Supporting The Sex Pistols
poster from the Anarchy gig at the Torquay
Images of England Through Popular Music:
Class, Youth and Rock 'n' Roll ...
By K. Gildart
[extract] " If the Anarchy Tour had failed in the industrial North and the Midlands, it seemingly had little hope of success on the south coast. Yet the Sex Pistols managed to play two concerts at the Woods Centre, Plymouth on the 21 and 22 December. They were less successful in Torquay. The town already had its own version of Mary Whitehouse in the shape of Sheila Hardaway, a former councillor and leader of the ‘Clean-Up Torbay’ campaign. The day after the Grundy interview she urged the local 400 Ballroom to ban the planned concert. In an interview with Torbay’s Herald Express, she warned that ‘to allow these people to perform here is putting the children of this town at risk ... it is up to the public to form themselves in a group to stop all this, we must protect the children’.!°3 The concert was duly cancelled but an appearance at Penelope’s discotheque in Paignton was mooted.
The mayor of Torbay, W. Beesley, with the support of the town’s Recreation Committee, publicly urged the club not to allow the performance to go ahead. One clergyman had contacted Councillor John Farrell claiming to represent three thousand people who wanted the group banned. Another council member, Joan Cooper said that the Sex Pistols were ‘sickening’. She strongly deplored ‘the kind of image publicised by this group: one of slovenly appearance, filth, and habit’. The council wanted to ban the concert, but the town clerk, David Hudson, informed Beesley that because it was being held on private premises it had no authority to act. The Sex Pistols then found an ally in C. V. Tanna, the manager of Penelope’s. In response to a letter from the mayor, he took a more contrary position: ‘I don’t think the mayor is musically competent enough to advise me ... how would you like a High Court judge to remove your appendix’. Tanna urged the people of Torbay to attend the concert and accused the mayor of trying to gain political publicity from the Sex Pistols. He offered to arrange a vote in the town on the matter and that he would stand by the decision. He planned to open a register in the foyer of Penelope’s where voters could express their preference. Tanna found support from Ian MacTaggart, a local student leader. MacTaggart was president and social secretary of South Devon Technical College Student’s Union and viewed the attack on the Sex Pistols as ‘another way of discriminating against the youth of Torbay’ However, on 13 December, Tanna announced that the show would not go ahead: ‘I am creating a lot of controversy ... I am a businessman and I do not want to create controversy. I want everybody to be happy’.
poster from the venue but for the Pistols in October
ticket from the venue but for the Pistols in October
poster from the venue but for the Pistols in October
poster from the venue but for the Pistols in October
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"It was a fun time, though, and the 400 was at the centre of the whole thing. Once inside, there were bars at either side of the dancefloor, and the stage in the centre. There was probably food available, but I don’t ever remember buying any. We were fuelled by pork scratchings, Picadilly filter-tips and Worthington E. Oddly, one of our number was called Worthington and his initial was E."
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/remember-sex-pistols-played-torquay-477695 or PDF version
A collection of articles, interviews, reviews, posters, tour dates from the ill feted Anarchy Tour. Articles cover December and the Tour.
If you know of any articles or references for this particular gig, anything that is missing, please do let us know.
Remember when the Sex Pistols played in Torquay?
If you do, you weren't there
In hindsight I looked ridiculous, at the time I thought I looked mad, bad and dangerous to know .. https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/remember-sex-pistols-played-torquay-477695 or PDF version
Blll Grundy Interview
BBC TV Look North look back
Youtube
BBC Look North 30th Anniversary of Punk/Anarchy Tour at Cleethorpes Winter Gardens. Contains interview with Captain Sensible. TX 14th Dec. 2006
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