Record Collector Presents… Paul Weller (June 2021)

 

Record Collector Presents… Paul Weller provides fans of the ever-changing singer-songwriter a comprehensive guide to collecting his impressive back catalogue. Featuring an exclusive rummage through Paul’s record collection with the man himself; new pieces on his classic albums, from The Jam to The Style Council right up to the present day; features on the most sought-after records from throughout his career; a behind the scenes look at About The Young, the upcoming exhibition of memorabilia from his days with The Jam; Pete Paphides on what Weller means to him; a glimpse at the collections from some of the most dedicated collectors out there; a meticulously put-together, career-spanning discography; classic features from the RC archive and plenty more.  

Available for pre-order: 10 June 

Release date: 24 June 

BREAKING NEWS: Detour Records release 3-song (1986/87) picture disc 7" by The Threads

 

Detour Records ARE Pleased to announce the next release

FRIDAY 9th JULY 2021

<<< Pre Orders Being Taken Now >>>

Detour Records ARE Pleased to announce the next release in their popular Picture Disc series.. As these three tracks were from the Mid 80s we have decided to add the following caption to our The Classic '79 Mod Series...The Next Generation.

Detour Records feels that the 80s Mod scene has been overlooked somewhat so we feel this needs to be rectified and what a way to start by one of the leading lights who were were very active within the Mod seen in the 80s. The Threads were aligned to the Mod scene and wore their hearts on their sleeves.

Paul Hooper-Keeley remembers...

‘Hey Little Lady’ was recorded at the Slaughterhouse Studios in Driffield and was test pressed as the A-side of a 7” & 12” single by Prism records that was scheduled for release in early 1987 but never saw the light of day. This is the full 12” version. ‘Man With 1,000 Faces’ was recorded at The Blue Room next to The Oval on FA Cup Final day in 1987 and was originally released on the ‘Unicorn Two - Modern Times’ compilation. ‘With Ourselves’ was recorded for Eddie Piller’s Countdown Compilation series. When the Prism deal fell apart, all 3-tracks were recalled by The Threads and featured on their ‘As Yet Untitled’ LP on Unicorn Records in 1987.

Once again, ONLY 300 Copies pressed!

FEATURES

Hey Little Lady

The Man With A Thousand Faces

With Ourselves

The Night Owl in Finsbury Park to launch on 3rd & 4th July

 ***UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE***

Our launch weekend is now going down a little something like this...

SAT 3RD JULY

The Flirtations (live vocal performance) (The Night Owl Finsbury Park Launch Weekend: Part 2) is going ahead! Seated, socially distanced + VERY limited capacity!

Dig? With Eddie Piller and more (Opening Night, Seated & Socially Distanced) is also going ahead! Again, seated, socially distanced + VERY limited capacity!

SUN 4TH JULY

Reggae Cookout London w The Tighten Up Crew and Rhoda Dakar (Night Owl Finsbury Park Launch Part 4) yes yes this is also going ahead seated, socially distanced + limited capacity + delicious Caribbean food!

Plus tons more fab events coming soon! All tickets on sale here:

https://www.skiddle.com/.../The-Night-Owl-Finsbury-Park/

PH2 (Purple Hearts 2) at The 100 Club, London on Sunday 10 October 2021

 

AGMP presents

PH2 (Purple Hearts 2)

featuring
Bob Manton - Vocals
Jeff Shadbolt - Bass
Kevin Iverson - Guitar
Steve Smiler Besemer - Drums

+ special guest support: -

CHRIS POPE of THE CHORDS UK (Solo)
+
SQUIRE

PH2 is the Acronym for Phase Two of the Purple Hearts.

Formed from the ashes of Romford Punk group The Sockets, the Purple Hearts were one of the key bands from the late 1970's Mod Revival along with The Jam, Secret Affair, The Chords, The Lambrettas, and Squire.

The Purple Hearts had three singles which reached the UK charts - Jimmy, Frustration & Millions Like Us - and an incredible 1980 debut LP Beat That! on Fiction Records. Further classic singles followed such as My Life's A Jigsaw, & Plane Crash before the band split in 1982.

Two original members of the Purple Hearts, Bob Manton and Jeff Shadbolt, return to perform music from the band's back catalogue along with a few surprises.

Support tonight comes from Chris Pope of The Chords/The Chords UK performing an exclusive solo set.

Also, legendary Mod Revival group Squire are performing a set including hits such as It's Mod, Mod World, Walking Down The Kings Road, Jesamine and more

https://www.seetickets.com/event/ph2-purple-hearts-2-/100-club/1828375?fbclid=IwAR0hP1OHd8vaKiX-YkUGGJ38q3g0WwhHqzAHildHp0IW9PGVLq0_srjUGO4

Rusty unrestored Vespa sets new world record price

 

A 1951 Vespa scooter has set a new world record price of £10,925 – more than a new city car would cost.

The Vespa Douglas scooter has had just one owner since 1955, and is said to be one of the earliest produced in the UK under licence from the Italian parent company. It was even used to tour Scandinavia the same year by its owner.

Sold by H&H Classics at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on June 9, the £10,925 hammer price set a new world record for an unrestored Vespa of this vintage, and was well above the estimate of £1,500 to £2,500. For comparison, a new Dacia Sandero is priced from £7,995.

Although the rusty scooter is said to need ‘full restoration’, H&H said it was ‘solid and original’, and it even comes with its original registration documents.

Ian Cunningham of H&H Classics Motorcycle Division said: “The family had no idea of the potential value of a small collection of bikes and scooters that their father had put together. They initially asked me if the machines were even worth anything!”

Vespa was and remains headquartered in Italy, but demand was so strong for its scooters in the late 1940s that licensing agreements were struck for companies to produce Vespas around the world.

The Bristol-based Douglas motorcycle company became Vespa’s UK partner to manufacture the scooters, although production in Britain didn’t start until April 1951.

The sale at the National Motorcycle Museum achieved a combined £1.2m, with some 83 per cent of items finding new owners.

Tributes paid to Northern Soul legend Dean Parrish reports Wigan Today

 

A soul singer hailed as “probably one of the best”, who made his name thanks to Wigan’s Northern soul scene, has died.

Dean Parrish was best known for his song ‘I’m On My Way’, which was the last track played every night at Wigan Casino.

The song reached the UK charts and DJ Russ Winstanley later invited him to perform in Wigan and around the UK.

Northern soul fans have been left stunned by his death on June 8, aged 79, in his home city of New York, USA.

Russ, who DJs worldwide, said: “It was just such a shock. We didn’t know it was going to happen.

“The best thing was he was an absolute gentleman, as well as being probably one of the best soul singers you could ever know. He was a lovely man.

“He came and stayed with me. He used to absolutely love coming over here.”

Mr Parrish, whose real name was Phil Anastasi, began performing as a singer in the 1960s and released a number of songs in the USA, including ‘I’m On My Way’, ‘Skate’ and ‘Determination’.

About ‘I’m On My Way’, Russ said: “It hadn’t done very much. I started playing it at Wigan Rugby Club, before the casino. I was always looking for a certain record to finish off every night and it got so very, very popular at the rugby club.

“When I started the Casino, I used it as the finishing record. I used it for every night really, except the very last night, where it was played a number of times and then another was played.”

The song was re-released in 1975 and reached number 38 in the UK charts, thanks to its popularity among Northern soul lovers, and was later part of an EP entitled Three Before Eight released by Wigan Casino’s record label Casino Classics. While it sold 250,000 copies, it did not chart.

Russ later tried to find Mr Parrish, struggling initially as he had reverted to using his real name.

He said: “I did end up finding him and brought him over to Wigan eventually, after the casino had shut. I became very friendly with him. I must have brought him over about 20 times.

“He had such a soulful voice that everyone loved him. When he came across he was just as good, probably one of the best ever live acts.”

Mr Parrish performed in Wigan several times, including at a Wigan Casino reunion at the DW Stadium, as well as at other shows organised by Russ around the country.

He also worked as an actor and appeared in TV series The Sopranos as a wedding singer.

He was close to the heart of so many Northern soul fans that this year’s event to mark the 48th anniversary of Wigan Casino will be held as a tribute to him.

Due to take place from September 24 to 26 at Charles Dickens Hotel in Wigan, it will feature Russ, Tommy Hunt, Paul Stuart Davies, Johnny Boy, Brian Rigby, Alan Cain and others.

Tickets cost £10 for the weekend and will be on sale at the venue from 5pm on July 24. All proceeds will go to local charities in memory of Mr Parrish.

The ska revival is here, but ska never really went away reports The Washington Post

 

The evidence that we are in the midst of a ska revival is plentiful. ­Indie-punk phenomenon Jeff Rosenstock managed a critical hit with “Ska Dream,” a reimagining of his 2020 album “No Dream.” The genre thrives online, where the Ska Tune Network has more than 200,000 subscribers and ska cover versions rake in the views, including a version of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” by Los Angeles band the Interrupters that has 5 million and counting. This year sees the release of two major books, one a 400-page oral history of American ska and the other a spirited defense of the often-maligned genre. And with We Are the Union, there’s a band with genuine breakout potential; the group’s new album focuses on singer Reade Wolcott coming out as a trans woman.

There’s only one argument against the idea that we’re in the midst of a ska revival, and it’s a simple one — ska never went away.

Read the full story at: -

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/ska-revival-we-are-the-union/2021/06/17/950d5e10-cae1-11eb-81b1-34796c7393af_story.html

The legendary The Who and The Kinks gigs played at Hertford Corn Exchange over the years says The Hertfordshire Mercury

 

We've all missed live music over the last year, but even as concerts and gigs resume there are some that will be impossible to beat.

While now we're all used to having to travel into London to see the biggest names that didn't used to be the case.

Long before the big arenas and chain venues, Hertfordshire has helped break through some of the most famous artists in the world.

That includes smaller gigs including Pink Floyd and The Police at Hatfield Poly, as well as the huge shows including Oasis at Knebworth.

Perhaps two of the most incredible were in Hertford, at a venue now fighting for its future.

Hertford Corn Exchange is one of the town's most striking buildings and dates back to 1857.

Then it was built on the site of the old Butchers Market, and before that a prison - so it definitely has some stories to tell.

While there was no chance of filming the gigs on your mobile during its heyday, two of the most interesting concerts to take place in the county have been fondly remembered by people who were there.

The Who played in Hertford on Friday, March 25, 1965, with flyers still living on today as memorabilia.

The Kinks' show is also almost completely lost to history, and there aren't even posters that have survived.

However, fans have documented as many shows as possible, so we know it took place on June 25, 1966.

It was the day after they appeared on Ready Steady Go, playing Sunday Afternoon and Dandy so we're able to piece together the era.

The band would play until 1997, so it was a very early performance, but there would still be You Really Got Me and Sunday Afternoon to enjoy, so fans would have known they were watching something special.

One commentator online managed to get two impressive stories out of the gigs - he had to miss the first show, but his friend won a competition to meet The Kinks before he saw The Who.

He added: "I did see ‘The Who’ performing at the Corn Exchange in 1966 and, on this occasion, it was ‘packed out’. My friend met Roger Daltrey in the Warren House pub that evening and he bought her a drink!"

That's definitely a story worth telling for the decades after.

In recent years, the Hertford Corn Exchange has been revived as a place to enjoy live music and comedy.

It might not have as iconic names these days, but you never know who they could turn out to be.

Is The Kinks' Arthur a lost prog classic? asks Louder Sound

 

They might be better known for Lola and Sunny Afternoon, but The Kinks' Arthur had all the hallmarks of a prog album. Read the full article at: -

https://www.loudersound.com/features/is-the-kinks-arthur-a-lost-prog-classic

Paul Weller's net worth: The Jam frontman's enviable multimillion pound fortune according to the Express

 

PAUL WELLER is one of the UK's most successful musicians, fronting two chart-topping bands - The Jam and The Style Council. What is his net worth?

Paul Weller, 63, was born in Woking, England, and knew he wanted to pursue a career in music after being inspired by The Beatles and The Who. He formed The Jam while still at school in the early 70s, and was not only able to just pursue his childhood dream, but rose to the top of the charts time and again.

The Jam's number one hits include Going Underground, Start! and Town Called Malice.

In 1982, the band broke up at Weller's behest, and he told The Mirror in 2015 that he "wanted to end it to see what else I was capable of, and I'm still sure we stopped at the right time".

Next came The Style Council, who were together from 1983 to 1989 before Weller became a solo artist.

16 albums later, he is still one of the most respected artists in the UK music industry.

So after enjoying three decades of success, what is Paul's net worth?

According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, he is sitting on a £7.2million fortune ($10million).

He has eight children - Leah and Nathaniel, with first wife Dee C. Lee, Dylan, with makeup artist Lucy Halperin, Jesamine and Stevie Mac with Samantha Stock and twin boys, John Paul & Bowie and daughter Nova with current wife Hannah Andrews.

Fay Hallam - New Single and New Album News

 

'Window' is the first single from a new Fay Hallam album 'Modulations' which is scheduled to be released in August.

Fay Hallam in association with Suit Yourself Records

Produced by Andy Lewis.

 

'Window' - Available Now as a Digital Download from the Fay Hallam Website and on Pre-Sale from digital stores - released 25th June

 

>>>  www.fayhallam.co.uk/downloads

'Modulations' - Limited edition 300 hand numbered vinyl LP's

Released 27th August 2021

'An Orchestrated Songbook' CD/LP by Paul Weller with Jules Buckley & the BBC Symphony Orchestra - out on 3rd December

 

Introducing… An Orchestrated Songbook. Music from right across Paul’s exceptional career, reworked & redefined alongside The BBC Symphony Orchestra & acclaimed conductor Jules Buckley. 

17 special tracks, including The Jam’s ‘English Rose’ accompanied by sweeping strings, ‘Wild Wood’ with guest vocals from Celeste, Style Council hit ‘You’re The Best Thing’ featuring Boy George, ‘Broken Stones’ with James Morrison, and indisputable classic ‘You Do Something To Me’ taken to all-new heights. 

Available to pre-order now on deluxe or standard CD, with deluxe vinyl pre-order launching next Friday June 25th. Release date December 3rd. Classic Weller in a brand new light 🎻🎸 https://PaulWeller.lnk.to/OrchestratedSongbookSo

Bad Manners to play Christmas shows at The Garage and Under The Bridge in London

 

Bad Manners are appearing live at The Garage and Under The Bridge this Christmas performing hits such as 'Lip Up Fatty', 'Special Brew', 'Walking In The Sunshine', 'Lorraine', 'Can Can', 'Sally Brown', 'Just A Feeling' and more.

THE SKIDS & THE VAPORS join together for a special one-off concert.

 

The Skids formed in 1977 in their home town of Dunfermline, Scotland by Richard Jobson, Stuart Adamson, Bill Simpson, & Tom Kellichan. After releasing an independent single the band were played by John Peel, supported The Clash in concert and then were signed to Virgin Records in 1978. Their first singles were Sweet Surburbia, The Saints are Coming and Into the Valley - the latter reaching the UK Top Ten in early 1979.

 

Their seminal debut album Scared to Dance came out in 1979 which was quickly followed by two chart singles - Masquerade and Working for the Yankee Dollar. Both singles were taken from the Bill Nelson produced second album Days in Europa. The album also featured new member Rusty Egan of Rich Kids & Visage fame after the departure of Tom Kellichan. The band released two more albums The Absolute Game (1980) and Joy (1981) before splitting.

 

The Vapors are a new wave band who formed in 1978. Discovered by Bruce Foxton of The Jam (who went on to be their co-manager with John Weller), The Vapors released the classic singles Turning Japanese, News At Ten, Jimmie Jones, Prisoners, Waiting for the Weekend, Spiders and two LP's Magnets and New Clear Days before splitting in 1982.

SECRET AFFAIR - 'Behind Closed Doors' on BLACK VINYL via Heavy Soul! Records

 

SECRET AFFAIR

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Heavy Soul Records, under license from Sony

ROR121

**OUT NOW **

Wow - Heavy Soul has been awarded the prestigious award of officially reissuing, with full approval of the band, the classic second LP from the original 'Glory Boys' SECRET AFFAIR On heavyweight BLACK vinyl with TWO extra tracks added (the B-sides to the two singles from the LP - "So Cool" and "Take It Or Leave It"), this limited to 300 copies BLACK vinyl is a welcome repress of what was a transitional album from the band. Spawning two hits with 'Sound Of Confusion' and the anthemic 'My World', this took the band from the height of the Mod Revival to a widely accepted set of musicians who proved that the scene wasn't a total fad.

Essential LP by this fantastic band

£14.99 

The Spitfires - Southend & Milton Keynes Shows Rescheduled Again

 

'I was too arrogant and angry': Paul Weller admits he appreciates his success even more than his younger years - but rules out any hopes of a greatest hits show

 

He shot to fame as the lead singer of The Jam in the 1970s.

But Paul Weller has revealed he appreciates his job more now than ever, admitting he was 'too arrogant and too angry' when he was younger. 

In an interview with Radio Times, the musician, 63, touched upon his pre-gig jitters and also shut down any fans hopes of a greatest hits tour.  

Touching on how growing older has changed his outlook, the music legend said: 'I realise that the older I get – how lucky and fortunate I am to be able to do what I do.

'It’s never really a chore. I mean, it is work sometimes, you’ve got to get stuck in. But the older I get, the more I love it, and the more appreciative I am of it. 

'When I was younger I was too arrogant or too angry or whatever.'

But, despite his long and successful career, Weller admitted he still suffers from nerves before shows. 

His latest interview comes as he prepares for a new role of grandfather after it was revealed by Richard Eden that Weller's daughter, Leah, 29, is expecting her first child.  

'We are over the moon,' says Leah, who shared the photograph of her bump alongside her husband, fellow model Tomo Kurata. Leah's mother is The Style Council singer Dee C. Lee. 

Weller, 63, welcomed his eighth child four years ago. The baby was his third with his second wife, Hannah Andrews, giving him as many children as rock knights Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger.

Speaking candidly with Mary McCartney in an interview in British GQ's July issue earlier this month, Weller revealed that he gets stage fright. 

He explained he gets 'so nervous' he feels he doesn't 'want to be there' but said it disappears once he starts performing.

Mary asked how he feels when he goes out in front of a big crowd he reflected: 'It's almost a weird thing, because just prior to going on stage, especially in the hour before, I'm in bits. 

'I'm so nervous and so don't want to be there and want to go home, and then within minutes of actually being on stage, as soon as that first tune strikes up, I automatically feel as though this is completely where I'm supposed to be.

'It feels like the most natural, most comfortable, Zen-like place you could possibly be, it's so weird.'

Roger Daltrey on how Jimi Hendrix "completely copied" The Who by Far Out Magazine

Roger Daltrey is never one to ever talk down his group, rarely ever showing signs of self-deprecation. Therefore, with that in mind, it’s no surprise that he once claimed that Jimi Hendrix “completely copied” The Who.

Hendrix arrived in London during 1966 and, by that time, The Who had already graduated from the club scene, and it wasn’t until America’s finest export had become a household name that Roger Daltrey would witness him live. With The Who beginning to taste the highs of fame, their career had gone on a wildly different trajectory when Hendrix arrived on British shores, but it didn’t take him long to catch up with them.

The Who had built up a fierce reputation for being a formidable live act, one capable of blowing the roof off any building. If there was one act you didn’t want to follow, it was them. However, when Hendrix came along, everything changed, and he suddenly stole their crown. His rise was much to the irritation of Daltrey, who thought that he wasn’t reinventing the wheel and just copying Pete Townshend’s schtick.

“When Pete used to break those guitars, it was like a ritual slaughter of some mythological animal,” The Who frontman told AC/DC’s Brian Johnson on the singer’s programme, Life On The Road. “The thing used to scream. Every whack of it somewhere would create a different noise, and that never got written up. It was all about, ‘Oh, he smashed his guitar’. ‘Sorry mate, but you missed the point.’ What I never ever talked about was the noise it was making.”

Hendrix didn’t just smash guitars, although he did have a penchant for pulling out that trick on occasion, and even went one step further at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 when he burned two guitars during his now-legendary performance.

He shared a bill with The Who that evening, and the two acts had a jam-off backstage to decide who were to go on first. Neither artist wanted to play last and follow the other, so they had to result to an old-fashioned coin-flip. Hendrix lost the toss and had to take to the stage after The Who had ripped everything to smithereens — the stakes couldn’t have been higher. 

“Monterey was the first one, the first pop festival, and Monterey was extraordinary,” Daltrey remembered about that day. “We drove down there all of us in one car, we turned up in this field, and it was all these strange-looking people, bells, bubbles.”

Although the festival impressed him, the plaudits that Hendrix received had a different effect on Daltrey. “All that stage act that Hendrix did, with the speakers and the guitar up against the microphone stand, all of that came from Townshend,” he declared. “Hendrix copied that completely. We all must understand that history, Hendrix saw Townshend doing that and, ‘Oh, I’m gonna grab that.'”

Conversely, Townshend has nothing but admiration on the subject of Hendrix. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2019, he dotingly said: “He was a wonderful player,” Townshend uncharacteristically noted. “He wasn’t a great singer but he had a beautiful voice. A smokey voice, a really sexy voice… When you saw him in the live arena he was like a shaman.”

Adding: “It’s the only word I can use. I don’t know if it’s the right term. Light seemed to come out of him. He would walk onstage and suddenly he would explode into light. He was very graceful.”

Hendrix only destroyed instruments on a handful of occasions throughout his career, and it’s no coincidence that he did this at Monterey following The Who’s set. He needed to prove himself as the headliner, and Hendrix couldn’t let Townshend steal the limelight.

This act is a compliment to Townshend and shows how highly he was rated by his peer. Otherwise, Hendrix wouldn’t have bothered to bring out all the stops to make sure the attention was firmly on him.

Lincoln City in 1966: When The Who and The Kinks headlined a Bank Holiday festival at Sincil Bank

 

In 1966, heroes of the British rock n roll scene came together to help raise money for Lincoln City Football Club

The Bands

It's 1966.

In just two months - on July 30 at Wembley - England would lift the world cup for the first and so far, only time, after defeating the Germans.

All the people of Lincoln know on that May Bank Holiday is that a great summer is about to begin, with this concert a wonderful starting gun.

Music lovers flocked to the Sincil Bank stadium, desperate to see bands like The Who, The Kinks, The Yardbirds and The Small Faces play The Lincoln Pop Festival.

Tickets were priced at £1 for an entire day of music, and that included a programme too.

In it, you could find out about the bands playing.

They were (in alphabetical order) The Barron Knights, Crispian St Peters and the Puppets, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, Georgie Flame and the Blue Flames, The Ivy League and Division One, The Kinks, The Koobas, Screamin' Lord Sutch, The Small Faces, The Who and The Yardbirds.

Comperes DJ Keith Fordyce (of Ready, Steady, Go! fame) and the now disgraced Top of the Pops presenter Jimmy Savile introduced bands to the stage that many from Lincoln had never before had the chance to see.

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/history/lincoln-city-1966-who-kinks-5455120

Viva Vespa! Celebrating 75 years of the scooter that changed two wheels forever

 

Seventy-five years ago this spring, motorcycling – or, to be precise, powered two-wheelers – changed forever when the very first scooter was launched.

Spawned from the rubble of post-WW2 Italy, produced by an aircraft company banned from making planes, designed famously by a motorcycle-hating helicopter engineer and intended to mobilise a population with a devastated transport network, that scooter was the very first Vespa.

And, despite a slightly stuttering start, it proved so successful that within a handful of years it was being produced in its tens of thousands around the globe.

By the 1960s it was a cultural icon in movies and fashion. By the ’80s it was a stand-alone brand reigning over the whole scooter sector and today is one of the most recognisable two-wheelers of all with almost 20 million sold.

Not bad for an initially misunderstood utility vehicle whose prototype’s ‘pinched waist’ step-thru’ design prompted company boss Enrico Piaggio to exclaim: "It looks like a wasp!" (Vespa being Italian for wasp). Little did he know then how it would transform the world...

That first Vespa owes its creation – like many other motorcycle firms launched in the post-WW2 era – to a unique set of circumstances. Until 1939, Italian company Piaggio was a diverse transportation manufacturer with no history of powered two-wheelers.

Founded in Genoa in 1884 by Rinaldo Piaggio, it initially undertook ship fitting before going on to produce rail carriages and trams. World War One saw it start to make aircraft.

By WW2, Piaggio was one of Italy’s largest aeroplane manufacturers which is exactly why its plants became targets and were destroyed during the war.

With Italy signing an armistice in September 1943, however, Italian business could begin looking to the future. Rinaldo’s successors, sons Enrico and Armando, started restructuring Piaggio and Enrico, being responsible for the destroyed aeronautic plant but with aeroplane manufacture banned, decided to use the company’s aircraft manufacturing facilities to instead create low cost personal transport for the masses.

A first prototype known as the MP5 surfaced in 1944, featuring small wheels and bodywork enclosing the central engine. However, Piaggio was unconvinced by its awkward, tall central section and the machine gained the unflattering nickname ‘Paperino’ (Italian for Donald Duck) due to its ungainly form.

Around the same time another Italian industrial giant was thinking along similar lines. Innocenti, based in Milan’s Lambrate suburb which specialized in seamless tubular steel, was also looking to affordable two-wheelers.

Founder Ferdinando Innocenti had noticed the US Army’s military Cushman machines during the war and was inspired to create his own utility vehicle. Innocenti hired Corradino D’Ascanio, a highly experienced aeronautical designer, and asked him to design a powered two-wheeler that would be easy to ride for both men and women, able to carry a passenger and not get its rider’s clothes dirty.

Read the full article at: -

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/advice/inspiration/weekend-reads/the-history-of-vespa/

Best knitted polo shirts for injecting some mod energy into your wardrobe according to GQ Magazine

 

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/fashion/gallery/best-knitted-polo-shirts

Paul Weller to become a granddad for the first time as daughter Leah announces pregnancy reports The Metro

 

Paul Weller is set to become a grandfather as daughter Leah Weller-Kurata has revealed she is expecting her first child.

The musician known as the Modfather, 63, will be a granddad for the first time just four years after welcoming his youngest child.

Leah, 29, and her husband Tomo Kurata, 31, announced the happy news on Instagram, sharing an artistic photo of them cradling her bump, with Tomo covering the topless Leah’s chest with a bunch of white flowers as he kissed her on the cheek.

The pair simply captioned the snap ‘Mum & Dad,’ leading fans to share messages of congratulations under the photo.

Leah added to the Daily Mail that she and Tomo, who married in 2018, were ‘over the moon’ to be expecting their first baby together.

Leah is oldest of The Jam star Paul’s eight children, with him and ex-wife Dee C. Lee, also sharing a son, Nathaniel, together.

Paul also has daughter Dylan with make-up artist Lucy Halperin, as well as two children – Jesamine and Stevie Mac, with Samantha Stock.

Following their break-up, he went on to marry backing singer Hannah Andrews in 2010, having twin sons John-Paul and Bowie in 2012 as well as daughter Nova in 2017.

After the birth of his twins, and before Nova, Paul told the Mirror in 2012: ‘You get certain people who go “Ooh, seven children with four women” and all that.

‘But I don’t care, man. I love all my kids. They’re all special and I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

Paul also recently opened up about how grateful he is to be able to do what he loves for a living, which he was ‘too arrogant and angry’ to appreciate in his youth.

He told the Radio Times magazine this week: ‘I realise that the older I get – how lucky and fortunate I am to be able to do what I do.

‘It’s never really a chore. I mean, it is work sometimes, you’ve got to get stuck in. But the older I get, the more I love it, and the more appreciative I am of it. When I was younger I was too arrogant or too angry or whatever.’