The Teds – Photographs of The Second Coming of Britain’s First Youth Tribe, 1979

“In early 1954, on a late train from Southend, someone pulled the communication cord. The train ground to a halt. Light bulbs were smashed. Police arrested a gang dressed in Edwardian suits. In April, two gangs, also dressed Edwardian-style, met after a dance. They were ready for action: bricks and sand-filled socks were used – 55 youths were taken in for questioning. The following August Bank Holiday the first Best-Dressed Ted contest was held. The winner was a 20-year-old greengrocer’s assistant. The Teddy Boy myth was born…’

– Chris Steele-Perkins, The Teds

 

Born in the 1950s, the Teddy Boys were a unique British youth tribe, forerunners to Mods, Punks, Skins, Hippies, Casuals, New Romantics, Goths and Ravers. In the 1970s. Chris Steele-Perkins, along with his friend and writer Richard Smith, were commissioned by New Society magazine to cover the second coming of the Teds for a story. The book of their work was published in 1979.

 

“I teamed up with my friend and writer, Richard Smith, and both of us were intrigued by what we found – the energy, the style, the kitsch, the buzz, the hedonistic fuck-you-ness of it all. And the music was good – not cutting edge, but good. A night out with the Teds was generally a good crack – sometimes some violence, some vomit on the carpet, but generally a rock’n’roll party. I wasn’t a Ted, but it was easy enough to fit in. I was the bloke who took photographs.”

– Chris Steele-Perkins

 

 

 

“It is hard to imagine how radical Teds were when they first appeared in the conventional, austere, post-war 50s. They revelled in hairstyles borrowed from American rock and film stars and exaggerated music from the new, loud, sexual rock’n’roll. They sported velvet-cuffed drape coats which were copied from the high Edwardian style (hence the Teddy), tight trousers, and an attitude magnified by British truculence. And their shoes were from… Mars!”

– Chris Stelle- Perkins

 

 

“1956, sixty years ago, was a watershed year for Teds. In September that year the Bill Haley film Rock Around The Clock arrived in the UK. With five records in the top twenty, Haley was a major star and the film screened at some three hundred cinemas across the country. It wasn’t long before the riots started. At London’s Elephant and Castle Trocadero seats were slashed, and when the police attempted to disperse a throng of jiving, singing teenagers, bottles and fireworks were thrown; four shop windows were smashed. Two police were injured and nine Teds arrested. There was further trouble in many other cities including Manchester and London whilst in Birmingham, Blackpool, and Belfast the film was banned.

“Whilst the appearance of Teds can be traced back a couple of years earlier, 1956 was the true ’Year of The Ted’ – the year in which they became central to youth culture in the UK and could no longer be ignored.”

– The Teds (via)

 

Via: The Observer, Setanta Books, Oskar Barnack,

A new edition of The Teds by Chris Steele-Perkins was published by Dewi Lewis.