What was the best year ever?
Previously, I would have said 1961 - the last year (until 8008, I believe) that has rotational symmetry.
However, I've recently been persuaded that 1962 might be better - 1962 brought us The Beatles, the Beach Boys went surfing and Joe Meek gave us Telstar. In comics, Spiderman and Diabolik made their first appearance. From Russia with Love and the unsettling Lolita appeared in film (with a masterful performance from James Mason) - in books, we had Clockwork Orange. On TV, there was Z-Cars, Emergency Ward-10, Edgar Wallace Mysteries, Crackerjack, The Liars, Jonny Quest and Compact. Spurs won the FA Cup (I remember watching it on our first TV - Spurs beat Burnley 3-1 and my hero, Jimmy Greaves scored a goal.
The death of Marilyn Monroe was a bit of a bummer but no year is perfect.
What would be your favourite year?
For me, choosing a SINGLE favourite year would be truly difficult. That choice would be based on a blending of what was happening in several aspects of my life. the most important was what was going on with me personally. Changes in lifestyle, sports, music, films, comic books, and technology were all secondary.
I would say that 1964 was my most memorable year, followed closely by 1954, then 1953, then 1965. The early 1950s was very nice because the economies both in Western Canada and in The Netherlands (where we spent summers with family there) were booming, and people were getting back to normal after The War. I like the comic books, films and music generally more from 1949-55 better than that of any other time, except that music had another peak in the early 1960s. Sports was good all the way through, based on my own ice hockey "career", and my fandom in ice hockey and football. I started touring Europe, North Africa, and The Middle East every summer in the mid 1960s, and working for First Nation and Native American tribes in the 1970s, and then worked and lived in The Middle East, Africa, and The Far East from 1977-1988 on projects for The U.N. So, there were many highlights then, too. I had many high points scattered throughout my life, with a few low points. But, if a gun were held to my head, I'd list 1964 as my favourite, and as far as I'm concerned, it was a TERRIBLE year for comic books, a super year for music, a good year for sports, an average year for films, an average year for novels(as there were many good ones in most years), and a standard good year (not among the very best-but pretty good) for my personal situation.
As to the comics then, Disney Comics (and ALL the animation-based comics) from USA had been on the decline since 1959, and in The Netherlands, they had also started to decline by 1964, There would be a great new classical age in The Netherlands from 1973-1989, but 1964 was weak. Music was great then, however, with Motown, and Chicago Soul, and the revival of Jazz. Sports was good except for my "retirement" from organised hockey during the 1963-64 season, when I moved with my parents and siblings to Chicago from Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Canadian Football League team was still one of the best teams, Our neighbour and family friend, was still playing well as a regular for The Chicago Blackhawks, National Hockey League team, who made the playoffs, as usual (I was a fan of that team). The James Bond films were going well.
All in all, I enjoyed the late 1940s, all of the 1950s, and all of the 1960s. I think most people have more of their memorable times during their youth, when they are learning about The World, and most new experiences are wondrous, and their young adulthood, when they are experiencing new things in a new kind of freedom. As they move into a settled down routine, and face the serious responsibilities of later early adulthood and into middle age, they are concentrating less on individual things that excite them, and more on their overall situation (where being a steady breadwinner is good (and individual highlights and lowpoints are not something upon which concentration is practical, or warranted.
Yet middle age can be more enjoyable over all, because one can be more mellow and relaxed, knowing that he or she has passed the "test of life", if he or she has succeeded in a career, and raising a family, and being an upstanding citizen, and has a comfortable life, and is satisfied with that, realising that he or she can't move mountains on his/her own to change The World for the better in a big way.
