David 'Bat' Goddard is something of a jukebox for stories. Submit any question, and the self-pronounced journeyman will readily regale several tales from a life well-lived.

Digging up unexploded bombs, meeting countless celebrities, avoiding the Vietnam War draft, male stripping - the 76-year-old has done it all.

But when Nub News met him outside the Windsor Pub, we had one very specific story in mind. We wanted to know why post-war Penarth briefly became one of the country's most exciting rock and roll hotspots.

Given Bat's star-spangled attire, his Transatlantic twang and the fact he is currently restoring a Chevrolet pickup truck, it first felt necessary to probe a little into his background. The answer was as fascinating and unique as the man himself.

Three countries, no birthday

Bat doesn't know for sure how old he is. He thinks he was born in December 1944, but with no birth certificate there is no way to be certain.

His mother was a paediatric nurse from the Republic of Ireland. She joined many of her compatriots who came to work in the UK during the Second World War, and eventually settled in Penarth. There she met Bat's father, an American GI named Frederick Altman.

They had a child and named him Batavius Gottleib Altman. Like so many wartime romances with US troops, their relationship ended when the War did.

In 1948, his mother married Penarthian and long distance lorry driver John William Goddard, who became Bat's step father. They renamed the child David Goddard. The family lived on what is now Queen's Road, right in the heart of the Bowery - arguably Penarth's poorest neighbourhood made poorer by the war.

Despite the new name, 'Bat' stuck. School friends assumed it was a nickname from the comic book Caped Crusader.

"Like music from another planet"

"It was a tough time, not a lot of money," remembers Bat of his upbringing.

"Everything was on ration - clothing, food. No one had very much at all but we all had a lot of fun."

The link between struggle and creativity is often made. And it is certainly true that very few of the great British rockstars from the 60s and 70s came from affluent backgrounds. Keith Richards, John Lennon, David Bowie - all say the dreariness of post-war Britain left them crying out for excitement and counterculture, music with sexuality and attitude.

But one specific historical-geographical-geological condition made 50s Penarth particularly ripe for rock and roll's picking.

Due to the then still thriving coal industry, Penarth was inhabited and frequently visited by merchant sailors, some of whom would bring back records from their travels. Much like Liverpool, this made Penarth a confluence of influences, a fertile ground for the genre to spread.

This made Bat's peer group among the first to be hit by the wave of rock and roll that was soon to sweep the nation. But as something of an amateur radio obsessive, Bat was an early adopter even among his trendsetting contemporaries.

As an early teen, he would tune into Radio Luxembourg, which was at the time broadcasting a special rock and roll record show on Saturday nights.

Young Bat also purchased old WW2 radio sets in order to hear the American Forces Network. At six o'clock on Sunday nights, the station would broadcast their "Race Music" show.

Bat initially expected to hear songs about horse racing, but came to discover the great black rock and roll artists of the day - Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Ray Charles and, most memorably, Little Richard.

"It was like hearing music from another planet," he remembers. "I couldn't believe what I was listening to."

A generation mad on rock and roll

The genre spread through the town like wildfire and with inspiration came emulation. At 14, Bat was taught the double bass basics by an RAF serviceman who was a member of the air force band The Squadronares; another example of Penarth's maritime nature contributing to the spread of rock and roll.

He took quickly to the instrument and in 1959 formed The Backbeats with friends John Prince, Robert Llewellyn and Cid Petherick. Cid persuaded Bat to switch from double bass to electric bass.

The four piece chose the shed of Bat's house on Tennyson Road as their rehearsal room but quickly had to relocate due to noise complaints.

Teacher Mr Parry at Penarth County Grammar School offered to let them practice at Victoria Youth Club.

Like a scene straight of Karate Kid, Mr Parry visited the boys after three weeks of practicing and said: "You're ready. No more rehearsing. Next week, you're playing for the kids."

According to Bat, the rest was history. Word travelled and they began touring the local circuit, which included youth clubs, the Pier Pavilion and the Paget Rooms.

"We were the first real rock band in Penarth and the shows were always absolutely heaving," says Bat.

"People just went crazy for it."

Striking a chord

Everything began to change. Penarth's cool contingent started slicking back their hair and turning up their collars, inspired to do so by movies like Rock Around The Clock.

It was not uncommon to see Bat strutting around town in rolled up jeans, white socks and a rare Harvard jacket. Cid and Bat had ordered two of the jackets from Gwyn's Clothing in Cardiff Market who got a merchant seamen friend to bring them back from the States.

The Americanisation of Penarth was so pervasive that the name 'Bat' took on a whole new meaning after the 1960 movie The Young Savages was released. Bat was told he resembled the gruff young character Antony 'Batman' Aposto.

Ely boy Michael Barratt, aka Shaken' Stevens, modelled his vocal and sartorial style on Elvis Presley. He played frequently with the Backbeats and went on to form The Sunsets, which Bat and Cid later joined under the management of local rock impresario Paul Barrett.

Paul, who died in 2019, is widely credited with facilitating the local scene and enabling it to flourish after meeting the Backbeats in Victoria Youth Club. The live circuit from this point kicked off to such an extent that when Paul coined the phrase 'Penarth Rock 'N' Roll City', no one considered it to be an overstatement.

It was truly a generation possessed by rock and roll. Everyone seemed to be either in a band or an obsessive fan of one.

It is tangible in the comments on the nostalgic Facebook page Images of Bygone Penarth; late 50s and early 60s Penarth was a special place at a special time. Those who were a part of it look back with immense gratitude and pride.

Still rocking

Bat has played in countless other bands since the Backbeats, and is still rocking to this day.

He spent much of the Sixties in the US playing California-style psychedelic rock, engaging in all sorts of debauchery and going on constant adventures. In the Seventies he toured Europe, met his wife June, and for many years the duo hopped across the Atlantic and back again.

It has been a life of touring interspersed with working jobs more varied than most can even imagine.

You may think of it as a rootless existence, but it is no coincidence that Bat has chosen sleepy Penarth as the setting for the final chapter of his rock and roll life.

"Penarth has always been like a village, and as I've gotten old and the further I've travelled, the more I've liked it," he says.

"I think I'll see out my days here."

Bat lives within a mile of his birthplace. He is looking forward to bringing the spirit and sounds of 'Rock and Roll City' back onto the Penarth pub circuit in the near future.