Two new sounds happened in a big way practically simultaneously in Britain in 1956 - skiffle and rock.
British folk music, which had been transported to America centuries earlier, returned as "interval" music, scraped and squawked by skiffle groups in breaks at traditional jazz concerts. At the same time, the American rock beat invaded London's Soho cellars.
For years there had been strolling players, working by day and at night strumming their guitars and singing choruses at parties. These were not the debutante style parties but the weekend sessions organised in absent parents' houses on the spur of the moment.
"Bring a bottle and a bird" were the usual instructions. There were no invitations or official guest lists; people just came as they pleased.
Young men who could make their own music were popular at these shindigs. Around London there was a regular clique of characters who could entertain with impromptu tunes. The party-going gangs when they were unable to find a party would spend their evenings in pubs and coffee bars, taking their minstrels along with them.
By the beginning of 1956 these singing guitarists were becoming a standard attraction at certain cafes and pubs. The "bohemian" characters, art students, actors, and ordinary intelligent people who liked this rambling, 1950s-style folk singing, would drop in during the evenings to hear the singers.
Their haunts included the Gyre and Gymbal near Charing Cross, the Breadbasket near Middlesex Hospital, and the Two I's coffee bar in Old Compton Street.
The Two I's was taken over in April 1956 by a pair of Australians, Ray Hunter and Paul Lincoln. It was then a shop selling goulash and with nearly zero trade. With the new owners, a new clientele arrived, including the strolling guitarists.
In the cellar they played sitting on the fire escape to an interested and cultured audience. There were tables and chairs downstairs and full meals were served; an almost Ritzy atmosphere.
The popularity of the Two I's spread. People started to drop in just to hear the singers, staying the whole evening without ordering more than a cup of coffee. So an admission charge of one shilling that gave entrance to the cellar was levied.
It was the beginning of the Big Beat Scene in Britain.
Royston Ellis, author of over 60 biographies, novels and travel guides, now lives in Sri Lanka having left England, where he began as a beat poet, in 1961, age 20, for a life of travel. His latest book, The Big Beat Scene, has just been published by Music Mentor Books ( http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html ), in a new edition for the first time in 50 years with a foreword and afterword about his association with The Beatles. http://roystonellis.com
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