Gordon & MacPhail
1940
Nineteen-forty was possibly the darkest year in the entire history of Great Britain.
War had been declared against Nazi Germany the previous September, but so far it had been a ‘phoney war’: this would change rapidly in the months to come. In January, the Blitzkreig was unleashed upon Finland and Norway, which were defeated after stiff resistance; Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands surrendered; Paris was bombed, and in June Marshall Pétain surrendered and France was occupied. The same month Italy declared war on Great Britain, 13,000 British and French troops surrendered to Field
Marshall Rommel at St. Valery and 300,000 Allied troops were evacuated from Dunkirk.
Britain stood alone against the Axis powers, and Winston Churchill (who had become Prime Minister in May) told the nation that “the Battle of France is now over; the Battle of Britain is about to begin”.
And begin it did, in July, with continuous bombing raids by the Luftwaffe, bravely checked by ‘The Few’ RAF fighter pilots: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”. During September and October - the months of the Blitz – London was bombed on fifty-seven consecutive nights; in November, Coventry was utterly destroyed and in December 500 German bombers devastated Sheffield.
The Nazi tactic was to achieve aerial superiority in order to invade or force an armistice. Churchill had made it clear that this would never happen:
“We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight on the beaches…on the landing grounds…in the fields and the streets… We shall never surrender”.
By the end of the year it was clear that the Luftwaffe would not achieve its goal: the first, crucial, turning point in the war had been reached.
Gordon & MacPhail
1963
‘The Sixties’ was an era of profound cultural and political change, and truly began in 1963 with the start of what became known as the ‘counterculture’ – a rejection by the younger generation of the social norms of the 1950s.
The Cold War continued, with the seeds of what would become the Vietnam War being sown in November 1963, when President Johnson increased the number of American troops in South Vietnam. However, many in America and Britain began to doubt the way it was being conducted. In particular they were fearful of the spectre of nuclear war.
There was increasing distrust of the Establishment. In the U.K. the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, lied to the House of Commons about his affair with Christine Keeler. In America thousands of black Americans were arrested while protesting against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, prompting President Kennedy to promise a Civil Rights Bill – a promise which may have contributed to his assassination later in the year.
Key to the success of the counterculture was the increasing availability and quality of popular music, which - supported by the media, and particularly by the now widespread television – embraced new forms. 1963 was pre-eminently ‘The Year of The Beatles’, who twice reached the top of both album and single charts. By October, the press had coined the term ‘Beatlemania’.
| Terms of Use |
|
Welcome to the website of Gordon & MacPhail - the world's leading malt whisky specialist. Below are some details about our site, which set out how you can use it as well as our Privacy Policy. We have tried to keep them as short as possible, but by entering the site you are deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions, so please take a few moments to read through them. We will update the contents of this website from time to time so we suggest you check these terms and conditions regularly. As our site is about malt whisky, an alcoholic drink, there are some restrictions on who can use this site as follows:- 1. to access the site you must be old enough to buy alcohol in the country in which you are resident or from which you access this site; and 2. you must be legally entitled to use this site in the country in which you are resident or are accessing this site. The laws of some countries prohibit their residents from using sites like ours so please check if you are unsure whether this applies to you before proceeding. Though it goes against our natural Scottish hospitality, we are afraid that if you fall within either of these restricted groups, we have to ask you to please leave our site now. By entering this site and accepting these terms and conditions, you agree to indemnify us against any loss, injury, fines, costs and expenses incurred by us as a result of your viewing or use of this site. Who we are and where you can find us Gordon & MacPhail is a trading name of Speymalt Whisky Distributors Limited. Our UK telephone number is: 01343 545 111 (fax: 01343 540 155) Our VAT number is: GB266070562 Speymalt Whisky Distributors Limited is a limited company registered in Scotland with company number SC37522. Our registered office is the Elgin office noted above. We are happy to hear from you in person if you happen to be in our neighbourhood, or if you prefer more modern methods of getting in touch, please address your e-mails to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it We own, or have permission to use, everything on this site, including the pictures, photographs, all the text, and the underlying software code. Though we are happy for you to visit this site as often as you like, you will not obtain any rights in any of the materials you find on it, and you may not copy or use these materials except as expressly provided for in these terms and conditions of use. If you wish to use any of the images or text contained on this site, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for permission. We hope you will enjoy learning about the wonders of whisky, as well as about our own history and plans, through using this site. We are happy for you to print hard copies of any pages you would like to keep, provided it is for your personal, non-commercial use. All other copying is prohibited and all other rights are reserved. The name "Gordon & MacPhail" is a registered trademark owned exclusively by Speymalt Whisky Distributors Limited meaning any reproduction or use of it is prohibited. This prohibition also applies to all other trade marks, names, logos and images you will see on the site and on our products irrespective of whether these trade marks, names, logos and images are owned by us or by a third party. Linking to this site You may create a link to the home page of this site with our prior express consent. We welcome hearing from you if you wish to create such a link. Please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for permission. If you do create a link to a page of this site you do so at your own risk and the exclusions and limitations set out in these terms and conditions of use will apply to your use of this site by linking to it. We reserve the right to withdraw any permission granted to link to this site. Security If you choose or are provided with a user name, password or any other piece of information as part of our site security procedures, you must treat that information as confidential and not disclose it to any third party. We reserve the right to disable any user name or password if you fail to comply with these terms and conditions. Contributing material to our site Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to contribute material to our site, or make contact with other users of our site, you must not transmit any material:
We have the right to remove fom our site any material contributed by you. We have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who claims that any material transmitted to our site by you amounts to a violation of their intellectual proeprty rights or rights to privacy. Transactions concluded through our site Any contracts for the supply of goods formed through our site or as a result of visits to our site made by you are governed by out Terms and Conditions of Supply [insert link]. Information about you Our Privacy Policy [insert link] contains details of the information we will collect from you when you use our site. By entering our site and accepting these terms and conditions, you agree to accept the terms of our Privacy Policy. Our disclaimer We have tried our best to make sure that everything on our site is accurate, but we are only human and must admit there is a chance we might make a mistake. So everything, including materials, text, graphics, links or other items contained in this website, is provided "as is" and you use the site at your own risk. This means we offer no guarantees and accept no liability, express or implied, in respect of any errors, omissions or inaccuracies on the site, or its fitness for any particular purpose. We hope you like our site and will visit us often, and we will do our best to ensure it is always available to you, but we cannot guarantee constant and uninterrupted access to the site. Other than to the extent we are bound under law, we exclude any and all liability whatsoever for any errors or problems you experience due to technical faults or any loss, injury, damage, costs or expense you suffer because you visited our site, for example (but not by way of limitation) due to any computer viruses or any financial loss you may suffer as a result of relying on any inaccurate information you receive on this site. This does not affect any statutory rights which by law cannot be excluded by us. This website may contain links to other websites. These links do not imply any connection between ourselves and the website owners or operators, or any endorsements of these websites and we have no control over their content and are not liable in any way in respect of them. From time to time we may ask you to read other legal terms and conditions elsewhere from our site. Law and jurisdiction By entering our site and accepting these terms and conditions, you agree that the Laws of Scotland will govern these terms and conditions, and your use of the site. You also agree that the Scottish Courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute regarding these terms and conditions or your use of the site. So if you think this makes sense and are happy to carry on please confirm your acceptance by clicking in the box provided which will also act as confirmation to us that you meet the age and residency requirements of using this site and welcome to the world of Gordon & MacPhail's Malt Whisky. |
