0:00:13 > 0:00:20It was from a small room on the top of one of these buildings here in Bond Street in London in the 1950s
0:00:20 > 0:00:26that Vidal Sassoon revolutionised the hairdressing industry and elevated it into an art form.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30He then went on to make an indelible mark on the decade that followed.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34You couldn't walk down the King's Road in the 1960s
0:00:34 > 0:00:40without encountering the bob cut and geometric designs of Sassoon's innovative styling,
0:00:40 > 0:00:47a look which was perfectly complemented by Mary Quant's mini-skirts and knee-length boots.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53Sassoon really was in the vanguard of a revolution of fashion, architecture and design
0:00:53 > 0:00:59which helped transform the look and feel of Britain in the '60s and then the rest of the world.
0:00:59 > 0:01:05Vidal learnt his trade with Teasy-Weasy Raymond, the best known hairdresser of the day,
0:01:05 > 0:01:11but his great hero was the architect Mies van der Rohe and his inspiration came from the Bauhaus.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16Tonight, in Craig Teper's film for Imagine, we tell the remarkable story
0:01:16 > 0:01:20of how a boy from Shepherd's Bush became a global phenomenon.
0:01:44 > 0:01:50The name Sassoon is important because we associate it with an incredible change in culture
0:01:50 > 0:01:53that was happening in the early 1960s.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59What he gave to women is bigger than just being a hairdresser.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01He liberated women.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Those hairstyles, as iconic as they are, they live on.
0:02:06 > 0:02:12How amazing that they're still as relevant now as they were when they were created!
0:02:12 > 0:02:15They were the styles which set him off on the path
0:02:15 > 0:02:20to creating a multi-million-dollar international corporation.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25If you don't look good, we don't look good.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59You know, I'm sitting here reflecting, really,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02at 81...
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Who would have dreamt that 67 years ago at the age of 14,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10there I was in the East End of London...
0:03:11 > 0:03:14..shampoo boy,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18and I'm sitting here over 60 years later
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and wondering, "How did it all happen?"
0:03:23 > 0:03:25How did so much adventure happen?
0:03:27 > 0:03:31You go back all those years and you think of the excitement,
0:03:31 > 0:03:35the creativity, the people you've met.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39He had an impact on the world that no hairdresser has ever had.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41He changed the way women looked.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47I've always been in the position as the elder talking to other people,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52so having someone you respect immensely and who's had such an impact on people's lives
0:03:52 > 0:03:54as a friend is rather wonderful.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59I realised that nobody had really recorded his achievements, his life,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03so I thought a book was absolutely necessary.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06I felt like it was really important to capture it.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14When I was maybe two and a half, three,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17my mother was evicted.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20It was 1928 I was born,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25so in '30, '31, the Depression was on.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28My father had left us. I had a young brother.
0:04:28 > 0:04:34Unlike today where we're multicultural, being Jewish, we stood out in those days.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36We needed somewhere to live,
0:04:36 > 0:04:42so she appealed to the Jewish authorities to take us into this orphanage here.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46And I spent from 5 to 11 in the orphanage
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and sang in the synagogue choir.
0:05:12 > 0:05:1672 years ago, this is where I used to sit.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20I was a choir boy.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22The choir master,
0:05:22 > 0:05:25he rapped my knuckles on occasion.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30- HE LAUGHS - Cos we were kids and we were naughty at times.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35But they were charming services, they were very warm, very gentle.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Right now at this moment...
0:05:39 > 0:05:45I don't know if I did then, I was far too young, but right now, I'm feeling rather spiritual.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50There's a sense of peace here and it's a wonderful-shaped synagogue.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55It hasn't changed. I can't think of anything that's changed.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00I'll give you just a few bars of something that we used to sing.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04We used to go, "Hallelujah, hallelujah..." And the tune was...
0:06:04 > 0:06:08# Hallelu-ujah, hallelu-ujah
0:06:08 > 0:06:09# Hallelujah
0:06:09 > 0:06:12# Ha-allelu-u-u
0:06:12 > 0:06:14# Ha-allelu-u-u... #
0:06:14 > 0:06:17CONTINUES SINGING SOFTLY
0:06:19 > 0:06:22What I missed most was my mum.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27They only allowed me to see her once a month.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31I ran away from the orphanage.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36I went to my dad. It was so much closer than the East End where my mother lived.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40He got me back to the orphanage as quick as he could.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44And I could see that there was no caring.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50I could tell that as he walked away and he passed me over to the authorities
0:06:50 > 0:06:53that he already had something else on his mind.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56He didn't even look at me.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01And I think that moment was when I lost any love that I had for him.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I never saw him again.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08You see, I had two beautiful sons.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12And I always had that feeling that I wanted my sons to grow up
0:07:12 > 0:07:15to be very proud of their mother.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17I think that helped me an awful lot.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22If there's anything you'd wish for me in the future, what would it be?
0:07:22 > 0:07:27Oh, God! And this is the truth. I wish happiness in your life because you deserve it, son.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30If anybody deserves it, you do,
0:07:30 > 0:07:36because you've been to me, please, it's the truth, the best son a mother could ever have.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40And I think I am blessed by God to have such a son.
0:07:42 > 0:07:49Her life was a painful one. Mine was different. I knew nothing else, the orphanage. Then the war broke out.
0:07:49 > 0:07:55'We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans...'
0:07:55 > 0:08:00Then suddenly, all the kids of London were picked up and sent to the country
0:08:00 > 0:08:05where we lived with cows and sheep for the next few years and very nice people who took us in.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11We came back to London at 14 and the war was still on and we slept down the shelter, as everybody did.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17And the Luftwaffe was rearranging the streets of London every night.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22- The architecture was changing at every moment.- 'We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.'
0:08:22 > 0:08:25I had a job at a glove-cutter.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29I was cutting the little snippets they'd sew the gloves together with.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33I always had a pair of shears in my hand, except for three months in London.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37They needed messenger boys who had bikes
0:08:37 > 0:08:41to take messages from the city to the docks.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46My mother had remarried - Nathan G, Nathan Goldberg, a great guy.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49He got me a bike and that got me a job.
0:08:49 > 0:08:56The job was fascinating because the streets were blocked and buildings were down
0:08:56 > 0:08:59and I was riding this bike at 14, having fun.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02You began to feel like a war hero.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06'And in the streets. We shall fight in the hills.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08'We shall never surrender.'
0:09:08 > 0:09:12My mother was always concerned. "Son, you've got to learn a trade."
0:09:12 > 0:09:16She said, "I've had a premonition." "What's that, Mother?"
0:09:16 > 0:09:22She said, "You're going to be a hairdresser." I said, "I'm going to be what?" She said, "A hairdresser."
0:09:22 > 0:09:28So she walked me by the hand to a man called Adolph Cohen in Whitechapel Road.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34Whitechapel is the heart of the ghetto. There was this wonderful little man, no more than five feet.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36He asked for 100 guineas.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Now, that was 100 pounds and 100 shillings in those days
0:09:40 > 0:09:43which was an impossible figure.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46My mother said, "We don't have 100 buttons."
0:09:46 > 0:09:52I was kind of smiling because I was relieved. I wasn't going to be a hairdresser.
0:09:52 > 0:09:57I went to the door, opened it for my mother and ushered her through. I doffed a cap.
0:09:57 > 0:10:03He followed us out. He said, "You seem to have rather good manners, young man. Start Monday."
0:10:03 > 0:10:08He looked at my mum and said, "Let's forget the fee." So my apprenticeship cost nothing.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12# Gay lady, Mayfair in the morning
0:10:12 > 0:10:16# Hear your footsteps echo in the empty street... #
0:10:16 > 0:10:20I was apprentice for two years with Adolph.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24He was a disciplinarian and I think that had an enormous effect
0:10:24 > 0:10:30on my sense of how we should progress in our craft.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Extraordinary man. Pressed trousers every morning, clean nails, clean shoes.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39In the middle of a war! How was that possible?
0:10:39 > 0:10:42# ..of London town... #
0:10:42 > 0:10:47You've got to remember I lived in times where there was a lot of evil intent,
0:10:47 > 0:10:54you know, with fascism and being a Jewish kid and getting into all kinds of problems in that area.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59We'd seen the films of Buchenwald, Auschwitz. In Treblinka,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03they found 60,000 pairs of children's shoes, but no children.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Mosley came out of jail with the fascists and they put on their uniforms again,
0:11:08 > 0:11:13doing exactly the same thing. You couldn't deal with them on an intellectual level.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19It was street fighting. And a group of ex-servicemen started an anti-fascist group.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24And I swear, within a year, the streets were cleaned of fascists.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Youngsters like myself, we joined. We were given all the information -
0:11:28 > 0:11:33where they would be, where they had their meetings. We'd do some damage.
0:11:33 > 0:11:39'Then the Mosleyites move into London to hold a rally in Dalston, scene of many Mosley riots in pre-war days.'
0:11:39 > 0:11:44There was always this sense of having to prove something to myself.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48It was a very personal thing.
0:11:49 > 0:11:55Oh, I once came to work bruised on one side. Someone had hit me with a ring.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00As I walked in, a client said, "Good God, what happened to your face?"
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I said, "Nothing, madam. I just tripped over a hairpin."
0:12:03 > 0:12:08After the Holocaust, you couldn't just sit at home and allow these thugs
0:12:08 > 0:12:15to run around London screaming, "We've got to get rid of the yids." They already got rid of six million.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19'In May of 1948, a new Jewish state, Israel, was born in a bath of blood.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23'Jewish troops routed Arab forces from the city of Haifa
0:12:23 > 0:12:27'in the first of many battles that would reverberate through the years.'
0:12:27 > 0:12:31I found the concept of going to Israel so fascinating
0:12:31 > 0:12:36that I put my name down and spent probably one of the great years of my life.
0:12:36 > 0:12:41I found myself there as a human being. I didn't think of the great tragedy of war.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44I just thought as a kid it was an adventure.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It became a state in May '48. I didn't get there until July.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00We were in the Palmach, which was a forward unit.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04There were some tough times when comrades were killed or wounded.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08It was a fascinating experience being with those people
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and sharing what I shared there.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Before I went to Israel, I didn't know who I was.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20As a Jew, you're a minority in every European country.
0:13:20 > 0:13:27It was the first time that I could truly say I found a sense of dignity as a human being.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30It's a very spiritual happening, being in the desert.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And the desert has a way of making you bend to its will.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39Looking up at the stars at night, you often wondered what are you going to do with your life?
0:13:39 > 0:13:43The only thing that I knew how to do was hairdressing
0:13:43 > 0:13:46and at that time, I wasn't very good at that.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52If I had to be in hairdressing, because I had no other way of earning a living,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56the craft would have to change or I would.
0:13:57 > 0:14:04He came back from Israel and went to study at the most famous hairdresser in London. His name was Raymond.
0:14:04 > 0:14:10'No mention of art could be complete without reference to the age-old study of beauty culture
0:14:10 > 0:14:15'and the name that has become synonymous with the grooming of beautiful women - Raymond.'
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Well, he was more than a character.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21He had no shame.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26He would do things that were so outrageous.
0:14:27 > 0:14:33He once rode down the course at Ascot during Ascot week in a pink morning suit.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35It was in all the newspapers.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I mean, he did things like that.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44Well, I'm wearing what I call conservative blue and it's a Regency style.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48I think men have been in mourning since the death of Prince Albert.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Through the years, they've been drab
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and they have been what I would term, um...
0:14:55 > 0:15:00the butterfly, as it were, coming out of the chrysalis amongst the cabbages.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Marvellous man. And he had a small pair of scissors.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08He pruned the hair and shaped it. He angled the hair.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11And he got some lovely, lovely work.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16He'd come in with the scissors and moustache, the hair, the whole bit.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20When he walked into the salon, nobody looked at anybody else.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24It was pure charisma. What he could do with scissors was tremendous.
0:15:24 > 0:15:31He taught me how to cut hair with just a pair of scissors. No thinning shears, no razors. Just scissors.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Then I had to put the geometry to it. That was later.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40There was this change happening and Vidal was doing things that they weren't doing.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Raymond was cutting sharp,
0:15:43 > 0:15:48but I think after Vidal came out of Raymond
0:15:48 > 0:15:53and went to Bond Street, he was cutting even sharper.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58I didn't have a picture of what hair should be,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01but I had a definite picture of what hair shouldn't be.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05There were eight people in the whole company at that time.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The type of work that people know us for did not exist.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14At that time, we were doing more what I would term the traditional side of hairdressing.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20You set hair, you teased it and put it in place and if it didn't stay for a week, you were in big trouble.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25In '54, he was really starting to experiment
0:16:25 > 0:16:28and look for where his direction was going.
0:16:28 > 0:16:34Some days, if the cut wasn't going right, he'd leave the building and we wouldn't see him again.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39When clients would touch their hair, they would touch it and say, "That looks nice."
0:16:39 > 0:16:43But before they could get "that looks nice" out,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Vidal would smash them on the knuckles with a comb.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49I was a naughty boy.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52When I was frustrated about the work,
0:16:52 > 0:16:58I actually did once throw my scissors in the air and they stuck in the ceiling,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01so I took it as an omen and went to Paris for two weeks,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05but then came back. That's the only time I did that.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10Other times, I'd throw the brush down and go for a walk,
0:17:10 > 0:17:14come back half an hour later, having given myself a good talking-to.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19And for me, it was about being the best I could at what I did.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23And when it wasn't going well, it was frustrating.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28There were times at the end of the day when it wasn't a good day
0:17:28 > 0:17:33and I had no-one to turn to because we were trying to do something totally different.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39And I'd sit at the end of the day very often listening to Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue or Mahler's 8th.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44MUSIC: "8th Symphony" - Mahler
0:17:48 > 0:17:53And sit alone and ponder, "How do you change something?"
0:17:53 > 0:17:57But when you found something...
0:17:57 > 0:17:59suddenly...
0:17:59 > 0:18:03I don't know, you lit up like a beacon,
0:18:03 > 0:18:10there was a sense of, "This is new, this is going to be special."
0:18:12 > 0:18:16We were drawing the attention of people
0:18:16 > 0:18:23that wanted to see who is this guy who refuses to back-comb and he won't even do what we ask him to do.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28He tells you he's going to do what he thinks is good for you.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34I didn't want to do hairdressing the way it was done. I just didn't want to do it and I wouldn't.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39If I couldn't change things from hairdressing
0:18:39 > 0:18:43to what I considered would be a different form of art...
0:18:43 > 0:18:46You see, hairdressing was an art form.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51People like Alexander or Raymond were superb, Guillaume. Wonderful work.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54There was wonderful work being done in London,
0:18:54 > 0:19:00but when I looked at the architecture, the structure of buildings going up worldwide,
0:19:00 > 0:19:03and you saw a whole different look in shape,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07my sense was hairdressing definitely needed to be changing.
0:19:14 > 0:19:21Great architects was where I came from. That was my inspiration - the Bauhaus, architecture.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39For me, hair meant geometry, angles of bone structure,
0:19:39 > 0:19:45cutting uneven shapes, as long as it suited that face and that bone structure.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06So it meant in essence getting away from the old-fashioned...
0:20:06 > 0:20:11I say "old-fashioned", but very pretty. I can't knock it. It was beautiful hairdressing.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13But it wasn't for me.
0:20:18 > 0:20:25I wanted to eliminate the superfluous and get down to the basic angles of cut and shape.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45It took nine years - '54 to '63.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48It took nine years.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52They were probably the most exciting nine years of my creative life.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58And I don't know how we got there because there were many lonely down times
0:20:58 > 0:21:04when I'd sit in my flat and think, "I'm wasting my time."
0:21:04 > 0:21:10Elaine, his first wife, ran the desk and was absolutely incredible and wonderful.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Elaine, what a darling!
0:21:12 > 0:21:15I was 28, she was 21.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21It was the most important thing in my life in a sense. Not the salon itself, the work.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It was the most important thing in my life.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30I was so busy with my work that she fell in love with a ski instructor, because I used to water-ski.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38And in the final analysis, I felt it was much better for two people to be happy than three unhappy.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44He recreated himself. He wanted to be a success.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48He tried to get into Raymond's a few times.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51He walked in with his Cockney accent.
0:21:51 > 0:21:57The imperial-looking receptionist looked down at him and said, "You'd better learn to speak English first."
0:21:57 > 0:22:00There was a lot of work to be done.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04You leave school at 14, "Hello, darlin'." You're talking a bit like that.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07You've got all that Cockney stuff going on.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13When I tried to get a job with a Cockney accent when I was a kid, nobody would employ me in Mayfair.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- People said, "Take elocution classes."- Did you?- Of course.
0:22:17 > 0:22:23I went to Iris Warren and she said, "I work with actors, not hairdressers."
0:22:23 > 0:22:29I said, "Thank you." She said, "No, no, be at The Old Vic on Thursday at two o'clock."
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I turned up at The Old Vic.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36She said, "Up on the stage.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40"Do you see something there that you can read on a podium?"
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I said, "Yes."
0:22:43 > 0:22:46She said, "Enunciate." Just the one word.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49And there was something for me to read.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51So I enunciated.
0:22:51 > 0:22:57And she said, "My God, it's bloody awful, but I think I can do something with you."
0:22:57 > 0:23:03So for three years when I was in town, I wasn't out doing shows, I was going to Iris Warren.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08She was working on the vowels and it does work, it does help.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13And it wasn't just the production of voice, it was when to keep it low,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18when to bring the audience in and when to motivate your audience.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20It was totally fascinating.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24It gave me the sense anyway that I could speak to a crowd of people
0:23:24 > 0:23:29and bring them into what I was saying and have them understand.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32It's proved incredibly valuable.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Had I gone to college, I would have definitely been an architect.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39That would have been my dream.
0:23:39 > 0:23:431954, we were in a very small salon. I was 26 then.
0:23:43 > 0:23:49And after two years, it became far too small. It was a walk-up on the third floor literally.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Then we moved to a much larger salon
0:23:53 > 0:23:58in Bond Street, the posh end as they'd say.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01First, we did a white salon with a black boutique,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04and then later, he turned the whole salon into brown
0:24:04 > 0:24:07with just steel bars in the front.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12It didn't look like a hairdressing salon. It looked like a modern art gallery.
0:24:13 > 0:24:20As we were changing everything, let's change salons as well, so we changed the look of the salon.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24It was modern and open. You could see from the street into the salon.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27In those days, that was very unusual.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31That people would be seen getting their hair done was a revolution.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34There was a mezzanine floor with all these women standing.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Hundreds of people. It was difficult to get to the receptionist
0:24:38 > 0:24:40as so many people were in the shop.
0:24:40 > 0:24:47'In his glossy salons, boys from the suburbs give their long-suffering customers not what they want,
0:24:47 > 0:24:53- 'but what Vidal Sassoon believes they should have.'- You're not going to cut my hair forward, are you?
0:24:53 > 0:24:57Linda, when you came in, I noticed that your hair was combed back.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Yes, I like it to go back. It's more flattering.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04- Why do you want it to go back? - It gives me height up there.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10- All you're worried about is height? - Yes.- Not the fact that it goes back or forward?- It always goes back.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14We don't go for what you've always had. Listen to me one moment.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19When you came in, because your hair was combed back and grows forward,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21what you were getting here was a part,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24but it was an unintentional part.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28My feeling is that if your hair is shaped the way it grows...
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Now listen.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36If it's shaped the way it grows and you have your height put into it,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41right across the head, you'll get a much more defined and better shape.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47- You'll get all the height you need and the shape of the head will look better. Try it this way.- All right.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53I'm going to cut it in a way that if you feel you'd still like it cut back, you can take it back.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Vidal would walk in the salon and everybody would be working.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00There would be quite a buzz, but he'd walk in
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and suddenly, there'd be a bit of a hush
0:26:03 > 0:26:06until he got his first client in the chair
0:26:06 > 0:26:10and his assistant was there with his scissors and his combs,
0:26:10 > 0:26:14and then the tempo would pick back up again as he got going.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19"All right, he's settled, he's crimping. We're in. We're on again."
0:26:19 > 0:26:25Do you always insist on giving people what you think is right, rather than what they ask for?
0:26:25 > 0:26:30The work is technical, but on the other hand, it is instinctive as well.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36If your instincts tell you that what you're doing is wrong, you mustn't do it because you'll make a bad job.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- I think that makes sense in anything.- It takes a long time to grow out.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44- If somebody complains, you're really in trouble.- That's true.
0:26:44 > 0:26:50I think that people that try to do something a little different more often go out on a limb
0:26:50 > 0:26:52if you're not trying to be safe.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57But if you're more progressive and get more done, it works that way.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02His creativity was at epic level.
0:27:02 > 0:27:09He was just... Everything he did, every section he took, he was like a piece of art in motion.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14There was something magic about what Vidal was because he would dance,
0:27:14 > 0:27:20he would move, he would sweat, he would make faces. He would cut hair - snip, snip, snip, snip!
0:27:20 > 0:27:26Vidal was in his patent leather slippers with his tight trousers.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29He was dancing round the chair, pulling faces.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Do you have one particular kind of style that you put over every year
0:27:33 > 0:27:36or is it just anything that suits anybody?
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Well, that's a difficult one to answer.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45I think each year we try to bring out something, we try to innovate something a little different.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51This is all right for somebody my age, but what about someone 20 years older? It can't work for everyone.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55You'd be amazed how with every line, whether it be hair or clothes,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58a client will take something from it.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03There's always something they can take from it, even if they don't have the actual line.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08There must be an awful lot of mutton turned out as lamb from here in that case.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12I'm going to let you stew in that one. I'm not going to answer it.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16- LAUGHTER - I hope you're not snipping too much off in revenge!
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Vidal made everybody nervous, especially me.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I would feel instantly sweat coming all over me.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Your hands would start shaking.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28We were told never to call the clients "madam",
0:28:28 > 0:28:31always to call the clients "madame".
0:28:31 > 0:28:37We were told to open the door for the client, get the taxi for the client, get lunch for the client.
0:28:37 > 0:28:45He would not tolerate anything that wasn't up to scratch.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50And if you didn't look the part, that's it, you went, you were out the door.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55One time he sent me home because my shoes were not polished.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57He was very strict.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02Every time I assisted him, if I got distracted for a second,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06he would take his comb, snap it on my hand and say, "Pay attention."
0:29:06 > 0:29:13For Vidal to check your haircut was the end of life because you knew he would find something wrong with it,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18because nobody could do a haircut to the perfection of Vidal.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20So he would pick the hair up and...
0:29:20 > 0:29:25And he'd go over this haircut and he'd say, "You've got to get it right
0:29:25 > 0:29:31"and you've got to pull the hair, put tension on the hair and move your body. Cut it again!"
0:29:31 > 0:29:36I knew we were getting there. We weren't there, but we were getting there.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42I got a call from a film production company - would I cut Nancy Kwan's hair?
0:29:45 > 0:29:47And she'd just made a great film
0:29:47 > 0:29:51with William Holden which was a big success.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54She came in, gorgeous girl,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57with four feet of hair down her back.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01Her producer, her manager, the whole team took over the second floor.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04And I started to carve into this head of hair.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08And I saw that by bringing the back up slightly
0:30:08 > 0:30:13and keeping the length at the sides,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18not four feet, but keeping length at the sides,
0:30:18 > 0:30:23you'd get a great angle from the side and she could shake it and it would fall in.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Well, she was petrified.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30She played chess with her manager while all this... She couldn't look.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33And I'm seeing something.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38And I said to my assistant, "Would you please get Terence Donovan on the phone?"
0:30:38 > 0:30:40So Terry gets on the line.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45"Terry, I think we've got something. I'm working on Nancy Kwan now.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49"I'd like to bring her in this evening. Can we work tonight?"
0:30:49 > 0:30:52He said, "Yes."
0:30:52 > 0:30:57And the architectural sense of what we were doing, making a statement...
0:30:57 > 0:31:00That's what mattered - making a statement.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03And he got it off perfectly.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07That picture went from American Vogue to English Vogue to Italian...
0:31:07 > 0:31:11It went to all the Vogues, then the papers picked it up.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14I knew then we were on to something.
0:31:17 > 0:31:23I think the 5-Point was probably the most famous haircut, the most photographed.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27The model in the 5-Point haircut is Grace Coddington
0:31:27 > 0:31:32who went on to become Creative Director at American Vogue and has been for a long time.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36At the time, I had hair a little bit longer than it is now.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Vidal was like super smooth and he had this gentle voice.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44And he sort of sat me down. And I guess he liked my hair
0:31:44 > 0:31:46because he started cutting it.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49There were great joyful moments,
0:31:49 > 0:31:53especially, you know, when the 5-Point cut really worked.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58Clare Rendlesham gave it the middle of Queen - two pages.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06And those were exciting moments, but the lead up to it could be terribly frustrating.
0:32:08 > 0:32:14The 5-Point cut for me was the epitome of nine years of work that led up to it.
0:32:15 > 0:32:21It was the last cut of geometry
0:32:21 > 0:32:24that in essence covered the whole head
0:32:24 > 0:32:29because you had to create the points here,
0:32:29 > 0:32:35depending on bone structure, where it was on the individual character you were working on.
0:32:35 > 0:32:41And you used the centre point in the back of the head and the two at the side. You had five points.
0:32:41 > 0:32:48Then I remember feeling the back and feeling that it's cut right up into the hairline.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54That was pretty revolutionary. It finished and he said, "Stand up. OK, shake it."
0:32:54 > 0:32:58And you know, it was... It was extraordinary.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02The thing about it was that the hair itself
0:33:02 > 0:33:08when it was brushed any way or you put your fingers through it, had to fall back perfectly.
0:33:08 > 0:33:13The 5-Point cut was the essential geometric shape.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22He gave me the opportunity. He put me there.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28There was him and Mary Quant. They're kind of synonymous really with that moment.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32You know, I think the mini-skirt is very connected
0:33:32 > 0:33:35to Vidal and how he saw her.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Mary Quant was credited with creating the mini-skirt
0:33:41 > 0:33:44and this prolific outpouring of designs.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48She was walking down Bond Street and she looked at a little window.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51There was a photograph in it of a hairstyle and she loved it.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56She said, "I knew then and there that I wanted him to cut my hair."
0:33:56 > 0:33:58You came in in 1957.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02I don't know why, it wasn't a custom of mine,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06but it was the first time I cut your hair and I cut your ear!
0:34:06 > 0:34:09And you had all your staff watching!
0:34:10 > 0:34:15- And blood was...- You cut the lobe! Blood flying everywhere!
0:34:15 > 0:34:18- And you pretending... - That nothing happened.
0:34:18 > 0:34:24The Times newspaper brought out an article with nine pictures of how Mary Quant
0:34:24 > 0:34:31changed the Sixties. And I was fortunate enough to be there to, shall I say,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36- help you do it, Mary? - Vidal Sassoon changed hair forever!
0:34:36 > 0:34:39You put the top on it.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47I can remember it wasn't just your atelier in the King's Road.
0:34:47 > 0:34:53- The whole King's Road was your atelier. Do you remember one time... - The King's Road was a catwalk.
0:34:53 > 0:34:58- It was wonderful.- Time magazine on one side, Elle on the other.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02- The photographers were photographing each other across the road!- Almost.
0:35:02 > 0:35:08But in the Sixties, there was a mingling.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14- Yes.- There wasn't just the film celeb. Everybody had come to London to be creative,
0:35:14 > 0:35:20- whether they were actors, photographers... - That's right.- ..writers.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24- So London became that marvellous melting pot.- For everything.
0:35:24 > 0:35:32'A young woman has changed the dress ideas and outlook on clothes of the new generation - Mary Quant.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39'The artist in her sensed that millions of young girls longed for something different. So did she.'
0:35:39 > 0:35:46- Everything changed.- Everything.- The power, the meritocracy was youth. Youth, creativity, excitement.
0:35:46 > 0:35:52- They called it "youthquake". - Yeah. And you were the head of the youthquake!
0:35:52 > 0:35:55# This is the modern world
0:35:56 > 0:35:59# This is the modern world
0:36:01 > 0:36:05# What kind of fool do you think I am?
0:36:06 > 0:36:11# You think I know nothing about the modern world
0:36:13 > 0:36:16# All my life has been the same
0:36:16 > 0:36:23# I learned to live by hate and pain It's my inspiration drive
0:36:25 > 0:36:29# This is the modern world that I've learnt about
0:36:30 > 0:36:33# This is the modern world! #
0:36:33 > 0:36:39We were telling the public, "You haven't had this before. It's new. Try it."
0:36:39 > 0:36:45It was a bit difficult because in those days everybody had a great deal of hair. All the models did.
0:36:45 > 0:36:52We had a terrible job persuading these top-earning girls that it was worth having it all cut off.
0:36:52 > 0:36:57By three o'clock in the morning they were unable to work for anybody else!
0:36:58 > 0:37:03- I love this picture. - That's not clothes, darling. - No, but I love it.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07- Peggy Moffitt.- She was a hell of a girl, wasn't she?
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Peggy could, um...
0:37:10 > 0:37:13and did, act out every hair look.
0:37:13 > 0:37:19- Yes!- If she wore your clothes, you wouldn't see her for 10 minutes.
0:37:19 > 0:37:25- She'd be in the mirror doing all kind of strange moves. - New moves for a new dress, yes.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29- Then she'd get in front of the camera and wow!- Yes.- Magic.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Nobody had cut hair like that.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45You cut hair as we cut cloth.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49You cut it not only on the straight, but you also cut it on the cross.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54The most exciting clothes are cut on the cross. You cut hair that way.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58That's how you arrived at an amazing diagonal haircut.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02When you saw somebody dressed in a Quant outfit and Sassoon haircut,
0:38:02 > 0:38:08you didn't know if they were a countess or if they were someone who worked in a shop.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12That dramatically changed how people thought about Britain.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17It was no longer this hidebound, class-oriented society.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20And it changed how women thought about themselves.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24They were not only liberated sexually and socially in the 1960s.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28They were liberated through their clothes and haircuts.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34They were no longer having to go to the salon every week to have their hair permed and set and tweaked
0:38:34 > 0:38:41and back-combed. They could go into a wonderful Sassoon salon that was full of incredible energy
0:38:41 > 0:38:48and they could have a haircut that they could go out, wash once a week, twice a week,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50do it at home and look fantastic.
0:38:50 > 0:38:55The whole essence, the excitement of our creativity...
0:38:55 > 0:38:59And I say "our" because it's always teamwork.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Yes, I led it, but it was our excitement, our creativity.
0:39:03 > 0:39:09..was the changes. Those marvellous changes. We were on cloud nine.
0:39:09 > 0:39:16Peter O'Toole would drop in for a haircut. When Roman Polanski was in town, he'd come in.
0:39:16 > 0:39:22Polanski was doing a movie in London with Catherine Deneuve.
0:39:27 > 0:39:34Roman said, "I want to use the balcony of your salon. I just need it for the weekend."
0:39:34 > 0:39:40Well, he stayed five days. The clients loved it. There was Catherine Deneuve being filmed
0:39:40 > 0:39:46and we were working down here with our clients. And it was exciting. They found it fascinating.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51I guess he felt he owed me one because about six months later
0:39:51 > 0:39:58he calls me and said, "Hey, would you like to come and do Mia Farrow's hair for Rosemary's Baby?"
0:40:03 > 0:40:05It was quite a scene.
0:40:05 > 0:40:10Before we knew what was happening, I was cutting her hair.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16There was one guy under the chair photographing up. They were all over!
0:40:16 > 0:40:21Roman was in there. Suddenly Mia looks at the press and said,
0:40:21 > 0:40:26"What are you all doing here photographing a haircut
0:40:26 > 0:40:29"while the indigenous Americans are suffering?"
0:40:29 > 0:40:35This political thing was going on and I'm cutting the hair! This is absolutely crazy.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38It went into the movie.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43- My God!- It's Vidal Sassoon. It's very in.- What's wrong with you?
0:40:43 > 0:40:46- Do I look that bad?- Terrible!
0:40:46 > 0:40:48'It was absolutely nutty.'
0:40:48 > 0:40:54It was Hollywood. There was no question about it. It wouldn't happen anywhere else.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59I guess what it did was it brought the name to Middle America.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02The energy was quite extraordinary
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and that led to the sense of being international.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09You started your school.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13- Well, I...- Which I thought was the most generous thing.
0:41:13 > 0:41:20- But if people feel it's worthwhile, not only do they copy, but they want to learn how to do it.- Yes.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25So then you open an academy and they come from many different countries.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30- Particularly Japan and the Far East. - But also from all over Europe, Africa...- Everywhere.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37Yeah, from everywhere. And suddenly you're opening more and more academies and teaching your methods.
0:41:37 > 0:41:43That's what it was all about. If someone said, "What was the number one thing you left behind?"
0:41:43 > 0:41:48it was the teaching of others so they could take your work further.
0:41:48 > 0:41:55Once we opened the school and we had all these people coming in from Japan, Germany, you name it.
0:41:55 > 0:42:01Then, of course, New York happened. And...I came to America.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04# Cool town, evening in the city Dressed so fine and looking so pretty
0:42:04 > 0:42:09# Cool cat looking for a kitty Gonna look in every corner of the city
0:42:09 > 0:42:14# 'til I'm wheezing like a bus stop Running up the stairs Gonna meet you on the rooftop
0:42:14 > 0:42:19# But at night it's a different world Go out and find a girl... #
0:42:19 > 0:42:25New York, Pier Hotel. Crimpers would come in from everywhere, different countries.
0:42:25 > 0:42:31And I got these three girls and worked on them the day before and cut their hair
0:42:31 > 0:42:35and got the shapes as I wanted them. On Sunday, the press turned up.
0:42:35 > 0:42:42The press don't turn up on Sunday. The press turned up. We hit the front page of their beauty page.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47It was wild. Suddenly there we were in New York, in New York City,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50with a great salon on Madison Avenue.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58# Hot town, summer in the city Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
0:42:58 > 0:43:02# Been down, isn't it a pity Doesn't seem to be a shadow... #
0:43:02 > 0:43:09Lived in New York for 10 years. Lovely. Travelled with just a briefcase. We had a pad in London.
0:43:09 > 0:43:16A little apartment. And a little one in New York. So I was going back and forth.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20My life at the moment is so much on the move, which I find exciting.
0:43:20 > 0:43:26After I've been two months in London working, I get the urge to see how we're doing in New York
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and I go over there. If you ask if I'd like to live in Petticoat Lane,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34I wouldn't like to live in any one place for too long.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39What happened in America was we were the hairdressing Beatles.
0:43:39 > 0:43:45He took this team over to New York, which was revolutionary at that time because, God bless 'em,
0:43:45 > 0:43:52the Americans were a little behind with the hairdressing styles. They hadn't caught up yet.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57And that team, all looking like Beatles and mini skirts on the girls up to here,
0:43:57 > 0:44:00really was the word on the street.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05It just happened that, around about the Sixties,
0:44:05 > 0:44:07most of our guys were heterosexual.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12And I had to have staff meetings because I said, "Listen, fellas,
0:44:12 > 0:44:18"we're professionals. You've got to stop sleeping with the clients!"
0:44:18 > 0:44:24You've got to remember it was the days of extraordinary sexual freedoms.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27Penicillin cured everything!
0:44:27 > 0:44:29It was the wildest salon.
0:44:29 > 0:44:35All the hairdressers were really all pretty hot! Kind of like the movie Shampoo.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37It was all hands, everywhere.
0:44:37 > 0:44:44Vidal had beautiful girlfriends, always, and they always had, of course, gorgeous hair!
0:44:44 > 0:44:50Vidal had become a major celebrity. He was on talk shows, Mike Douglas, he was on The Tonight Show,
0:44:50 > 0:44:54he was the mystery guest on What's My Line?
0:44:54 > 0:45:00We'll let the audience at home know exactly what your name is and what your line is.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11- Do you represent men's fashions in England?- Do you have...
0:45:11 > 0:45:15anything to do with handling fabrics?
0:45:15 > 0:45:20- Mr X, do you have anything to do with hair?- Yes!
0:45:20 > 0:45:24- Oh, it's Sassoon!- That's right!
0:45:24 > 0:45:27APPLAUSE
0:45:29 > 0:45:35- Actually, I came here this time not to work, but to marry an American girl.- Ah!
0:45:35 > 0:45:41We moved probably the summer of '68. We were going back and forth for some time.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45But it was about a year and a half after we got married
0:45:45 > 0:45:52that we moved to New York and then Catya, our daughter, was born in 1968.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55All the kids were born in New York.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04We lived in a little apartment, so it was an interesting time.
0:46:04 > 0:46:09He was a good dad and he used to come home in the middle of the day
0:46:09 > 0:46:15and pick up one of the kids and take them on his shoulders to Central Park, you know.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19And he was very much involved with being a father.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22I was in New York until I was three.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26He used to take me and my older sister out
0:46:26 > 0:46:32and throw me on his shoulders and run around the city. That's one of my first memories.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38'A hairdresser's life is not all frills, perfume and half a crown slipped in a back pocket.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43'For Sassoon, the next best thing to a well-cut head is a well-built body.'
0:46:43 > 0:46:51Always take time out to look after yourself. Always. If your body is not right, your mind will react.
0:46:51 > 0:46:58If your mind isn't right, your body will react. You have to work on developing the mind if you can.
0:46:58 > 0:47:04The only thing I regret not having is four years at a great college to expand the mind to take in more.
0:47:04 > 0:47:10But, physically, I was always swimming. I always made sure I worked out,
0:47:10 > 0:47:15took massage. And it worked for me. I could work 14 hours a day.
0:47:15 > 0:47:22I think in any industry or craft, art, you need to spend more time at it
0:47:22 > 0:47:24if you want to become good.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29It's not a 9 to 5 thing. It could be a 14-hour day,
0:47:29 > 0:47:35by the time you finish with your models. Then you work the following day. I was very careful with food.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37I exercised, always have.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46So it's important to stretch the back out as far as you can.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50Stretch it out. Stretch it out. Stretch it out.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54It's a wonderful feeling to have the agility
0:47:56 > 0:47:59not quite of your youth, obviously,
0:47:59 > 0:48:03but nevertheless have the agility to move like a younger person.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08And I love this. I think this stretching is marvellous.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13I started doing pilates about 25 years ago. Some of these stretches come from it.
0:48:13 > 0:48:18- Bring your legs up, get them out straight... - APPLAUSE
0:48:18 > 0:48:20..bring them in, out.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24One leg out and...
0:48:24 > 0:48:26..here we go again.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33- How old are you?- 55. - Not bad, is it?
0:48:33 > 0:48:40I'm immediately attracted and fascinated by marvellous hair. And the people that wear it!
0:48:40 > 0:48:46We call it Sassooning. I'm Vidal Sassoon and if you don't look good, we don't look good.
0:48:46 > 0:48:53Vidal said, "I want to figure out a way to earn a living while other people are sleeping."
0:48:53 > 0:48:56The obvious was products.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Quite simply, we feel there are four steps to beautiful hair.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05'I met a man called Don Sullivan and we talked about developing a product company.
0:49:05 > 0:49:11'Totally simple, totally different. I was about as excited about the packaging
0:49:11 > 0:49:13'as I was about the products.'
0:49:14 > 0:49:20But it changed an industry - his way of working and his way of thinking.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Hairdressers bringing out products today must remember he was first.
0:49:24 > 0:49:30He had this worldwide, billion-dollar product enterprise, which again is very far-seeing.
0:49:32 > 0:49:38The salons were growing, the schools were growing, England was growing, Europe was growing.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45Our biggest success was in Japan,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49China. They loved it. They absolutely loved it.
0:49:55 > 0:50:01# It's really great to look your best More beautiful each day
0:50:01 > 0:50:06# With silky, sexy, shiny hair The Vidal Sassoon way
0:50:06 > 0:50:12# Cos if you don't look good We don't look good We take pride in you
0:50:12 > 0:50:18# If you don't look good We don't look good Vidal Sassoon! #
0:50:18 > 0:50:24It seems like it happened overnight, but it took so long to get the products off the ground
0:50:24 > 0:50:28and build a company. We eventually moved from New York to California.
0:50:28 > 0:50:32We thought maybe it would be an easier lifestyle for the kids.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39I was concerned about it because I grew up here
0:50:39 > 0:50:43and I've seen a lot of marriages go under.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47I don't know if you can blame Los Angeles, but I had a fear.
0:50:47 > 0:50:54# Yeah, the summer of last year... #
0:50:55 > 0:50:58It went very swimmingly for a while.
0:50:58 > 0:51:04We were doing things that were quite extraordinary. We had a best-selling book.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10It was number three in the country, the book. It was one of the first of its kind.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16Beverly was terrific with yoga and there's marvellous pictures of her doing yoga.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22Of course, I was always into exercise. We were very much into foods that kept us healthy.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25And our lifestyle.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29We portrayed that in a book. People seemed to like it.
0:51:29 > 0:51:35People wanted to buy it. It actually sold 300,000 copies in the first year.
0:51:35 > 0:51:40And in 18 months, 400,000 copies were sold.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44It's pretty extraordinary for a health book.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50They're going to co-host the show. Here are two people whose life makes them truly beautiful people -
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Vidal and Beverly Sassoon. Welcome them, please.
0:51:57 > 0:52:03'She was excellent on television. And when we worked the country with the book,
0:52:03 > 0:52:08'she was pretty terrific. She really knew her stuff.'
0:52:08 > 0:52:15This TV station was putting together a week of TV programming and every night they had a different couple.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Wednesday is...
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Vidal Sassoon
0:52:21 > 0:52:24and Beverly Sassoon!
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Your hosts tonight on the Monday through Friday Show.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35- Aha! This is...- Good evening. - This is going to be a fun evening.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40- I have a great feeling about it. Go ahead.- What do you think, folks?
0:52:40 > 0:52:42This is George Hamilton's pyjamas.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48'We enjoyed it. We did many, many episodes. It was very successful.'
0:52:48 > 0:52:50# Your new day
0:52:50 > 0:52:53# It's your new day... #
0:52:53 > 0:52:58I was offered a show. I did 200 of them. Had some marvellous guests.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Here he is - Vidal Sassoon!
0:53:01 > 0:53:08- What's your question? - What is the price of a "Vital Sasson" hairstyle?- A Vital...?!
0:53:08 > 0:53:10I don't want anybody else!
0:53:10 > 0:53:16- Jumping and keeping in shape. - I wouldn't miss this opportunity. Here goes.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18Well, I was going to...
0:53:18 > 0:53:20APPLAUSE
0:53:20 > 0:53:23'I was having a ball,'
0:53:23 > 0:53:28except I was neglecting what I'd started.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34The products were going, but there was no one out there promoting them.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37I had to make a big decision after 200 shows.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40I couldn't desert my own company.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Thank you, Vidal.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46You've changed, Vidal.
0:53:46 > 0:53:53- Thank you, Vidal.- Because you use more styling products, it's harder to get your hair clean and sexy.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59- New advanced salon formula! - ALL: Thank you, Vidal!- If you don't look good, we don't look good!
0:53:59 > 0:54:03I think the moving from New York to LA
0:54:03 > 0:54:09it was very good for products, but it wasn't a very good move, family-wise.
0:54:09 > 0:54:17In the red section, international style setter, there he is, Mr Vidal Sassoon and Beverly Sassoon!
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I think it suddenly struck her,
0:54:21 > 0:54:28the lack of her own identity. It all became a wee bit too much for her emotionally.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33I'm pretty much non-confrontational. I don't like it.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39If I had learned that then, I'd have been able to maybe deal with some of Vidal's behaviour
0:54:39 > 0:54:43and some of what I perceived to be his anger directed towards me.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48But that's eventually what drove me away.
0:54:50 > 0:54:55I think one of the most difficult periods for me,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59personally, was the divorce.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10We had three children in New York, we'd adopted David in Los Angeles.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17Adopting David, he was three years old.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22I think my past had something to do with that.
0:55:22 > 0:55:28Growing up in an orphanage, it would be nice, wouldn't it, if you took a young child,
0:55:28 > 0:55:31joined with our family?
0:55:35 > 0:55:40The divorce really affected me and affected my judgment.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44I made certain decisions I may not have made
0:55:44 > 0:55:48had I not been in the state of mind I was in at the time.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52I guess, had I had it all to do again,
0:55:52 > 0:55:57I would not have been seduced to sell the product company.
0:56:04 > 0:56:11Vidal was absolutely the creator of the celebrity-endorsed hair product line.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16He did not intend for it to go mass, but it did very quickly.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20It was in such demand that it was uncontrollable,
0:56:20 > 0:56:22so he went with it.
0:56:22 > 0:56:28Then a company came along - and I'm not mentioning names here -
0:56:28 > 0:56:32but a company came along... Richardson-Vicks it was, actually.
0:56:32 > 0:56:39And with all kinds of promises about, "We're going international. You're our only line.
0:56:39 > 0:56:46"And we'll take over. You'll go out and do shows in different countries."
0:56:46 > 0:56:48They really wound me up.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51And we went with Richardson-Vicks.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56Of course, about a year and a half later, they sold out to Procter and Gamble.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00So all their fancy stories were at an end.
0:57:10 > 0:57:17You can't go through life, you cannot, it's impossible to go through life on a fairy tale.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21Something that just happens and it's all marvellous.
0:57:21 > 0:57:27The downs come and you've got to steel yourself.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Five years ago,
0:57:36 > 0:57:41New Year's Eve, my daughter Catya, my eldest girl,
0:57:41 > 0:57:46who I absolutely adored, she was very special to me,
0:57:46 > 0:57:48er...she OD'd.
0:57:49 > 0:57:51And, um...
0:57:53 > 0:57:58..it was the worst moment. They called me New Year's Day
0:57:58 > 0:58:02and said she'd passed away that night before.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10Many parents have gone through this and they know the feeling.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14It's a hard one to work through. Yeah.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18I'll never enjoy a New Year's Day
0:58:20 > 0:58:25and I'll walk away and get lost somewhere and come back on January 2nd.
0:58:29 > 0:58:34If you read Vidal's life, it would read as if it was quite tough.
0:58:34 > 0:58:40He took what was presented and used it to motivate himself. Absolutely.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43That's part of his legacy as well.
0:58:43 > 0:58:47That you can, in fact, grow up in tough times.
0:58:47 > 0:58:51You can create a path that hasn't been created.
0:58:51 > 0:58:56You can do something new in any field and you can help people.
0:58:59 > 0:59:04- What have you got there? - This is the book.- The book?
0:59:04 > 0:59:10- This is essentially your life on the wall.- I don't know if I want to see it!
0:59:10 > 0:59:12Well, you've lived it.
0:59:12 > 0:59:17- Wow.- Pretty impressive, isn't it? - Yeah, it really is.
0:59:18 > 0:59:24'You get to a certain point in your life and aware that each day is a special day
0:59:24 > 0:59:28'because you understand there are less of them to come.
0:59:28 > 0:59:32'And I think he's very, very, very aware of that.'
0:59:40 > 0:59:45I have made him and his family a home
0:59:45 > 0:59:49and he has expanded my horizons.
0:59:49 > 0:59:54He is... He has shown me more of the world.
0:59:54 > 0:59:58'And he's shown me what one individual can do for the world.'
0:59:58 > 1:00:02'I met Ronnie... Actually, I was 62.
1:00:02 > 1:00:07- HE CHUCKLES - 'And she was a delightful thirty...something.
1:00:07 > 1:00:13'There's something about her that is hard to describe. A fascination. I've been fascinated ever since.
1:00:13 > 1:00:21'Before I met Ronnie, I'd finished with women. To be with a woman permanently was never happening.
1:00:21 > 1:00:24'She came along and my life changed.
1:00:24 > 1:00:28'Ronnie, because of a very good mind
1:00:28 > 1:00:35'and a fascination for new things, has made my life so much more interesting. No question about it.'
1:00:36 > 1:00:38Oh, wow.
1:00:38 > 1:00:40CHEERING
1:00:42 > 1:00:45You look lovely, all of you.
1:00:45 > 1:00:47Lovely. Shake it.
1:00:47 > 1:00:52'He has the most incredible political conscience
1:00:52 > 1:00:55'of anyone that I've known.'
1:00:55 > 1:01:02He loves the idea of generosity and a community. He loves the idea of giving something back.
1:01:02 > 1:01:08We're involved in something truly exciting in New Orleans.
1:01:08 > 1:01:15I think the soul of America is at risk. There's so many areas where greed has taken over,
1:01:15 > 1:01:18where mistakes have been made.
1:01:18 > 1:01:26What's happened in New Orleans is a total disregard for the fundamental human instincts.
1:01:26 > 1:01:28275,000 people
1:01:28 > 1:01:30wiped out.
1:01:30 > 1:01:33No homes. Under water. Wiped out.
1:01:34 > 1:01:40The government that says, "We're not in the real estate business." What an outrage!
1:01:40 > 1:01:46I became so angered at this and said, "Look, let's get the hairdressing craft behind this."
1:01:46 > 1:01:50He's given so much to hairstylists of the world,
1:01:50 > 1:01:54Hairdressers Unlocking Hope was a way for them to support him
1:01:54 > 1:01:59- and with their help he was able to build 23 houses. - 'This is not charity.
1:01:59 > 1:02:04'This is the feeling for our fellow citizens who are in need.
1:02:04 > 1:02:09'Philanthropy from an individual point of view is absolutely essential.
1:02:09 > 1:02:16'It also gives you a spiritual awareness that I can't get from religions any more.
1:02:18 > 1:02:23'Tomorrow's going to be a day that's never happened to me before.
1:02:23 > 1:02:25'Actually going to the Palace
1:02:26 > 1:02:29'to receive a CBE from the Queen.
1:02:29 > 1:02:33'The more I think about it, the more I sense
1:02:33 > 1:02:40'that the tribute belongs to the craft. It truly belongs to all those people
1:02:40 > 1:02:45'that have helped me so much in the development of our craft.
1:02:45 > 1:02:51'I would love to see some young person with enormous energy create something new,
1:02:51 > 1:02:53'create something different.
1:02:55 > 1:03:02'When everybody tells you, the doubters tell you it can't be done, you'll go broke
1:03:02 > 1:03:07'or all kinds of tragedies will come your way, nonsense.'
1:03:09 > 1:03:14Sassoon's effect was so far-ranging, the geometry of it,
1:03:14 > 1:03:22that you would probably have said it was the iPod of its day. It was the Apple. Design, design, design.
1:03:33 > 1:03:37Every single hairdresser owes that guy something.
1:03:37 > 1:03:41It's not just the geometric haircut we have to thank him for.
1:03:41 > 1:03:44It's today's hairdressing.
1:03:45 > 1:03:48Vidal Sassoon, it's a kind of...
1:03:48 > 1:03:54blueprint to me of sort of modern hairdressing.
1:03:54 > 1:04:00The images that I saw when I walked into the salon the first time, the pictures on the wall,
1:04:00 > 1:04:03are still a part of my library.
1:04:03 > 1:04:10- He revolutionised not just hair, but fashion.- I think it's recognised how important Vidal has been
1:04:10 > 1:04:12to fashion history.
1:04:12 > 1:04:18That in itself, the influence of that fashion and the whole persona with the hairdo and makeup
1:04:18 > 1:04:23had a huge influence on architecture, design in general,
1:04:23 > 1:04:27furniture, films. Our whole visual world.
1:04:27 > 1:04:31Here was a hairdresser doing something incredibly important.
1:04:31 > 1:04:35Those hairstyles, as iconic as they are, live on.
1:04:35 > 1:04:41How amazing that they're still as relevant now as they were when they were created.
1:04:41 > 1:04:45This started a revolution and it led into
1:04:45 > 1:04:49the real revolution, which was letting hair be.
1:04:49 > 1:04:54Every straight bob is still done in the spirit of Sassoon.
1:04:56 > 1:05:01The shapes can come and go, but what he gave to women,
1:05:01 > 1:05:09the way he probably liberated women, is bigger than just being a hairdresser.
1:05:12 > 1:05:17If you can get to the root of who you are, the gut of who you are,
1:05:17 > 1:05:22and make something happen from it, in whatever field,
1:05:24 > 1:05:28my sense is you're going to surprise yourself.
1:05:40 > 1:05:43# It's wonderful
1:05:43 > 1:05:45# It's marvellous
1:05:45 > 1:05:50# That you would care for me
1:05:50 > 1:05:53# It's very nice
1:05:53 > 1:05:55# It's paradise
1:05:55 > 1:06:02# It's all I want to see
1:06:02 > 1:06:06# You made my life so glamorous
1:06:07 > 1:06:11# Don't blame me for feeling amorous
1:06:11 > 1:06:13# It's wonderful
1:06:13 > 1:06:17# It's marvellous
1:06:17 > 1:06:20# That you would care
1:06:21 > 1:06:24# For me
1:07:02 > 1:07:04# It's wonderful
1:07:04 > 1:07:07# It's marvellous
1:07:07 > 1:07:11# That you would care for me
1:07:13 > 1:07:15# It's very nice
1:07:15 > 1:07:18# It's paradise
1:07:18 > 1:07:23# It's all I want to see
1:07:24 > 1:07:28# You made my life so glamorous
1:07:28 > 1:07:33# Don't blame me for feeling amorous
1:07:33 > 1:07:35# It's wonderful
1:07:35 > 1:07:41# It's marvellous
1:07:41 > 1:07:46# That you would care
1:07:46 > 1:07:49# For me. #