HIPPY HAT? WHAT'S THAT!

Rare 1967 footage of Jeff Beck performing ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’. Sadly the Top of the Pops recordings were binned long ago by the BBC.

T H U R S D A Y,  2 7  A P R I L

Anya didn't hear Antoine last night. I knew she wouldn't.

Got the 80A home because the little bus had just gone.

Did Caesar all evening but stopped to watch T.O.T.P.  Sandie Shaw is No. 1 - honestly. It wasn't too bad though because they had 'Dedicated to the One I Love', and 'Hi Ho Silver Lining' - fabulous. Jeff Beck sings so gorgeously DRONY.

You're everywhere and no-where baby, that's where you're at,

Going down a bumpy hillside, in your hippy hat

Flying across the country, and getting fat,

Saying everything is groovy, when your tyres are flat...

Jeff Beck is a terrible snazz with a figure like Dutronc. Chump and me knew he reminded us of someone but we just couldn’t think who. Then we remembered – he was in the Yardbirds!!!

One minute Jeff Beck was a guitarist with a group called the Yardbirds, in a mod suit and a black polo-neck, and the next, a long-haired bad boy strumming under a floppity hat. This was my first sighting of a hippy.

The transition from Generation ‘Swinging Britain’ to ‘Make Love not War’ happened that night. Three months later I was sewing patches on my jeans. I love this song just for that.

Princess Beatrix has had a baby – it’s a boy. Which I expect the whole of Holland must be pretty pleased about, after all the queens they’ve had. His name is Willem-Alexander.

I can get quite a good vision of Dutronc when I think of him outside the ski room on April 5th. It only lasts for a second: the sunburnt face, and the pale sunscreen lips (he’s got such cracked lips, I noticed them at the Porsche race). I also remember looking at his black ski pants, so tight. Heavens, his legs were so long and thin in them. 

A rare sighting of Jeff Beck in his hippy hat. With Rod Stewart, Tony Newman and Ronnie Wood