In 1964 the highlight for the Maltese was Malta’s road to independence from the British – the journey to becoming a nation State. But a lot more was happening around the world in that year. Kristina Chetcuti takes a trip across the globe.

Photo: Kenny1/Shutterstock.com

“I want to hold your hand” blared the Beatles song in 1964. I want to hold your hand, said Great Britain to Malta. But in the end the apron strings were severed and Malta went the independent way.

While George Borg Olivier was negotiating the terms of independence with then British prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Beatles took the world by storm with their new single I want to hold your hand.

The ditty was top in the US charts for more than 11 weeks. In only four years, the Beatles had become such a legend that even Queen Elizabeth asked them to play at her birthday party.

It was a good year for music: the Rolling Stones had their first tour as a headline act; and Rod Steward recorded his first single Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.

The highlight event of the celebrity world in 1964 was Richard Burton’s and Elizabeth Taylor’s (first) wedding. And in the world of books, Roald Dhal wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Politically, the world was still mourning American president John F Kennedy, who had been shot dead on November 22, 1963.

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Zprecech/Shutterstock.com

His widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, made her first public appearance on television after the assassination in January. That same month, the new US president Lyndon Johnson declared a “war on poverty”; and Martin Luther King was announced winner of the Nobel Prize.

Meanwhile, the Vatican Council II was resumed by the new Pope Paul VI. It had been halted after the death of Pope John XXIII in 1963. The new pontiff called all Catholics around the world for prayers.

The world was not a very overcrowded place back then: according to the United Nations the world population by the end of 1964 was 6,000 million. Today it stands at 7.1 billion.

On October 15, less than a month after Malta was given independence by a Tory government, the Labour party won the parliamentary elections in the UK, ending 13 years of conservative party rule.