Little Ted


I love everything about this 1977 photo of a young Teddy Boy in London. With his immaculate DA, purple drape jacket, pink socks, and white brothel creepers he looks like a proper dandy. Then there’s the Evening News box, a London newspaper which doesn’t exist anymore, and the Wimpy Bar which is a rare sight in England too now. He’s probably having a burger before heading down the King’s Road to beat up some Punk rockers.

You used to still see a lot of Teds in the 1970s, but at some point in the 80s they just seemed to vanish. I think maybe a lot of the youngsters got into Rockabilly style but I don’t know where the older ones went. Probably moved to Essex where they’re now retired and voting for UKIP.

This is a Rockabilly classic from 1956 that has been covered by The Yardbirds, Aerosmith, and Motörhead but this version still rocks like crazy, man, crazy. 

Download: The Train Kept A-Rollin’ – Johnny Burnette (mp3)

10 thoughts on “Little Ted”

  1. That is a great picture. My cousin was a Ted in the 80s. He was into the Stray Cats and King Kurt etc. Used to keep being picked on by the police and arrested for just being within 100 yards of a fight. The fights were never with the punks though. In fact the Teds and the punks were all really good natured in our town. it was the rugby players who caused the trouble.

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  3. I’ve been told by those in the know (Paul Cotgrove) Southend and Bristol were the last outposts of Teds. And I can confirm they were still prowling around Southend in the 70s. They had a couple of their own pubs on the seafront and could be spotted working in the arcades, amusements and The Kursaal.

    They would also commute in from Southend to drink at the White Hart on Bishopsgate. Possibly as Elvisly Yours was just up the road in Shoreditch. Malcolm McLaren used to drop in here during his Teddy Boy period too..

    Mentioned earlier, Mark ‘Snowboy’ Cotgrove’s older brother Paul was a late-teen Ted, from Southend – who went to London Ted-clubs and got the cold shoulder from traditionalists when he moved to a rootiser, Rockabilly look

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  4. Strange how they just died out, unlike Mods. I’m sure there’s an underground 50s scene somewhere but it’s more likely to look like Rockabilly than Ted

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  6. Great photo.
    I guess that like any hair-critical fashion, the onset of typical middle-age hair loss in blokes must play havoc with the DA!

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  7. Astonishing picture. Growing up in the East Midlands I never saw Teds in the wild (nor did I in my earlier days in Harlow). You would think, with the nearest major population centre being Leicester, home of Showaddywaddy, I might have encountered a couple.

    I do recall fluorescent socks and blue suede shoes being on sale in Millett’s c.1986. Maybe the pervading air of naffness finally caught up with everyone.

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  9. There’s still a rockabilly scene, weekenders at seaside town holiday camps are popular.Probably not many teds around though- there’s a subtle difference I think.

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