FEE'S BOLANIC MEMORIES - MEETING STEVE PEREGRIN TOOK
October 1978

FEE'S MEETING WITH STEVE PEREGRIN TOOK ... THE WHOLE TAIL ...

The updated text from 'A TRIP THROUGH LADBROKE GROVE: The Life & Times of Underground 'Hero' Steve Peregrin Took'

Preamble: When I met Steve Took I didn't realise who he was, even though I said I was looking for Steve Took. I was looking for the man off the 'Unicorn' LP cover, so when speaking to what I thought was just some 'some stubble-chinned busker' asking if he knew Steve Took, the very fact that I didn't recognise him meant that he didn't tell me he was the man I sought. The fact that I was wearing Marc Bolan badges, including a hand-written one with the wording "Marc Bolan, You are my love, my life, my everything! Come Back, I need you." probably really did NOT help! I was in mourning for my 'Emotional Crutch' and I only wanted to hear "Nice Things about Marc!".
When I have time I'll fill this in with all the details of that meeting.

In September 1999 Mark Rowe - a member of TAG (T.Rex Action Group) who would go on to built the steps at Marc's Shrine invited a Bolan fan; David Mantell back to Kevin and Fee’s house after a Bolan Convention in Birmingham where TAG held a fund raising auction. Had TAG not been formed, Mark would not have gone to the Bolan Convention and would not have invited David back for the night. David is a rare if not unique thing in the UK Bolan Convention Scene, not to be confused with Marc Bolan fans in general, some of whom know Marc didn't do it ALL on his own! But in the UK Bolan Convention Scene David is rarer than Hen's Teeth ... Someone who is a Bolan fan, but had also investigated Steve Took’s post-Tyrannosaurus Rex music. Fee had previously expressed an interest in Steve Took, so David bought his folder of research and music! While Fee was flicking through the press clippings and articles, time stopped! There staring up at me was a face from the past .... The face of the stubble-chinned busker I'd met in Ladbroke Grove who had given me advice on why I must not try heroin even once with such sincerity that I passed it on to my own son. Above Right, An illustration of the press cutting of the man which made the 'penny drop' as I realised the 'Busker' who told the author that he "Knew Steve Took very well!" WAS Steve Took ... A 21-year joke I finally understood. I commissioned this and other Illustrations from the Spanish Juan Manuel Escrihuela for my Biography.

In 2005 TAG installed five Memorial Plaques on the steps for members of T.Rex who had 'passed over'. One plaque was for Steve Peregrin Took. To read about the Project and see photos from the Plaque Ceremony Here. At that time I was not in touch with Steve Took's Family so symbolically David accepted Steve Took's presentation on Tooky's behalf.