Remembering Leicester’s 1960s' Creative Scene

How did the documentary come about?

My Dad was called John, but known by his nickname Jelly, and I remember him telling me that he’d carried out a series of audio recordings for The University of Leicester’s initiative The East Midlands Oral History Archive. I’d never heard the tapes until after my Dad died from pancreatic cancer in 2017, but once I mustered up the courage to listen to them, I knew that I had to make a film about this fascinating story.

In post-war Britain and into the 1960s there was a huge political and economic shift. With this came opportunity and a new found freedom, enabling young people to create new identities and spearhead innovation in fashion, music, literature, art and design. The elements collided to help forge a creative revolution, and for the first time ever many were working class kids from provincial cities, and Leicester was no exception. 1963 was a pivotal year in particular, and was when The Beatles played De Montfort Hall, The Rolling Stones played the II Rondo on Silver Street, and home grown playwright Joe Orton wrote his first hit play. I wanted to learn more, and find out about some of the key characters from Leicester who were doing brilliant creative things, but who, in many cases, were under the radar and sadly are still not very well-known today.

To give some context to the film, I’d like viewers to understand that it has been developed from my father’s audio recordings, so it is a snapshot from his perspective as a working-class teenager growing up in 1960s Leicester. The tapes also include his recollections of the male dominated Mod subculture which was prominent in Leicester during this time. Dad’s experiences, along with several of his close friends and contemporaries who I interviewed, were very different to others from this period. For example, working-class women in Leicester didn’t have the same career opportunities that men were given, let alone creative ones. This is why women are regrettably far less visible in the sixties story of Leicester creatives.

The film uses original archive footage and photos from 1960s Leicester, together with a soundtrack of local musicians including six tracks from Leicester’s legendary progressive rock band Family, as well as Kenny Wilson, Mick Pini and my Dad’s band Hopscotch Boulevard.

Acknowledgments

The project started and finished with the University of Leicester. The series of audio interviews with John ‘Jelly’ Nixon were carried out as part of The East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) which is based in the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester. It is also supported by Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council via the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland.

Special thanks to Colin Hyde from EMOHA who carried out the original interviews with my Dad which inspired the film. Colin uses the recordings when teaching at the University of Leicester, and they ultimately led to the Mods : Shaping a Generation project in 2019.

A special thanks must also go to Shaun Knapp who also listened to the recordings, and subsequently helped to inspire his excellent book Mods: Two City Connection (available here).

I also express my gratitude to the University of Leicester‘s Dr Emma Parker, Associate Professor in Postwar & Contemporary Literature, and Professor Sarah Scott, Director of the Heritage Hub, for their invaluable support. The University’s Heritage Hub is working creatively with communities in Leicestershire, Rutland and beyond to investigate and celebrate the rich heritage of our city and region and to make positive change in the world. I’m honoured that ‘Moving in the shadows’ is one of the first projects to be included in this fantastic new initiative, and incredibly grateful for the University of Leicester sponsorship.

A special thanks to Christina Wigmore, Director of Soft Touch Arts, for her ideas and support for this project, and finally to my Arch Creative present and past colleagues, without which the project wouldn’t have happened. In particular a special mention goes to Matt Letts for all his spare time spent editing the film with me, and to Ben Bradshaw, Matt Whetherly, Aaron Marklew and Tom Bartlett.

Colin Hyde, Shaun Knapp and Dr Emma Parker have all been interviewed for the film, so a final big thank you to them and all of the interviewees featured in the film who offered their valuable time and support to make this project happen.

The film is just a starting point, so if you know of any other creatives from 1960s Leicester that you feel are worthy candidates for inclusion in this project, then please get in touch as we look to build a Midlands youth culture archive.

Email: joe@archcreative.co.uk