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.

This was to be Bruno's highest placing with Wander Boy. Confusion reigned when the title on demo copies was accidentally turned into WONDER Boy. Attempts at spelling of Bruno's surname seem to vary between Kretschmar, Kretzschmar and Kretchmar, which is probably why he decided to release singles under his first name. Bruno reappeared in the Fab Forty in October with The English Girl.

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 the most famous and regularly-oggled pair of knees in England at the time for our club!

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.

Graham Gill had only joined Big L on 9th May 1966, but two weeks later, on the 24th, he was off to pastures new at Radio England / Britain Radio. Roy Taylor has noted the climber Shake Hands With The Devil by Patterson's People as being assigned to Graham Gill for the week commencing 22nd May 1966. This is plausible enough, as Graham was still part of the on-air team when the chart was unveiled on the Sunday, however the tag would certainly have been removed when Graham left the ship on Tuesday's tender.

Stupid Girl Attraction 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 Attraction failed to enter the Fab Forty. According to psychedelicized.com, the line-up for the band, from Romford, Essex, was Dean Maverick, (aka Pete Harper) vocals, Geoff Warren, lead, Keith Wastell, rhythm, Brian Young bass and Fez Harris, drums.

May had seen Bob Kuban & 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 based in Aylesbury, down the road apiece (by about a mile) from Stoke Mandeville.

Guitarist Dave Wendon formed the band when aged only sixteen, choosing Patterson's People because Patterson had been his mother's maiden name. Jim Alabaster played bass,Trevor Stott from the nearby town of Thame, was on drums, with brothers Arthur 'Boy' Archer and Patrick 'Patsy' Archer completing the line-up.

Sadly, founder Dave Wendon died in Zambia at the early age of 37.

Lorri Seymour got in touch in 2003. She was searching for a copy of the single, as Arthur Samuel Archer was her late stepfather. Lorri told us that he was known as 'Boy' in the band and as 'Sam' by all of the family. He lived in Aylesbury for most of his life, working for the Alco/International Alloy company, which closed around 1981. Lorri mentioned that Arthur and Patsy Archer also had a sister Carol.

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 in recent years, but at least they both assisted us in finding out a little more about the band members.

Lyricist Peter Black, who co-wrote both sides of the band's only single, emigrated to Australia and found success as an actor. He appeared in a number of TV series, often taking the role of a police officer. He played Sgt Mooney in the popular soap Neighbours, appeared in The Flying Doctor and Prisoner, Cell Block H and several feature films.

Shake Hands With the Devil's B-side, Deadly Nightshade, was published by Radio London's associated company, Pall Mall and was song #80 in the Pall Mall catalogue

The Record Mirror reviewed the band's only record as 'Rather well performed'. It was released by Mercury on May 27th and made #32 in the Disc and Music Echo chart.

Shake Hands With the Devil, was also the title of a 1921 film.

(With thanks to Brian Long for additional information)

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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