Bristol, Swansea & meeting Jan Green

“She fucked the rich to redistribute their wealth – mainly to herself, but then, for sure, osmotically to her comrades by way of drinks, food, or dossing rights in her Ladbroke Grove flat.” (Extract from Anarchist by Ian Bone). 

A two day mission is planned as I get the train from Paddington station. Im to travel up to Bristol meeting Ian and former Class War comrades, stay the night, then head over to Swansea for the day to meet old members of Page 3 but most importantly a woman I had long been waiting to speak to. Early on in my chats with Ian over the character breakdown of the book it became clear that for legal reasons a certain person had been separated into various characters – and it is her story that weaves a thread throughout Ian’s life – she is the financier of Class War, the Alarm local council election candidate, Stonehenge Kate, Cynthia Payne’s girl and Page 3’s Jelly Baby dispenser. As a writer it’s like discovering the vital missing piece to a puzzle. A moment of clarity as a new main character steps to the fore. My imagination runs wild. I discover she has also been captured by the writer Daniel Lux, under the character name of Cleo in the novel Camden Parasites:        

“I heard she’d cleaned her act up, worked earning money at her profession, the oldest one around. Cleo was small or, as they say in the trade, petite, with a rather prominent conk, making her look like something out of a Tolkien fantasy.” (Camden Parasites extract).

In my mind she has been elevated to near mythic proportions. The life she has lived. The tales she could tell. I pensively mull it all over as the train rattles along the tracks towards Temple Mead Station. I am on my way to finally meet Jan Green.

But first off I am met by Ian at the station and we head to a pub to meet a local and longtime Bristol Class Warrior. Stories start pouring out about the violent times of the eighties, the daily conflicts between the State and the people, and the spontaneous and sometimes organised direct actions to fight back. Tales of entire housing estates being flooded by riot police, local people taking to the streets and defending the front lines of their communities. It’s an eye opening conversation that gives me a fresh perspective on the period of the book, gaining a wider understanding of the confrontational and violent times of Thatchers Britain and the very real sense of class war. It was more than just a catchy title. It was everyday life. The Tory Oligarch versus the “lumpen” masses. The riot to work.

After the pub I am treated to a delightful dinner cooked by a former character instrumental in Ian’s life and Class War. My previous conversation covering mass actions is now contrasted with a more in depth enlightenment of the character make up and conflicts of the founding london Class War mob. The diversity of colourful characters easily sparks a sense of anecdotal humour but it is also great to get a clearer understanding of the very real and ‘human’ relationships that were playing out amongst people. I sleep well with a feeling of beginning to grasp a grounding within the story I’m wanting to tell. It’s an early morning and a big day tomorrow.       

The train pulls into Swansea while Ian reflects back on the changing landscape since his first arrival as a university student in the sixties. We walk into town, swanning pass The Griffin bar as though we were Junkie Ginge and Kustard re-incarnate though minus the poncho’s and bump into a former friend Howard who shares a coffee with us. He reminisces about the Swansea that was. A rough and tough town. A time prior to cctv and security tags. It’s like the lawless wild west but with a shopping centre and fast food dependency. Howard tells us stories of shop lifting with Viv Cory and Ray Jones, who is pictured above with Ian singing in the band Page 3. I am painted a vivid picture of the thriving criminal underbelly that made up the fabric of working class existence during the 1970’s.   

I make my way with Ian to a tucked away pub which seems to be a favourite for heavy metal fans but at this time of the morning only a handful of locals quietly sip pints as the bar staff cleans up. A Page 3 reunion is planned as we are met by Glenn Evans a.k.a Dr. Richard Normal the former bass player from the band. Glenn also use to play with Venom and his brother Greg, who joined us, played with Autonomes so between them they had a fair knowledge of the Swansea punk scene. Despite the fact that Glenn was apologising for not being able to remember much about his time in Page 3, which to me tells me everything about the very nature of the band, he does run an excellent website and archive called Swansea Punk.      

Next to arrive was Jock “Negative” McVeigh the character in the book who was reported dead as a publicity stunt for the band in which Jock was the “exotic dancer”. Ian’s description of Jock as a “lovable, tattooed, gay proletarian Swansea ne’r do well” is very accurate. To describe Jock would come nowhere near doing him justice – he is a colourful and spellbinding character that is larger than life – I am sure that when people see him translated into the film they will say “People like that don’t exist in real life”. I assure you he does. I have met him. He truly does deserve the moniker of “living legend” that follows him in the town of Swansea.  

Finally the moment I had been nervously waiting for. Enter Jan Green. Petit as Daniel Lux had described, frail from health issues and walking with the aid of a crutch, but still a firery, passionate and wild woman. It’s good to see time doesn’t change all things. Her hatred for social workers remains relentless and she is still a massive fan of 2000AD comics as originally displayed in the Class War “One From The Girls” issue at the top of the post. 

As Ian and Jan recollect on old stories it becomes very apparent how their lives have been inter woven over the years. The thread of mystery around Jan Green unravels, the woman who within the book appears as a number of characters, now acquiesces for her role in the story to be represented. She even jokes that one day she will write her own auto-biography. My imagination races with the idea of her life tales. To say the woman has seen a lot would be an understatement. The photo below from the Kensington “Bash The Rich” March (11th May 1984), was only recently discovered by Phil Gard when rummaging through his archives, and shows Jan Green smiling directly at camera – dead centre of the photograph below bottom right hand corner of the banner.    

While “Bash The Rich” is the auto-biography of Ian Bone it would be nothing without the characters that cross paths with our protagonist. And the past few days have made that obviously clear as I mull it all over on the long train journey back to London. The role of Jan Green within the events that the book covers is paramount and I am happy to be able to make her involvement more evident. I begin to feel that I am getting to grips with the main characters from the book – having spent much time with Ian, Ray Jones, Martin Wright and now Jan Green – I just hope I can capture an honest essence of their characters and a fair representation of their stories as I continue adapting from the book into a script.

“…another Class War supporting working girl with a flat in Paddington had as a punter an aristocratic Scottish Lord who liked to be abused while he was whipped. ‘You rich fucking bastard!’ she screamed as his blood flecked buttocks turned beetroot. ‘You rich fucking scumbag!’ He always gave her a big tip. ‘Sounds like you really mean it’ he used to say. She donated the fees to Class War and if the Scottish Lord had ever looked under her bed he’d have discovered the Class War banners she was sewing in the dead time between punters.” (Extract from Bash The Rich)

The image above is a very rare political zine created by Jan Green from Swansea during the 1980’s.