0:00:23 > 0:00:25It's March 30th, 1964,
0:00:25 > 0:00:30and the great British public is shaken out of its Bank Holiday slumber by alarming news.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35# If you want to have A whole lot of fun
0:00:35 > 0:00:38# Go out and get it... #
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Headlines describe how Clacton, a small resort on the East Coast,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46has been torn apart over Easter by marauding, violent youths.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51- Some fights are justifiable, are they?- Oh, yes.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53There's just no other way out, except fighting.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57# You gotta get it. #
0:00:57 > 0:01:02This was Britain's first introduction to the presence of two warring factions -
0:01:02 > 0:01:05the mods and the rockers.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09It proved just the beginning.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Trouble flared again at Whitsun - the late Spring Bank Holiday.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18This time, in Brighton, Margate and Bournemouth.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22And continued throughout the summer,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25as other towns witnessed similar skirmishes.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30It became pretty...
0:01:30 > 0:01:34more than violent. It became quite frightening, actually.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36It fascinated the media...
0:01:38 > 0:01:41..appalled the establishment...
0:01:41 > 0:01:43If it were possible to disqualify them
0:01:43 > 0:01:46from driving these scooters, or motorbikes,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51it's what they use to get here to indulge in this riotous behaviour.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53..and troubled an older generation.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58The police have done everything possible to stop this damage
0:01:58 > 0:01:59and the ill-mannered behaviour
0:01:59 > 0:02:02on the part of these hoodlums that come here.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Could this really be happening in England?
0:02:05 > 0:02:07They were doing it on the beaches
0:02:07 > 0:02:12that, only 20 years earlier, Churchill had sworn to defend.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Why would you do that?
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But everything wasn't quite as it seemed.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20We're talking about £513 worth of damage.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Not much more than they would expect on any bank holiday.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30So what really happened? Who were these "folk devils"?
0:02:31 > 0:02:34We were all little devils at that time.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37We turned the world upside down
0:02:37 > 0:02:41by bringing colour into everybody's life. And music.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I just felt, "We're taking over the world."
0:02:44 > 0:02:47You know, "We're taking over the world."
0:02:47 > 0:02:51And why were they seen to be such a threat to society?
0:02:52 > 0:02:54MUSIC: "In Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis
0:03:09 > 0:03:10Back at the start of 1964,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15in a BBC documentary about the changing nature of south London,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17a teenage interviewee described
0:03:17 > 0:03:19how he felt part of a divided generation.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Teenagers come into three categories.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28There's mods, there's rockers and there's in-betweens.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Myself, I reckon a rocker,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34a fella who runs around in a leather jacket, boots and a pair of jeans.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37He does what he likes, when he likes and how he likes.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45A mod, well, comes up, wears a suit, wears a tie, wears a collar.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Latest hairstyle, latest fashions.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Goes to the latest dancing, learns the latest dancing,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53just likes to be modern - a mod.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Although their differences were about to become infamous,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01both groups were born out of a particularly optimistic time in British history,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03especially if you were young.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14They were the first baby boomers,
0:04:14 > 0:04:16who became teenagers in the late '50s and early '60s,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21just as the economy was gearing up after years of post-war austerity.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26- MAN'S VOICE:- Ladies' hats, coats and dresses on your right.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Babywear, childrenswear on your left. Shoes straight across.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33And as young people came to the forefront of this new consumer boom,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37they quickly became the object of media fascination.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41- And how much do you spend a week? - Spend?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Well, at the most it's usually about a pound, 30 shillings.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45What does that go on?
0:04:45 > 0:04:48I take the girl to the pictures, or go out to a dance.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51If I see anything I like, I buy clothes.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54- How much spending money would you have?- About a pound.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57- And what does it go on? - Dancing, mostly!
0:04:59 > 0:05:03There was a piece of market research produced in the late '50s
0:05:03 > 0:05:05by Mark Abrams.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09His research purported to show that young people's spending power,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12he claimed, had grown by 100%,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17representing a figure of something in the order of £580 million per year.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23This teenage spending spree helped create the stirrings
0:05:23 > 0:05:27of a brand-new youth sub-culture - the mods.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Couldn't wait to get out of school.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42On the very last day of school,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46we just all threw away the uniforms,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49and, on the very next day, I was a mod.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52# ..charm a girl dreams about
0:05:52 > 0:05:56# And when he looks at me Makes my heart jump and shout... #
0:05:56 > 0:05:58At first, they were few in number
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and still to be properly defined as a group.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04But what they had in common was an almost compulsive desire
0:06:04 > 0:06:07to embrace the new and to stand out from the crowd.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11In 1960, I had my 13th birthday
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and it was like the sun had come up.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17It was a completely new decade
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and there were so many new things coming out.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Something happened inside my head and everything changed.
0:06:24 > 0:06:30This aspirational group were rapidly turning their backs on British working-class tradition
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and instead looking for inspiration from America and Europe.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I loved the Italian and French fashion.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42That was the look, I was... You know, always, like, making up.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44And when I met Del, he liked the same things,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46so we were doing that together.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54People used to say, "What's this look that you're wearing?"
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And we said, "You know, it's the Continental look,
0:06:57 > 0:06:59"so we're the Continentalists."
0:07:02 > 0:07:07After a while, more and more people were getting that sort of Italian-French look
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and then it became the mod look.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13# You've seen a new look
0:07:13 > 0:07:16# And you've heard a new sound
0:07:16 > 0:07:22# Now the Continental Walk Is in your town...
0:07:25 > 0:07:31# Let's do the Continental Walk
0:07:31 > 0:07:32# Get up, everybody... #
0:07:32 > 0:07:35But these young stylists were constantly battling
0:07:35 > 0:07:40against a clothing trade that had yet to really move on since the war.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43The only suits you could see around Britain at the time
0:07:43 > 0:07:50were the demob suit. Really grey and baggy and almost like sack-like.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53And they would see in these magazines from Italy,
0:07:53 > 0:07:58these beautiful, crisp, lightweight suits
0:07:58 > 0:08:01in linen or a mohair.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03And it just looked so glamorous.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07- # Hey, you're looking good, baby - # Walk, walk, walk
0:08:07 > 0:08:10- # I want you to know - # Walk, walk, walk... #
0:08:10 > 0:08:13We would go and see French films in cinemas.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16We would look at the clothes, get some ideas of what to do
0:08:16 > 0:08:18and then find an English copy.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21# You've got it made
0:08:21 > 0:08:22# Keep strolling with your babe... #
0:08:22 > 0:08:25People would often, in the early days,
0:08:25 > 0:08:30go to Burton's and they were very much an old person's,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34stuck-in-the-mud, regimented tailoring business.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38When you've got young people in, asking for,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42"Right, I want a certain cut with no turn-ups," for instance,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44it was a shock.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46They couldn't believe that people didn't want turn-ups.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50There are even tales of some saying they don't want lapels.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And sometimes they were even refused.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Until this time, getting a suit made
0:08:56 > 0:09:00had been largely the preserve of the older, middle- or upper-class gent.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02But this new style-conscious group
0:09:02 > 0:09:05weren't about to settle for off-the-peg blandness.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10I was making all of my clothes.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16And Del was designing his suits and then I'd sketch them for him.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18And then we'd head off to Birmingham
0:09:18 > 0:09:21and we would go to Hepworths, the tailor's,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and he'd have them all made to measure.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It was really important to look individual.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33# Come on
0:09:33 > 0:09:35# Come on Let me show you where it's at
0:09:35 > 0:09:36# Come on
0:09:36 > 0:09:38# Come on Let me show you where it's at
0:09:38 > 0:09:40# Come on... #
0:09:40 > 0:09:41To keep ahead of the game,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45early mods took any opportunity they could to acquire a new look.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50You just went to a bowling alley out of London,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53you wore their shoes, the bowling shoes. "Oh, they're nice. They looked really good."
0:09:53 > 0:09:55So the next time you went,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58you took a pair of old trainers each, put them on.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And I got mine home and they were the wrong size.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Suddenly, everybody is down bowling alleys nicking the shoes.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09# Now, you take Sally And I'll take Sue
0:10:09 > 0:10:11# And we're gonna rock away... #
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Style was central to the mod world,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16but it was about more than simply the cut of your clothes.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20It was a whole way of life and a departure from the past.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24It was a look. It was a feeling.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27It was freedom, to a certain extent,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29and it was rebellion.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32# Come on Let me show you where it's at... #
0:10:32 > 0:10:35I think my look was very unusual at the time,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37especially in the area where I lived,
0:10:37 > 0:10:43because everybody really was wearing much the same clothes as their mothers had worn.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45My mother used to hate it.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50She used to say, "When are you going to get some normal clothes?"
0:10:52 > 0:10:54One mod said,
0:10:54 > 0:10:59"We were trying to get away from the council estates,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03"the pits and the factories. All that cloth-capped bullshit."
0:11:03 > 0:11:06In other words, it was a different way of being working class.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12But, at the same time, there was another group of working-class youth
0:11:12 > 0:11:16loudly asserting themselves - the rockers.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23# Well, I've lived an evil life Or so they say
0:11:23 > 0:11:25# But I'll hide from the devil On judgment day
0:11:25 > 0:11:28# I say, move, hot rod Move, man
0:11:28 > 0:11:30# Move, hot rod Move, man
0:11:30 > 0:11:33# Move, hot rod Move me down the line. #
0:11:33 > 0:11:36It's called Race With The Devil - Gene Vincent.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40We were all little devils in that time.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44- NEWSREEL:- With a fine weekend, a powerful motorbike
0:11:44 > 0:11:46and a girlfriend on the back,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48the ton-up boys set off.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Two short days for riding high and fast,
0:11:51 > 0:11:52to wind and weave,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55and often to be a menace.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03The ton-up boys, those guys were like an era before us.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05We were a different breed.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Here we are, the star of the picture!
0:12:09 > 0:12:13During the 1950s, it was common to use terms like ton-up boys,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15cafe racers.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20The term rocker really comes into usage in the early 1960s.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21# Oh
0:12:21 > 0:12:24# I've got a girl And her name is Jane
0:12:24 > 0:12:25# All the kids call... #
0:12:25 > 0:12:27We were definitely rockers.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Yeah, just a crowd of kids, you know, having fun.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33# She jumps, giggles and shouts
0:12:33 > 0:12:35- # Go! - Jumps, giggles and shouts. #
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Rockers were synonymous with rock and roll music,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42though, surprisingly, their name was more mechanical in origin.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47The word "rocker" came from the
0:12:47 > 0:12:52overhead valve system on an engine.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57The rocker boxes and the rocker arms that work the valves.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00The image of the rocker was more rooted
0:13:00 > 0:13:03in the sort of teenage culture of the 1950s -
0:13:03 > 0:13:07of The Wild One, of jeans and leather jackets.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12# He wore black denim trousers And motorcycle boots
0:13:12 > 0:13:15# And a black leather jacket With an eagle on the back
0:13:15 > 0:13:18# He had hopped-up cycle That took off like a gun
0:13:18 > 0:13:22# That fool was the terror Of Highway 101. #
0:13:25 > 0:13:27We'd all have white silk scarves
0:13:27 > 0:13:29and we'd wrap them round our mouths
0:13:29 > 0:13:34and we'd have sea-boot socks that we turned over at the top of our boots
0:13:34 > 0:13:37and they had to be perfectly white.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40If you got muck on them, you'd got to get them washed.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42You'd got to have a leather jacket -
0:13:42 > 0:13:45a black, Lancer-type leather jacket, preferably.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48The ones that everybody wanted was the Lewis Leathers.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Lewis Leathers was one of the country's oldest motorcycle outfitters
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and they were keen to make the most of the growing teenage market.
0:14:04 > 0:14:10So, in 1956, Lewis Leathers introduced the Bronx jacket.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13It kind of had the looks of the Marlon Brando jacket
0:14:13 > 0:14:14from America of the time,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18although it was actually an update of a 1930 flying jacket
0:14:18 > 0:14:20that we used to make, with the big D-pocket,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22which initially was used for maps.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28The Bronx had special features,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31which were not featured on the American jackets of the day.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35One was the buckle - instead of being pressed steel,
0:14:35 > 0:14:37or brass, like the American ones,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40we used plastic-coated or often leather-coated buckles.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45When used during a forward riding position,
0:14:45 > 0:14:46stretched out over the tank,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49it wouldn't actually scratch the paint on the gas tank.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53It's a stylish jacket, it fitted well. This was all very important.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56You don't want a jacket that is going to be too loose on the bike,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58because it balloons, the air gets inside it,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00so it had to be close-fitting.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03It had to be functional - good, strong leather,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06so that if you did come off, you would protect your skin.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09But why not look good at the same time?
0:15:09 > 0:15:14# Well, well, It just ain't right
0:15:14 > 0:15:17# But if only they knew... #
0:15:17 > 0:15:20The young rockers liked to personalise their jackets
0:15:20 > 0:15:24and more and more adornments became available to satisfy this need
0:15:24 > 0:15:27for individual expression.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33We saw badges, patches and studs becoming available from 1960.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38I could always find space for another badge.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41And, of course, I had Triumph tank badges as lapels.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43They were quite heavy.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45That jacket used to weigh a tonne.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47It was so heavy, with so many badges on,
0:15:47 > 0:15:53I think, at the final count, I think there were 380 badges on there.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58The studding was quite an interesting detail.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Some people have said that the reason for it, particularly on the back,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05was that when you were riding at night,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07the studs would reflect the car headlights.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15I've seen so many guys who have gone down the road on their back.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Studs get red-hot when they slide along the road, believe it or not.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24And you end up with all, like, cigarette burns all over you.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31The rockers' look might have been influenced by America,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36but it was British motorbikes that were at the centre of their world.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39I bought quite a few nice bikes.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Started off with the Ariel.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Just before my 16th birthday, it was a C11G,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49a red and black one, and it was absolute rubbish!
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Got my first bike when I was still at school.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56I actually went to school on it.
0:16:56 > 0:16:57A little Tiger Cub.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01And then, when I was old enough, I got a Gold Star -
0:17:01 > 0:17:03the dream bike I always wanted.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And the most beautiful bike at the time was the 3TA,
0:17:08 > 0:17:14which was the Triumph 21. Stunning. Stunning pale blue.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18That made me whole, that made me complete, you know!
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Thanks to the passion and spending power of these young rockers,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28the British bike industry was booming again
0:17:28 > 0:17:31at a time when the arrival of the affordable car
0:17:31 > 0:17:33might have put it out of business.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36- NEWSREEL:- Britain has been building motorcycles for nearly 70 years.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Today, the industry employs more than 70,000 people
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and turns out over 100,000 machines a year.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44These teenagers loved the bikes,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48but it didn't them stop wanting to put their own mark on them.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51The first thing you used to do was get a brush pole and ram it
0:17:51 > 0:17:54down your silencer to smash the baffles away.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57- Yeah.- To make it louder.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59- The louder, the better.- Yeah.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03The mudguards came off, you put alloy mudguards on.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06The handle bars came off, you put clip-ons on,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08which are handlebars which are down the forks,
0:18:08 > 0:18:11so you're more lying on it than anything else.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Anything to make it look faster, even if it wasn't.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16ENGINE REVS
0:18:21 > 0:18:24The rockers had their British motorbikes...
0:18:26 > 0:18:27..but the mods were mobile, too,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and for them, when it came to two wheels,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32only something with continental styling would do.
0:18:49 > 0:18:50Back in the early '60s,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Claude Agius worked in his father's scooter shop,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56and had his own, which is still cherished to this day.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03This is my GS 116, which I purchased in 1963.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06It was adorned with these extras,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09which were purchased from a good importer -
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Nannucci, from Italy, which were the best to buy.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Did all my courting on this.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I didn't have the fox tail.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23In those days, well, I had knickers - girls' knickers on there.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Two or three, if I was lucky enough!
0:19:30 > 0:19:35When the girls knew that you had the scooter, you know,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38you had to be very ugly not to pull a bird.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42To be a mod, do you have to have a motor scooter?
0:19:42 > 0:19:44- Oh, no!- You don't HAVE to.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47No, you don't HAVE to. But, I mean, you know,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51you see a bloke on a motor scooter, you just go, "Ah!"
0:19:52 > 0:19:59It was hire purchase, it was from a shop on Old Kent Road.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02It was a Vespa.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03It had a great sound.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08To me, the sound of the Vespa is like a Ferrari.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10ENGINE REVS
0:20:11 > 0:20:14We used to class them as sewing machines.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18There was no respect for a scooter.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23It was a tin can that used to make a horrible noise going up the road.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33In those days, we used to put carriers on our scooters,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35like this one.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38There were people with much more mirrors and lamps than this,
0:20:38 > 0:20:42but this is what my style was like.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45That's a Rolls-Royce Flying Angel.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47We used to, unfortunately, steal them,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50or buy them from people who stole them.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58Mods were into looking good going slow. We were into going fast.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Two different philosophies, really.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06But it wasn't just speed that defined them.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11The two groups represented radical social shifts in '60s society.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The rockers were almost like a throwback to a working-class culture of the past.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22They were rooted in traditional notions of kind of machismo.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Whereas the mods, if you like,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28were an exploration of a kind of new working-class culture.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32An exploration of a new working-class consumerism and hedonism.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41They might have been philosophically opposed, but both were benefiting
0:21:41 > 0:21:44from an increased sense of freedom brought by the new decade.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48Unlike their older brothers,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51neither mods, nor rockers, were required to do National Service
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and, as a result, a pronounced generation gap was opening up
0:21:55 > 0:21:57between them and those just a couple of years older.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Left, right! Left!
0:22:02 > 0:22:04To the left!
0:22:04 > 0:22:08The abolition of National Service is crucial to understanding
0:22:08 > 0:22:12the genesis of modern British youth culture.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Young British men didn't have to submit to military authority.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21We were lucky, my generation,
0:22:21 > 0:22:26that we missed joining the Army.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31There was a guy across the road, he was really Jack the lad,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and he went in there. When he came out, he came out an arsehole.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40He had a real stiff lip, follow orders, march down the street.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42You know, he was just like... It had changed his personality.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45And that I didn't want to happen to me.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Drill fosters in you
0:22:47 > 0:22:51team spirit, alertness, pride in your unit
0:22:51 > 0:22:55and pride in yourself. Also...
0:22:55 > 0:22:57What the teenagers in the middle '50s would do
0:22:57 > 0:23:00is just basically copy their parents.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02And then they'd go into the Army.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And they'd come out of the Army
0:23:04 > 0:23:07and they'd made their girlfriend pregnant, they got married,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11had children and they became blue-collar workers.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Now this brings me onto a point of personal cleanliness.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The kids had this freedom.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23All of a sudden, they're thinking about really basic things, like colour.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Does the colour suit me?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27I don't like red on me, anyway.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32And all of a sudden, the people who had given them this freedom
0:23:32 > 0:23:34said, "Whoa, slow down, hold on!"
0:23:39 > 0:23:41The sense of empowerment didn't stop there.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The older generation could only look on and watch as their children
0:23:44 > 0:23:48started to overtake them when it came to earning ability.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53When I first started work, at the age of 14,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56I was unloading barges of timber
0:23:56 > 0:24:01and getting 11 and 9 a week, for a 47-hour week.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Well, my daughter, she's earning more than I am today,
0:24:05 > 0:24:06so that just gives you some idea.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13- # That's what I want - That's what I want... #
0:24:13 > 0:24:15The job market was buoyant
0:24:15 > 0:24:19and young people had the freedom to pick and choose.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24The education of youngsters was a lot better.
0:24:24 > 0:24:30The apprenticeship schemes had started working.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34I was lucky enough to get an apprenticeship.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36- # That's what I want - # That's what I want
0:24:36 > 0:24:40# That's what I want! #
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Whether you wanted a full-time job or a part-time job,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47there was enough work for everybody, there was enough money to go round.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53As a 15-year-old, I had 15 jobs in the first year I left school,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55which is ridiculous, these days,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58but there was a lot of work around for kids,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02so there was no shortage of cash, if you like, although it wasn't a lot.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04# Money don't get everything It's true
0:25:04 > 0:25:08# But what it don't get I can't use
0:25:08 > 0:25:11- # I need money - That's what I want. #
0:25:11 > 0:25:15A new world of opportunity had opened up.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21But it still didn't make the working-class teenager of the '60s cash rich.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25When we say that these people are affluent, that they've got money,
0:25:25 > 0:25:27this is in relative terms.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Compared to their working-class parents, they've got money.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32But they can't buy Ferraris,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35they can't go on holiday in the south of France.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39They have enough to buy some consumer goods.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44And larger items, like a motorcycle, like leather jackets, whatever,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48would have to be done on the never-never, on hire purchase.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54# I'm burning too much gas We gotta slow down. #
0:25:54 > 0:25:58But the fact that they could make these large purchases at all
0:25:58 > 0:26:00was raising a few hackles.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Consumerism is bothering people,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06people are beginning to worry about this new materialism
0:26:06 > 0:26:11and the people that seemed to epitomise it most are young people.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15And it was the leather-clad rocker rather than smartly-dressed mod
0:26:15 > 0:26:18who bore the brunt of this unease.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20The motorcycle becomes increasingly
0:26:20 > 0:26:24the preserve of, A, the working classes, and, B, young people.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27And those are two worrying groups for the powers that be,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29for the establishment.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Because we wear a leather jacket, jeans and that,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34we're described as bad.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Everybody runs us down, they want to control our lives.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39The police want to run our lives.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41The biker image of the powerful motorcycle
0:26:41 > 0:26:44and the leather jacket courted criticism
0:26:44 > 0:26:49and was a kind of deliberate affront to respectable morality.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53But I think that is kind of what young people were trying to do.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Part of the appeal was the ability
0:26:56 > 0:26:59to wave two fingers at conservative authority.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# Hey, get rhythm... #
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Finding themselves unwelcome at many city-centre establishments,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10the rockers looked for their own places to hang out -
0:27:10 > 0:27:13preferably on a main road, so they could show off their own bikes
0:27:13 > 0:27:15and admire other people's.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18# Get rhythm When you get the blues
0:27:18 > 0:27:21# A little shoeshine boy He never gets low down... #
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Almost lived there, every night, at Chelsea Bridge.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30That was our meeting place. It was a feeling that you're a big family.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35You were not looked upon as the best of people, let's put it that way.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39As soon as you put a leather jacket on,
0:27:39 > 0:27:44you were sort of slightly, um, outcasts.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47# A jumping rhythm Makes you feel so fine... #
0:27:47 > 0:27:51And the transport caffs that line main roads up and down the country
0:27:51 > 0:27:53became the natural home for these outcasts.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59I was just saying to my wife the other day, whenever I hear Telstar,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02it always reminds me of being in a caff at Matlock.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08Music: "Telstar" by The Tornados
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Far-thinking owners, such as the Ace, the Cellar in Windsor,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17that was another one, so that's where we used to congregate,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20away from the maddening crowds of the average man in the car.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26The early '60s also saw a proliferation of biker clubs
0:28:26 > 0:28:30all over Britain, where like-minded people could get together.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33They provided rockers with the tribal sense of belonging.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38- NEWSREEL:- The Double Zero Club is exclusively for motorcyclists in Birmingham.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42It is run ostensibly by the members themselves.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44In Nottingham, there were the Aces.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52It was just a group of lads who got together
0:28:52 > 0:28:55and started calling themselves the Aces.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58And like all great rocker gangs,
0:28:58 > 0:29:02they marked themselves out with a shared insignia.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04It just started one Saturday afternoon.
0:29:04 > 0:29:05We went and bought some Fablon
0:29:05 > 0:29:08and then we got saucers from the caff
0:29:08 > 0:29:10and drew round the ace shape
0:29:10 > 0:29:13and just cut them out and stuck them on our jackets.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15So, then, we all had them on.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18The only problem with that - what we'd not realised at the time was -
0:29:18 > 0:29:21it advertised to the police who we were,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25because we'd all got white aces stuck on our backs!
0:29:25 > 0:29:27That's true, yeah.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30Being so identifiable was a disadvantage
0:29:30 > 0:29:34when, essentially, life was about one thing -
0:29:34 > 0:29:35speed.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38# Yeah, it's Saturday night And I just got paid
0:29:38 > 0:29:40# I'm a fool about my money Don't try to save
0:29:40 > 0:29:43# My heart says, "Go, go, have a time"
0:29:43 > 0:29:45# Cos it's Saturday night And I'm feeling fine
0:29:45 > 0:29:47# I want a rock it up
0:29:47 > 0:29:50# I'm gonna rip it up
0:29:50 > 0:29:52# I'm gonna to shake it up... #
0:29:52 > 0:29:56All the bikers wanted to achieve was a ton, which was 100mph.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Very few people achieved it, although they said that they did.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02If you showed 100 mile an hour on your speedo,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05there's a good chance you're doing about 85.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10I genuinely did it - I didn't need to exaggerate!
0:30:10 > 0:30:11# I'm going to rock it up
0:30:12 > 0:30:14# I'm going to rip it up
0:30:15 > 0:30:17# I'm going to shake it up... #
0:30:17 > 0:30:20You could do a ton almost anywhere and not get caught,
0:30:20 > 0:30:22because who's going to catch you?
0:30:22 > 0:30:25First of all, the police couldn't anyway!
0:30:25 > 0:30:30Outside urban areas, there were no speed limits on British roads,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32so, despite the disapproval they might attract,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35there was nothing to dampen the rockers' fun.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37# I'm going to rip it up... #
0:30:37 > 0:30:39The freedom to ride and feel the wind in your face.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42You know, just go where you pleased.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44# I'm going to rock it up
0:30:44 > 0:30:47# And ball tonight. #
0:30:51 > 0:30:55Whilst the rockers were an obvious affront to the powers that be,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58the mods were busy creating a new scene,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01one that, as yet, was only attracting the attention
0:31:01 > 0:31:03of other like-minded people.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07# Oh, now tell me Where can you party, child
0:31:07 > 0:31:10- # All night long? - In the basement
0:31:10 > 0:31:13- #- Down in the basement - Yeah... #
0:31:13 > 0:31:20The ballrooms were the breeding ground of the mod movement.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25There was Hammersmith Palais, there was the Lyceum in London.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29You could just feel the excitement in there,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32listening to a record you'd never heard before
0:31:32 > 0:31:34by somebody you didn't know.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Life just seemed very exhilarating, from 13.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42We thought we were special, we thought we was different.
0:31:42 > 0:31:43It was having a good time.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46It was really, basically, having a wonderful time.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The mods were growing in force in the underage dance clubs
0:31:54 > 0:31:56operated by the big ballrooms.
0:31:57 > 0:32:04# I'm gonna put on my dress... #
0:32:04 > 0:32:07And to go there and dance. But not dancing like your parents,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10with tangos and waltzes that my mum did.
0:32:10 > 0:32:12It was doing our own dancing.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17I can remember the swim, which was like that and, obviously,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21which came from America.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24I remember watching somebody and they made this move like that
0:32:24 > 0:32:27and I thought, "I want to do that!" And it took hours!
0:32:27 > 0:32:30Hours to get it perfected.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35But we made up one like that where we'd go over like that.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39And someone else would go like that, that you were dancing with.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43It was based on cricket, you know.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47The boys were real posers. I think they cared more than the women.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50They were the peacocks and they performed.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55There were lots of different poses, like legs apart,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57arms behind your back.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59There was this one, you know.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02There was another one with the fag down by you, which was a bit camp,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04with a fag down in your hand like that.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08And girls used to dance together, of course.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10And men used to dance on their own.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Occasionally, you might get a dance with a man,
0:33:13 > 0:33:17only if you were good enough to come up to his standards, of course.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21They were also discovering a new sound to dance to.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28And my first record, I loved to death, was Doris Troy, Just One Look.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36# Just one look
0:33:36 > 0:33:38# And I fell so hard... #
0:33:38 > 0:33:40To me, the most important thing was music.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42That was my first love.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Really, rhythm and blues, black music from America.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48# With you
0:33:48 > 0:33:50# Oh-oh... #
0:33:50 > 0:33:53At the time, this kind of music was virtually unknown in Britain,
0:33:53 > 0:33:54outside the mod clique.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57# How good it feels... #
0:33:57 > 0:34:01But their world was growing and more and more club nights opened up,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03allowing mods to dance to imported R&B music.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06# Your love... #
0:34:06 > 0:34:08The venues were unlicensed
0:34:08 > 0:34:13and several stayed open until the early hours.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17So, for some, sleep wasn't an option.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Drugs were very much part of the scene - amphetamines,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24uppers and all the rest of it. It was just the same then.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26We'd go out, take a few purple hearts,
0:34:26 > 0:34:31or bombers, or Dexedrine, whatever, to keep us going through the night.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38When you go down the West End of a Saturday night,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41and you stay up all night, you've just got to take them to keep awake.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44How many purple hearts do you need to stay up all night?
0:34:44 > 0:34:46Well, 20 to 30.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But they weren't illegal. There were no drugs laws then.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57And you could only get arrested for stolen goods from a chemist.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00But, of course, everybody would say, "I'm fat," at the doctor's
0:35:00 > 0:35:01and they'd give you amphetamines.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04So they were everywhere.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Have you any idea how large quantities of these things are getting on the market?
0:35:09 > 0:35:10No idea at all.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14They are controlled under the schedule for poisons,
0:35:14 > 0:35:18and, therefore, they cannot be sold, or issued without a prescription,
0:35:18 > 0:35:19by any retail chemist.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24These drugs had been commonplace during wartime,
0:35:24 > 0:35:28frequently used by soldiers to keep them alert on duty.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32But using them for recreational purposes was something new.
0:35:33 > 0:35:35This big factory used to make them
0:35:35 > 0:35:37and a friend of ours got a job in there.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39And the black bombers,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42the purple hearts, they all hit the street.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49By 1963, the more hedonistic aspects of the mod lifestyle
0:35:49 > 0:35:52still remained under the radar.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55But it was attracting the attention of the media.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59And one new television programme in particular.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02# Five, four,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06# Three, two, one!
0:36:06 > 0:36:09# Five, four, three, two, one!
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Ready Steady Go! changed everything as far as British teenagers
0:36:12 > 0:36:15were concerned, especially the mods.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Thanks to the programme, youth across Britain would be introduced
0:36:18 > 0:36:22to the fashions and sounds of their tribe.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25HE SINGS "YEH, YEH"
0:36:25 > 0:36:28Performers like Georgie Fame were already stars of the mod world,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32thanks to his residency at one of their top hang-outs -
0:36:32 > 0:36:35London's Flamingo Club.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38# I say yeh, yeh That's what I say
0:36:38 > 0:36:40# I say, yeh, yeh... #
0:36:40 > 0:36:46Young host Cathy McGowan showcased up-to-the-minute clothing trends.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49And dancers, gathered from the mod clubs,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52demonstrated the latest moves.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56It fashioned mod as the acceptable face of British youth.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00# I say yeh, yeh! #
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Rockers may not have enjoyed the same status,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10but there didn't seem any great animosity
0:37:10 > 0:37:13between the two groups in the early days.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18# Look in my heart
0:37:18 > 0:37:19# And tell me... #
0:37:19 > 0:37:25Nothing much even for the tabloid press to latch onto at this stage.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28So we did used to mingle.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30It was no problem, you know.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Maybe on a Saturday night we'd sort of pass them a bit close
0:37:34 > 0:37:38and maybe yell some vulgarity, or something, but, you know,
0:37:38 > 0:37:40nothing evil.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42# Look in my heart... #
0:37:42 > 0:37:46I knew some lads who were mods and, originally, they'd had bikes.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Then, suddenly, I saw them on scooters with parkas on
0:37:49 > 0:37:51and I'm saying, "What's going on here?"
0:37:51 > 0:37:54And they said, "Well, you get more girls if you're a mod,
0:37:54 > 0:37:55"so we've changed."
0:37:56 > 0:37:59I wouldn't avoid them or fight with them.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Some of them were really nice looking, they looked like Tony Curtis.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Lovely leather jackets, beautiful bikes.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Some of the women did the same thing, they changed.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10They did. My wife did!
0:38:10 > 0:38:11- She was a mod when I met her.- Yeah.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14- And she changed to a bike. - Changed to a bike.
0:38:18 > 0:38:24But amongst the two tribes themselves, there was a strong feeling of camaraderie.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34So when the bank holiday came along, like any other family,
0:38:34 > 0:38:40these tight-knit groups followed in the great British tradition of heading to the seaside.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Exactly where they went often depended on where they came from.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Brighton was for middle class. Clacton was for east London.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53Margate, the Kent seaside towns,
0:38:53 > 0:38:59they were the traditional holiday venues for the south London families.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01And that's where the kids went.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05So there was no sense of, "Right, we're going."
0:39:05 > 0:39:08No military planning involved.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11"OK, lads, squadron number five, Old Kent Road."
0:39:15 > 0:39:21But over Easter 1964, this teenage bank-holiday jolly made headlines.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28The people of Clacton have spent today sweeping up the debris,
0:39:28 > 0:39:30the broken glass and the damage.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38And although the thousand or so so-called rockers
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and mods have still been here, the weather has been so bad
0:39:41 > 0:39:44that they've been forced to stay in the amusement arcades,
0:39:44 > 0:39:47or seek shelter in hotel and pub doorways.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52The newspapers confidently reported that pitched battles
0:39:52 > 0:39:56between gangs of young people had taken place on a large scale.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02But the reality was somewhat different.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06It was the coldest winter since 1883,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08it was before the holiday season,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12so a lot of places weren't open, there were cafes shut.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14The pier was closed, as well.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19You had all these young kids in a so-called fun-filled seaside town,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22freezing cold. A lot of the older people,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25they didn't want to let the kids into their cafes, either,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29so there were kids kicking about with nothing to do, basically.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33- What's your name?- Alan Duncan. - How old are you?- 19.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Are you and your friends mods or rockers?
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Well, we're mods, when we're dressed up, you know.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42What caused all this trouble yesterday?
0:40:42 > 0:40:43Boredom.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50That last day, we're walking along and we saw the pier
0:40:50 > 0:40:53and we're walking to it and, suddenly, everybody crowded around
0:40:53 > 0:40:58and everybody was looking for money to pay this one old boy there.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02And he said, "No, no. No, we're closed, it's closed."
0:41:02 > 0:41:06And we all jumped, just jumped. Ran along. This was an empty pier.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09There wasn't anything open. There are no shows, or anything.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12So just running along, like kids do.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14It was just a bit of fun.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17And when we came back, the police were there, two policemen.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21We hadn't seen police all over the weekend.
0:41:21 > 0:41:22Then we just walked away.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Chief Constable, how serious was this disturbance at the weekend?
0:41:26 > 0:41:29- Was it in fact a gang fight? - Not as far as we know.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33It was several hundred young people
0:41:33 > 0:41:35rather at a loose end over the weekend.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38They came into the town and, finding not much else to do,
0:41:38 > 0:41:43they committed several acts of wanton and purposeless damage.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46So the police had to turn out in some strength to deal with them.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Although it was a bit of a non-event as far as the police were concerned,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54the media were suddenly all over it.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59The next morning, that's when the press came along.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01That's when they'd grab you, they'd want to do an interview
0:42:01 > 0:42:03about this riot that was down here.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07There was no riot. It was just people having a bit of fun.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Arrests were made in Clacton, but, in many ways,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12the actual events were unremarkable.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18In terms of the overall vandalism,
0:42:18 > 0:42:24we're talking about £513 worth of damage.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26That is our huge riot.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Obviously, that's worth more in 1964 than it is now,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31but in the large scheme of things,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33this is not really a great deal of vandalism
0:42:33 > 0:42:38and perhaps not much more than they would expect on any bank holiday.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46It is not about the mods and rockers in Clacton.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51It's about incomers, coming from London, and locals.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53But it's transformed via the media into being
0:42:53 > 0:42:56a clash between the mods and rockers.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59This fascinated a sociologist called Stanley Cohen,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03who decided to investigate the events further.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05Cohen found that
0:43:05 > 0:43:07this was quite a lean time
0:43:07 > 0:43:09in terms of the national news,
0:43:09 > 0:43:14so the national newspapers were looking around for stories to cover.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18So what they did was they noticed this story being picked up by the local press,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22they took it up, but magnified it out of all proportion.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26What happens is those national stories are picked up around the world
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and this becomes the image of young English youth in the 1960s.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36By making it a story about mods versus rockers,
0:43:36 > 0:43:38the media lit the touchpaper.
0:43:38 > 0:43:39They helped to draw the battle lines
0:43:39 > 0:43:44and demanded the teenagers choose sides and venues.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47Where do you reckon the next battle of that kind is going to be?
0:43:47 > 0:43:50Oh, it's hard to say, innit? Whitsun, it'd be, won't it?
0:43:50 > 0:43:51- It will be Whitsun?- Mm.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53It'll be down Brighton, more or less.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57- Brighton.- Brighton is the place. - All these places, you know.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59There's thousands going to Brighton.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03- Some fights are justifiable, are they?- Oh, yes.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04In some places, well, there's just
0:44:04 > 0:44:06no other way out, except fighting.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14But I do remember, at the Ace, press coming past
0:44:14 > 0:44:17and saying, "Why don't we go and get those rockers?"
0:44:17 > 0:44:18"Go and get those mods."
0:44:18 > 0:44:21You know, "You're all rockers, aren't you?"
0:44:21 > 0:44:23And trying to incite a riot, if you like.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25You know, they should've been shot.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Even the authorities were caught up in the frenzy of expectation.
0:44:31 > 0:44:37- NEWSREEL:- Special squads of reserves are on standby in London to fly quickly to the current target towns.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40And they wouldn't be disappointed.
0:44:40 > 0:44:43The next time we went, everything was off,
0:44:43 > 0:44:46because tons of people came down from all over the country.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Rockers came down and it was...oof!
0:44:49 > 0:44:54MUSIC: "Tobacco Road" by The Nashville Teens
0:44:54 > 0:44:58That summer, bank holidays saw hundreds of mods and rockers
0:44:58 > 0:45:00descend on several seaside towns.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07Lloyd Johnson witnessed the mounted invasion of his hometown of Hastings.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11And I'll never forget the view of a V formation -
0:45:11 > 0:45:15a load of scooters coming down the road
0:45:15 > 0:45:18with all the sun hitting the chrome.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21I just thought, "There is something about this that reminds me
0:45:21 > 0:45:25"of medieval knights on chargers."
0:45:27 > 0:45:31And I just felt, "We're taking over the world.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32"We're taking over the world!"
0:45:35 > 0:45:38And, almost inevitably, clashes did break out.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44It became pretty... More than violent.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46It became quite frightening, actually.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52There was about 200 of us on Brighton beach, eating ice creams,
0:45:52 > 0:45:56enjoying ourselves. Not causing any trouble.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Somebody shouted out, "Here come the brown jumpers,"
0:45:59 > 0:46:01which we used to call the mods.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07As far as we could see, depth-wise, was mods coming at us.
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Fend them off as best we could. We managed to get to the staircase.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16From the staircase, we could've held them off,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20but they had all the ammunition on the beach, which was all the pebbles.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24They were throwing all the pebbles at us.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26I got one in the top of my head.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31The ambulance pulled up
0:46:31 > 0:46:34and they put a mod in with me.
0:46:34 > 0:46:40And I was streaming with blood. I had a fight with him
0:46:40 > 0:46:46and the police came along and kicked us both out of the ambulance
0:46:46 > 0:46:49and told us to go to the hospital on our own.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Those skirmishes could get very nasty.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56MUSIC: "Soul Time" by Shirley Ellis
0:47:01 > 0:47:05We're just fighting and then, suddenly, somebody hit something
0:47:05 > 0:47:10and then he fell down. I tried to grab him, but I couldn't.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12I looked down, he'd run away. But that was it,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15it was just a little huddle and over he went. That was it.
0:47:21 > 0:47:23I had a lucky escape.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26I was in the caff and I said, "Have you got a toilet?"
0:47:26 > 0:47:29And he said, "No, there's a public toilet outside."
0:47:29 > 0:47:31One of them old-fashioned public toilets.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34I went down there, I was having a piss, when I turned round,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37there are three rockers coming down the stairs.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40I thought, "I'm done!
0:47:40 > 0:47:43"How am I going to get up?"
0:47:43 > 0:47:44So I got myself ready
0:47:44 > 0:47:47and, suddenly, two of my mates came running down the stairs.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51They'd see me go down there, saw these three rockers go down there
0:47:51 > 0:47:53and, suddenly, they jumped on them.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56They got me out there, so I was very lucky.
0:47:59 > 0:48:04The media focused its attention on the clean-cut, smartly dressed mods.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08The rockers were the traditional and familiar face of British rebellion.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11The mods, on the other hand, were meant to be the new society.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17In many ways, because mods are smarter,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19that makes them less threatening.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22In other ways, it makes them more threatening,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25because these look like normal kids.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28And they've got the job, they've got the money, they've got the clothes.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30Why are they doing this?
0:48:36 > 0:48:41We knew darn well that if we didn't go and support the rockers
0:48:41 > 0:48:45that lived down there, they'd get knocked to hell.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55It was becoming a confrontation
0:48:55 > 0:48:58and the rocker took on the role
0:48:58 > 0:49:03as the protector of the social norm, strangely enough.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10It was a case of "Why should they take over the places
0:49:10 > 0:49:14"that we always like to go?
0:49:14 > 0:49:16"Why should we let them?
0:49:16 > 0:49:22"So if we don't go down there," you know, they would think they'd won.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26For many of those involved,
0:49:26 > 0:49:28violence like this wasn't so much something new
0:49:28 > 0:49:33as part and parcel of life growing up in the capital city.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37London was very territorial. Every area had its gang, if you like.
0:49:37 > 0:49:38I came from North London
0:49:38 > 0:49:41and we certainly wouldn't have headed over to south London,
0:49:41 > 0:49:45because that was very...across the water was dangerous country.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49If you were caught on another area, you are liable to get a kicking.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53- Do you belong to a gang? - Er, team.- A what?- Team.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56- That's what you call it? - That's what they call it now, yeah.
0:49:56 > 0:49:57What do they do?
0:49:57 > 0:50:01- Well, we have a sort of a sort-out, now and again.- A fight?
0:50:01 > 0:50:03- Well, yeah. - Against who, another gang?
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Well, you get rival gangs, you know, from the smaller gangs,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08you know, trying to take over.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15Violence was quite an unremarkable part of working-class life in the 1960s.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18I think there was probably a degree of tolerance
0:50:18 > 0:50:20for levels of everyday violence
0:50:20 > 0:50:24that we would probably find quite surprising today.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30But this wasn't in the back streets of London,
0:50:30 > 0:50:33it was on the nation's beaches.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37What confused so many older people were, here were teenagers
0:50:37 > 0:50:42and twentysomethings fighting over style - how they dressed,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46how they did their hair, what kind of bikes they rode.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50They were doing it on the beaches that, only 20 years earlier,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Churchill had sworn to defend.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55They've seen no wars, or anything like that,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57and I think that's the bottom of it.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59I think they're gathering together.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01They're an army. That's their idea.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05I think they really were surprised.
0:51:05 > 0:51:10I think they must have felt very hurt, actually,
0:51:10 > 0:51:14because, when you think about their childhood and their youth,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17their teenage years, what they went through...
0:51:21 > 0:51:24Though the fighting could get serious,
0:51:24 > 0:51:25it was mostly isolated incidents
0:51:25 > 0:51:29and only £400 worth of damage was caused in Brighton -
0:51:29 > 0:51:30less than in Clacton.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33# I fought the law And the law won... #
0:51:33 > 0:51:36Yet the authorities clamped down very hard on those arrested
0:51:36 > 0:51:37in the seaside skirmishes.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43There was a degree of vindictiveness by the establishment
0:51:43 > 0:51:48in the way the sentences were passed and so on.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50One judge used the term "Sawdust Caesars"
0:51:50 > 0:51:53to talk about the young people that he was sentencing.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56I think, in that term, there was a sense of really wanting
0:51:56 > 0:52:01to corral young people who were getting a bit above themselves.
0:52:01 > 0:52:08It was the arrogance of youth that people found an affront, really.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12If it were possible to disqualify them from driving these scooters,
0:52:12 > 0:52:16or motorbikes, which I look upon as an offensive weapon -
0:52:16 > 0:52:18it is what they use to get here
0:52:18 > 0:52:23to indulge in this riotous, destructive behaviour -
0:52:23 > 0:52:24it would confine them.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28When you hear voices being raised,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30saying young people are out of control,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34you have to ask yourself the question - out of whose control?
0:52:34 > 0:52:36And, increasingly, they are out of parental control,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39because they have financial independence.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44It was actually the fact they had money that really scared people.
0:52:44 > 0:52:50One of the most notorious moments in the trials of the mod-rocker riots
0:52:50 > 0:52:55was when a sharp-suited mod is handed a very heavy fine
0:52:55 > 0:52:58and he pulls a cheque book out of his suit
0:52:58 > 0:53:01and nonchalantly pays the fine with a cheque book.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04A cheque-book, like a credit card at the time, was a real symbol of affluence.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08# I fought the law And the law won. #
0:53:15 > 0:53:18And it wasn't just the powers that be that were unhappy.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19As a result of the trouble,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23many of the original mods became disillusioned with the scene.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28As far as I'm concerned, it finished.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33On the beaches of Hastings. For me. That was it.
0:53:33 > 0:53:39I came away from there and I thought, "This is not right,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43"this is not going the way I think it should go.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45"The feeling is wrong."
0:53:47 > 0:53:52Tony wasn't the only one who couldn't identify with this new development.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58I don't want to go around kicking people, it's not my scene at all.
0:53:58 > 0:54:03I am more happy, like, wearing great clothes,
0:54:03 > 0:54:08going out with great-looking birds, dancing, listening to good music.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15# Blues I've never had before Come round knocking on my door
0:54:15 > 0:54:16# Them blues
0:54:16 > 0:54:18# Them blues... #
0:54:18 > 0:54:21But it didn't put everyone off.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23The moral panic about the mod-rocker riots
0:54:23 > 0:54:26helped to make mod more popular, because it put it in the news
0:54:26 > 0:54:29and millions of kids all over the country saw their parents
0:54:29 > 0:54:33tut-tutting and fuming over these kids fighting over style
0:54:33 > 0:54:35and thought, "I want some of that."
0:54:35 > 0:54:37So it made it more popular,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40but it also put off a lot of the original mods.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43I'm not a mod myself, I wouldn't call myself a mod.
0:54:43 > 0:54:44Would you call yourself an ex-mod?
0:54:44 > 0:54:48An ex-mod, certainly, yes. I would say that.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Sort of progressed out of that stage.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53What was a mod, when he existed?
0:54:53 > 0:54:56A person who wanted to be different from somebody else.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01You know, wanted to show rebelliation and he wanted to be different,
0:55:01 > 0:55:03but now he's the same as everybody else,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06so he's grown out of that stage and looking for something new.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09It became like a mass thing
0:55:09 > 0:55:12and the whole clique of the people who thought like you
0:55:12 > 0:55:15and looked like you and wanted to be different,
0:55:15 > 0:55:16there were hundreds of them.
0:55:18 > 0:55:20And that's when it became very commercial.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Everybody was wearing the fashions, they were obtainable.
0:55:24 > 0:55:25The music was obtainable.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28You didn't want to become part of the masses.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# Keep on running
0:55:33 > 0:55:37# Keep on hiding
0:55:37 > 0:55:42# One fine day I'm going be the one To make you understand
0:55:42 > 0:55:44# Oh, yeah I'm going to be your man. #
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Mod was slowly becoming part of the cultural mainstream.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50# I can't explain It's a certain kind... #
0:55:50 > 0:55:51Carnaby Street went mod,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55transforming itself into a major fashion destination.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00And music went mod, with guitar-based British bands dressing the part.
0:56:00 > 0:56:02Bands like The Who were number one.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06You had the Small Faces, who had adopted the mod image.
0:56:06 > 0:56:12And mod could be seen on the streets and in the pop charts,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16but it was a million miles away from how it originally started.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29The mods had become the first teen-style tribe to go mainstream.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33Being pushed briefly into the shadows might have irritated some rockers
0:56:33 > 0:56:37but, by the mid-'60s, the ground was shifting under both groups.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41By 1966, the whole thing is declining.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44Part of that is because the media are not reporting it,
0:56:44 > 0:56:48but partly because the people who were there are growing up.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51The baby boomers, both mods and rockers,
0:56:51 > 0:56:55were reaching their 20s and, for many, that meant settling down.
0:56:55 > 0:56:56The rockers in particular
0:56:56 > 0:56:59found that a lifestyle based on speed and motorbikes
0:56:59 > 0:57:01wasn't conducive to family life.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06# Please don't stop
0:57:08 > 0:57:10# Loving me... #
0:57:12 > 0:57:15I met my girlfriend, who is now my wife,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18got married, had kids, got a mortgage and they were the priority.
0:57:18 > 0:57:22I couldn't afford and I hadn't got the time or money,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24or anything, to go out on bikes.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27# In my arms. #
0:57:27 > 0:57:30You'd still have a bike and you'd still go out on it now and again,
0:57:30 > 0:57:35but, in general, you had a car, you were working every day.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37Especially looking after the kids -
0:57:37 > 0:57:39you couldn't take kids out on a motorbike.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Although they moved on, in a way, the mods and rockers
0:57:45 > 0:57:49will forever be trapped in 1964 in the public's imagination.
0:57:54 > 0:57:5650 years later, many still view them
0:57:56 > 0:57:59only as diametrically opposed groups,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02locked in battle on the bank-holiday beaches.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08# I'm free To do what I want any old time... #
0:58:10 > 0:58:13When, in reality, they had much in common.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18Both were demonised by the media and punished by the establishment.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24Because both had enjoyed an unprecedented level of freedom.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27And that's why, for all their differences, they shared
0:58:27 > 0:58:32being trailblazers for an entirely new kind of teen experience.
0:58:34 > 0:58:38It was a good generation, good generation. A good time to be young.
0:58:39 > 0:58:45What's hard to explain, I think, is how exciting the times were.
0:58:47 > 0:58:50- We're very lucky. - I wouldn't swap it for the world.
0:58:50 > 0:58:52I was the right age for the right time.
0:58:52 > 0:58:58No going to war, you got freedom, colours. Best generation ever.