I didn’t know it at the time but I think I saw the very first gig by this band – London – at The Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington.

I saw a lot of bands there, including XTC, The Lurkers and Wayne (or maybe Jayne) County, but not The Clash, despite regularly being “informed” by locals that they used to play there. Because they didn’t.

These guys did. They played their first gig there in early 1977 and by December that same year they had broken up, leaving a slender legacy of two singles and a posthumous album, released in 1978.

London never made the big time but I remember this, their debut single Everyone’s A Winner (not the Hot Chocolate song), as if it were yesterday. That chorus is a bit of an earworm.

What I also didn’t know at the time was that their drummer, Jon Moss, had just turned down the vacant drum seat in The Clash – nor that he would end up playing with The Damned and Adam & The Ants before finding fame (and love) in Culture Club.

Formed in late 1976, London had heavyweight backing – their manager was Simon Napier Bell (ex- Yardbirds, Bolan, Ultravox, Japan and Wham!) – and major label support from MCA, but never made the big time.

After they split, Regan became a comedy writer under his real name, Miles Tredinnick, and guitarist Dave (real name Colin) Wight had stints in Metro and Holly & The Italians, of whom I was a big fan.

Wight then became an academic, specialising in international relations. He is Professor Emeritus at Sydney University and author of several books including Agents Structures and International Relations (Cambridge University Press).

Surprisingly, considering I haven’t really thought of them since they broke up 45 years ago, I find they re-formed with two of the original members – Riff Regan and bassist Steve Voice – and were still plugging away as recently as 2020.