A Rock Island locomotive, c.1880

The Crane River Jazz Band, c.1950 (© Martin Colyer)

The Crane River Jazz Band open for Big Bill Broonzy, February 1952 (© Martin Colyer)

Bunk Johnson and Lead Belly with George Lewis and Alcide Pavageau, Stuyvesant Casino, New York, c.June 1946 (© William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress)

Ken Colyer in New Orleans, 1952 (© Martin Colyer)

Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen, 1953 (© Martin Colyer)

The founding fathers of British rock: Ken Colyer, Alexis Korner, Lonnie Donegan, Bill Colyer and Chris Barber play together in Ken Colyer’s Skiffle Group, 1953 (© Martin Colyer)

Ken Colyer’s Skiffle Group, 1953 (© Martin Colyer)

The trio that recorded ‘Rock Island Line’ (1954) (© Chas McDevitt)

The Sunday Pictorial compares the old Edwardians with the new, 11 January 1953

A trad jazz fan in home-made attire: Delphine Colyer, 1954 (© Martin Colyer)

Lonnie Donegan gets the kids jiving, 1954 (© Chas McDevitt)

Denis Preston (© Richard Preston)

Denis Preston with Mike McKenzie and Marie Bryant, c.1952 (© Richard Preston)

A session at the Round House Skiffle and Blues Club, Soho, 1956 (© Pete King, courtesy fRoots magazine archive)

The City Ramblers, publicity shot, 1958 (© Hylda Sims)

Flyer announcing the opening of Studio Skiffle, April 1956 (courtesy fRoots magazine archive)

Jamming at the 44 Club, 1956 (© Ernie Greenwood, courtesy fRoots magazine archive)

A poster for Lonnie Donegan’s June 1956 gig in Cleveland, Ohio

Teenagers dancing outside the Gaiety Cinema following a showing of Rock Around the Clock, Manchester, 21 September 1956 (© Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Jazz, Ballads and Blues at Lewisham Town Hall, 1955 (© Martin Colyer)

Bo Bo Buquet and Pete Maynard of the City Ramblers, Studio Skiffle, 1956 (© Ernie Greenwood, courtesy fRoots magazine archive)

The Ramblers (author’s collection)

Alan Lomax and the Ramblers’ Skiffle Album songbook, 1957 (author’s collection)

The Vipers Skiffle Group (© Terry Cryer)

Outside 2 I’s, Soho (© Chas McDevitt)

The Vipers on stage at the 2 I’s in 1956

Lonnie Donegan plays Liverpool, November 1956 (© Sharon Donegan)

The Quarrymen, November 1957

The Ghouls perform amid the salami at Orlando’s (© Daily Herald Archive/Science and Society Picture Library)

(S)Cool for Cats. Skiffle on the variety circuit, 1957 (© Pete Maynard)

Ed Sullivan meets skiffle, New York, 1957 (© Chas McDevitt)

The Saxons rehearse for their Six-Five Special appearance at St Thomas Youth Club, Dagenham, July 1956 (© Mike Platt)

The Skiffle Cellar, 49 Greek Street, Soho (© Terry Cryer)

The Eden Street Skiffle Group jam with their mentor, Wally Whyton (© Brian Jackman)

Skiffle is pushed down the bill by British teen stars

The Rambler fanzine, February 1958 (courtesy fRoots magazine archive)

Redd Sullivan sings with the John Hasted Skiffle Group, 1956 (© Chas McDevitt)