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UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE 7 JANUARY 1988 PEBBLE MILL STUDIOS BIRMINGHAM |
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George rang me on Wednesday 6th January to tell me the ukes were going to be on a programme called ‘Daytime Live’ the following day, which was produced in Birmingham. He wanted me to tape the BBC live broadcast on my VHS recorder. I had cable TV at the time, so he knew it would be a good quality signal.
A couple of hours later I got another call, asking if I would go with them and video the trip. I tried to go to bed at a reasonable time, so I would be ready for the early start, but I couldn’t sleep. Too much excitement. It reminded me of Christmas Eve when I was a child. We had to be in Birmingham by eight-thirty. The programme went out at mid-day, and the ukes performance was scheduled for twelve-thirty. I got up at four in the morning, and drove across to George’s flat. When I got there Kitty was still in a bath robe, and rather surprised to see me. (I’m always early.) We drove to Birmingham via Lianne’s house, and stopped for tea and toast at a motorway service area. The morning was taken up with rehearsals, breakfast, costume, and make-up. After the show we had an informal celebrity buffet with Max Boyce, and Dollar (David Van Day and Thereza Bazar) who I had never heard of, despite their chart success in the UK over a period of ten years. While sitting in the mini-bus later with George, waiting for everyone else, I dropped the camcorder, and the eject button fell off. So the tape was now stuck inside. We drove back to London and went for a drink. Later George and Kitty and I went for a celebratory curry, since we couldn’t look at the tape until I got the camcorder fixed. |