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as gay; eventually he would find God; much later,
David Bowie’s wife would buy one of Richard’s suits
for her husband. Throughout all those years, David
Jones would treasure the first Little Richard records
he bought, on Bromley High Street. Elvis Presley
would be another idol – all the more so when David
discovered he shared a birthday with the ultimate
white rock ‘n’ roll icon – but Little Richard would be
the cornerstone of David’s musical identity.
Little Richard’s primacy was confirmed when he
became the first American rock ‘n’ roll star to be
beamed into the homes of British television viewers,
on 16 February, 1957, when the BBC unveiled its
momentous Six-Five Special, a TV show aimed at
teenagers which included segments of classical
music, dance competitions and a short extract from
the movie Don’t Knock the Rock, with Richard
performing ‘Tutti Frutti’. Over the next few weeks the
programme would feature more Little Richard,
British rockers Tommy Steele and Adam Faith plus,
tellingly, Lonnie Donegan.
Like many British teenagers, David Jones and
George Underwood idolised Little Richard, but
copied Lonnie Donegan. Today Donegan’s music is
comparatively neglected, but the influence of his DIY
ethos lives on in British music from The Beatles to
the Sex Pistols. Donegan’s take on American
performers like Lead Belly was gloriously naive – his
music was made on the simplest of instruments and
his technical deficiencies were part of his charm. It
could take a schoolboy years of practice to emulate
Little Richard or Chuck Berry, but you could attempt