Fact #105443

Pink Floyd's Cambridge

by Johnny Black, first published in Q magazine, Maps And Legends section, September 1994

1. THE CAM

The river whose bridge gives the city its name was the location for the Floyd's 'Signs Of Life' video. The Cam is also immortalised in Marillion's 'Garden Party', "Punting on the Cam can be fun".

2. McGRATH AVENUE

The Rex. Cinema/ballroom regularly used as a jazz gig in the '50s and '60s. Dave Gilmour s early band Joker's Wild played here in 1964. On June 8, 1969, during their first major British tour, Pink Floyd returned to Cambridge to perform at The Rex.

3. ROUND CHURCH STREET

Union Cellars, beneath Cambridge Union Debating Society. Clive Welham, who went to school with Gilmour and was in his first band, was previously in Geoff Matt And The Mottoes with Syd Barrett. They managed just one gig, a CND benefit in Union Cellars where they played Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran covers. "Syd wasn't a bad rhythm guitarist," recalls Mott. "It was nice to hear someone who could play as opposed to thumping around."

4. SIDNEY STREET

The Dorothy Ballroom. Joker's Wild had a fortnightly residency at "The Dot" for six months in 1965. Pink Floyd, although by then based in London, returned to play here on February 17, 1967, just a month before releasing their first single, 'Arnold Layne'. Today, The Dot is now split into diner, bookstore, nightclub and offices.

5. EAST ROAD

Cambridge College Of Arts & Technology. Sixteen-year-old Syd started a two-year arts diploma course here in September 1962. College friend John Gordon, who played alongside Gilmour in Joker's Wild, remembers: "We used to bring our guitars to the Tech to entertain others, and sometimes hid them under our desks to play with our feet so the lecturer didn't know where the sound was coming from. We ended up getting one bloke the sack." The following year, Dave Gilmour left The Perse school and joined Syd at the Tech to take modern language A-levels. During lunch breaks they were often found in classrooms practising Rolling Stones licks.

In 1965, photographer Mick Rock went to see Pink Floyd Sound playing in the college, a gig he recalls as "one of those moments when you see something unprecedented, with completely new possibilities." After the gig, Rock and other friends accompanied Barrett to the den in the basement at 183 Hills Road to smoke dope.

6. KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL

According to its composer, Roger Waters, the line "The lunatic is on the grass" in Pink Floyd's 'Brain Damage' (from The Dark Side Of The Moon) refers to "the lawn behind King's College Chapel. We did a May Ball there, went down quite well. Everyone was pissed."

7. KING'S COLLEGE CELLAR

In January 1972, Syd Barrett made a guest appearance at a gig by Eddie "Guitar" Burns in the Cellar. The band consisted of Eddie, Syd, Twink on drums and Jack Monck on bass. This line-up eventually evolved into Syd's short-lived post-Floyd band, Stars. During an interview given at the gig, Syd said he was writing songs for a third solo album.

8. MARKET SQUARE

Dave Gilmour's Joker's Wild scored a Wednesday night residency at the Victoria Ballroom on Market Square from 1964 to 1966.

9. TRINITY COLLEGE

Counts Jonathan King among its old boys. He was still at Trinity when he wrote his first hit, 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon', while walking through the streets of the town during a May Ball. King's connection to Pink Floyd came about in 1965 when he recorded a session by Gilmour's Joker's Wild at Regent Sound Studios in London. They did a cover of Sam And Dave's 'You Don't Know Like I Know', which was never released because the original became a hit first. Robyn Hitchcock, future Soft Boy, managed a term at Trinity in 1971 "studying drugs" before dropping out.

10. WHEELER STREET

Corn Exchange. Syd Barrett's post-Floyd band Stars, played their debut gig at the Corn Exchange in February 1972 to an audience which quickly dwindled away to about 30 devoted souls prepared to tolerate Barrett's lethargic guitar solos and tendency to sing off-mike. The show ended when Syd's right index finger began to bleed profusely. Among the crowd was Clive Welham, who had drummed for Syd in Geoff Mott And The Mottoes. "The gig was tragic," he recalls. "Syd couldn't even recognise me."

When this 1874 building fell derelict in the mid-1970s, it became a favourite punk gig, putting on The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Undertones (who played football on stage) and Sham 69 among others. As its reputation grew it attracted AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Status Quo, Kraftwerk, Velvet Underground and Queen. In 1981 the council spent £4 million refurbishing the building as a multi-purpose entertainment facility. Since 1988, rock bands have been invited in again, including The Cure, Tin Machine, Notting Hillbillies, Lemonheads, and Van Morrison.

11. EARL STREET

Storm Thorgerson, schoolfriend of Syd Barrett, lived here during the early '60s. He later set up the design company Hipgnosis, which produced such Floyd album covers as Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

12. MILL STREET

The Mill. Cambridge pub where Dave Gilmour and Syd Barrett played some acoustic sessions in 1963.

13. ABC REGAL THEATRE,
 REGENT STREET

The Beatles played here twice in 1963. First as support act on the Chris Montez/Tommy Roe tour on March 19, then again as headliners on November 26, supported by Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers. Syd Barrett had bought tickets for the November show months in advance but when it came round, it clashed with his interview in London at Camberwell Art College where Syd hoped to study. "Syd loved John Lennon," says his then-girlfriend Libby Gausden, "and it nearly killed him to have to miss that." In 1965, Tom Robinson was inspired to start his first band, The Inquisition, after seeing a package tour featuring The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann at The Regal, which is now an MGM cinema complex.

14. PERNE ROAD

It was at the scout hut on Perne Road (at the junction with Mill Road) that Dave Gilmour's early band The Newcomers rehearsed in 1961/'62. "Dave wasn't really that good yet," recalls Welham. "I can remember him struggling to get through 'Apache'."

15. MILL POND

The Anchor Coffee Bar at Mill Pond was regularly frequented by Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Storm Thorgerson. Dave Gilmour came along later. "You could hire punts, walk the river paths, swim in the river," says Clive Welham. "Occasionally someone would bring along a guitar and we'd sit out by the water singing." The Anchor was also the location for the Riverside Jazz Club where, in 1962, Roger Barrett evolved into Syd. A regular bass player at the club was called Sid "The Beat" Barrett. Patrons soon discovered that the schoolboy who quietly watched jazz jams from a corner seat was also called Barrett. They nicknamed him Sid, then gradually the spelling altered to avoid confusion.

16. 60 GLISSON ROAD

Birthplace, on January 6, 1946, of Roger Keith Barrett who, with his first name changed to Syd (see Riverside Jazz Club) became the leader of Pink Floyd.

17. MILL ROAD

When Dave Gilmour's father moved to New York in 1963, the budding guitar hero remained in Cambridge, and moved to a flat in Mill Road. "I paid his rent one week," recalls Clive Welham. "It was about a pound. I was the only one working at the time. All he owned was his denim shirt and a donkey jacket."

Tom Robinson was born at 9am on June 1, 1950, in Mill Road Maternity Hospital.

18. 109 GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS

Well-to-do street and meadows on the banks of the River Cam where Dave Gilmour was born on March 6, 1946. It was here during 1963/'64 that Gilmour and drummer Clive Welham practised with their band Joker's Wild, playing covers of Four Seasons and Beach Boys hits. Gilmour's song to the area is 'Fat Old Sun' on the Atom Heart Mother album. The meadows are, of course, also celebrated in Roger Waters's song of that title on Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. Interestingly, the word "ummagumma" is said by Floyd's Rick Wright to be a Cambridge expression meaning "fuck".

19. HILLS ROAD

By 1950, when the four-year-old Syd Barrett had four siblings, the family had moved to number 183, near the High School. It was here, in the drawing room on Sunday afternoons during 1962, that 14-year-old Barrett attempted to play guitar along with records by The Shadows, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, then formed his first band, The Hollerin' Blues. Syd's school friend Roger Waters also came along, but to listen rather than to play. It was here too that Syd first encountered 14-year-old Dave Gilmour, who was brought along for a jam.

High School For Boys. Roger Waters attended here. Much of his dislike of authority and the education system which appears in songs like 'Another Brick In The Wall' comes from his experiences at the High School. In the words of his final report, "Waters never fulfilled his considerable potential." Syd Barrett also attended the High School, where art was the one subject in which he shone. Another old boy is guitarist Tim Renwick of Quiver/Mike And The Mechanics/Pink Floyd fame, as is Storm Thorgerson (see Earl Sreet).

Morley Memorial Junior School. Syd Barrett's primary school, only a few yards from the house at 183 Hills Road. Roger Waters also attended Morley, but did not form any friendship with Syd until later.

The Perse. Private school whose pupils included Dave Gilmour, later guitarist of Pink Floyd. Also Dave Larkham, drummer of The Bible.

20. TRUMPINGTON ROAD

During 1962/'63 the usually gregarious Syd Barrett would often visit the Botanical Gardens for solitary, thoughtful walks. "Syd had a very secret side," remembers his friend Tim Francis. "There was a part of him you could never reach."

In 1966, aged 16, Tom Robinson suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated at Douglas House on Trumpington Road, "I even remember that the music on the radio seemed incredibly appropriate," he recalls. "'Dead End Street' by The Kinks and 'What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted' by Jimmy Ruffin."

21. ROCK ROAD

Roger Waters lived here during the early '60s with his school-teacher mother.

© Johnny Black, 1994