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.

Året var 1969

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.

Året var 1973

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.