Part 6: The Marquee

was at that time situated in Wardour Street in Soho. The queue looked the same. But the inside of the building did not. Entering The Marquee gave you the impression of disappearing into a black cave. Hammer Films were situated just some footsteps away...

The first time we visited The Marquee in '69 I had no idea of what sort of place to expect. Naturally I had been reading up on the rock pedigree of the place - it was the stage for the fabled recording of the album "Five Live Yardbirds" (see cover pictured below right) in '64 - but for some reason I had expected a place more along the lines of an American nightclub. I actually considered calling up the place, asking the head waiter to reserve a table close to the stage. When I arrived I was glad that I had omitted that detail. I had quite short hair, darkrimmed glasses, was clean shaven and wearing a neat courderoy jacket - although with a colourful tie to give an impression of hipness. We took our places in the wellmannered queue and I noted that the two long haired young men before me exchanged knowing glances and said the word "highbrow". The next night I had rearranged my evening dress...

And next summer I had long hair and a moustache when I arrived back in London. I had spent a year in Sweden's mandatory military service then and the only sensible thing I had been doing during that period was grooming my hair (not too popular among the officers, I might add) plus a proud Carl Wayne (The Move!) moustache. It's still there. But the regiment's barracks are closed down by now. And The Marquee has moved. (So where is Carl Wayne?)