Lew Tassell’s Day Trip
Lew Tassell sent me these pictures that he took on a trip to London at fifteen years old in 1966
Old London Bridge
‘These pictures were taken in March 1966 with my first proper camera, albeit only a Zeiss Ikon Ikonette with a 35mm fixed lens viewfinder that cost me £7 secondhand. I loved that camera and wish I still had it, it had no metering or any features so it taught me a lot.
Film and developing were very expensive, so I had to be frugal with my picture-taking and then wait for them to be developed to see if I had judged the exposure correctly.
I was fifteen years old, living with my parents in South London and just about to leave school. I used to catch a train from Elmers End to Charing Cross – returning via London Bridge – and explore, usually taking in a visit to the National Gallery.’
‘My school friend, Paul, on one of Landseer’s Lions in Trafalgar Sq, he was instantly told to ‘get orf’ by a policeman’
‘I always found Piccadilly Circus magical and ever-changing. There was not much neon during the sixties and the buildings were generally dirty and grey, but the West End was a place with lively streets, especially this spot with the cinemas and theatres.’
The classic Coca-Cola sign
‘Carnaby St was a tremendously exciting place for a teenager to wander about. I didn’t have the money to buy anything but just to be there was enough’
John Stephen’s celebrated menswear shop in Carnaby St, clothes worn by The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and The Small Faces
‘Spot the Rolls Royce coming round the corner’
‘Spot the sandwich man for ‘Champagne Temps”
Looking across Carnaby St to Foubert’s Place
Lord Kitchener’s Valet sold military uniform as fashion, customers included Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Mick Jagger
Crowded pavements in Carnaby St
Old Cannon St Railway Station from Southwark Bridge
Eastcheap corner of Pudding Lane
Guy’s Hospital under construction by London Bridge Station
Tower of London in the mist
Old men sitting by the Tower
Cannons on the waterfront at the Tower
A foggy, soot-stained Tower Bridge
‘In the Pool Of London – one of my earliest memories is standing in this spot with my father, watching the ships being unloaded in the centre of the City’
‘Police launch on the Thames – four years later I joined the City of London Police’
Photographs copyright © Lew Tassell
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Brilliant set of pics, I remember walking over the old London Bridge with my Grandpa probably be around the same period,
I went in “Lord Kitchener’s Valet” a year or so later with my Mum, I believe they had another branch around Picadilly Circus, if I remember correctly,
I was only about 9 at the time.
In my dreams I wanted one of the classic “groovy” old bright red military jackets with the gold braid they flogged! obviously they were massively more expensive than my Mum would even contemplate, I expect I got a small trinket as a consolation though, bless her!
Wonderful photographs. I bought a pair of platform shoes at that Ravel somewhere around 1974.
Lovely photos, real gems!
How interesting to see these great photographs.
Coincidentally, my friend and I visited London in the same year, at the same age and she took a photograph of me by the lions in Trafalgar Square!
Great stuff lew.
Looks like you photographed the ten people involved in the swinging sixties. A really interesting look at the greatest decade of them all. Visited with parents in 1968 for the first time.Awestruck! Still in love as a tourist. I’d guess it looked pretty similar. Thanks all.
Fantastic photos! Really bring back the flavour of that moment. I remember a particularly flashy tie in orange with hot pink and lime green flowers that I lusted after for weeks. No, make that years.
Wait a minute! That LION !!!??? Could he possibly be related to the famous NYC Public
Library lions, “Patience” and “Fortitude”? These lions are the most charismatic beasts imaginable, and meeting “at the lions” is a popular thing in the City. I once arranged, pre-marriage, to meet my future husband at the lions, on Valentine’s Day. I stood, tap, tap, tap, in front of one of the lions. Unknown to me, he stood impatiently in front of the other. With all the lunchtime hubub of the City, we didn’t see one another. We each felt jilted. Harumph. Soon, I saw my oh-so-very handsome fiancée storming right past me, gripping a red rose. “Wait!
Wait!” — we both realized how silly we had been to not see one another, and we kissed happily –
under one of the lions.