Dave on flame

Fifty years on from their explosive debut single “New Rose”, THE DAMNED have evolved from punk pioneers to national treasures. But as a new album pays tribute to Brian James, their fallen co-founder, bandmates Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible and Rat Scabies – along with sundry eyewitnesses and ne’erdo-wells – recall the volatile beginnings, creative vision and incorrigible spirit of The Damned’s groundbreaking first act. “It was CID, villains and the Captain in a nurse’s outfit,” hears Peter Watts

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In the spring of 1974, DAVID BOWIE arrived in the United States by boat. By the time he left in the spring of 1976, his marriage was ending, his cocaine addiction was spiralling, and he'd become obsessed with Nazis. He'd also made another masterpiece: Station To Station. "We went days without sleeping," his valiant co-conspirators tell GRAYSON HAVER CURRIN. "Inhibitions were out the window."

It’s a retirement project like no other. Film editor Noel Cronin launched a nostalgia-themed TV channel from his home near Watford which now gets five million views

6 DECEMBER

Squeeze ’s songwriting duo are back in harness, toting a rock opera they wrote in the ’70s with an all-new album to come. Given their near-constant strife, it’s a miracle. But as they insist, “the thing that always brings us together is the songs…”