Episode 045 - Seven Inches Of History - Lonnie Donegan - My Old Man's A Dustman (1960)
Release Date: 08/07/2026
Episode 048 - The Lady Chatterley Trial (1960)
Rainbow Valley
The Sixties had begun. Someone had apparently forgotten to tell the prosecution. It is 1960. The Beatles are still playing clubs, the mini-skirt is some way off, Britain has yet to start swinging and much of the country still carries itself with the reassuring conviction that there is a proper way of doing things. And then Penguin Books decides to publish Lady Chatterley’s Lover. D. H. Lawrence's novel had been written more than thirty years earlier, but its frank treatment of sex, adultery and class had ensured that British readers had never legally been offered the complete, unexpurgated...
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Episode 047 - Seven Inches Of History - The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown (1960)
Rainbow Valley
Two voices, one microphone, a broken heart and a drum sound that seemed to arrive from somewhere in the future. This time on Seven Inches of History, we reach The Everly Brothers and “Cathy’s Clown” – one of the most distinctive records of 1960 and a single that helped define the sound of pop harmony for years to come. Last time, we left Anthony Newley sitting happily at number one with “Do You Mind?” Unfortunately for Anthony, two brothers from America were approaching rather rapidly. Don and Phil Everly were hardly newcomers. By the spring of 1960 they had already enjoyed an...
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Episode 046 - Seven Inches Of History - Anthony Newley - Do You Mind? (1960)
Rainbow Valley
One raised eyebrow, one unmistakable voice and a perfectly innocent question that somehow sounds anything but. This time on Seven Inches of History, we reach Anthony Newley and “Do You Mind?” – a record that took one of the most distinctive voices in British entertainment all the way to number one. By 1960, Anthony Newley had already squeezed rather a lot into his 28 years. He had been a child actor, played the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist, worked his way through the British film industry, become a leading man and then, almost as an aside, discovered that the record-buying public...
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Episode 045 - Seven Inches Of History - Lonnie Donegan - My Old Man's A Dustman (1960)
Rainbow Valley
A dustbin, a donkey jacket and one of the biggest singalongs of 1960. This time on Seven Inches of History, we reach one of those records that seems to have been part of British life forever — Lonnie Donegan’s “My Old Man’s a Dustman.” By 1960, Donegan was already the undisputed king of British skiffle. He had helped launch a musical craze with a washboard, a tea-chest bass and the encouraging suggestion that you really didn’t need an expensive collection of instruments to start a band. Thousands of teenagers took him at his word — including rather a lot who would go on to...
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Episode 044 - Seven Inches Of History 005- Johnny Preston - Running Bear
Rainbow Valley
A song about doomed love, written by a man who never lived to see it top the charts. "Running Bear" is a cheerful record about two people who drown. That tension between the bouncy production and the tragic storyline is part of what makes it so fascinating, and part of why it shot to number one in March 1960 and stayed there for two weeks. But the real story here isn't Johnny Preston. It's the man who wrote the song. Jiles Perry Richardson Junior, better known as the Big Bopper, died on February 3rd 1959 in the same plane crash that took Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. He was twenty-eight...
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Episode 043 - The Making Of The Italian Job (1969)
Rainbow Valley
"Just remember this - in this country they drive on the wrong side of the road" In 1969, British cinema delivered one of its most enduringly cheerful acts of grand larceny. The Italian Job had Michael Caine, three Mini Coopers, a coach balanced rather inconveniently above a precipice and a plan that looked perfectly sensible provided nobody examined it too closely. In this episode of Rainbow Valley, we go behind the scenes to explore how this much-loved crime caper found its way onto the screen. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin, directed by Peter Collinson and produced by Michael Deeley, the...
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Episode 042 - Seven Inches Of History 004 - Adam Faith - Poor Me
Rainbow Valley
Two number ones before breakfast. Adam Faith was just getting started. Adam Faith was not an accident. While some artists stumble into the charts through luck or timing, Terence Nelhams-Wright from Acton arrived at number one in the spring of 1960 as the result of a series of very deliberate decisions. The name. The image. The sound. All of it carefully assembled, and all of it working perfectly. "Poor Me" was his second consecutive number one, following "What Do You Want" which had topped the chart at the end of 1959. Back to back number ones before most people had even worked out who he...
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Episode 041 - Seven Inches Of History 003 - Anthony Newley - Why
Rainbow Valley
The accidental pop star who couldn't wait to get back to the theatre. Anthony Newley never really wanted to be a pop singer. He wanted to be in the theatre. The trouble was, the British public had other ideas, and in February 1960 they kept "Why" at number one for four consecutive weeks, making it very difficult for him to pretend the whole pop star thing wasn't happening. The route to the chart had been almost accidental. Newley had been cast as a rock and roll singer in a 1959 film called "Idle on Parade," recorded a few songs for it, and watched in mild surprise as one of them reached...
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Episode 040 - Seven Inches Of History 002 - Michael Holliday - Starry Eyed
Rainbow Valley
One week at the top, a lifetime of sadness behind the smile. The first brand new number one of the 1960s belonged to a man from Liverpool with a voice like warm honey and a stage name chosen for its lightness. Michael Holliday. It suited him perfectly. What it didn't tell you was anything about the anxiety and depression that shadowed every step of his career. "Starry Eyed" went to number one on January 24th 1960, held off the blocks for one week before Anthony Newley came along and nudged it aside. One week sounds brief. In a chart as competitive as early 1960s Britain, one week at the...
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Episode 039 - Seven Inches Of History 001 - Emile Ford and the Checkmates - What Do Want to Make Those Eyes At Me For?
Rainbow Valley
The record that started a decade, and made history doing it. The 1960s didn't begin with a fanfare. They began with a carry-over. Emile Ford and the Checkmates had reached number one back in November 1959 with "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For" and when January 1st 1960 arrived, they were still sitting comfortably at the top of the British chart. The new decade started mid-song. There are worse ways to begin. But here's the thing about that chart position that goes well beyond the novelty of a decade boundary. Emile Ford was the first Black British artist ever to reach number one...
info_outlineA dustbin, a donkey jacket and one of the biggest singalongs of 1960.
This time on Seven Inches of History, we reach one of those records that seems to have been part of British life forever — Lonnie Donegan’s “My Old Man’s a Dustman.”
By 1960, Donegan was already the undisputed king of British skiffle. He had helped launch a musical craze with a washboard, a tea-chest bass and the encouraging suggestion that you really didn’t need an expensive collection of instruments to start a band. Thousands of teenagers took him at his word — including rather a lot who would go on to change popular music themselves.
But “My Old Man’s a Dustman” was something rather different.
Part novelty song, part music-hall throwback and part enormous communal singalong, it was packed with corny jokes, memorable characters and the sort of chorus that could lodge itself in your head after a single hearing. Released in 1960, it raced to number one in the UK, proving that while rock ’n’ roll might have been transforming the charts, there was still plenty of room for something that sounded as though it could equally happily have been performed at the local working men’s club.
In this episode, we take another record from the pile and explore the story behind the song, the remarkable career of Lonnie Donegan, the skiffle explosion he helped create, and why this apparently simple comedy record became such an enduring piece of British popular culture.
There may also be discussion of dustbins, ill-fitting hats and trousers that appear to have been acquired under circumstances best left unexplained.
It can only be Seven Inches of History.
Rainbow Valley – bringing you the stories from the decade that shook the world.
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