BOMBSITE BOUDICCAS

TG1

Grace Living, 17 year old from Plaistow in an East End café. Russell also took an entire set of photos entitled Coffee Shop Girls





 

17 year old Josie Buchan was a fashion student with Russell's future wife, Shirley, at the college Russell also attended. Josie introduced Ken to her Teddy Girl friends. Here she shows off a thin black velvet tie and D.A haircut. It would have been incredibly rare to find a woman sporting this type of men's hairstyle back then.
 

17 year old Josie Buchan was a fashion student with Russell's future wife, Shirley, at the college Russell also attended. Josie introduced Ken to her Teddy Girl friends. Here she shows off a thin black velvet tie and D.A haircut. It would have been incredibly rare to find a woman sporting this type of men's hairstyle back then.

18 year old Rose Price, a shop assistant from Tottenham; also sporting a markedly 'manly' hair-style. Available as Art Card.

Vera Harrison, aged 19, a recent migrant from Ireland. Vera worked in the kitchens at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The stencilled graffiti was part of a campaign to reintegrate returning servicemen into society.

 

Iris Thornton and Pat Wiles, 17 year olds from Plaistow, show off lace-up espadrilles which were favourites with Teddy Girls.

Rose Price and admirers. Note matching polka-dot clutch bag and gloves - defining Teddy Girl accoutrements.
 

16 year old Eileen from Bethnal Green. Eileen worked in the clerical office of a big provisions firm. Two Teddy Boys duel over her on East End bombsite. Available as Art Card.

 

The original Pictorial Press caption says it all - '14 year old Jean Rayner is still in the exploratory stage of Teddyism. One day she hopes to emulate her elegant seniors, but maybe Teddyism will have died out completely by then.' Available as Art Card.

Rose Price talks to friends who are protecting newly done hair in headscarves. This 'turban' style was popular with Teddy Girls.

Josie Buchan at the Stage Door of the Walthamstow Palace Theatre which was pulled down in 1960.
 

Iris Thornton of Plaistow in front of a comic stall. The original caption makes disparaging remarks about Teds not being able to read very well. Available as Art Card.

Pat Wiles and Iris Thornton both worked on the assembly line of a toy factory. Coolie hats were another popular element of Teddy Girl style. Available as Art Card.

Elsie Hendon, 15, Jean Rayner, 14, Rosie Hendon, 15, and Mary Toovey on a bombsite in Southam Street, North Kensington, West London. Elsie and Rosie are twins. A cropped version of this photo appeared, appropriately enough, on the cover of The Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin's single, Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves. Available as Art Card.

Elsie Hendon, 15 and Jean Rayner, 14 in front of the Seven Feathers Club in Edenham Street, North Kensington.
 

18 year old Barbara Wood of Plaistow models her boater and embroidered blouse through a paneless window in a bomb-shattered, East London building. Available as Art Card.

Two unnamed Teddy Boys photographed at a funfair. This photo is one of only two taken of Teddy Boys on this shoot. Available as Art Card.
 

Pat Wiles and Iris Thornton chilling under a railway bridge.
 

Iris Thornton, 17 poses in the backyard of block of flats near where she lives in Plaistow.

Rose Price, predating James Dean's 'Rebel.'
 

Pat Wiles and Iris Thornton: attitude in spades, and matching clutch bags.
 

Grace Living poses with Perspex handled umbrella outside East London café. An umbrella was a regular Teddy Girl signifier. Available as Art Card.

Elsie and Rose Hendon with Mary Toovey and Jean Rayner outside the Seven Feathers Club, where Rosie remembers doing the popular Ted dance, The Creep.
 

Rose Hendon and Mary Toovey pose with unknown young Teddy Boys in Southam Street. Rosie would leave school this year to go and work in a McVities biscuit factory.

Iris Thornton and Pat Wiles shop for lino.

Pat Wiles poses with ubiquitous umbrella aloft.
 

Barbara Wood , pointing to a council election poster for Ordnance Ward in Poplar, East London.

Vera Harrison. Note her cameo brooch, another neo-Edwardian favourite. Available as Art Card.
 

Eileen, with the victor of the duel. The original caption reckoned that she must be sheltering under his umbrella as Teddy Girls never unfurled theirs