Beatniks in Newquay, 1960

[polycarpx]

This definitely isnt from 1960. I would say this is from 1964 or 65.

[HouseofVespucci]

ows

[DoojeenDoonican]

Great stuff - thanks for uploading.

[MrCrispian]

The beats..hence the beatles..originaly called the silver beatles....

they all talk very posh...the good old days

[MrCrispian]

The beats..hence the beatles..originaly called the silver beatles....

[blewj]

Kerouac explained that Beat was short for Beatific. Looking at Neal (Dean Moriarty), he saw him as beatific while others saw him as mad. Instead, he was receiving revelation from, and acting as a conduit of, the divine: beatified like a living saint, he was "beat." He "got it." He was mad.

[maggio888]

there's no possible way this was 1960.

[Khultan]

1960. Their children are disastified with their parents' set up. Ha ha ha...

[WSWarthog]

Ordnung muss sein.

[Sunoco]

As people have said, beatniks weren't hippies. They were much, much more similar to the modern subculture of "hipsters".

[hugobear1]

Newquay now is the biggest tip imaginable.

[analogforever1960]

I think 1960 was a very good year!

[avepoe]

@maggio888 I would disagree. If this is filmed in 1960 Bob Dylan was not even known in 1960, he was a college freshman in Minnesota. He traveled to New York City in 1961 it is only after 1961 that he began t make a name for himself... so these kids predate BD's Fame altogether! Give the Lad a break... he's making music!

[jeffpicks]

@maggio888 -- how on earth could this be a ripoff of Dylan when he wasn't even KNOWN YET in 1960 ?

[julaybib]

In the 1950s, my father was a member of a motorcycle club and my mother was expecting her second child before they were eventually married. This was a mildly radical lifestyle in their day - one of my mother's Christian brothers refused to attend their wedding because of their sinful behaviour!

[rubysson57]

He looks like the hippy 'David' out of Beavis and Butthead.

[rubysson57]

At least Rolf Harris has a sense of humour.

[NathanLPaylor]

I blame the beatniks and the affiliated cultural revolution of the late 60s with a lot of what is wrong with my Y generation. I'd rather be a 'square' and certainly a 'suit', than I would want to be new age & long haired, with a casual attitude to fashion convention :P

[rubysson57]

@NathanLPaylor Well said.

[cornwallsteve]

Its great to be a Beatnick - you can travel to Penzance any time you like!

[whyteay]

And they said the beatles had 'long' hair when they came along about 3 years later so far as national exposure went! By the time I went there in 1991 it was full of chavs which I'd argue was a huge step downward.

[Dudethatstrippin]

The town dicstrict council was made up of a bunch of assholes!

[BettyNewsinger]

love ,love ,love.Good 'eh.  love betty

[freeirie]

revolutionists

[fellovergen]

Thank gawd I'm balding, I can get a pint in the Red and a bag of chips from Truscotts

[Hicklingstandard]

Only 50 years ago...amazing. The predjudice shown here if it had been so blatently directed against any kind of ethnic minorty would probably have caused quite a storm. "They're not one of us" as peter gabriel once sang!!

[vintagechica82]

Wow, didn't know mullets existed back then.

[therealtruth123]

This is great

[suitov]

Ever so cross!

[SURFSTYLEY4]

It's for sure the first song about guys growing their hair long

[consterned]

isn't that song based on bob dylan's hard times in new york town?  i think that didn't come out till 1962... his hair looks later in the 60s hmm?

[freeirie]

@consterned yeah definatly altered version of dylans song.......

[NickRatnieks]

When I was kid we watched Tonight. They would have singers singing topical songs- Cy Grant- the first black man on TV in Britain on a regular basis and the Scottish duo- Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor.Jimmy grew a beard in 1962 and we had a girl (Jenny- a keen folkie records by the Highwaymen etc)) staying with us- she wrote to BBC Points of View telling him "Shave if Off!". I don't remember this bloke getting a slot, though! Cliff had a fabulous "Comb Over". Jeremy Clarkson would be impressed!

[princeminski47]

Was this REALLY 1960? That's got to be the oldest mullet in modern history (discounting the 18th century). The overuse of the dated term "beatnik", along with the very long hair, make this look like a put-on.

[dharmaburn]

Yes this was 1960 and they were known as beatniks. The name shortened to 'beats' from about 1964.

[markovanpelt]

@dharmaburn I have read that at first they were called Beats (in the 50s)

but then the media used the term ''Beatnik'' as a stereotype for making fun of them, displaying the more superficial aspects.

[SURFSTYLEY4]

@princeminski47 It's not even close to a mullet, he just has very short bangs. mullet owners cut the sides of their hair short with their ears exposed.. only long in the back

[princeminski47]

@SURFSTYLEY4 I stand corrected.

[osvelhos]

see: Os velhos da montanha

[ejr1946]

Well done Wiz, I guess your thoughts are still the same.Did he influence Clapton ?

Thats for him to know and you to ask him.

[ejr1946]

Amazing that its so recent in the memory of those who stayed and made their mark in Newquay and still live here.Much to Newquay's advantage.

[bindinglines]

Oh Yeah........during my own "minimal" yrs

some people used to shake to bible

in front of my face because I had long hair.

Common street urchins who were shirt-tail beats who didn't bathe and took things too far made it difficult to convey any msg of justification, just as lowest common denominator hippies reflected

the whole culture as dirty and useless.

They just didn't get it. One had to "earn"

respect among peers. Change was the issue, not annihilation. Responsibility

was always cool.

[bindinglines]

The times reflected "digs and hip" as

anti-American (or English in this case) when your neighbor could have been a "communist", esp. cold-war

hysteria. It was "tuning-out" before

Leary made it catch phrase. Even Elvis

scoured on "hipness" or "hep". Greasers didn't get it either. Beats were generally

educated and culturally informed. They dared to question authority. So then my father was a "square", anal conservative.

Shheeesh.

[BEATNIKCASS]

yeah, i bet the townsfolk nowdays wish they could turn back time---no gangs and yobbo violence back then

[w1lf1ewoo]

Priceless Anthropology!

[Mat2001uk]

I'm still a bit wary of these long-haired beatniks you know....

[bibby5000]

so what if a great deal of beatniks came down here...

tourists (in those days) didn't come to newquay for the people, it was for the break away and scenery.

should have let them stay... had a nice laid back town... never know it could've stayed like that.

[danstormer]

Fast forward 49 yrs............. The town opens wide it's arms and casts open it's doors in order to prostitute every avaliable square foot of useable drinking space to thousands of middle class 16 year olds and retarded stag parties who are free to roam, puking, rutting and fighting wherever they please. Just goes to show the councillors are always the same, anything at all to keep the pennies rolling in. Great vid. nice to see Newquay before the neon lights and 'surfpods' ruined the clifftops.

[grammargrub]

Yes I can imagine everything has changed a LOT.  The burghers of Newquay never knew they had it so good. Those beatniks were quite genteel and sweet in comparison to the feral yobbos now!

[bibby5000]

very well said dude... get jon to publish it

[keltyk]

incredible bit of footage... Some very posh ones too... could've gotten their daddies to buy out half the town but it would've blown their cred. Amazing to see what they looked like- Who called them 'hippies'... this is way before that period... this was 1960. To have long hair then was completely alien- Those guys were slightly super hip, but pre-hippy... but it's true they were also very annoying and nerdy.

[dharmaburn]

It is a rarity. Never seen much film of beatniks! Beatniks became hipsters in the 60s in San Francisco and the name got changed to hippies. A lot were middle or upper class too. Hence the 'posh' you noticed! Long hair in 1960 was very extreme and outrageous. They might look nerdy now but in those days they were super-cool!

[keltyk]

Definitely were cool- even if upper class goofiness makes them comical. Especially the big gawky chick, but her radical style attracts me. Hipsters- That word was around from the 1930s, a.k.a 'hepcats'. Belonged to the underground jazz scene and black musicians, spreading to hoodlums and white intellectuals, junkies and bohemians- the Greenwich Village scene, gelling into the beat generation and 'beatniks'. I'm generalising- but that's the gist of it

[karnubawax]

Worst song ever! Where's a firehose when you need one? Great post though!

[Halboy10]

Good old Alan, he can see through that council crap!

Hippies are annoying though!!

[dj212uk]

damn those beatniks!