nostalgia! – any brits my age will have fond memories of richard allen and these “new english library” books passed around school playgrounds like semi-illicit contraband in the early 1970s – “skinhead”, which took less than a week to write by the hack novelist, was acclaimed for it’s streetwise authenticity and went on to sell a million copies – and spawn a million copies?! – i must admit i didn’t get on with that particular book at the time, i was more into “chopper” and the biker scene – so ’bout time i caught up on me lack of proper educational grounding in moral incorrectness, innit?!
the “complete richard allen” omnibus editions, published in the nineties, equally collectable and invariably criminally priced now – and, btw, that cover snap i recognise as my old home town of brighton outside the br station – bet i’ve leant on that lamppost myself!
Ah, the 70s! Don’t remember these at all. Maybe because I was a goody-goody little Abba fan who didn’t mix with rough boys like you. Things changed somewhat after I discovered TG ….
I remember seeing all the skinhead ones when I was growing up…had no idea about the others.
read suedehead under the influence of a certain hulmerist but who knew there were so many others?
Bloody Hell, Trevor!
Do you know what happens when you read this instead of Biggles or The Boy’s Own Paper?
FALL…OF…EMPIRE. That’s what.
i remember talking to this old british dude who was a punk in the 70′s and he was telling me how it was always the punks vs the skinheads, so which side were u on?
that’s great !
punk or skin? – erm, wimp!
actually it was punks vs teds in 77
Nice post, I wonder if you have all these mags
i wish! – no, just the book at the very top – and i had “chopper” when i was a li’l lad (before swapping it for marbles on the playground?!)
dragon skins?! the english are brilliant. i’ve never heard of these!
Well done for recognising that as Brighton BR. I’ve lived here ten years and I didn’t notice, and it really hasn’t changed so much.
the pic taken in the early nineties which was the last time i lived there so exactly as i remember it
the novel (“skinhead”) features a trip to brighton for a spot of “hippie bashing” (haha, brighton STILL the best place to go to find hippies?!) – mentions things like the old dolphinarium (brings back memories!), now a “sealife centre”?
altho i’ve spent a third of my life in tokyo i still sorta regard brighton as “my home town”