Is there one fashion brand that is more rock n' roll than a classic Fred Perry polo shirt? Not a chance! The brand have kept musicians such as The Who's Pete Townshend, Paul Weller, Liam Gallagher (before he went all Pretty and Green), Amy Winehouse, Pete Doherty, Madness, Blur, Kelly Jones, and The Specials' Terry Hall, and countless other stars stylishly dressed on stages throughout the decades.

But the original shirt was designed for the tennis courts! Fred Perry, for those non-sporty and/or young folk amongst you, was a 1930s tennis player and an eight-time Grand Slam winner - including a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles to his name. Andy Murray eat your heart out! But Perry was also fiercely anti-establishment, with the Lawn Tennis Association and the Wimbledon crowds despising his "anything to win" tactics and flamboyant playboy lifestyle. Fred Perry was rock 'n' roll, but with a racket instead of a guitar!

During this period he embraced the Hollywood party scene, socialising with the jet-set film stars of the era (Chaplin, Errol Flynn, and the Marx Brothers), as well as "bedding" the odd glamorous Hollywood actress like Marlene Dietrich. Game, set, and match.

OK, the partying didn't ruin his career like a George Best-style prototype, but he retired from tennis after a broken elbow sustained in an exhibition match in 1941. But in the late 1940s, Perry was approached by Tibby Wegner - an Austrian footballer - about collaborating on a sports shirt, which was to be made from white knitted cotton pique with short sleeves and buttons down the front.

Launched at Wimbledon in 1952, the Fred Perry polo shirt was given free to players (with their initials stitched into it so they wouldn't give them away) and proved to be an immediate success with the players. The logo even incorporating a clever Wimbledon-like design. That my friends is called "marketing".

The white polo shirt was only supplemented in the late 50s when mods picked up on it and demanded more colurs to choose from. It was the shirt of choice for diverse groups of teenagers throughout the 1960s and 70s, ranging from the skinheads to the Northern Soul scene. Even JFK was spotted wearing one n a golf course in Florida in 1959, but we suspect that the future president wasn't a mod! Fred Perry's position in popular culture was cemented in mod culture when Phil Daniels wore one of the shirts in the classic 1979 film Quadrophenia.

Perry and Wegnar, who sold the brand in 1961, were not directly involved with the brand's blossoming into British fashion and popular culture - but the rock 'n' roll spirit, classic simplicity in design, and template of Fred Perry thankfully still remains with the brand today.