A reporter for the Watford Observer during the 1960s has revealed some unknown history about an iconic 60s band, and how he helped pave their path to stardom.

Following the news that The Zombies, famed for hits She’s Not There and Tell Her No, will perform a rare acoustic piano and vocal concert within the hallowed ancient Nave of St Albans Cathedral, Patrick Stoddart contacted the Watford Observer with a surprise revelation.

“I was a young reporter on the paper when the whole 60s music scene erupted and in the wave of enthusiasm for the Mersey Beat I wrote a feature headlined Is there a Watford Sound?

“The Town Hall’s entertainment manager launched a beat contest to find out. There were eight bands competing on consecutive Sundays, with judges including minor pop stars, people from record companies and me. Easily the best band – we called them groups back then – were these five very young lads from St Albans, The Zombies. They were all about 17 or 18 and wondering whether to go to university or try their luck at music.”

The story doesn’t end there, in fact it ends with the creation of perhaps their most infamous hit, She’s Not There.

“As it happened I’d just written a feature about a recording studio in Rickmansworth run by two brothers, John and Malcolm Jackson, the sons of a then-famous DJ called Jack Jackson. They had asked me to keep an ear out for anyone a bit special so even before the contest was over I invited The Zombies to put down some tracks, one of which was She’s Not There, which in true rock and roll fashion they finished off in the back of the van on the way to the studio” Patrick tells me, almost unbelievably.

Generations of new bands have cited The Zombies’ work as pop touchstones, including such artists as Neko Case and Nick Cave who have recorded She’s Not There for the popular HBO series True Blood.

Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone reunited in 2000 with a new Zombies line-up, which has now come full circle with the October 2015 release of Still Got That Hunger.

The band will now return to St Albans on Friday, October 21, with a guest string quintet, for an intimate evening of music spanning their five-decade careers.

St Albans Cathedral, St Albans, AL1 1BY, Friday, October 21. Details: 01727 890290