It’s not surprising that, in the 40 years since the launch of the original Skin Two club on January 31, 1983, the origin story of this pioneering event has become a little muddled in the retelling – writes Tony Mitchell.

Individual memories from the period have naturally become less sharp with age — people involved in the original club are now in their sixties at least (seventies in my case).

But in some retellings of the tale, omissions of certain key details have led to some slightly misleading ideas about the birth of our modern fetish scene.

At an ISMS talk I’m hosting on Sunday Jan 22 at the Bishopsgate Institute in London EC2, I and two guest speakers also involved in the original Skin Two club will be shedding light on how the club came into being, who the original participants were and what went on at those early groundbreaking nights.

In contrast to what some versions of fetish history suggest, London’s original Skin Two Club was the joint brainchild of actor, club host, DJ and record label owner David Claridge, in partnership with theatrical costumier Daniel James, who is one of my two guest speakers.

Daniel creates first true latex fashion

Daniel was inspired by the project to create what were hailed as the first real latex fashion garments, subsequently much featured in Bob Carlos Clarke’s photography.

These days Daniel does a nifty line in (non-latex) custom shirts for the likes of Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood.

Beverley Glick, then aka ‘Betty Page’ and original Skin Two club member 001, is my other insider guest. Bev and I — both music journalists at the time — helped with Skin Two’s launch and were part of its inner circle until David Claridge left to pursue a more lucrative career in television.

If you don’t already know what TV job he landed, you might be quite surprised by what the talk will reveal!

Bev, incidentally, went on to have a career in Fleet Street newspapers and is now a professional communications coach. I went on to contribute to and later edit Skin Two