UNDERGROUND REBEL BINGO CLUB
Gordon's den, key to the door, duck and dive, time for fun, down on your knees, was she worth it? A brief account of Don’t Panic’s Friday night (in Bingo calling nicknames, of course - 10, 21, 41, 43, 56). We went down to the Underground Rebel Bingo Club, run by Freddie Sorenson, to try our luck.
Hello Freddie. Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do.
I am Freddie Sorensen and I run Red Class with my best friend James Gordon. We’re called Red Class because we went to primary school together and that’s the name of the first class we were in when we were about five. Cute isn’t it? Last year we got bored of our jobs and one night we got drunk and decided to give up work to put on parties because that was the only thing we really knew about and it sounded much more fun. Then we got really lucky and found a community centre in Clerkenwell which wasn’t really being used much so we rebuilt the old stage, bought some speakers, dressed it up, built a bar, and now it’s The Mission Room where we do most of our nights.
Tell us the story of Underground Rebel Bingo Club.
We went to a massive bingo hall on Hackney Road one night. We found it really stressful – they are really hardcore and call the numbers really fast – but we loved how seriously everyone took it and we fell in love with it. We started playing at home and got obsessed, so we decided to put on our own bingo night but make it a bit more silly. We did a bit of bingo research and discovered that back in 1647 Oliver Cromwell banned bingo in England, but this group of hardcore bingo players kept a secret underground club going in clandestine locations around London. We felt like kindred spirits. We brought it back.
What other nights do you guys put on? Can you tell us a bit about them?
We do a night called The End of The World – it’s basically our last night on earth and we’re all going to die but rather than be sad we’re having a massive party and going out smiling. They’re themed in different eras and before people come they send in their “Last Requests” – the songs they want to dance their last dance to. We have DJs, performers, news flashes and a big countdown clock, and then we dance until we explode or drown or freeze or however we’re dying that week. It’s fun.
We also put on Warped which is a time-travel night where we use a magic ball to travel through time and party in the past – basically because we like 50s music, and 80s music, and 90s music, and nowadays music. People come dressed from the era they want to travel to. We like dressing up. We play games and have live acts and it’s all quite messy but based on time-travel, which is quite impressive given the complex nature of time.
Organisers Freddie and James
What sets your nights apart?
The people who come. We spend our lives hunting down fun people and pestering them. It’s all about dressing up too, apart from at the Underground Rebel Bingo Club where you should wear as normal clothes as possible so as not to arouse suspicion on your way there.
New nights/future plans?
We want the Underground Rebel Bingo Club to become the largest underground movement in the UK and eventually overthrow the government. We’re taking it to L.A. next year. Don’t know what the Americans will think of it, but I’m sure we’ll have fun along the way. Just don’t tell anyone what we’re up to. They are very suspicious in the U.S.
You can check out all our nights at:
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