{"product_id":"teddy-boy-wars-the-youth-cult-that-shocked-britain-book-copy","title":"Teddy Boy Wars : The Youth Cult That Shocked Britain (book)","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe Teddy Boy Wars : The Youth Cult that Shocked Britain • book by Michael Macilwee\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the mid-1950s, British society was gripped by a sudden terror of its own youth.\u003cbr\u003eThe murder of a 17-year-old Londoner in September 1953 marked the start of a strange and horrifying fad.\u003cbr\u003eAs if from nowhere, gangs of young men, dressed in a remarkable new fashion, emerged to turn the streets, dance halls and fairgrounds into battlefields.\u003cbr\u003eThe Teddy Boys had arrived.\u003cbr\u003eSoon they were blamed for a rising tide of post-War crime.\u003cbr\u003eSuccessors to aggressive thugs known as Cosh Boys, the Teds combined English Edwardian dress with American zoot-suit style, with weapons an essential accessory.\u003cbr\u003eAccounts of their sorties with knives, chains and knuckledusters filled the newspapers, and from the seminal Battle of St Mary Cray, in 1954, to mass brawls in Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester, few towns or cities were unaffected.\u003cbr\u003eSome of the worst affrays pitched them against National Service squaddies and American GIs based in the UK.\u003cbr\u003eVarious fighters claimed the title King of the Teds, some of them hyped by the Teddy Girls joined in enthusiastically.\u003cbr\u003eThen the arrival of rock 'n' roll and the movie \u003cem\u003eRock Around the Clock\u003c\/em\u003e sparked a wave of cinema riots, further condemnation and a sharp police and judicial response.\u003cbr\u003eYet others saw the Teds as a positive sign of an independent generation unbound by the restrictive attitudes of their parents, and similar fashions were embraced by teenagers abroad, from the Blousons Noir of France to the Bodgies of Australia.\u003cbr\u003eThe Ted movement inevitably declined as the originals grew up, got married and had children.\u003cbr\u003eBut their legacy survives to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54804518011209,"sku":"9781908479860","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1008\/3427\/9753\/files\/teddy_boy_wars_book_1.jpg?v=1776345602","url":"https:\/\/www.raucousrecords.com\/products\/teddy-boy-wars-the-youth-cult-that-shocked-britain-book-copy","provider":"Raucous Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}