0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07When I was a little boy, I lived in grey suburbia
0:00:07 > 0:00:10in a large Irish family, where my dad was boss.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12MUSIC: Get It On by T.Rex
0:00:12 > 0:00:15# So come on, feel the noise... #
0:00:15 > 0:00:16Watching Top Of The Pops on Thursdays
0:00:16 > 0:00:19was where I learned to be a real man.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22# He'll steal your woman out from under your nose... #
0:00:22 > 0:00:24The glam rockers were my only hope.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27But even they seemed to be finding their way.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30# We just haven't got a clue what to do. #
0:00:30 > 0:00:31Steve Priest wasn't the only one.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34MUSIC: I Feel Love by Donna Summer
0:00:34 > 0:00:37In the '70s, nobody knew what to do about Britain.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39The economy was in tatters.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40Industry was in decline.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Governments changed like traffic lights.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47There were fears about terrorism, immigration and fascism.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50We joined Europe and then we wanted out.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53This is a film about how the '70s shaped me.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's my story, but it's also Britain's.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I didn't watch the news
0:00:58 > 0:01:01but if I'd known what I know now, I would've moved to Mars.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04I was busy learning about the important stuff -
0:01:04 > 0:01:06about David Bowie and Marc Bolan,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09dressing up and going out and coming out -
0:01:09 > 0:01:12and racing towards a fateful day at the BBC.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18On September the 30th 1982,
0:01:18 > 0:01:20there was a disaster at Top Of The Pops.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24It was Shakin' Stevens. He couldn't make it.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Me and my band were very available.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30For the first time on Top Of The Pops, it's Culture Club.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:32 > 0:01:35# Give me time... #
0:01:36 > 0:01:38'In three minutes and 22 seconds,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42'my arched eyebrows caused national alarm and confusion.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45'My make-up outraged the press.'
0:01:45 > 0:01:48"It called itself a boy, but was it a girl?"
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Civilisation was in grave danger.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57# Do you really want to hurt me? #
0:01:57 > 0:02:02'Our song went to number one in Britain and many other countries.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07'It was 1982 and the start of a life with and without Culture Club -
0:02:07 > 0:02:12'love, money, drugs, fame and more drama.'
0:02:12 > 0:02:14People got to know me in the 1980s,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18but my journey from boy to Boy George really began in the 1970s.
0:02:20 > 0:02:27This programme contains some strong language
0:02:29 > 0:02:32They say the past is another country.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36These days, I spend a lot of time living in another country.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Being here in America, it feels easier to have some perspective
0:02:40 > 0:02:43on the Britain and the decade I grew up in.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48For some people, it's a taste or a smell that triggers memories.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52For me, it's always music.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55A good record shop is like a time machine.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58These days, records are for hipsters,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01but back in the '70s, they were all we had.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Ah-ha-ha!
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The thing about vinyl...
0:03:06 > 0:03:08is it takes you back to a moment in time.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11You know, these are like memories.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14A talisman. These are sacred objects.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17To the people of my generation, these are sacred objects.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20MUSIC: Love Story by Shirley Bassey
0:03:21 > 0:03:24# Where do I begin... #
0:03:24 > 0:03:26- This is where- I- began.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Eltham, in south-east London.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33In 1970, I was nine years old.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36But even at that age, my world was sparkling!
0:03:36 > 0:03:41When the family were out, I was alone with a hairbrush microphone.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And throwing her arms around was Shirley Bassey.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50In this very living room, I fell in love with Shirley Bassey,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and the idea of, kind of, being a performer.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55You know, I loved the whole drama of it.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58In the '70s, we were very typical of a lot of families.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01My dad ruled the roost.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03He went out to work, my mum was supposed to cook, clean,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05run the house.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08And I think one of the reasons I love Shirley so much is because
0:04:08 > 0:04:13my mum, you know, was kind of, you know, like a normal housewife,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and never got a chance to be glamorous.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18So I really became quite obsessed with glamorous,
0:04:18 > 0:04:24strong women like Shirley Bassey, Joan Collins - people like that,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27that were, like, glamorous and, you know, got their own way.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29That's never really changed! HE LAUGHS
0:04:29 > 0:04:32MUSIC: Low Rider by War
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Right from the start, I needed glamour.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Eltham Green Secondary was never going to appeal.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Mum had to drag me out of bed and push me out the door every morning.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Mum still lives in the house we moved into in 1974.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52- TV:- 'It's one of the nation's newest giant comprehensives and, in fact,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54'a school of tomorrow for the children of today.'
0:04:54 > 0:04:57In the '70s, teachers just didn't like kids.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00If you came from a certain type of family,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02you were marked the minute you went into school.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05My older brother had been arrested, you know, he'd been arrested
0:05:05 > 0:05:08for stealing lead off the school roof where I went to.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10So the minute I went to school, it was like,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12"You're an O'Dowd - you're trouble."
0:05:12 > 0:05:14They don't want you to have a personality.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17They don't want you to be an individual. They want you to shut up.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19And, you know, as you can see...
0:05:19 > 0:05:21And unfortunately, Georgie could not shut up.
0:05:21 > 0:05:22HE CHUCKLES Never!
0:05:26 > 0:05:30Me and some of the friends I'd yet to meet didn't really fit into
0:05:30 > 0:05:34the great comprehensive education experiment of the 1970s.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37At the time, particularly in the comprehensive system,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39the idea was that you were factory fodder
0:05:39 > 0:05:41and it didn't matter whether you were taught or not.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44There were boy lessons and girl lessons.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46No gender-bending allowed.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48I remember going to see the careers officer and saying,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51"Oh, maybe I could be a make-up artist!" And I remember them saying,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55"Mr O'Dowd, you need to be more practical and realistic."
0:05:55 > 0:05:57I wasn't allowed to take woodwork,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00because girls didn't do woodwork.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02But I was allowed to do home economics,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05cos that's what girls did.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07Home economics.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11We were geared up to cleaning ovens and baking
0:06:11 > 0:06:13a Victoria sponge. It was really quite archaic.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16'In the commerce class, for example,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19'there's no frantic squabbling over one battered old typewriter.'
0:06:19 > 0:06:22That's the other thing about the '70s - you could still get hit.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24- That was the other thing. - No, I don't... They can't do it now.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26- No, in the '70s, darling. - Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29We got caned on a regular basis. It's so barbaric.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31What does that teach you?
0:06:31 > 0:06:35- That you hit people - that's how you get your way. It's awful.- Yeah.
0:06:35 > 0:06:36People were terrified.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Outside in the real world, things were tough.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45But me and my friends weren't interested in current affairs.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49The '70s did have a drabness attached to it,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52which seems to be a thing that sort of escaped me, somehow.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I wasn't particularly aware of how difficult things were.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58There was just always a crisis.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00Funnily enough, I don't remember a whole lot about that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It seemed Britain was on the edge.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Money had to come from foreign banks to bail us out.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12I want to speak to you simply and plainly
0:07:12 > 0:07:15about the grave emergency now facing our country.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Everyone was saying the unions were running the country.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21But the first I knew about politics was the miners' strike,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23when all the lights went out.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29When you're a kid and the lights go off, it's actually quite exciting. You can get away with more!
0:07:29 > 0:07:30HE CHUCKLES
0:07:30 > 0:07:33I mean, things like Edward Heath, you know, obviously, the miners...
0:07:33 > 0:07:36I remember the rubbish strikes. You know, there was all that.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38But it was kind of going on, you know,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40with all the things, you know, like music,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and all the things that excited me. They were more important to me.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I was more interested in myself.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49It's a terrible thing to admit, really.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56We are limiting the use of electricity by almost all factories,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00shops and offices to three days a week.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03You didn't really get much notice that there was going to be a cut
0:08:03 > 0:08:05and it was a mad rush to the local shop, you know, to see
0:08:05 > 0:08:07who could get there first, you know,
0:08:07 > 0:08:08to buy up all the candles.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11If you had a camping stove, you'd fire it up and have
0:08:11 > 0:08:15some hot baked beans and it'd be a bit of an adventure.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17I'm trying to remember what the hell we did,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19you know, with the candles. You'd go to bed!
0:08:19 > 0:08:20The economy was in crisis
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and unemployment was the worst since the War.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28We cannot solve these problems with a divided and embittered nation.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31There seemed to be no kind of hope,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34you know, like, for you, and there was a lack of jobs.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36The company my father worked for kind of went under.
0:08:36 > 0:08:37It was happening everywhere.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40There was a lot of talk about being on the dole.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43My peers would talk about it like that's what they were going to do,
0:08:43 > 0:08:44because that's what their parents did.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Of course, I was one of them, on the dole.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49You went to the job centre and you got, like, 12 quid.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51Whoopee(!)
0:08:51 > 0:08:54I was only interested in my music -
0:08:54 > 0:08:58an obsession I inherited from my older brother, Richard.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02It was really Richard that had all the Bowie records.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04And I remember when Bowie did the Ziggy thing,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Richard kind of went off him a bit and went more to Alice Cooper,
0:09:07 > 0:09:10so it was a bit darker. So I inherited Bowie.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Oh, my God. The record of all records!
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"He swallowed his pride and puckered his lips
0:09:20 > 0:09:22"Showed me the leather belt round his hips."
0:09:22 > 0:09:25I fancied him a little bit in this period. He was quite cute.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27HE CHUCKLES
0:09:27 > 0:09:31# In the corner of the morning in the past. #
0:09:31 > 0:09:33When my brother Richard gave me Bowie's album
0:09:33 > 0:09:35The Man Who Sold The World, I literally wore it out.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39My God.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Bowie was unique because he was so contradictory in every way.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48Cos he wasn't like the archetypal kind of homosexual or bisexual.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50He wasn't really even that, I don't think.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I don't think... I don't know what he was.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55MUSIC: Starman by David Bowie
0:09:55 > 0:09:57But for me, yeah, he was everything.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59Absolutely everything.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04# I lean back on my radio-oh-oh... #
0:10:04 > 0:10:06The album came out in 1972
0:10:06 > 0:10:11and that summer, I first saw the alien land on Top Of The Pops.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13It was a lightbulb moment.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18The seminal moment of revelation.
0:10:18 > 0:10:24# There's a star man waiting in the sky... #
0:10:24 > 0:10:29Seeing Bowie doing Starman was a major moment.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33It was aligned to landing on the moon, the Space Race.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37All this technology that was going on.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40# I had to phone someone so I picked on you... #
0:10:40 > 0:10:45You were like, "Oh, wow, this is the alien. This is the outsider."
0:10:45 > 0:10:47And I already knew that I was an outsider.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49I was a gay teenager.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51I could link in with David Bowie straightaway.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54If you did feel like you were somewhat on the outside of
0:10:54 > 0:10:59things, suddenly you belonged to, like, the world of Ziggy Stardust.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01# He told us not to blow it
0:11:01 > 0:11:04# Cos he knows it's all worthwhile. #
0:11:04 > 0:11:06I remember feeling intimidated on some level
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and at the same time fascinated.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13It was like, "My God, I want a lifestyle like that. And I want to be like that."
0:11:13 > 0:11:17# I hear the sound... #
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Hardly any stardust reached Eltham but my brother and his mates were
0:11:21 > 0:11:25always slipping off to a place that sounded a bit like Las Vegas.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29When rock stars came to south London, this is where they
0:11:29 > 0:11:33came to, Lewisham Odeon, which is now a pile of bricks.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36Why did they knock it down?
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Awful sacrilege. I came to see Rod Stewart and the Faces here.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44I came to see David Essex, Blackfoot Sue, Chuck Berry.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46I mean, I was always here.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49If I wasn't at a gig, I'd be at the back of the stage,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54hovering, in the hope that I would see someone famous.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56The biggest gig I ever saw here was in 1972 when I
0:11:56 > 0:11:57was 11 and 11 months old
0:11:57 > 0:12:01and that was Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03which for me was a life-defining moment.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05It really changed everything for me.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07# The films that I made... #
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Even from the back of Lewisham Odeon, David Bowie was bigger
0:12:11 > 0:12:15than he'd been on TV. He created an extraordinary landscape.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19He wore make-up and said he was bisexual.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21# Suck, baby, suck
0:12:21 > 0:12:23# Give me your head... #
0:12:23 > 0:12:27He wasn't ordinary. He was all-powerful, a superhero.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I knew Ziggy Stardust was the character
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and David Bowie was the performer.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35The clothes and the make-up gave him an edge but when
0:12:35 > 0:12:38he took them off, he was just a boy from south London like me.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Turned out we lived on the same bus route.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44My older brother, Richard, sent me to the chemist
0:12:44 > 0:12:47to develop some Kodak film and I think
0:12:47 > 0:12:50I was allowed to get some sweets with some of the change.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55So I went off to the local shops in Middle Park with this film
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and I got to the chemist and I was standing outside and I was
0:12:58 > 0:13:01chatting to some friends and it was a really hot day.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04It was about 11 in the morning and as I was talking to these
0:13:04 > 0:13:08friends of mine, I turned around and there was a bus
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and it said Beckenham and I was like...
0:13:11 > 0:13:15"Oh! A bus from Eltham goes to Beckenham," and I just jumped on it.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18All the fans knew that David Bowie lived in Beckenham.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22My friends Jo and Danny have come with me to tread the holy ground.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Everyone knew that inside David and Angie lolled about in velvet
0:13:29 > 0:13:33jumpsuits, eating space food and getting visits from Lou Reed.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36I'm sure it was there. I know it was on this main road.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40I think this is it. This is where it was.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43- So, this would have been the back garden...- Wow!- This area.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46The house was kind of like an Edwardian mansion block.
0:13:46 > 0:13:47He had a flat in it.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50You could see washing on the line so we were contemplating getting over
0:13:50 > 0:13:53and nicking some clothes. "Maybe there's Bowie's pants or something."
0:13:53 > 0:13:58And we were sitting outside most of the day and at some point in
0:13:58 > 0:14:00the afternoon, Angie opened one of the windows and was like,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04"Why don't you all just fuck off?" And we were like, "Oh, my God."
0:14:04 > 0:14:07It was like acknowledgement. It was the highlight of our year.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10But this place is not recognisable.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13The following summer, Ziggy was dead,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16killed off on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20I knew Bowie would be back. He was just changing costume.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22But he left a huge glam vacuum.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Bowie went off to Berlin, didn't he,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and sort of disappeared. And there'd be little snippets
0:14:28 > 0:14:31of things in the press and you'd see articles and there would be pictures.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36When he came back in 1976,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38I was at Victoria with the other fans.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40You know, he was wearing...
0:14:40 > 0:14:43It was kind of like a Hollywood collarless shirt.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Yes, he looked pretty conservative compared to Ziggy but then
0:14:47 > 0:14:49he did Boys Keep Swinging, where he was in drag.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52It always felt like Bowie was one step ahead of everyone.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Even at the time, I knew he was at the cutting edge
0:14:55 > 0:14:57of the '70s gender debate.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59But it wasn't going on in our family.
0:14:59 > 0:15:06My uncles and aunts, the men, did what they wanted and the women
0:15:06 > 0:15:10kind of cleaned up the mess, basically. That was the '70s.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Bowie knew that alpha males were an endangered species.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17The new women's libbers wanted to be heard.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22They had outrageous demands - equal pay, equal rights
0:15:22 > 0:15:24and the pill they'd been promised in the '60s.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27I don't think I used the term "women's lib".
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I was always saying to my mum, "Why do you let Dad talk to you like that?
0:15:30 > 0:15:32"Why do you let him treat you like that?"
0:15:32 > 0:15:36Men treat women really badly and women put up with it.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38That's what I remember from being a kid.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45I did have a meeting with my careers officer,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48who said I could be a secretary for a couple of years
0:15:48 > 0:15:50and then I was expected to get married.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54I asked a female relative what a lesbian was and she said,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56"Someone who's not very nice."
0:15:56 > 0:15:58And I also asked, "What's a feminist?"
0:15:58 > 0:16:00And I got the same answer.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04The feminist movement didn't really appeal to me very much.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Topless festival dancing and things.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Dishevelled. A bit too feral.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Some men weren't changing.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14After we moved to the big house,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18I still shared a room with three very, very hetero brothers.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Here's a picture of me and my boxing brother. Enough said.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27I felt like the only gay in suburbia.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31But '70s TV was full of them.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37You know, in the '70s, you had all these fantastic kind of camp men
0:16:37 > 0:16:41- on TV and nobody ever really said they were gay.- No.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45It was like, we all knew they were, sort of, obviously not regular guys.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48What did you think about Larry Grayson? Did you think he was gay?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51- I liked him, yeah. - Did you know he was gay?
0:16:51 > 0:16:55- No, I wouldn't... No.- Really? - No.- You knew- I- was gay.- I didn't...
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Did you know I was gay?
0:16:57 > 0:17:01No. I knew you were different. It made no difference to me.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05- But you used to say I was theatrical.- I was what?- Theatrical.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- Highly strung.- Of course you were. Yeah, you were.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10And you're still highly strung.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13I thought that was kind of your way of sort of saying, "He's gay."
0:17:13 > 0:17:16- I didn't even know what the word meant.- Oh, really?- Yeah.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19- Well, I used to hear it a lot at school, you see.- Yeah.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Tried to burn me out. I'd say, "What a gay day."
0:17:22 > 0:17:24If Larry Grayson was on telly, the next day,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27it would all be like, "Shut that door," at school.
0:17:27 > 0:17:28- Yeah.- It was constant.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30I say, what about this?
0:17:32 > 0:17:34- He was brilliant, wasn't he? - He was brilliant.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37But you know, a lot of gay men didn't like all those camp icons
0:17:37 > 0:17:40because they felt that they were spoiling it for them.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Like they were portraying this image of gay people that was very
0:17:44 > 0:17:46effeminate and weak.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Well, it's too big for a cake.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52And it's too small for a midnight service.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54I loved those people.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56- On TV in the '70s, you only had a certain type of gay man.- Yeah.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58It was always like, "Shut that door."
0:17:58 > 0:18:01"Oh, look at the muck in here." You know? It was all very camp.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05At Christmas 1975, honesty broke out.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08I'm not merely a stopped clock.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10I'm a stopped grandfather clock.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13The Naked Civil Servant was the story of Quentin Crisp.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17And I remember this was on TV and I was here on my own,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20lying on the floor, watching this show, like, transfixed.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Because, you know, I thought it all started with Bowie.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Suddenly, I see this man from, like,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28the 1930s with hennaed hair and make-up.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30You know, outwardly homosexual.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33It was a true story and it blew my mind.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34I couldn't believe it.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37As a kid, I thought Bowie was really brave but then you look at
0:18:37 > 0:18:40what Quentin Crisp did and you think, "That's beyond brave."
0:18:40 > 0:18:42I was the centre of attention,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45without feeling that I was in danger.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48- Do you fancy one of us, then? - Which one of us do you fancy?
0:18:48 > 0:18:52The other thing about Quentin Crisp was he was apologetic.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56And we were part of a new breed of gay people that were not apologetic.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58We weren't going to apologise for being gay.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05In the '80s, I made a pilgrimage to see Quentin Crisp, here in New York.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08He still thought being gay was a curse.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11That's one reason I loved David Bowie.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12He said it was OK to be gay.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17It had only been legal to be a gay man in England and Wales
0:19:17 > 0:19:21since 1967 and the age of consent was 21.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I was only 15 but I was already experimenting.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30# In these days of changing ways
0:19:30 > 0:19:32# So-called liberated days
0:19:32 > 0:19:36# A story comes to mind of a friend of mine... #
0:19:37 > 0:19:41My mum actually bought me The Killing of Georgie Parts I and II
0:19:41 > 0:19:42and it was in a paper bag.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45She put it in my sock drawer in my bedroom.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50It was like my mum's way of not talking about it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53It was like, "I know what's going on." You know?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58And sort of her funny way of kind of accepting it without having
0:19:58 > 0:20:02to get involved in the details of it, you know?
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Because, you know, I was going off to the West End and I was
0:20:05 > 0:20:09running around and I was quite brave and I think it was just
0:20:09 > 0:20:11sort of, "Be careful."
0:20:11 > 0:20:15It was her way of trying to kind of let me know that she was worried
0:20:15 > 0:20:20about me and she sort of understood but didn't understand. You know?
0:20:20 > 0:20:23# Paul said there must be a mistake
0:20:23 > 0:20:25# How can my son not be straight?
0:20:25 > 0:20:29# After all I've said and done for him? #
0:20:32 > 0:20:35I shouldn't be laughing!
0:20:35 > 0:20:39I'm sure my parents had sleepless nights about me being gay
0:20:39 > 0:20:42but I think they were more worried when I left school at 15.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46It couldn't have been a worse time to be looking for work.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48These Sunderland teenagers are already veterans of
0:20:48 > 0:20:51the battle for jobs in Britain's depressed areas,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54where the odds are often 10-1 against employment.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57The dole queue was a bit grim for me.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02I thought I could doss in bed but Mum soon cracked the whip.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04I wanted a job doing something fabulous but I was soon
0:21:04 > 0:21:07stacking shelves in a well-known supermarket.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Real life was boring but just in the nick of time,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12punk rock came to the rescue.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16Because the old film is so grainy,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20we think of punk as grim and grey but I remember it in
0:21:20 > 0:21:25Technicolor because it kicked off in the boiling summer of 1976.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28That was really the hottest summer of all.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32I'd never known anything like it and it was relentless, every day.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36That kind of sticky horrible heat that goes on and on.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Everybody's lawn looked like straw.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41I remember I nearly fainted at the bus stop.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I had a bit of a moment and nearly passed out.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46People were advised to take a bath with a friend.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50The hot summer of '76 was fantastically important
0:21:50 > 0:21:54because this changes everything. Everybody gets out on the street.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58There's a sense of possibility, a sense of openness. And suddenly,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02something can break loose and that's what happened with punk rock.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04The cult is called punk.
0:22:05 > 0:22:06The music, punk rock.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10Raw, outrageous and crude.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18It was a jolt of energy. It was a break with the past.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23It was truly 1970s rock music. The '60s were long gone.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26And everybody was fed up with all the '60s people
0:22:26 > 0:22:28continuing to make albums.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Punk was designed almost self-consciously to appeal to
0:22:34 > 0:22:35a new generation.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39George turned 16 in 1977 so he was the perfect age for it.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46For me, it was just a very colourful time, you know, a liberated time.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51You felt like you could be part of it. It was an energy
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and an attitude. Musical talent wasn't a big thing.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The first time the Sex Pistols appeared on TV,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02it was the clothing that the presenter was really interested in.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Also trying to shock everyone. Your clothes are bizarre.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07What about the word "punk"? If you look it up in a dictionary...
0:23:07 > 0:23:09They're only bizarre to old people.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11They ain't bizarre to young kids.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Possibly, possibly. I don't have a safety pin through my nose.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15What about the word "punk"?
0:23:15 > 0:23:16It means worthless, nasty.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Johnny Rotten, are you happy with this word?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21No, the press gave us it.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24It's their problem, not ours. We never called ourselves punk.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Punk rock enabled intelligent people who hadn't had the advantage
0:23:31 > 0:23:35of an expensive, elite education to become stars.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37For me and my punk mates,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41it wasn't just about the music or pretending to be angry with society.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45We were interested in a new look and a place to see it and buy it
0:23:45 > 0:23:48was on the Kings Road in Chelsea.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51I think that when punk started, to me it was like a fashion thing.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54And it was completely tied to Malcolm McLaren and
0:23:54 > 0:23:56Vivienne Westwood's shop.
0:23:56 > 0:23:58It was a way for them to sell more clothes, I think.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Vivienne Westwood's shop, it used to be called Seditionaries.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05It's been called Sex. Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07And now it is World's End.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10And this is where we used to gravitate to on the King's Road.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12We walked the whole, entire length
0:24:12 > 0:24:15of the King's Road to end up at this temple.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18This fashion temple,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22which sold amazing clothes that were really expensive.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24This is where it all happened.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26When the shop was Sex, during the punk era,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28it was really intimidating.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29# Down, down
0:24:29 > 0:24:31# Down down... #
0:24:31 > 0:24:35The BBC sent actor Derek Nimmo in to experience the terror
0:24:35 > 0:24:38on behalf of the nation.
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Erm, hello, Mr Nimmo.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42So, you are right down there in bondage.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45You look so bloody boring. I cannot believe it.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46The point is to change yourself.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48But why? Why does one have to change?
0:24:48 > 0:24:50Because then you'll feel great.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Myself and Jeremy Healey were in Leicester Square and we saw
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Vivienne and Debbie and they were wearing all the clothes.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00They were wearing orange bondage trousers and we'd never seen it.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03We followed them around Leicester Square.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05We were like, "Look at those shoes!"
0:25:05 > 0:25:07We were like literally obsessed.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11I eventually got the whole thing but I wanted the trousers to start with.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The trousers were the kill. They were like the most important thing.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16My dad used to gamble. He'd say, "Don't tell your mother."
0:25:16 > 0:25:20"Of course I'm going to keep quiet but there's a pair of trousers I want." Anyway, so I got them.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22I used to live in them.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24They could have walked on their own, they were so dirty.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26So, no new hats?
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Of course, punk was about kicking against the system.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32At 60 quid, your Westwood T-shirt was more about submission
0:25:32 > 0:25:34than sedition. Avarice in the UK.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39Punk originally had this sort of like idea of presenting yourself
0:25:39 > 0:25:42in a way that represented your uniqueness,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46creating your own individual look.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48An anti-fashion statement.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Club creature Philip Sallon was the Queen of DIY couture.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55Global Village is now Heaven, which is virtually the biggest club
0:25:55 > 0:25:58in London, and I'd never been before.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And then I stripped off and I had a bin liner on, chains and bare legs.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04And the bouncers dragged me out of there.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07They said within six weeks, the whole club was wearing bin liners.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11One of the standard symbols of punk became the safety pin.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14You know, that was really, like, never been seen before.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16All of a sudden, you could pick up
0:26:16 > 0:26:20a sink plug and wear that as an earring. Or a tampon.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23If you wanted to put a cushion on your head
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and tie it up with a bit of ribbon and go out like that, you could.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Promenading down the King's Road was really crucial.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34It was all about saying something about yourself through your clothes.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37And remember, we didn't have social networking
0:26:37 > 0:26:40so we did our talking on our bodies.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48But your clothes could also get you into a lot of trouble.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Around every corner, there was someone from another fashion tribe,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53just waiting to knock your teeth out.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Teddy boys on one side, punks on the other.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01And they punch each other and scream and it was like anarchy.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05England in the mid-to-late '70s was an incredibly violent place.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08You went to school, you got hit. You went home, you got it.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10- Officers could hit you. - And of course, you had skinheads.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13They would actually wait at the station for people to come
0:27:13 > 0:27:15off that train and give them a good hiding.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18My dad used to carry a big monkey wrench in his car and
0:27:18 > 0:27:20if someone cut him up, he'd get out and they'd have fights.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Everyone talked about the Millwall brick, which was
0:27:23 > 0:27:26a rolled-up newspaper that you'd jam into someone's throat.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28I remember the atmosphere of constant violence and it
0:27:28 > 0:27:31could erupt at any moment. It was everywhere.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Thugs didn't really need much of a reason to lash out.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Seeing someone not being manly was a red flag.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42It wasn't a gay-friendly time. It was a world away,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45as far as gay rights and gay consciousness goes.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Walk around the way that I did, knowing that there were loads
0:27:49 > 0:27:52of people that wanted to punch my face in. Straight blokes,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55just because they didn't like the fact you were dressed up,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58rock 'n' roll guys that didn't like the fact you were a punk rocker.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01There were so many people that wanted to punch you.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Old ladies would hit you with their handbags.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06This is such a timeless record.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12# Your face when sleeping...
0:28:12 > 0:28:14# Is sublime... #
0:28:14 > 0:28:17In the safety of my own home, I could listen to music by people who
0:28:17 > 0:28:22not only said being different was OK, it might actually be better.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27# Then comes pancake factor number one... #
0:28:27 > 0:28:29The most famous track on this album at the time
0:28:29 > 0:28:30was Walk On The Wild Side.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33I think it was just really revolutionary, that song.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43# Holly came from Miami FLA... #
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Bowie, Lou Reed and Nico evoked Bohemia.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50They took us to racy places where the lights were low
0:28:50 > 0:28:52and the company was dubious.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56# She says hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side
0:28:56 > 0:29:00# I said hey, honey, take a walk on the wild side... #
0:29:00 > 0:29:06Since I was 14, I'd been trawling London's West End with the red bus rover.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09If you're a London adolescent and you want action,
0:29:09 > 0:29:10you gravitate to Soho.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Certainly back then, there were all the sex shops, the prostitutes.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16There were people offering you drugs.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18You don't necessarily want to sample it but it's
0:29:18 > 0:29:21a very exciting atmosphere, illicit atmosphere.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Soho wasn't the suburbs.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32It was full of dodgy adults but also freaks like me.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35The beautiful and the dammed, kids on the run and on the game.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41Philip Sallon was the queen of everything, La Reine Du Drame.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43He would dress you up and dress you down.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46He was my teacher and my tormentor.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49One of the first places I ever went to with Philip Sallon was this
0:29:49 > 0:29:53place that was called Madame Louise's. There's still a peephole
0:29:53 > 0:29:56and you come up, knock and they would open the little shutter,
0:29:56 > 0:30:00give you the once over and then you'd either get in or not get in.
0:30:00 > 0:30:01Hello.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Philip was a huge influence on me as a kid.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08I mean, he was the first bone fide eccentric that I ever met.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Not just in the way that he dressed, but in the way that he thought.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Oh.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15Well, it's changed here.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18The same size, but just different, isn't it?
0:30:18 > 0:30:20This was the dance floor here, anyway.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22I remember the DJ was in that corner.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24We came down here
0:30:24 > 0:30:26and I remember we sat down over there.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28That was the seats there.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30And we were, like, looking at the dance floor.
0:30:30 > 0:30:31It was all full of blokes dancing.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34There were all these blokes in suits and ties and everything.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36And it turned out the whole lot of them were women.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38There wasn't one man there!
0:30:38 > 0:30:39We'd been fooled!
0:30:39 > 0:30:42I remember Malcolm McLaren and the Sex Pistols,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45I used to start signing them in, I think it was every week.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48The King's Road trendies, they started moving in bit by bit.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51And as they moved in, the lesbos moved out.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55So you could say I was responsible for the death of Louise's.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58This is where people like Siouxsie Sioux, Johnny Rotten,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Billy Idol came.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04I suppose the attraction was the kind of mix of people, you know.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07It was all so wrong and so right.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Philip dragged me through the looking glass into Wonderland.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16I wanted to go, because gay clubs were full of lumberjacks,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18and straight clubs were equally vanilla.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20People forget...
0:31:20 > 0:31:23that you had to wear a shirt and tie and beige
0:31:23 > 0:31:27to get into most clubs pre, you know, pre the '80s.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32Maybe a gig to go to and then you'd have to sort of scurry around
0:31:32 > 0:31:34and try and find somewhere to go after,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37so you'd end up at the Sombrero or Louise's.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39The only clubs that were interesting were the gay clubs,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43cos they were quite glamorous, and real stars people would come there.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46In those days, you were just wandering aimlessly
0:31:46 > 0:31:48and then you met someone like Philip Sallon,
0:31:48 > 0:31:52and he took you into your crowd, and then you felt comfortable.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55And there were all this kind of, like,
0:31:55 > 0:31:57"He was a she and she said,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00" 'Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side.' "
0:32:00 > 0:32:05So, you were young and you wanted to experience things and get out.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Even under the protection of my freak godfather,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13the gay underworld was dangerous.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16There were drinks and drugs and predators.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Soho was frisky and often risky.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And some people really didn't love their neighbour.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24Equal rights does not entitle nig-nogs to move next door.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26Ahh!
0:32:26 > 0:32:28Love Thy Neighbour was hideous.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31I mean, once that was on, the next day at school,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34you would get slaughtered by people verbally.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I wish to make a complaint against a nig-nog.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39It was all that "nig-nog this" and...
0:32:39 > 0:32:41And then people would just repeat it in school
0:32:41 > 0:32:42and not even think about it.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45- Are they treating you all right, Sambo?- Oh, no complaints.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48- What was this one? - Love Thy Neighbour.- Yeah.
0:32:48 > 0:32:49You blackies are well catered for
0:32:49 > 0:32:51when it comes to handling yourselves.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53I couldn't understand racism.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55I think that's the thing about the '70s.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57We weren't aware of how wrong it was.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01When I was a kid, things like Love Thy Neighbour, those types of shows,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03I really would never watch them.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06To me, it was like the opposite of everything I wanted to be.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09It's only in hindsight that I'm aware of the language that was used.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11But then, you know, you'd hear it at school.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13You know, it was very common.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16In the '70s, it was more the sort of Indian kids
0:33:16 > 0:33:17that would get picked on.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20I remember seeing, like, Indian kids having their turbans pulled off
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and all of that, and that used to really upset me.
0:33:23 > 0:33:24I mean, Jamaican kids were tough,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27so nobody bothered the Jamaican kids at school,
0:33:27 > 0:33:28cos they just hit you!
0:33:28 > 0:33:32# On a wonderful day like today
0:33:32 > 0:33:36# I defy any cloud to appear in the sky... #
0:33:36 > 0:33:38If my grandmother came to stay,
0:33:38 > 0:33:40she'd want to watch the Black And White Minstrel Show,
0:33:40 > 0:33:42which is just kind of, like, mind-boggling.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46# She was afraid to come out in the open... #
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Those of you who like a bit of irony will enjoy hearing
0:33:49 > 0:33:53that this was one of the first programmes broadcast in colour.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57It was once the most popular show on TV.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01But by the mid-'70s, people wanted something a bit more sophisticated.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03- I'm sick!- Oh, dear.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I'm working at the moment... not anywhere at all.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13They called this light entertainment.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16But to fascists, this was reality TV.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19We'll carry on marching like a great army
0:34:19 > 0:34:22towards the Britain of our dreams.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25CHEERING
0:34:25 > 0:34:27- CHANTING:- National Front. National Front.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29I was never nationalistic.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32My colours were red, gold and green.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34I was for inclusion, not exclusion.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36But apparently, plenty of people thought Britain
0:34:36 > 0:34:38was being swamped by immigrants.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Right-winger Enoch Powell
0:34:41 > 0:34:43was the most popular politician in Britain.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46He won BBC Man of the Year twice.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48You had to learn how to run.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52People would just come up and punch you in the face, spit at you,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54throw things out of cars at you.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57I'm the daughter of a Hungarian man.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59I was considered "foreign".
0:34:59 > 0:35:02I remember our next-door neighbours didn't talk to us
0:35:02 > 0:35:03for, like, ten years.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06I can remember being on the train and all the football fans got on
0:35:06 > 0:35:08and everyone was abusing us.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10They were even getting their children to abuse us.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Lewisham was proper rough in the '70s,
0:35:12 > 0:35:14but it was also a place of contradictions.
0:35:14 > 0:35:16You had people giving out National Front leaflets,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18you had a big black community.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21- CHANTING:- National Front. National Front.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23As a gay man, I was well aware of the National Front,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and they had one of their biggest ever marches here in Lewisham.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29It was, like, the biggest turnout for them ever in the '70s,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31which was quite scary,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34because after they got rid of the foreigners, we were next.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38- MAN:- Immigration. - CROWD:- No.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40- MAN:- Repatriation. - CROWD:- Yes.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43The National Front tried to incite the working class,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46fuelling bitterness and division.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48To me and my friends, the minorities under attack
0:35:48 > 0:35:51gave this country something wonderful.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53They were also our classmates.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55My secondary school was like the United Nations,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59and thanks to my dad, our house was like the Culture Club.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04I didn't grow up in a racist household. My dad was a builder.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08So this house was just full of, like, Jamaicans, Indians,
0:36:08 > 0:36:09every type of person.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12- I'd come down sometimes to get breakfast...- Yeah.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14..and the kitchen would be full of...
0:36:14 > 0:36:16like, cast of thousands, you know.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18It was funny, I'd kind of walk into the kitchen with blue hair
0:36:18 > 0:36:21and there'd be, like, a Rasta sitting there, having a cup of tea.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25MUSIC: Everything I Own by Ken Boothe
0:36:27 > 0:36:32Reggae, for me, began with Ken Boothe, Everything I Own,
0:36:32 > 0:36:36which I went on to have a hit with myself years later.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38Things like Susan Cadogan, Hurt So Good.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40MUSIC PLAYS
0:36:40 > 0:36:43# First you take my heart in the palm of your hands
0:36:43 > 0:36:44# And you squeeze it tight... #
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Reggae is so much a part of growing up in Britain.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51It's important as, you know, curry.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55As soon as I heard, like, lovers rock in the '70s,
0:36:55 > 0:36:57it just clicked with me.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00You know what I mean? I was just like...
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Just got it straightaway.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04MUSIC: Stir It Up
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Lovers rock was a very London kind of reggae sound.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11In Birmingham, they made something harder, more righteous.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17I moved up there in 1979, but not for the music.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20I had a broken heart and a kind offer from a fellow freak.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26MUSIC: Love Missile F1-11 by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
0:37:26 > 0:37:28In the '80s, Martin Degville would go into orbit
0:37:28 > 0:37:30with Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33# There goes my love rocket red... #
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Back then, he was just a weirdo from Walsall.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39Martin was one of the most outrageous people I'd ever met,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43who was wearing stiletto heels and these big footballer shoulder pads.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46He looked like an Alsatian from outer space!
0:37:46 > 0:37:49I first set eyes on Martin at the seaside.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51I was in Bournemouth, wandering around the street,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54and I saw this thing across the road.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56# Shoot it up! #
0:37:56 > 0:37:58And I just targeted him.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00I was like, "I've got to make friends with him."
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Now, guys, this is Goodall Street, where I used to live.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05I fell out with this bloke I was going out with
0:38:05 > 0:38:07and it sort of got nasty,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and so I asked Martin if I could go and stay with him in Walsall
0:38:10 > 0:38:14for a few weeks, which turned into almost a year.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16This is the fabulous place...
0:38:16 > 0:38:18It was a fantastic time.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20That used to be George's space.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23For me, I think Martin's one of the real original kind of freaks.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26You know, he kind of changed things. He was quite important, I think.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30He was also part of my kind of freak education!
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Hello!
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Now the area's gone posh. It's a curtain shop.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40In 1979, it was far less luxurious.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43So this was my part.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45And down here was George's part.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48I was like the housemaid. I used to clean the place.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53You know, all my parties, people coming and going,
0:38:53 > 0:38:54orgies.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56Martin had a shop in the Bullring called Degville's Dispensary,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59and I worked there pretty much every day
0:38:59 > 0:39:01while he made clothes.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04I used to keep all my takings from the shop...
0:39:04 > 0:39:07one of the floorboards in my bedroom.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09And so one day I came back
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and the whole of my takings had disappeared.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14He didn't pay very much, so I used to sort of steal
0:39:14 > 0:39:17from under the floorboards to sort of, you know...
0:39:17 > 0:39:19pop up my wages a bit.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23It would've been around here. It was quite a lot, as well.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25£200, £300 at that time.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28# You've gotta pick a pocket or two!
0:39:28 > 0:39:32# You've gotta pick a pocket or two, boy... #
0:39:32 > 0:39:34I demand the living wage!
0:39:34 > 0:39:36# You've got to pick a pocket or two. #
0:39:36 > 0:39:39The flat was always full of music.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Bowie, Lou Reed, Cabaret Voltaire, Linton Kwesi Johnson,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46and, of course, the local speciality.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48SKA MUSIC PLAYS
0:39:52 > 0:39:57I used to listen to a lot of ska music.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00You know, like the Trojan, like, collections.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03You know, I took him to see reggae bands,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06you know, UB40, you know, being one of them.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09I remember going to see UB40 at the Crown in Birmingham,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11and also to see The Beat.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15There was this kind of marriage of reggae and punk.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17You'd see bands like Steel Pulse,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20you know, and then you had characters like Jah Wobble.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23With his first release, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27it had really sort of, like, you know, big reggae undertones to it,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31you know, which I know sort of, like, I probably inspired him.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Back in London, the heat was going out of punk.
0:40:37 > 0:40:38What happened with punk,
0:40:38 > 0:40:43quite quickly it became a mainstream style
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and lots of lads came in.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47All the moshing started.
0:40:49 > 0:40:50It was fairly grim.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55And so I could understand why somebody like George
0:40:55 > 0:40:56got fed up with it.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00My friend Marilyn had been a punk princess, poop poopy doo.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Together we watched the glamour evaporate.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08I remember going to a punk gig. It was Gang Of Four.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10I was doing this kind of Siouxsie Sioux look.
0:41:10 > 0:41:14I had, like, the frilly shirt and heavy make-up and the spiky hair.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16But it wasn't really punk. It was something more than punk.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19And I remember somebody throwing a beer over me
0:41:19 > 0:41:20and kind of ruining my hair.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24And I suddenly thought, "Well, this is not a scene I want to be part of.
0:41:24 > 0:41:25"This is just not for me."
0:41:25 > 0:41:28So there were people that were into punk
0:41:28 > 0:41:30that kind of had a lot of fun with it to begin with,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33then it became very sort of studenty, violent, spitting,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35all of that, pogoing,
0:41:35 > 0:41:37and then we kind of departed over here.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40There was this kind of a lull in the scene
0:41:40 > 0:41:42and there didn't seem to be anything going on.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44It seemed like a sort of page was turning.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46You started seeing parodies of it on television,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49maybe Freddie Starr or people dressed up like a punk.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51Then we kind of knew it was dying.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54There was a sort of new wave of people coming through.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59So here we are in Meard Street,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02which is this little road between Wardour Street and Dean Street,
0:42:02 > 0:42:05and this is a legendary place for a few reasons.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Over there on the left used to be a very famous kind of brothel
0:42:08 > 0:42:10called the Golden Girls Club.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12All the hookers used to hang out of the window and scream at us
0:42:12 > 0:42:14when we used to walk by.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19And then here, the doorway of the legendary nightclub - Billy's.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22This was a rundown 1970s club
0:42:22 > 0:42:25that Steve Strange and Rusty Egan took over on Tuesday night
0:42:25 > 0:42:28and turned into this one-nighter event.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30And this sort of phenomena started in the '70s
0:42:30 > 0:42:33with people like Steve and Rusty, Chris Sullivan,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36taking over these rundown clubs that no-one was going to any more
0:42:36 > 0:42:40and putting on these sort of nights for our crowd.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42This was only open for 12 weeks.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It was the shortest lifespan of any of those clubs.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50It's been more than three decades since club runner Rusty Egan
0:42:50 > 0:42:52went down these stairs.
0:42:52 > 0:42:58I printed up some flyers, Tuesday night, 10.30 till 3.30am,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01and we gave them, personally, to people.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03What have they done to my club?
0:43:04 > 0:43:05Turned it into a kitchen.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Wow. 1978.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Yeah, it was only about this big.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14You would walk into here, 10, 10.30,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17maybe Kraftwerk playing,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22Bowie, some really down, ambient music.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Probably looked like the bar from Star Wars. Ha!
0:43:25 > 0:43:28A collection of people which included Boy George.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Philip Sallon, Steve Strange were the reception.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35And there were some alcoves, some little alcoves you could get into.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And then the DJ was against the far wall.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41It got very popular. Overcrowded, in fact.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43You met some of those people that you might have seen at David Bowie,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45you might have seen at a Siouxsie gig,
0:43:45 > 0:43:47you might have seen at X-Ray Spex.
0:43:47 > 0:43:48And then me in the DJ booth
0:43:48 > 0:43:51playing all their favourite Bowie and Roxy,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53and then dropping Human League.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56First ever... Electricity by OMD.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58Emergent electronica.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00It was nice to start hearing the Human League
0:44:00 > 0:44:02and all these new bands that were coming out.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05The soundtrack reflected what we were interested in.
0:44:05 > 0:44:10Snapping away and recalling history was art student Nicola Tyson.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12I'd just get the prints developed at Boots
0:44:12 > 0:44:14and then bring them down the following week
0:44:14 > 0:44:16and try and sell them for beer money.
0:44:16 > 0:44:17But that wasn't very successful.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Up here there's pictures of George, I think that's with Andy.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23There's Steve Strange.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26I can't remember exactly where I met George,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30although he would come to Billy's in sort of white Pan Stik make-up.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33Here we've got Marilyn with a kind of Jordan hairdo.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Philip Sallon. Philip's policeman's hat.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Little Simon Le Bon one there.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42There's Andy Polaris.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46You slowly start seeing individuals influencing each other
0:44:46 > 0:44:50with hair colour, more extreme make-up.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52And I think probably as well,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54people started seeing people who were like,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56"Oh, they actually look a bit better than me.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58"Next week when I come down there,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01"my hair's going to be three colours, not one colour."
0:45:01 > 0:45:05Billy's itself was sort of almost like a clip joint.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10The trans contingent of regulars that would go down there.
0:45:12 > 0:45:13Living the nightlife to the full
0:45:13 > 0:45:17sometimes meant missing the last train or bus back to the suburbs.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21Luckily for us, the '70s were the squat years.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24In the mid-'70s, London was very rundown, quite poor.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Old property going to be pulled down.
0:45:27 > 0:45:28And then the money arrived.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32In that gap, you had the emergence of squatting.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34Here we are in Carburton Street.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38Now, this street was full of these beautiful Georgian houses
0:45:38 > 0:45:40that had been demolished
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and they built this, which is such a tragedy,
0:45:42 > 0:45:43but this is where we squatted.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45This corner here was our squat.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52And we lived here for about a year and a half in this house
0:45:52 > 0:45:54with various characters, you know.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57And one of those characters is over here.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58THEY LAUGH
0:45:58 > 0:46:01And this is the doorway where we did our famous picture.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03- Do you want to do your pose? - I can't remember what it is.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05I think I was just like that and you were going...
0:46:05 > 0:46:07You were doing one of your Marilyn poses.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12I first met Marilyn in 1977.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16We've been friends for 40 years, falling in, falling out,
0:46:16 > 0:46:18falling in, falling out!
0:46:18 > 0:46:21- Do you remember the cute guys that used to live round here?- Yeah.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22Yeah! These ones.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26So, this corner house was the sort of second location where we moved
0:46:26 > 0:46:29but, originally, we lived just along here.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31We were somewhere here.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35And I lived on the first floor.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37And one of the funny things about me
0:46:37 > 0:46:40was that I had two rooms on the first floor,
0:46:40 > 0:46:42and I rented one of my rooms out to some French bloke.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45I was like a landlady. It was genius.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47And people would say, "How can you squat and make someone pay rent?"
0:46:47 > 0:46:49I said, "Well, he wants somewhere to live."
0:46:49 > 0:46:51So I was very enterprising.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53My parents kind of came up to drop off some shopping,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55cos they worried about me.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56They brought food one night.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59My dad brought a credit card and he kind of undid the lock
0:46:59 > 0:47:00and he put food in the cupboard.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05But I'd kind of decorated my bedroom with all these naked photos of men,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08so my mum and dad left me a note - "Lovely wallpaper."
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Do you remember that outside toilet?
0:47:10 > 0:47:12That had no roof on it, so you'd be in the toilet
0:47:12 > 0:47:14and people would be up at the windows, throwing things
0:47:14 > 0:47:16and going, "How long are you going to be?"
0:47:16 > 0:47:17And it's just like, "Oh, God!"
0:47:17 > 0:47:19We had no water, but we had electricity
0:47:19 > 0:47:23cos my boyfriend managed to kind of fix the wires, and so we had lights.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25There was two brothers that lived just up here,
0:47:25 > 0:47:26and they had hot water.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28And I went out with one of the brothers.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32- And I went out with the other one. - Dave.- And Steven. Steve.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35- David and Steven. And we used to go to their house to have baths.- Yeah!
0:47:35 > 0:47:37And when we couldn't go there to have baths,
0:47:37 > 0:47:40we'd go to the hotel sometimes and wash in the toilets.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43- And this is where we lived for about a year or so.- Not this.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46- No, it was much nicer than this. - Mm.- Yeah.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48It was bonkers.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53We were growing up, or trying to.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56Punk had been a beautiful distraction, but we were moving on.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01It was still all about dressing up, but now we wanted glamour,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04tungsten lighting, punks in paint.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07Clubbing, you know, living hand-to-mouth,
0:48:07 > 0:48:11getting up at two in the afternoon, putting your face on, going out.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15You know, it was... It was a very hedonistic time.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18People were expressing themselves in a different way
0:48:18 > 0:48:20that was very stark.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22I just wanted to be myself and express myself,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25you know, the way I looked, my creativity.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27There was a feeling of anything goes.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29In terms of style, we were fearless.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31It was never about just one look.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Variety was the vice of life.
0:48:33 > 0:48:38I would see sort of Roman gladiators, men in capes.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40I can remember my brother getting arrested wearing hot pants,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43plastic sandals and a space gun.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45You couldn't afford to make stuff with nice lace like that.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47- Where did you get that? - It's my nan's.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Philip Sallon, he would go out in a wedding dress.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52When you go out with Philip, like, on the town,
0:48:52 > 0:48:54he would, like, bring bags of clothes
0:48:54 > 0:48:56and he'd constantly be changing outfits.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59It got to the point where I was turning up with suitcases
0:48:59 > 0:49:01and changing all night long.
0:49:01 > 0:49:02I know it's tragic.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Green eyeshadow, green blusher and green lips.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09Being first with the look was vital.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Even dear friends like Jeremy Haysi Fantayzee Healy
0:49:12 > 0:49:14would become a sworn enemy if you stole their eyebrows
0:49:14 > 0:49:16or their hairdo.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18It was very, like, competitive.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21If you copied something that someone else had done...
0:49:21 > 0:49:23- Oh, they'd cut you.- Fights. - Cut your clothes off.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25- Drinks thrown.- Spitting.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27And what about the kilt? There was this one time...
0:49:27 > 0:49:29- Yeah, but that's you. - No, but you as well.
0:49:29 > 0:49:33There was that time... Remember when you got dreadlocks?
0:49:33 > 0:49:35- Yeah.- Who had them first?
0:49:35 > 0:49:36- Jeremy.- No!
0:49:36 > 0:49:39THEY LAUGH
0:49:41 > 0:49:44I would be in a club and somebody would kind of go,
0:49:44 > 0:49:45"I think Boy George is coming tonight,"
0:49:45 > 0:49:48and there would be excitement, like, "What's he wearing?"
0:49:48 > 0:49:52George used make-up in such a sort of striking way.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55You can see all those, like, inspirations
0:49:55 > 0:49:58from the glamour moment, from the Bowie moment,
0:49:58 > 0:49:59from the Lindsay Kemp moment.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02He'd be dressed as a nun, something like that!
0:50:02 > 0:50:04We didn't call ourselves New Romantics.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07That was the sort of newspaper term.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09But it was a small scene with a massive ego.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11200 people at the most.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14But really publicity hungry, you know,
0:50:14 > 0:50:15we wanted people to know about us.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17But it wasn't a lot of people, you know,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19in terms of its kind of cultural impact.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22It kind of grew into what we did in the '80s,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25all the bands, you know, Duran Duran in Birmingham,
0:50:25 > 0:50:27Culture Club, Spandau Ballet.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29It grew into something bigger, you know.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34But actually, the root of it was this tiny little crowd of people
0:50:34 > 0:50:38who were sort of full of their own self-importance.
0:50:39 > 0:50:40Of which I was one!
0:50:42 > 0:50:43You've changed!
0:50:45 > 0:50:48In February '79, we had somewhere new to go.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52Steve Strange and Rusty Egan's new club - the Blitz.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Steve was brutal on the door.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Talk about kill to dress.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01It's about fashion, it's about looks.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04I mean, the men dress outrageous, the women dress outrageous.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Spending hours dressing up beforehand.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11Steve would be at the door looking you up and down.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Whatever their look is, they've got to have a look to get through the door.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16So when you went into this club,
0:51:16 > 0:51:19I'd be playing Warszawa, you know, the B-side of Low.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22You know, "mmmmm-uhhh".
0:51:22 > 0:51:26People like Siouxsie Sioux strutting about,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28Jordan, obviously, Soo Catwoman,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31like, all these people who looked just incredible.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34It got busier and busier and busier, and then I'd play...
0:51:34 > 0:51:35Duh-dunnn!
0:51:35 > 0:51:37MUSIC: Being Boiled by The Human League
0:51:37 > 0:51:38OK, are you ready?
0:51:38 > 0:51:40HE MIMICS THE BEAT
0:51:43 > 0:51:47# Listen to the voice of Buddha... # The Human League.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49And that was it - they started to dance. "Oh, the beat."
0:51:49 > 0:51:52And it was like a soundtrack. It was like, "Yes!"
0:51:52 > 0:51:57Telex, Kraftwerk, Human League, Ultravox, Lou Reed, David Bowie,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00loads of Bowie, more Bowie, more Roxy, Siouxsie And The Banshees.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Dun dun dun dun-dun-d... Yeah, we'll have that.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06You know, Marc Bolan, yeah, we'll have that.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11So, basically, I sort of mixed and matched the best of the cultures.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Almost everybody was either an artist, a fashion designer
0:52:14 > 0:52:16or they were in a band.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19People who all had big dreams, big ambition,
0:52:19 > 0:52:21and drive, and were networking.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25It was multicultural, it was multisexual.
0:52:25 > 0:52:31A quite extreme core of people looking to the future.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35The future had suddenly arrived. It was time to get to work.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38All of my friends were, like, getting jobs.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40Everyone around me was like, "What's he going to do?"
0:52:40 > 0:52:44And I was just doing... Carrying on doing what I'd been doing
0:52:44 > 0:52:46and sort of slowly realising,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49"Actually, this isn't going to work. I need to get a job."
0:52:49 > 0:52:52When it came, it was a job I was perfect for.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54In fashion.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57I worked in this place here
0:52:57 > 0:53:00as a... more as a window dresser, really,
0:53:00 > 0:53:01and wannabe shop assistant.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05This was called Street Theatre, and it was very different.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09It was like a kind of quasi punk, New Romantic shop.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Lots of frilly shirts, lots of sort of, you know, tartan bondage,
0:53:13 > 0:53:14all that kind of stuff.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16But it was packed with clothes.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Literally, you couldn't move for clothes rails.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21I think you could say we sold too much!
0:53:22 > 0:53:25And this shop was owned by a man called Peter Small,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27who was my kind of mentor.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29He really supported me.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32You know, I basically talked myself into a job here.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Peter was a rag trade visionary.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37As far as he was concerned, my freakiness was an asset.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40He loved my eye for design and he really encouraged me.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44He was like the great teacher I never had at school.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46He also had a shop here that was a mod shop.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48And there's a great photo, a really famous photo,
0:53:48 > 0:53:50of me doing the windows in the mod shop,
0:53:50 > 0:53:52because I kind of helped them out sometimes as well.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56I did my first proper TV interview when I worked for Peter.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58I did a show called Something Else.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00Yeah, he was such a supporter.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05He was so important to the beginning of my career, really.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07It was 1980.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10In a few months, I would be starting Culture Club.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Martin would start Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16For now, we were just fodder for the TV freak shows.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20You do dress outrageously, though. Why do you dress like that?
0:54:20 > 0:54:22Because I want to. That's it, you know.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Clothes should be fun and not taken too seriously at all.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31But it was my clothes that got me noticed by Malcolm McLaren.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33I was really good friends with Matthew Ashman,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36who was the guitarist in Bow Wow Wow.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38And he heard me singing and was like,
0:54:38 > 0:54:39"Oh, you should be in Bow Wow Wow,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41"maybe we could have an extra singer,"
0:54:41 > 0:54:43and suggested it to Malcolm,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46who saw the potential in maybe upsetting Annabella
0:54:46 > 0:54:47by having me in the band.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51So there was this big gig planned for the Rainbow Theatre
0:54:51 > 0:54:53in Finsbury Park.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Back in the day, this was actually a really happening place for gigs.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00And I had come here to see Bow Wow Wow.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03And Malcolm decided to have me sing.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06A few songs had gone by, and suddenly it was announced
0:55:06 > 0:55:09that somebody else was going to come and sing - Lieutenant Lush.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12In the encore, instead of Annabella coming back out, I came out.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14So, on they come.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16I remember being really frightened before I went on
0:55:16 > 0:55:18and then getting pushed on the stage.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And I'm actually saying to my mates, "Wait a minute.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24"That... That's... Isn't that Boy George?"
0:55:24 > 0:55:28There was lots of booing and, like, "Who's that?" and I sang this song.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32And he's actually got a really great voice.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Not as you'd expect.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37It was soft and gentle and sort of like honey.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40I remember doing my thing and just loving it.
0:55:40 > 0:55:41You know, loving it.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45We were all transfixed, and that was a bit of a moment.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48That was really the beginning of me thinking, "I need to put a band together."
0:55:52 > 0:55:55You know, people from Eltham just didn't become famous.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58It just wasn't... It was just like...
0:55:58 > 0:56:00"You know, you're not going to really ever be a singer.
0:56:00 > 0:56:01"You can sing all you like,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04"but you're never going to make a living out of that."
0:56:04 > 0:56:06MUSIC: Church Of The Poison Mind by Culture Club
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Culture Club came from some shambolic rehearsals
0:56:09 > 0:56:12with some musicians I'd heard of who had the right look.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Only Jon Moss really knew anything about the business,
0:56:15 > 0:56:17and we followed him.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21Our tone was light and melodic. Music to fall in love to.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23And the world seemed to do just that.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26The fourth single went straight to number one.
0:56:26 > 0:56:31MUSIC: Do You Really Want To Hurt Me by Culture Club
0:56:31 > 0:56:33I used to joke it was the day I married the world.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37One day I could walk round the streets, like, in full regalia
0:56:37 > 0:56:40and nobody would take a blind bit of notice.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43And then overnight I was instantly recognisable
0:56:43 > 0:56:44and I couldn't go anywhere.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45The rest is history,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48but we're in the '80s now, so we can't talk about this!
0:56:51 > 0:56:54He was a classic British pop star.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58He was absolutely huge worldwide.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00He was cuddly.
0:57:00 > 0:57:04But then also with George, with his tongue, there was always an edge.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07And he was always involved in some kind of social change,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09which is what the best pop stars always are.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13MUSIC: Everything I Own by Culture Club
0:57:13 > 0:57:16I feel very lucky that I grew up in the '70s,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19that that was where I got my musical education.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22MUSIC: Generations Of Love by Boy George
0:57:24 > 0:57:27There was a wonderful separation between the establishment
0:57:27 > 0:57:30and, you know, certain types of music.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32You know, you'd never be able to have punk rock now.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34They wouldn't allow it.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36It would be in an advert for Gap within two weeks.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44Before the '70s, everyone knew the world was full of gays,
0:57:44 > 0:57:47but they were forced into hiding.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50My generation burst out of the closet and danced for joy.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56I started the decade with no interest in politics
0:57:56 > 0:58:00and ended up as some sort of symbol, maybe a question mark.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04Sometimes the most political act is just being yourself.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08I hope me and my freaky friends moved the debate on.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11As for current affairs, it's all Bowie's fault.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14For everything else, I blame the parents.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Big parts of history were created and made in the '70s.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20But when you're in it, you don't think about it.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22You're just living it.
0:58:22 > 0:58:24You know, history only makes sense in hindsight anyway.
0:58:24 > 0:58:25You look back and you go, "Wow!"
0:58:25 > 0:58:28You know, cos you've got nothing to compare it with.
0:58:28 > 0:58:32But now you look back and think the '70s were just, like, bonkers!
0:58:35 > 0:58:37MUSIC: 20th Century Boy by T.Rex
0:58:49 > 0:58:53# Friends say it's fine Friends say it's good
0:58:53 > 0:58:57# Everybody says it's just like Robin Hood... #