Happy 80th Mick

Today is a day of two notable anniversaries - my 500th entry since I joined the blipfoto community and, on rather more momentous level, Mick Jagger's 80th birthday. My personal connection with Sir Mick is that I went to the same school as him, Dartford Grammar School for Boys.  I started there in September 1961. M.P.Jagger had left - with 3 A-levels and a place waiting for him at the London School of Economics - in July 1961. Given that he wasn't 18 until the end of July, he must have been one of the youngest members of the 6th form. The photo is from the 1961 school magazine, 'The Dartfordian', and shows an instantly recognisable M.P.Jagger in the back row of the school basketball team. Thumbing through the magazine again today, this is the only appearance of the school's most famous old boy but I was interested to see that a Rhythm Club had been established in the 1960 Autumn Term  for 6th formers interested in jazz. The  account of the club's first year appears to show that it was riven with arguments between trad jazz and modern jazz aficionados. I wonder whether M.P.Jagger attended the Rhythm Club to press the case for the Blues as the foundation of all forms of jazz. If only Mick was a blipper and could tell me!