The Who
In the late 1950s, a teenage Roger Daltrey formed a skiffle group with schoolmates from Acton County Grammar. Daltrey and bandmate Reg Bowen were both members of the Sulgrave Boys Club, and they named the group the Sulgrave Rebels after it. Other youth-club members included a young Irish teenager named Jack Lyons and a 13-year-old Pete Townshend from Chiswick.
Their first real outing came in 1958. Despite never having played in public, in the summer of 1958 the Sulgrave Rebels entered a talent competition at Wormholt Park school in Shepherd's Bush, performing two Lonnie Donegan numbers, "Ham And Eggs" and "Grand Coulee Dam." Against opposition from groups with electric guitars, the Sulgrave Rebels won and were awarded record tokens.
A few years later, the club was where Daltrey assembled the lineup that led directly to The Who. The first Detours group was assembled by Roger at the Sulgrave Road Boys Club in Shepherds Bush, comprising Daltrey on lead guitar, Colin Dawson on vocals, Harry Wilson on drums and Reg Bowen on rhythm guitar — before John Entwistle joined and proposed bringing in Pete Townshend. The Detours, of course, became The Who.
Roger Daltry - Lead Singer of The Who - Photo Credit: Ethan Russell Among the many young people who passed through the Sulgrave Boys Club were Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, future members of the iconic band The Who.
Photo of Pete Townshend, co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, and principal songwriter of the WHO, former member of the Sulgrave Club. Photo Credit: Jane Bown
Book autographed message from Roger Daltrey to Irish Jack.
Book cover photo of Roger Daltrey:; who is former member of the Sulgrave Club. Photo Credit: John Downing / Getty, Cover Design, Richard Evans, Blink Publishing
Irish Jack
While researching the history of the Sulgrave Youth Club, I inevitably crossed paths with the legacy of the legendary rock band, The Who. Two of the band's iconic members, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, trequented the Sulgrave Youth Club in their youth. However, another notable figure to emerge from this scene was "Irish Jack"-the alias of Jack Lyons.
To The Who, he is simply Irish Jack, a nickname coined by Bernard Lambert. To music historians, the retired postman from Cork is widely regarded as the unofficial fifth member of the band. As an original Mod from The Who's early base at the Goldhawk Social Club, Jack befriended Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon in 1962, well before the band skyrocketed to global fame. At the time, they were still performing under their original name, The Detours.
Pete Townshend has frequently credited Irish Jack as a vital influence, citing him as a primary inspiration for the main character in the iconic Mod rock opera, Quadrophenia. Although Jack returned to Cork in 1968, he remained a fixture in the band's story, maintaining close ties and joining them on worldwide tours over the subsequent decades. A storyteller in his own right, Jack has performed readings of his work in London and New York, always centering on his youth in 1960s London and his enduring devotion to The Who.
After reading an online article written by Jack, I contacted Steve Russell, who became instrumental in putting us in touch. Since then, Irish Jack has been incredibly generous with his time and effort, even acting as a liaison between myself, Pete, and Roger. It is entirely thanks to Jack's kindness that the Sulgrave Youth Club project has secured Pete's personal recollections alongside wonderful archival photos of the band.
Below is the email recollection provided by Irish Jack regarding his time at the Sulgrave Club:
"Way back in the mid-nineties, while I was researching my book The Who Concert File, I paid a visit to the Sulgrave Boys Club. Wondering if my name and those of my two younger brothers were still in the old membership books, I met a lovely, helpful gentleman called Tony Dollar. He scoured the building for me, but sadly, there was no trace.
Yet, I remember distinctly my Uncle John taking me across the little green to the club and registering me as a member with Eric Peed. This would have been 1960/61; I was 17 and had just started as a postboy at the London Electricity Board at 154 Uxbridge Road.. we were at 22 Kelmscott. I never knew Pete or Roger at the club, and I didn't meet them until June 1962."
Text by Cinzia D'Ambrosi