Why the Sixties were necessary: Wizz Jones in Newquay

If you want to know why the social revolution of the 1960s was necessary, have a look at this Alan Whicker report on Newquay from 1960:

"The council wrote official letters to all the shopkeepers, cafes and bars urging that they refuse to serve beatniks, and at the same time wrote to the hotels association suggesting that beatniks be given no employment, not even as 'washer-uppers'."

Newquay Urban District Council died in 1974, but Wizz Jones is still with us.

What put me on to this film was seeing a tweet about a concert he is giving in Wanstead on Saturday week.

You can read about his music career on FolkTracks:

‘Wizz Jones was a watched man.’ So writes Keith Richards in his memoir Life. Richards remembers him as a ‘Great folk picker, great guitar picker…’ The soon-to-be Rolling Stone learned ‘Cocaine’ from Wizz and recalled that ‘Nobody, but nobody, played that South Carolina style. He got “Cocaine” from Jack Elliott, but a long time before anyone else… Wizz Jones was a watched man, watched by Clapton and Jimmy Page…’