The quiet man has spoken at last. It was Ron Yeats, talking to the Echo in 1961, who gave Gordon Milne that name: 'Whether training or playing, you hardly hear a word', he said. Now, at the age of 86, Milne has published his autobiography, 'Shankly, My Dad and Me'. It's surely the final word on the great team of the 60s - and it may be much more than that.

Gordon is far too modest to make this kind of claim himself, but having talked to him about his life and the book over the past few weeks, I'm going to make it on his behalf. With this book, he has provided a new and compelling answer to an old question - 'When did the 1960s really start?'

You won't find it in any history textbooks, but from the perspective Gordon's career provides, October 25th 1962 stands out as a pivotal moment, not just for him, but for all of us. It was on that day that two long-standing arguments were finally resolved, setting British culture on a course from which it would never turn back.

Appropriately, with Gordon finally telling his story, the issue in common to both of those arguments was 'authorship'.

We are all authors now, of course. All 'content creators', nurturing our social media streams. 60 years ago, things were very different, and it's not just advances in technology that are responsible. We also need to thank those who kicked down the walls, removing the remnants of the old class system in which we were all supposed to know our place.
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