0:00:04 > 0:00:07Just over a century ago, the motion camera was invented
0:00:07 > 0:00:10and changed forever the way we recall our history.
0:00:10 > 0:00:15For the first time, we could see life through the eyes of ordinary people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:24Across this series, we'll bring these rare archive films back to life,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26with the help of our vintage mobile cinema.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33We'll be inviting people with a story to tell to step on board
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and relive moments they thought were gone forever.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43They'll see their relatives on screen for the first time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:49come face to face with their younger selves and celebrate our amazing 20th-century past.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53This is the people's story.
0:00:53 > 0:00:54Our story.
0:01:19 > 0:01:26Our vintage mobile cinema was originally commissioned in 1967 to show training films to workers.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32Today it's been lovingly restored and loaded up with remarkable film footage,
0:01:32 > 0:01:38preserved for us by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43In this series, we'll be travelling to towns and cities across the country
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and showing films from the 20th century
0:01:46 > 0:01:50that give us the Reel History Of Britain.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Today, we're pulling up in the 1950s.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Remembering a time when young people in Britain broke free
0:02:00 > 0:02:04of the burdens of World War II and the teenager was born.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15# Well, they said you was high class
0:02:15 > 0:02:17# Well, that was just a lie... #
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Hello. We're in the middle of Soho in the middle of London.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27And in the middle of the '50s, something extraordinary happened in this country.
0:02:27 > 0:02:28Rock'n'roll came.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32We're going to be hearing how it changed Britain's youth forever.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Coming up, the rockers who ripped up the dance floor.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Through my legs and over the top. Like a jitterbug.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48A glimpse of a much-loved friend and sister.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52'I never thought I would see Joyce dancing like that again.'
0:02:52 > 0:02:55To see her, it's like as if she's still alive.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00And '50s heart throb Marty Wilde,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03on how the new music scene brightened up post-war Britain.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08Suddenly, rock'n'roll came along. It was pink socks and colours!
0:03:08 > 0:03:11"Oh, at last! The war's over!"
0:03:18 > 0:03:21We've come to Soho in the middle of London,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25a place at the vanguard of change for the nation's youth in the 1950s.
0:03:25 > 0:03:32This is where the first coffee bars sprung up, and it became a magnet for teenage music fans.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35The 2i's Coffee Bar here was where the first British rock'n'roll stars -
0:03:35 > 0:03:39performers like Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Adam Faith - were discovered.
0:03:39 > 0:03:40I remember it quite well.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51This was the generation they said had never had it so good,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55as post-war Britain prospered and jobs were plentiful.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57# Roll over, Beethoven
0:03:57 > 0:03:59# I gotta hear it again today... #
0:03:59 > 0:04:02By the late '50s, Britain was under attack.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07Not from enemy forces but from a US rock'n'roll invasion.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09It horrified the older generation.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11It is Pagan in origin.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15And, as one looks at the faces, one cannot help but feel that
0:04:15 > 0:04:20it's having a bad spiritual and mental effect upon them.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24A new word was needed to describe the young delinquents
0:04:24 > 0:04:27and the "teenager" was born.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42My guests here in London's Soho have come from North and South
0:04:42 > 0:04:45with stories to tell about their teenage years.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Some will be seeing the films we're about to screen for the very first time,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53showing us photos of their younger selves
0:04:53 > 0:04:58and revealing what life was really like for the generation that broke the mould in the 1950s.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Here to tell us at first hand how rock'n'roll music arrived in London
0:05:06 > 0:05:09is Wee Willie Harris.
0:05:09 > 0:05:17In his day, Wee Willie was a trendsetter with oversized jackets and crazy hair.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18I'll tell you something, Melvyn.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Believe it or not, I'm here with this red jacket with my name on the back.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24As you can see, look.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28And I was the very first rock'n'roll singer with a coloured jacket.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31It was me, really, that started off the fashion.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34They all started buying different coloured jackets.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37We're going to take Wee Willie Harris back to those heady days
0:05:37 > 0:05:41with the help of films that capture the spirit of those early times.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47What rock'n'roll memories will they conjure up for him?
0:05:55 > 0:05:56There was nothing for the young 'uns.
0:05:56 > 0:06:02I mean, let's face it, when you're young you don't want to hear ballad singers all the time.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05And then it suddenly changed.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08It suddenly became rock'n'roll music.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11# One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock
0:06:11 > 0:06:12# Five, six, seven o'clock... #
0:06:12 > 0:06:17The music Wee Willie Harris was talking about was Rock Around the Clock. And the singer? Bill Haley.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20# Put your glad rags on... #
0:06:20 > 0:06:23It was the soundtrack for the movie Blackboard Jungle,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28about anti-social youths at an American inner city school in 1955.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31At the time, he was the first king of rock'n'roll.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35The film hit Britain and caused riots inside the cinemas.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39In the film, when they started playing Rock Around The Clock,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42some of the kids got up and started jiving.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44# Gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight... #
0:06:44 > 0:06:48And all of a sudden, there was one or two seats torn up.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51And, before you know it, it was bedlam.
0:06:51 > 0:06:58Rock Around The Clock zoomed to number one as teenagers snapped up the new seven-inch, 45 rpm singles.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05When Bill Haley came to Britain for his first tour, he was mobbed at Waterloo station.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07# We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
0:07:07 > 0:07:10# We're gonna rock, rock, rock, till broad daylight... #
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Bill Haley was the first king, but he was soon outshone by a breathtaking rival.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17And Wee Willie Harris remembers the moment it happened.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19'I was in a coffee bar, having a coffee.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21'And it was on a Saturday.'
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Where the market was, there was a record store.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26And I could hear, "Since my baby left me..."
0:07:26 > 0:07:29# Since my baby left me,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31# I found a new place to dwell... #
0:07:31 > 0:07:33When I went over and spoke to the guy,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37he said, "It's some new singer called Elvis Presley."
0:07:37 > 0:07:39# Well, it's down at the end of Lonely Street
0:07:39 > 0:07:42# At Heartbreak Hotel... #
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Of course, as Elvis got popular,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49and his face started to show and how he looked, hunky and sexy,
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Then I'm afraid he sort of knocked poor Bill off the peg a little bit.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58# And they're so lonely, baby
0:07:58 > 0:08:00# They're so lonely
0:08:00 > 0:08:03# They get so lonely, they pray to die... #
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Then of course it all happened. You had Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10You name them, they all came along.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15The new music became a symbol of working-class rebellion.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Skiffle groups sprung up everywhere, using cheap, improvised instruments
0:08:19 > 0:08:22like the washboard and the tea-chest bass.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26It seemed everyone wanted to be a rock'n'roll star -
0:08:26 > 0:08:29including Wee Willie Harris, who was playing skiffle
0:08:29 > 0:08:34and working in a Soho coffee bar when an agent had a brainwave for getting him noticed.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36He said, "I've got an idea for you.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38What about dying your hair pink?"
0:08:38 > 0:08:42I said, "What!?" He said, "Dye your hair pink." I said, "You're joking?"
0:08:42 > 0:08:44So, anyway, I did.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And...it took off.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50# Six-Five Special, right on time... #
0:08:50 > 0:08:53It's time to jive on the old Six-Five!
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Wee Willie performed on the Six-Five Special on the BBC,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59one of Britain's first ever youth music programmes
0:08:59 > 0:09:03and soon became known as Britain's wild man of rock'n'roll.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05# Oh, wild one
0:09:05 > 0:09:08# I'm a-gonna take you down
0:09:08 > 0:09:09# Take you down... #
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Well, I've been around a long time and, you know, I've loved it.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I loved the '50s. It was great times.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22For Willie, with the music came the dancing.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27The rock'n'roll dancing spread very rapidly.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31A lot of British kids were inventing steps and movements?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Yeah, I used to go back like that.
0:09:33 > 0:09:40I wouldn't chance it now. I used to jump my legs out like that, and go right the way back and jump up again.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44And through me legs and over the top, like a jitterbug. But I'm...
0:09:44 > 0:09:48getting on a bit now to start doing all that!
0:09:52 > 0:09:59The young Wee Willie Harris typified the exuberance of his generation in those heady days.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06But soon a new, home-grown hero came along - Marty Wilde.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12# Each night I ask the stars up above
0:10:12 > 0:10:18# Why must I be a teenager in love? #
0:10:18 > 0:10:22In 1958 and '59, Marty had five top ten hits.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24His good looks did him no harm at all.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26He sold millions of records.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29# ..The stars up above
0:10:29 > 0:10:34# Why must I be a teenager in love? #
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Half a century later, I'm meeting Marty to find out why
0:10:39 > 0:10:44the new music of the '50s captured the spirit of the time so well.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48The war years for me were, like, grey.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52They were grey, and black, and brown. All you ever saw was khaki.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57Suddenly rock'n'roll came along it was pink socks, you know?
0:10:57 > 0:11:03And colours and blues. "Oh, at last. "Colour! The war's over!"
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Was rock'n'roll the catalyst - the thing that took you forward, that distinguished you?
0:11:07 > 0:11:10The music played a huge part.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Talking about it now, I still get that buzz.
0:11:13 > 0:11:19I think that we only were doing in the '50s what black America had been doing through the '30s and '40s.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22You know, having good fun and listening to great music.
0:11:22 > 0:11:29Looking back on it now, do you see it as a time of real fun, hope and change?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32It was exciting, it was vibrant.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36It was everything we all ever wanted.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37It was a fantastic time.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40And it was THE time to have been alive.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42I tell everybody, it was THE time.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46He could be right.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48We're still in Soho, in London,
0:11:48 > 0:11:53one of the most thrilling places on earth for a '50s teenager.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Soho. The all-night cafes and the nude shows.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04Garish, gay, avaricious and a little sleazy at the edges.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14While we're in Soho, we have to visit the site of the 2i's Coffee Bar.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Well, this is a historic site for British rock'n'roll.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25I came here in late '50s with my girlfriend and listened to skiffle.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29After we'd been there, we decided to test our luck in Soho,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32then thought to be a place of extraordinary danger.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Gangsterdom, knife fights, prostitution.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39So we walked up Dean Street, along there, fearful but excited.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42And there wasn't anybody there. It was completely empty.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48We've parked our cinema in Soho Square in London.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52But in the '50s rock'n'roll was spreading like wildfire across the country.
0:12:54 > 0:13:01Two northern girls who thought they were just as lucky as me were Jennie Prescott and Molly Lowton.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04This is Molly in 1956, when she was 16.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09And this is Jennie, aged 17, dressed to impress.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14They both grew up in Standish, near Wigan.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20And they've come along today to see a film that has a particular poignancy for them.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36We're showing them amateur footage from 1958 of the village social club they danced in.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41How will they feel about seeing the early days of their youth once again?
0:13:41 > 0:13:45'It brought a lot of very happy memories back.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48'We lived all week for Saturday night, jiving.'
0:13:51 > 0:13:55During the week, we just used to play the records.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58We used to push all the furniture back,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and leave the centre of the room,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and we used to practice all our jiving steps.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06# It's almost dawn and the cops gone
0:14:06 > 0:14:08# Let's all get Dixie fried... #
0:14:08 > 0:14:11We had these full circle skirts.
0:14:11 > 0:14:17When we used to wash them, we used to make a solution of sugar and hot water.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20And as the sugar set, it used to make them stick right out.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24The more it stuck out, when you were bopping round,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26you saw your suspenders.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35The film is about to reveal something special for the girls,
0:14:35 > 0:14:40when Jennie spots herself dancing with her best friend, Joyce, Molly's sister,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43more than 50 years ago.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51That's our Joyce. She's there.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Joyce, that I'm dancing with on that film, was Molly's younger sister,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04but unfortunately Joyce died when we was 18.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07She died soon after that film was made.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Joyce's life was unexpectedly cut short by a brain haemorrhage.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21This is the first time Jennie's seen this footage of her teenage best friend.
0:15:21 > 0:15:27As you're watching it, you don't feel like she's gone, if you can understand what I mean.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I just transported myself back to that night,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34and it just felt like we was jiving, as we was then.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42For Molly, watching her younger sister brought back to life on celluloid
0:15:42 > 0:15:44is a very emotional moment.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50I never thought I would see Joyce dancing like that again.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55To see her, it's like as if she's still alive. That's what I felt like, you know.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58It's upsetting, but nice. Yeah, lovely.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04She was two years younger than me. I was her big sister.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07I'm all right, love.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08I'm all right.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Although it's tinged with great sadness, the flickering images,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22shot by student filmmaker John Turner,
0:16:22 > 0:16:28capture the spirit of the social club in Standish, and remind the girls of the boys they used to know.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34The boys that didn't have curly hair,
0:16:34 > 0:16:39- we used to give them an home perm on top.- Make it curly!- Make it curly.
0:16:39 > 0:16:45When we went out the night after, and they used to say to them, "How've you got curly hair?"
0:16:45 > 0:16:50And they'd say, "I bought this shampoo and all of a sudden, it just went like this."
0:16:50 > 0:16:53They never admitted that they'd had an home perm!
0:16:56 > 0:17:02Flirting was one thing, but they were looking for a respectable boy with honourable intentions.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10I never really got a teddy boy, did you?
0:17:10 > 0:17:14I went... Yeah, I had a date with one once, but I never went again.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I didn't!
0:17:18 > 0:17:22That's what I'm saying, that's why I didn't go with a teddy boy.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25- I couldn't have took a teddy boy home.- No.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29My mum said to me, you don't ever bring a lad in this house
0:17:29 > 0:17:34unless you intend to marry him, and that's exactly what I did.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37It's our golden wedding next year.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Today on Reel History, we're in Soho to meet teenagers from the 1950s.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52My next guest, musician Raye Du-Val, was probably not someone
0:17:52 > 0:17:57Jennie and Molly would have taken home to meet their parents.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00He was a teddy boy, born and bred in Soho.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02It was a very lively place.
0:18:02 > 0:18:09Oh, it was a great scene. I used to come out of my flat, go to the Top Ten club just across the road.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12The good, bad and the ugly worked side by side,
0:18:12 > 0:18:17because why it meant so much to me was that I worked most of the strip clubs in Soho
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and I worked for most of the gangsters as a musician.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23You opened them but you kept this quiet.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Ray's about to be transported back to his youth.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33Teddy boys were the bad boys of the '50s.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Why did their image appeal to Raye?
0:18:35 > 0:18:37# Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo
0:18:37 > 0:18:40# Tutti frutti, oh Rudy. #
0:18:40 > 0:18:42I was a teddy boy because I liked the fashion.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44# Tutti frutti, oh Rudy. #
0:18:44 > 0:18:46You preened yourself.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50And everything was immaculate. Nothing was out of place.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56Don't touch the hair and don't touch the blue suede shoes, because you're in bother if you do.
0:18:56 > 0:19:02Teddy boys were named after the suits they wore, which were cut on Edwardian or Teddy lines,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and they became public enemy number one.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Teddy boys, I don't like them at all.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09I don't like their style of dress.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12It's just to prove what they are, and they're very ignorant.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16I think if their parents watched over them a bit better when they were smaller,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18they might grow up to be good citizens.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23Raye recalls how the teddy boys were dressed ready for trouble.
0:19:24 > 0:19:31Under your lapel, you kept a nail file, in your top pocket you kept a steel comb,
0:19:31 > 0:19:36but the biggest weapon you ever had was the real crepe sole shoes.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38# Tutti frutti
0:19:38 > 0:19:39# Oh, Rudy. #
0:19:39 > 0:19:42But it was mostly bravado.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And the films remind Raye of a carefree youth.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I think the '50s was the greatest era of my life.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53Your kicks was going into a coffee bar, listening to a juke box.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was just the beat that got you going, it was # dum per tow, per tum. #
0:19:58 > 0:20:00# Ah, tutti frutti... #
0:20:00 > 0:20:03If you didn't dance, maybe there was something wrong with you.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05# ..Tutti frutti. #
0:20:05 > 0:20:09I don't feel 78 now. I feel 28.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11I was there, I really went back in time.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14# Bop bopa-a-lu a whop bam boo. #
0:20:18 > 0:20:24Working class kids embraced the teenage movement with real passion, as we're about to find out.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29One of the films we're showing in here is called We Are The Lambeth Boys.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33It's about a youth club in south London in the 1950s.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35It's quite wonderful, it's another world.
0:20:35 > 0:20:41And rather remarkably, today on Reel History we're reuniting three of the men who were in that film.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48They were once the youngsters that polite society feared.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Today, life has treated them very differently.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58You've only changed a little bit since The Lambeth Boys.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00- Yeah.- Not a lot!- Much better-looking!
0:21:02 > 0:21:06Now the three men are going to watch their younger selves on screen.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15What memories will the film bring back to them all?
0:21:25 > 0:21:28'So the evening gets under way for one small group
0:21:28 > 0:21:33'of the rowdy generation that's for ever in the headlines.'
0:21:33 > 0:21:36At the time, teenagers were getting a bad press,
0:21:36 > 0:21:42but Karel Reisz, a director who was part of the radical new free cinema movement,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44made a film that gave them a voice.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48- Oi, Peggy!- Oh, shut up!
0:21:51 > 0:21:5469-year-old Adrian Harding was a young rebel then.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58'And Ady, he'll go anywhere for an audience.'
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Today, he's a highly successful businessman and author,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05and was for a time a director of Leyton Orient Football Club.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Does he think fondly of the outspoken young man he once was?
0:22:12 > 0:22:16I got my money back. Went down Tony's, had a nosh-up, ended up at this dump.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22It's nostalgic, the man you see, the old age pensioner you see now,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25was not the boy you see there.
0:22:27 > 0:22:3054 years changes people.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35It's a different person you're looking at.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39You look at it and you think, "Oh, I'd like to have been richer then."
0:22:41 > 0:22:45You tried to save a bit of money for Friday or Saturday
0:22:45 > 0:22:49when there was dances, and then you could actually have Coca-Cola.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Thanks to the post-war economic boom,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58young men's earnings were rising twice as fast as their parents.
0:22:58 > 0:23:04The film showed how teenagers like Adrian had comparatively huge spending power,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06compared to pre-'50s youth.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09- I spend nearly 30 bob a week on clothes.- Do you?
0:23:09 > 0:23:13- Yeah, out my wages.- You mean you save up 30 bob a week?- Yeah.- I see.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- What do you consider a good price for a suit?- About 15 guineas.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19- For that, you expect something... - I want a good suit.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21How long would you expect that to last?
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Well, about eight months to a year.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29- Then you...- Well, after eight months to a year, it don't look smart any more so you got to buy a new one.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31# Well, put on the agony
0:23:31 > 0:23:33# Put on the style... #
0:23:33 > 0:23:38Teenagers then, they were vilified because they were dressing differently.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43The older generation couldn't handle it. They thought, "Oh, my God! What do they look like?"
0:23:43 > 0:23:46All they were doing was smartening themselves up.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- What about this 30 bob a week for the suit?- I've still got that suit!
0:23:57 > 0:24:01- So it lasted longer than eight months!- Does it still fit?
0:24:01 > 0:24:02Of course!
0:24:06 > 0:24:11Life's not been quite as kind to Tony Benson, or Woody, now 70.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Raised by his mother with three siblings in a council flat,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21he started out as a butcher's apprentice earning £1.25 a week,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and he's worked in manual jobs all his life.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Ah, Dooley, what've you done? What're you talking about?
0:24:29 > 0:24:32What memories will seeing himself on screen bring back?
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Give us a chip.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Woah! Hey!
0:24:39 > 0:24:41SHOUTS AND LAUGHTER
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Great, great to see my old mates again.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47They was happy days.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Kids this day and age have it handed on a plate. We didn't.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53We had to work for what we got.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01'Being a butcher, like everything else, needs learning.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03'Woody is getting good at it.'
0:25:03 > 0:25:08For Woody, work meant a way to pay for the weekend, going out with his pals.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'Saturday night's the best night of the week.'
0:25:12 > 0:25:14There's a load of girls down there.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19I used to say to my mum, "I'll see you Monday, Mum, all right? Bye!"
0:25:19 > 0:25:26We'd go out, we used to go up the pub, then we used to go over to the West End. Round Soho.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35I'd like to go back to them days. But they won't come back, no way.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Now 68, Brian Mott was the youngest lad featured in the film.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Today, he has successful businesses in Britain and in Paris.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Looking back to his working class south London roots,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13how will be feel about the boy he once was?
0:26:19 > 0:26:23It was just a snapshot of how things were and what you did.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Do you sell Pepsis?
0:26:25 > 0:26:29The film maker took Brian and his mates on a day trip across London,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32where they enjoyed living up to their rowdy reputation.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35'When the boys pass through the West End,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38'the West End remembers for a while that they have passed through,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41'and that's how the boys wanted it.'
0:26:42 > 0:26:46We were very much boys from south London, from Lambeth Walk,
0:26:46 > 0:26:52and here we were, 20 boys, maybe a few more, put onto the back of a lorry.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56For a lot of them, it was the first time they'd been to the West End.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59# We are the Lambeth Boys
0:26:59 > 0:27:02# We are the Lambeth Boys. #
0:27:02 > 0:27:07But Brian decided to make it out of Lambeth and go into middle class society.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10# We are the Lambeth Boys, oi, oi! #
0:27:10 > 0:27:14I was determined to...better myself.
0:27:15 > 0:27:21I remember one of the first thing I bought when I started work was Michael Aspel's elocution tapes,
0:27:21 > 0:27:27and I sat a long time, listening to him and how he'd pronounce words and what he did.
0:27:27 > 0:27:34Once a month I would go to Piccadilly Hotel and I'd sit in the bar and I'd watch people,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37as to how they handled themselves,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39what they did, what their mannerisms were.
0:27:39 > 0:27:46Brian's life today is a world away from the one captured for posterity on that remarkable film.
0:27:46 > 0:27:52I don't think many people get the opportunity of seeing themselves as they were 50 years ago,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and that's what happened today.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Many of the teenage rebels of the '50s grew up to be model citizens.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15But rejecting your parents' values has been an essential part of growing up ever since.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Talking to people today has been all my yesterdays, really.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27Same songs, same fun, same rock 'n' roll, inventing those dances we thought we could never do,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29and it's just been great.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34I'm delighted we've captured these teenage memories for our future.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Next time on Reel History,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41we're at Preston Barracks,
0:28:41 > 0:28:47remembering the communities who lost their young men during the Great War.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49The counter literally was stripped of young men.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52I just think, what a waste.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54What a waste of a whole generation.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:29:21 > 0:29:24E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk