The Beatles were wowing Ed Sullivan, Courrege's mini skirts were shocking the Paris catwalks, and an unknown furniture designer was opening his first store on London's Fulham Road, called simply... Habitat.
It was May 1964, and the cultural shift that was taking music and fashion into a different league was demanding entry into British homes, thanks to Terence Conran, a young designer and restaurateur with extraordinary vision.
It was out with the old, austere furnishings of Conran's parents' generation, and in with something cooler than a Vespa scooter.
Conran tapped into a new interest in interior design on the back of the Festival of Britain, offering contemporary style at affordable prices.
But as the iconic funishings chain celebrates a middle age milestone, its first 40 years have been far from plain-sailing.
The store was the vision of Sir Terence, but there were others involved in the ground-breaking enterprise. His wife Caroline had been the home editor of Queen magazine and shared his interest in food and a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The couple's friends, businessman John Mawer and model Pagan Taylor were part of the Chelsea set and central to the Habitat ethos. Taylor helped come up with the name by flicking through a Roget's Thesaurus.
In a recent interview about Habitat's early days, Conran said: "In 1951, I had a workshop in Bethnal Green and gradually built up a furniture-making business. We produced our first range of domestic furniture, because up until then most of the furniture we made was for contracts, so we produced our first range which was packed flat for people to assemble themselves.
"When we opened the shop we had an enormously good reaction. What I was trying to do was sell inexpensive furniture and you need space to do it.
"One of the great things about the original Habitat shop, which is now Joseph, was that the landlords threw in the basement for free because they didn't believe you could trade in the basement. So we put a staircase down and made it kitchenware, china and glass."
For those who wanted homes as sharp as their clothes, the store soon became the place to be. Customers could choose their own products without having to ask a shop assistant, and with its whitewashed brick walls, quarry tiled floors and airy full-height ceiling, it developed a reputation cooler than Carnaby Street.
"It's impossible to picture the British domestic landscape with its uninspiring post-utility furniture, drab soft furnishings and austere kitchens," says Tom Dixon, Habitat's head of design.
"Shopping for furniture meant having to trawl round an endless selection of specialist stores selling insipid and old-fashioned goods.
"Imagine the explosion that was Habitat, with its riot of colour and culture from around the world."
Following rapid expansion in the 1970s Conran established himself as a household name in the UK and France, following the launch of a store in Paris' arty Montparnesse district. The 1980s, however, brought mixed times for the then massive chain - Conran made Habitat part of the Storehouse Group that included BhS and Mothercare. Storehouse employed 33,000 and boasted a turnover of a cool £1.5billion. But following Conran's widely-reported and acrimonious departure from the brand he founded, the company struggled.
In 1992 Habitat appointed Vittorio Radice - another extraordinary designer now overseeing the launch of Marks & Spencer's Homestores - who helped the brand restablish itself.
Tom Dixon's arrival in the late 1990s sent out a message that Habitat was to return to the business of serious design that the brand was founded upon. One of his first moves was to re-edition work by seven designers 'at a price accessible to all' as the 20th Century Legends collection in 1999.
Recent collections have featured work by Robin Day and rising stars on the European scene such as Terence Woodgate, Tord Boontje and the enormously popular Matrix shelving unit by Francois Duris.
So what's the secret of Habitat's young spirit?
Tom Dixon believes it's down to a mixture of ingredients: "Habitat's heritage confirms its status as one of the most recognised and best loved brands on the high street.
"A unique diaspora of global sources that Habitat has built up over the decades give it a head start in finding new ideas, and all this is topped with an unparalleled network of designers - both up and coming and famous - nourishing the collections with innovative ideas."
HABITAT CLASSICS
 The Chicken Brick... Sunday roasts have never been the same
 The Japanese Boule... a bright idea
 The Wok... launched in 1966
Solihull store now open. www.habitat.co.uk | 
