Cloakroom · Tuesdays · 4 Great Queen Street

Culture Club

1Free
BBoy George
JJon Moss
RRoy Hay
MMikey Craig

Peg 1 is free. The band’s names hang over them, left to right.

Culture Club in an Epic Records publicity photograph, about 1983: from left, Boy George, Jon Moss, Roy Hay and Mikey Craig. Mark Lebon; distributed by Epic Records, public domain.

Before the front pages, Boy George took the coats at the Blitz. This page is his cloakroom: work the rail and every coat gives back a place.

Eltham, south-east London · the 1970s

Sent home,
again.

Boy George went to Eltham Green School in south-east London as a teenager. It is now Harris Academy Greenwich.

Sent home for

A safety pin in his tie
Platform shoes
Extra panels in his jeans

He names his art teacher, Mr Riddock, as the one who helped.

In 2024 he said he had tried to visit and been turned away. The Harris Federation said it had no record of the request and that he would be welcome.

Sources

A tree-lined suburban road of brick terraced houses in Eltham — Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, the road the school stands on, in 2015. Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0

Eltham Green School, now Harris Academy Greenwich

A working school: see it from Middle Park Avenue and don’t go in.

The Blitz, Covent Garden · Tuesdays, 1979–1981

The coats,
and the places.

Boy George worked in the club’s cloakroom. Blitz was a Tuesday club night at a wine bar, also called Blitz, at 4 Great Queen Street. It ran from 1979 to 1981.

Steve Strange kept the door and let in only people whose clothes and make-up fitted. Rusty Egan was the DJ: Kraftwerk, Bowie, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Roxy Music, Joy Division. When David Bowie wanted people for his Ashes to Ashes video in 1980, he turned to the Blitz Kids.

The band’s name points at its four members and where they came from.

Sources

A black round plaque reading that Spandau Ballet first performed here at the Blitz Club — The PRS for Music plaque at 4 Great Queen Street, 2019. Spudgun67 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Ticket No. 2 is at the counter. Find peg 2 on the rail.

Each coat you hand back opens a place: its photograph, what happened there and how to visit.

Red Bus, Salisbury Street · summer 1982

One take,
half the tape.

Boy George sang the lead in one take, live with the band, top to toe, with no edits. He sang it in a padded corridor, not the live room, to keep the band out of his microphone.

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me was finished at Red Bus in the summer of 1982, produced by Steve Levine. Helen Terry’s backing vocals, which open the song, were recorded separately and edited in. The Roland CR-78 drum machine from the band’s demo turns up in the last fading moments.

1—2—3—4—5—6—7—8—9—10—11—12—13—14—15—16—17—18—19—20—21—22—23—24—

A blank sheet: 24 tracks. Lay them down.

Our drawing. Levine’s account names these parts and the total; it does not say which numbered track each sat on.

Sources

A three-storey yellow-brick building with a grey ground floor and a blue plaque — Red Bus Recording Studios, 34 Salisbury Street, in 2025. Spudgun67 · CC0

Red Bus Recording Studios · 34 Salisbury Street, Marylebone, London NW8 8QE

Judd Lander played harmonica on Church of the Poison Mind and then Karma Chameleon, after Levine sent him a cassette of the rough track. He remembers the studio as near Baker Street.

The studio credits Levine with Kissing to Be Clever, Colour by Numbers and Waking Up with the House on Fire. In April 2015 it became the first building in the UK given a Heritage Foundation blue plaque for its part in music.

A working studio, booked by artists and not open for tours. The blue plaque is on the front, on Salisbury Street.

Sources

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane · October 1982

Someone else’s
slot.

Top of the Pops · running order

…Earlier acts

?Empty: Shakin’ Stevens has pulled out

…Later acts

A gap in the running order, the night before.

No. 1Week one
No. 1Week two
No. 1Week three

No. 1 from 23 October to 12 November 1982. The card is our drawing: only the empty slot and who filled it come from our sources.

Culture Club got onto Top of the Pops in October 1982 because Shakin’ Stevens pulled out. After the show the papers put the singer on their front pages, more interested in how he looked than in the song.

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me was No. 1 for three weeks, from 23 October to 12 November 1982.

Sources

The curved front of BBC Television Centre behind its Wood Lane gates — BBC Television Centre from Wood Lane, 2013, the year the BBC moved out. Robert Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0

BBC Television Centre · 101 Wood Lane, White City, London W12

The BBC’s restored photographs of Television Centre include backstage views of Top of the Pops. Television Centre opened on 29 June 1960. The BBC sold it in 2012. Today it holds a cinema, restaurants, a gym and pool, White City House and television studios.

The old BBC building now has homes, working TV studios, a cinema, restaurants and White City House. Walk up from Wood Lane; the studios are not open to visitors.

Soho House

White City House, Television Centre

Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London W12 · See the site

A members’ club and hotel inside the old BBC Television Centre, where Culture Club took Shakin’ Stevens’s place on Top of the Pops in 1982. Check the booking terms on its page.

See rooms

Culture Club posed in baseball shirts in front of British and American flags — Culture Club in an HBO publicity photograph, 1983–84. HBO; distributed by Epic Records · Public domain

Two white river boats moored on the Thames under a grey sky — Paddle steamers on the Thames at Kingston, 2011: not the boat in the video, but the same river. Eirian Evans · CC BY-SA 2.0

Karma Chameleon · 1983 · named, not mapped

The Mississippi,
1870.

Peter Sinclair directed the Karma Chameleon video, shot on a steamboat.

Karma Chameleon sold 1,405,000 copies in Britain, the biggest-selling single of 1983.

No source used here names the stretch of river, so the Thames is named and not mapped. The photograph shows paddle steamers at Kingston.

Sources

Hammersmith · Notting Hill · Wembley · Virginia

Four nights
out.

1983

The long cream art deco front of the Hammersmith Apollo — The Hammersmith Odeon, now the Eventim Apollo, in 2008. Alex.muller · CC BY-SA 3.0

Hammersmith Odeon, now the Eventim Apollo

A Kiss Across the Ocean, Culture Club’s concert film, was recorded live here in December 1983.

It came out in 1984, directed by Keef, about an hour long.

Still a concert hall: buy a ticket for a show. It is a short walk from Hammersmith station.

Sources

Eventim Apollo

A show at the Eventim Apollo

45 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith · See listings

The old Hammersmith Odeon, where A Kiss Across the Ocean was filmed in December 1983, is still a concert hall. See its listings.

See what’s on

1984

A pale brick former chapel with arched windows on Basing Street — The former chapel on Basing Street, later the studio, now flats, in 2021. Hassocks5489 · CC0

Basing Street, once Sarm West

Band Aid recorded Do They Know It’s Christmas? at Sarm West on Sunday 25 November 1984.

Boy George sang one of the featured solos.

The studio was on Basing Street, W11. The site has since been sold for development, and Sarm moved to Ladbroke Grove.

The studio building has gone to developers. Basing Street is a public street off Westbourne Park Road; see the old chapel front from the pavement.

Sources

2016

The lit front of Wembley Arena at night with a crowd outside — Outside Wembley Arena at night, November 2015. Ben Sutherland · CC BY 2.0

Wembley Arena, now OVO Arena Wembley

With all four original members, Culture Club ended a 60-city reunion world tour at Wembley Arena at the end of 2016.

The show came out as Live at Wembley, on DVD, Blu-ray, CD and vinyl.

A working arena: see what is on. It is a short walk from Wembley Park station.

Sources

2018

An open-sided timber concert pavilion with an audience on the lawn — The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, a National Park Service photograph. National Park Service · Public domain

Wolf Trap

Culture Club’s 2018 tour was booked into Wolf Trap on 18 July, with the B-52s and Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins.

That summer the band had their first new album in nearly 20 years on the way.

A national park for the performing arts with an outdoor stage. Check the season’s shows before you go.

Sources

Wolf Trap

A night at Wolf Trap

Vienna, Virginia · See listings

The outdoor stage in Virginia where Culture Club’s 2018 tour was booked. Check the season’s shows.

See the season

Where it is now

Closing time,
8 places to go.

Peg 1 is empty.

In London, Great Queen Street is a short walk from Holborn and Salisbury Street from Marylebone. Television Centre, Basing Street and the Hammersmith Odeon are all in west London; Wembley is further out and Eltham is in the south-east.

Where it is now

8 places you can visit, from Eltham to Virginia. The Thames where Karma Chameleon was filmed is named but not mapped, because our source does not say which stretch.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working school: see it from Middle Park Avenue and don’t go in.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. No club is here now. See the much-changed front from Great Queen Street, a public street, a few minutes from Holborn station.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio, booked by artists and not open for tours. The blue plaque is on the front, on Salisbury Street.

Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, the road the school stands on, in 2015. Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0
Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5EQ
Eltham Green School, now Harris Academy Greenwich
Boy George went to Eltham Green School in south-east London as a teenager. It is now Harris Academy Greenwich.
A working school: see it from Middle Park Avenue and don’t go in.
Sources
4 Great Queen Street, the much-changed former home of the Blitz, in 2021. Nhw11pictures21 · CC BY-SA 4.0
4 Great Queen Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B
Site of the Blitz
Blitz was a Tuesday club night at a wine bar, also called Blitz, at 4 Great Queen Street. It ran from 1979 to 1981.
No club is here now. See the much-changed front from Great Queen Street, a public street, a few minutes from Holborn station.
Sources
Red Bus Recording Studios, 34 Salisbury Street, in 2025. Spudgun67 · CC0
34 Salisbury Street, Marylebone, London NW8 8QE
Red Bus Recording Studios
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me was finished at Red Bus in the summer of 1982, produced by Steve Levine.
A working studio, booked by artists and not open for tours. The blue plaque is on the front, on Salisbury Street.
Sources

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