Tigrett, a native of Jackson,⁸ Tennessee (TN), US was born in 1947. He belonged to a well-to-do business family. He was raised in Tennessee till the age of fifteen. Ninety per cent of the population of Tigrett's hometown was Afro-American and like other southern cities of the US at that time, there was strict segregation. This racialism hurt Tigrett. So, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964⁹ removed segregation signs in the US, Tigrett commented, "Those signs were blatant emblems of classism. They were constant reminders to the majority of people - black people - in that city that they weren't as good as others. Then-swoosh-the signs are gone! All of a sudden people - all of us, not just blacks - are more human."¹⁰ 

In the 1960s, there was a deep divide among the social classes in England. The various social classes had their own clubs, pubs, etc. There was no place in London where people from different classes could meet. "I wanted to break that system," said Tigrett.¹² He wanted to open a 'classless restaurant.' Tigrett was already toying with the idea of creating a forum where music fans could congregate and spend time together. During this period, Tigrett met a fellow American, Morton, who opened a restaurant in London in 1970` called 'The Great American Disaster'. It sold hamburgers, an American specialty...