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The Argus: Punk Or Dinosaur? Toyah Willcox Is Still A Rebel

October 18th, 2019

Toyah Willcox, the high priestess of punk, is looking forward to returning to the “hot steamy” gigs of her youth.

She is playing a gig at Brighton’s Chalk Live – formerly The Haunt – on November 2 and thinks it will be a blast. “I’m very fond of Brighton,” she said. “When I came here in the Sixties it was a quiet sleepy seaside town, slightly invaded by hippy culture.

“What I like about the venue we’re playing is it goes right back to the punk days, it’s a hot, steamy, stand-up venue, it goes back to the punk ethos.”

Toyah, actress, author and rebel, was a key part of the Seventies/Eighties’ punk scene and starred in cult films Quadrophenia and seminal punk epic Jubilee. Now 61, she was born in Birmingham to a family she describes as remarkable and recalls the potential privilege of her childhood – her grandfather built many of the city’s landmarks.

Despite that, she calls herself the “child from hell” and says she had a violent relationship with her mother.

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