DON Letts showed Bob Marley round London, inspired The Clash and was mentored by Malcolm McClaren, the manager of The Sex Pistols.

The year before, Letts was involved in the racial upheaval of the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival Riots.

The Clash’s Joe Strummer was in the thick of the tumult, and a photograph of Letts, facing the police lines, appeared on the cover of their subsequent compilation album, Black Market Clash.

“I was at the centre of the punk universe,” said Letts, who appears in Todmorden next Saturday where he will be playing a special DJ set at the town’s Golden Lion pub.

“Punk was a hurricane, and McClaren showed me how to join the counter-cultural dots – made me understand that if you were brave enough and you had an idea you could be part of this thing that I was involved in, counter-culture.

“It didn’t come out of a void, it had a continuity, a beauty and an art.

“It was never about Mohawks and safety pins. It was an attitude and a spirit and everything seems very conservative out there these days.

“All the things that helped create punk rock, racism, recession, strikes – all the things we had in the seventies are happening again today, and people have plenty to be mad and angry about.

“But right now, though, it feels like punk never happened.

Letts vowed: “I can’t sit back and swallow nonsense like Justin Bieber and X Factor.

“However, all I see is escapism, people just standing on the sidelines and watching everything go by.”

While Letts was at the cutting edge of one of Britain’s biggest musical revolutions – he was a DJ at The Roxy, London’s first punk club, he has continued to be a creative force for the past four decades, producing a host of films, music and documentaries.

“Punk has been an inspiration throughout my life,” he said.

“It was about empowerment, freedom and individuality and that comes through, hopefully, in my work.”

Letts, who co-founded Big Audio Dynamite with ex-Clash man Mick Jones, added: “I’ve got an analogue attitude, I’m of the vinyl generation.

“I’m a product of that era and I wonder where the rebels are now, in the 21st century.

“Growing up in the 1970s, there wasn’t the whole multi-cultural thing that exists now.

“Back in my day, there was graffiti on the wall at school that said: ‘KBW – Keep Britain White.’

“That sort of thing forced you to become more political. Reggae was political and punk had it too.”

Don says he will be bringing that spirit of punk to Todmorden next week.

“I’ve never been up to Todmorden before, but I’m told the venue has a really nice vibe and by the will of Jah I’ll be spreading a bit of bass culture to some like minded people.

“We need to look each other in the eye a bit more, instead of hiding behind the monster of social media.”

He adds: “The struggle continues, and that keeps me motivated.

“My DJ set will be in the spirit of The Roxy, it will be bass heavy reggae and a nod to the punk music I love too.”

Don Letts DJ set, Golden Lion, Todmorden. Saturday, September 26. Admission £4. Doors 7pm.