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Remembering Batley Variety Club:
 | Photograph:
On 10th. December 1966, 'The Bachelors' laid the foundation stone for Batley Variety Club, in Yorkshire.
Sixteen weeks later on 26th. March 1967 they opened the club to the public:
The ‘Broadway' of the North in Yorkshire:
The Yorkshire mill town of Batley became the most unlikely place to stage stars of worldwide fame, in a venue called Batley Variety Club. It was the idea of Jimmy Corrigan, who had already built an empire of cinemas and bingo halls, into a successful venture, when he decided to enter into show business.
It was the biggest entertainment venue in the north of England, and rose on the site of an old sewage works in just eighteen weeks, opening at Easter in 1967. Even before the place had opened it had 30,000 members, which soon increased to 50,000, in a very short time.
The A653 Bradford Road soon took on the glamour of Broadway, as Jimmy Corrigan drove stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Jayne Mansfield, and Roy Orbison , to his new club in the gold Rolls Royce that he owned.
The Corrigan saga was a rags-to-riches story, as he engaged stars who were at that time the biggest names in the business.
It is said that he even tried to bring Elvis Presley to Yorkshire, offering his agent Colonel Tom Parker, £100,000 for a week’s engagement in Batley. In the 1960s that was a small fortune, and it is also said The Colonel had replied that the price was right for him, but what about the fee for Elvis?
However, other stars took his bookings, Gracie Fields came out of retirement to do two weeks, and Roy Orbison came twice, on which occasion he met his second wife in nearby Leeds.
Yvonne, a waitress at the club, was to become the wife of Maurice Gibb, of the ‘Bee Gees’, and Neil Sadaka composed a song call ‘Hungry Eyes’ especially for the Corrigans. Even more success followed, as Jimmy became the subject of a ‘This Is Your Life’ show. His aim was to bring to Yorkshire, the best that was available, at the cheapest price, which was his downfall.
For two weeks Louis Armstrong played Batley, packing the club every night, but it lost money. Even the popular Shirley Bassey came, when they say, Jimmy told staff to push the chicken and chips, because they had only made £30 that week!
The venue was not successful, and Jimmy Corrigan went bankrupt in 1980, with his second marriage ending in divorce.
He went to help out a friend who had a Market stall in the city of York, when he was diagnosed with cancer, and shortly afterwards his second wife won The National Lottery.
With some of the winnings she bought him a little cottage just outside of Beverley, but he lost his fight, and died in a nursing home in 2001, aged 74 years old.
From Louis Armstrong to Shirley Bassey,
And from Roy Orbison to Jayne Mansfield,
Jimmy Corrigan brought showbiz to an unlikely venue.
© The Dynamic Duo in Derbyshire 2003
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Pirate Radio 270 from the Yorkshire Coast:
 Youngsters of today, who tune in their portable radios to listen to the latest songs in the charts, owe much to the 1960s radio pirates. Without them many of the present radio stations would never have been conceived, and certainly BBC Radio 1 would not be broadcast in its present format.
The sixties was the era of flower power, the swinging London scene, Lambretta scooters; a time when teenagers wanted music with a beat, possibly inspired by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Little Richard. They began to desert the BBC stations in their thousands, listening to the music that parents hated, as they twiddled tuning knobs under the bed sheets, in the search for the elusive ‘pop’ stations, operating outside the legal frequencies.
At a time when it was said that Yorkshire possibly had more radio stations than it did fish and chip shops, along came Radio 270, on the medium wave band, along side Radio Caroline, and swinging Radio London.
Its anchorage point was just off the coast of Bridlington Bay, and it transmitted to an estimated audience of about ten million listeners, that was when the wind was in the right direction! The reception area was about 120 miles of Northern England, and was the first ever pirate radio station to be owned, and operated, entirely within the Yorkshire area.
The station was the brainchild of Don Robinson, the Scarborough entrepreneur, along with a supermarket owner, and a Member of Parliament named Wilf Proudfoot. Although it transmitted for about 15 months, the ship had a colourful history of events, amongst them being a mutiny, a mast collapse (the Aerial), and almost being sunk!
There was no shortage of would be ‘Disc Jockey’s’, for when it was announced that they were in preparation for broadcasting, Don Robinson and Wilf Proudfoot were inundated with Demo Tapes, from hundreds of would be DJs; all wanting the glamour of life on the ocean waves, and showbusiness.
The ship bore no resemblance to a modern cruise liner, and those who were signed on found themselves in the hold of a 1939 Dutch Lugger, previously used for fishing. The ship was ‘The Oceaan 7’, which had been bought from a yard for retired fish trawlers, and rigged out with basic, but efficient equipment, along with a high power radio transmitter. On board were 100 pair of kippers, 500 rashers of bacon, and about a thousand sausages, (from a well known Supermarket Group of the time).
Kippers, bacon, and the North Sea, didn’t go too well, as Paul Burnette, who later found work with Radio 1, soon discovered – he was sick on air while reading an advertisement for Proudfoot Supermarkets – talking about their fried bacon. Jingles beamed over the area plugging the station as “your swinging boat on the North East Coast”, while behind the scenes things were not all they seemed, as the listening public lapped it up. Even when the masthead broke, and put them off the air, its public remained loyal – there wasn’t anyone else to compete with them.
One day three DJs; who were due to relieve those on the ship refused to get on board the small cobble boat used as ship to shore transport, and so created the ships first mutiny. While The Troggs, The Hollies, and Jingles beamed from the ship, little did the listening public were aware of what was afoot for ‘The Oceanna 7.
One night a terrible gale almost sunk the ship, but still they battled on, until The Labour Government, about to use it’s powers under the Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act, enforced powers to make its operators literally into pirates! The station closed down, and finally bowed out with Vera Lynn’s recording of “Land of Hope and Glory”, and Radio 270 was no more.
Not much is documented about Radio 270, but along with Radio Caroline 269, Radio Nordsee International, and others of that time, it was one of the forerunners of commercial radio that began in the 1970s.
Today, things are much different, with local radio in many forms, replacing the pirates, the DJs found new posts with upcoming companies, and some even found places within the BBC. They have become cult figures, of a time when innocence turned to rebellion, and music, whether ‘pop’ or classic became universal.
(c) The Dynamic Duo in Derbyshire 2003
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Here's more on Radio 270:
 | Pirate radio returns - for new film on east coast
SOME of television's biggest stars are to descend on the North Yorkshire coast when shooting begins for a new film in Scarborough.
Making Waves, based on the town's famous pirate radio ship 270, will start filming in the spring.
Starring well-known actors Michael Gambon, Richard E Grant and Johnny Vegas, as well as TV presenter Angus Deayton, the film enhances the region's growing tradition for movie blockbusters.
Making Waves follows the likes of Little Voice, starring Michael Caine, the yet to be released Miranda and the appearance of Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow in Possession, which was filmed in Whitby.
It also follows hot on the heels of the first Harry Potter movie, which was partly filmed on the North Yorkshire Moors.
Coun David Jeffels, Scarborough Borough Council's cabinet member for tourism and leisure, said: "It is excellent that our east coast is once again going to provide the backdrop for a film.
"Movies like this, and television series like Heartbeat, get this beautiful part of the country priceless exposure.
"We pride ourselves on being a film-friendly location and always do what we can to accommodate film crews.
"The pirate radio station is part of Scarborough's history and I am delighted that a film is to be made in celebration of it."
Coun Don Robinson was a member of the consortium which launched the radio ship in 1966.
He said: "This was a tremendous period. It was the 1960s - the peak of the rock era - and everyone was having a brilliant time. The pirate radio ship was an excellent experience.
"At first we only thought listeners would be able to hear us in Yorkshire but in the end they could hear the station in Leicester, Nottingham and all over the Midlands.
"I remember once the ship broke its mast and had to come to Scarborough for repairs - the response and interest it generated was unbelievable."
Moves are now underway to find out whether the recreated ship which will be used to film the movie can be brought to Scarborough, as a tourist attraction, when shooting ends.
(c) The Dynamic Duo in Derbyshire 2003
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Jack Pearce Discovers That Old Black Magic:
 Jack Pearce and his wife Jane were going on their first trip to Florida, when his mother broke the news that the man he thought was his father, was actually his step – father. He had always been a little suspicious of the man on the photograph which his mother had tucked in her linen draw, and he knew that his father wasn’t a native of Barnoldswick, the village where he used to live. His suspicions were proved correct, when his mother burst into tears, and his grandmother had to tell him the story, which was much like the script from a Hollywood story.
Jack recalls how his mother just couldn’t keep it a secret any longer, because the man came from Florida, where they were about to visit. People in the village used to ask Jack if he had been on holiday, when they met him on the street, because of his tanned looks, but he just passed off the remarks with a joke, not realising the truth.
He regards Fred Pearce, as his dad, he took Jack as a young boy, and raised him as his own, with Audrey his wife, who he had met on the showbusiness circuit. She was a singer, and her stage name was Rae Croft, while she was singing in London’s West End, the name was a shortened version of her surname, which was Cockcroft, and Jack was the result of a three year friendship with the elusive man in the photograph.
His true father was one of the most popular singers of the 1940s and 1950s, and he was also a multi-millionaire. He was none other than Billy Daniels, who had a hit with the song ‘That Old Black Magic’, which in 1948 had sold 12 million copies, and made him successful the world over.
Jack believes that the couple planned to marry, but because of Billy Daniels’ showbiz career, it never came about. He fondly refers to Billy as BD, and tells how the singer spent much of his time doing just that, jokingly saying that it was about the only thing he could do, in a career that covered 50 years. At the time Audrey was 21, and Billy 36, and Jack was born in Brighton in June 1954 where they all spent a week together, this was the only time they were together as a family, before Billy left Britain for a tour of Australia, and then to America, where he made a film.
He wrote to them regularly and sent money, and a move was made to the North of England, where his grandma raised him, while Audrey found work as a telephonist in the daytime, and in the evening collected Insurance premiums from door to door. Audrey’s singing career was abandoned to look after Jack, but Billy and Audrey did meet once more in London, when he came to The London Palladium during his 1955 tour.
It was then she discovered BD was seeing another woman named Periette, so when Jack was six years old, she married Fred Pearce, and went to live in Barnoldswick, and eventually jack attended Bradford Art College, where he gained a degree in interior design.
Jack Pearce now lives in Harworth, and runs ‘Euro Shopfitters’ in Bradford, and from that point on he began compiling information, and writing a biography on Billy’s life.
Jack has discovered how Billy Daniels was a singing waiter in Harlem, when stardom found him singing with a famous American swing band, and soon he was headlining the billboards. He was the first black performer to have his own T.V. show; he appeared in eight Royal Variety Performances, and six Hollywood films. Jack never got the chance to meet his real father, he died before he had the chance, but he has a burning desire to find out all he can about him, and recalls how he feels an overwhelming loss that he never got the chance to meet the remarkable man.
Jack recalls that at the time of his discovery, there was a need to put things into perspective, and how these things happen in relationships.
He reflects how he not only found his true father, but also the five half-brothers and sisters, because Billy married three times. There’s Lawyer Bill, Diane, a retired opera singer, now in there late fifties, and Bruce, whose in prison for life for drug offences; these are from Billy’s first wife who died in childbirth. Billy separated from his second wife, but Periette his third widow gave him Andrea, and Domi.
Jack traced his roots through the Internet, and initially contacted the little church in Beverly Hills where Billy was buried, asking them to pass on a letter to Billy’s widow, she in turn gave Jack the chance to fill the gaps in his father’s past. The ready-made family greeted him on his visit, and recalls how he looked more like Billy than any of his children did, rather like a ghost turning up.
Before Billy Daniels died of stomach cancer some years ago, he made a tape recording asking his wife to find someone to write his life story. Jack Pearce has done all the groundwork, and a manuscript is the finished result of his journey to find out more about his real father, the black American singing legend Billy Daniels. The result is about a celebrity who counted Nat ‘King’ Cole and Frank Sinatra among his friends, and at his funeral Tom Jones was a pallbearer for his coffin.
Jack’s final mission is to get American Citizenship, and then he’ll have a dual British and American Passport. The novel took four years to complete, but as Jack says: ‘It’s been a fantastic journey’……
© The Dynamic Duo in Derbyshire 2003
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Spookey Derbyshire:
Actress Betty Driver, star of Coronation Street has recently published her autobiography “Betty—The Autobiography” which was reviewed in People’s Friend February 3 2001. In this extract she reveals ghostly experiences at a pub in Derbyshire run by her father and her sister Freda at the end of the 1960s.
“The hotel was old, steeped in history, we soon discovered that odd things happened there. I bought some beautiful tropical fish and put them in a tank on the bar. The next morning they were all dead. We had parakeets which we decided to bring down from our living quarters and keep in the bar.
At four o’ clock every day they’d start to screech uncontrollably and within a week all their feathers had fallen out. Our boxer dog, Adam, hated the pub, and we used to hear voices asking for drinks when it was closed and there were just three of us in the place.. We’d have a game of darts before opening up and you’d hear someone say, ‘Pull us a pint, Fred,’ but no-one would be there!
At the pub, Freda did all the cellar work tilting a barrel when a tapping mallet lifted itself off its hooks that supported it on a wall and flung itself round a corner and straight at her head. Luckily she saw it coming and dodged it. In the bar we had a cigarette-card display case cemented to the wall. One night whilst we were serving, it wrenched itself off the wall and flew about ten feet at Freda. A customer saw it coming and called out, again she wasn’t hurt, just shaken.
One night I woke up at four in the morning and smelt cigar smoke. I went to the top of the stairs and heard voices in the bar, as if people were playing cards and smoking. But no-one was there. We had another fish tank, filled it with fish and, once again, overnight the fish died. The final straw was when a bottle on a glass shelf behind the bar started to dance all by itself then jumped into the air and threw itself straight at Freda’s legs. She was agile and jumped out of the way, but I couldn’t put up with this any longer.
The next day I phoned the brewery and asked to have the place exorcised. They refused so I gave notice. Within a month we’d moved out….” Unfortunately the pub remains unnamed but these strange events seem to be typical poltergeist tricks, particularly the “near misses” of flying objects.
(c) The Dynamic Duo in Derbyshire 2003
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