Ooh, I'm not quite as pessimistic as you, I think. Yes - Youth will have its fling and do what it has to do, and a lot of it doesn't appeal to me. But, of course, we men all turn into our fathers in the end, and I can remember my father saying to me, as I watched something like the "Six Five Special" or "Ready Steady Go", "You can turn that bloody rubbish off!" Cherry Wainer - bloody rubbish? What heresy!

Age and growing older is a wonderful gift, and even the shoutiest, punkiest little snot-rag can possess talents and ideas that mature and change. We have to start somewhere, and being young and loud and angry and following the conventions of one's peers really has to be part of life for many people. My early heroes ranged from Lonnie Donegan to Django Reinhardt to Leadbelly to Sonny Terry to Howling Wolf to Merle Travis. And as I got much older, I of course, turned to the Clash and to traditional English morris tunes!

It's all good stuff, in its way - it's just what tickles your own particular biscuit.