Queen Elizabeth, Teenybopper

Courier Mail Wednesday 19 September 1956

The Queen sees Rock 'n' roll Film

London. September 18. (AAP)- Queen Elizabeth has asked to see the film “Rock Around the Clock” which has led to rock 'n' roll disturbances in several British towns.

A copy of the film was sent from London yesterday to Balmoral, where the Queen is on holiday, the Daily Mirror said today.

The Daily Express reported that showings of “Rock Around the Clock” has been banned by country councils in Stockport, Cheshire, and Gloucestershire yesterday.

But at Burt St. Edmunds in Suffolk, no objections were raised by members of a watch committee after a private showing of the film.

Sir Malcolm Sargeant, conductor of the BBC symphony orchestra, said to day that rock 'n' roll music was “nothing more than an exhibition of primitive tom tom thumping, and was ‘centuries old’. It was not ‘new and wonderful’ as many young people thought. It had been played in the jungles for centuries.”

At age 86, Queen Elizabeth reminds no one of a rocker--although she does hand out a lot of knighthoods to musicians. But in 1956, at age 30, she could really groove.



She was obviously remembering those days in 1979, when she and Bill Haley reconnected for the first time in nearly 25 years.




[Original text here.]