CHAPTER 2

The next two weeks went far too slowly for the group, but more numbers from the Top Twenty chart as it was then, were added to their repertoire, and extra practice put in, ready for their debut.  At last, the night of the dance came, and the lads were keen to get set up early, so they could have a quick rehearsal before everyone else arrived.  This completed, they went for a coffee in the coffee bar, and waited nervously for their turn to take charge of the music.  The club soon began to fill up with teenagers, Rhet Stoller was the main band and the dance got under way.  Eventually, the time arrived for their spot, and they all took their places on the small stage, which comprised of some trestle table tops, raised about two feet above the floor. Health & safety officers would have cringed at this if it had been happening in the 21st Century.  Needless to say, the piano was far too heavy to put on the makeshift stage, and stayed on the floor at the side of the stage.  The lads rechecked their equipment to make sure that all was in order, and guitars in tune, the big moment had arrived.  The Club Leader borrowed the microphone from Frank and introduced them, and with that they went into their first number.  At the end of it they were cheered by the dancers, and then having got into their stride, & confidence gained, they continued with the rest of their repertoire.  At the end of their fifteen minutes the teenagers wanted them to carry on for the rest of the evening & mobbed them.  However, they were unable to do this as they did not have enough material to sustain a full evenings dancing, and it was at this moment that the Club Leader managed to rescue them with a promise that they would be allowed to play again at the next club dance.  This was to be their way of making a contribution towards the use of the club premises for practice sessions and meetings. When the dance came to an end the group packed up their equipment & started to chat to Rhet Stoller who was a recording artist for they were now well on they’re way to becoming an asset to the Youth Club, but before long they were to become a household name in the County and later much further a-field.  Bill Pratt, who helped in the coffee bar in the Youth Club with his wife had taken a keen interest in the group and could see their potential.  He was of the opinion that they were going to make a big impact on the local music scene, as there were no other groups at the time, and offered his services as Manager to the group, arranging bookings and transport to gigs.  This seemed to be the obvious way to go forward; he had a phone, knew a lot of people, and after some discussion, the lads had a meeting with him, and accepted his offer.  The next urgent thing that had to be decided was a name for the group, and almost all of the next practice session was devoted to this.  Many suggestions were put forward by all the lads, and were bandied about. Almost all the American Rock and Roll groups at this time were based on cars, Grantham group “The Pontiacs” were but one example, but the space race was just beginning, and various Satellites were being put into space.  Suddenly, it clicked!  “The Satellites” someone announced, and they all knew that this was what they were looking for, and so it was settled.  The Satellites were now ready to be launched into orbit! Soon bookings for local dances were coming in, and they were playing for dances most Saturday nights.  This meant that they had to keep up to date with all the hit records of the time, which were coming out thick and fast.  When the group was first formed, they modeled themselves on “The Shadows” who were the backing group for Cliff Richard.  They were now recording their own compositions, which the “Satellites” were copying, and they had to either buy the records, or tape them, copy out the words where necessary and also work out the chords for all the parts.  Rehearsal evenings meant that if this work had already been done, it was just a matter of all playing the music over a few times, iron out any particular parts that were causing problems, and once the backing was right they would concentrate adding the vocals, then getting on with the next number. They got very proficient at this, but never really got down to writing any of their own material, although they did many of their own arrangements of various standard songs.   Their first bookings were for local organizations playing in Village Halls, some being Charity events for which they gave their services free of charge.  Often the piano in these venues left a lot to be desired, and once on arriving at Ancaster Village Hall, it was found that a lot of the notes didn’t work at most of the top end of the keyboard. Johnny took the front off the piano and soon discovered the reason.  A mouse had got in and removed the felt from a lot of the hammers and built a nest round the strings.  It was obviously unusable, so Johnny was unable to take much part in the proceedings that night. 
By now they had a good following of fans mainly from the Youth Club and from the local area and by now they had got some money from bookings, so their equipment had been upgraded gradually with new amplifiers. The next problem to be solved was transporting equipment to various venues which had  become a problem, then their manager had a brainwave.  He hired a bus from a local firm; Moore’s of Sleaford and transported the group and their equipment to their various bookings. By letting fans travel with them helped to cover the hire cost.  This worked very well for quite some time without any trouble. However, one night some fans of a group from Grantham took a dislike to some of the fans of “The Satellites” and a window in the bus got broken from the outside.  Fortunately no one was injured by the broken glass, but after that it was decided that a smallvan of some kind be purchased as the coach firm would not let them hire the bus anymore, and Bill would drive the group and equipment to all the gigs.  A secondhand Bedford Dormobile was chosen, and Mac being a very good artist soon put thename of the group on two signs, which were fixed to the roof rack. The van was painted pink and white, and could be mistaken for a Pink Paraffin delivery van from a distance.  This was quite a laugh & indeed it was some time later in London that this actually happened. It was
just about big enough to get the group and all their equipment in without being too un-comfortable on a long journey, as they were soon to be travelling many miles, and for many hours cooped up like chickens in a battery cage, although they did not know this at the time.  Bookings were now coming in thick and fast as they became more established, and started to take some bookings through an agent in the north of England, playing the large dance halls where once the Big Bands and Jazz Bands had played. Times were changing; the Big Bands were loosing out to rock groups. These were the sixties!  Their agent later went Bankrupt, owing the group money for bookings previously undertaken, but they never received the money owed. This was an experience not to be repeated! Frank had relatives in Sheffield & they knew of the group he was in so asked if they could play for a relatives Wedding Reception that was soon to take place. This became another steppingstone in the progress of “The Satellites” as Sheffield was the home to many large Working Men’s Clubs’ & some of those attending the Wedding Reception were Committee Members of various Clubs in Sheffield. Due to this, bookings soon started to come in.    As they were now outgrowing the Youth Club for rehearsal sessions urgent need for other premises to practice in became a matter of urgency.  The amount of equipment they now had, not to mention clothes, needed more room than was available at the Youth Club, and after a great deal of searching, a room was found at the rear of some shops close to the river Slea & a brewery on Southgate, Sleaford.  The room was a bit damp and musty as it had not used for some time, therefore redecorating was a must. Also some heating needed to be put in, but it was ideal for practice sessions and storing their equipment.  No one lived nearby so any excess noise would go un-noticed, although some soundproofing was included in the facelift. Another advantage was that it could be used at any time. Johnny collected some L.P. record covers from White & Sentance, the local music shop which was just opposite, and these were put up all round the room. This made it look more homely and after scouring the local newspapers, Johnny found an old piano, which he bought and moved into the room.  It was by now getting cold, as winter was fast approaching, so a fan heater was purchased and placed where it would soon warm the room through, also help to keep the piano & the electrical equipment protected from the damp.  By this time the boys decided that they needed to be of smart appearance and project a good image, so one Saturday they all went into Lincoln to John Collier and got measured for a jacket as uniform from the money received from gigs. The colour chosen was pale lilac, worn with a white shirt, salmon pink tie and black trousers & shoes that made them look more presentable on stage. Not too long afterwards they were measured for trousers to match the jacket, & once there were sufficient funds, white leather winkle picker shoes were purchased to finish off their new image. There were a few very strange looks at first from other lads, but other recording groups were by then wearing bright clothes, so it soon became accepted and not considered that the groups were gay!  The Mart, a hall tucked away up a jitty just off the north end of Sleaford Market Place where regular auctions were held, & was next-door to a slaughterhouse, (not that this had any significance!) was soon to became a popular venue for Saturday night dances.  It was a long narrow hall, with the stage about 20 feet from the floor, high above the entrance to the building and was only accessible by a steel ladder.  Needless to say this made it very difficult to get all the heavy equipment onto the stage; amplifiers were not exactly lightweight, although not as many used then as now. At least once ensconced up there you were safely away from any trouble that might break out in the hall below, as sometimes happened for it was not unusual for the occasional scuffle to start between a few lads’ worse the wear for drink. This would have soon been brought under control by Ernie and Mabel Romney who ran the dances. Any offenders would either be ejected or warned that they would be banned in future if they caused any more trouble.  This was usually enough to keep order as the dances were very popular every Saturday night. They booked “The Satellites” as support group to “Shane Fenton and the Fentones” who were soon to become friends with  “The Satellites” as they did many more bookings together.  Shane, who in the early 1970’s became more famous as Alvin Stardust was just beginning to record for Parlophone & had minor hits with “I’m a Moody Guy” “Walk Away” It’s All Over Now” &  “Cindy’s birthday. He had a huge following in Lincolnshire; he lived in Mansfield at that time. His father, being a tailor made Shane’s many stage clothes in bright colours and also began to organize dances in Newark, which was quite local and “The Satellites” were put on his books, and played there as top group regularly with other groups from that area. They were soon to be fitted out in new suits made by Shane’s father which were made from sailcloth; the instrumentalists were made in sage green and the vocalists blue.  Whilst playing at The Mart one night, a group of lads asked if their mate Adrian could sing a number with the group, so they agreed to let him sing one number. His song went down well with the dancers and it was decided that he be taken on as second vocalist. This now made the total number of the group seven. Sometime later, the group was invited to play for the Christmas Dance at Sleaford Secondary Modern School, which went down very well.  During the evening, a group of girls asked if their friend, a 14-year-old girl named Susan could sing a number with the group, and she sang the Helen Shapiro song, “Walking back to happiness” which went down a storm with the school pupils.  Her parents contacted the group shortly after this, and it was agreed that she would become “Suzanne,” the eighth member of the group. This now meant that a whole new repertoire of hit songs had to be put in place which were usually sung by female artists, so this put a strain on the group initially but soon it all came together and they went on from strength to strength. “The Satellites” had secured an audition for BBC Radio on Tuesday 19th December 1961 at the Leeds studio, this was just over a year from the group being formed.  Their pink & white Dormobile drew up in Woodhouse Lane with eight excited occupants hoping to make a successful debut. It meant that this was a great chance to come into the spotlight of a much bigger audience if they got through the audition. There was the possibility of going on programmes such as “Saturday Club” which was a hugely popular programme.  As they waited to be called in, their manager, Bill decided to take a look around the studios & see if he could find out what the opposition was like.   He came back with the funniest story you could imagine. “The group in there at the moment is absolute rubbish, you’ll walk it today” he said. “They are called the Kinks; now that’s a daft name to start with” he said. It seems Decca missing out on “The Beatles” has a similar ring to it! “The Satellites” took along their newest member, 14 year old Sue Camm, who had sung with them at the recent gig they had played at Sleaford Secondary Modern School Christmas Dance. She had been well received on her first public engagement & thought to be in the Helen Shapiro mould. Although only proficient in about four songs, she had great promise but right now was feeling very nervous, but then she was not the only one. The audition went well, the group playing “The Stranger” Susan (who was now called “Suzanne”) sang “Stupid Cupid” whilst Frank & Adrian sang “Five Foot Two” & Sea of Heartbreak” respectively.  They returned to Sleaford on a high, only to be told shortly afterwards the awful truth that they had not got through. As the sixties progressed, programmes like Saturday Club on Radio were superseded by television programmes, which began to play a major part in the success or otherwise of up and coming artists with programs like “Thank your lucky stars”, “Juke Box Jury”, Six-five Special”, “Top of the Pops” & “Oh boy!” so to get on one of these gave a potential big break to groups such as “The Satellites” and many others like them who were looking for stardom. Not only did new groups & solo artists find stardom on these programmes, so did the presenters & others who took part, as in “Juke Box Jury” with its signature tune “Hit & Miss” played by John Barry of John Barry Seven fame. He went on to compose 11 of the opening music to James Bond films. “Six Five Special” started in February 1957 when Rock & Roll was really only just beginning in Britain & was the first venture into Rock & Roll by the BBC, going out live in the early evening at five past six hence the name. It was produced by Jack Good & opened with Don Lang & his Frantic Five playing the signature tune & showing film of a steam train coming down the railway track. Pete Murray & Jo Douglas were the presenters which was a good format. However, Jack Good was not happy with how the BBC wanted to portray the content of the programme & finally left the BBC to go on to create  “Oh Boy” on ITV company ABC. This is what he had wanted to do on the BBC, but had not been allowed to but it was a great programme which really took off  & featured a fast moving show with non stop music. It beat “Six five special” by far in the viewing ratings & it was not too long before the BBC pulled it from their schedule. It was many years before they recovered when “Top of the Pops” or TOTP as it was often known was created as a popular music programme & in fact ran from  1st January 1964 to 30th July 2006. “Juke Box Jury” was on BBC television from June 1959 until 1967 with panel members Pete Murray (at the time Britain’s No.1 Disk Jockey), singer Alma Cogan, Garry Miller & Susan Stranks, who later became presenter of children’s programme “Magpie” on ITV.  Can you remember the rhyme at the start of the programme?   Janice Nicholls also became a famous panelist with her catchphrase “I’ll give it foive.” & advert for Luton airport.  David Jacobs was also very much in vogue as the presenter going on to make a very long career in radio & television. 
Other programmes that helped to mould the early days of British Rock & Roll were “Boy meets Girls” which introduced Marty Wilde (the Boy) & the Vernon’s (the girls Girls).

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3
Sleaford was not far from the other main towns in the area, Newark, Grantham, Lincoln and Boston, which had a large dance hall called the Gliderdrome with the “Starlight Room”, so called because of the huge Mirror ball hanging from the ceiling. This
venue was hugely popular.  It had once been a roller-skating rink in the early 1950’s, but was burnt down in the mid 1950’s and had been rebuilt as a dance hall on a much grander scale. It was a great shame that in the late 1960’s it was turned into a Bingo Hall; sheer sacrilege! Many other dance halls went the same way as Bingo grew in popularity. By now Mr. Malkinson, the owner, & his son were booking a lot of the top recording artists of the time such as Craig Douglas, Jimmy Crawford and the Ravens, The Karl Denver Trio, Shane Fenton & the Fentones, Joe Brown & the Bruvvers, The Tornados’ and many others.  The Satellites were
playing there at least once a month as support group to lots of these top artists & was one of their favourite venues. They were support to Shane Fenton & the Fentones on many occasions & got to know them quite well. During one of the breaks at one of the gigs there, they were talking to Shane’s mother who gave them a bit of advice. She said whatever you do don’t get mixed up with girls as you will never make the big time if you do. Well, that didn’t affect Shane as he was married three times. They were also support to the Tornados’ on Christmas Eve when Telstar was riding high in the charts. The Satellites, being local were always on time to set up their equipment which was not an easy task at the “Glider” due to the shape of the hall & situation of the dressing room the acts had to go through the hall to get their equipment on stage & set up. However, the Tornados’ were late arriving & the Satellites had already completed their equipment set up & sound checks but the Tornados’ were not happy with the arrangement & refused to set up. This caused the owner & manager of the Gliderdrome  to come & sort it all out. He informed the 'Tornados’ that if they did not play the would not get paid. This put a different slant on the matter as they still needed the money in spite of "Telstar' bringing in the money. On the strength of this they had bought new Ford Zephyr 6 cars, but still needed to earn so they decided to set up their equipment around the Satellites. To make matters worse, the Satellites played Telstar as their opening number. Naughty or what!

It was due to get worse for them as at the end of the evening some girls had used lipstick to leave messages on their new cars. It must have taken them ages to get this all removed.
Another amusing incident happened for the Satellites at the Glider.  There was always a chap dressed in full evening dress with Brylcreemed black hair parted in the middle & a thin wispy moustache who would have been possibly in his mid thirties. He would gradually move up to the front of the stage & after a while would produce a conductors baton from the sleeve of his jacket & proceed to conduct the band.  One night when this happened, Jimmy got him up on the stage & got him to conduct the Satellites to the delight of the audience. He got a huge round of applause at the end & must have made his night unforgettable.
Soon more bookings started to come in from lots of other places. The Sheffield Club bookings tripled & were certainly the place to be for work experience! You could play a Sunday lunchtime & evening gig at a Club almost every Sunday of the year without repeating one. The Satellites favourite one was “Dial House” one of the largest, which was reminiscent of  “Wheeltappers & Shunters”  which used to be shown on television. Jimmy was a bit of a gambler & would play the slot machines whenever he could & one Sunday lunchtime
he had been on the machines for a short while before going back on stage to do the next session, so when he came back to the slot machines they were all in use.  He had not been there very long before the lady in front of him had run out of change & went off to the bar for some more coins. Jimmy stepped up to the machine, put a coin in & it dropped the jackpot!   Needless to say the lady who had been playing the machine before Jimmy was not amused! Another thing that was not so amusing was that Sheffield was on lower power supply than any other places they played. 

On Sunday lunchtimes, it seemed that all the electric cookers in Sheffield were full on, therefore the power fluctuated up & down. This did not affect the amplifiers to the guitars, but Johnny had problems the first time they did a Sunday lunchtime session.  He altered the setting on his Univox keyboard to take care of the lower power supply, & tested it whilst tuning up the guitars, then doing a sound check. All seemed well & as this was some time before the session started they all went for a drink at the bar. When the first number using the keyboard was started it sounded like a sick animal, very embarrassing as the sound was squeaky one second then deep & well out of tune with the guitars the next, so this had to be abandoned on the lunchtime sessions, but evening was fine. The power was back to its normal level, dinner having been cooked, possibly all the ovens switched off & once more all was again normal; the keyboard was useable. Using the keyboard on dinnertime sessions was something not to be repeated.
One Sunday they were all invited to dinner at a \Working Club members house; usually they went to a fast food outlet then the cinema to pass the time until the evening session.  However this week was different; as they sat down at the table all were surprised except for Frank who knew all about dinner in Yorkshire. First arrived a big plate of Yorkshire pudding with a good covering of gravy. Apparently this goes back to earlier times when money & meat was scarce, so they filled up with the pudding and gravy first so that you didn’t need
as much meat then to fill you up!  This was certainly better than going to a Wimpy Bar, which was what the boys often did whilst waiting for the evening session, followed with a visit to a park if the weather was alright or to the Cinema.

 

CHAPTER 4

Soon things were to get better in the way of bookings.  One of Mac’s friends down in London got them a booking at the Chenil Galleries, Chelsea to play for a Ball organized by the “20th Century Fops”.  The Group were somewhat amused at what they saw on arrival at the Ball as the males were mostly dressed in Dandies clothes with lace cuffs to the jackets & breeches, shoes with buckles  & lace collars, & perfume! This was much in the style of Beau Brummel who paraded about in Regency dress. It was like being transported back in time without a Dr Who “Tardis” in sight! The Ball went very well & the Satellites made many fans that night.

This was to be a springboard for many more High Society bookings, including one for the daughter of the then Home Secretary, R.A.Butler, usually known as Rab from his initials.The Ball was reported in the London Evening Standard the following day as follows: -
“The New Dandies”
One aim of the newly-formed Twentieth Century Fops Association is, according to its President Mr Philip Townsend, to “introduce more decorative forms of dress to the English male than has so far been shown in the last 20 years.” The Association’s 15 Committee Members took its raison d’etre seriously to heart at the Chenil Galleries, Chelsea last night.
Mr Townsend wore black boots, a ruffle, & a mink-brown topper. Chairman Aubyn de Margary wore breeches & a silver wig. And the 350 guests?  The men wore dinner jackets; the women, short skirts – which were of course, more convenient for
dancing to the High Curley Stompers and The Satellites. The Satellites, tastefully dressed in mauve suits & orange ties, thumped vigorous tunes for dancing debutantes like Miss Nikki Trethowan.
Mr de Margary fingered a lace handkerchief. “It’s a Regency handkerchief,” he said. “It belonged to my family. We date back to 1004.”
There was also an article in The Guardian newspaper regarding the dance in Aubyn de Margary’s obituary when he died in 2005 aged 63.
The night before the Fops Ball at the Chenil Galleries, Aubyn de Margary & Philip Townsend were invited on to the current affairs Television programme "Nationwide." Not all viewers took kindly to the sight of these two outrageously dressed toffs being interviewed while ostentatiously taking snuff. When they were allowed on camera by a man who had been invited on to talk about some alligators that had been discovered living in the sewers of American towns, one irritated viewer called in to the programme to say, “Why don’t you throw them to the alligators?”
The singing duo Peter & Gordon (Peter Asher & Gordon Waller), who later had four number one hits, topped the bill at the ball.
Aubyn de Margary riled Peter, (Brother of actress Jane Asher) he not being the only one to be upset by this chap, by saying “I’m going to call them Gordon & Peter because Peter can’t sing.” Cynics attributed much of their success to the fact that Paul McCartney was Jane Asher’s boyfriend, & generously wrote two of her brother’s hits. Self confident to the point of bumptiousness, Aubyn was much in demand at cocktail parties & balls qualifying as a “Deb’s Delight”.
Originally this was the title awarded to pianist Nat Temple who played a gig at Claridges Hotel with The Satellites as support band.
He was at the time in great demand at such events as he also had his own programme on B.B.C radio. This was some gig & the Satellites were greeted at the main door by a doorman in all his finery & shown by him into the Hotel. The group were taken to one of the large bedrooms, which was to become  their changing room for the duration of the Ball . They then had to get all their equipment into the ballroom & set up. After this they went up to the room allocated to them, changed & were ready to give their best. The Ball was a very fine affair, the Satellites alternating with Nat Temple. The debutants & their escorts danced all evening & dined, with the group being included in the food & wine & were very reluctant to head back to Sleaford in the very early hours of the morning when it would have been much more comfortable to have stayed there at the Hotel in comfort & luxury instead of trying to get some sleep in their van on the way back home. However, the drink they had imbibed enabled them to get some sleep!

This was the main problem for the lads as they were all in full time jobs except for Mac who was part time selling door.

 

CHAPTER 5

The group were later invited to do a tour of London at the end of October, 1961, which was arranged mainly by Aubyn, & they were
based at the Bagshot home of  his parents Mr & Mrs Margary, except for Mac who stayed with his friend Mark Howard.  Most of
the group were accommodated in the main house, which was quite large, but Johnny & Adrian stayed in the Summer House which was
quite large & comfortable. That was until they heard the report of a man who had escaped from prison & was thought to be in the Bagshot
area. This was somewhat disconcerting to the pair & as there were a set of golf clubs in the Summer House, they each had one to hand just
in case. However, it was not long before he was recaptured which came as a huge relief to the lads. Aubyn de Margary (as he had now
become know)decided to shadow “The Satellites” spending much time travelling around with them & showing them the places to be. 
After one gig in London, he decided to introduce them to the Savoy Hotel, which was quite funny. He tried to gatecrash a party stating
that he had a new group with him who would be delighted to play for the party. However, he never got past the doorman. Not to be outdone,
he then decided to take everyone to London Heathrow Airport for breakfast & as they went through the tunnel leading into the airport, they
were confronted with some policemen. Apparently there was an ongoing incident, so security was tight. However, they were cleared as
being alright & continued to make there way for breakfast.  Aubyn smoked very heavily & was always on the cadge for a fag. When in
the van with the group he would recite a rude poem about “Daniel in the lions den” for a fag! The group almost got to know it off by
heart in the end after being relieved of many cigarettes. One evening Aubyn attended a party at Sunningdale, near the golf course, where
The Satellites were playing. It was a large house with masses of garden with a swimming pool not far from where the stage was put for
the band & a large marquee. He was in usual full evening dress & over the time he had spent with the group had constantly annoyed Jimmy
for some reason. During that evening Jimmy, who was at least 18 stone eventually lost his temper with him & without pausing for breath
picked him up & neatly dropped him in the swimming pool. He got out looking like a drowned rat & not that much pleased. However the
guests at the party who included Charlotte Rampling, gave Jimmy a round of applause as it was probably something they would have liked
to have done but not dared.  Apparently this incident appeared in the book “Coronets among the weeds” by Charlotte Rampling.
Some years after the Satellites met him, he latched on to the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones & their Manager,
Andrew Loog Oldham turned up at the home of the Margarys’ which was then Lympne Castle, in Kent where he lived with his parents.
The castle was part of an Estate, which was quite vast costing about £5 million. This was quite late after playing a gig nearby and Aubyn
was not pleased to see them at such a late time & told them in no uncertain terms to “F-off.”  In revenge the Stones found some bricks
which were being used for some work on cottages on the estate  & spent the rest of the night blocking the door to the Castle with them.
They made a good job of it, as it was some 6 bricks high. When his father came out in the morning to go to London he was obviously not
at all happy about the wall.  Could this have been the start of his “19th nervous breakdown”? A song with a title like that could almost make
the charts one day. Well, maybe not. After Harrow, Aubyn was later to become a Stock Broker in the City, but at this time he did not
appear to be doing very much at all. 
The tour of London continued with an afternoon spent at EMI Studios in St Johns Wood, now better known as Abbey Road since the
Beatles recorded there & the epic Album cover showing them on the zebra crossing outside the studios.  On entering the front door, they proceeded down the corridor, passing a recording studio on their left, & saw coming towards them a young woman dressed in sloppy
jumper & blue jeans. As she came closer, they seemed to recognize her, but couldn’t put a name to the face. She went into the studio
that they had just passed, & suddenly it came to them who she was. It was no less than Shirley Bassey! They continued to the studio
where they were to spend the whole afternoon with Record Producer, Wally Ridley who was a legend in his own time. In the 1940s he
joined EMI records as a producer for the HMV label & went on to sign up many singers such as Alma Cogan, Anne Shelton, Donald Peers
& Ronnie Hilton as well as the bandleader Joe Loss, & comedian Benny Hill. His input transformed HMV into a leading outlet for
popular music, playing a significant role in making EMI profitable in the 1950s & 1960s.Vera Lynne was guided by him in her early career,
& during the war he was responsible for her recording “We’ll meet again”, her signature tune. Max Bygraves, Malcolm Vaughn, the
Mike Sammes Singers & Rosemary Squires were all helped to great success by him. He decided that EMI should acquire for UK release
Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” from RCA Records & by the 1960s he had signed rock’n’roll band Johnny Kidd & the Pirates.
He was horrified when he first heard the group. “It was just a loud, howling, metallic noise & this went on for two & a half hours,”
he remembered. However, “Shaking all over” reached No.1 in the UK Charts in 1960; he then went on to sign up the “Swinging Blue
Jeans “ who had a hit with “The Hippy Hippy Shake” in 1963.
All this, & now the Satellites were in his studio with a band of recording engineers, which was a bit unnerving for them to say the least.
However, after setting up their kit, doing a sound check by playing a short section of one of their numbers, the sound engineers came
down to see what was going on with the bass sound. They could not believe the sound Jimmy was putting out, saying it was a better
sound than the Shadows, who they regularly recorded. Jimmy’s amplifier was prone to rattling with the vibration of the sound so to
combat this had stuffed the back of his amplifier with foam rubber from Frank’s fathers upholstery workshop, & had kept his volume down.
This meant that the engineer had to turn up the volume from the sound desk in the recording booth, which produced the sound they were interested in. Wally Ridley then proceeded to work out a new arrangement of “The Breeze & I” on the piano, & the group played it
through a few times, making adjustments here & there, & listening to it back through the studio speakers. This was an awesome sound,
far better that they could get under normal circumstances. After spending a whole afternoon in the studio, also recording their version
of  “Begin the Beguine” & hearing the final versions the Satellites were well pleased with the result, & left on a real high.
On their way out of the building, they came to the studio where Shirley Bassey was recording. When they got outside, a window to the
studio was slightly open & they could see her in front of the orchestra so stayed a while to listen. Soon it was time to move on, & they were under the impression that they would be releasing “The breeze & I” as a single record, with “Begin the Beguine” the B side.
However, this did not happen & it was later apparently used as a demo disc as not long after they had made the recording, The Fentones”
released it, as did The Shadows.   You can imagine how disappointed The Satellites were at this but were unable to do anything about it.

CHAPTER 6
The tour continued with their bookings, as previously arranged, but on their only day when no booking had been made, they all went to
the Motor Show spending most of the afternoon looking at all the new cars & dreaming of which one they would like when they all became
famous!
The London tour continued with a great reception by the dancers at Staines on the Friday night followed by a similar experience on the
Saturday night at Farnham in Hampshire. The hall was packed to capacity & went very well, but the Satellites were beginning to get nervous
As to what would be happening the next day.
This was to be the last gig of the tour at the famous coffee bar known as the Two I’s situated at 59, Compton Street & was thought of as
the birthplace of British Rock & Roll. When they arrived, there was a surprise waiting for them in the form of two girls, former telephonists
from Sleaford, now working in London. They used to be members of our local youth center in the Market Square & were Cynthia Banner
& Pamela Weston & during their London appearances the two fans were always on hand for support. The Satellites were very aware of
who had gone before them as appearing previously had been Marty Wilde, Cliff Richard, Vince Eager (from Grantham) Vince Taylor & the Playboys, Terry Deene & many others. The one to make the biggest hit was Tommy Steele & from the beginning in the basement of this
coffee bar had made stardom worldwide not just as a singer but actor & film star. He made numerous records & albums,
did stage shows & was a great success.  His younger brother, Colin Hicks also appeared there later with his group, the Cabin Boys.
He looked very similar to Tommy & made quite a few records & toured Italy, although he never made an impact that Tommy had.
The Satellites went through the famous coffee bar & downstairs to the basement where they set up ready to play. Their show started at
3pm & although they were contracted to play for 1 hour, they were asked to remain on stage at the end of their performance. Manager
of the 2 I’s Tom Littlewood liked them so much that he persuaded them to continue playing for his customers for almost two & a half hours. Mr Pratt commented that they were all glad that they went as it had been a very enjoyable & memorable experience. Everyone had been very receptive & couldn’t do enough for us. Tom Littlewood gave them a tip that they should write to the BBC & ask for an audition as he
thought they were good enough.
Following the tour, Mick Field, reporter for the Sleaford Standard accompanied The Satellites to a Deb Party, & reported on his experience
in the Standard dated 20th April 1962 , a resume of which is as follows:
My day in the company of the “Satellites began with a Coca-Cola straight from the bottle & chips at a transport café. It closed in amazing contrast, as we wined & dined luxuriously on chanpagne, fresh salmon & caviare in one of London West End’s most exclusive clubs! This grand finale had been earned by the group – a great tribute to the impact they had made on this section of the capital city.
The occasion marked the most impressive achievement yet in the career of Sleaford’s outstanding rhythm group. A crazy, at times unbelievable, debutante’s “coming out” party in Chelsea, the district where society’s sons & daughters ;ive for today & let tomorrow take
care of itself. It was only the thirs day of the debs “season.” By a remarkable stroke of luck, the “Satellites” had snatched this star booking from under the noses of London’s leading groups. How would it turn out they didn’t know, but it was an overwhelming success.
For me it was strange to see the outfit who had set the teenagers clamouring in the village halls of Lincolnshire receiving exactly the same
sort of ovation from these fickle, hard-to-satisfy debs & their escorts.
With almost impudent ease, the boy’s grinned & bluffed convincingly as the guests approached them frequently with words of praise.
Many compared them with the Shadows, & I even heard one deb say to her companion that she was glad now that her host had not
invited Cliff Richard to the party!
In the second half of their performance, the dancers stopped after each number & applauded long & vigorously.
Pleased Prince
They probably thought the “Satellites” were fit to set before a king. And their host certainly had confidence in their ability to please a prince, for one of the guests was in fact a prince, for one of the guests was Prince Michael of Kent, brother of the Duke of Kent.  We found much
Of this strange & exciting. But there were a lot of laughs too. The guests were hospitable & courteous, but no one could say deny they were also a little odd. Once the group’s initial nervousness had worn off, they were hard pressed to keep their composure in the face of so many moments of humour.
Although all these things were, on the face of it, impressive, the most staggering part of the evening came after the party had ended, when
the owner of the Amalo – Belgian club, a Belgrave Square rendezvous for Belgian businessmen & their British Associates - name of
Monsieur Poley said : “You will join me in a little food & drink, won’t you?”
The little food & drink turned out to be five bottles of champagne, a huge tray of sandwiches, caviar & the like, plus a large plate of
hors d’oeuvres & two bottles of whisky. Oh, yes, & there was salmon, caught he explained, only that morning.
Because there were so many things worthy of note, it is difficult to arrange them in order of interest, so I propose to record the day from
the time we set off on Thursday morning until we returned home some 19 hours later, on Friday. The crazy pattern of our exploits was
set right at the beginning. I had arranged to travel with the “Satellites” in their van, & at about 10 o’clock I went down to their clubroom in Southgate to meet them. I climbed into the back to join lead guitarist Mac Mcmanus, pianist John Haywood, drummer Badge Harding & one of the vocalists, Adrian Govier.
Parking by hand
In the front of the van were the driver & Manager, Mr Bill Pratt, rhythm guitarist Colin Ingamells & the leading vocalist, Frank Graves.
At a Peterborough transport café we had an early lunch  of chips, sausage, egg – and records from a juke box standing in the corner.
The van, parked outside with huge “Satellites” lettering on the side claimed a lot of attention from our fellow diners. We hit London at
about 3.30pm. Having located the Belgravia district, we moved along the rows of austere buildings, searching for our place.
A look at a couple of Rolls-Royces, a collection of Jaguars, the odd Aston Martin, & the towering, sedate apartment houses in the area,
& pianist, John Haywood gave way to a mock wail: “I want to go home.” We immediately ran up against parking problems. When we
did fing a place, ir wasn’t quite big enough to park in the normal manner  passers-by were amazed to see the group lifting the van &
pulling it into place. What we didn’t realise until this operation was half-completed was that our front bumper was stuck underneath
the back of a Jaguar, & that every time the van was heaved over a little more, this car was lifted off the ground. After unloading
equipment & hauling it up to the second floor, we went out to buy new strings for Colin’s & Mac’s guitars.

Peace shattered
We took the tube from Hyde Park Corner station to Charing Cross. The Charing Cross Road, I was reading somewhere, is now
considered to be the world’s leading music center, but we had to drag round half-a-dozen shops before we found a satisfactory make
of strings. Back in the club, there was a hasty tuning-in session, delayed by the difficulty in finding suitable space for the amplifiers,
then the boys had to make a quick change act into the mauve stage suits. At least one of us was not overawed by our elaborate
surroundings, & the rows of champagne bottles. Surprisingly, this was the youngest member of the party, Adrian Govier, who casually produced a large, black, hairy model spider from his pocket & dropped it behind a very friendly lady (who, we discovered, was the wife
of the owner) & her assistant. He then drew attention to the horrible looking thing, & the peace of the stately building was shattered
by a shrill scream & a fair exhibition of the “Twist” from the assistant, who threatened all sorts of things.
Bassist, Jim Law, who had to travel separately from Leeds, where he was taking a 9 week G.P.O. course, arrives – ten minutes before
starting time. At the start, as the debs were being announced by a scarlet-coated toastmaster, the group were nervous.
All day, we had bumped into dignified older people who had kindly said things like: “I look forward to hearing your orchestra tonight”
& “I’m sure your band will play nice music.”  Frank summed up what we all thought when he asked Mr Pratt:” Are you sure they know
what they’re getting?” Someone else added: “Perhaps they think we’re like Victor Sylvester.” The answer came after about three numbers, when an odd assortment of  stiffly-dressed characters in true blue Edwardian style suits wandered into the dance section of the hall (it was partitioned, by the way) & set to “Twisting” furiously with their debs, most of whom contrived to look bored with all this splendour.
They were slow to begin dancing, but the “Satellites” contact, Aubyn de Margary, who moves within the “circle,” explained that this
particular set had to be told to dance before they would take any action. Gradually they came onto the floor & began to “Twist.”
It was a remarkable feature of the night that everyone there “Twisted” to every single number, regardless of beat. Even slow foxtrot
Pace produced a lazy, lethargic sway. It was obviously in vogue & any rebels would not be invited to future parties.
Back-breaking
I have to disillusion local dance hall regulars who believe that these sons & daughters of the wealthy society figures – who, let’s face it,
do little work, if any at all – are completely useless. If they can do nothing else, dancing they excel at. These are the people who launched
the “Twist” in this country, & by practicing at parties seven nights a week have perfected the “art.” The dance had been in progress for
only a quarter of an hour when I had my first, & last, bit of bother. The flash equipment attached to my camera had developed a fault,
which made it impossible for me to take any pictures indoors. I fiddled with wires & batteries for a while, but still couldn’t the photographs
I wanted of the group performing behind a line-up of debs. Seeing that the task was hopeless, I left the room to put my camera away in
the group’s changing room. As I walked up the stairs, I heard the hostess – mother of the girl the party was being held for – ask the
toastmaster: “Who is that photographer?” Thinking no more about it, I put the camera away, then came downstairs again. At the bottom
the toastmaster approached me & grabbed my arm. “Are you with the party?” he asked. Not knowing whether he was referring to the
“Satellites” or the guests, I decided “Yes” was the answer to give, anyway. He led me to where our hostess was welcoming her guests.
On the way, we passed the main door, where a couple of |Daily Express men were being told that they were not required.  Obviously
a purge of newspaper reporters. I decided that Mick Field had better change his profession fairly rapidly. Our hostess smiled a broad smile
& managed to state a fact & ask a question simultaneously. “I don’t believe I know you, do I?” she said. “No, I don’t think we’ve met”
I replied. Further conversation went like this:
“Who are you exactly?” “I’m with the Satellites” “Yes, but what are you?” “Oh, I’m their publicity manager, I travel all over the country
with them” It was obvious that my story was not accepted. Not being able to find a weak link in it as far as facts were concerned, our
hostess produced an unanswerable argument.
So careful was now the "Watchword!"

      

January 8th 1963- The  Red Cross held a Masked Ball at Quaglino’s, Bury Street, S.W.1
Roy Wallis & his Band were supported by The Satellites, also singer Joy Marshall, who had appeared on the “Tonight” television
programme with Cliff Mitchelmore & was beginning to make a career for herself. Sadly she committed suicide some weeks after the Ball.
Later, judging of the masks was performed by Miss Dawn Adams