Swinging Sixties

His 2021 autobiography, Talking To Myself, offers a candid account of his life, his work, and the experiences that shaped him.

In our conversation, Chris takes us right back to his childhood with Mick, the early days of The Stones and his famous victory in a Mick Jagger lookalike competition, before recounting his adventures in swinging London, his travels through India and beyond, his experiences on stage and screen, and studio life at Stargroves during one of the most important periods in The Stones' history.

We also talk about forging an identity away from his famous surname, his career as a musician, writer, and raconteur, his enduring friendships with some of rock's great characters, and what it's like to still occasionally make music with his brother, including their recent duet, Anyone Seen My Heart.

It's a unique and intimate insight into a remarkable chapter of British cultural history, told from a vantage point very few could share.

In this background, Australian and UK identity was emerging.

We've got the Swinging Sixties in the UK.

Australia was doing its best to form its own identity, Andrew, trying to step out of Britain's cultural shadow.

Surf culture was obviously getting bigger, and, um, and all these £10 Poms that, that, that, that Tony mentioned too.

Flower power.

Swinging Sixties.

Yeah.

The Swinging Sixties.

Yeah, I'd like to have been around in that.

It was literally my answer as well.

That time, peace and love.

Yeah.

In this background, Australian and UK identity was emerging.

We've got the Swinging '60s in the UK.

Australia was doing its best to form its own identity, Andrew, trying to step out of Britain's cultural shadow.

Surf culture was obviously getting bigger and, um, on all these £10 Poms that, the, that, that Tony mentioned too.

That's how it worked.

And this was what, the height of the Swinging Sixties in London?

The height of the Swinging Sixties.

This was, yeah, 19, yeah, 19...

Well, I was doing that from about 1968 onwards, yeah.

And this was... seen as the tide was turning away from the north and into more of a...

This was before the Swinging London films.

But as I say, it's been a huge...

There's been so many...

And the other thing to say about the 1970s is i- in terms of predation on women and girls, it was a target-rich environment because...

I, I don't know what happened down in your part of the world, but you know, they talk about the Swinging Sixties, but the Swinging Sixties didn't come to Scotland until the '70s.

And [laughs] but it was a time, it was the first time where young women were able to go out and about themselves and enjoy a social life.

Uh, before that, women had been, young girls had been very much kept under control of their families.

But in Georgie girl that that's sweet.

That's called swinging London era, right? swinging London.

That's six.

This is 1966 is swinging London.

So it's like the peak of postwar baby boomer fashion, Connerby Street.

So this is 1966.

And then we saw Britt Eklund and Peter Sellers in The Bobo, which is shot in Barcelona.

What a strange movie that was.

And then got a scholarship to the Royal College of Art.

But this means that you are in at the beginning of the Swinging Sixties.

Yes, Swinging Sixties.

This, this is the London of that.

Mary Quar-

But when I was at work, I was still in the old jeans and painted shifts covered in paint, and always had my hands, hands covered in dye and everything.

It didn't pass you by, but it passed me by.

I was there in the Swinging Sixties.