Teddy Boys

But it was that whole thing that led me to punk.

I was led to the King's Road via Andy Mackay because he had that Teddy Boy look.

And he had those glitter creepers on For Your Pleasure.

And so I wasn't really a fan of rock and roll.

But first the Territorials dropped out.

The strain of being referred to on the music hall stage as Teddy Boys was too much for them.

Then the Frontiersmen were disbanded.

They had promised well at the start, but they had never been themselves since Lamilo had been attacked by the Manchester Watch Committee.

And the Makushla, it wasn't just a ballroom, it was a luxury ballroom, wasn't it, John?

So it's said, yeah, that it had wood panelling and apparently it was home to the Teddy Boys back in the 50s and 60s.

What was the significance of choosing the Macushla Ballroom in Dublin's north inner city, John? The Gardaí have gone there to meet, I don't know, lovely nurses and teachers to marry.

Or was there a significance to it? Was it geographical? Was it emotional? Was it just space? Why did they pick the Macushla?

Plus it could hold a thousand people.

It was a very, very good centre venue that was walkable from any city centre station in Dublin.

So Dickie Rock and the Teddy Boys etc they took the night off in order to let the Gardaí have a meeting in their ballroom

Possibly yeah quite a different venue for the meeting this kind of not secret meeting because it couldn't be kept secret but this really seismic meeting that was going to take place

Sure.

So I love the way the Teddy Boys dressed-

Right

... and all those kinda early Malcolm McLaren.

Suddenly found myself in Waterloo Place, down by the foot of Bogside, which was, Waterloo Place was really the sort of barrier to the Catholic area.

And there was a coffee bar, and outside the coffee bar was people I'd never seen the like of before, Teddy Boys, as I later found out.

in long Edwardian-style coats and wrinkle-picker shoes.

And inside the copy bar was Little Richard singing...

I'm sure there is.

But yeah, just, yeah, well, we did choose that clip, Nick, just because of like today, there are no gentlemen and the other amazing things you've written about fashion, how important that is.

Going right back to obviously that moment in Derry where you see these Catholic teddy boys for the first time.

I mean, I guess without you, Nick, there would have been no, like, Face magazine or anything like that.

What attracted you to go there and work there? There was just something about it when I walked through the doors.

I mean, originally it was a Teddy Boy shop, but the whole Teddy Boy.

You know what a Teddy Boy is? Teddy Boys wore these long coats, like drape coats.

The name Teddy Boy comes from the Edwardian look between the wars that the aristocracy used to wear with like velvet collars on their jackets and slightly long coats, like drape jackets they were called.

And then the working class is picked up on it.

And that coincided with Bill Ailey coming over and all that.

The guy, the most American guy who looks like an English teddy boy is Kim Fowley when he plays like the head thug in American Graffiti.

You know that bit where there's a car outside Mel's and they put chains underneath the back of the car in a police car.

Few lamented this wasteful dispersal of the nation's youth.

Um, there were right-wing commentators who deplored the end of what some saw as a form of social discipline for potentially rampant teenagers such as the Teddy Boys, but no real case for military service, as opposed to some kind of civilian community activity was really made out.

It was, in large measure, the need for economy which underlay Duncan Sandys' important defense white paper of April 1957.

This argued that for defense to take 10% of the British gross national income was excessive.