Davy Jones, R.I.P.

Saturday teatime television, 1967: it was The Monkees Show, followed by The Simon Dee Show in black and white of course, well shades of grey really on those old televisions - it all came back to me at the announcement of the death of Davy Jones [1945-2012], the British member of the group. Jones was a real show-biz kid, playing the Artful Dodger in OLIVER in London and New York, and also in British tv series CORONATION STREET, and he wanted to be a jockey ... instead he was part of the first put-together boy band, to cash in on the success of The Beatles' HARD DAYS NIGHT and HELP! They made 52 episodes in those busy years '67 and '68, and a movie HEAD - and then it was endless tours and revivals, as they learned to play their instruments playing those hits over and over - those catchy Monkees songs are now part of any 60s compilation. I alway liked Peter Tork, the nerdy goofy one ... David was actually on tv last weekend, being interviewed in a new programme I'M IN A BOYBAND! and he looked tanned and fit, at 66 - my age. RIP indeed.

First picture above: this was "the look" then, we all had our hair like that