Available to about May 13th 2025
Soho '65: Les Cousins at 60
The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe - BBC Radio 2 - 16th Apr 2025

"This week, Mark gets transported back to the legendary club Les Cousins in the company of Diana Matheou and Jon Wilks.

Les Cousins (known fondly as "The Cousins") was on Soho's Greek Street. After some false starts, it opened 60 years ago today: 16th April 1965.

Diana and her husband, the late Andy Matheou, ran the club in the basement of his parents' restaurant.

Thanks to Andy's instincts as a booker, and the club's all-night events, it became central to the swinging London folk scene of the mid sixties.

Paul Simon considered it his 'home gig' in London. Jimi Hendrix played there, as did John Martyn, Nick Drake, Anne Briggs, Martin Carthy, Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Sandy Denny, Jackson C. Frank, Al Stewart and Alexis Korner. Van Morrison appeared in the early hours and was paid just £3.

Diana and the singer and journalist Jon Wilks help Mark Radcliffe to capture the magic of the famous club."
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0029r49
>skip to about 25min \ 28min