The Fifties Austerity Rock And Political Role

Step back into an era of explosive music, high-stakes political drama, and seismic social shifts! Join expert hosts Steve Millward and Frank Vigon on an exhilarating five-week journey through the mid-20th century where the electrifying rise of Elvis and rock 'n' roll collides with the shadowy intrigue of the Cold War and the Suez Crisis. From the nostalgic magic of 1950s cinema and the erratic birth of BBC television to the transformative, world-shaking rhythms of Windrush, Trad Jazz, and skiffle, this course pulls back the curtain on the scandals, sounds, and struggles that defined a generation.

5th January 

With Steve Millward

Corruption, Scandal and The Spirit of Adventure: The Rock and Roll Business (double)

Rock and roll hit the entertainment industry like a thunderbolt. Major record companies were caught on the hop. The music originated in what they saw as the sticks – unfashionable locations with obscure singers, local disc jockeys and labels run by one person and a dog. Such individuals challenged the status quo both musically and socially: racial segregation began to break down. But before long, big business got its revenge as rock and roll’s leading lights became enveloped in a series of scandals.

12th January 

With Frank Vigon

The Iron Curtain Descends - The Cold War

Having just joined together with Stalin to fight the Nazis, Churchill, out of power, goes to America to stir up a new hornet’s nest. At a college in Fulton Missouri he makes the “Sinews of Peace” speech in which in his florid language he pulled down the Iron curtain from “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic.” Whether the Communists really did or not….it was now stated. The Americans immediately grasped the nettle, and the world was once again divided. It was a cold wind that blew nobody any good!

“No Irish, No Dogs, No Blacks “ Race Relations - Windrush to Notting Hill

With the end of the war, Great Britain’s infrastructure was devastated. The damage was more than the incoming Labour Government could manage without help. It seemed natural to call on their colonial family to come to the mother country to help rebuild and man the new institutions. They came from all over the Commonwealth beaming with hope to come “home”. But there was to be a rude awakening. The newcomers were needed….but not welcomed. Jubilation soon turned to bitter disappointment, violence and prejudice.

19th January 

With Steve Millward and Frank Vigon

The King of Rock and Roll: Elvis Presley

From humble, God-fearing origins in Tennessee, Presley terrified the authorities, television stations

and parents with his hard-hitting songs and sensual stage-act. Teenagers were enraptured. His first producer said, ‘If I could find a white man who had the black sound and the black feel, I could make a billion dollars’. Presley was that man but he walked off with the billions.

The Fifties Cinema

After a long war the world longed for an escape from the horror and contemporary austerity. The Cinema was the new way out. These resurrected palaces of opulence with their cinema organs and plush décor, drew in the crowds to the one and nines and two and sixpences. The Americans produced monumental extravaganza at great expense with new forms of vision in colour and cinemascope. The Europeans produced realism, America produced musicals and the British produced comedy and grit. The Cinema experienced a major revival; it was fantasy for everyone amidst the comfort of a warm and cosy packed auditorium…with the ice cream girl offering a tray of delights. This is where we came in!

26th January 

With Steve Millward and Frank Vigon

Songs of Windrush: Caribbean Music Comes to Britain

The Caribbean islands had a rich musical tradition well before the 1950s but it was a well-kept secret. Following the emigration to the UK heralded by The Empire Windrush, Caribbean music spread far and wide, even reaching the corridors of the BBC. It was readily accepted within urban communities and finally became embedded in the mainstream pop scene, inspiring the likes of Eric Clapton, The Beatles and Sting.

A Bridge too far - The Suez Crisis 1956

Anthony Eden, who had spent years in the shadow of Churchill and the limelight of his 1930’s debonair appearance as Foreign Secretary, eventually became Prime Minister. He was of unsound health and ill equipped to withstand significant mental pressure. Haunted by his experience of the appeasement years and his opposition to the tyranny of Adolf Hitler, he saw Gamal Abdul Nasser as another potential world threat. Together with France and Israel, a plan was set in motion to respond to Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal by subterfuge. But the Special Relationship, initiated by Churchill, got in the way, and America pulled the plug on the canal foray.

2nd February Steve Millward and Frank Vigon

Waistcoats and Washboards: Trad Jazz and Skiffle

Disillusioned with the commerciality of big-band swing and repelled by the innovations of bebop, many jazz musicians turned to the source – New Orleans – for inspiration. The movement became international and in the UK the music was known as Trad. No sooner had it got going but an offshoot appeared – skiffle - which anyone could have a go at. And thousands did, including big name rock stars of the following decade.

The BBC - The strange Birth of British Television

Radio and television were truly a mystery to their own creators, growing exponentially from an object of information to a beacon of mass light entertainment. Producers and technicians, “winging” it as they expanded from one daily hour of programming to a round the clock multi-channel offering.

On the way incorporating children’s television, interludes, newsreels, xmas shows and soaps. This was the age of ball gowned continuity announcers to an age of television advertising and panel games.

Take nothing for granted……….”Normal Service will be resumed as soon as possible!”