The Birth of the Fan The People's History of Pop

SCREAMING

# Pop, pop, pop musik

# Pop, pop, pop musik... #

This is the story of 50 years of British pop music

as you've never heard it before.

It's told by the people who loved it the most...

us fans.

We put out a call through BBC TV,

radio, and online for people to

dig out and share with us their

most treasured and rare memorabilia.

A first record, a favourite ticket,

a teenage diary -

precious belongings, each with a story.

We did like pop music...

and our parents didn't.

It was a self-discovery of who you are, and it was the music...

It was the music that did it.

I felt like I really was somebody at that point.

I developed an identity for myself, and it was quite a rebellious,

kind of, identity.

# Now you know what to say

# Talk about Talk about pop musik... #

So whether your passion is skiffle or rock-and-roll,

glam or prog rock,

punk, indie, acid house, or hip-hop,

this is about us - the people who

devoured this thing called pop,

and saw it change who we were and what we thought life was all about.

# Everybody talk about pop musik

# Talk about... #

Tonight, we are in the era in which we first started to feel

the power of pop culture,

and see the irresistible rise of our own British sound.

# Pop, pop musik... #

We are the rock-and-roll generation.

We are the people that don't grow old.

Just knowing you're going to the Flamingo Club,

your chest was pounding.

Paul McCartney said, "Does a little girl want her picture taken?"

You wouldn't imagine someone like me meeting them.

So let's talk about...

pop music.

About what we wore,

about how we danced,

about being a fan.

# Talk about pop musik

# Talk about Pop, pop musik

# Do you read me? Loud and clear. #

# Mr Sandman

# Mr Sandman.... #

Jan, breakfast.

1950s Britain wasn't a bad place to wake up.

Our heroes were the stars of the silver screen.

# Bring me a dream... #

We had to the great outdoors to while away the hours...

# Like peaches and cream... #

..and we listened to honey-coated crooners from America...

# Roses and clover

# Then tell me that my lonesome nights are over

# Sandman... #

'..but something was missing.'

When I was very young, growing up in the 1950s, there was

really no British music to get excited about,

let alone scream at.

It was all a bit safe.

# Bring me a dream... #

John Davies has kept a special something

that showed things were changing.

-HE GROANS

-Got me Gretsch guitar.

There you go.

# Mr Sandman... #

You can play a host of things on it.

# Make her the cutest that I've ever seen... #

The music at that time was mostly

our parents' generation - crooners.

People like Dennis Lotis and Dickie Valentine,

but it wasn't music for our generation.

# Come to my arms

# Oh, darling, let me hold you

# Come to my arms... #

In the school holidays, my best friend and me, we used to

call in at this smoke-filled cafe called Pauline's Pantry.

And when we went inside - if you're lucky enough to find a seat -

they used to have this huge jukebox in the corner.

And this revolutionary new sound came on...

to our ears, anyway.

So the song went something like this...

# Well, the Rock Island Line she's a mighty good road

# The Rock Island Line she's the road to ride

# Rock Island Line she's a mighty good road

# If you want to ride you got to ride it like you find it

# Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line... #

# And the Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

# The Rock Island Line is the road to ride

# The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

# If you want to ride you got to ride it like you find it

# Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line... #

This was skiffle, and it started OUR story of pop.

# The good lord's comin' Gonna see me again... #

-JOHN:

-When I first heard skiffle, it just changed my life, you know?

Before then, you had, sort of, folk music at school.

You know, it was OK, but it didn't...

You know, it didn't give you that oomph, you know,

which skiffle did.

And when you got that oomph, that was it then -

there was no going back.

# If you want to ride you got to ride it like you find it

# Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

# Get your ticket at the station

# For the Rock Island L-i-i-ne. #

HORN HONKS

Woo-hoo!

Something like that.

Lonnie Donegan was the first one to influence everybody, you know,

because there was nobody else around like him.

And now it's time for us to introduce the...

-King...

-Of...

-Skiffle...

-Himself...

-Lonnie...

-Donegan!

# Now the world hold seven wonders

# That the travellers always tell

# Some gardens and some towers I guess you know them well

# But now the greatest wonder is in Uncle Sam's fair land

# It's the big Columbia River and the big Grand Coulee Dam... #

Young British fans now had their own proper home-made star

to go giddy over.

And it wasn't long before they realised something else -

not only was this new sound being made by someone a bit like them,

it was music that they could make themselves.

-I'm just...

-You're a musician, aren't you?

Well, that is a debatable point.

I strum the guitar.

SKIFFLE SONG PLAYS

For over 50 years, Roger Baskeyfield has cherished

a recording that showed he was part of the skiffle explosion.

This tune is his band

doing their thing.

# John standing by the railroad track

# A-waitin' for the freight train to come back

# The freight train came back and there's a million on the stop

# Alas, John Thorney had to ride the top... #

And for Roger's band,

one magical night in 1956 led to a unique picture.

Lonnie Donegan was playing

at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.

And the guy that used to sing

in our skiffle group went over to get his autograph.

The only thing that he had on him was a leaflet.

And on the leaflet, he'd advertised the Coney Island Skiffle Group

playing at a particular venue.

Lonnie saw this, and said, "Ah, I have competition, do I?

"We'll have to get together sometime." Jokingly.

Colin, the singer, turned round to Lonnie, and said,

"How about tonight?"

And to everybody's surprise, he said, "OK."

And so Lonnie Donegan,

the biggest British star of the 1950s,

came here, to Roger's mate's house...

Well, actually, Roger's mate's mum and dad's house.

In those days, Lonnie Donegan was really the top.

So we were naturally over the moon,

obviously felt very privileged.

So amazing atmosphere, and also, don't forget,

we've got the music on top of that.

Lonnie's singing, we're singing along with him.

Only a few hours ago, you had actually seen him on a stage.

You know, with all the people screaming and clapping and cheering,

and he's now, you know, in front of you.

You know, it was really quite hard to take in.

This other one here...

I'm there, actually.

That's me there.

And, obviously, Lonnie there on the tub bass.

I bet there's no other photograph in the world of Lonnie Donegan

playing one of those tub basses, actually.

Afterwards, we didn't really...

We said, "Did that really happen?"

# Well, the Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap

# 15 miles on the Cumberland Gap... #

I was a bit too young to be into skiffle.

I was much more into learning the recorder from my lovely teacher,

Miss Downer, at my junior school.

But the thing about skiffle, it really was a home-made sound -

anyone could get involved.

# 15 miles on the Cumberland Gap... #

Skiffle was do-it-yourself music

long before punk came on the scene.

# Me and my brother was going to town... #

One of these original home-made instruments is safely stashed

away in Paul Griggs' attic.

# Don't you rock me, daddy-o

# Don't you rock me, daddy-o... #

We found out that we could make skiffle with home-made instruments.

This is a tea chest - that was the bass.

We had a pole, a bit of string.

STRING RESONATES

And I've got a photograph...

My group, the Satellite Skiffle Group -

the very first performance on January 6,

1958.

That's my brother, Nigel,

that's me, playing the guitar,

and that's Colin Hurst with the Satellites' tea chest bass.

And that was it.

Absolutely terrified, yeah.

It was only kids - there was about 100 kids.

Erm...but they were very nice.

They clapped in the right places, and it was great.

It was our first gig.

That's my school uniform - I can't believe

that I went on stage in my school uniform.

Last thing on my mind was thinking about clothes in those days. I just

wanted to sing the skiffle songs.

THEY PLAY SKIFFLE TUNE

And so did everybody else.

At one time, there were up to 50,000

skiffle groups in the country.

Everyone was getting in on the skiffle craze.

Hairdresser Leonard Pountney has a latest-style skiffle group

laid on for the weekend rush,

and this the customers do like.

Look, kids, in every special packet of Kellogg's Rice Krispies

there's a big, white skiffle whistle...

and it's free.

Among those strumming along to this

exciting new sound were some of our future musical legends.

# Mama don't allow no skiffle around here

# Oh, no, she don't... #

-What are your two names? Yours is...?

-James Page.

-David Haskell.

-Both from Epsom?

-Yes.

14-year-old Jimmy Page, who would go on

to become Led Zeppelin's guitarist, wasn't the only one.

# Mama don't allow no skiffle... #

The guitar player in a skiffle band called The Quarrymen

was a certain John Lennon.

The teenage Rod Davis was his banjo player.

Well, this is John Lennon's own copy

of Rock Island Line

that I bought from him for half a crown in 1957.

This is one of the records that inspired him to become a musician,

so a significant piece of kit.

# Now this here's a story about the Rock Island Line... #

Rod Davis' most memorable gig with John Lennon and The Quarrymen

was at a village fete in Woolton, Liverpool.

So the idea was that we'd be the last lorry

in a procession of floats going round the village.

And as it came past my house, my father came out with his camera,

and he photographed the entire procession.

RECORD PLAYS FAINTLY

Oh, this is the one of us on the truck.

There's John...

and I'm standing there, pushing my glasses up.

I'd say that was probably the last time I played with him.

The end of my career.

And then, in the evening,

we were due to play in the church hall over the road.

Paul McCartney had arrived in the afternoon,

and was in the audience.

There is a tape in existence of us playing.

The lad who lived on the other side of the road from me,

in Woolton, called Rob Molyneux,

had a Grundig tape recorder,

and he recorded in the evening.

# The Rock Island Line is the road to ride... #

That tape of John Lennon playing skiffle on the day

he met Paul McCartney is now one of the most precious artefacts

in all pop history.

As the Beatles were conquering the world,

the tape languished in Bob Molyneux's attic.

# The Rock Island Line... #

Eventually, it was put up for sale,

and Beatles fan and EMI employee David Hughes was sent to buy it,

along with the machine it was recorded on.

He paid over £78,000

more than 20 years ago.

-This is the original tape that we bought.

-Oh, wow.

In its box. The story is, Bob Molyneux,

he recorded 14 songs, but because he was trying out his machine,

on the rest of this tape

I think he recorded a thunderstorm which happened later in the evening.

-SHE LAUGHS

-So you know,

there are only two songs left out of all the ones he recorded,

-which makes it even more special.

-So he recorded over it?

-Yes.

Wow.

So we haven't got... We can't play it on this because it doesn't work.

-But we have got the nearest to an old tape player.

-Ooh, exciting!

Lonnie Donegan's Puttin' On The Style.

MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYS

Wow.

# But everybody knows he's only Puttin' on the style! #

-I remember this.

-You can hear it's John Lennon.

-Yeah.

And he's, you know, presumably

it's just like people doing pirate recordings at gigs.

He had his mic up in the air,

and recorded the whole evening.

-How extraordinary.

-Not realising what he was doing.

Well, who knew?

MUSIC CONTINUES

I would think, yes,

in the annals of pop music history,

-there probably isn't a more significant day ever.

-You're right.

This crackly tape is a precious piece of pop history

and has rarely been played.

It give me goose pimples to think that this is what Paul McCartney

would have heard that day.

Who'd have thought that a village fete featuring a police dog display

and an unknown skiffle band would have such an impact

on all our lives.

SHOUTING AND CHEERING

But the ramshackle sound of skiffle wouldn't last for long.

# One, two, three o'clock Four o'clock rock

# Five, six, seven o'clock... #

It couldn't really compete with its blistering and intoxicating

American cousin, rock-and-roll.

# Get your glad rags on and join me, hon

# We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one... #

Some young British fans took Bill Haley's lyrics

about putting your glad rags on to heart,

dressing with a bravado they stuck with down the decades.

It's bright, and it stood out.

That's what Teddy Boys was all about, really.

I'm afraid London and that look like a set of bloody penguins.

They're all in black, aren't they?

-SPEECH UNCLEAR

-It wasn't about

blending in, Teddy Boys.

It was about standing out.

Twins Howard and Chris were part of our first really British teen tribe,

the Teddy Boys.

Swaggering lads expressing all that teen vitality and energy

through style and music.

The thick-soled brothel creepers, drainpipe trousers,

drape jacket, Slim Jim tie, greasy Tony Curtis quiff.

The Teddy Boy.

# Everybody razzle dazzle... #

It's stamped English all over it, really.

-The lads wanted their own style, didn't they?

-Yeah.

That's how I used to like my waistcoasts, when I wore them.

Well, the American music was brilliant.

We just wanted our own take on it.

# ..And the square cats too... #

I can remember it as plain as day.

When I was about, oh, ten or eleven,

I saw three lads walking down the street near where we lived,

and it just looked like a rainbow coming down t'street.

Took the whole pavement up.

Everybody's walking round them as they're walking down the road.

And I thought, "They look smart."

The twins bought their first set of drape jackets in the '50s,

and haven't changed style since.

-You feel on top of the world.

-Nothing can touch you.

We're as proud as hell, being a Ted.

Come on.

The Teds gave American music a British look,

but the record companies were desperate to give American music

a British voice.

-That's not the sort of song we want.

-You have a go, then.

So wholesome British lads were given a makeover

and a suitably rock-and-roll name.

Roy Taylor, alias Vince Eager.

Duffy Power, real name Raymond Howard.

And Ron Wycherley, known to his fans as Billy Fury.

# Play it cool, baby Play it cool... #

This is it! Don't miss this kick!

He's the greatest, the swingiest, the most,

Britain's Billy Fury, in his first sensational musical, Play It Cool!

# I'm doing the twist... #

Billy had a good stab at being the British Elvis.

He had the looks, the music, the moves - even the movies.

# Twist, twist, twist all day... #

Ken Geering has clung to his precious hoard of records,

concert programmes and tickets for over 50 years.

-Is that Marty Wilde?

-No, that's Billy Fury, dear.

-Oh.

-And again.

-What do I know?!

-Billy Fury, Joe Brown...

And I mean, Billy Fury,

you've got to let me play Billy Fury, just a bit.

I mean, everybody...

Where is he, where's he hiding?

He used to come to Kingston

with these bills and they were tremendous.

MUSIC: I Want To Be Your Lover by Billy Fury

# I want to be your lover... #

Billy Fury, along with Cliff Richard,

were a sign that British stars could compete with the Americans.

And for Ken, like many, it was the beginning of a shared experience

that would soundtrack all our lives.

-HE SINGS ALONG:

-# ..to Paradise

# So near yet so far away... #

At the age of 12 I started going to concerts,

loved every moment of it.

I collected all the programmes of all the shows of the '60s,

and kept the ticket stubs where I could.

And, you know, it's always been a part of my...

My little memorabilia, my little store cupboard.

Ken's jukebox is his musical time machine.

He listens to it every Sunday night with his wife Carol,

whilst tucking into a roast dinner.

Shall I play you a Shadows track?

MUSIC: Apache by The Shadows

I guess The Shadows were my favourite

instrumentalist band of all time.

All around the country, young boys like Ken

stood in front of their bedroom mirrors practising their moves.

MUSIC CONTINUES

We all tried to emulate that in the '60s.

I did try to join a band and we did try to do it.

The Shadows' sound was uniquely British.

Something was brewing, and we all felt it.

Some of these memories are really clear in my mind,

and it doesn't seem as long ago as it really is.

And you think of how you were at that time and how you didn't know

what the years ahead were going to hold for you,

and you felt that you were on the verge of something new and exciting

and that you were part of it.

School over, the first thing Diane does

is to change out of school uniform, put on a frock and a bit of make-up.

Now the rest of the day is hers.

School would finish about half past three

and I'd get on the bus to Regent Street, to the Palladium.

I've got diaries here. Now, if I look through this,

it seems as though I was at the Palladium every single day.

Monday, went to the Palladium.

Tuesday, went to the Palladium.

Wednesday, went to the Palladium.

Saturday, went and stood outside the Palladium, saw The Shadows.

Jet wore glasses.

I've got photographs that I took myself.

There you go, that's Jet Harris,

and that's him coming out of the stage door.

That's a nice memory of Jet.

But they would always stop and talk to us,

we were hanging around the stage door,

and because we were there so often, we saw them quite a lot,

and we got to know them,

and they were always very friendly, always very chatty.

You know. I was very shy growing up,

but I wasn't so shy when I was listening to music.

I think there was a big change in me, cos I've got a diary from 1959,

and reading through that, I seem like quite a child -

I've got notes about going to school.

And then suddenly in the '60s I seem to have changed

and suddenly it's all music and The Shadows and going out,

and I was becoming more aware of the music scene.

Music to love, bands to follow,

concerts to go to.

There had been nothing like this before.

We had a new teen culture,

a new kind of life.

In the evening, maybe, she'll go dancing,

but first she buys a few records.

My sisters and I were joining those thousands of music fans

for whom records were now the must-have item.

So Viv, my sister, saved up all her pocket money,

and one day she came home

and she had the record of Diana by Paul Anka.

This was the first record that I'd actually ever seen in real life.

And so it was very exciting! And I remember sitting around

our tea table and we all handed it round and talked about it,

cos we didn't actually have a record player, so we couldn't play it!

We could only touch it and look at it.

But, you know, we all thought that was fantastic.

I, you know, it didn't seem a weird thing to do.

I mean, when I think back, it's bizarre.

MUSIC: Diana by Paul Anka

But your music defined you,

and I was now at the age where I was choosing what I liked,

and one thing was for sure - it wasn't going to be

smoochy transatlantic crooners for much longer.

# ..and you're so old

# This my darling... #

In Liverpool, a new music scene was about to explode

with a new distinctive sound,

thanks to the city's port.

# I will pray

# You and I will be as free... #

Ernie Sealey was a teenager

when he bought the latest thrilling sound from America off a sailor

who worked on the transatlantic ships

between Liverpool and New York.

Up here in his loft is that cherished first single

and the Dansette he played it on.

These America records were, oh, something different.

Unfortunately, there is now a wait

for the valves to warm up.

So, I purchased one and I took it to a youth club

and I put it on a record-player.

You broke my heart

Cos I couldn't dance

You didn't even want me around

And now I'm back

To let you know

I can really shake 'em down

# Do you love me?

# I can really move

# Do you love me?

# I'm in the groove... #

A whole youth club just stopped dead.

There was no music like this in England.

The record is nearly worn out.

# ..Watch me now! #

This was soul, and rhythm and blues, heavier and more raw

than anything experienced before.

Kids all over Liverpool were inspired to pick up guitars

and copy the sound.

Beat music had arrived.

Ever since Liverpool became a great port,

these have been its characteristic noises...

-SHIP'S HORN BLASTS

-..but today it's famous for another sound - this.

# The mashed potato, yeah

# Oh, yeah

# Oh, yeah

# I dig it

# Hey, baby

# Yeah, oh, yeah

# Yeah... #

Fans of this new sound wanted somewhere to hang out and hear it.

Clubs started popping up all over the city.

Liverpool at night now had a new culture -

teens, clubs, beat music,

and not a parent in sight.

# ..I said, baby

# My baby, whoa-oa-oa, yeah. #

The Iron Door. I liked the Iron Door but as for ambience,

if you could call it today,

but more like atmosphere, what we called it then,

yes, the Cavern was it.

Hi there, all you cave-dwellers.

This is Bob Willis saying welcome to the best of cellars.

We've got the hi-fi high and the lights down low,

so here we go with the Big Three...

SCREAMING

The Cavern was dark, warm.

It had a floor like a builder's yard.

It was hollows and bumps.

It just had a smell of its own.

Heat, hot bodies, sweat.

# See the girl with the diamond ring

# She knows how to shake that thing... #

It was such a giveaway.

My mother used to say to me,

"You've been to that Cavern club again, haven't you?"

By 1963, you couldn't move in Liverpool

without bumping into a beat group.

Oh, there must be about 300 or so groups in Liverpool.

You've only got to mention Liverpool

and all the fans start screaming and go wild. It's glamour.

The Liverpool sound spread across the country fast,

tempting young fans like Londoner Hilary Holt

into things they probably never dreamt of doing.

"An ardent fan of Liverpool beat group The Mojos,

"14-year-old Hilary Dane of Blackheath,

"dropped in to show them how she had their name printed on her midriff

"by using a sunray lamp."

I'd had this idea, which was to get some half-inch elastoplast,

you know, in a roll,

and we had this old Pifco sunray lamp.

I stuck the name "Mojo" on my midriff,

then stood in front of the sunray lamp

and got my midriff sunburnt,

then pulled off the sticking plaster,

then I'd have the name written in white on my stomach.

My grandmother was appalled.

She thought it was terrible that I was on the front page

of the local rag in my bikini with a pop group.

They were just very friendly lads.

I suppose because they were from Liverpool,

it was like that edge of, you know, I lived in London

and they were a Liverpool band,

even though they never were as famous as The Beatles.

CHEERING

Ah, yes, The Beatles.

The band who made a fading industrial city

the heart of a global pop music revolution.

All of Liverpool was so very, very proud of them.

Everyone except the man who cut their first record back in 1958 -

Grandad Percy Phillips.

Rock and roll had come to Britain, but it hadn't come to Grandpa.

SHE LAUGHS

Grandpa was still into his Harry James and his Hank Williams.

Of course. So your grandad ran a recording...

Phillips Sound Recording Services.

-It was the first studio in Liverpool...

-Oh, I see.

-Did he live here as well?

-Yeah, it's the family home.

Wow, amazing.

On the ground floor was the record shop, then the studio,

then the kitchen.

So did he soundproof the room or anything like that?

He soundproofed the room with a blanket over the door.

Oh, brilliant. I love it.

So John, Paul and George, along with their mates,

came into the studio together.

They will have come in through the front door,

which was always open, and they will have walked into the kitchen,

where they will have been served a piece of jam sponge cake.

-Made by your...

-Grandma.

SHE LAUGHS

She played the piano and she made jam sponge cake and cups of tea.

-I'll show you the logbook.

-Oh, wow.

"Skiffle, 10 inch, director disk",

so they played it directly on to the disk.

Did your grandad say what he thought about the music

that they were playing?

It's funny, he did, yes,

because he was in his 60s in 1958.

These boys were 15, 17, 18.

He thought they were greasy boys

who were just coming in, making a racket.

"A bloody racket", he used to say, that they were making.

# Gonna write a little letter

# Gonna mail it to my local DJ... #

Well, that "bloody racket"

would soon turn into another kind of cacophony altogether.

"I think your hair is fab. Is it possible to get a picture of you?"

"I have entered a competition to win a date with one of you."

They were more than just another band -

they made a better life seem possible,

that's why so many cling to memories of them.

Beatles Christmas show, everybody wanted to see The Beatles.

-Beatles were great.

-Did you ever see them?

-Yeah, oh, many times, yeah.

MUSIC: Twist And Shout by The Beatles

# Well shake it up, baby, now... #

John Lennon was like the bad boy of The Beatles.

You never knew what he was going to come out with next.

Paul McCartney had that boyish baby-faced look.

"I'm coming to see you on Monday night.

"I will clap very loud so that you will know who I am."

# You know you look so good

# Look so good... #

I went to see The Beatles at Lewisham Odeon,

and we screamed and we screamed and we screamed. We thought...

I thought Paul might see me if I had a red jumper on.

"Paul, John, George, Ringo!

"George smiled at Marilyn and me. Great fun on stage.

"John, Paul, George, Ringo! John, Paul, George, Ringo!"

For Christine Daniels, her teen diary, tickets and school drawings

show just how much The Beatles had invaded our imaginations.

I decorated the front of my school book.

My friends were all very impressed with it,

and so I used to charge them sixpence

to do it on their book as well.

Paul was always my favourite, yeah.

Very lucky to have been that age at that time.

I remember thinking a couple of years later,

we were in the sixth form at school,

one day there was a buzz going round.

I said to some friends,

"What on Earth is the matter with the fourth form today?"

They said, "They saw The Walker Brothers last night."

I thought, "Oh, poor things -

"they've only got The Walker Brothers to scream at.

"We had The Beatles."

I sort of carried on thinking that all through my life

when people, you know, were screaming at the Bay City Rollers

and people like that, I'm thinking,

"Oh, it's a shame. We had The Beatles."

# You think you lost your love

# Well, I saw her yesterday... #

Our affections for The Beatles went way beyond just liking the music...

# And she told me what to say

# She said she loves you

# And you know that can't be bad... #

..for people like me, they were the total pop package

and a passport to a new world.

# Whoo! #

One we could all belong to.

# She loves you Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. #

The first two Beatles' records I got, they were EPs.

They were given to me by my parents.

I think I was ten years old at the time.

I was terribly proud at being now...

I wasn't a teenager, but I was being almost treated like a teenager,

cos I had pop.

There was something on the back of one of them

that tickled me, which was...

"The four numbers on this EP have been selected

"from the Lennon and McCartney Song Book.

"If that description sounds a trifle pompous,

"perhaps, I suggest, you preserve this sleeve for ten years,

"exhume it from your collection somewhere around the middle of 1973,

"and write me a very nasty letter if the pop people of the '70s

"aren't talking with respect about at least two of these titles

"as early examples of modern beat standards

"taken from the Lennon and McCartney Song Book."

When I first read that, at ten, I said,

"Right, I'm going to keep this record for ten years

"and see whether that's true."

It was as though they'd foreseen at the time

that this was something out of the ordinary.

# I love you

# Cos you tell me things I want to know... #

It was out of the ordinary.

Us fans bought Beatles' records in the millions.

Each release was an event.

When the first album, Please Please Me,

came out in 1963, people queued up to buy it,

and some copies turned out to be rather special.

I remember when they advertised that this was going to

be for sale in our local music shop,

going out of school to buy it.

-Oh, you did a runner?

-Yeah. I-I...

-Played hooky.

-I did a runner, yes.

I went out specifically to join the queue.

I do remember being down the street.

I eventually got to the front of the queue,

and I can remember distinctly,

I can still see the lady's face behind the counter.

She looked at me and said,

"Do you want the stereo or the mono version?"

I sort of gulped and thought, "Do I what?

"I don't know what I want, really."

For some inexplicable reason, I said "Stereo."

They're sought-after

because there are less than 1,000 of these actually pressed.

I thought, "I wonder if mine is that."

So I dug it out, had a look at it, yes, it did have stereo on the top.

Yes, inside, the black and gold centre,

which is really the big giveaway

that this is one of the earlier copies.

Then, when you really get into the real nerdy bits of things,

the people who are the real experts will cite that the credit

for the photographer on the bottom here,

the first letter of that word there -

if it appears directly underneath the "S" of "Songs",

it increases its value as a rarity.

Those people who collect or value these kind of things,

you know, will look for every little...

-A Please Please Me nerd.

-Yes, exactly.

-Little details like that.

-So do you know what it's worth?

They do run into thousands.

This album is now worth up to £5,000.

Not bad for a 32 and sixpence investment!

# I think I I think you understand

# When I

# Girl, I said that little something to you

# I wanna hold your hand... #

A year after Please Please Me, The Beatles had conquered America,

they were now global superstars.

Beatlemania was in full swing.

Their fame so huge, the closest most fans could get

was the back of a policeman's helmet.

Unless, of course, you had a memorable chance encounter.

It was the 9th of October, 1964.

My mum drove into this car park in her Hillman Minx.

In the car park was only one car. It was a great, big Rolls-Royce.

We went into the hotel here, through the kitchen door.

We came I know this room - this is the kitchen of the Old England.

It hasn't changed a bit.

Anyway, we came in and there was a buzz

about the kitchen that The Beatles were in the dining room.

I was ushered down the corridor to go to the dining room.

I was standing here and I was just peaking round the corner.

They were sitting over here at a big table, a big oak table.

I just kept peaking round the corner

and twisting my fingers in my cardigan.

I was very nervous. I was only little.

All of a sudden, Paul McCartney, who was sitting at the end,

he must have spotted me,

because he came out and stood here and started talking to me.

He was so nice!

He asked me what my name was, so I told him.

He asked me why I wasn't at school.

I said, "Well, I've come to see you."

I think I nodded an awful lot because I was only little.

Obviously I was very nervous.

Then he ushered me in, so I went in. It hasn't changed a bit.

It's so strange.

They were sitting here, on a big table, all four of them. Gosh.

It makes me tearful.

Mr Pike had offered them ham and eggs,

so they had ham and eggs for their lunch.

He'd offered them a lovely bottle of wine, but they didn't want wine.

They all had a glass of milk.

My mum kept the napkins that they used for a long, long time -

they were in a cabinet at home till they fell apart.

They had all egg stains on.

She was very proud of having those.

She was a bit strange like that, but there we go.

Here's the picture. This is just a small one.

I've got a very big one at home in a big frame on the wall.

There's me. I was only a little girl, just ten.

My mum is standing here, this very glamorous blonde lady.

Then I think you know who these four are.

It was John Lennon's birthday. Poor old John had a headache.

He kept his sunglasses on the whole time.

My mum managed to put her hand on his shoulder,

and she gave him two aspirin cos he wasn't feeling very well.

So this is the one that was taken as they were getting in the car.

This was when Paul McCartney stopped and said,

"Does the little girl want her picture taken?"

I just stood there and he waited to have his picture taken with me.

He was just so lovely, he really was.

He thanked me afterwards.

Then I ran back again and he got in the car and they went.

But from that one, I have this one.

It's a bit faded, but very treasured.

You wouldn't imagine someone like me meeting them, you know?

They were a phenomenal group.

SCREAMING

If you weren't lucky enough to have The Beatles drop in on you,

there was another way to get close to them,

and every other chart-topping act of the era.

The television show Ready Steady Go!

put the stars of the '60s on stage

and within touching distance of the fans.

It was hugely popular.

Most of the stuff on telly was for Mum and Dad,

but this was for us.

It was OUR show.

These programmes are made by the kids for the kids of the jet age.

Friday night was Ready Steady Go! night,

and it had everything that made these years special -

music, fashion and dancing -

and to have the chance to go on the show was our dream.

So we heard that the team were coming to London

to audition for dancers

and my friend Jennifer and me got very excited

and thought we'd have a go to try and get on.

We spent the whole week discussing our outfits, naturally,

and what dances we were going to do,

and we went along, praying we'd get picked,

and lo and behold we got the tap, which meant we were on. Yeah!

Flex that foot. You can reach it. Bring your shoulder down in front.

Don't curve your spine and keep the head there...

Maybe it was this lady who tapped me on the shoulder

all those years ago.

Theresa Kerr was one of the legendary dancers

on Ready Steady Go!, and she would visit London's hippest clubs

looking for dancers.

I know it's painful but you know what I mean!

Shake your legs out and stand up.

Every week, we went down to a club

called the Scene club, which was a real

happening place then, in London, and we would pick out dancers

to come and dance on the show.

Well, of course, you can imagine,

a weekly show, everybody wanted to be on it.

In London and all over the country, there are clubs and ballrooms

where the youngsters can do what they like, dress as they like,

dance as they like.

This is a good picture because it represents the atmosphere.

Look at this girl, with her hair flying,

and it was all very crowded. You would get the good dancers

coming into the centre to make sure we saw them,

and people with their fab clothes.

It wasn't just about good dancers.

It was about fashionable people.

People would dress up to go to the Scene club

because they knew that if they looked fabulous,

the lucky ones would get a ticket to the show.

It was like a golden ticket, I guess.

You see the logo's imprinted on the picture.

It says here, "This card is only evidence that the holder

"is on the list of dancers for Ready Steady Go!,"

and that was me. I had to know the latest dances,

I had to know the latest fashion

and I had to have the latest music.

# Five, four, three, two, one... #

It was unique because you were within touching distance

of your heroes. That's the Hollies,

and that's a typical RSG picture,

where all of the kids would surround the groups, yeah.

So that was really amazing.

Every week, Patrick, my husband,

would bring a new dance on to the show,

I would be involved in that,

and we would teach it

to the kids that came into the studio.

We have met you before, last week.

-Yes.

-You promised you were going to dance the Hitchhiker.

-Will you do it for us now?

-We will.

You are going to dance to a disc called

Gonna Make Him Mine, recorded by a Birmingham schoolgirls' group

called the Orchids.

Get the hips going.

# There is a boy I'm crazy about

# Won't even look my way

# If I could only meet him a while

# So much I wanna say

# Gonna make him mine

# Gonna tell him that I love him

# Gonna tell him that I need him

# Gonna make him mine... #

Fashion, dance, music -

it was the start of a very important era. It was the '60s.

We're all quite old now!

But as I said, we are the rock'n'roll generation

so, you know, we are the people that don't grow old.

Now...and...

# ..Gonna make him mine... #

Alongside the wonderful dancing and music,

Ready Steady Go! was important to me for something else -

the clothes.

# ..Gonna make him mine... #

ENGINE REVS

I was part of new movement

for whom fashion and music went hand in hand -

I was a mod.

# It's summertime

# And the livin' is easy... #

Being a mod was all about looking good,

wearing the latest clothes and listening to the coolest music.

But being a grammar school girl,

it wasn't easy.

It was a strict school uniform

so to kind of counteract that,

on the way home, me and my friends would roll our skirts up

to be a bit more modish, so they were short.

I had a few detentions for that, I have to say.

I suppose it was like being part of a tribe, really.

You had to be the same as everyone else.

So the music and the clothes

were integral to each other, really.

It was an important part of being a mod.

INDISTINCT

We had money, we had clothes.

That's the original sheepskin.

And there's the parka.

If you didn't have one of these in the '60s, you never got a bird.

So you got something like this and get someone in it to share it.

There were three types of mod. You had the scooter mod,

you had the mod mod, like the West End mod,

and then you had... We used to call them suburban mods.

They never quite sort of caught up with the West End mods.

The dances were different.

They were always a couple of weeks behind us, or months behind us.

'In many towns, new shops and boutiques have sprung up

'to cater for young tastes.'

Clothes were everything.

Everything, really, was based on upper-middle-class people.

Because we came from a working-class background and we all had jobs now

and we all earned money, so we were going to spend it on clothes

to show people we were as good as them.

What gear the cats are wearing is one story.

Where they wear it is another.

A night out on the town was the ideal time to show off your stuff

and, for Barry, there was only one place to be seen -

the Flamingo club in London's Soho.

Just knowing you're going to the Flamingo club,

your chest was pounding.

You'd watch Ready Steady Go!, you'd watch the acts that were on there,

put the clothes on, four buttons,

three pockets and tab collars,

joddy boots. I would say half of it was clothing

and the other half was music.

Out the door - Flamingo was a magnet.

Just a diddy little doorway, and up here you can hear music.

And now your heart's really pounding and really rushed,

cos you're near the music,

and you can feel the sweat and the heat rising up.

You can feel the atmosphere in there.

Nobody wanted to fight anybody.

All wanted to talk and dance.

I loved it.

# The beat starts to retreat

# But if it goes back a bit further

# It'll drop flat in Charles Street... #

The Flamingo was also a place where black and white kids could meet

and dance to the latest sound from abroad - bluebeat.

Bluebeat came into our lives, really,

through the West Indian community. We met in the Flamingo club.

That's my bluebeat hat.

You had to have this stud in the back.

It's a little trick I was taught by a West Indian fella.

-I never wear it, because I look a dick in it.

-HE LAUGHS

We used to make friends with the West Indians.

They used to have their house parties.

We'd get invited to their house parties.

But as you walk in, the sound system -

everything's shaking, everything's beating.

You can feel it in your chest as you move around in the room.

Can just feel that music.

# Madness, they call it madness... #

Ronald Mitchell still treasures the records that brought

the sound of Jamaica to northern England.

The highlight of his week was a rollicking house party.

We really knew nothing

but the clubs we'd made our home.

Because we didn't have nothing else to do,

nowhere to go.

There was a lot of white people there, and no problem.

Welcome them in.

Well, we didn't even think of them as anybody different.

# Don't believe them people

# I have done no wrong... #

We didn't think of anything but to look nice,

to look good.

We were very smartly dressed.

-HE LAUGHS

-Very sharp, yeah.

Our music, it's easy to grow on you, I think,

and a lot of people think that as well, you know.

They brought us great stuff.

Good clothes, good styles, good dancing, good music.

Prince Buster was probably my favourite.

I Feel The Spirit - that album on the wall up there.

That was Prince Buster's first album.

Prince Buster was almost a secret -

an exciting, imported sound

to be heard at clubs and house parties.

But soon a bluebeat star arrived who would captivate everyone,

including those starting their music-loving journey.

I suppose when I think about it, you know,

I fell in love with Millie Small when I was a little kid.

It was 1964, I was three.

So...

# My boy lollipop

Just... It's like being three again.

# You been so sweet, be candy

# You are my one desire

# Oh, my lollipop... #

Very pretty, very bubbly personality,

and sort of irresistible.

If you look at old footage of her on telly,

it's difficult not to love her.

And when you're growing up, you know...

I mean, she wasn't on all the time, but she was on a fair bit.

# I love you, I love you I love you so... #

When I was at my old school, they then would sing it to me,

cos my name's Laurence. Laurence - it'd be Lol.

I was Lol, you see. So Lol, Lolly, Lollipop.

# My boy lollipop... #

This was bluebeat, repackaged for British fans.

We'd taken the original heavy sound and made it a little poppier.

# You are my one desire... #

Oh, that's it. I've got a few copies of My Boy Lollipop.

It didn't come out in a picture sleeve here, but these are foreign.

I think that's Australian or something,

and that's probably European.

Look at that. Isn't that nice?

This is from Eastern Europe, I think.

# I love sweet William... #

She really helped break the whole music through.

That was the first time Jamaican music was properly taken seriously,

and became an international success.

# He brings me candy

# And kisses too... #

As with all the music that came our way,

we'd given it our own unique twist.

But lots of us were more than ready for something

that stayed true to the sheer seductive power

of the original sound.

Well, we welcome now to the show one of America's top blues singers.

From Mississippi, it's that famous Boom Boom boy, John Lee Hooker.

# Boom, boom, boom, boom

# I'm gonna shoot you right down

# Right off your feet

# Take you home with me

# Put you in my house

# Boom, boom, boom, boom

# Whoa... #

John Lee Hooker and other blues stars were little known

to most British music fans, like the young John Philpot.

Then he bought this album,

the first by a bunch of blues-obsessed British lads

who made music your parents didn't want you to be into.

The Stones are very good at finding

what were then obscure black artists

and recording their music.

I remember at school,

I'd learned to play walking bass on a guitar,

and we found one in the library.

And the headmaster burst in the library and said,

"Stop that filthy jungle music!"

It was regarded as some kind of subculture

which needed to be discouraged.

And of course, the Rolling Stones epitomised this.

# Well, I'm a king bee, baby

# Buzzing around your hive... #

When my mother first heard this coming down from my bedroom,

in 1964,

she couldn't make out what a king bee could be.

And after I'd played it about 30 or 40 times,

she came up and said, "John, what exactly is a king bee?"

And of course, I said, "I don't know, Mum."

I think I had a bit of an idea what a king bee was.

This bragging sort of male, sort of sexual thing.

But I was keeping quiet about it.

I'd be 15, and I'd probably go bright red

if we'd got into that kind of area.

Or I wanted to be a king bee.

I wanted to sort up walk into the local dance hall

and all the girls would be hanging around,

and I'd be sort of going, "Yeah, I'm a king bee, baby.

"Gonna buzz all night long.

"I can buzz better, baby, when your man is gone."

Yeah, I mean that... Oh, yeah, what a powerful adolescent,

pubescent message that is.

# I wanna tell you how it's gonna be

# You're gonna give your love to me... #

And they visited my hometown of Rugby, and I got a ticket.

They were so exciting.

You couldn't hear anything, though, cos of the screams.

But the thing I remember was Brian Jones and his harmonica.

And I decided I had to get a harmonica.

# I try to show you but you drive me back

# Your love for me has got to be real

# Want you to know just how I feel

# Love's real, not fade away

# Well, love's real Not fade away... #

With their sexually charged blues covers, their long hair

and sarcastic grins, they were the ultimate bad boys,

hated by parents everywhere.

It was all terribly appealing.

The Rolling Stones came along, and in a way,

it didn't only challenge parents,

but it challenged all the accepted centres of authority.

I went to a grammar school, and the headmaster had earlier told us

that we came to this school to learn to be English gentlemen.

# Well, I told you once

# And I told you twice

# But you never listen to my advice... #

And a friend of mine, he was in a group,

and he started really growing his hair,

and he was called in by the headmaster

and given an ultimatum.

And the headmaster said to him,

"Meredith, do you want to be a member of this school,

"or do you want to be a Rolling Stone?"

And my friend, Brian Meredith, said,

"I want to be a Rolling Stone." And he was expelled.

If you wanted to rebel or just stand out,

becoming a teenage Stones fan certainly helped.

The Stones added a swagger and attitude

to our now fast-exploding pop scene.

Things would never be the same.

I thought the world would become a better place through rock and roll.

I really did believe that.

But I think it had a huge liberalising effect

on people's attitudes.

# This could be the last time

# This could be the last time

# Maybe the last time... #

By 1965, our love affair with pop

was entering a new and more passionate phase.

Fans now had their own heroes and their own music.

British pop would no longer ape other sounds,

but export our own all over the world.

What a time to be growing up.

# Now, you work all week just to make that money, yeah... #

In the mid-60s, I had landed in the middle of all this pop thing.

But before I was discovered in 1966,

I was really just a typical teenager,

lucky enough to have been born into a generation

who were experiencing something that their parents had never had.

# Let's live it up... #

Pop, the music and the clothes and the clubs -

all of it had given us a new way of expressing ourselves,

and a new way of saying who we were.

Our pop music is a dividing line.

There was the Britain before pop culture,

and the very different Britain after.

A better Britain, I think.

So from a fan, thanks, pop music.

You helped to make us who we are.

# Don't you rock me, Daddy-o

# Don't you rock me, Daddy-o

# Well, me and my wife, we went to town

# Sail away, lady, sail away

# Went to buy a ten dollar gown

# Sail away, lady, sail away

# Well, don't you rock me, Daddy-o

# Don't you rock me, Daddy-o Don't you rock me, Daddy-o

# Don't you rock me, Daddy-o

# Don't you rock me, Daddy-o Don't you rock me, Daddy-o. #