Back to real life - sadness and celebration
DDDBMT were one of my favourite bands when I was young and carefree, and when I learnt the other night of the death of the gorgeous Dave Dee, another part of my childhood shattered.
Along with The Trogs at the time, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch represented fun and naughtiness as I tottered on the brink of my burgeoning teenage sexuality.
Ironically, after all these years, their Number Two hit, Bend It, is now being used by Special K for its post-holdiay slimming adverts. Yup, we're still likin' it! What's more, the guy was a genuine piece of rock history, apart from his own band's popularity in the late 60s when they racked up more weeks in the charts than even the Beatles, here are some fascinating pieces of trivia that I've just discovered:
# Born David Harman in 1943 at Salisbury, Wilts, Dee joined the police at 17. He was on duty the day US rock star Eddie Cochran died in a 1960 car crash at Chippenham and attended the scene of the tragedy.
Dee took Cochran's guitar from the wreck and kept it safe until it could be returned to his family.
(Now of course, I'm going to succumb to the temptation to say that, at last, Eddie can thank him personally. But only because I worked on a newspaper for too long *g*).
# When Dave Dee was presented to the Queen Mother after a charity concert in the mid-1980s, she referred to him as "the one with the whip".
(One of the very first CDs I bought was a best-of compilation of DDDBMT's hits. I was, and still am, engraged to find that The Legend of Xanadu was digitally re-mixed and instead of the "authentic" whip-crack via a beer bottle down a guitar neck and a two bits of wood smacked together, there's just a nasty electronic whine. Blasphmemy."
He and the band were playing up until just a few months before his death. I am so sorry I never got to see them on stage. RIP Dave, you were one of the greats.
The good news is, just down the road from where DD was born has arisen, via the New Year's Honours List, Sir Terry Pratchett. (I am as usual, very late on posting about this.)
And I was part of it, because I signed the petition submitted to Downing Street that he should be knighted - and my name is listed among the last 500 for all to see. I am so proud that he's been given this honour cos I've been reading him since the first couple of years of Discworld and he's a fine and honourable man and a knighthood is almost worthy of him.
Sir PTerry, I worship at your feet.
Along with The Trogs at the time, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch represented fun and naughtiness as I tottered on the brink of my burgeoning teenage sexuality.
Ironically, after all these years, their Number Two hit, Bend It, is now being used by Special K for its post-holdiay slimming adverts. Yup, we're still likin' it! What's more, the guy was a genuine piece of rock history, apart from his own band's popularity in the late 60s when they racked up more weeks in the charts than even the Beatles, here are some fascinating pieces of trivia that I've just discovered:
# Born David Harman in 1943 at Salisbury, Wilts, Dee joined the police at 17. He was on duty the day US rock star Eddie Cochran died in a 1960 car crash at Chippenham and attended the scene of the tragedy.
Dee took Cochran's guitar from the wreck and kept it safe until it could be returned to his family.
(Now of course, I'm going to succumb to the temptation to say that, at last, Eddie can thank him personally. But only because I worked on a newspaper for too long *g*).
# When Dave Dee was presented to the Queen Mother after a charity concert in the mid-1980s, she referred to him as "the one with the whip".
(One of the very first CDs I bought was a best-of compilation of DDDBMT's hits. I was, and still am, engraged to find that The Legend of Xanadu was digitally re-mixed and instead of the "authentic" whip-crack via a beer bottle down a guitar neck and a two bits of wood smacked together, there's just a nasty electronic whine. Blasphmemy."
He and the band were playing up until just a few months before his death. I am so sorry I never got to see them on stage. RIP Dave, you were one of the greats.
The good news is, just down the road from where DD was born has arisen, via the New Year's Honours List, Sir Terry Pratchett. (I am as usual, very late on posting about this.)
And I was part of it, because I signed the petition submitted to Downing Street that he should be knighted - and my name is listed among the last 500 for all to see. I am so proud that he's been given this honour cos I've been reading him since the first couple of years of Discworld and he's a fine and honourable man and a knighthood is almost worthy of him.
Sir PTerry, I worship at your feet.