Music, Girls and other things

Not as racy as you may think (or wish).

Scouting took up much of my school life as as I said. However, in my last year at school this changed somewhat. My last year at school was dominated by a change in fashion. Up until then, you either dressed like your Dad or you were a 'Teddy Boy'. Teddy Boys looked for trouble so didn't impact on my life as spent my youth avoiding trouble. However, at the start of the sixties the youth of the UK turned to 'winklepickers' and Elvis haircuts. I was never one to break school rules so always attended in an acceptable level of uniform. I do remember that Ian White - all 6 foot odd of him - pushed the limits for all that he was worth. He had a full Elvis haircut with (as we called it) a DA at the back. DA stood for Duck's A**e because of the shape they cut the lower part of the back of your hair. He also wore striped socks and pointed shoes. He got away with this from one week to the next. Finally, I decided that I would conform to the new life. I didn't have the hair for an Elvis but I went to the family barber and he rcommended what he called a 'college boy' This was a short and smart cut which solved the problem. I then bought a pair of these winkle pickers and some socks, both red/white and black/white vertical stripes. On the Monday, dressed as recommended, I spent the whole day worried that I would be singled out by a master - any master - and punished. However, nothing happened but the stress levels were just too great so I went back to normal - for school any way.

Once I was in modern dress, I stayed there when I went out on a special evening so my toes, like every other youth, became slowly deformed. At least that's what my mother promised me would happen. At this time I also found out about girls. This happened in a very innocuous way through the Scout movement. Roger and I had taken up with helping out with the Monday night Cub Pack. There were also two Girl Guides who did the same. These two were sisters - Sue and Frederica (Freddie) Carrington. It was all just friendly and restricted to Monday nights at Cubs. However, we started to realise that they went to St. Leonards Church and walked home to Hopton Road past the Methodist Church near Streatham Station. This knowledge came about because were want to visit the coffee bar at Streatham Station on a Sunday morning to read the Sunday papers - were we pretentious at 16 or what! So, we saw them walking past. It was easy to attend the Methodist Church and nonchalantly meet them outside as we came out of Church and they walked down the hill. What could be more natural? There then followed a 3 month period until I left school where I went out with Sue whilst Roger went out with Fred. I remember these relationships being very chaste. We spent a lot of time standing around outside the girl's house. This all faded away when the school holidays came and Scouts/Cubs closed down and I planned on going to work.

Music was the next thing that comes to a teenager. I got very involved in not only listening but also in playing. However my musical tastes came from a strange direction. Being 10 years younger than my brother meant that I was exposed heavily to his choices and he chose Jazz - the revivalist type that grew in the UK during the '40s and based on the music of New Orleans. I grew up with Chris Barber playing and so quite naturally, I followed. Charlie took me to a few concerts - I remember seeing the Chris Barber band at both the Royal Festival Hall and at Wimbledon Town Hall. This interest grew during the next few years and has lasted with me until now.

I also took to playing. At around 14, I went to Ally's Owl Shop - a second-hand shop next to Streatham Bus Garage - and bought a cheap guitar. I then went up to the 'Swing Shop' at St. Leonards. The Swing Shop was run by ex-jazz musician and singer, Dave Carey and specialised in both instruments and jazz records. There I purchased a copy of Bert Weedon' s immortal 'Play in a Day' and came home. In a day I was playing the chords to Home on the Range! I spent the next 25 years messing around with musical instruments but mostly the guitar. From the guitar, I went for a banjo. Now I wanted to play Trad Jazz banjo but inadvertently bought a 5 string banjo rather than a tenor one. Still, that got me into folk music and got me up to Collett's Music shop in later times. One big change was due to the school CCF (Combined Cadet Force). As part of special interest, I signed up for a heavy weapon course - mortars, LMG and HMGs - they were going to teach us how to strip and fire the things and then give a chance to fire them. One evening in the learning process, we went to the Territorial Drill Hall at Clapham Junction where we came across their fife and drum band practicing. They offered to help us learn these instruments so for some weeks I went along every Tuesday evening to learn the fife ( a small flute).This gave me the basic fingering for the clarinet and saxophone and gave me a wider ability - not good ability, but wider.

We had the Scout Show coming up so I was pestered by the Akela (in charge of the Cubs) to join with her and play the theme tune to a popular TV program of the time - The Strange World of Gurney Slade starring Anthony Newley. However, I never thought that my flute playing was up to that so I declined.



My musical interests expanded and deepened over the coming years.