But they had been everywhere for a good 5 years by the end of the decade. First skiffle club at the Princess Louise opened 1954, I think it was - 55 at latest. & every third or fourth person who came in brought his own guitar with him. One of the first people I ever met there was Michael Moorcock, then aged 15 I think, now one of the world's leading sf writers, but then probably the world's worst guitarist! In fact, i don't think he could actually play a chord — just carried on his back as a sort of prop — because everybody had to have one, like trousers!! So what did this commentator think so strange about their being everywhere in 1959? he must have been walking around for ½-decade with his head in a bucket!