All I saw at first were four bristle heads, four pairs of blue jeans (with braces) and eight heavy, leather boots. Then came the first surprise, they all stood up and shook hands! I felt much better and sat down. The second surprise came when I started chatting to two of Slade, and they spoke normal English - no skinhead language like "agro" or "bovver" in their vocabulary. The two I spoke to were Jim Lea, aged 18 from Wolverhampton, and Dave Hill, also 18 , and also from Wolverhampton.

"We don't mind being called skinheads, if it wasn't that it would be something else wouldn't it?" said Dave. "We got interested in the craze-and we liked the idea of short hair. "Actually we've been together as a group for three years, and before we got our hair cut short two months ago we were just another long haired group. Yes our hair was very long, but then we heard about the skinheads, and we realised that it was becoming very popular, and we were fed up with all the bother of long hair - long hair is a real drag, so we became skinheads.

"All skinheads don't wear jeans and braces and big boots like us though!" Said Dave. "Some wear 'Royals' - smart shoes - and they are smart and ordinary skinheads. "The trouble is, people are labelling us because of our dress again," he went on. "If someone works in an office, wears long hair,a white shirt and a collar and tie, then he's respectable. But if he has short hair, jeans, braces and boots- then he's a skinhead, and everyone hates them. People shouldn't put other people in categories."

Any message to Mirabelle readers, I asked Dave. "Yes." he said in sergeant major tones. "GET YER HAIR CUT!!/strong>"