Tuesday 12 May 2009

The 2i's Coffee Bar


One of the great things about being a teenager in the late 1950s was being entertained by that wonderful invention the jukebox. In those days jukeboxes were everywhere and became synonymous with coffee bars. During that period coffee bars took over from the humble British cafe. Teenagers swapped gossip over a milkshake as the first of the rock 'n rollers belted out their hits from the jukebox in the corner. I suppose looking back those teenagers were the forerunners of what we would now call the 'cafe society'.

The most famous coffee bar of the time was the 2i's (pictured above) situated in the basement at 59 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, between 1956 and 1970. The 2i's was owned by Paul Lincoln, an Australian wrestler and wrestling promoter. The coffee bar had live music and several stars were discovered or performed there, including Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin, Joe Brown, Eden Kane, Johnny Kidd, Jet Harris and many more. Today it is the Boulevard Bar and Dining Room, the famous basement being used as a lobby area. In 2006 a Green Plaque was unveiled at the site of the 2i's coffee bar to commemorate its existence. The plaque was inscribed as follows 'BIRTHPLACE OF BRITISH ROCK 'N ROLL AND THE POPULAR MUSIC INDUSTRY'.

Wildlife Pictures No.5

Another great photograph from our Wildlife Pictures series.

Who Am I?

Today we bring you another Who Am I puzzle. As usual we give you ten clues from which you have to work out the name of our mystery celebrity.

01 I was born in London in 1936.
02 I was widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol.
03 My real name is Thomas William Hicks.
04 I am a musician,singer and actor.
05 For a brief spell I was a merchant seaman.
06 I played the title roll in 'Hans Christian Andersen' in the West End.
07 I play guitar and banjo.
08 I wrote a novel in the early 1980's called 'The Final Run'.
09 My autobiography was entitled 'Bermondsey Boy'.
10 I married Ann O'Donoghue in 1960.

Any ideas who this mystery celebrity might be?

Swine Flu




As the two friends wandered through the snow on their way home. Piglet grinned to himself, thinking how lucky he was to have a best friend like Pooh.
Pooh thought to himself: "If the pig sneezes he's f*****g dead"!

Thought For Today

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.
Johnny Carson

Today's Smile