As the Sixties swung and Britain subverted the old order, photographer Philip Townsend was there to record all the prime people of the time: the debs and their beaux, louche lords and club owners, press barons and business moguls, stars and socialites, artists and creatives, royals and ruffians, and above all the new aristocrats of pop and rock, spearheaded by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

A highlight of the show will be the first ever picture session of the Rolling Stones as a group, long before they were famous. Other iconic 60s figures on exhibit will be the Beatles, Nico, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton.

While other photographers took portraits, often closely cropped, Townsend instinctively widened his frame to include backgrounds, landscapes and the sheer feel of the period