Flashback 1

1946 Born

1956 Church Choir

1955-6 Adventurer

1958 Moved to Luton

1959 Boy Scouts

1959 Train Spotting

1961 Change of Life

1962 Music

1962 Navy Training School

1962 Navy Days

1962 Dry Martini

1963-4 First Jobs

1964 First bike

1964-9 Supermarkets

1967 Cockney Alphabet

1969 Joined RCA Records

1971 Tape Product Manager

1971 Pop Product Manager

1972 5 Bums

1973 Country Music Festival

1973 CAMRA

1974 Linslade

1975 José Feliciano

1975 Ascot Ladies Day

1976 Spike Milligan

1977 Harry Nilsson

1977 Xylonite

1978 Sauze D'oulx

1978 James Galway

1978 Anchorites

1982

1982

1982

1982-3

1946 - Born

23rd July 1946 I started my life. Born in the Municipal Hospital, Hastings, previously, in the early 19th century, the local workhouse!

Dad Mum and I

Sister Joy

1956 - Church Choir

To this day I have no idea of why I ever went to church, let alone on my own.

I had no inclination towards religion, or anything remotely connected to it, but there I was sitting half way down the aisle at the end of the pew. A woman behind me heard me singing and after the service was finished asked me if I was interested in joining the church choir!

I was taken to meet the choir master and told if I was interested to come along on Thursday evening and have a try.

Looking back at it now I can honestly say that I still don’t know if I was any good, but they never asked me to leave. I must have spent a good two years in the choir, up until we had to move away from Hastings

Most of my friends at school thought it was a bit weird, until I told them I got one shilling for every service, although it was only Sunday mornings, and two shillings for weddings and funerals

Some Saturdays I could earn four shillings A hell of a lot of money in those days, considering you were lucky if you got a shilling for pocket money

That shut them up!

In 2019 I me if I was the Ray Pocock who went to Sandown School in Hastings. Someone had passed on a joke to him that I had e-mailed to a friend of mine. He was a professor at a university in the U.S.A. He sent the above photo of our school trip to Hastings Castle. Of which I have no re-collection at all. But I am certainly there!!

I have always had an exploratory mind and would wander around Hastings and the outskirts to see what I could find It wasn’t a short walk either, quite often I would walk anything up to 5 miles or maybe more

I remember walking a circular route from Hastings to St Leonard’s, via Alexandra Park and back via the seafront. About five and a half miles, when I was only around 9 years old and on my own.

I managed to impress my father be collecting and pressing wild flowers, in my father’s tie press, without him knowing, and keeping them in a scrap book. He was impressed because I knew the Latin names for some of them

1958 - Moved to Luton

We moved to Luton as my father had a friend who had offered him a job. I was not old enough to understand what a difference it would make to my life From the seaside to an industrial town full of strange people

However, the journey was something I was looking forward to as we were travelling in what I considered a pretty posh car I realised that a Triumph Mayflower was hardly that after the cramped journey!

We moved into a house in Hazlebury Crescent, literally just down the road from the Luton Town Football ground. It had a small hat factory at the rear of the building. A most memorable event was going to my first professional football match at Kenilworth Road to see Luton Town lose to Preston North End in the First Division as it was on those days. Tom Finney was playing for Preston, apparently a famous player at the time.

I also remember watching the first episode of Coronation Street in December 1960. Never watched it since!!! I also bought my first 45 rpm disc, even though I did not have a record player! Russ Conway – Side-sSaddle!

1959 - Boy Scouts

I do not have much of a recollection of being a member of the Boy Scouts, in terms of where, how long or badges gained However, there is one very good memory I do have with regard to a trip out to some hills to the north of Luton, off the Bedford Road

The venture was to gain a badge for semaphore signalling

All was very simple, we had to send a message of just one sentence of no more than four or five words.

Everyone did very well, until it was my turn I took a long time practicing the flag waving and thought that I had perfected it, expecting to be “top of the class”

Upon returning to the group at the bottom of the hill I was met by the rest of the scouts who were completely baffled as to what my message was

It took some time before I realised, as did the scout master, that I had signalled it in reverse

I was left handed so I did it arse about face!

I am not sure why but I developed in interest in train-spotting whilst I was at school. Probably at the age of 13 or 14.

I met up with some other guys who would travel all over the country to visit engine sheds. I never thought I would go that far.

How wrong was I!

I know lots of young lads did train-spotting in the 1950’s, when there were proper steam trains and things worth looking at I enjoyed it so much that I even cycled from Luton to some of the main London engine sheds 70 miles on my own!

The main reason I am writing this is simply because I managed to get a real interest in travel. Cheap tickets to places to see trains was fun. Especially when a mate of mine suggested a trip to Scotland for a week! We were both just 13, or maybe 14 at the time, so quite an adventure.

There was only one real incident to recall. We missed the last train connection from Perth to Aberdeen, so decided we would sleep at the railway station until the next train in the morning.

No such luck, a policeman said that we would not be allowed to So he took us to the local nick and we stayed in a prison cell for the night Not locked in of course and they did give us a rather good breakfast

A memorable event, not to be told to my parents at the time.

1961 - Change of Life

School was a nightmare for me. At Hastings I had just completed my second term, now, at Luton Grammar school, I was in the same year but as the subjects were totally different I might just as well have been two years behind!

Everything was poles apart. I completed my 4th year with a struggle. However, I was top of the school in Art and in the top five of my class in Music, Technical Drawing and English literature. These as a result of the exams to decide on whether you go into the lower 5th Arts or Sciences.

The headmaster knew of my problems and called me into to see him He told me I was to do the Sciences, I told him unless I was in the Arts then I would leave school He had a hissy fit stating that I had no say in the matter.

Sod him, I duly left school and signed up for the Royal Navy!!!

Sadly I could not take up my training as an Electrical Artificer due to my Mother’s heart problems and my Father’s inability at looking after her. I was due to go to Dartmouth Navy training centre, but had to cancel a week before I was due to go. Amazingly she recovered very quickly!!

I worked for a short while in a cardboard box factory in Luton before managing to go to the Merchant Navy Training College at Sharpness on the river Severn. I told my Mother it was only for a couple of weeks, although it was for 12, to prevent another so called heart failure!

It worked.

One of the great things about living in Luton that I really appreciated was the abundance of decent music venues. That’s really how I got interested in it.

The California Ballroom in Dunstable was one of the best and attracted many of the top bands in the world. Also they promoted up and coming bands, at sensible prices, many of which went on to be famous

My favourite was Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band. One of those bands where you simply cannot help but get up and dance to, even if you are on your own!

There was another great Luton, Gaumont, which was walking distance from where I lived, where top bands also played Plus a Friday night disco night where we had a lot of fun

I remember seeing Freddy and the Dreamers, The Moody Blues, Gerry and the Pacemakers and several other great bands.

My favourite memory was Sam the Sham and the Faroes - Wooly Bully.

1962 - Navy Training School

Initially, the TS Vindicatrix was the school’s only accommodation, but later a camp of huts was built nearby, and then the ship was primarily used for tuition. Life on board was a close reproduction of the conditions of service at sea. There were two courses, one for catering and one for seamanship. I chose catering as I knew there would be plenty of jobs in the catering business if and when I left the merchant navy.

When we left at the end of the course, we were found employment on a ship.

One of the most important rules was that there was to be no fighting whatsoever To be caught fighting meant instant dismissal, we were all so desperate to go away to sea that this rule was almost always adhered to.

Most of us came straight from leaving school, and for many it was our first time away from home. The life was very hard, but that short stay on board rapidly turned us into young men.

As a family we never really had holidays, partly due to lack of funds and the fact we run a Bed and Breakfast in Hastings, so even if the money was there we did not have the time.

Trips out were mostly to Eastbourne or local seaside resorts. The first proper holiday when I stayed away from home, was with some of my parents friends in Tonbridge Wells for two or three days.

So an amazing difference was my first trip in the Merchant Navy, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Newport and Norfolk Rhode Island on the Cunard cargo/passenger boat the Alaunia.

The trip was terrifying since mid-Atlantic we hit a severe storm, force ten gusting eleven. The waves at times were higher than the vessel. The lightning struck the boat every time, where else could it go? Everyone, apart from me of course, took it in their stride Our main cargo was whisky One of the crew had managed to nick a few bottles, and we all over imbibed during the storm to calm us down Hangover from hell, and my first one too Never touched the bloody stuff since!

Can you imagine that the first real place I saw abroad was Greenwich Village in New York? As we were sailing in to dock the SS France, one of the world’s big ocean liners was leaving.

An amazing sight.

My second trip, on the RMS Deseado, was also quite an event. We were touring the Caribbean and were due to dock in Havana, the main port in Cuba.

About 20 miles from port the big American warship came up to us and advised us not to go to Cuba as there was a bit of a crisis going on!! Known as the “Bay of Pigs”. When you’re only 16 that can be a bit nerve wracking! So off to boring Haiti instead.

The captain of the American warships did say we would be far enough away so as not to hear the bombs falling on Cuba.

I then joined the SS Essequibo and again saw some amazing sights. The first trip we called at Cape Verde, then onto Recife (Pernaumbuco) and next port of call was Rio de Janeiro As with all places we went we would always look out to see land in the distance The only thing we could see in the distance was Christ the Reedemer peering out above the clouds Spooky

Rio was a disappointment apart from the views. Behind the glittering facade and beaches was abject poverty and street crime. We were happy to leave. Onto Montevideo and Buenos Aires. A single stop on the way home to Africa and the port of Dakar in Senegal.

1963 - NAVY DAYS

My next trip on the RMS Essequibo was also a tremendous event, going through the Panama Canal First of all we stopped at the island of Curaçao Then to the mainland and Maracaibo in Venezuela, before going through the canal.

Ports of call were Guayaquil in Ecuador, Lima, in Peru then the following ports in Chile, Arica, Iquiqui, Antofagasta, Valparaiso and San Antonio.

We were once anchored off shore, as most of the ports we went to were too small to dock in. Early one morning the sea around the ship was weird, circles of pale blue, yellow and pink. I then noticed some fishermen collecting what turned out to be jellyfish. Awesome.

The most memorable sight was watching the clouds rise, almost from sea level, to give you the view of the Andes.

1963 - Dry Martini

Whilst I was working, as a galley assistant, on the Cunard cargo passenger boat SS Alaunia, I noticed an elderly man who seemed to be helping out as a steward, but was obviously not working full time like the rest of us.

Eventually I got the chance to chat to him. He was getting a free trip from London to Rio de Janeiro, courtesy of Cunard, in return for some light duties. It transpired that he used to be the head barman of the original Queen Mary. He then went on to tell me a couple of really cool stories.

First of all he asked me if I knew how to make a Dry Martini, at my age not a chance. He then went on to show me. He then told me that I had just learnt how to make one from the man who was taught by the man who invented it, Jerry Thomas who he had met in his bar in New York, many years ago.

Next he told me of his secret “Blue Cocktail”. Most people would assume it was made with Blue Curaçao as a primary ingredient. However, this was not the case. The cocktail was very popular on the Queen Mary, and enjoyed by many of the passengers.

He then told me that there was no element of blue alcohol at all. He asked me if I knew what Quink Ink was? Since I had only just left school I know immediately where he was coming from. He said, just a tiny measure from a pipette was all that was needed!!

Cheers

1963 - 64 First Proper Jobs

One of the reasons for leaving the Merchant Navy, after only four trips, was due to my mother’s deteriorating bronchial and heart problems.

My first job was running a small café in Luton, not far from home, on the way into town, from there I managed to get a job that influenced me enormously

Due to my navy experience I was not a bad cook. The restaurant La Cassetta, around the corner from the café I worked in, took me on basically as a commis chef. Not a bad achievement since I was only 17!

After around 3 months I was then responsible for cooking any steak meals, since I really did know the difference from blue to well done!

The owner then asked if I had an interest in wine I was certainly not going to say no He then proceeded to teach me the basic things about wine and how to serve it. So when I was 18, I was the wine waiter!

Sadly I have to leave the restaurant as it burnt down!

1964 - First Bike

I was 18 and therefore eligible to drink and drive, the former held little or no interest to me at all. The latter only came to realisation when my mother bought me a scooter, so I had to become a mod!

The first one was a 150cc Vespa then I managed to upgrade to the Vespa SS 181cc, as seen above.

I remember when mum bought me the first bike, it was the first real thing my father ever really said to me, other than “do this” “do that“ or “yes” or “no”! He said, “See you’ve bought a bike then”.

His only interest in life was motorbikes.

1964 - 69 Supermarkets

From there I went to work with my father in the building industry being an odd job boy. I did learn an awful lot about painting and decorating which they specialised in.

However, realising that this was not going to be my ideal career I found a job in the retail sector of the food industry. I became a shelf stacker, then provisions manager, then a manager of several stores over then next four years, primarily with Bishop’s, then with VIVO.

I first became a store manager when I was 21 in 1967! And managed to get a council house in Hatfield.

One of the stores I ran for a long time, was In Bricket Wood, a small village between St. Albans and Watford. Accommodation was above the store, so perfect.

A couple of good memories from my time there. I learnt to drive and passed my driving test without completing the whole test. There was a potential nasty accident when a van driver overtook a slowing bus and head straight towards us. Due to my quick thinking I manage to break very quickly and, as there was luckily nothing behind me, reverse out of danger by a few inches.

There was a pub next door to where we lived and it was where I first started to drink properly, A late starter since I was 22 at the time! Brown and Mild was my preference at the time.

1967 - Cockney Alphabet

As one gets older things obviously change, one thing in particular is memory However, I do remember one thing quite vividly and that was when I was running the VIVO mini market in Hatfield We had the builder in for a couple of days to perform a complete redecoration of the place I was responsible for overseeing the work

One of the workers was painting away and started reciting the Cockney Alphabet. He only said it once and I have remembered it to this day. Well over 50 years later.

1969 - Joined RCA Records

One of my great interests has always been in music and so after a career (of sorts) in the retail sector I managed to get a job as a sales rep for RCA

All that was required of me was to drive a Transit van around Beds, Bucks, Herts and parts of Cambridgeshire to deliver and sell to all of the record stores

We had occasional meetings in Exmoor Street in west London to listen to the new releases. There were around six or seven of us covering the South East of England.

My most memorable recollection was when they played a track from a forthcoming album and all of us grimaced, thinking we are not going to sell many of this album. Yet on visiting the stores they went out by the box load.

Strange that we all thought that the new David Bowie album would not sell!

A couple of years later I was invited to the Friars Club in Aylesbury, by its owner Dave Stopps, to a private concert organised by David Bowie, it was a thank you gig by him to the club for being instrumental in helping him become the star he then was

1971- RCA Tape Product Manager

After being a sales rep for a couple of years they asked me if I fancied working in the head office as Tape Product Manager. It was at the time when cassettes and 8-tracks where being launched.

Quite a demanding job as I was responsible for compiling the albums to tape formats. I became a member of MCPS, the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, and was surprised to meet Bruce Welch, who used to play in the famous backing band to Cliff Richard, and a chart band in their own right, The Shadows.

After a few months I was asked to go and see the Managing Director, at that time it was Ken Glancy. It appears that we had a surplus stock of unsold cassettes and 8 track cartridges, although we had done well with sales, somehow the plant at Washington, County Durham, had over manufactured.

Naturally I thought I was in for a reprimand, bollocking in those days, but no it was suggested that I, together with the sales manager take a sales trip to off-load some of this stock. I assumed this would be to wholesalers and such in the UK, but no, he said you should do all the RCA suppliers in Europe.

So we did, and had a bloody good time going to Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris and Rome.

I did this sketch whilst in Rome

1971- RCA Pop Product Manager

Later In 1971 things progressed and they asked me to take over the role of UK Pop Product Manager, my first hit record I was responsible for was Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, by Middle of the Road!!

Not a great claim to fame!!

Other bands I worked with or releases I was responsible for included:-

1972 - Five Bums on the Rugby Posts

One of the problems I encountered when I first started working at RCA was having to attend receptions in the boardroom, whenever famous artists appeared. I was not a good conversationalist being rather on the shy side. So found it difficult to start conversations with people unless they spoke to me first.

There was one occasion when we were welcoming Perry Como. A journalist came over and started chatting to me, noticing that I was standing aside.

I explained that I found these receptions a bit of a problem. He said to me “Have you heard of the five bums on the rugby posts”. Obviously I had not, and he went to explain. Imagine, if you can, the five bums on the rugby posts.

As you can see, the rugby post represents the H of How and the five bottoms represent Who, Where, What, Why and When.

They begin open sentences therefore, if you start a conversation bearing this in mind, you will get a conversation going.

Also most useful when writing an article or story.

Changed my life thanks to Neil Murray from the Daily Mail.

1973 - Country Music Festival

The Country Music Festival event was at Wembley Arena and was always very popular. At least I met two famous country stars at that time. Jim Ed Brown and Skeeter Davies.

1973 - Campaign for Real Ale

There is a Young’s Pub just off Berkeley Square in Mayfair. Called The Guinea, located in Bruton Place. It was there myself and a couple of colleagues from RCA met two guys who were the original founder members of CAMRA.

We met on several occasions and my colleague Paul Rustaad and I were instrumental in getting CAMRA to promote the idea of getting the breweries to put the strength of the beers on the pump font. So you would know how strong the beer was.

ABV, sometime the OG or the AG was considered. It took a few years to get is through but now, thanks to us, you know how quickly to get pissed.

1974 - Linslade

Having a successful career so far I managed to purchase my first property in Linslade, Leighton Buzzard. Not altogether sure why that place, I am assuming that it was because it was on the main line to Euston so easy to get to work.

I liked the town as there were some decent pubs and I made some good friends. I also contributed to the town by forming a junior football league for the town and local villages. Two leagues with around 16 teams.

The presentation of awards at the Cup Final were made by Bob Monkhouse, who lived nearby.

I also wrote a column for the local newspaper which turned out to be quite successful. I was basically educating people about classical music.

1975 - Jose Feliciano

We had a lunch to welcome José Felicano and his wife upon their visit to London and the release of his new album There were about a dozen of us round the table

All José’s wife could do was complain over and over again about the lack of effort we had put in to promoting the album. Which to be honest was not very popular, even in the USA.

It got so bad that Ken Glancy, the Managing Director of RCA leaned over to a colleague sitting next to him, and opposite me, and said.

“If she doesn’t shut the fuck up, I am going to tell him how ugly his wife is”!

I received a phone call from someone whose name I cannot remember. He wanted a couple of tickets to see Frank Sinatra who was performing at The Royal Albert Hall. I managed to get the tickets, free of charge, and sent them on. A couple of days later I received a case of Dom Perignon Champagne as a thank you.

I decided the best way of using it was to go with some friends to Royal Ascot. I managed to get a Fortnum and Mason’s Hamper and met up with the friends at their apartment. We had one of the bottles to start the day. Then a chauffeured vintage Rolls Royce came to pick us up. It was really cool what you could fiddle on expenses thanks to looking after artists at RCA. The car had a small bar in the passenger section and all the glasses were engraved G.R. We thought it might have been one of the royal cars to start with, then the driver told us it belonged to the actor George Raft, who played the part of a gangster

We arrived at Ascot and had our picnic in the car park. The car park was empty of people as the races were about to start. I decided I need to take a leak so wandered off. On the way back to meet everyone this guy asked if I wanted to buy a programme, naturally I did so bought one for £5! I did not mention it and was glad I didn’t when one of the guys bought a programme inside the course for £1.50. I thought I had been conned, but later I noticed a brown envelope inside, I had bought a tip! A horse named Sailor Boy, I still did not mention it as I was too embarrassed.

We had agreed that we would bet no more than £5 on each race. I placed my bet and won at 2-1, next race I won again at 5-4, then the big Gold cup race, again I won and also the following race. In the final race was “Sailor Boy”, naturally I kept quiet about the tip but said I was going to bet on it as I was once in the navy. They all though I was mad as it was an outsider.

You should have seen the look on their faces when it won at 7-1. Even more so when I told them how much I had won overall. They accused me of cheating, but no, I had not, what I did do though is put my winnings as well at the £5 on each bet I treated everyone to dinner at Quaglino’s that night and ended up with the same money I had started with

A very lucky day out!

1976 - Spike Milligan

We had a special reception at RCA to welcome Spike Milligan, who was about to record an album titled the Snow Goose, written by Paul Gallico, a story about Dunkirk. Spike was going to do the narration.

We were chatting about the forthcoming recording and I happened to mention that I had just bought Mussolini ‘His Part in My Downfall’, the forth in Spike’s Trilogy of True stories he had experienced in the war.

I asked him if he would sign it, which he duly did:-

1977 - Harry Nilsson

I had an invitation to attend an opening production of the stage show entitled “The Point” at the Mermaid Theatre in London. Featured in the cast were Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz, both members of the band The Monkees and long time friends of Harry Nilsson. This was In order to produce a full-length musical, other Nilsson songs were incorporated.

After the show I was heading back to Curzon Street in Mayfair, as it was too far to travel home at the time of night and I had a special deal with the hotel opposite the office. I walked quite a few yards from the theatre, away from the centre of town, hoping to pick up a cab. I duly did and as I mentioned Curzon Street this chap came up behind me and said “Do you mind if I share a cab with you as that’s where I am going. It was Harry Nilsson no less.

It turned out he had an apartment close to where I worked. We left the cab and proceeded to the pub next to RCA, The Samuel Pepys. There we discussed, at some length, the show and then ventured onto other musical matters.

The bar was very busy, but not one person recognised Harry, although I am sure everyone had heard of him! He left taking my new pack of cigarettes

Which he still owes me!!

1977 - Xylonite

Through Peter Lewis, a friend at RCA I was introduced to Thames Barge racing! Nothing like you would expect, as these were Thames Sailing Barges, very impressive sailing ships with some history.

Xylonite, was built in 1926 and she was used as a cargo vessel on the east coast of Britain for over 50 years. It was named after the chemicals it carried. The Barge has no keel, it uses lee-boards for navigating, thus it can sail into very shallow waters, essential for navigating the rivers flowing into the River Thames.

Tim Eliff was the skipper married to Bridgid, the daughter of Lady Conroy. A permanent member of the crew was a rather large chap we used to call Mother, as when he was working in the galley, he would always shout out “Mother knows best”.

We would take part in many of the Thames barge races at various points on the River Thames and the associated rivers. When Tim changed the leeboard from wood to metal, things looked up and we did win a couple of races in our class.

This is a picture I drew of Xylonite when we were anchored off-shore. I used the dinghy so I could get a much better perspective

Stupid thing to do as I knew all along that the bastards would cast me adrift. So I had to row myself ashore to the pub. A great bar with lots of cartoons on the wall by Giles, who apparently was a regular in the pub.

After a while Tim and Bridgid decided to use Xylonite for charter holidays. I was asked to be the chef on a special trip, where some journalists from various new newspapers would review the experience.

It was then that I found out that the second person to play the part of James Bond, after Barry Nelson in 1954, was in fact Bob Holness, who was one of the reviewers. He did this in 1955 in a radio adaptation.

Tim, Bridgid, “Mother” and I became good friends, so much so we all went on a skiing holiday together, none of us could ski properly, but we had a hell of a time

At one stage we were skiing carefully back to base when Mother decided to go for it We shouted at him to slow down but to no avail. At the bottom of the slope it became quite steep, where people learned to ski. Mother arrived there and as we thought could not stop.

Luckily he crossed the area, the size of three football pitches, and managed to go through the only gap in the fence, straight across the road, luckily no traffic, down some steps and into a bar!!

Cool as you like he simply ordered a beer before taking his skis off

1977 - James Galway

In 1977 James Galway, the flautist, had a very serious accident when he was run over by a motorcycle in Lucerne, Switzerland.

I received a phone call from him, saying he wanted to record a John Denver song as he very much admired the artist.

The problem was he did not know which song to record. I simply could not believe what he was saying. So I said to him “What is your wife’s name?” The response was, “Oh my God why did I not think of that”. Hence Annie’s song.

At that time he was regularly seen on popular TV shows and the single even went to Number 3 in the UK pop charts.

I got a silver disc as it was my idea!

1978 - The Anchorites

In 1978, thanks to Peter Lewis and his father, I was highly privileged to become a member of the very exclusive Anchorites Club There are only 200 members! In my day we used to meet at the Café Royal in Regent Street

The Anchorites were founded in 1919 by Frank C. Bowen, a well-known writer on maritime subjects; Francis E. McMurtrie, for years the Editor of "Jane's Fighting Ships" and Lieutenant W.E. Menday RNVR. They were all Captains of warships that fought in the North Sea during the 1st War and wanted a means of staying in touch when the war had finished.

The two main objects of the club are to discuss ships and shipping matters and to promote - in an unofficial manner - closer harmony between all branches of the Sea Services. All members must have a common interest in, and be associated with the sea. A monthly dinner is held, during the winter months, at which the principal guest is invited to talk on some aspect of sea affairs.

All members must have a common interest in, and be associated with the sea. A monthly dinner is held, during the winter months, at which the principal guest is invited to talk on some aspect of sea affairs. Most memorable was the well known astronomer Patrick Moore.

Foreign and Commonwealth Naval Attaches are made honorary members while in post in London. Members may invite their own guests and introduce them "without regard for the truth, their guest's feelings or the laws of slander".

I bought the house down once by introducing a friend of mine as being a dodgy doctor, who gave appendix transplants to Pakistani’s.

You could get away with it in those days.

In 1978 I moved to work in the Classical Division of RCA, and met some really interesting characters.

My favourite was the great classical guitarist Julian Bream. He was a regular visitor to the office and always had a really corny joke about playing the guitar to tell

I just had to write them down

“Takes a lot of pluck”

“I only do it for the lute”

“Don’t fret about it”

“You have to be highly strung”

“I don’t want to sound bored”

“You have to be sharp”

“It take guts you know”

“I was going flat out”

There was an occasion when I was due to attend a classical marketing meeting in Paris. I was about to leave for the airport when I realised that I had forgotten my passport. I got my wife to meet me at Heathrow but unfortunately was too late for the BA flight. Fortunately, I was transferred to Air France which left 20 minutes later, and arrived before the BA flight. So far so good.

Then I got a message from my secretary to say that there had been a cock up re the hotel reservation. She then rang later, before I got into a taxi, to say I was booked in at the George V hotel. One of the finest in Paris.

On arrival they were very apologetic they had taken the booking but had not realised that there were no rooms available, would a suite, at the normal rate, be acceptable? A 5 star suite in the centre of Paris, a no brainer

I rang the RCA offices and asked where the meeting was I told them that it might be nicer to have the meeting in my suite. Which we duly did as it was far more comfortable and 5 star service.

Which RCA were paying for!

1979 - Boring Party

RCA always held a party of some sort at Christmas time. We had moved from Curzon Street to Bedford Avenue, just off Tottenham Court Road. We used to drink in a pub called the Newman Arms, not too far away. In the pub was a regular Jazz singer named George Melly, with whom we become acquainted.

The party was pretty boring and after a while a couple of us decided to try and go and do something more entertaining. My mate Dave Machray was head of jazz and so know Ronnie Scott pretty well. He rang Ronnie and asked if he could squeeze us in that evening. Luckily he could.

We arrived and were surprised to find we had a stage side table, best in the house! Ronnie came to welcome us and told us several of us dreadful jokes as usual.

We did not know who was performing so were much surprised when George Melly was announced. He came on stage to a big round of applause, then sported us! He looked at us as if to say “Whet the bloody hell are you lot doing here”. He entertained us very well as if we were the only customers, great fun.

1980 – Fame at last

Some guys I used to drink with when RCA moved to Bedford Avenue would also do the occasional sleeve design for me. Imagine my surprise when they asked me if I could help with a particular project they were working on.

It was in the days of colour separations, no computer systems like today, so I had no idea what I could contribute to help them.

I soon found out when they took me up to the roof of the building in Tottenham Court Road and made me put on a Father Christmas outfit. At least I got paid in lots of beer!!

1980 - Classical Manager

After the meeting we received a message inviting us to visit Arthur Rubinstein’s home for afternoon tea.

There were five of us attending and Arthur spoke to all us of in our own language. A most memorable occasion thanks to Arthur and his very young and attractive lady assistant!

Other artist’s I work with include Placido Domingo, to whose 40th birthday party I was invited.

Malcom Messiter became a good friend, he is an oboist and curry fan I used to go to his apartment for a curry every couple of weeks to see who could eat the hottest curry. Painful experience I can assure you.

He had the amazing skill of circular breathing a technique, used by players of some wind instruments, to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks. As far as I am concerned bloody impossible.

Another artist who became a friend was composer John Mayer, who was well known for the fusion between Indian and jazz rhythms. I recorded an album with him called Prabanda and Ragamalas. To do some research into the basis of the music we were given permission to spend some time in the archives of the British Museum. A rare occurrence for anyone.

I was very privileged to have been contacted by PEN international. PEN is Poets, Essayists and Novelists. They wanted to put on a performance to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of their founding.

PEN’s work was on behalf of persecuted and imprisoned writers and the event was to highlight this. It was to take place on a Sunday night at the Duke of York’s theatre in London. They asked me if I wanted to record the event. A kind of no brainer again.

To discuss the recording practicalities I was invited to Harold Pinter’s house, where his wife, Lady Antonia Fraser and a few other guests discussed the project. It was a great success and gave a lot of needed publicity for Imprisoned Writers

1982 - Julian Lloyd Webber

I signed Julian Lloyd Webber to RCA and we also became good friends. We were both CAMRA members and loved good real ale. We would travel all over London to visit decent pubs.

One of Julian’s special moments was the premier of the Rodrigo Cello Concert in 1982 at the Royal Festival Hall.

After the performance, we all met in the Green Room to congratulate the composer and soloist. Mainstream press were there, but all Julian was interested in doing was getting the hell out of there and going for a pint at a real ale pub we had found nearby. I talked him out of it, well for at least 25 minutes.

Whilst I was head of classical music for the U.K. at RCA records I had the opportunity to visit Moscow, to look at doing a deal with the Soviets for the distribution of their record label Melodiya in the UK. I took a friend of mine along, Bob Briggs, who knew some things about their record catalogue and the potential releases.

Three guys then came in and sat a few feet away from us, far enough for us not to be able to hear what they were saying. We conjectured that it was possibly the father and two sons.

We then tried to guess where they were from. Bob suggested Polish as Russians would certainly not be staying in the hotel as they would not take roubles, the Russian currency, only dollars, sterling or any other hard currency. I said they were a bit smarter than that and were possible Czech.

As we had finished our beers I got up to go to the bar for refills, there was no such a thing as waiter service! As I went towards the bar the eldest of the group, we presumed the father, realised that they had to visit the bar to get a drink I was just a couple of feet in front of him, and thought I would let him get served before me. As I did not know what “after you” was in Polish or Czech I simply waved him though. He turned to me and said “Oh thank you boyo”, bloody Welsh.

It turned out that it was indeed the father and two sons on a rail trip across Europe. I asked the father whereabouts in Wales and he said in the Rhonda Valley. I asked whereabouts in the Rhonda as I knew a few places in Wales as I went there to lecture sometimes. He said it was somewhere I would not know. I asked several times without luck, eventually one of the sons told him to tell us. He said he was from Pontygwaith, Rhondda Valley.

I immediately asked him if he knew a Bill Morgan who moved to Aylesbury to work around 30 years ago.

He said “Bill Morgan, he was my next door neighbour”!

I said “Small world isn’t it, he is my father in law”!

1982 - Moscow An Interesting Meal

We must have been watched by the then KGB, after an incident at Moscow airport. We were stopped by security as I was carrying a CD disc of David Bowie. They had no idea what it was, possibly the first in Russia. After Bob and I had taken a long walk around to see the sites the first thing the Soviet Arts Minister asked us was how did we like Gorky Park, the Kremlin Museum and the restaurant where we had lunch? Clearly they had been keeping an eye on us!

I was never a fan of spirits in terms of a drink but we were taken, by the Minister, to lunch at a very nice Polish restaurant in Moscow. Before the meal was served a platter of salted fish and meat was place on the table together with a bottle of 120% proof Stolichnaya vodka. At first I was going to decline, but the minister explained what to do. You drink the vodka as a shot then take a piece of salted fish or meat and eat it. That way you do not get drunk. So I tried it, and after two or three felt quite normal. It did work.

I discretely asked who the other three people at the table with us were. I thought they might be from the Arts Ministry. The minister advised me that they were not, they were just security and had I heard of the KGB! No wonder they knew everywhere we had been the day before.

1982 – Sleeve Designs

Bob then made a bit of a faux pas when he asked the minister if they had the recordings of the famous German conductor Wilhem Furtwangler? The Minister said they did and were hoping to release them soon. One of the reasons we were there, though he could not have known this. Naturally he asked Bob how he knew, Bob simply told him that he had met Mrs. Furtwangler in Germany and she told him that the Russians had stolen them during the Second World War. It was amazing we got away with it.

He then asked if I was in a position to obtain master tapes of any RCA recordings I told him that I did have ways of doing that, he then asked if I could send some copy master tapes of our famous country music artists, as they were becoming very popular in Russia I would be rewarded by an articulated lorry full of Stolichnaya vodka delivered to my home

Finally he enquired what we paid for the sleeve design artwork and was shocked when I told him. He said have you thought of using Russian art for classical record sleeves explaining they carried no copyright or royalties, after lunch he took me to a local book shop and showed me some fabulous art books with high quality pictures. Naturally I bought several as they we very cheap. Later that year I reissued several classical records using these photos. Thanks to my pals at Polly Productions in London who made the designs at slightly below normal prices.

We made a very nice profit between us.

1981Recitals

An opportunity to travel around and see the country was given to me when I was asked by various Gramophone Societies to go along and do a presentation Either on new releases, of any other classically related subject

One of the most successful, and I presented this to friends at home as well, was “Classical Music for People who don’t Like Classical Music”.

Basically it is simply because they do not know what it is called, yet they hear it regularly on Television or at the movies

Some examples were:

Hovis - Dvorak Symphony No. 9, Opus 95, From the New World.

British Airways - Delibes Flower Duet from Lakmé

Hamlet - Bach Air from Suite 3 in D major.

Old Spice - Orff O Fortuna from Carmina Burana.

Black & Decker - Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the bumblebee.

1982 - 83 Recording Time

In the basement of our office in Bedford Avenue there was a cutting room. This is where the master tapes were converted to a master disc from which the records were pressed. After a while they decided to do the disc cutting in the production plant in Washington. This meant that there was some equipment simply left unused in the room. The Neve mixing desk would not have been a lot of use for pop music but for recording chamber music or solo artists, perfect.

I spoke to the MD at the time and suggested a deal, to give me £10,000 and the equipment from the basement and I would produce three classical albums

First of all I purchased a Transit campervan and converted it to a mobile studio, all hitech quality equipment.

However, my first recording was not for RCA but for a friend Bob Walker, who had left RCA and formed Phoenix Records.

One of the recordings I worked on was with the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. We discussed at some length the design for the record sleeve. Eventually I suggested a picture of him designing it.

He thought this a great idea and consequently I took the photo below.

I told him it was about time that people saw the true Xenakis and surprisingly enough he agreed. This then became the first “Official” full facial picture of the great author and composer.

The record received good reviews, but what was special for me was the quote “The new recording by the Trio Zingara also has much vitality and an excellent recorded sound”.

Later I recorded five more albums three for RCA, (one of them winning the “Contemporary Record of the Year” from the Gramophone Magazine!) and two for Phoenix.

Not bad for a beginner!

When we were recording Linden Lea the wife of the late composer turned up at Rosslyn Hill Chapel and said. “I have just got off the bus and there were two girls talking about “Blow Jobs”. What on earth were they talking about?

She certainly had a glint in her eye did Ursula Vaughan Williams. She was so much fun to work with.