RAPIERS ARE GO!

Video Triple Play +1: More Hank Marvin Explained

"It was go from the start..."

"To us, you're like the original punks..."

"If you couldn't think of anything to play, just waggle it..."

De-constructing Kon-Tiki and Shindig

Video Triple Play + 1: Hank Marvin Explained

Atlantis

Double Stop Time

Man of Mystery

The Godfather of Delay

OT Video Triple Play: Less Gassy, No Strong After Taste

Racing Along London's North Circular

Were I to recommend one stop for the Full English Experience I'd point the anglo-inclined toward Mark and Linda Wilsmore's Ace Cafe, a black-and-white nirvana for leather-clad rockers, great grub, Carlo Little tribute nights, Mod 'n' Mini Meets (next one: 3 July) and other petrol-fueled mayhem.

Natch it's a dead cert hang-out for Rapiers; Dave Lawes memorialised the place on Breakfast at the Ace, from 1987's Return of The Rapiers.

They call it "The Cult of the Ton-Up Boy"—wild wild youth testing speed, reflexes and nerve over asphalt.

Oi! "Breakfast at the Ace" soundtracks more moto-imaging, courtesy YouTuber JohnnyRazor60.

Looks, noise and speed. From Bike Channel.com, Ace co-owner Mark Wilsmore and devotees explain what makes a cafe racing machine.

Video Triple Play: Nothin' Shakin' But Billy Fury

Was Billy Fury (1940-1983) the greatest British rock 'n' roller? Heck, this shooting star from Liverpool had the looks, the voice, the songs, the moves, the quiff.

Just ask and Colin Pryce-Jones will talk up Billy's stormin' "Nothin' Shakin'", released amid the Merseybeat 1964 tidal wave, as a proof point for his pre-eminence in British music. No wonder The Rapiers for years featured it in their sets.

"Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on the Tree)" on "Ready Steady Go!", cheekily edited by the YouTube poster to feature '50s dancers not "RSG!" mods and modettes on cutaway shots.

As Stormy Tempest doing The Who's "Long Live Rock" in "That'll Be the Day" (1973) with David Essex, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.

A photo montage set to Billy's "Do You Really Love Me Too? (Fool's Errand)", covered by The Rapiers on their debut LP "Straight to the Point".

OT Video Triple Play: Beatlemode (For Neil)

For the Summer 2004 all-Rapiers issue of Pipeline Magazine, interviewer Dick West asked Neil Ainsby about his early musical inspirations. "Well, I'm afraid to say Shads fans, it was always The Beatles for me," came honest Neil's reply. "I was only 6 years old when I first saw A Hard Day's Night, and the song which I remember was If I Fell. For me that was the most fantastic sound I'd ever heard because, up until then, it had been all Bay City Rollers and stuff like that... I wanted to be John Lennon!"

On that note, we dedicate some Beatledomfun to Neil, who, as it turns out, celebrated a birthday only three weeks ago. We hope you had a good time, Sir Neil!

An early clue to the new direction and other pimply hyperbole

In love with Rutlemania

A Hava Nagila Day's Night

OT Video Triple Play: Screaming Lord David Sutch, Forever Raving!

Train Kept A Rolling, 1965

Jack the Ripper, early 1960s

Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election, early 1990s

OT Video Triple Play + 1: Dave Clark Five Joy Is Eternal, Said Tom Hanks

If you were away on a mission to Mars, Tottenham, England's beloved Dave Clark Five are now members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a long time coming.

Below, in a four-part series from the Rock and Hall of fame induction ceremony, actor Tom Hanks (pure genius) tells us why we should be glad all over, surviving DC5 members Dave Clark, Lenny Davidson and Rick Huxley bask in the spotlight again, Joan Jett goes Bits and Pieces, and John Fogerty takes us home.

OT Video Triple Play: A Fistful of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

Please Don't Touch

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Hungry for Love

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Shakin' All Over

OT Video Triple Play: John Barry Soundtrack

The James Bond Theme

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The Knack

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Hit and Miss

OT Video Triple Play: Albert Finney, an Angry Young Man

Trailer for Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

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Albert Finney and Norman Rossington in the jungle

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Playing Billy Liar and Shakespeare

OT Video Triple Play: Glad All Over for the DC5

Point of Interest: The first time I ever rode a bus northward from Seven Sisters tube in North London, seeking Rapiers HQ in Edmonton, my heart smiled as we passed through Tottenham, which, as every British Invasion student knows, birthed The Dave Clark Five—rivals to The Beatles, stars of Having a Wild Weekend/Catch Us If You Can, singers of vinyl sonic boom like Anyway You Want It, makers of the 1966 LP Try Too Hard, forever in my all-time Top 10.

Glad Tidings: After years of waiting, the DC5 last week finally entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I Like It Like That

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Try Too Hard

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Over and Over

OT Video Triple Play: Billy Liar-esque

Trailer for director John Schlesinger's utterly fantastic 1963 film

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"Oi, Shadders!" Tom Courtenay loses himself in London

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Julie Christie swings down the high street in Little Murders' "She Lets Me Know" (1981, footage from BL)

OT Video Triple Play + 1: Move It!

Cliff and The Shadows breathe life into English rock 'n' roll

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Move It spins at 78 RPM

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The Rapiers rip it up at a Rockers Reunion

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Jet Harris and Tony Meehan rock out at The Event, Wembley

OT Video Triple Play: Medway Delta Beat

The Masonics go Outside Looking In

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Billy Childish and The Buff Medways spin Medway Wheelers

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The Len Price 3 find Sailor's Sweetheart

OT Video Triple Play + 1: The Savage!

The Shadows do it in the film The Young Ones

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The Rapiers do it at a 2001 Rockers Reunion

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And now guitar1958 over a backing track

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Daniel and Friends at the Warwick Shadows Club

OT Video Triple Play: Supermarionated!

Dudley Moore and Peter Cook tackle Superthunderstingcar from Not Only... But Also

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Cliff Richard Jr. and The Sons of The Shadows do Shooting Star from Thunderbirds Are Go!

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Captain Scarlett TV theme song, later reprised by The Rapiers on You're Never Alone With

OT Video Triple Play: A Knack for Rita Tushingham

Nancy gets dressed in The Knack [Top: Rita appears with 1:45 left]

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The Smiths' Hand in Glove (1983) soundtracks A Taste of Honey

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Franz Ferdinand's Lynsey Wells (2006) name checks Rita T.

OT Triple Video Play: Beatles Classics

Peter Sellers recites A Hard Day's Night.

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Peter Cook and Dudley Moore wash up at the Ad Lav Club.

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The Beatles enter A Midsummer's Night's Dream.

OT Video Triple Play: Smashing Time in Soho!

Pre-007 John Barry goes twang in Beat Girl.

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The nascent Shadows and Cliff find Love in Expresso Bongo.

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Lynn Redgrave makes a record in Smashing Time.

OT Video Triple Play: The Rain, The Hollies, The Searchers & The Seekers