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THE ISLAND THAT ROCKED
Before the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969, a tiny island in some of the biggest names in the rock world. The Who, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones were just some of the musical giants to perform on Eel Pie Island in the 1960s. yet even during the 1950s this remarkable place had offered a post-war generation its first taste of youthful freedom.
THE KING AND I
Eel Pie Island, the only inhabited island in London’s River Thames, is just 600 yards (584 metros) long and 150 yards (137 metres) at its widest. It is said to have got its name from the time of King Henry VII, who allegedly liked to stop off there to buy his eel pies. In those days, eel pies were a popular snack. And Eel Pie Island, also gets a mention in Charles Dickens’ famous novel Nicholas Nickleby (1839).
The island, which today has about 50 homes and 120 inhabitants, can only be reached by a footbridge. No cars are allowed on the island and before 1957, when the bridge was completed, people had to access Eel Pie Island by boat. Swimming across was another alternative, but dangerous currents and cold, dirty water did not make it a very attractive one.
THANK YOU ARTHUR
It was in the mid1950s that a man called Arthur Chisnall took over the island’s now legendary Eel Pie Island Hotel and turned it into a jazz club. Its focus changed in the 1960s with the booking of groups like The Rolling Stones, who were just starting out. Chisnall had a mission. He wanted to help young people achieve their full potential, especially those who did not quite fit into mainstream society. Post war Britain was a conventional place –the swinging ‘60’s were also still in their infancy. According to Trevor Baylis. The inventor of the wind-up radio, who now lives on the island, the concerts were not just about music and creativity. They also provided the ideal opportunity to meet members of the opposites sex!
Sadly, by 1967, the hotel was in bad condition and the owner could not afford the large repair cost. It was closed down and in 1971, a mysterious fire led to the remaining hotel being demolished and houses being built on the site.
It seemed like the end of an era, although today the island is enjoying something or a revival: recently the pop singer Mika named eel Pie Island as the most romantic place in London.
A MODERN HERO
To find out more about this intriguing place, we met with Michele Whitby, co-author of the book, Eel Pie Island. As she explains, Arthur Chisnall was something of a visionary:
Michele Whitby:
There was a guy called Michael Snapper, he bought the hotel on Eel Pie Island in 1952. He was an antique dealer and he had a shopin Kingston, and Arthur Chisnall worked there. Arthur was a social researcher and he was really interested in the sort of problem teenagers that seemed to be emerging in the ‘50s.
It was quite a new phenomenon. As Arthur once said, “Before the war, people just seemed to go from short pants to long,” meaning that they basically turned into their parents. As long as they grew up, they just did what their dad did or their mum did, and this was the first generation of people that were actually rebelling, and he was just really interested in why they were rebelling. Obviously they didn’t want to fit into the prevailing society, and Arthur wondered “Well, what do they want?” And Arthur noticed, through working in Michael Snapper’s junk shop, that there were all these art students were coming in and bringing in all these records and buying up other records. He thought that they were a “trend-forming group” and he thought that, if you could tap into their way of thinking, and see what they felt, and what they needed, then you would be able to provide resources for them.
This was better than just saying, “These are terrible people, let’s just brush them under the carpet.” Arthur’s approach was very, very different, so he had came to an agreement for a ballroom on the side of the hotel. So he started the Eel Pie Jazz Club in 1956.
SEX & DRUGS & ROCK’N’ROLL
In the “Swinging ‘60s’ eel Pie Island was considered a wild place, but Michele Whitby says that this reputation wasn’t deserved.
Michele Whitby:
Obviously, there were people smoking dope and whatever there, but so many of the people I spoke to said drugs just weren’t on the menu, they couldn’t afford them! OK, it had a bad reputation, every girl in the area was forbidden from ever going across that bridge, but ironically a lot of women I’ve spoken to just talk about how safe they felt there. Arthur basically kept an eye on everyone, and he had people in the crowd, psychologists and policemen, people that were just go and chat about birth control, for example, which, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, was a big deal, there was a network of people who could help you. I think a lot of the negative stories about Eel Pie Island were perpetuated in the press, who saw it as “ the den of iniquity,” “the devil is playground etc. Ok, there must have been an element of truth in it, but, from what I can gather, talking to people, generally, it wasn’t like that, and it was just people going there, letting their hair down, having a good time, by today’s standards, it was just absolutely no big deal. But “the establishment and the conservative public in general were just horrified!
For more information about dates when Eel Pie Island can be visited, please visit: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/arts .
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