The Blue Meanie!

I knew he was somebody.” Ringo Starr/Chief Blue Meanie

Bill Smith (or to give his more often used moniker, ‘Shipley Bill’) is a proud Skinhead; he has the look off to a tee and was there when the movement began and is still into the scene in a big way. So, when he decided to build a custom Lambretta with a musically inspired theme obviously his mates were eagerly awaiting the presentation of a machine which paid homage to the Trojan/Blue Beat sound that was the genesis of the Skinhead culture and forever fused the connection between the young Jamaican Rude Boys and their British working-class counterparts.

So can you then imagine the total disbelief and confusion on their faces once the finished product was quietly positioned for all to see outside the pub which was the Shipley

SC’s meeting place?

THE SPIRIT OF ’69

‘Shipley Bill’ is now 65; a retired engineer originally from Halifax, he can remember first becoming aware of the scooter/Mod thing on his weekly shopping trips into town as a young lad with his mum and says he can remember seeing original Mods posing on their scooters in George Square during 1964. Being so young at the time, Bill didn’t quite get into the scene until several