On 1st May 1966 my brother Nigel and I went back to "The Empire Pool" Wembley to what was now our regular pilgrimage to "The New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert", and although we didn't know it at the time, this was to be the last time (apart from "The Apple" rooftop show) that "The Beatles" ever appeared live on stage in Great Britain. They hadn't played a live concert since their short UK tour of December 1965 and were in the middle of recording their next album, the ground breaking "Revolver". "The Beatles" could never do anything wrong in my eyes, but in my diary I wrote that they were not very good. They sang just five songs "I Feel Fine", "Nowhere Man", "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" and "I'm Down", and from what I could hear, with the diabolical Wembley sound, they seemed under rehearsed, and looked as if they didn't want to be there. In fact they were completely fed up with playing live, and not being able to hear what they were playing above the screaming of the audiences which never stopped. They were also starting to write and record more complex songs, which were very hard to perfom in a live situation given the technology that was available in 1966. They were only three months away from their last ever show at "Candlestick Park" in San Francisco on Monday 29th August 1966. We walked away from Wembley feeling a bit deflated at "The Beatles" performance but in reality it was a transition stage for "The Beatles".In 1966 they had stopped being "Fab" and moved on to a phase where they would change the way records were made for ever. There was so much more to come, and my favourite "Beatles" song was still two years away from being written.

"Revolver was due to be released on Friday 5th August 1966, six days after that historic moment when England lifted football's "World Cup", beating Germany 4-2, but I managed to get my copy two weeks before. On friday 22nd July my group "The Cortinas" were playing one of their regular gigs: "Brentford Football Ground" in a place called "The Bees Club". While we were there a guy was selling copies of "Revolver" fo 25 shillings (£1.25p). Obviously he shouldn't have been doing this and as we were only a few miles from Hayes in Middlesex where they were pressed, they were probably stolen. I couldn't resist being one of the first people to have the latest "Beatles" Album, so I bought bought a copy. (Pentonville here I come).

Brian Epstein had bought "The Saville" theatre in Shaftsbury Avenue, London and began putting on Sunday Pop concerts. On sunday 29th January 1967 we went along to "The Saville" to see "The Who" topping the bill supported by "Jimi Hendrix".The Saville was quite a small theatre and we had tickets in the second row of the balcony. To our right "Brian Epstein" had his own personal box and on that night, with him in the box were: "John Lennon", "Paul McCartney" and "George Harrison", while in the other box to our left was "Eric Clapton", "Jack Bruce" and "Spencer Davis".The show was great, it was the first time I had seen "Jimi Hendrix" and he was great. At one stage he used a strobe light, which I had never seen before. My abiding memory of "The Who" is of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, and Keith Moon thrashing around wildly and a motionless John Entwhistle standing there just moving his fingers. Suddenly a small flashing toy robot appeared from the wings and slowly made it's way across the stage. As it passed John Entwhistle he just moved his right leg and kicked it into the audience.

My band "The Cortinas" had a drummer called Gary who, at that time lived in St.John's Wood. On thursday 27th April 1967, we were driving to Gary's house for a rehearsal, and  as we passed Abbey Road recording studios we saw a crowd of girls outside going crazy. The reason for this was that John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison could be seen getting out of their limo and heading into the studio. I always wondered what they were recording on that particular night that we saw them.  Years later I discovered a book that listed all of "The Beatles" recording sessions, and on 27/4/1967 they were recording the lead and backing vocals on "Magical Mystery Tour". (I'm such an anorak.)

Pirate Radio statios had appeared in the mid sixties, these were stations that broadcast from ships anchored outside the three mile zone around Britain. The best reception from where I lived was Radio London which broadcast on 266 medium wave. Radio London was the first Radio Station in the world to play "The Beatles" new and revolutionary album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on Friday 12th May 1967, three weeks before it's release on 2nd june 1967. I got home from work about 5.00pm and switched on. The DJ (I think it was Dave Cash) said the boat carrying the new album was on it's way. There was a huge build up as the boat got nearer and eventually the album was on board and played from beginning to the end. I sat recording it with my little grundig tape recorder trying to take in the compexities of what I was hearing. Even on first hearing I new it was something special and when it got to the last track "A Day in The Life" and that final chord I was completely blown away.

On the Sunday 4th June 1967 I went to see "Jimi Hendrix" top the bill at Brian Epstein's Saville Theatre. He opened his set with his version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", only two days after "The Beatles" album had been released. It was a great show and sitting in Brian Epstein's private box was "George Harrison" and his wife "Patti Boyd". Also on the bill was Denny Laine and his Electric String Band. He had the usual, guitar bass and drums line up augmented with an amplified string quartet, which was ground breaking stuff in 1967, and they were great. Denny Laine would go on to be a founder member of Paul McCartney's "Wings" after "The Beatles" had disbanded.

1st May 1966

29th January 1967

12th May 1967

4th June 1967

27th April 1967

3

The Pirate Ship, Radio London