Jeremy Fletcher photographed many of the rising stars of the Sixties, often as commissions for the hip girls’ magazine Fabulous, while working under the name ‘Julian Hann’. You can see some of his iconic photographs of the era in our picture gallery. To buy prints of any of the images or check out more of his work, please visit his website.
Post-boarding school (prison) life began for me in 1959 (aged 17) when I got a job as a photographic assistant in a studio off Gloucester Road. I worked for three different photographers over a period of four years. One of them did fashion and my favourite task was standing behind nearly naked, buxom models, hanging lead weights on their bra straps to make them fit tighter.
In 1964, I finally summoned up enough courage to break away and set myself up as a freelance photographer, based in Notting Hill Gate. For some obscure reason I called myself Julian Hann, Julian being my first name (though I’d never been called it) and Hann being my mother’s maiden name. I had no work and few prospects. It’s so often ‘who you know’ in life that gets you the break. Mine came in the shape of Hamish Grimes, a friend, who worked with Giorgio Gomelsky, manager of the Yardbirds. I also got a call from Manfred Mann as a result of a cousin of mine having a chat with the band members after a gig in Portsmouth. So I became, for a short time, a music 
photographer.
I doubt very much whether I would have ever set foot in either The Marquee or The Flamingo had I not been asked to take photos of Manfred Mann at one and the Zoot Money Big Roll Band at the other. I did several sessions with both bands and it was all enormous fun. It wasn’t work for me, although, as far as I can remember, I did get paid for it. Both bands (though very different musically) generated a huge amount of excitement and it was a joy to be part of it, both as a photographer and as a spectator. We were all much the same age, and life was to be lived and never to be boring.
Soon after my first couple of sessions, I started getting jobs from Fabulous Magazine, the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, Hollies, Kinks, Mojos, Sounds Incorporated, Cilla Black, Millie, Swinging Blue Jeans - but alas, never the Beatles. Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was Fabulous asking me to turn up at some obscure venue to photograph the Beatles. The call never came. I did, however, take a few shots of one Jimmy Nicol who was drumming for Georgie Fame at the Flamingo when someone whispered in my ear that he was about to replace Ringo for the forthcoming Australian tour, Ringo being sick. During this time, I was also doing some part-time work for a car hire company, and I actually delivered a car (probably a Vauxhall Viva!) to Ringo and made damn sure I shook him by the hand. He wasn’t impressed.
Those were fun-filled days and all my memories of them are good ones. It was such a great time to be young.