In the Sixties was a short story published in the Twelve Stories anthology.
Plot
A man is waiting at King's Cross station for a train to a spiritual camp up in Wales. At the camp, the man and the other people at the camp are hypnotised by a mystic, who tells them that they have to go back to London and destroy Dr Oho. The man finds himself at Dr Oho's party in his home in Maida Vale, where a public call box was the centre-piece.
Joe Orton and Jamie the Highlander have sex, and Angus Wilson, Iris Murdoch, and Dr Oho talk about books, an "Iris" attends the party and is intimate with Robin, and the party wages on. Later on that night, the streets flood. The next morning, many of the guests go inside Dr Oho's public call box, and they and the box disappear, leaving Maida Vale silent. In the North-East of England, in a hospital in Jarrow, newborn Paul Magrs sleeps happily in a cot, rolling his eyes at his amusing dream.
Characters
References
- The newborn Paul Magrs dreams of a Master, Sylvia Plath, Stevie Smith, the Cyborg-men, Peter Jones, and peculiar lizard men.
- Dusty Springfield, Mida Slike, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, a stern robot dog, Reggie Kray, Cilla Black, Lulu, Angus Wilson, Judy Garland, Iris Murdoch, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Dirk Bogarde, John and Yoko, Michael Moorcock, Angela Carter, Joe Orton, Jackie O, Beryl Reid, Jamie the Highlander, Steed and Emma Peel, Mrs Gale, Jerry Cornelius, Susan Sontag, David Bowie, Anaïs Nin, Robin, Noël Coward, and Patrick Proctor all attend Dr Oho's party in Magrs' dream.
- Maida Vale, Sloane Square, King's Road, the University of East Anglia, and Atlantis are locations.
- Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a film.
- Step Inside Love is sung by Cilla Black and Lulu, and The Laughing Gnome is sung by David Bowie. Either A Day in the Life or Help played in the morning after the party.
- An "Iris" is intimate with Robin.
- Paul Magrs is born a hospital in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, on the twelfth of November, 1969.
Notes
- In the Sixties was originally published in the charity anthology Walking in Eternity. When it was reprinted in Twelve Stories, copyright-violating names were changed. The original version is outside the scope of this wiki.
- In this story, the protagonist is actually left unnamed. Paul Magrs is definitely the most likely candidate, but there is still a possibility that the protagonist could be either David Taylor (who is actually a stand-in for Paul Magrs in some stories) or the lesbian novelist incarnation of Iris Wildthyme from the Paul Magrs' Phoenix Court trilogy of books, which are not covered by this wiki.
- Although it wasn't stated within the narrative, it's highly likely that Magrs' dream was influenced by the Doctor Who TV series.
Continuity
- Paul Magrs first appeared in PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion.
- Mida Slike first appeared in PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
- Iris Wildthyme once regenerated into incarnations resembling Shirley Bassey and Beryl Reid. (PROSE: Bafflement and Devotion)