Året var 1956

1951 - the year when Snoddas plays bandy and the naval spy is exposed. Stålfarfar rides a bike, Pär Lagerkvist receives a Nobel Prize and Tage Erlander and Karl Gerhard are getting older. Out in the world there's a cold war and in Sweden there's the big Västgöta maneuver. There's a plastic fashion and new hairstyles for a new age.

1952 - he year when Gösta Snoddas Nordgren sings Flottarkärlek on the radio and it becomes a hit. Gustaf VI Adolf turns 70. A Swedish DC-3 disappears and a Catalina plane is shot down by Soviet fighter aircraft. A Swedish spy business is being rolled out. Fritjof Enbom has given information to the Soviet Union. It is also an Olympic year - Winter Olympics in Oslo and Summer Olympics in Helsinki.

1953 - this is the year when Frank Sinatra tours Sweden and Stockholm celebrates 700 years with the entire air force in the air. The American way of life spreads in bottle form, when Coca-Cola makes its entrance. And there will be documentary film in color. The world is troubled with wars in Korea and Indochina. The US participates in both and Sweden has both doctors and nurses in Korea. Sweden becomes world champion in ice hockey for the first time.

1954 - this is the year when Marilyn Monroe wave to the American soldiers in Korea. In Sweden, a black hurricane takes the forest with it and the cargo boat Nedjan goes down with seventeen men. The sooty glasses emerge when the sun is completely eclipsed. And there is competition to look like Audrey Hepburn. Radiotjänst broadcasts television and the author Stig Dagerman dies.

1955 - the year when The rip hunter is buried in snow for eight days before his ski pole with a movie ticket is discovered. Ingrid Bergman gets bad reviews as Joan of Arc, and James Dean dies in a 185 km/h car crash. The knappupgänget, with Povel Ramel and Gunwer Bergkvist, go to Nairobi to shoot a film that will never be finished. Sweden votes no to right-hand traffic and the "Motbok" disappears in October. Charlie Norman writes film music and gets a job in the US, while Sigge Eriksson becomes a world figure skating champion in Moscow. Anita Ekberg visits after years in Hollywood and Louis Armstrong gives concerts in Stockholm. Luleå is building the world's first indoor shopping center, and Viggen Viggo is visible on the TV screen.

1957 - this is when the space age begins. The Soviets send up Sputnik 1 and 2. The whole world searches the sky for moving stars and the radio amateurs listen in their headphones for beeps from space. Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries are shown in cinemas. Stockholm gets its first female parking attendants and Tommy Steele comes to visit.

1958 - the year when Ingvar Kamprad opened the doors to his first Ikea department store in Älmhult. The World Cup is played in Sweden, where Kurre Hamrin scores a legendary goal against West Germany and Sweden takes a sensational silver. The first female police officers start serving this year with the same duties as the male police officers, however, they were not allowed to carry a saber but had to settle for a baton.

1959 - this is the hot wasp summer, when half of the Swedes stay up 'til three in the morning and listens to the WC match between Ingo and Floyd. Rock-Olga and Rockande Samen are successful and My Fair Lady draws large audiences to the Oscars. Olle Möller is indicted for the murder of Rut Lind from Fjugesta and ATP is hammered through in the Riksdag after Ture Königson cast his vote

A brand new decade begins. There is unrest in many places in Africa and Sweden is sending UN troops to the Congo. The Shah of Persia visits Stockholm and Lena Larsson writes an article she calls "Buy, wear and throw away" - and the debate about this will continue for years.

1961 - the year when Swedish UN soldiers are in the crisis-ridden Congo and Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash. Swedish film's biggest hit, "Are there angels?", has its premiere with Christina Schollin in one of the roles. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space and the Volvo P 1800 appears on the roads. Ewy Rosqvist is a rally ace and in April the regal ship Vasa is lifted up after 333 years at the bottom of Stockholm's stream. In August, the Berlin Wall is built and outside the Stockholm archipelago, Radio Nord broadcasts music and news.

1962 - the year when Anita Lindblom sings Sånt är livet on TV and the Swedish national ice hockey team wins gold in Colorado. Ursula Wirth and Ewy Rosqvist win Argentina's Gran Premio for standard cars in fierce competition. The Third World War almost breaks out - the Cuban Missile Crisis pits the superpowers the USA and the Soviet Union against each other. Leif Erik Nygårds is in New York and takes a picture of Marilyn Monroe, just a few weeks before she dies. Bobby Fischer plays chess in Stockholm and wins.

1963 - the year when the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. Sweden suffers from an smallpox epidemic - hundreds of thousands are vaccinated, and several thousand are isolated. Colonel Stig Wennerström is arrested for spying for the Soviets. John F Kennedy is murdered in Dallas, while Martin Luther King has a dream about the future, "Villervalle i Söderhavet" is shown on Swedish TV.

1964 - the year when Astrid Lindgren's 'Vi på Saltkråkan' is shown on TV, UN Swedes smuggle weapons, Khrushchev is visiting, car testing starts, the KDS is formed and the long-haired fashion starts trending - for guys.

1965 - The Rolling Stones is coming to Sweden - a little rougher and tougher than The Beatles who were here a few years earlier. And the fashion trend is spreading across Sweden - to the horror of many. The medium-strong beer will start to be sold in Sweden - in regular grocery stores. And at the end of the year Hasse och Tage's new feature film with Gösta Ekman in one of the main roles premieres. Tragedies strike: 10 Swedish youths die in an avalanche, a tunnel collapse in Stockholm causes suspense. American astronaut Ed White spacewalks after the Soviet Union's Aleksey Leonov. Hep Stars led by Svenne Hedlund dominate with three top-ten songs, including "Cadillac."

1966 - when Bob Dylan visits Sweden and Prime Minister Erlander has a difficult time with questions about housing. A special evening at the opera is arranged with Harry Belafonte and Martin Luther King. Esrange is inaugurated and in China the cultural revolution is underway.

1967 - the year when Sweden moves to the right, at least in traffic. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - The Beatles' favorite guru visits Skåne and talks about meditation. The Fåglum brothers receive a feat medal and the fight for space continues. Jimi Hendrix is ​​coming to visit and in December it's time for the Christmas calendar: Teskedsgumman!

1968 - the year of riots, fights and protests. And demonstrations: against the Vietnam War, against teenage fairs, against the Davis Cup and even against Christmas. It is also the year of the invasion of Prague, the very last student exam and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

In the last year of the 60s, history gets the chance to breathe a little after the turbulent 1968. Pippi Longstocking rides into the television sets and the writers demonstrate for more compensation. There is also a space race - where both the Soviet Union and the USA send up their rockets. Towards the end of the year, Sweden finally gets its second TV channel, TV2.

This is the year with a music party at Gärdet in Stockholm, and Lee Hazlewood and Nina Lizell wonder who can sail before the wind. The Vietnam War continues and the United States is bombing Cambodia. In Stockholm, police officers write in protest against poor conditions and the rockers take the chance to take over the town. During the "cannon race" on the Gellerås track, a fatal accident occurs. Director Roy Andersson's first feature film "En kärlekshistoria" is a must see.

In the early 1970s, Swedes flock to Mallorca, as Lars Molin debuts on TV, Badjävlar emerges, a hunger strike for jobs begins, and Sweden reacts to the murder of the Yugoslav ambassador. Tjejsnack premieres, "We must raise our voices to be heard" becomes a hit, women's camps are held, a courthouse tragedy occurs in Söderhamn, protests erupt in Stockholm's Kungsträdgården, and Björn Gillberg protests food additives by washing his shirt in milk substitute powder.

In 1972 the green wave sweeps over Sweden, guiding people back to nature away from the cities. Events range from escalated food prices in Skärholmen, the escape of fifteen prisoners from Kumlaanstalten, Sweden's first hijacking, and an Olympic year in Munich, marked by both Swedish success and tragedy with the attack on 11 Israeli athletes. The year also sees emigration to Australia, refugee intake from Idi Amin's Uganda, sports achievements, music releases, and daily life routines throughout various Swedish towns.

At the end of August 1973, a robber takes hostages at the Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg. A week or so later, on September 15, King Gustaf VI Adolf dies in Helsingborg's hospital and Sweden gets a new king: Carl XVI Gustaf. In Chile, the military takes power and the popularly elected president Salvador Allende is overthrown. That and much more in this column about the year 1973.

The year begins with an energy crisis and petrol rationing. And there will be parental insurance so that even fathers can stay at home with their children. Cleaners around Sweden are on strike for better conditions. Worry grows for the Swedish tourists in the holiday paradise of Cyprus. That and much more in this column about the year 1974.

This is the year when the Vietnam War ends and terrorists take over the West German embassy in Stockholm. On TV, Staffan Westerberg's "Vilse i Pannkakan" coincides with Ingmar Bergman's "The Magic Flute". Despite the cold war, the USA and the Soviet Union take the opportunity to meet - in space! And Davis Cup tennis is played in Båstad. Sweden meets Chile and the police fear riots. This and much more in "The year was 1975" by Jonas Fohlin and Eva Tillberg.

1976 brings several events that leave their mark on Sweden. Silvia Sommerlath marries King Carl Gustaf, and Thorbjörn Fälldin takes over as the new prime minister. On the music scene, international visits stand out when the rock bands Kiss and Sweet come to Sweden. And as Christmas approaches, Trazan Apansson appears on the TV screen for the very first time.