THIS will come as news to today’s teenagers, but they didn’t invent having fun or staying up half the night in the company of musicians, scenesters and sundry creatures.

However, it’s possible the youth of Andrew Ings’ vibrant vox pop book did.

They were the first to come of age after the end of rationing and the loosening of the austerely tightened post-war belt.

The book is filled with the voices of those who frequented the 2 I’s coffee bar in Soho, famed for being the place where Tommy Steele, Cliff Richard and others cut their teeth on the pre-rock skiffle scene in the late 1950s.

Half a century after the events, the memories are as vivid and universal as ever.