010. IN AND OUT WITH THE IN CROWD.

Like all young people I was interested in pop music. This interest meant that I would regularly buy the 2 main music papers of the time — “The New Musical Express” and the “Melody Maker.”

These papers were full of adverts for “fan clubs” dedicated to a multitude of pop groups and individual artists. These advertisements intrigued me and I wanted to find out more about the people who ran the clubs and just why they spent so much of their time doing so.

I had an idea.

At the time BBC Radio 1 were running a daily programme from their London studio, the Paris in Lower Regent Street. It went out at lunchtime, lasted an hour and was aptly named “The Radio One Club.”

I wrote to the producers and put the idea to them that it would be a great addition to their show if they held a get-together of fan club secretaries from throughout the UK and interviewed some of them on-air.

They loved the idea — and of course it was then down to me to organise it.

This was to be the start of a process which led to my first ever appearance on radio — and of course I had to start big with a National broadcast at prime time !

In those days there was of course no e-mail or Internet to speed things along so everything had to be organised by snail mail. This cost me quite a lot in postage but it was to be money well spent.

The fan clubs loved the idea and very soon my letterbox was full of enthusiastic replies.

A date was arranged and, having secured the vital 2 days off work, I travelled up to London for the show.

I remember the train journey up to London in the evening very well as I sort of nodded off half way through and woke up just as the train was getting into a station called “Bedwyn.”

Panic set in, had I caught the wrong train, was I now somewhere in deepest North Wales? My fears were resolved when I discovered that this was just a welsh-sounding village in Wiltshire and I was after all on the right train.

There were many fan club secretaries at the event representing acts as diverse as Status Quo, The Casuals, Procol Harum and The Dave Clark Five.

Several were interviewed on the show and lo and behold so was I.

However, looking back now I can only recall that moment with horror.

The Disc Jockey running the show that day was Chris Denning.

Chris Denning went on to become a convicted sex offender. His career effectively ended when he was convicted for sexual offences in 1974, and he has spent three decades in and out of prison in Britain and overseas. In Deccember 2014 he has been sentenced yet again — for 13 years.

For many years I kept the recording of my appearance that day, but as soon as the truth emerged about that man then it just had to be destroyed, I could never have listened to it again.

A couple of the fan club secretaries became personal friends, including a young lady called Josephine Bunce, who was the daughter of Joe Bunce the co-manager at the time of Status Quo.

As the years went by I lost contact with Jo and often wonder what happened to her. Maybe she did end up in the equine world as her love of horses was just as strong as her love for the band.

Well, I could of course I could have included a Status Quo track here, but as her name was Josephine then maybe this track from Chris Rea would be better.

Several months after the event had taken place I received a letter from the Producers of the Radio 1 Club. They were going to change the format of the show and broadcast it each day from different venues around the country and they wondered if I had any suggestions as to venues in Somerset.

The following day I went straight down to the leading night club in Taunton, The Camelot Club, and put the idea to the club manager.

He was over the moon; this would be a wonderful coup for the club and would bring them in lots of money if I could pull it off.

I duly arranged for the BBC to send their sound engineers down to the club from London and yes — they would go ahead and bring the show down to Taunton.

The event was broadcast from the Camelot Club, hosted by one of the leading DJ’s of the time, Emperor Rosco. I was indeed becoming quite a little “Mr fix-it” and felt very much part of the “in crowd.”

Three weeks after the show I attended the Saturday night disco at the Camelot club as usual, as a normal paying customer. The admission price was always very affordable but my main expense was getting a taxi home from Taunton to Wellington at the end of the night.

I always pre-booked a taxi to pick me up at 11.45pm as the cost was much cheaper before midnight. My taxi driver, a Mr Reader, was a stickler for punctuality and did not like it if I was late.

So, I duly went to the cloakroom at 11.40pm to collect my top coat only to find that I had lost my ticket.

I found the manager of the club and explained this to him expecting a quick return of my coat.

He glared at me, looked at me as if I had just crawled out of the ground and said “You have been coming here long enough and you know the rules. You have to wait until after 12.30 to collect your coat like all the other people who have lost their tickets.”

I could not believe that here was a man in charge of a club which had generated thousands of pounds of extra cash and publicity thanks to my efforts and he dared to treat me like this.

Luckily one of the bouncers had heard this and came up to me. “That was out of order,” he said, “come with me and I will get your coat.”

I decided never to return to the club again until the management had changed — This was one man from the “in crowd” who was definitely staying “out.”