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Blitz by Robert Elms
Blitz is published by Faber & Faber in hardback at £20.

Robert Elms

Blitz

The Club That Created the Eighties

A history of the club that set the ’80s alight, by the much-loved presenter, writer and Blitz attendee Robert Elms. The short-lived Blitz club in London’s Covent Garden was more than somewhere to hang out or be seen: it was a catalyst for cultural explosion, a counter-culture blast against everything Thatcher’s leadership had ushered in by the dawn of the 80s. Tuesday nights boasted a ferocious, fearless cast – from Boy George and Spandau Ballet to Grayson Perry and Peter Doig, to Michele Clapton, Sade and Alexander McQueen.

This was the vanguard of a different England; socially liberal, loud, proud and diverse, fiercely individualistic and determined to succeed. Britain was black and white; the Blitz Kids switched on the colour. In Blitz, Elms reflects on a club night founded by working-class kids, one whose impact reverberated beyond its doors, through the worlds of Art, Literature, Fashion and Music, and into the present day.

The Legendary Red Lion Ballroom is at 640 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 3AA