1966
Jan 7 This date is regarded as being the beginning of the Knees Club and the first National Knees Day. I don't know whether the idea came from me or from someone aboard the Galaxy. The first group to join (at Beaconsfield Youth Club) were The Sorrows. Bruce Finley ( member number 5) Wez Price (6) Pip Whitcher (7), Phil Packham (8), Don Maughn (9).

Jan 22 (Saturday) Marquee Club
My first visit (with friend and Club Official Lynn Belcher, #4) to London's Marquee Club in Wardour Street, for the Radio London Club Afternoon. I noted in my diary that the occasion was 'fab'. The visit was enhanced by meeting the Patron Saint of Knees and our Club President, Tony Windsor (11), who was too bashful to show us his knees. We got a lift back home with Wycombe duo Des Dave. Des Cox (48) and Dave Collier (49).

Feb 5 (Saturday) Marquee
Met Big L DJ, Dave Cash (10). Kissed him. He signed my knee. (I failed to note which one.)
On the same day. I and/or the club got a mention on the TW Show.

Feb 15 (Tues) High Wycombe Town Hall
Appearing were the Fortunes: Rod Allen, (86) Andy Brown (87), Barry Pritchard, (88) Glen Dale, (89) Dave Carr, (90), currently charting with This Golden Ring. They were supported by Peter Fenton and the Crowd: Peter (81) had to wait till November before he had his only chart entry – a number 46 with Marble Breaks, Iron Bends. The song repeated the meaningful lyrics 'dum dum' so frequently that Big L DJ Pete 'Dum Dum' Drummond (37) took it up as a signature tune.

The Crowd: Mike Jones (82), Mick Maloney (83), Nick Man (84), Ian Green (85),

Feb 25 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Club Official Lynn, was the person responsible for the Swinging Blue Jeans becoming members. Ray Ennis (100), became our Vice-president at his own insistence, and also received the special award of a (plastic) knee for becoming our 100th member. I think, and certainly hope it was removed from a doll!. Other group members were Terry Sylvester (101), who in 1969 replaced Graham Nash in the Hollies, Norman Kuhlke (102), Les Braid (99), Ralph Ellis (omitted from KC book due to a cock-up). The SBJs' current chart entry was Bacharach/David's Don't Make Me Over.

March 1 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
The Mindbenders: Bob Lang (105), who joined Racing Cars in 1976, Ric Rothwell (106) and Eric Stewart (107), who was to form 10cc with Graham Gouldman. The group was currently in the charts with their number two hit A Groovy Kind of Love. Support band: The Crowd.

March 18 (Fri) Target Club, Co-op Hall, High Wycombe
Earl Richmond (Big L) (13) introduced David Bowie (127) and Ego Eager(128). Bowie was very likely promoting his single, Can't Help Thinking About Me. Another member of the entourage, David Ballantyne (129) was probably there to promote his single I Can't Express It.

March 25 (Fri) Dave Cash mentioned a poster sent to him by Lynn for his 'Bring Back the Byrds' campaign.

March 27 (Sunday) TW and Dave Cash mentioned the Knees Club at 11.25am on the Bristol/Myers sponsored show

April 1 (Friday) Beaconsfield Youth Club
John Mayall decided he was too sensible to want to join the Knees Club. I was deeply offended! I believe he was the only musician ever to refuse. I assume that John would have been backed by the Bluesbreakers. According to Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees, the band at that time contained Eric Clapton and John McVie. Who knows what zenith of stardom these artistes might have reached had they opted to join the KC?

Date unknown Tony Bailey became member 147, (by post, I believe). Tony had scaled the dizzy heights of success in 1964, writing and recording two singles on HMV with Wycombe group The UK's. Although their first single Ever Faithful Ever True was voted a hit on Juke Box Jury, the band only ever made an impact on the Wycombe charts, as compiled by the local record store, Percy Prior's.

April 5 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Dave Dee & Co. Dave Dee (158), Dozy (Trevor Davies) (155), Beaky (John Dymond) (156), Mick (Michael Wilson) (157), Tich (Ian Amey) (160). The band was currently enjoying its first major hit Hold Tight.The single had already left the Fab Forty, but was still in the Nationals, where it remained for a total of 17 weeks.

April 9 (Sat) Marquee
A host of new members joined:
Spencer Davis (167) making a solo guest promotional appearance during the week his group reached #1 in the Fab Forty with 'Somebody Help Me'.
Alan Bown Set: Alan Bown (172), Vic Sweeney (168), John Anthony (169), Stan Haldane (170), Peter Burgess (171), Jess Roden (173), Jeff Bannister (192).
Alan Bown formed the group in '64 after leaving the John Barry Seven.
Jess Roden later became a member of Bronco, then in April 1973 joined the Doors to replace the late Jim Morrison.
Herbie's People: Herbie Robinson (175), Bill Bates (174), Alan Lacey (176), Len Beddow (177).
Harbour Lites: G McLaren (178), J Ross (179).
Lewis Rich (181) Lewis was a member of the Herd. From an unknown publication I have an undated clipping with a photo of him which says: 'The Herd have a lead singer called Lewis Rich, a 22-year-old opera singer you can hear on I Don't Want to Hear it Any More.' I assume the Marquee appearance was to promote this particular single, which was released on Parlophone.
Jimmy Wilson (182)

The Knack: not to be confused with the American group from 1978, who obviously stole the name from these lads from Hendon. Topper Clay (184), Paul Curtis (185), Mick Palmer (186), Brian Morris (187). I was later asked to run a fan club for the group. Although the project never got off the ground, the group made me an honorary member and at the time I signed my name M. Wingert, HMK (Honorary member of the Knack).
Limeys: Gary Gretch (188), Barry Johns (193), Tony Skey (189), Raymond Benot (190) and Gearie Kenworthy (273), who later joined the Knack. The Limeys released two singles on Pye in '65 and two on Decca in '66. The group was part of the ill-fated Swingin' Radio England Tour.
Merseys: Tony Crane (195), Billy Kinsley (196), breakaway duo from the Merseybeats, who were a mere 19 days away from entering the chart with their only hit, Sorrow when they joined the Knees Club. This song proved a successful choice for the KC recording stars. The Merseys made # 4 with it, and David Bowie's recording was to reach one place higher in 1973.
Fruit Eating Bears: ("Honestly!" as one reviewer of the time put it, referring to the strange name adopted by the Merseys' backing group). Kenny Goodlass (197), Ken Mundye (198), Kris Findlay (199), George Cassidy (200) and Joey Molland (201).

April 12 The Yardbirds were billed to be on at Wycombe Town Hall, supported by the Crowd, but neither band turned up. According to my diary we got a 'third-rate local band' in their place. I was so unimpressed, I didn't even bother to name them, let alone ask them to join the Knees Club.

April 15 (Friday) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Unit 4 + 2. Rod Garwood (203), Peter Moulis (204), David 'Buster' Meikle (205), Hugh Halliday (206), Tommy Moeller (207) and Lem Lubin (202), plus Billy Moeller (209), the road manager brother of Tommy. I queued to kiss the band and Billy as well, and enjoyed it so much that I went back to the end of the queue to line up for seconds! Tommy was adept at puckering-up and proved it when he toured as Whistling Jack Smith after 'I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman' (recorded by session men) became a #5 hit in '67 and an artiste was required to perform it live.
Unit 4's biggest hit 'Concrete and Clay' was successfully covered in France by Richard Anthony, backed by the Roulettes.
In 1979 Lem Lubin produced Judie Tzuke's single 'For You'.

April 19 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
We saw the Alan Price Set. I have noted no reason for the band not joining the club, but they certainly didn't refuse. It is possible this was one of the rare occasions when we Knees Club Officials were not allowed backstage.

Chris Denning (211) joined Big L to replace Dave Cash.

April 20 On this last day of the school Easter holidays, Club Official and schoolfriend Mozz (2) and I walked all the way from Wycombe to Slough (a distance of about 15 miles) to see Alan Bown and deliver a copy of Knees Monthly. When we finally got there, we could scarcely think of anything to say to him.

April 25 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Neil Christian (218) was promoting his chart success 'That's Nice'. His backing group were the Crusaders: Jimmy 'Tornado' Evans (219), Tony Marsh (221), Avid Andersen (222), and Ritchie Blackmore (220). Manager, Ron Watell also joined (224). My only assurance that the individuals listed above were the Crusaders comes from Pete Frame's 'Family Trees' book, which gives the band's line-up (its sixth) in April '66 . Thus, the club acquired Ritchie Blackmore, the first of 5 fledgling members of Deep Purple to join.

April 29 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Four Pennies: Fritz Fryer (230), Mike Wilsh (231), Lionel Morton (232), Alan Buck (233).

May 1 Empire Pool, Wembley NME Pollwinners' Concert
Starred the Beatles/Stones/Herman's Hermits/Fourmost/Small Faces/Yardbirds/Cliff & the Shadows/Roy Orbison/Dusty Springfield and the Spencer Davis Group.
This was the Beatles' last UK concert.
Diary entry: "Concert was great except for screaming kids behind us. (I considered myself too old at sixteen to be a screaming kid.) The weather was so hot it reached about 80º."
It's incredible to think I went to see the above line-up of top acts, probably the line-up of the decade, and I wrote about the weather! Probably, at the time I thought the event was unforgettable and therefore, unnecessary to put into words. I had prescription specs for distance (rather important to see the stage at a big concert) but I couldn't bear being seen wearing them. Club Official Jenny tells me she recalls the event being filmed for TV, and me rushing to remove my glasses whenever I thought the camera might be on me.
I also took my faithful trannie with me so that we could listen to the Big L Fab Forty during the interval.

May 6 I received the bad news that it would cost me 15/- (currently 75p) to get Knees Monthly reproduced in future. I recorded no comments on how I would obtain the money, which would have been quite a large sum to me at the time. When I commenced work later in 1966, I earnt an above-average wage of £9 per week.

May 10 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
This time the Yardbirds turned up! Jeff Beck (247), who proceeded to become the owner of one of the club's most famous pairs of knees, Paul Samwell-Smith (249) Chris Dreja (245), Keith Relf (248) and Jim McCarty (246). They were charting with 'Shapes of Things' at the time. Relf and McCarty later formed Renaissance. Keith, sadly, met an untimely end in 1976 when he connected his guitar to an unearthed amp and suffered accidental electrocution.

May 11th Taking my role of Knees Club Founder extremely seriously I had ordered a pair of custom-made bell-bottom trousers with plastic 'portholes' to display the patellae. Today was the momentous day when the dressmaker brought them for me to try on. The main difficulties with the trousers were that the 'portholes' tended to stick to the legs and that they rode high above the knees when I sat down. They were not exactly comfortable!
(left) The kneeless trousers as worn in 1997 with my orginal Big L teeshirt, for a meeting with Mark Roman.

May 13 Beaconsfield Youth Club
Phil Goodhand-Tait & Stormsville Shakers: Phillip Goodhand-Tait (254), Dave Sherrington (255), Ian Jelfs (256), Kirk Riddel (257) and B. MacGregor (258).

May 17 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Crispian St. Peters (253) promoting his Top 10 hit Pied Piper, backed by Lancashire group the Puppets: Jim Whittle (259), Don Parfitt (262), Des O'Reilly (263), Dave Millen (264) and their roadie, N Ellis (260). Kit Wells, who joined as member 261, was listed in the KC Book as St. Peters' manager and gave a Curzon Street address, (not number 17!). A feature in Disc, dated 7th May names Kit as Crispian's publicist and Dave Nicholson as his manger. However, according to Johnny Rogan's book 'Starmakers and Svengalis', the singer was contracted to Kenneth Pitt at that time.
The Knees Club gang was given a lift home in Crispian's Jag, and we agreed to run a fan club for him. (As with the Knack, this never came to fruition). The Puppets had received their name from Joe Meek and the band released singles on Pye in '63 and '64.

May 21 (Sat) Burton's, Uxbridge Peter Fenton.

Lynn received a letter from George Best. I wonder now why she failed to use her powers of persuasion to get the most famous pair of knees in the country at the time to join our club.

May 31 (Tues) A mention on Big L by Keith Skues.

June 6 (Mon) Kenny Everett (33) returned to Big L, after a spell recording Decca-sponsored shows for Radio Luxembourg, and mentioned on the air that he had fallen in love. This would have been when he met his future wife, Lady Lee. I was outraged to think that Kenny could love anyone else except me!

June 8 (Weds) Club Official Mozz and I phoned Keith Skues today, but he was out. We ended up having a long conversation with his flatmate, Roger Aspinall, who naturally enough decided to become a club member.

June 10 (Fri) Kenny Everett threatened to return to 'Little L' (Luxembourg) if Younger Girl by the Critters didn't make the charts

June 13 (Mon) Tony Blackburn (274) mentioned the Knees Club at 12.45.

June 17 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club We permitted Phil Jay (287) from Radio City to join because he told us he was friendly with the Big L jocks. Phil became the only non-Big L DJ admitted to the Knees Club in the Sixties.

June 20 (Mon) Kenny Everett decided on a whim to declare today Orange Juice Day. Dave Dennis and Kenny were having an on-airriot together at about 8.45am. Unfortunately, my notes do not give any further info about what was going on!

June 21 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall Troggs: Reg Presley (296), Chris Britten (293), Pete Stapleton (294), Ronnie Bond (295). Wild Thing was a huge hit then, and to tease the audience, every song the band played started with a Wild Thing -style guitar twang.

June 28 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall. The Knack, who were already members, having jined at the Marquee in April.

June 30 (Thurs) I sunbathed using TW's special recipe for suntan lotion – a vinegar and olive oil mixture, which made me smell like a bag of chips.

July 1 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club Phil Jay from Radio City was the DJ. He'd joined a couple of weeks earlier and he told us he liked ‘Knees Monthly’. Episode Six was the group. It was the second of 4 line-ups for them – Harvey Shields (302), Graham Dimmock (307) Sheila Dimmock (303), (married Tom Marshall of Harmony Grass) Tony Lander (304), Roger Glover (305), Ian Gillan (306 KC Members 305 and 306 went on to do rather well as bass player and vocalist with Deep Purple. Heavy-metal icon, Gillan has also enhanced the ranks of Black Sabbath.

(right) Mary, trannie, kneeless trousers and long-suffering Mum and Dad!

July 8 (Fri) Norman St. John (333) joined Big L.

July 9 (Sat) Marquee Many new members were signed-up
MI5: Rod Evans (309), Ian Paice (310). By an odd coincidence, two more future members of Deep Purple joined the KC only days after Glover and Gillan. MI5 issued a single called You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You.
Singer/songsmith Kenny Lynch (312) Kenny’s greatest songwriting success had occurred in February ’66 when the Small Faces had a huge hit with Sha La La La Lee, which he co-wrote with Mort Shuman.
Tony Barry (311)
Des & Dave (already members)
Mike Lennox (16). Lynn asked 'The Marshall' if he would marry her, because he was the only person who could successfully wake her up in the mornings. He said ‘Yes’.
Twice As Much: Andrew Rose (313) and David Skinner (314) Andrew Oldham’s one-hit-wonder group. They were currently charting with their only success, Jagger & Richards’ Sittin’ On a Fence.
We spent so long talking to Des and Dave that we got locked inside the Marquee. D & D had to go off and do another promotional appearance for Caroline, (much to our disgust, as loyal Big L supporters!) so we couldn’t get a lift home with them.
Chris Farlowe (315). Chris was only 19 days away from his number one, Out of Time – another Jagger/Richards-penned success.

July 11 (Mon) Kenny Everett persuaded Dave Dennis to read out the words of the Association’s Along Comes Mary (now my signature tune) on his show. Afterwards, he said, "that was Along Comes Mary, ladies and gentlemen, as Dave Dennis crawls out of the studio on his knees!

(The big gap in club activities between July 11th and August 2nd was because the Knees Club Officials went on the school trip to Austria, taking the trannie with us. We signed up a number of new members, mostly male, but nobody famous.)

August 2 (Tues) – while trying to find something else to listen to during ‘The World Tomorrow’, we discovered the hilarious Auntie Mabel Show on Radio City.

August 3 – Dave Dennis hurt his neck.

August 9 (Tues) – Friend and Club Official Mozz rang Keith Skues.

August 10 – I was nominated to run Peter Fenton’s fan club (probably by Peter)
.
August 14 (Sun) – Kenny Everett’s (first?) report for Radio London from the States, where he was touring with the Beatles and reporting back daily by phone. (hear a clip, exact date unknown, but probably from this Sunday, on the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame)

August 17 (Weds) – Mozz and I encountered The Action at Booker Airfield where a photoshoot was taking place. (‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines’ was filmed at the airfield, which was near where I lived) They were a mod group (with a reputation of being a better act than the Who) who later evolved into Mighty Baby. Unfortunately, Idid not have the Knees Club book with me at the time, so we didn’t ask them to join.

Date and venue uncertain, but sometime during August, possibly at Amersham Youth Club or The 61 Club, also in Amersham – Four new members were gathered by my schoolfriend and Club Official, Jenny Mance (3). The band that evening had either not yet settled on a name for themselves, or were already called Switch. Members included David Stopps (338), who in the Seventies, ran the famous Friars music club in Aylesbury. The club gave breaks to groups such as Genesis, featuring Dave's former Switch-buddy, Mick Barnard (340). In the Eighties David became manager to Wycombe's Howard Jones.
Roger Newell (339) was erroneously listed in the Knees Club book as Roger Neville, thus causing confusion for 32 years! Roger had been a member of local group the Technics, and like so many of our members, after joining the Knees Club pursued an illustrious career, which requires a ten-page supplement. Possibly his biggest achievement in High Wycombe was joining Rainbow Ffolly, a group that already has its own supplement. Later, Roger was with Rick Wakeman’s band, and in recent years has toured as one of Marty Wilde’s Wildecats while holding down a day job as a music journalist.
Chris Wingrove (341)

August 24 (Weds) – Dave Cash returned to Big L for one week

August 28 (Sun) – In Blackpool on a family holiday I was still somehow managing to receive Big L, and I made a point of listening for Kenny’s exciting USA Beatle reports.

Sept 7 (Weds) – Still in Blackpool, I met the Rockin’ Berries in a local park. The family had been to see them the previous evening, appearing in a typical seaside variety show. The Berries had a game of table tennis with my 58-year-old Dad, who won!. They then joined the KC and had the privilege of having their photos taken with me and a copy of Knees Monthly. Band members were Bobby Thomson (345), Chuck Botfield (346), Clive Lea (347), Terry Bond (348) and Geoff Turton (349). Geoff later pursued a solo career as Jefferson.

Sept 8 (Thurs) – Local lad Graham Marsden (seen here manning his 'engraving booth') was recruited for the KC (310) while working a holiday job. Graham engraved a dog tag for me which I wore as an item of jewellery! The tag had 'Knees Club' on one side and 'Founder Member No1' on the other (see photos, right).

Sept 9 (Fri) – The family arrived home to the bungalow at Booker, to discover a postcard pushed through the door by Keith Skues, who had called to visit me at the August Bank Holiday. I was devastated to learn that a pair of celebrity patellae had descended from the celestial abode of Radio London (well, from the Galaxy, at any rate) to grace our doorstep, but I had been away and missed them. Keith and I failed to rub knees until 1997!

The big gap between September and October entries is the result of the Knees Club founder starting work for the first time, meeting a new boyfriend and generally having less opportunity to listen to the radio.

October 16th (Sun) – Club Official Lynn and I went to visit Peter Fenton in his King's Road flat. This was very exciting, as his single 'Marble Breaks and Iron Bends' was announced on today's Fab Forty as having climbed from #37 to #22. We went with Peter and his flatmate to see the new film 'Georgie Girl'.

October 29th (Saturday) Marquee – Mike Quinn (366). Mike joined the Knees Club when hosting the Radio London Club afternoon. Although he never worked aboard the Galaxy, he was a Radio London DJ employed by Radlon Sales. There were simply not enough ship-based DJs available each week on shore leave to cover the growing number of Big L events, promotions and discotheques. Mike had also been one of the hosts of BBC TV's 'A Whole Scene Going', which ran for a single series on Wednesday evenings between January and July 1666. Although much more of a magazine programme, 'A Whole Scene Going' was regarded as the Beeb's answer to Associated-Rediffusion's hugely popular 'the weekend starts here' pop extraganganza, 'Ready Steady Go!' Mike released a single 'Someone Slipping Into My Mind', which arrived as a climber in the Fab Forty for October 30th, the day after this Marquee appearance. (Mike was following the footsteps of another host of 'A Whole Scene Going', Barry Fantoni, who had appeared in the Fab Forty in May 66 with his single "Little Man in a Little Box'.)

Nov 8th (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall – An appearance of Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band. Not long out of the Fab Forty with 'Que Sera Sera' and THE live band of the time, this was an act not to be missed. Audience participation was the order of the day, and Geno never failed to get the place jumping, but the atmosphere of the band's live performances proved illusive to capture on disc. I have not recorded why I did not ask them to join the Knees Club.

Nov 13th (Sun) – I discovered that Pete ‘Dum Dum’ Drummond was using Peter Fenton’s Marble Breaks and Iron Bends as a theme tune – or at least the ‘dum dum, dum dum’ part of it.

Nov 24th (Thurs) – I hit seventeen, and consequently, felt I'd reached old age

December 2nd (Fri) – Wycombe College – Fingers was the last band to join the Knees Club. John Bobin (367), Mo Witham (368), Bob Clouter (369), Alan Beecham (370), Ricky Mills (371), David Grout (373). Fingers (who at the time were pretending to be a psychedelic band) now have their own Fab Forty supplement, thanks to John Bobin. They would enter the Fab Forty on January 29th (after spending one week as a climber) with 'All Kinds of People'.

Fingers member Ricky Mills later recorded a song under the name of Daddy Lindburgh, 'Shirl', written by Carter/Lewis. It had a Pall Mall Music-owned track on the b-side, which no doubt assisted in the record's elevation to #30 in the Fab Forty of 26/03/67.

The band did not receive a 'welcome' until April 67, when the final edition of Knees Monthly appeared. (See below)

December 25 (Sun) – The Knees Club received a dedication on Big L at 3.40pm as part of the station's Oxfam appeal. left, is the counterfoil of our donation postal order.

1967
The Knees Club died, but the music went on.

At the beginning of '66 I had been a schoolgirl who started a ridiculous club. By the end of it, I had acquired (surprisingly) 5 'O' Levels, a job, a boyfriend and an organisation with 376 members (752 knees). By the start of 1967, the supply of friends prepared to duplicate ever-increasing numbers of copies of Knees Monthly had dried up and I was wondering if I might possibly have said all there was to say about patellae. I reluctantly decided I would have to close the Knees Club. But it wasn't quite dead. In April, I met someone from the local scouts who was prepared to run-off a late editon of Knees Monthly. (See below) Sadly, they were able to do this for only one edition. Stencil duplication was all that was available before the advent of copier machines and I imagine that their Chief decided that in future, the duplicator must be reserved for producing scouting communications only.

I continued with my diary, which I shall reproduce below as a few snapshots of the year 1967. In most cases where I went to see bands, I have listed the band name but made no comment about the performance. I probably thought I would never forget the exerience! Some of the events listed are covered in the Fab Forty for that week.

Jan 31 (Tues) – Wycombe Town Hall. The Spencer Davis Group and they were great. It was Mike Lennox’s last day on Big L.

Feb 7 (Tues) – Wycombe Town Hall. Gino Washington & Ram Jam Band – fantastic.

Feb 25 (Sat) – A new Keith Skues/Kenny Everett Show on Big L featured the infamous ‘William To-Hell’ overture in A, B, C and D flat. The ‘overture’ had first appeared on the Kenny & Cash Show, 16th August 1965, when we learned that ‘William To-Hell’ was performed by the Radio London two-hundred-and-sixty-six piece Philharmonic Orchestra. It featured Madame ‘Paula’ Kay, Pete ‘Fingers’ Brady, Tony ‘Swingle’ Windsor and Ed ‘Strings’ Stewart.

March 11 (Sat) – Keith Skues (235) said hello to me and Jenny.

March 12 (Sun) – I was told by someone at work that Keith Skues said hello to me and the Knees Club today. (Possibly on the Colgate-Palmolive Request Show?) Two days in a row?

April 16 (Sun) – I learnt that Tony Brandon is to join Big L.

April 18 (Tues) – Wycombe Town Hall. The Move.

April 28 (Fri)– Tony Blackburn did a broadcasting marathon from 5.30am to 9.00pm. It seems a lots of the DJs might have been sick.

May 2 (Tues) – Wycombe Town Hall. Gino Washington & Ram Jam Band. (As you can tell, I really enjoyed Gino and the boys' vibrant performances and the way the audience was always involved and pretty much became part of the act).

June 14 (Weds) – on a training course in Stanmore I remarked in the diary that I ‘Could only get Radio 390 on the crappy radio’ there, so the following day I took in my own trannie so we could hear Radio London.

July 15 (Sat) – Tony Blackburn left Big L.

July 23 (Sun) – Keith Skues broadcast his ‘History of Radio London’ show

July 28 (Fri) – It was announced that Big L was to go off the air on August 15th. I started writing a letter to the station about my feelings on the subject.

August 2 (Weds) – Tony Blackburn hosted a show on the Light Programme.

August 13 (Sun)– I made a recording of some of Mark Roman’s last show

August 14 (Mon) – The Marine Offences Bill killed off most of the Pirates. I took the day off work and recorded from 7.30am to the 3.00pm closedown. The Knees Club and I were mentioned by Chuck Blair on his final Breakfast Show. When the transmitter was switched off for the last time, I sat in the bath, crying. I left the trannie on and tuned to 266, desperately willing the station to return.

August 15 – I tried listening to Caroline and hated it. (Well, I was a bit of a diehard Big L fan!)

August 19 (Sat) –"‘Listened to Caroline (desperation). Heard Chris Denning on BBC. Keith Skues to compere Saturday Club next week."

Sept 28 (Thurs) – "From the new Radio Times (description), Radio One sounds useless."

Sept 30th (Sat) – "Can’t really rave about Radio One. It will never replace London."

Nov 2nd (Thurs) – Kenny Everett appeared on Top of the Pops.

Nov 30th (Thurs) – Tony Blackburn voted top DJ, and appeared on Top of the Pops.

Dec 9th (Sat) – Kenny and Cash are coming back on Radio One

Dec 17th (Sun) – The first of a new series of Kenny Everett programmes was on this morning.

December 25 – First Kenny/Cash Show broadcast on Radio One.

Famous Members

1966
Jan 7, Beaconsfield Youth Club
The Sorrows
Bruce Finley (5) Wez Price (6) Pip Whitcher (7), Phil Packham (8), Don Maughn (9).

Jan 22, Marquee
Des and Dave
Des Cox (48), Dave Collier (49).

Feb 15, Wycombe Town Hall
Fortunes
Rod Allen, (86) Andy Brown (87), Barry Pritchard, (88) Glen Dale, (89) Dave Carr, (90).
Peter Fenton & the Crowd
Peter Fenton (81) Mike Jones (82), Mick Maloney (83), Nick Man (84), Ian Green (85).

Feb 25, Beaconsfield Youth Club
The Swinging Blue Jeans
Ray Ennis (100), Terry Sylvester (101), Norman Kuhlke (102), Les Braid (99) and Ralph Ellis (whose name was accidentaly omitted from KC book).

March 1, Wycombe Town Hall
The Mindbenders
Bob Lang (105), Ric Rothwell (106) and Eric Stewart (107)

March 18, Target Club, High Wycombe
David Bowie (127) and Ego Eager (128)
David Ballantyne (129)

Date unknown Tony Bailey of Wycombe group the UK's, became member 147, (by post, I believe).

April 5 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Dave Dee & Co. Dave Dee (158), Dozy (Trevor Davies) (155), Beaky (John Dymond) (156), Mick (Michael Wilson) (157), Tich (Ian Amey) (160).

April 9 (Sat) Marquee
A host of new members joined:
Spencer Davis (167)
Alan Bown Set: Alan Bown (172), Vic Sweeney (168), John Anthony (169), Stan Haldane (170), Peter Burgess (171), Jess Roden (173), Jeff Bannister (192).
Herbie's People: Herbie Robinson (175), Bill Bates (174), Alan Lacey (176), Len Beddow (177).
Harbour Lites: G McLaren (178), J Ross (179).
Lewis Rich (181)
The Knack: Topper Clay (184), Paul Curtis (185), Mick Palmer (186), Brian Morris (187).
Limeys: Gary Gretch (188), Barry Johns (193), Tony Skey (189), Raymond Benot (190) and Gearie Kenworthy (273).
Merseys: Tony Crane (195), Billy Kinsley (196)
Fruit Eating Bears: Kenny Goodlass (197), Ken Mondy (198), Kris Findlay (199), George Cassidy (200) and Joey Molland (201).

April 15 (Friday) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Unit 4 + 2. Rod Garwood (203), Peter Moulis (204), David 'Buster' Meikle (205), Hugh Halliday (206), Tommy Moeller (207) and Lem Lubin (202), plus Billy Moeller (209)

April 25 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Neil Christian (218). The Crusaders: Jimmy 'Tornado' Evans (219), Tony Marsh (221), Avid Andersen (222), and Ritchie Blackmore (220). Manager, Ron Watell also joined (224).

April 29 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Four Pennies: Fritz Fryer (230), Mike Wilsh (231), Lionel Morton (232), Alan Buck (233).

May 10 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
The Yardbirds: Jeff Beck (247), Paul Samwell-Smith (249) Chris Dreja (245), Keith Relf (248) and Jim McCarty (246).

May 13 Beaconsfield Youth Club
Phil Goodhand-Tait & Stormsville Shakers: Phillip Goodhand-Tait (254), Dave Sherrington (255), Ian Jelfs (256), Kirk Riddel (257) and B. MacGregor (258).

May 17 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Crispian St. Peters (253) backed by Lancashire group the Puppets: Jim Whittle (259), Don Parfitt (262), Des O'Reilly (263), Dave Millen (264) and their roadie, N Ellis (260) and publicist, Kit Wells.

June 17 (Fri) - Beaconsfield Youth Club
We permitted Phil Jay (287) from Radio City to join because he told us he was friendly with the Big L jocks. Phil became the only non-Big L DJ admitted to the Knees Club in the Sixties.

June 21 (Tues) Wycombe Town Hall
Troggs: Reg Presley (296), Chris Britten (293), Pete Stapleton (294), Ronnie Bond (295). Wild Thing was a huge hit then, and to tease the audience, every song the band played started with a Wild Thing -style guitar twang.

July 1 (Fri) Beaconsfield Youth Club
Episode Six: Harvey Shields (302), Graham Dimmock (307) Sheila Dimmock (303), Tony Lander (304), Roger Glover (305), Ian Gillan (306) KC Members 305 and 306 went on to do rather well as bass player and vocalist with Deep Purple. Heavy-metal icon, Gillan has also enhanced the ranks of Black Sabbath.

July 9 (Sat) Marquee Many new members were signed-up
MI5: Rod Evans (309), Ian Paice (310). By an odd coincidence, two more future members of Deep Purple joined the KC only days after Glover and Gillan.
Singer/songsmith Kenny Lynch (312) Kenny’s greatest songwriting success had occurred in February ’66 when the Small Faces had a huge hit with Sha La La La Lee, which he co-wrote with Mort Shuman.
Tony Barry (311)
Twice As Much: Andrew Rose (313) and David Skinner (314) Andrew Oldham’s one-hit-wonder group. They were currently charting with their only success, Jagger & Richards’ Sittin’ On a Fence.
Chris Farlowe (315). Chris was only 19 days away from his number one, Out of Time – another Jagger/Richards-penned success.

Date and venue unknown, but sometime during August, possibly at Amersham Youth Club or The 61 Club, also in Amersham
The band that evening had either not yet settled on a name for themselves, or were already called Switch. David Stopps (338), Mick Barnard (340) Roger Newell (339)
Chris Wingrove (341)

Sept 7 (Weds) – Blackpool
The Rockin’ Berries: Bobby Thomson (345), Chuck Botfield (346), Clive Lea (347), Terry Bond (348) and Geoff Turton (349).

October 29th (Saturday) – Marquee
Land-based Big L DJ, Mike Quinn (366).