MISTER FREEDOM

Once upon a time - before Punk, before Sex, before Boy and before Seditionaries, there was MISTER FREEDOM, the outrageous pop art emporium of one time wrestler and grunt n' groan man Tommy Roberts, later to become the last manager of Kilburn and The High Roads, instigator of Practical Styling, Tom Tom and Two Columbia Road in East London. In 1969, however he was the purveyor of mercury winged yellow and green bovver boots, appliquéd satin bomber jackets, a natty Prince of Wales check with glitter threads running through it and when inspiration reached final meltdown phase, proprietor of Mister Feedem the first post modern restaurant ever - so far out that you couldn't actually eat anything it sold - unless you liked your blue ham in green bread rolls and purple coffee with yellow froth.

The empire folded shortly after its gastronomic expansion but the goes back further than that. In true pre-punk style Roberts had stolen his name swiftly yet nevertheless outright from a work that was easily as in your face as anything he later came up with MISTER FREEDOM the movie.

Produced in Paris in 68/69, incorporating footage from the riots, a one second cameo appearance by French heart throb Yves Montand, Donald Pleasance as a fingelickin' good ol' boy insane controller, Serge Gainsbourg, wasted yet there, Mister Freedom was a wild pop art parody of US imperial strategy - perhaps the only real Pop Art movie ever - conceived and directed by class award winning photographer and movie director William Klein.