Eastbourne-based Tony Norman has released a book charting his early days as a music journalist in 1960s London. Yet while My Cool Sixties opens with tales of interviewing John Lennon and Mick Jagger, this isn’t your typical ‘misty-eyes-I-remember-when’ kind of title.

Rather, Tony wrote the book in the present tense, stepping back into the mind of his young self to recapture the naive excitement that fed off the swinging music scene, playing in a band with his best friends, a bright future and most of all – girls!

Hitch-hiking trips to France, chance meetings with the likes of The Who, Stevie Winwood and Van Morrison, the discovery of Radio Caroline, fights in London clubs and life lessons from wild women are all described through teenage hyperbole and levelled with the day-to-day realities of class divides, financial troubles and cramped living conditions.

My Cool Sixties is a treat for anyone who remembers a time that was more supersmashinggreat than OMG as well as those who want to know what it felt like to come of age during arguably the most exciting decade of the 2oth Century. Read our interview with Tony here…

“When I got married in 1971 I told my future husband that he could choose what he wanted me to get married in…and he chose this Biba outfit”, says one of the many Biba fans whose photographs offer insight into what the cult brand meant people in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The organisers of Brighton Art Fair (21 – 23 September) & MADE12 (23 – 25 November) are offering Vintage Brighton readers 2 for 1 entry into the popular art and craft events at the Corn Exchange. To take advantage of the offer, e-mail your name and address to 241@brightonartfair.co.uk for the Brighton Art Fair by Monday 17th September and 241@made12.co.uk for MADE12 by Monday 19th November.

While many may disagree over whether Nineties is true ‘vintage’, there’s no denying that the decade’s most popular styles are currently enjoying a fashion revival. Here, Shelley Louise Baker, reminisces about the 1990s US TV shows that helped to define her youthful idea of fashion.

To celebrate the launch of Your Inspection Welcome, the vintage interiors book by Vintage Brighton editor Jo-ann Fortune and Mat Keller of Southern Retro, we’re giving away a copy of the book to one lucky VB reader!

The coffee table book (£28.95 at Blurb.com) offers readers private tours around 10 vintage-inspired home interiors through full-room shots, interview features and the stories behind those special finds.

How to enter

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning the book is share with us your own favourite personal piece. Take a photo of the most treasured vintage item from your home and e-mail it, along with a couple of lines about the item, to vintagebrighton@gmail.com.

The authors of the book will choose a winner based on the quality of the image and the story behind it. Your photo may even appear in a follow-up blog post showcasing the cream of the crop.

Deadline for entries is 30 September. Good luck!

Sharon Holloway, co-founder of Vintage Hair Lounge, gives us the lowdown on the hair and make-up specialist’s innovative photoshoot ahead of Goodwood Revival.

While filming for a documentary to help promote the up-coming Biba & Beyond exhibition, Barbara Hulanicki visited the former site of Brighton’s first and only Biba shop on Queens Road.

Peter Blake has never been afraid to put his own fascination with rock and roll heroes at the heart of his work. A self-portrait painted in 1961 portrays the pop artist in American rock ‘n’ roll uniform of denim jacket, turn-ups and baseball shoes – his lapels covered in the band badges he has begun collecting years before. And it’s this personal interest that really work to bring the audience closer to the personal natures of his subjects.

Pallant House Gallery’s Peter Blake and Pop Music exhibition, marking the 80th birthday of the celebrated artist, showcases artworks that chart his own rise to superstardom – from found object collages and emulsion on hardwood paintings to his more recent diamond dust collection of musical icon prints.

With an original jukebox playing the soundtrack to his early career, the first room brings to life Blake’s obsession with Elvis as the idol – apparently he doesn’t much care for his music: There’s a shrine to ‘The King’ made up of pasted images and found objects, paintings of his hysterical fans and a work which even incorporates a scrapbook image bearing its original owner’s lipstick imprint.

Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery opens a major exhibition to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Godfather of Pop Art, Sir Peter Blake on 23 June.

Working with paper is such a wonderfully tactile and simple thing to do, writes illustrator Lou Taylor: For inspiration, I often look to the past to see how other artists have used paper and there’s an incredibly rich history to be inspired by.

A major exhibition opening in September at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery celebrates the career of Biba-founder Barbara Hulanicki, from iconic 1960s and ’70s fashion through fashion illustration to contemporary interior design accomplishments.

Proud Cabaret Brighton in Kemptown put on some of the best vintage-themed events in the city. Get your diaries at the ready for the new monthly listings from May onwards…

On Broadway – 3 May

Dinner, drinks and a show of boylesque and burlesque will be served up to launch Proud Cabaret’s first monthly gay night, with entertainment from all your favorite MGM musicals. A new musical theme every month will ensure that all tastes are catered for.

White Mink – 4 May

Described as “the sounds and styles of the 1920s and ’30s turned upside down and smuggled into the 21st century”, White Mink: Black Cotton ‘Electro Swing versus Speakeasy Jazz’ brings together re-mastered and re-discovered gems mixed by Nick Hollywood and DJ’s El Nino and Lady Kamikazi.

We talk to Judy Berger, organiser of Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fairs and the marketplace at Wayne Hemingway’s Vintage Festivals, about her latest project Vintage Nation – Brighton’s first one-day vintage festival.

Continuing our vintage wedding theme, and answering a number of e-mails we’ve received asking for tips, here is our guide for hen parties looking to enjoy the best of Brighton’s vintage offering.

Barely a week goes by in which I don’t recieve an e-mail about a vintage-themed wedding service, writes Vintage Brighton editor Jo-ann Fortune. If you’re in the market for a vintage wedding, the South East seems to have it covered…