and conservative newspapers were horrified, calling the high hemlines immoral. Quant brilliantly shot back that she didn't invent the mini-skirt—the young girls of London did because they needed to be able to run for the bus and dance freely.
• The Business & Power: Quant built a massive global business empire. She expanded into affordable cosmetics, tights, and rainwear, proving that youth culture could completely dictate the global economy.

Every single one of these women proved that when a woman controls her own narrative, fashion, or career, it isn't just a trend—it's a shift in social power.

Would you like to explore another specific era—like the punk rock women of the 1970s, or perhaps look back further at the rebellious women of the Victorian era who shocked society by riding bicycles in bloomers?

The Victorian age (1837–1901) was perhaps the most restrictive era in modern history for women. Society promoted the strict ideal of the "Angel in the House"—the belief that a woman's only proper place was inside the home, acting as a quiet, obedient, and fragile moral anchor for her husband.

To the Victorian establishment, any woman who stepped into the public eye, traveled alone, or took control of her own money was seen as mentally unstable or deeply scandalous.

Here are the ultimate rebels of the Victorian era who completely shattered those rigid expectations:

1. The Rational Dress Rebels (The Bicycle Shock)

In the late Victorian era, the invention of the safety bicycle changed everything. It gave young women unprecedented freedom to travel unchaperoned. However, Victorian fashion—consisting of heavy, suffocating layers, tightly laced corsets, and floor-length skirts—made cycling nearly impossible and highly dangerous.

• The Rebellion: Women like Lady Harberton founded the Rational Dress Society in 1881. They discarded corsets and began wearing "bloomers" (voluminous, divided trousers that cinched at the ankle) or shorter, split skirts.
• The Public Outrage: The sight of a woman’s legs separated by fabric completely scandalized Victorian society. Men threw stones at female cyclists, and traditionalists wrote frantic newspaper articles claiming that cycling would permanently damage a woman’s reproductive system or make her "masculine."

2. Nellie Bly (The Record-Breaking Disruptor)

In an era when women in journalism were confined to writing anonymous columns about gardening or fashion, Nellie Bly became a global phenomenon by inventing investigative undercover journalism.

• The Rebellion: In 1887, she feigned mental illness to get checked into a notorious New York asylum, exposing the horrific abuse of women inside in a blockbuster exposé. Later, in 1889, she decided to beat the fictional record from Jules Verne’s book Around the World in Eighty Days.
• The Business & Power: The establishment told her a woman couldn't do it because she would need too much luggage and a male protector. Bly laughed, packed a single hand-bag, and completed the journey entirely alone in just 72 days, turning herself into an international celebrity and a highly paid powerhouse.

3. Isabella Bird (The Fearless Nomad)

Victorian doctors frequently diagnosed independent or restless women with "hysteria" or chronic illness, prescribing bed rest. Isabella Bird was a sickly Victorian woman who realized the only cure for her boredom was to completely escape England.

• The Rebellion: She became a legendary explorer, traveling entirely alone through the American Rocky Mountains, riding elephants through Malaysia, and exploring remote parts of Japan and Tibet. She rode horses like a man (astride, rather than side-saddle), packed a revolver, and climbed mountains in a practical, self-made outfit.
• The Power: She financed her entire lifestyle by writing wildly successful travel books detailing her dangerous exploits. In 1892, she forced the fiercely traditionalist male establishment to take her seriously when she became the first woman elected to the Royal Geographical Society.

1890s vs. 1920s vs. 1960s: The Strategy

Notice the pattern? Just like Mae West in the 20s and Mary Quant in the 60s, these Victorian women realized that financial independence and clothing were the two greatest tools for liberation. By changing how they dressed, they changed where they could go; and by writing or charting their own path, they controlled their own money.

Would you like to look at how these Victorian dress rebellions affected local life in places like Norfolk, or shall we explore the notorious cross-dressing actresses of the Victorian stage who shocked theatergoers?