Paul Romane's Upper Cut exhibition - for the record

Forest Gate Arts' stalwart, Paul Romane, recently curated an excellent exhibition on the Upper Cut club, fifty years after its brief sojourn in Forest Gate, as part of the second council Heritage Week programme.

Above and below left, some of the exhibits curated for the exhibition.  Below right - also in the exhibition - a Forest Gate 'mod' of the era - a typical Upper Cut patron

The exhibition was held in the temporary headquarters of Forest Gate Arts, in Upton Lane, and this post is an on-line record of the fine show. Paul, a long time devotee of the club, and in particular some of the Soul acts that played there, had spent a great deal of energy drawing together exhibits for the week-long show.

The Upper Cut club on Woodgrange Road later
became the Ace of Clubs  (above)
and an outside shot of the gallery
hosting the exhibition (below)

A poster advertising the club, preserved
from the era and on display in the exhibition.

Paul collected mementos and memorabilia from a wide range of sources - including Small Faces roadie and brother of band member Ronnie - Stan Lane, and this website, together with many of his own souvenirs, to provide a fascinating, evocative and inspiring exhibition.

Left one of the display boards in the exhibition showing adverts for the gigs appearing at the Upper Cut (loaned by this website). Right, some modern posters in 60's psychedelic style by Forest Gate artist, and sister of modern singer, Plan B, Lauren Drew.

This post is being published to mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of the club - to make way for a bingo hall - in the last week of 1967. The artifacts embraced in many of the photos here are reproduced for the first time on this site, and add to the considerable collection already here. See below for details of other blog articles on the club.

An original poster, featuring acts
 appearing during the club's opening
 week (note mis-spelling of Jimi Hendrix's
 name - he was little known in the UK at
 the time, hence the Boxing Day 
matinee gig).

A flyer for one week's
shows at the club,
on display in the
exhibition

The curator - Paul Romane

Paul is a Newham boy; born in Plaistow in 1960, he has spent his whole life - bar the decade of the 1970's - in the borough. He moved to Forest Gate in 1981 and has developed a fascination with the briefly existing Upper Cut Club ever since. Such is his love for the music it featured, that he named his only son Otis after one of the venue's greatest performers. 


He has spent most of his working life in and around the arts, as a singer, musician, video maker, recording studio owner, poet and local music archivist.

The club

We have written extensively about the club, which lasted for only a year - from December 1966 until New Year's Eve the following year. (see footnote for details of previous articles ).

Insignificant-looking, but historic,
 scrap of paper. Kenny and Eddie
 Johnson (who ran the Lotus Club
 and Stratford's Two Puddings) had
negotiated with Aronsohn to take
 over the empty building that was
to become the Upper Cut, and 
shared  with him their business 
plans.They feel that he duped
  them, when the club opened with
 an identical set of objectives, run
 by Walker Brothers, Billy and George.

The Upper Cut was located in a building on land next to Percy Ingle's, on Woodgrange Road. The building was originally opened in 1902 as Forest Gate Public Hall, and served a variety of roles over the next century - hosting a theatre, cinema, skating rink, the Upper Cut Club (briefly), a bingo hall, The Ace of Clubs club, and an electrical warehouse, until its demolition, in the early years of this century, to make way for a ventilation shaft for the Eurotunnel rail link, which remains today.

Left - adverts for gigs at Upper Cut club, right - coverage of the club - all from the New Musical Express, at the time.

The location was awarded a plaque by Newham Council five or six years ago, in recognition of the fact that it was there that Jimi Hendrix wrote and first performed  Purple Haze - widely regarded as being one of the greatest rock numbers of all time - on Boxing Day 1966. The sign has subsequently been removed, as developers Mura have taken over much of the surrounding land.

The owner - Billy Walker

The club was owned and named after British boxer, Billy Walker, seen as a 'glamour' figure at the time of 'Swinging Britain'. Billy was very much the front man for the club, with his brother, George, the brains and businessman behind it. See here for details of Billy's local associations and views on the club, based on a personal interview with this website.

Above, programmes and Boxing magazines featuring Upper Cut owner, Billy Walker's boxing career, and the corner devoted to him in the exhibition.

Entrance and cloakroom of Upper Cut on
 night of Stax performance, March 1967, 
with large poster of Billy featured
 in the reception area.

Billy, in a staged photo, surrounded
 by "adoring fans" at the club, in the
 midst of the 'Swinging Sixties' .
(photo: copyright Getty Images)

Billy (right) with Lord Bath previewing an
 exhibition of his lordship's controversial artwork
 on the walls of the club.
 (photo copyright of Getty Images)

The performers

Although the club was opened for just one year, it attracted almost all the prominent UK bands of the day (excluding, notably, the Beatles) and some American black acts who were struggling to get recognition at home.

Most notable among them was Jimi Hendrix, who appeared at the club twice.  

Possibly the biggest night in the club's short life was on 18 March 1967, when the so called Stax tour appeared. They performed one of their four UK gigs at the club, as part of a European tour. The star of the show was Otis Redding - who was dead months later following a plane crash. He was supported on the bill by Sam and Dave, The Mar-Keys, Booker T and the MG's, Arthur Conley and Eddie Floyd.

Left - waiting outside the club for the Stax gig, Right - poster advertising the gig

Above and below, the programme
for the night for the Stax gig

New Musical Express coverage of  the Stax night at the Upper Cut club

Ronnie Lane

One of the biggest UK acts to perform at the club was local band, The Small Faces. The lead, Steve Marriott, was brought up in Manor Park, while bass guitarist, Ronnie Lane, spent his youth in Forest Gate's Romford Road.  See here for this site's biography of Ronnie.

Left - a cut-out of Ronnie Lane, with guitar - loaned to the exhibition by his brother, Stan.  Right - a poster advertising one of Ronnie's later projects - Slim Chance

Left - one of Ronnie's jackets, right the label inside from 60's famed 'pop culture' retailer, King's Road's  'Granny Takes a Trip' - loaned to the exhibition by Stan Lane.  Below - one of Ronnie's "country jackets", as Stan calls them.

Paul was able to track down Stan Lane, Ronnie's brother, who was for a while the band's roadie. He now lives in Essex and has a considerable collection of Ronnie's possessions and artefacts. He kindly lent some of these to Paul, and they formed a central part of the exhibition.

What's next?

It is a great pity that at the end of the carefully curated exhibition, its contents had to be returned to their original owners, as there is no location on which to house a longer show in Newham - the borough being one of only seven in London without its own museum.

Newham has a very rich musical heritage - particularly at the popular end of the spectrum.  Other venues in Forest Gate alone worthy of public exhibition and recognition include: the Lotus Club (see here for details), The Princess Alice, as host to the first Rock against Racism (see here), The Tonic Sol-Fa college in Earlham Grove (see here). 

Beyond these narrow geographic boundaries is Canning Town's former Bridge House (see here) and pubs such as the Ruskin Arms in Manor Park (another venues for the Small Faces), Stratford's former Two Puddings pub (along with the Forest Gate's Jive Dive, home to perhaps Britain's first disco), Maryland's Cart and Horses (home, as the poster outside proclaims, of Iron Maiden) and Stratford Angel Lane's Railway Tavern (home of a sixties blues club).

Posters advertising events at Kenny Johnson's Forest Gate's Jive Dive (Earlham Grove) and Lotus Club (Woodgrange Road)

In addition to the Small Faces band members, other prominent musical performers with significant Newham connections include: Dame Vera Lynn, Lonnie Donegan, Joe Brown, David Essex, Forest Gate's Plan B (Ben Drew), and a very lively current Grime scene.

Future shows and dedicated exhibition space devoted to the rich history and locations outlined above would make a significant statement about Newham's pride in its musical heritage. But will the council be prepared to recognise this and facilitate the celebration?

This site's back catalogue

Previous articles on this site related to the history of the Upper Cut club can be found here:

When Otis played Forest Gate (March 1967) May 2013

Upper Cut (1) - a summary of the emergence of the first six months of the club (December 1966 - July 1967) July 2013

Upper Cut (2) - a brief survey of the second, and final half year of the club's existence (August 1967 - December 1967) July 2013

Georgie Fame, The Tremeloes and Unit 4 + 2 - (September 1967 at the Upper Cut) October 2013

When Stevie Wonder played Forest Gate - (October 1967) November 2013

Mouthwatering musical fayre on Woodgrange Road - (November 1967) December 2013

Club bills for the Upper Cut's two Decembers - (Decembers 1966 and 1967) January 2014

The Upper Cut beds down - (January 1967) February 2014

Essex comes to Forest Gate - (February 1967) March 2014

Stax comes to town - (March 1967) April 2014

A mixed bunch at the Upper Cut in April (April 1967) May 2014

Upper Cut - May 1967 (June 1967) June 2014

Summer of Love in Forest Gate (Summer 1967) August 2014

Golden Boy, Billy Walker's Forest Gate memories September 2014

Thanks

To Paul Romane for curating the exhibition and to Sophie Rigg from Forest Gate Arts for allowing us to use some of her photos of it.

Boxing's memory lane: Walker vs. Mildenberger fight - March 1967

We have recently acquired a piece of boxing memorabilia with sturdy Forest Gate roots. It is a copy of the programme for what was probably local boxer Billy Walker's biggest fight, when he met Karl Mildenberger at Wembley for the Heavyweight Championship of Europe, in March 1967.

Programme cover

Walker, who was brought up in Ilford, was a member of the West Ham boxing club, fought regularly at Romford Road's West Ham baths (now the Atherton suites, being rebuilt), and lived for a while on Romford Road, owned the Upper Cut Club on Woodgrange Road at the time of the fight.

The images in this article are taken from the programme of that fight. The copy, although written in a rather showmanship style, gives a clear indication of the importance of the bout in the annals of British boxing history.

Card for the night

The promoter of the fight was the legendary Harry Levene. In his introduction he mentions the fact that the Wembley bill was such big box office that even then - almost 50 years ago - it was relayed in an early close circuit television to cinemas in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham and Southend.  Levene went on to say:

I have promoted many major tournaments in my time, including many world championship fights, but never in all my experience have I known such a rush for tickets as I have for tonight's battle between Karl Mildenberger, the holder, and our own Billy Walker, for the Heavyweight Championship of Europe.  All tickets for this big arena (Wembley's Empire Pool) were sold before I had announced one single supporting bout. This is ample proof, if it were needed that Walker is the biggest box office attraction in British boxing history.

Boxing writer, Bill Martin, provided a profile of Billy for the programme.  He said:

Billy Walker - the whole spirit of boxing

"Take 14 stone of muscle, lace it with guts and determination, top the lot with a handsome blond head and you have Billy Walker, surely the biggest drawing card in British Sport today.

Almost from the moment he first put on a boxing glove, Walker has pulled in the crowds. His amateur career, climaxed by his sensational one round knock-out of the 17 stone American Cornelius Perry, in 1961, was a spectacular interlude relished by all but his opponents. His five years as a professional have been even more colourful. When it comes down to the fundamentals, boxing is a matter of hit and be hit, and we roll up in our thousands because Walker personifies the whole spirit of the business. He lays in with joyful abandon and if he stops one or two in return well, that's show business. In these circumstances anything can happen - and usually does.

That is why Walker is the sell-out King and why nearly 11,000 are here at Wembley tonight, plus a further 40,000 at the far ends of closed circuit T.V. land lines have cheerfully put their hands in their pockets for the privilege of being in on this fracas.

Action shot, accompanying
 the article

 The drawing power will not go unrewarded. Billy's share for this, his first title fight, will be 23.5% of the take and undoubtedly part of the purse will go towards consolidating the highly successful business empire over which he rules in partnership with Big Brother George.

Partners outside the ring as well as inside, the Walkers have invested shrewdly the cash garnered by junior's flying fists. They own garages, a fleet of taxis, a petrol company, a club and a couple of restaurants.

Success of this kind is not always easy to carry and having a name that is a household word can turn a man's head. But not Walker's. Certainly he enjoys the recognition, the T.V. appearances and the glad hand, but his hat size has not changed and his feet remain firmly on the ground. he is still Billy Walker, everybody's mate.

Advert in the programme, showing
 Walker's pull as a poster boy to
 promote products.  The "Cassius"
 referred to in it, is, of course
 Mohammed Ali, his pre-Islamic
 conversion name

Beneath it all, however, lies an iron determination, a high standard of bravery and an uncompromising attitude towards his work in the ring. "Anyone who wants to keep me down", he says, "will have to nail me to the floor".

It is an attitude which has already secured his place in the story of the British heavyweight division, and it could carry him a lot further up the rocky road to the top.

Programme caption: A faceful of fists
 for Jose Menno. Two of them belong
 to him, but the other is on the end
of that punishing right arm of Billy
Walker and, as Menno's puffy
 face shows, that right really hurts!

Programme caption: Billy Walker and
 Ray Patterson pose for the inevitable
 'dear old pals' photograph after their
 terrific fight at the Royal Albert
 Hall on 6th December last.

Alas, the fight did not go to plan, and Walker was badly beaten. He takes up the story in his ghosted autobiography When the Gloves Came off:

Mildenberger was by far the most formidable opponent I'd had to face in twenty-seven pro fights. ... In addition to the capacity Wembley crowd, the fight was shown in thirteen British cinemas and theatres and beamed to Germany, France, Italy and other European countries - a total audience of 75 million, apparently. ... George and I came out with £30,000, more than enough to buy and renovate the property of our second Baked Potato restaurant which George planned to open in Chancery Lane.

I wish I could say I gave the watching millions value for money, but I can't. I did my best, as usual, went at Mildenberger from the first bell, and kept going forward, trying to land the big one, but I took a hell of a beating and I'll admit that it was the first time in my career - amateur and pro - when I was grateful that the referee called a halt; when I wanted a fight over and was content to lose.

The referee stopped the contest in the 8th round and it was the beginning of the end of Billy Walker's boxing career.  He had one more big title fight, against Henry Cooper, for the British and Commonwealth title in November that year, which he also lost, a single low key fight the following year, before bowing out after losing to British heavyweight Jack Bodell, almost two years to the day after the Mildenberger defeat.

We have written at length about Billy Walker on this site before (see here, in particular) and his Upper Cut Club on Woodgrange Road. The evening of his biggest fight, to Mildenberger came just three days after the Upper Cut's biggest billing: the Atlantic/Stax tour, featuring Otis Redding, Arthur Conley, Sam and Dave, Booker T and the MG's, Eddie Floyd etc.  See here for detail.,

Otis and co at the Upper Cut, just
 three nights before the big fight

Golden Boy, Billy Walker's, Forest Gate memories

 E7-NowAndThen recently caught up with ex-British  heavyweight boxer, Billy Walker, and chatted to him about his Upper Cut club, and other memories of Forest Gate.


Those were the days - Billy with
some old club memorabilia

He was born in Stepney in 1939 and was evacuated to Bedfordshire during the war.  The family moved to Ilford, on their return to London in 1946.  Billy remembers the house as being haunted - not surprising, perhaps, as it was where Percy Thomson, who was murdered by his wife and her lover in 1922 had lived (see here for the story).


Haunted house - 41 Kensington Gardens, Ilford

On leaving school, he had a number of jobs, including as a fish porter at Billingsgate market and a part-time role as a bouncer at the old Ilford Palais, within walking distance from his home.  Here he worked with DJ Jimmy Savile ("I don't remember any of that dodgy stuff from him, then"). He also met Kenny Johnson, who went on to run the Lotus Club, on Woodgrange Road (watch out for a future blog for the story of Kenny and that club), at the Palais.

By the mid 1950's Billy's brother, George was a professional boxer, and was pushing a reluctant Billy to join him in the fight game.


Black Lion pub, Plaistow - home of West Ham Boxing
Club, at the rear, a favoured training venue for Billy

Ten of Billy's 39 amateur bouts took place at what was West Ham Baths, later known as the recently demolished Atherton Suite in Romford Road. He kept fit in an early Wag Bennett gym, in East Ham, and fought with the West Ham boxing club, based at the Black Lion pub, in Plaistow, and in what was then the White Lion pub (now the Mango Indian restaurant) in Green Street.


Recently demolished Atherton Suite,
formerly West Ham baths, location of
a third of Billy amateur bouts

With these local connections, it was hardly surprising that Billy found his way to the Lotus Ballroom in the late 50s and early 60's, to "jive and pick up the birds".

He also worked for a while as a security guard at a garage his brother George had, in New Barn Lane, Plaistow, and was a regular in the Army and Navy pub next door (where the older regulars still remember him and his German shepherd dogs fondly). The petrol station is now a scrap yard (see photo).


Former Punch Petrol station, New Barn Lane, close to
the Black Lion, where Billy worked as a security guard
for his brother George's garage - now a scrap yard.

Billy tuned professional, as a boxer in 1962 and soon became a national sporting icon, as the 'blond bomber'.  In his six years as a professional, he challenged for both the British and Commonwealth (against Henry Cooper) and European titles (both of which he lost), recording 21 wins, 8 losses and two draws.

His brother George had had his scrapes with the law (including a short spell in Wormwood Scrubs for theft) and mixed with some of East London's shadier characters of the time, but had a shrewd eye for money making opportunities.
 
As Billy's manager, he "took care of the business", and set up a number of profitable ventures, including a property empire and a fast food chain (Billy's Baked Potato).  The Upper Cut club, on Woodgrange Road was part of that business portfolio (for twelve months, from December 1966).


Billy in the centre of this grainy photo,
where Stratford Express covered the opening
party of the Upper Cut., December 1966

There was already a pop culture/"youth scene" in the area, thanks to Kenny Johnson's Lotus Club, across the road.  When the old Forest Gate skating rink became available, Kenny looked to acquire it and move the Lotus Club there.  But the Walker brothers stepped in and took the lease, for their own club.



Billy with the opening week's gig list

Billy says that he left George, and others, to take care of the Upper Cut (and his money), but went along, occasionally, for profile raising purposes and photo opportunities.  He was certainly  too preoccupied to attend the club's biggest night, when the Stax tour, starring Otis Redding appeared there on 18 March 1967 ( see here, for details), as it was just three nights before his biggest fight, against Karl Mildenberger, for the European championship, at Wembley (which he lost).


Billy, remembering the famous Jimi gig

Billy has clear recollections of two of the bands and gigs at the club.  The venue was opened on 21 December 1966 by The Who (see here for details). He is still in touch with Roger Daltry of the band, who continues to remind him of how mean the club were, when it came to rewarding those who played there, describing Billy as being "a tight bastard" for only paying The Who £20 for the opening night gig!

Forner White Hart on Green Street, once a well
known local gym where Billy worked out, as
did former Olympic boxing champion, Terry Spinks

The Animals were due to play the club the following week, but there was a hitch with the arrangements. Billy recalls that he had recently been at a party and had met a girl, who he'd taken home, for the night.  A couple of days before the Animals gig, Billy got a phone call from his brother, George, demanding that he rang the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon, and apologise to him.  "Why?", asked Billy, "Because the girl was Burdon's, and he wants an apology, or the group won't turn up and play" Billy duly made the call, the gig took place, but Billy and Eric have not exchanged Christmas cards, since.


"Baby let me take you home",
performed by Billy Walker and not
Eric Burdon, far left, of the Animals

The club lasted only twelve months, as attendances dropped, acts upped their charges, and neighbours and police complained about local disturbances. Almost a year to the day after the opening, the almost inevitable happened - the music venue became a bingo club.


Billy recalling the Stax gig, when he
was training for his European title fight.

Billy retired from boxing a couple of years later, but soon fell out with George.  Billy wanted a quiet life, so he moved to Jersey (where he has lived most of the time, since) and George wished to pursue an aggressive business career and use Billy as his front man/PR opportunity.


Roger Daltry of the Who says those fists of Billy's
were tight, when it came to paying

George went on to create the huge Brent Walker property/entertainment conglomerate, until its spectacular fall, into bankruptcy, in 1990.  The two brothers made up, a little before George's death in 2011.

Billy got his quiet life, although had misfortune with his first two marriages before marrying a local Forest Gate woman, Pat Furuborg, as his third wife.  The couple lived off Romford Road for a couple of years in the late 1990s, until moving to the Essex coast, until Pat's death, of cancer in 2003.
 
Billy now lives, in happy retirement with the delightful Susan Stevens, his fourth wife, in Jersey.  The couple also have a pleasant riverside flat in Battersea, which they visit occasionally. They wish all their friends and former acquaintances in Forest Gate well.


Upper Cut today: but 'No Regrets'
from latter day Walker Brothers

Further details of Billy's career and life can be found in his autobiography (ghosted by Robin McGibbon) When the gloves came off, published by Robson Books in 2007. 

Back catalogue

This site has published a number of articles on the history of the Upper Cut club: the first detailing the time when Otis visited it, in March 1967. This post was followed by two, recording the first six months and the final six months of the club's existence.

These posts were followed by almost monthy updates on who played at the club, that month, 47 years previously.  The final blog is a record of a recent meeting with former boxer, Billy Walker, the name under whom the club exisited, on his memories of it and Forest Gate almost half a century ago.

Below is a list of those blogs: the hyper links are the titles of the articles, and when hit upon should give access to them. The dates (in italics) are the time covered by the blog and the date in bold are the months the blogs were posted.

Although the content, and some of the comments on the individual posts, is pretty definitive, we'd love to hear any memories readers may have of the gigs, or corrections they could make to the copy. Just post in the Comments box, below.

When Otis played Forest Gate (March 1967) May 2013

Upper Cut (1) - a summary of the emergence of the first six months of the club (December 1966 - July 1967) July 2013

Upper Cut (2) - a brief survey of the second, and final half year of the club's existence (August 1967 - December 1967) July 2013
Georgie Fame, The Tremeloes and Unit 4 + 2 - (September 1967 at the Upper Cut) October 2013

When Stevie Wonder played Forest Gate - (October 1967) November 2013

Mouthwatering musical fayre on Woodgrange Road - (November 1967) December 2013

Club bills for the Upper Cut's two Decembers - (Decembers 1966 and 1967) January 2014

The Upper Cut beds down - (January 1967) February 2014

Essex comes to Forest Gate - (February 1967) March 2014
Stax comes to town - (March 1967) April 2014

A mixed bunch at the Upper Cut in April (April 1967) May 2014

Upper Cut - May 1967 (June 1967) June 2014

Summer of Love in Forest Gate (Summer 1967) August 2014

Golden Boy, Billy Walker's Forest Gate memories September 2014