Remembering Reg and his 60s School of Rock; MUSIC impresario Reg Calvert was a key figure on the sixties music scene, managing bands which packed out local dance halls and who all lived and practiced at his mansion in Rugby. Rock fan and regular Telegraph contributor Pete Clemons looks back at Reg’s heyday and tragic end to his life. YOUR nostalgia.

TOWARDS the end of 2011 I was given the opportunity, by Pete Chambers, to go and see a play called Reg that was being held at the Nuneaton Arts Centre. In fact it was two stories. The first was about Reg’s younger life. The other was about a more tumultuous period that led to his death in 1966.

The Reg in question was Reg Calvert, one of the great characters of the sixties music scene. And Pete has long predicted that sooner or later his life would one day be made into a stage play or film. The plays, written by Reg’s daughter Susan Moore, have certainly left a lasting impression on me.

In his heyday Reg was manager of groups and solo singers. None of them were, at that time, anywhere near household names yet Reg managed to pack out local dance halls. Almost all of Reg Calvert’s bands and artists lived at his mansion in Clifton Hall in Rugby which he bought when he moved to the Midlands from Southampton in the early 1960s. They all practised every day in order to reach Reg’s incredible high standards. In return he paid them a basic wage with all accommodation and food being part of the contract. Reg had various dance halls round the Midlands which he ran personally. All his own bands appeared in them which meant that he made 100 per cent profit apart from what he spent on food and travel.

His acts included Danny Storm and the Strollers, Buddy Britten and the Regents, Glen Dale, Robbie Hood and his Merry Men, Johnny Washington and Screaming Lord Sutch. And from these acts would morph the likes of The Fortunes, The Liberators and Pinkertons Assorted Colours.

Clifton Hall became known as The School of Rock. It had spacious gardens, recording rooms, a billiard and snooker room, a football pitch and a luxurious lounge in which to rest in. Everyone who stayed there had plenty of freedom. There was no set time for bed. If someone wanted to play drums or sing during the middle of the night then they were perfectly entitled to. After all there were no irate neighbours who would come knocking. To quote Reg – they were a world unto themselves. Despite all that freedom Reg was still a strict disciplinarian.

He had two rules. No alcohol and no girls would be brought back to the hall.

One of Reg’s most popular ventures was his regular ‘Teen Beat’ nights held on Friday and Saturday evenings at the Co-op Hall in Nuneaton.

These were, of course, aimed at the over 18s but Reg was also very keen to entertain and not let down the under 18s who would not have been allowed into the late night dances. So at the same venue he ran Saturday clubs where the same performers would play to hoards of youngsters.

By 1964 offshore (or pirate) radio had arrived and Reg was eager to make inroads into it. He decided that, with the help of the Screaming Lord, a rival to Radio Caroline would make a great publicity stunt. So during May 1964 Radio Sutch was launched from Shivering Sands which was located on an observation fort in the River Thames estuary just outside the three mile limit. More and more of Reg’s time was devoted to this new venture and by September the station was re christened as Radio City with shows not only being presented by himself and Lord Sutch but also his teenage daughters Candy and Susan.

Radio City was never going to be popular as the likes of Caroline or Radio 270 but it did have a sizeable audience in south east England and grew in monetary terms. In late 1965 merger talks had began between Radio’s Caroline and City.

In preparation for the merger a transmitter was delivered to the fort. This had been funded by a director of Caroline, a certain Major Oliver Smedley. But suddenly the merger plans collapsed and Reg then began talks with Caroline’s rival, Radio London. Arrangements were made to launch a new station from the fort.

Major Smedley was angered by this new deal. On the night of 19th/20th June 1966 he sent a gang of dockers to take control of the fort in order to use the transmitter, that apparently did not even work, as part of a bargaining tool so he could get in on the action.

The following evening, 21st June, saw Reg visit Smedley’s house to try to resolve the situation. During an altercation Reg was shot dead. Smedley was charged with murder but later acquitted on the grounds of self defence.

The tragedy signalled the beginning of the end for British offshore radio as the killing spurred the government into legislative action. It was also overshadowed by England’s success in a certain football competition held that year.

Despite the tragic outcome the story I find Reg’s life is incredibly fascinating.

And I have only touched on parts of it here. I really hope that Susan’s stage plays get to the wider audience that the tale so richly deserves.


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NEW 2018 – Pete Clemons reviews the new trilogy on Reg Calvert – 
LIFE AND DEATH OF A PIRATE by S.K. Moore.

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Johnny Washington

Pete Clemons also sent a related article on Johnny Washington

How Cov kid Johnny turned teenage dreams into Vegas gold; YOUR nostalgia.

Pete Clemons

BORN in Rugby, brought up in Bell Green, lives and performs in Las Vegas, nominated for a Grammy award and an author of several books. This sounds like the stuff of dreams. But it is all absolutely true. Johnny Washington, born July 1945, was brought up in Dudley Street just off Proffitt Avenue. He attended a local primary school and was friendly with a family down the road whose daughters attended the same school. One of the daughters was a couple of years older than Jon and was looked upon as being quite cool. However, during the mid 50s, and quite mysteriously, this particular young lady left the neighbourhood although the rest of the family stayed. Before she went though she left Jon a stack of 78s by the likes of Freddie Bell, Screaming Jay Hawkins,

Little Richard and Gene Vincent that were to change and influence his life forever. From then on he only wanted to do one thing. During the early 1960s Johnny got his first break and became a member of Coventry rock ‘n’ roll band The Vampires. At aged 16 Johnny had been signed to Reg Calvert’s Clifton Hall Artists. And then during 1962 he had recorded his first 45 ‘Darinda’ on the Decca label. Through that association he was involved in the embryonic stages of The Fortunes who were, back then, known as The Cliftones. In fact Rod Bainbridge (Allen) and Barry Pritchard were involved in the recording of ‘Darinda’. Several more singles followed. But Jon knew though that to further his career then America was the place to be and his first visit to the country in 1965 coincided with what became known as ‘The British Invasion’. He had a period, between 1966 and 1970, as lead singer with The Applejacks. And they had several visits to America and these tours confirmed Jon’s thoughts. In 1971 he moved there permanently. He initially settled in New York City and quickly teamed up with production team Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss who produced his first U.S. release ‘Sugar Shine Lady’ released on Columbia records. While in New York he also found work as a session singer for Atlantic records and Eddie Kramer’s Electric Ladyland studios in Greenwich Village. But it was in 1974 that Jon would start the cabaret act that would see him begin a journey from Florida to Las Vegas where he would eventually settle. Managed by Midwest Destiny Management the cabaret work was plentiful and this meant that Jon could be on the road for up to 48 weeks of the year. This period also saw the release of another single ‘You’ll be my Baby Again’. The 1980s saw Jon take another change in direction.

This time he moved into the country pop scene. Under the umbrella of an old friend, producer Doc Holiday, Jon gained five consecutive chart hits. These included ‘One Dance Love Affair’ and ‘Two Hearts’. Both of those songs stayed in the Billboard charts for several weeks. He also recorded a country version of the Fortunes song ‘Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again’ which gained considerable airplay. This led Jon into the 1990s and his next step change which was the formation of a band – Jon Washington’s Sounds of the Fortunes. Jon and his band were now living and working in the entertainment capitol of the world, Las Vegas Nevada. The sounds of the Fortunes released two albums and toured extensively. At the turn of the century Jon continued to write songs. In March 2003 he released a solo album called ‘I Can Feel A Love Coming On’ from which the title track received a Grammy award nomination. An incredible accolade for the ‘local lad come good’. It was at this time when Jon also began a new career as an author and 2003 also saw the release of his first book ‘A Fire Within (true stories of tragedy in the British rock ‘n’ roll experience)’ for Franklin Press. The book deals with the likes of Brian Jones, Lord Sutch, Brian Epstein and other musical icons whose lives were cut short. A chapter is devoted to each of the personalities. A second book, ‘The Lost Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ was published in 2004 and covers similar ground to his first book. Only this time the subjects are all American and include artists who featured and inspired him in his inherited stack of 78s all those years ago. Indeed in the preamble Jon touches on his roots and pays a tribute to the person who left him those records. Which brings this story to the present date. A third book has just been released called ‘The British are Coming’. I have not had chance to read this one yet but from the title I am guessing that it deals with the British musical invasion to America of the mid 1960s. I also understand that he has yet another album due for release in June called ‘The Rain Tree’. This is, from what I understand, another country album. Plus he is currently re-recording an album of songs by The Applejacks that were originally recorded during his time with the band. It seems that at almost 67 years old Jon is still very active.

FOR those who may not have noticed, seminal Coventry band, The Sorrows, have regrouped and are currently playing gigs around Coventry.

Prior to the first gig at The Arches snooker club, Spon End, back in December 2011, the five musicians had been rehearsing hard for the previous three months.

And the sensational results of this comeback means that the band have been signed by London management and could well be scheduled for work on the continent that includes theatres and festivals for 2012.

There is even talk of a new album. The band’s current line-up is Don Fardon (vocals) Phil Packham (bass), Nigel Lomas (drums), Marcus Webb (lead guitar) and Brian Wilkinson (rhythm guitar and harmonica).

The Sorrows were originally formed way back in 1963 in Coventry by Pip Whitcher. They gigged hard around the city at venues like The Craftsman, The Pilot, The Heath Hotel and The Orchid Ballroom. The line-up back then was Philip (Pip) Whitcher (lead guitar and vocals), Don Fardon (vocals), Philip (Phil) Packham (bass guitar), Terry Jukes (rhythm guitar) and Bruce Finley (drums).

The gained a manager in David Owen and not long after the band had recorded their first 45rpm, ‘I Don’t Wanna be Free’ during December 1964, Jukes left and was replaced on rhythm guitar by Wez Price.

While plying their trade in the local night clubs their reputation was spreading far and wide. This resulted in the group being discovered by A & R man and Piccadilly’s label manager John Schroeder.

Line up 1: Don Maughan (Don Fardon) (vocals), Pip Whitcher (lead guitar), Terry Jukes (rhythm guitar), Phil Packham  (bass), Bruce Finlay (drums).(From Broadgate Gnome)

Line up 2
Don Fardon – (born Donald Maughn, 19 August 1940, Coventry) – Lead vocals
Philip (Pip) Whitcher – (born 1943, Coventry) – lead guitar and vocals
Philip (Phil) Packham – (born 13 June 1945, Bidford-on-Avon) – bass guitar
Wez Price – (born Wesley Price, 19 July 1945, Coventry) – rhythm guitar
Bruce Finley – (born 20 September 1944, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) – drums

Lineup 3 Philip “Pip” Whitcher – vocals, lead guitar / Wez Price – bass / Roger Lomas – guitar / Bruce Finlay – drums

Lineup 4 Chuck Fryers- vocals organ, guitar / Wez Price – bass / Chris Smith – keyboards / Mick Bradley – drums

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From The Broadgate Gnome

Coventry’s biggest group of the ’60’s actually only had one major hit, but released a number

of superb, tough R&B singles and a very rare album.

Above is the original line up. Maughan had previously been in The Hawks. A hard gigging band, they played blues and beat and secured a twice a week residency at the Pilot in Radford, building up a faithful large following.They also played at Coventry City’s Highfield Road ground during half time.

They were signed to Pye’s Piccadilly label by producer John Schroeder and released a tough, self-penned a-side for their first single.

Jukes left soon after and was replaced by ex-Unknowns guitarist Wes Price. This line-up recorded the Shuman / Westlake composed second single. Although another good performance, the single failed to sell in the quantities needed to chart and the band were demoralised enough to consider splitting. However they heard a song which was to be their first (and only UK) hit. It was the Boys Blue’s version of ‘Take A Heart’ , written by Miki Dallon (aka Mickey Tinsley).

Tony Fennell tells us, “I recorded “Take a Heart” with the Sorrows as a session drummer and worked with Johnny Goodison’s Showband.

Bruce Finlay left the Sorrows and I recorded Take a Heart and No No No + 1 other track which escapes my memory. This was at Piccadilly Studio with John Schroeder (Cast your fate to the wind fame). Between release of the single I left Coventry to move to Bristol.

They recorded a superb moody version of the song and were rewarded by a number 21 position in the UK charts in

September 1965, it also became a huge hit in Europe and eventually the U.S. For the following few months it looked as if the band were on the brink of major success, but the important follow up single failed to perform in the charts (reaching number 47 in the N.M.E.) .

The Sorrows music was raucous upbeat frenzied hard aggressive rock with great musicianship and an incredible drum beat.

Pye had already scheduled an album release, and this duly came out at the end of 1965.

Although containing a few previously released tracks, it was a great demonstration of their talents and styles mixing R&B, Beat, Folk Rock and raw punk attitude, it nevertheless failed to sell in enough quantities to stop it becoming quickly deleted, and is now one of the more sought after artifacts of the beat era.

And from Rex Brough

Coventry’s greatest 60’s band. Their sound was similar to the R ‘n B bands like the Kinks

and the Pretty things – raw energy. Their only hit, “Take a Heart,” reached number 25. They were featured on Ready Steady Go, demonstrating to Cathy McGowan how they got their unique drum sound (towels over the toms). They issued one LP in this form. Don Maughn and Philip Packham left, Philip Whitcher, taking over lead vocals. At this point Take a heart, hit in Italy, so Roger Lomas was recruited. The group moved to Italy, where they had some success. Their last single “Pink, Purple, Yellow and Red” is a freakbeat classic. The third lineup recorded an album, mainly of covers, “Old songs, New songs”

Wes Price did one tour and a single with Indian Summer. Phil Whitcher after being in theEggy, was in a short-lived studio group with Roger Lomas and Paul Hooper called the Zips. He later joined joined Torquays “Brummies in Exile” in the 90’s. Don Maughn changed his name to Don Fardon. In the early 80’s the band reformed without Don Fardon. Tim Jamesplayed in this line-up. Fardon, however did take part in another brief reunion in the early 90’s. Don Fardon had some solo hits including his biggest “Indian Reservation” which Paul Revere and the Raiders covered.

Bruce Finlay – Found!

Bruce Finlay is now in a band in Alaska called ANWR. It is named after the Arctic National

Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He is also the producer of BLACK & TAN RECORDS, ANWR’s label. He has toured in other bands in Canada and the United States. I have pasted a web link of your page onto our website. ANWR currently has a single to be released December 2002.

Freakbeat – From Wikipedia – To quote Wikipedia, “Freakbeat is a primarily European rock music genre that peaked between 1966 and 1967. Elements of the freakbeat sound include strong direct drum beats, loud and frenzied guitar riffs, and extreme effects such as: fuzztone, flanging, distortion and compression or phasing on the vocal or drum tracks. Often used to describe the European counterpart to the psychedelic garage rock of American groups like The Seeds, The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and The Standells, freakbeat is most often applied to music originating in the UK, although many artists on the European continent also contributed to the freakbeat style. Some of the best-known examples of the freakbeat genre include the British hits “Take a Heart” by The Sorrows, “Making Time” by The Creation, and “I Can Hear the Grass Grow” by The Move.”

COVENTRY rock fan Pete Clemons is working on an archive of the city’s music scene.

Here, Pete, a regular Coventry Telegraph contributor and member of Coventry’s Wall of Fame steering committee, recalls the city’s Twang Dances of the 1960s.

ASK anyone of a certain age and I bet they would have attended, or at the very least known about, a Coventry Twang Dance held during the early to mid 1960s.

Let me take you back to late 1962 when a PR company called Friars Promotions, who specialised in putting rock ‘n’ roll / beat / pop acts on at local pubs and other venues and were run by local lads Mick Tiernan and Jack Hardy, operated from Whitefriars Street.

Also at that time Vince Martin, who had left his band The Vampires, and moved into promoting bands through his latest venture VM rock groups.

Friars had sorted out a deal with local brewers Mitchells and Butler where they would put on bands at the larger sized M&B public houses that had their own function rooms. Basically, in return for the door charge, Friars would put on a band and DJ while M&B took the bar sales.

This turned out to be an incredible success for both parties as Friars set up dances at pubs not only in Coventry but also Birmingham and even as far away as Wales and Scotland.

So successful were they in fact that it got to the point where there were more venues than bands.

To deal with the increased demand something needed to change. So at the turn of 1962/63 Friars promotions and VM rock bands joined forces and became known as Friars Promotions and Agencies. They also left their respective offices and moved to new premises on the corner of Albany Road and Broomfield Road in Earlsdon.

By all accounts Mick Tiernan was an incredibly forward thinking person and was always looking for ways and ideas to keep his dances fresh and to keep them in the public eye.

He had a pet name for the guitarbased bands that he was putting on and that name was the Twangers. And so it followed that, from early 1963, Friars dance nights became known as Twang dances.

The Twang name quickly spread and was soon being attached to all kinds of dances.

For example if Friars put on a dance for Coventry City FC the poster advertised it as a Sky Blue Twang.

If a band such as The Matadors were performing then the evening was advertised as a Twang night with The Matadors.

For verification of the term Twang I have recently asked several prominent local musicians from that period where the word originated and to a man they all confirmed it was indeed coined by Mick Tiernan.

By mid 1963 the word Twang was rapidly spreading and was even being used by Andy Anderson, the prominent pop guru of the former Coventry Standard.

Andy, though, was using the word in the context of the dancers and a particular dance.

In September 1963 he describes a dance where the dancers, or hipsters, are ‘shaking their heads and swinging their hips.’ He continued that ‘Not many knew why the dancers’ hands spent so much time behind their Beatlemoded backs. Well believe it or not but the posture was inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh for whom the youngsters have great respect’.

Another article I found in the Coventry Standard from early 1964 and again written by Andy Anderson describes how exciting it was twanging in the new year at The Orchid Ballroom (better known nowadays as The Kasbah) with bands such as The Mighty Avengers, The Matadors and The Xciters. Apparently, hundreds of twang enthusiasts hippy shaked their way into 1964.

At their height Twang nights were being held seven nights a week at venues such as The Walsgrave, The Red House, The Mercers Arms, The New Inn at Longford, The General Wolfe, The Heath Hotel and The Newlands.

There was, however, a problem with Sunday dances because back then licences were not issued for these to be held in pubs. This problem

was solved by effectively turning the pub into a club and that the paying customers were charged accordingly and given a membership. Another of Mick’s innovations to keep his dances in the public eye was to add the following wording to his posters and flyers ‘No Free Beer and No Free Entrance.’.The word ‘no’ being in a very tiny print so at first glance it looked like the punters would be getting Free Beer and Free Entrance.

By the mid to late 60s the Twang term simply began to disappear and new labels such as Mods and Rockers and progressive rock nights began to appear.

But that was not to be the end of Friars. Far from it in fact, as they were now putting on early gigs by bands such as The Who, The Nice, Manfred Mann and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac at venues such as The Swan at Yardley.

They continued to thrive throughout the early part of the 1970s. Vince, now in his mid 70s, is incredibly still promoting bands and organising functions like his annual Call Up the Groups. Sadly both Mick Tiernan and Jack Hardy are no longer with us. But what a legacy and what memories they have both left us.

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