A music writer putting together a people's history of notorious 60s bad boys The Who has traced their beginnings back to Watford and St Albans.

Richard Houghton, 56, is an author from Manchester who has written books about The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

His latest project is a book about The Who, whose legendary line up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon racked up a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as a reputation for smashing up their equipment on stage and in hotel rooms.

Before gracing the charts with such singles as My Generation and Pinball Wizard, The Who were one of the most hardworking bands in Britain, honing their stage skills during the mid-1960s by playing shows up and down the length of Britain and often playing seven shows a week at different venues. This includes several appearances at Watford's Trade Union Hall in 1965 when the band were just starting out.

A few years later St Albans City Hall - renamed The Alban Arena in 2972 - is listed as one of their stops on The Who Sell Out Tour. 

Richard Houghton says: “The Who began performing in what is now recognised as a golden age of pop music and I'm interested in hearing from people who saw The Who back then in order to get their memories of the band and a flavour of what it was like to see them live.

“More than 50 years on, I'm sure the teenagers of yester year have stories to tell, not just about what they remember of the show but also who they went with and their memories of the evening as a whole.

“The Who are closely associated with the whole Mod culture, but they attracted audiences from across the spectrum because of their high intensity performances and their reputation for energetic and entertaining shows. I'm hoping through these memories to capture a slice of the Sixties for the history books and tell the story of The Who in a way that it's never been told before.”

Anyone with memories of Watford Trade Union Hall, St Albans City Hall, or any other Who performances here in Hertfordshire should contact Mattie Lacey-Davidson at mattie.laceydavidson@london.newsquest.co.uk

Richard's book The Beatles - I Was There is published by Red Planet.