THE Sixties were in full swing when that supreme symbol of the pop era, Carnaby Street fashions, were brought to Blackburn in February, 1966, by home-town star, Lionel Morton, lead singer of the Four Pennies -- and hundreds of teenage fans turned out for the occasion.

The event was the opening of the Inn Place boutique in King Street by 25-year-old Morton and his stage and screen actress wife, Julia Foster. Fellow members of the Blackburn-based Pennies turned out for the ceremony -- drawing so many youngsters to the spot that traffic was stopped and more than a dozen police were needed to control the crowd.

After waiting for more than an hour outside the shop, 25-year-old wheelchair-bound fan Lyllian Singleton found herself in danger of being bowled over several times as excited girls pressed forward. Pictured with the group, with Morton seen standing at the rear, she ended up being invited inside to escape the crush and to share the celebration champagne.

There was another huge surge of the crowd -- in which a policewoman lost her hat -- when the Pennies and 22-year-old Mrs Morton, who the singer has married six months before, appeared later at an upstairs window.

Earlier, Morton, who has shot to fame with the Pennies in May, 1964, when the group topped the charts for a fortnight with their record, 'Juliet,' had told of his aim to bring the clothes of London's trendy Carnaby Street to his men's wear boutique -- into which he was putting a "good deal of money."

A year before, Blackburn magistrates heard just how much he was making when his ex-wife applied for the maintenance she was receiving for herself and their child to be increased from £6 a week to £10 -- as his income was stated to be in the region of the then-phenomenal sum of £20,000 a year.

But just five months after the opening of his boutique, Morton was successfully applying for the amount to be reduced by £2 a week after a dramatic change in his circumstances -- when it was stated that his income now averaged only £25 a week and, overdrawn at the bank, he was having to be helped out financially by his wife. And in November, 1966, the company that he had set up to run the boutique went into voluntary liquidation.

Morton blamed the government's introduction of a spending and credit squeeze for the collapse. "We were doing all right before, taking about £150 a week. But after the squeeze it dropped to about £20 a week. I decided to close before losing any more," he said.

Three years after the Pennies hit the big time, they split up as Morton decided to pursue a solo career. Less than six years after their marriage, he and Julia also broke up.

And if the excitement that accompanied the day the Blackburn star brought the world of Carnaby Street to his home town encapsulated the heady atmosphere of the era, the rapid eclipse of his fame and fortune also symbolised the harsh realities of the fickle world of pop which built up and discarded one-hit wonders as fast as 'mod' fashions changed.