for Sunday 22nd May 1966

A good week for guys called Barry, with Paul & Barry Ryan at #13,
Barry Benson, #19, Barry Fantoni, #27 and Barry Mason #28.

For the almighty Stones, a great week for raking in the royalties. Paint it Black was at the top, two versions of Lady Jane sat at joint #29 and Mother's Little Helper held #39. They also penned two of the DJ climbers. Chris Denning's (member #211): Sittin' On a Fence by Twice As Much, (Knees Club members who are profiled in the Fab for 26th June 1966) and John 'Purpleknees' Edward's (#17): Stupid Girl by The Attraction.

Meanwhile on shore

On May 21st, Knees Club Official Lynn, received a letter from footballer, George Best. I'm still wondering how she failed to use her powers of persuasion to sign up for our club the most famous and regularly-oggled pair of knees in England at the time!

Besides climbers that were played at the time of the broadcast of the Sunday Fab Forty, Alan kept a note of others he heard later in the week and incorporated them into his list.

Stupid Girl Attractions Columbia DB7936 A mint copy of Columbia DB7936 – if you can find one – could set you back £45. John 'Purpleknees' Edward's pick remained on the Radio London playlist as a climber the following week, but despite the prestige of having recorded a Stones song, the Attractions failed to enter the Fab Forty. According to Vernon Joynston's now-defunct site Tapestry of Delights, the line-up for the band, from Romford, Essex, (who sometimes called themselves The Attraction), was Dean Maverick, vocals, Geoff Warren, lead, Keith Wastell, rhythm, Brian Young bass and Fez Harris, drums.

May had seen Bob Kuban and the In-Men (lead singer, Walter Scott) score two chart entries in the US Hot 100. The Teaser was the group's less-successful (#70) follow-up to their #12-placed The Cheater.* Neither single charted in the UK, not even in the Fab Forty. The Teaser received just one week's airplay as Keith Skues's climber, then vanished without trace. (*An entirely different song from this week's climber by Lord Sutch, The Cheat.)

Patterson's People was a five-piece outfit from Aylesbury, down the road apiece from Stoke Mandeville. Shake Hands With the Devil was also the title of a 1921 film.

A lady called Lorri Seymour got in touch in 2003. Lorri was searching for a copy of the single, as her late stepfather, Arthur Samuel Archer, was a band member. He was known as 'Boy' in the band and Sam by all of the family. He lived in Aylesbury for most of his life and worked for the long-defunct Alco/International Alloys. He had a sister Carol, and a brother, Patsy, who was also a band member.

Later that year, Robert Collin contacted us to say that his fiancée's father was the band's bass player - James (Jim) Alabaster. Neither Lorri nor Robert has been in touch recently, but at least they assisted us in identifying three band members, Arthur 'Boy' Archer, Patrick 'Patsy' Archer and Jim Alabaster. The single's B-side, Deadly Nightshade, was written by Patsy Archer and Peter Black.

Born 1930, Ray Pollard became lead vocalist with New York doo-woppers the Wanderers, (formerly the Barons) following his discharge from the army in 1953. The quartet released a number of recordings in the Fifties and early Sixties and in 1961 and 62, placed two entries in the bottom twenty of the Hot Hundred.

The Wanderers disbanded in 1964 and Ray pursued a solo career, releasing several singles. In 1970, he joined the cast of the Broadway musical Purlie, later becoming a member of the Joe Cuba Sextet, then the Ink Spots. Ray died in Las Vegas in 2005.

It's A Sad Thing and earlier solo release The Drifter (1965) are highly-sought-after by Northern Soul collectors, with mint-condition copies changing hands for around £200.

Wanderers information from Marv Goldberg's R & B Notebook; 'In Dangerous Rhythm' info here.

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