Quadrophenia’s lost Mod?
The May bank holiday riots of 1964 remain a defining moment in the long and chequered history of Mod culture.
The May bank holiday riots of 1964 remain a defining moment in the long and chequered history of Mod. But what else happened on the south coast that weekend to cause a teenager’s family and friends anguish?
Fast approaching 60 years since these events took place, the convergence of itinerant youths battling out their differences at British seaside locations has become the stuff of legend. Enshrined and gilded by The Who’s Quadrophenia album and film, the memories of what occurred back then seem set to travel well into the future. Remarkably for all the bile spilt and anger vented, apart from a few cracked heads and ribs no fatalities occurred from the confrontations. Nonetheless, a more unexpected tragedy happened a few miles outside of Brighton that weekend, an incident that has prompted some spirited debate over the years that it may well have provided a spark for Quadrophenia.
Like many based in London, 17- year-old trainee accountant Barry Prior had heard something was going to happen in Brighton over that May bank holiday. Decades before the internet or mobile phones, the capital’s bush network had whipped up a rich fervour among London’s Mod and Rocker community. While many had made their way to the seaside by train, others like Barry and a group of his Mod friends had climbed aboard their scooters and ridden the 60-odd miles down to the south coast. History does not record what Barry and his pals got up to during that somewhat lively weekend, but what is known is that on the night of Sunday, May 17, 1964, this group of Mods numbering seven found themselves camped on land close to Telscombe Cliffs, situated some six miles outside of Brighton. Just why they chose this remote piece of turf is not known, but it is likely that a sensible distance away from the madness enveloping Brighton was required to sleep safely for the night.
Following the weekend’s events in Brighton, the group didn’t turn in until 3am that Sunday night. Several of the party had previously noted the precarious nature of the nearby terrain and had pitched their tents well away from the edge of the cliff. To this day, it’s a terrifying and unforgiving drop down to the coastline measuring more than 100 feet. In darkness with no illumination, a walk into the unknown could have dire consequences. Sadly for Barry Prior, during the night he’d take a wander away from his tent and would tumble over the cliff edge. To his friends, the first they knew of it was at 7am the following morning. Colin Goulden, one of Barry’s friends, recalled the moment when they discovered that Barry wasn’t where he should be. “One of the boys said he was missing,” said a stunned Goulden to a reporter. “Someone looked over the cliff and saw him lying there.” Another friend recalled: “I don’t know what could have happened, there was no trouble or fighting. We came out here to get out of the way. Perhaps he got up in the night and went for a walk. No one saw anything and there were no screams.” Shocked by what had transpired, the group went into panic mode. “We went over to the houses on the other side of the road to call the police,” recalled Fred Butler. “But they wouldn’t open their doors at first. They thought we were out for trouble.”
After eventually reporting the incident, Barry’s friends waited for the emergency services to arrive. All the while, Barry’s prized Vespa scooter stood unattended on the cliff top. Eventually, ambulance and police reached Telscombe Cliffs. Eager to be of assistance, the parka-clad group merged with uniformed personnel and accompanied them the 500 metres around the headland to gain access to the beach. One of the Mods present recalled the grisly scene as they discovered their friend’s body at the base of the cliff. “It was horrible,” he said. “He was lying there wearing a green anorak and socks but no shoes. He was
horribly bashed up.” As later noted at the subsequent inquest, his death had been instantaneous, Barry dying of multiple injuries resulting from the fall.
With the darkest of moods descending on the scene, Barry’s body was taken away by ambulance to hospital. The police then took a few of Prior’s friends to Brighton to fill out witness statements. Following the completion of the necessary paperwork, they were allowed to leave. It must have been a pitiful and sombre retreat back to London, with the impending horror of having to recount Barry’s death to his family weighing heavily on the group’s minds. Understandably, Barry’s death hit his family hard. In the weeks following the incident, the rumour mill would create a further degree of upset when some quarters claimed that Barry had committed suicide, an unfounded accusation that deeply hurt those close to him, knowing how happy and content he was with life. The subsequent inquest would conclude that Barry’s death was by misadventure and that he’d probably gone for a walk, possibly to relieve himself, and
had misjudged the severity of the cliff’s edge and stumbled over. Among the litany of tragic details reported at the hearing, it was noted that Barry’s watch had been torn off during his fall, its clock-face frozen at 3.50am.
While a few sections of the press would cover the story, it would swiftly be overtaken by the more sensational incidents emanating from the rioting that had occurred that weekend. As the years moved on, the story of Barry’s death would be largely forgotten, with just his nearest and dearest feeling the shock and distress from his untimely passing. Pete Townshend would famously revive the landscape of the May ’64 Brighton riots for The Who’s Quadrophenia concept album in 1973. Parts of the subsequent film released six years later appeared to hint at what happened to Barry Prior back in 1964. While researchers working on the film’s script had come across the story of Barry’s demise in library clippings’ files, Pete Townshend had apparently already made a startling admission to Quadrophenia’s director Franc Roddam during pre-production in 1978. Franc Roddam said: “Pete told me he was inspired to write Quadrophenia because he’d read an article about a young Mod who’d jumped over a cliff at Beachy Head and that had inspired him to write the concept of Quadrophenia.”
While Roddam’s recollection may well be faulty – as Barry didn’t die at Beachy Head, nor had he jumped – it’s possible that Townshend may have heard about Barry’s death at some point and drawn inspiration from it. Although Quadrophenia’s finale as envisaged in the album concept had seen Jimmy head off into the sea in a boat, it was evident that Franc Roddam wanted a spectacular cliff-edge ending for Quadrophenia’s screen realisation. Additionally, original drafts of the film’s script explicitly placed Jimmy’s descent over the cliff to take place at Rottingdean, situated close to Telscombe Cliffs – the site of Barry’s death. While this would later be transferred to Beachy Head, it was clear that there was an attempt to draw in some real-life frisson for Quadrophenia’s ending. Ultimately, only Jimmy’s scooter would go over the cliff in the finished version, and yet the original intention was for him to die at the end.
Once the film was screened, no connection was made between the fate of the film’s lead and Barry Prior’s death. However, over the years several quarters were starting to draw a link between the two events. While researching my book on the making of Quadrophenia in 2019, I dug deep into the events surrounding Barry’s death to see if there was any chance that Pete Townshend had come across the story during the writing of the concept. A conversation I had with Townshend regarding
Barry Prior brought a terse rebuttal as to any possible influence, although he told me that he was stunned on hearing what had happened to Barry.
However, and adding further intrigue to the mystery, after conferring with Barry’s family, I was informed that his brother Tony went into rock music management during the 1970s and had worked for The Who during the making of the Quadrophenia album and film. Furthermore, Tony and his wife and children had become close friends with the Townshend family – a relationship that endures to this day. While Tony was understandably still in heartache over his brother’s death, there remains a strong possibility that Pete Townshend was aware of Barry Prior’s untimely passing at some point.
Nearly 60 years following the tragic death of Barry Prior, a question mark hovers over the possibility that his passing may well have been an inspiration for Quadrophenia. While legions of devotees still debate the origins of both album and film, the death of Barry Prior remains an enigma in the making of Mod’s most enduring creation.