Max Décharné, author of a history of Teddy Boys, who even made the cover of The Hotspur, right

HAMPSTEAD-BORN society photographer Cecil Beaton liked to dress in Edwardian clothes back in the 1950s but wondered if his style was shared by a new, growing and often fearsome youth movement.

The story is revealed in Max Décharné’s entertaining new book Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution.

Beaton joked at a Foyles literary lunch that he had been approached in the street by a shifty-looking young Ted who whispered conspiratorially: “The job’s on tonight, with razors.”

Two of Britain’s most distinguished Camden figures also appear in the book, which delves into the colourful history of the Teddy Boys and Girls whose movement began after the Second World war.

John Betjeman, who in 1972 became Poet Laureate, and whose family lived at Parliament Hill Mansions, and Gospel Oak, and “kitchen sink” writer Alan Sillitoe, who came down from the north to live in Camden, were among a list of characters who may have expressed unease about the Teds but still adored their posh Edwardian dress.

Author Décharné lives in Tottenham and is a professional musician, well-known in Camden for nearly 40 years, where his bands have included Gallon Drunk and The Flaming Stars.

He regularly performs at the Dublin Castle in Parkway, Camden Town.

The Teds were famous for their Edwardian draped jackets, velvet collars, elaborate waistcoats and drainpipe trousers. They danced or jived to the songs of the time including Elvis’s You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog, Buddy Holly’s If You Knew Peggy Sue, and Bill Haley’s impassioned Don’t Knock The Rock.

Décharné argues that although some of the Teds formed gangs in London and other towns and cities and were responsible for fighting and vandalism, the majority were peaceful. However, cinemas were often disrupted by Teds if they were bored with what was being shown or just wanted to make trouble. These were the days when there was little if any TV.

The Teds might start shouting and swearing, occasionally even cutting up the seats. Some even took part in the Notting Hill race riots.

Décharné himself remembers, as a lad, working in the Screen on the Green in Upper Street, Islington, and being sworn at and threatened by “feral 12-year-olds” running in off streets. Occasionally he’d get fireworks thrown at him.

Back then Betjeman complained about the behaviour of Teds at the popular Cinerama at the London Casino in Old Compton Street.

Betjeman was a great fan and supporter of the film venue due to its modern techniques, including its massive 64ft wide screen and three projection boxes, and advised many friends to visit. He wrote in the Spectator magazine at the time that a group of his friends arrived one day to find their booked seats taken by a group of Teddy Boys and their girls (average age about 15).

Fortunately after being told to move the “whole lot darted off terror-struck, like minnows from a man’s shadow”.

In 1958 Alan Sillitoe, a former working-class writer from the Midlands, now based in a two-roomed book-lined flat in Camden, published his debut novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, which became phenomenally successful. It featured a rebellious Teddy Boy. However, by the time the book became a film, two years later, the main character played by Albert Finney was no longer a Ted.

Teddy Girls often wore black pencil skirts or black trousers. One called Grace said: “I also had a shawl-collared jacket, black with a tallow trim, drainpipe trousers, little ballet pumps, a clutch of clip-on circle earrings.”

But some people complained that Teddy Girls were occasionally, like the boys, potentially violent. Soon to become a top film director, Ken Russell helped present an article in Picture Post called “What’s Wrong With Teddy Girls?” The article found Teddy Girls mainly came across as normal fun-loving teenagers, often hard working and fashion conscious.

Décharné remembers as a younger man attending rock and roll sessions at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park.

“There was Jerry Lee Lewis supported by Duane Eddy. They were among the best gigs I’d ever attended. I wore a black leather jacket, drainpipe jeans, and brothel creeper shoes. It made a huge change from school uniform and chain store ready-made clothes.”

Décharné met his first Teds while still a schoolboy. “They were an exotic breed,” he writes. “They were creatures from another planet – one that was dangerous and exciting.

“They were flash and by the early 1970s already had an air clinging to them of a lost decade: a time before three-day weeks, electricity cuts, and flared trousers.”

Décharné will be discussing his book at The Stoke Newington Literary Festival in June.

• Teddy Boys: Post-War Britain and the First Youth Revolution. By Max Décharné, Profile, £25