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Benjamin Britten with Peter Pears, Galina Vishnevskaya, Mstislav Rostropovich and Marion Stein

1 portrait of Galina Vishnevskaya

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Benjamin Britten with Peter Pears, Galina Vishnevskaya, Mstislav Rostropovich and Marion Stein

by E.I. Iavno
bromide print, 1963
8 1/4in. x 5 1/2in. (204 mm x 140 mm)
Given by the Britten estate, 1981
Photographs Collection
NPG x15245

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Taken in Red Square during the Festival of British Musical Art in Moscow.

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  • Place made and portrayed: Russia (Red Square, Moscow, Russia)

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Events of 1963back to top

Current affairs

The Secretary of State for War, John Profumo is found to have lied to the House of Commons when he denied having an affair with the showgirl, Christine Keeler. The Profumo Affair was a public scandal for the Conservative party, and ultimately contributed to the resignation of Harold Macmillan.

Art and science

Doctor Who is first broadcast on the BBC with William Hartnell playing the Doctor. This long running science fiction series about an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his police-box-shaped Tardis has been watched by generations of viewers (often from behind the back of the sofa), and features imaginative, but traditionally low-budget, special effects, innovative electronic music, and the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks.

International

John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Texas. The arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald for his murder did not prevent a score of conspiracy theories involving Cuba, the CIA, the KGB, and the Mafia among others.
Martin Luther King delivers his 'I have a dream' speech, marking an important moment in the civil rights movement in America and helping to secure him the Nobel Peace Prize' in 1964.

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