Duncan Johnson with Gene on stage accompanied by Stewpot and Tommy Vance. Jon Myer of the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame kindly supplied the photo from Duncan's personal collection, which Duncan captioned as being taken in Croydon circa '69.

Gene Latter was the musical persona of a former boxer from Cardiff called Arthur Ford. Initially, he found recording success in Belgium as the vocalist with Rhodesian band The Shake Spears. Just A Minute Or Two was the first Gene Latter solo release in the UK and received favourable reviews in the music papers. The Record Mirror tipped it for the Nationals, but it was not to be. The B-side is a cover of Bobby Darin's Dream Lover.

Gene died in 2004.

(Another photo and more info on the Babylon Wales blogspot. With thanks to Brian Long for the advert and additional information.)

Tony's Defenders were from Tunbridge Wells and their leader and songwriter was Tony Diamond. Although there are four other band members depicted in the Columbia press photo, it has only been possible to find the names of guitarist Brian Bennett and drummer Roger 'Spodge' Siggery.

'nonskill1' posted on Youtube in 2014 that Tony is now resident in Calpe Spain and related that Tony, "Told me a great tale of how his band, who were the regular outfit at the Cafe Royal in London in the 60s, were one night substituted at the last minute to make way for a 'Hot new band'. All were in attendance, Stones, Beatles etc. ... it was Jimi Hendrix's first UK gig! He also told me that he was offered 'Let the Heartbreaks Begin' as a solo outing, ahead of Long John Baldry, but turned it down. Ouch!"

At the time of the release of the band's second single Since I Lost You Baby, an interview was conducted with Tony by the BBC Light Programme's teatime show Roundabout. You would never know from listening to it that the year was 1966 – mid-Swinging Sixties – and that millions were enjoying their favourite music by tuning in to the offshore stations. The interview commences with an insult - that 'some people' would not regard Since I Lost You Baby as music! This strongly indicates how far out of touch the BBC was with lovers of what the Powers-That-Be at the corporation regarded as 'non-music'. Tony dealt with this the put-down remarkably well and even introduced his own record tongue-in-cheek, in a posh 'mock-received pronunciation' voice!

On Sunday, March 27th, Dave Cash and TW mentioned the Knees Club at 11.25am. My diary notes that this was on a programme sponsored by Bristol Myers, so I am assuming that the show would have been announced as such. However, it may have been another advertiser's programme, as Brian Long in The London Sound, lists the starting date of the Bristol Myers advertising sponsorship as April 1st, with weekly half-hour programmes broadcast at 11.00pm on Fridays.