Horace Dammers

Imani · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 1828 Location: Bradford

AKA Jerry's father... has a fascinating biography. A potted version can be found on Wiki. The following is a section.

'He was born in Great Yarmouth, on 10 July 1921 to a family of Hanoverian origin; his great-grandfather was Adjutant-General to King George V of Hanover. Dammers was educated at Malvern (where he was given the name 'Horace' in reference to his countryman's ruddy complexion) and Pembroke College, Cambridge.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Dammers

Today is Jerry's birthday, which coincidentally he shares with Sun Ra and Dennis Bovell.

Harry · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1738 Location: London

Happy 65th to Jerry! Very Happy

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I got one art O'level it did nothing for me

salmongang · Joined: 04 Mar 2010 Posts: 62 Location: ghost town

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JERRY!!! You're sorely missed in the current incarnation of your group!!!

marigold · Joined: 16 May 2010 Posts: 3288 Location: washington. d. c.

What provenance! - thank you Imani - as your post has lead to some cool links .......

https://layreadersbookreviews.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/thank-you-holy-spirit-horace-dammers/

and many happy returns to Jerry Dammers : )
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marigold

done donald · Joined: 11 Jul 2009 Posts: 204 Location: Culmore

Also shares his birthday with George Best...

Today is Jerry's birthday, which coincidentally he shares with Sun Ra and Dennis Bovell.[/quote]
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It’s A Wonderful Life. It’s a wonderful film, but the more I watch it the more I want Potter to succeed. Not least when that lot up the road come out into the street every New Year’s Eve, drunk on Ptolemy’s hock, hugging each other and going “Hee-haw, hee-haw”…

Imani · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 1828 Location: Bradford

Imani · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 1828 Location: Bradford

Imani · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 1828 Location: Bradford

As I recall, Jerry was always very reticent about speaking of his past during the Specials' heyday, and if you read about Joe Strummer's family background, it's similar in terms of being more privileged than the 'average Joe'. At the very least it was played down.

I can only guess this was because it wouldn't have fit in with their respective bands' rude boy/punk/working class rebel image. Saying that, some of Jerry's youth definitely did fit the mold.

Imani · Joined: 26 Apr 2008 Posts: 1828 Location: Bradford

Some of this may be familiar to anyone who may have read very early interviews, or was a member of the 2 Tone Fan Club back in 80-82, Willo's book etc. Or 'Hoolies: True Stories of Britain's Biggest Street Battles' by Garry Bushell, which has a very good section dealing with the birth of 2 Tone. Here's an excerpt:

'Dammers grew up in the Midlands, where his teenage years were turbulent. He rebelled repeatedly against his parents' expectations and their restrictive respectability. At 13 he was a mod. At 15 he'd run away to join a hippy commune. At 16 he was a skinhead. And at 16 he was drinking and vandalising heavily, smashing phone boxes, booting in shop windows and tearing the aerials off cars: dumb, bog-standard, bored teen excesses. Jerry's antisocial activities came to an abrupt halt only after he'd been dragged before a beak and fined £250 for kicking in the roof of a family motor [while the family was still in the car!] Scared of 'prison next time', he calmed down and directed his energies into music.'