Tuesday 27th December 2011

Great Train Robbery 


In August 8th 1963 the train travelling from Glasgow to London was attacked by a group of thieves losing approximately two million pounds. Police were caught by surprise as that train had been doing that route around 125 years and never encountered a problem. To complete the robbery it took 15 men and other companions, I have listed some of the gang members below:

• Douglas Gordon Edwards
• Ronnie Biggs
• Bruce Reynolds
• Tom Wisbey
• Jim Hussey
• Bob Welch
• Roy James
• Brian Field
• Roger Cordey
• John Daly
• William Boal
• Charlie Wilson
• Leonard Field
• Jimmy White

Apart from the gang members there was also other people involved to help with the master plan such as guards at the safe house etc...There is no individual who is known to have been the mastermind of the robbery although most believe its Bruce Reynolds (burglar) who started scheming this robbery after he came out of jail in 1962.  Reynolds was able to get a hold of the trains details such as its schedule, how much money it was carrying and where it was held. Roger Cordery figured out a way of stopping the train by tampering with the signal lights (covering the green and using wires to turn on the red light). Early that morning the gang awaited the train and cut all emergency phone lines near the railway track. The first two train carriages were separated from the rest of the train where they then ended up in Bridego Bridge, this is where the gang unloaded the 120 bags of money and post onto their truck.The attackers broke into the second carriage of the train where the mail and money bags were held this train ride had double the amount that it usually carries as it had been a bank holiday in scotland therefore there was accumulated mail. Apart from stealing a large amount of money the train driver Jack Mills aged 58 suffered head injuries (from the attackers) resulting in having to stay in a hospital in Aylesbury. According to police reports the attackers must have been carrying sticks which must have been used to attack the driver. 

Police didn't take long to realise that something was wrong, early that morning they found that phone wires were cut and train signals had been altered. The post office and banks were offering rewards up to £260,00 to anyone that had any information on the crime occurred and the criminals involved. Eventually the police tracked the gangs hide out located in Leatherslade Farm in Bedfordshire and 12/15 gang members were jailed for a lifetime (more than 300 years altogether).  Bruce Reynolds managed to stay hidden from the police until 1969 where he was captured and jailed for 10 years although another gang member Ronnie Biggs escaped for many years and only returned to Britain in 2001 as he needed medical treatment. There he was captured and jailed to complete his 28 year sentence although he was released in 2009 after suffering strokes. 

Monday 26th December 2011

Mods and Rockers 


Mods and Rockers came about in the early 60's, these were two different groups (gangs) of people which had different tastes in music, fashion etc...


Mods


Mods were working class British citizens mainly youths, men dressed in expensive suits  and women followed a similar trend by having a masculine image (short hair, dark eye make up). Mods tended to be from the South East and London, they were seen as the followers of fashion. Mods rode around in Vespa's or Lambretta's as I mentioned in my first blog, these cheap scooters were really the only vehicles they could afford as they spent most of their wages on clothes. 


Being a Mod not only meant having a unique sense of style but also in music. During the 60's The Beatles were very popular although the Mods choose a different style of music which was jazz. Part of their style of clothing was influenced by Black American Jazz Singers i.e. suits. Mods felt that this style of clothing and music made them original especially due to the fact that the American Jazz records were difficult to get a hold of. Mods preferred the lack or Jazz records in Britain as less people would listen to it although Jazz did grow popular which then resulted the Mods into listening to other styles of music such as Soul and Blues. They then moved to Jamaican Bluebeat in order to make sure they were ahead of everyone else. The Mods made music styles such as the Blues very popular in the UK and took a wide interest on several bands such as The Small Faces, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. Although the most popular band who were Mods themselves were The Who (previously named High Numbers), their fashion, music taste, hairstyles were like the Mods. Their performances were different to other bands as violent acts would be incorporated i.e. instruments would end up smashed, Keith Moon (throw his drums around) Pete Townsend (smash his guitar into speakers). This act of violence reflected the Mod Culture. 


Mods were having a huge impact on society there were television shows about the latest Mod trends, music and slang, a famous television show which provided this was "Ready, Steady, Go!". Famous bands would also play in these shows allowing not only Londoner's to watch it but also Mods all over the country. 


Mods tended to visit several clubs in Soho i.e. Flamingo and Marque, they would also visit the Crawdaddy Club based in Richmond. Mods would meet in these clubs to socialise with others of their kind from different areas, they would trade records amongst each other and even invent new dances like the Bang and the Shake. 


Rockers


Apart from the Mod's there was also the Rocker's who's style is different to the Mod's as it consists of jeans, leather jackets and boots (bad boy biker look). As you can tell they are already quite different to the Mod's who are well dressed in expensive suits, the Rocker's didn't spend as much time and effort in self grooming hence why they had scruffy and messy appearance. Rockers drove large motorcycles normally the latest model as they would spend most of their wages on their "ride" rather than on their clothes. 


The Rockers were also working class just like the Mod's although they weren't interested in any new styles of fashion. Just like the Mod's the Rocker's also had their own hang out places such as the Ace Cafe where junk food was served and jukeboxes were played. 


Rockers listened to different styles of music to the Mods as they were interested in Rock and Roll from the 50's rather than the revolutionary music from the 60's. Artists such as Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley were very popular amongst the Rockers. 


As the gangs of Mods and Rockers became more popular their actions were exaggerated and publicised by the media therefore portraying them as criminals. Minor criminal acts such as speeding o sleeping in public areas gave the gangs a bad reputation therefore resulting in them being banned from bars and cafes. The medias accusations of the Mods and Rockers also created tension between the two types of gangs. This eventually resulted in a fight between the two in 1964 during Easter which ended with broken items such as windows etc...This act of violence was reported on national newspapers which also accused them of causing riots all over the country. It seems as though the media is what caused so much conflict between the Mods and Rockers to begin with. 

Thursday 22nd December 2011

Twiggy 


Twiggy was the first ever supermodel, 35 years later she is still an icon recognised by the fashion world. She was not only an icon in fashion but she was also idolised by teenaged girls over the 60's. Twiggy worked with top photographers like Melvin Sokolsky, Bert Stem etc... Her image was in the front covers of the most elitist fashion magazines such as Vogue , Harpers Bazaar and her own magazine Twiggy: Her Mod, Mod Teen World (published in 1966). She was so famous that her one of her photographs was sent into space in a time capsule. 


Not only was she modelling during the 60's she also recorded her first single in 1966 called "Beautiful Dreams" released by Ember records first in the UK and then across the globe. That same year she also released her own line of clothing called Twiggy Dress aimed at teenaged girls also the first Twiggy Barbie doll was released. Bert Stem made several film documentaries for ABC network about Twiggy in the US such as "Twiggy In New York", "Twiggy In Hollywood" etc... She also had a film documentary done back in the UK when she was at home with her family and working, the film was titled "Twiggy".


In 1968 Twiggy's single "Beautiful Dreams" reached number 1 on the charts in Japan and she featured in adverts for large companies such as Toyota Cars. She also took part in a fashion show at the Budowaki stadium. Her dress line was eventually released in Germany and she was featured in Queen Magazine just like other famous icons like Ginger Rogers, Marylin Monroe etc...


In 1970 Twiggy was featured in "This is Your Life" a tv show broadcasted on ITV1 and she starred in a commercial for diet cola which was directed by Melvin Sokolsky whom she had worked with before. Twiggy was also cast in the film "The Boy Friend" which then resulted to her retirement from modelling in 1970.


Even though her modelling career ended in 1970 in order to pursue other career paths she still did some modelling projects one being posing as a pin up for david Bowie's cover of Pin Ups album. Twiggy has also appeared as a judge in America's Next Top Model produced by ex-supermodel Tyra Banks and now she is seen in the Marks and Spencer's adverts. 

Wednesday 21st December 2011

Seeing as I looked at certain areas of the 60's briefly I will now look at each element which interested me more in detail in order to have a better idea of what I would like to incorporate in my images.


The Beatles

I have decided that one of my images for this assignment will be based on The Beatles as they had a huge impact on music back in the 60's and still today. Before I come to a final conclusion on what I would like to produce for my first image I will look at the history of The Beatles further in detail. 


At first The Beatles was made up of 4 members Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe (John's friend from school) and Pete Best in 1960. Pete's mother owned the Casbah Coffee Club where the band had played several times. Before the band was officially know as The Beatles they went through several names such as The Beat Brothers, Silver Beatles etc... They had the opportunity to tour in Scotland by backing up a singer called Jonny Gentle which lead them to play in Hamburg, Germany later on the year. The band also played in Hamburg in 1961 and 1962, this made them well known in Liverpool. In June 1962 the band audition for Parlophone Records without Stu Sutcliffe as he left the band to complete his art studies. Producer George Martin really like the band although he wasn't keen on one group member and that was Pete Best whom the rest of the group members also had problems with. Therefore he was replaced by Ringo Starr who was the drummer of a popular band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. 


"Love Me Do" was released in 1962, it was the bands first single. The single was number 17 in the UK list, it took 2 years for it to become number 1 in the US. "Please Please Me" was their first album which was released in 1963 in Britain. After the release of "With the Beatles" (second album) Vee Jay Records released an album (January 1964) called "Introducing the Beatles" with most of the "Please Please Me" songs. Also in that month the band was signed to a US deal with Capital records after having two number 1's in the UK which then lead them to having 5 singles on the top 100 Billboard in the US. In total they released seven albums both in the US and UK, three of them made it to number 1 and two albums made it to number 2 on the chart. That year the band toured Australia and New Zealand which then followed the release of their first film (The Beatles), the film Help was released a year later. In 1966 they only released two albums Yesterday and Today (previously released in the UK but not US) and Revolver (one of their best ever albums). The band had a few issues in 1966 which caused them to stop their tour and focus and writing music and recording albums. In 1967 they released Magical Mystery Tour (soundtrack to their 3rd film), SQT. and Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The band spent some time in India in 1968 where they studied meditation this lead them to announce their own record label Apple Records. This is when they started working on their double album know as the White Album released in November of that year.


Now that I have looked at some of the history of The Beatles I have a clearer idea on what i would like to include in my image. Things relating to their very famous songs/albums should be included in the image even it its just a lyric. The original Beatles logo should be incorporated along with the logo of their record deal. Before I Make a final decision about my first image I will research the other areas I looked at in my previous blogs in order to decide of what i would like to base each image on. 

Tuesday 13th December 2011

Now that I have looked at the topics that interested me briefly I can say that the era that I am most interested in is The Swinging 60's, Mods and Rockers-UK. Even though I have done some research on the era already I will go into more depth and find out the biggest influences that occurred during that time to then incorporate it in my 4 images. Looking at what I want to produce I would like to have 4 different pictures which represent different influences of that time i.e. fashion, music etc...

Music

The Beatles-


The Beatles are an "Iconic Rock Group" from Liverpool who have had a huge impact on music history. Their music helped define the 1960's as diverse with a new modern approach even though their style was based from the 1950's rock and roll although they did explore other music styles of music such as Ballads, Experimental, Indian Classics, Western etc...Their style (clothing, hairstyles) classified them as trend setters and they were also part of creating the social revolution in the 60's. The Beatles are one of the music bands which have sold more than one billion records globally along with Elvis Presley. 


The image below has been extracted from:
http://images.wikia.com/beatles/images/9/9a/The_Beatles.jpg

Men and Women

Bobby Moore (Robert Fredrick Chelsea Moore)- 


He was born in Barking in 1941 and in 1958 he made his very first appearance for the team West Ham. In 1964 he was made team captain for the 1966 World Cup By Alf Ramsey (England Manager). He's made 108 appearances representing England and 90 of those appearances where as captain.


The image below has been extracted from:
http://qoo6.com/data_images/bobby-moore/bobby-moore-07.jpg

Twiggy (Leslie Hornby)-


She was declared the face of '66 in 1966 (aged 16years). Her short blonde hair cut (bob) enhanced her features such as her eyes. Her 6 and a half stone slim figure gave her the nickname Twiggy. After being photographed by Barry Lategan (top photographer in those days) a journalist from the daily express wrote about Twiggy claiming that she was the face of '66. Shortly after that Twiggy was appearing on the front covers of top fashion magazines claiming that not only was she the face of '66 but the whole decade. She was only a full time model for 4 years, from 1970's onwards she took up an acting career. 


The image below has been extracted from:

http://blog.stylesight.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/twiggydm200207_468x515.jpg

Events

The Great Train Robbery-

 In the early hours of August 8th 1963 a gang of 15 members rigged the signals of a railway track in Buckinghamshire and held up the overnight Glasgow to London mail train where they stole more than £2.6 million which is worth around £40 million nowadays. Bruce Reynold's was the mastermind of the operation which went very smooth. in a matter of 60 minutes they managed to steal 120 mail sacks full of money into a stolen army truck. Even though the robbery was planned very well the hideout wasn't as the gang left fingerprints which identified around 12 of the gang members. Bruce Reynold's managed to escape and hide for a coupe of years but int 1969 he was convicted and they were all sentenced to more than 300 years in prison. 


The image below is extracted from:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01453/biggs2_1453096c.jpg

I have looked at some of the areas about the 60's briefly now that I have some idea of some of the events of the 60's I will look at them further in detail in order to then choose what images i would like to produce.

Wednesday 7th December 2011

Since my last post i have done some research on each topic in order to decide which one i'll enjoy doing most. 

Below I have posted information that i gathered from the eras which i am most interested to research on:

• The Edwardian Period- England

This is the era of the reign of King Edward VII (1901-1910), his reign marked the end of the Victorian era with his mother's death (Queen Victoria). During his reign King Edward introduced the new style of clothing to society influenced by fashion and art from Continental Europe this could be because  the King loved to travel. He also had an influence on the upper classes to play sports which resulted in introducing new clothing styles which allowed them to play sports freely. Not only was fashion changed in this era but also in politics there was now more social mobility such as taking interest in the poor and in womens rights. The drastic change in society resulted in the economy growing which unfortunately will be destroyed with the First World War. The arts in this period also changed along with fashion and everything else as artists were influenced by the changes in society such as human rights, electricity etc in their works. 

Below is an image extracted from: http://www.tudorlinks.com/treasury/articles/view1900.html

The image is an example of women's fashion during that era. 

This era is often known as the "Gilded Age" it's been captured best in the famous film Titanic. 

• The Roaring Twenties- New York

This era brought changes in society especially with the roles of women during this period, they were able to achieve office jobs and work for themselves instead of being housewives. In the year 1920 the 19th Amendment was passed in the United States, this amendment granted suffrage to women and was then introduced in Great Britain 4 years later. Not only were women allowed to vote also the Matrimonial Causes Act was reinforced which meant that in the case of a divorce both sexes are regarded as equals. During this era there were several revolutions such as in music, fashion and scientific discoveries. Women started wearing more casual clothes covering less i.e. short skirts they started cutting their hair short i.e. Eton Crop. These women were know as "Flappers", "Cigarette Smokers" or "cosmetic-wearers". The changes in society especially for women resulted in the first Miss America.  pageant in 1921. The economy in manufacturers rose by 60% which was a shock considering that the country was recovering from the first first world war. During this time most people were living in urban areas with homes running on electricity. By the mid 1920's Jazz was being played in dance halls all over the country and The Blue's which was originally played by poor black people became an industry which already breaks the barriers of black and white people. Not all changes were positive especially with new forms of travelling being introduced. In 1921 only 5 out of 49 American and British people survived the R38 accident. The R38 was the largest airship built at that time (700 foot). It was supposed to be sold to the United States after being tested unfortunately the test failed as the machine burst into flames.

Below is an image extracted from: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.85061.1313868009!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/image.jpg

The image below is an example of the fashion during that era you can see how the women are showing their bare arms with the low cut dresses, short hair and one of them is smoking a cigarette. 

• The Swinging 60's, Mods and Rockers- UK

In the 1960's Britain was recovering from the war and becoming richer in their economy with new things happening in music, fashion, film etc...This created what is known as the Modernist Movement (mods). During this period Mod's spent most of their wages on clothes i.e. mohair suits, shirts and smart shoes therefore they didn't have enough money to pay for transport as a result of this they started a trend on investing their money on cheap Italian scooters i.e. Vespa's and Lambretta's. Mod's were mostly southern from urban areas although elsewhere youths stuck to their rock and roll style from the 1950's i.e.jeans, leather jackets, powerful motorcycles (cafe racers). In the early years of the 60's women's fashion didn't change much as their style was still very influenced by the fifties although by the mid 60's the long skirts were out and the mini skirts were in. Short hair on woman also became fashionable along with the beehive hairdo. During the 60's there was high number of teenagers (post war "baby boom") unlike nowadays their wasn't an unemployment crisis back then therefore teenagers had plenty of money. They would spend it on things such as clothes and pop music

Below is an image extracted from: http://www.coldal.org/images/remember/bike.jpg 

It is an example of the bikes people Mod's could afford in the 60's.

Sunday 4th December 2011

My first assignment for Interactive Design Workshop year 1 level 4 is based on Pictorial Intervention and Substitutions from different eras and time frames. In this assignment i'm required to choose a visually rich era to study in depth. 

I have listed the choice of eras which have been given to me below:

• The Edwardian Period- England
• The High Victorian Period- India
• The Roaring Twenties- New York
• The 1950's Nuclear Family-USA
• The Swinging 60's, Mods and Rockers- UK
• Post Disco, 1970's Punk- London

Once i have chosen a time era i'll need to research it into depth using different sources i.e. search engines(google), flickr, magazines, books etc...Gathering research from several sources will then allow me to produce 4 images which are interrelated with the topic i.e. texture, colour schemes...These 4 images also have to express my opinions on that time era where they may be positive or negative. Before choosing which topic I am going to study in depth i will look at all topics briefly to see which one I will enjoy most. By looking at my options to research the time era which stands out at this very moment is The Swinging 60's Mods and Rockers as i find that its quite an exciting era with many changes within society. 

In this blog i'll post any research i have made with my assignment starting with the time era which i'll be studying into depth.