School of Rock: Never-before-seen pictures of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at primary school together



One stands up straight and solemn, unrecognisable as the dynamic showman we know today.

The other, slightly jug-eared, grins with just a hint of mischief - a future hellraiser in the making.

Who could have guessed these two schoolboys would one day change the face of music?

Now, released 50 years after the formation of the Rolling Stones, this never-before-seen photo captures the moment Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met for the first time - at primary school.


Legends in the making: A class photograph shows Mick Jagger (circled left) and Keith Richards (circled right) when they attended Wentworth Primary School, in Dartford, Kent


Partners in crime: Jagger and Richards, pictured in 2010, might not be so fresh-faced these days, but their friendship endures more than 60 years after they first met

The snap shots show the boys - who would grow up to become two of the world’s biggest rock and roll icons - innocently taking their place among the rows of angelic children in 1951.
The pair met that year when they enrolled at Wentworth Primary School, in Dartford, Kent.
The would-be stars later went to separate secondary schools but rekindled their early friendship when they bumped into each other while carrying guitars ten years later.
Legendary Stones guitarist Richards and frontman Jagger went on to sell more than 200 million records worldwide and record classic hits such as Jumping Jack Flash, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction and You Can’t Always Get What You Want.


Now to commemorate the band's formation in 1962, the forming members’ primary school has released the pictures to celebrate their two most famous old boys.
A register from their time at the school shows Michael Philip Jagger and Keith Richards' names just one entry apart.


Present! A school register shows entries for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards when the two future Rolling Stones attended Wentworth Primary


Rock relics: A tour programme shows the Stones' creative duo at work, a world apart from the two knock-kneed schoolboys pictured in the class lineup


Bad boys: The former classmates pictured while on bail for drugs charges in 1967


Creative duo: Rolling Stones stars Keith Richards (right) and Mick Jagger onstage in Dallas in 1975

The artefacts were presented to Wentworth Primary School last year to mark the school’s 60th anniversary, with the photograph - belonging to a former classmate of the rockstars - passed on in the belief that it was best place for it to be kept.

Deputy head teacher Paul Langridge today said the school’s grounds remain a pilgrimage spot for Stones fans hunting for information about their idols.

He said: 'It is a great talking point for the school that we have two international superstars who sat on the same hall floor that the children do today.

'We have had Japanese, American and German visitors come and take pictures and film so it’s nice that our school in Kent has become an attraction.'


 'Wrinkly rockers': These days Sir Mick (left) and Keith Richards might be showing the wear and tear of decades in the music business, but they're still planning an anniversary tour to mark 50 years together

Mr Langridge added: 'We do use the stories of Sir Mick and Keith as a source of inspiration for the children and tell them you can achieve like they did.'
After they left Wentworth Primary Sir Mick Jagger went to Dartford Grammar, while Keith Richards went to Dartford Technology College.
The Rolling Stones played their first ever gig in London on July 12, 1962, after Jagger and Richards spotted each other with guitars at Dartford Railway Station, in 1961.
This year marks 50 years since the Stones got together, although the affectionately nicknamed ‘wrinkly rockers’ have delayed their tour until next year, according to reports.
Wentworth Primary School today said it had no plans for events to mark the 50th anniversary.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135632/School-Rock-Never-seen-pictures-...

That's probably the earliest circulating photo of them together. Amazing.

Really amazing photo.  Proof of our claims that something supernatural was afoot in the genesis of The Rolling Stones.  Smithsonian.  Turinesque.  Sasquatchian.  Grassy knoll.

Proof things never change.  Mick looks cute and serious and Keith has the impish 'I'm up to something' look.  Fabulous!

Lil 'Brenda' and Lil 'Percy' - splendid fello's.

Love these old pictures, I wonder why it took so long to turn up, Mick & Keith in the same (class) picture together

I guess it's just me {it MUST be}, but those pix look familiar to me. I could have sworn I'd seen those class pix before.... I must be slowly losing my mind...{or else my imagination is getting healthier.  } Anyway, they are just fantastic! I mean, the history that is to come, residing in those innocent class pix.....amazing!

sirmoonie wrote on Apr 26^th, 2012 at 8:44pm:


Mythic. Classic.

see Romulus and Remus.

Have you seen your Granny, baby, standing with a 'very shy' Mick Jagger: Fellow pupils remember time at primary school attended by the Stones
By SARA NATHAN

 
At school, we all make friends we'll remember for the rest of our lives.
In the case of Julie Constantine and Peter Holland, it would have been impossible to forget a couple of their classmates. For they happened to be Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
The Mail yesterday published a photo of the would-be rock stars as seven-year-olds on their first day at primary school.


Julie Constantine (circled right) pictured with Mick Jagger (circled left) at a friends birthday party in Dartford


Julie said Keith Richards was shy and retiring but Jagger had a fun nature and good sense of humour

Today, pupils who posed for the same picture give a fascinating insight into the personalities of the young Stones.

They said Richards – who went on to be imprisoned for drugs and undergo treatment for heroin addiction – was a 'shy little boy' with barely any friends, while Jagger was a lively class clown.

Some admitted they were not Stones fans, while one even confessed he had tried to stop Jagger quitting university for music.

Grandmother-of-two Julie Constantine, 68, was pictured next to Sir Mick, also 68, in the 1951 Wentworth Primary School photo.

Taller than her friend, with her hair in pigtails, Mrs Constantine, who now lives in Harwich, Essex, was then seven.

She said: 'Mick was more social and Keith was a little more retiring. Mick was very funny. He had a good sense of humour, I remember that, and I remember cheering him on when he was on the cricket field.'

Mrs Constantine never believed Richards would be able to cope with the limelight after joining the Stones, saying: 'Poor little Keith kept himself to himself. When it was revealed that Keith was part of Mick's group, I couldn't believe it because they were almost opposites.


'We were all in the same class together, all the way through primary school, but I don't ever remember them together. Mick was more my favourite – if there was a bit of fun, he'd be the one laughing the loudest.'

Mrs Constantine, who still owns a picture of herself with Sir Mick at a childhood birthday party, mused: 'I don't ever remember his lips being so big…he just looked like a happy little boy.'


Peter Holland (centre circle next to Jagger with a black cat) was at the Wentworth School. Keith Richards is circled to the left


Mr Holland said that the young Jagger listened to 'way out' music while they grew up together

The grandmother-of-two said the last time she saw Sir Mick was when she was aged about 14. By then, he was a pupil at Dartford Grammar School, and Mrs Constantine had gone on to Dartford West Secondary. Some years later her mother spotted Sir Mick and Richards on Top of the Pops.

She said: 'It was incredible to see them prancing about. I didn't think they would make it – especially knowing how shy Keith had been.'

Peter Holland, 68, who was also in the school photo, revealed he had tried to talk Sir Mick out of leaving university to launch a music career.

The retired IT manager lived just 100 yards away from Jagger and stayed friends with the singer in 1960s as the star studied at the London School of Economics.

Now living in Swansea, he said: 'I knew Mick from the age of five. When we were in our early teens Mick listened to way out records, I was more mainstream. He used to listen to Chuck Berry, he liked blues and American music. He used to listen to American Forces Network whereas the rest of us were listening to Radio Luxembourg.'

He added: 'I don't think we had music lessons at primary school, but at grammar school we had them every week. I don't, however, remember Mick showing an interest in formal music. When he told me he had been singing I was very surprised.

'The last time I saw him was in London in 1963 when Mick had just passed his second year university exams.

'He told me he was quitting university. I told him not to be stupid and he should finish his degree first. He said the time was right. He did not take my advice. But he was right in the end.'


First day at school: 1: Mick Jagger, 2: Julie Constantine, 3: Keith Richards and 4: Peter Holland


School Admissions book showing entries for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and a tour programme next to one of the school pictures

Another classmate, John Spinks, 68, enjoyed a career in the aerospace industry after studying at university. The father-of-two said: 'I do not remember Mick being musical at school and I do not think he is musical now. I do not like his music.

'We were friends at school. We both went to grammar school but I chose the science subjects and he did the arty stuff.

'I remember he once climbed over my back garden and got a railing stuck through his hand.

'His mother was a small, fiery woman and his father was a tall, meek and mild man.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136449/Have-seen-grandmother-baby-stand...

Tremendous photos - thank you for posting.

Interesting commentary from school mates, showing photos reveal little.  Jagger was the boy wonder.

Some preety (or proto-preety) preety preety preety preety preety girls in those photos, shirley?

Next, some poignant, lovely and humourous snaps of Eva, Bas, Dor and Bert?

Beautifuel.