26 May – 2 June - John Lennon and Yoko Ono stage a "Bed-In" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada, during which they record "Give Peace a Chance".
5 July: Rolling Stones play free concert in Hyde Park. Peel attends, as does his mother, who writes a letter in praise of the young which is published in Oz magazine.
21 July: Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, becomes first man (or woman) to step on the Moon.
Year of the big open-air rock festivals: the most famous being August 15-18 Woodstock, August 30-31 Isle of Wight (with Bob Dylan), December 6 Altamont (with the Rolling Stones. Murder of audience member by rioting Hell's Angels provokes criticism of Stones and much talk of "end of the sixties" and "end of the hippy era")
21 September: squatters evicted by police from 144 Piccadilly, "Genesis Hall" (subject of Fairport Convention song). Peel expresses his solidarity with the squatters.
Night Ride broadcast Wednesday midnight-1am until 23 April 1969, changes time to 8.15-9.15pm and loses name, then axed after last show 24 September 1969.
