Helen Wellington-Lloyd

Helen Mininberg aka Helen Wellington-Lloyd (she became that when she married to obtain British citizenship) aka Helen Of Troy was Malcolm McLaren’s friend and one-time lover from South Africa who became a regular face at all the Sex Pistols UK shows right up until the very end. She first met McLaren at Goldsmiths College where the young Malcolm was pepped up on revolution and Situationism and was one of a small group that formed around him that included Jamie Reid and Fred Vermorel.

…on the day they met – waiting in line for their admissions interview …Malcolm had told her that if he didn’t get in, he’d just have to find another way to cause a revolution. For her part, Helen decided that if she didn’t get in she would go to Haight-Astbury and become a hippie. The Wicked Ways Of Malcolm McLaren Craig Bromberg

She created the very first Sex Pistols blackmail logo using found materials from newspapers and recreating ransom notes lettering for early gig posters on the floor of her apartment to which Jamie Reid later refined to the now classic terrorist logo. She was born with a condition called achondroplasia, which causes dwarfism and she was very conscious of herself as a very visible misfit and was drawn to the world of gay clubs and then Punk which accepted her without question.

I always had a negative self conscious image of myself. But being part of an outrageous clique made me feel secure. Nobody had dressed like us before so Plebs couldn’t categorise me, which made it possible for me to be myself. I felt liberated and that’s when I started to live.

For a time I was unaware of the negative side of being a freak. Plebs avoided me because of what I was wearing not because of my height. I became threatening. It was an artistic experience that is hard to define. It was like a happening – an exploration, there was no formula – It was BONA! Vacant 1997 Nils & Ray Stevenson

Helen Wellington Lloyd Because of my size and the way I was brought up, the punk era was the most liberating time of my life… Suddenly I had the courage to wear ridiculous things that made me stand out. For the first time I didn’t try and merge into the background. I wanted people to look at me with my chains, safety-pins, foxtail and black eyes. For once being a dwarf didn’t matter. Punk Colegrave & Sullivan

An article in the NME in 1980 by Paul Du Noyer explained her wish for recognition and to exploit being a dwarf.

Helen got into movies, as she explains, “just to exploit myself and make some money out of all this. ‘Cos everyone looks at me and I think ‘God, if I could get sixpence for each look let alone for opening my mouth,’ you know?”

Helen Wellington-Lloyd’s opportunity came with the arrival of punk in ‘76, which she loved. For a start, she already looked like one:

‘Yeah, because I had to. not because of any fashion. I used to cut up my ex-husband’s pants: because they were so wide I used to wrap them around me to make them tight. But I do want to sing, and do films, and feel that I have worked, been notorious, famous, infamous, whatever. I have to express myself because I find life absolutely pointless if I can’t have an outlet… I know I can make money. It’s being Tiny Tim, I suppose; to have a career like his. He was horrific really, but he left a mark, he did something.”

Paul Du Noyer, NME, 1980

In 1979 she met Terry Piper who was the singer/guitarist in a band called FU2 and did guest vocals on two tracks that were recorded called Soho and Maybe and which had promo videos made.

She asked me could she sing a couple of songs with my band FU2. Helen was my friend and I knew she could not sing well, but she was a showman and I knew she could pull it of visually so I wrote a few songs for her and we made a couple of videos together. I think they are different and off the wall and one of the lyrics is about Soho’s nightlife. Bored Teenagers

Five tracks were recorded but none were released. However over 40 years later they appeared on the compilation series Bored Teenagers 9. She didn’t give up on her singing or other aspirations.

Already she’s done a few promo films, and made one attempt at forming a band with two Mo-Dettes: But I felt I wasn’t ready then. What I want badly now is a record deal and a backing band. She says she’d love to do a cosmetic ad too, if only they’d let her. I can look quite dollybird-ish at times; that would really be punching people’s whole way of thinking, to sell a product that so-called pretty proportioned ladles would sell. Paul Du Noyer, NME, 1980

Film wise she was more successful though the parts were limited. Her first film role was in Derek Jarman’s Punk film ‘Jubilee’ in 1977 playing Queen Elizabeth’s handmaiden. She then appeared in Jarman’s film version of ‘The Tempest’ in 1979. Also in 1979 was an appearance on screen in the Julian Temple’s film ‘Punk Can Take It’ featuring the UK Subs.

Unquestionably, though her finest hour came recently, at of all places, a UK Subs gig in the Music Machine. “I was mobbed!” she remembers blissfully. “Loads of them —they must have seen the record cover — they wanted my autographs. Dirty, pockmark faced urchins. I couldn’t see a thing!” Her eyes close in delight. “I find that so exciting. I really do…” Paul Du Noyer, NME, 1980

Her final appearance on film was as McLaren’s sidekick in the ‘Rock n’ Roll Swindle’ and she appears on the inside cover of the soundtrack album of the same name.

Left in The Tempest – Right & Below in ‘The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle’

After that she quickly (like punk) faded into the background as none of her aspirations materialised, reappearing for the 1999 premiere of Julian Temple’s film ‘The Filth and The Fury’ where she met up again with old friend Jordan. In September 2001, with interest in the Sex Pistols at a high, Helen auctioned off her Sex Pistols collection at Sotheby’s and then effectively disappeared.

Among the lots are singer Johnny Rotten’s Anarchy t-shirt and knickers designed by Vivienne Westwood and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. BBC

After that she sold her house and moved back to South Africa. In 2022 Danny Boyle’s mini series (FX) dramatising Steve Jones’s autobiography ‘Lonely Boy’ was shown on Disney with actress Francesca Mills playing Helen. Some liberties seem to have been taken with the truth in the series where Helen is part of the ‘kidnapping’ of Nancy Spungen to ‘save’ Sid Vicious and send her home to New York

Steve Jones himself writes in his book Lonely Boy of Helen and hist story of shagging Nancy Spungen.

So of course I took one for the team and fucked Nancy. It was in the little room I stayed in sometimes at the back of Helen the midget’s house, round the corner from Bell Street. She was fun, Helen -she had to be, because apart from her I was a bit prejudiced against midgets; the little fuckers gave me vertigo. I really liked hanging out with her, though. There was never anything sexual between us, but she was a sweet person. I’d go round there and we’d smoke weed and listen to old Fifties songs together; it was kind of a safe place for me. I wonder where she is now – I hope she’s doing OK.

If still alive now (2022) Helen Wellington-Lloyd would be heading towards her eighties and at Punk 77 we hope she’s doing OK as well!.

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