The Beatles at the Gaumont: September 5th 1963 and Gerry and the Pacemakers September 22nd 1964
The Beatles a Gerry and the Pacemakers: I was a frequent audience-member in the early 60s. The gig I enjoyed the most was Gerry and the Pacemakers. At that time they rivalled the Beatles in popularity and held a record for 20 years as the first band to get their first 3 releases to Number 1: “I Like It”, “How Do You Do It?” and “I’ll Never Walk Alone”.
My friends and I used to wait at the Stage Door to get the autographs of the stars. I got Brian Poole, Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and Heinz. I didn’t get to see the Beatles on stage but I got all their autographs; they were staying at The County Hotel (now Waterstones), and had a limo to transfer them there from the Gaumont. There was such a crush around the car that it just crawled and I was able to keep up with it; so I slipped my autograph book through the window for them to sign! I saw the Beatles again in 1964, this time at Taunton station when they passed through on the train for the filming of “A Hard Day’s Night”.
We had been threatened with dire punishments by Fox’s School if we truanted but we reckoned there would be so many kids there that we would get away with it – which we did!
