A window onto where it was at and a 30-second preview that lasted a lifetime

Rock programmes were not welcomed in my parents’ house. They felt they had conceded enough by letting me play the stuff on my Philco auto-changer in my bedroom.

As for Six-Five Special, it is remembered fondly by old timers but that is a classic case of distance lending enchantment because I found the programme frustrating and second rate. Its appeal lay in the fact it was the only programme of its type.. There was never anyone really outstanding featured, just pastiche versions of American hits sung in the main by English wannabees, who proved to be neverbees.

The best moment for me was a small feature when they would tell us what was happening in America. We in the UK did not have any one worthwhile, apart from pre-Dustman Lonnie Donegan, so seeing what was hot Over The Pond, was an intimation as to what we would be singing and buying in anything up to two or three months time.

Rock, blues and much of country was American music and so they were the trend leaders. Some would argue that came to an end with the Beatles, but the Lovin Spoonful, Byrds, Doors, Beach Boys, Turtles and Mamas and Papas would suggest they still contributed greatly to the British charts and the Brits continued to “cover” American releases right into the 1970s.

However, there was no debate in the late 50s when Six-Five Special was comin’ down the line: America was where it was at.

We might put the King Brothers up against the Everlys; have Terry Deane take on Fats Domino; Tommy Steele against Elvis and Wee Willie Harris against Little Richard but the result made England’s recent Ashes tour appear really tightly-fought by comparison.

It was the same for us with the New Musical Express, which had reached influential status under the ownership of a former West Herts Post reporter. The NME published the UK Top 30 every week. I gave that a cursory glance and went straight to the small panel below that gave you the US Top Twenty. You would stare at the likes of “It’s Only Make Believe”- Conway Twitty and wonder what it could be like and who the hell was he with such a name? It would not be released for at least six weeks in the UK so you had to wait, but instinctively you knew it was likely to be a good one. They nearly always were.

One afternoon in 1957, while watching Six-Five, they gave us a glimpse of what was happening in the US, and invariably there would be a film clip. That would always seem very atmospheric, in black and white naturally, and would last little more than 30 seconds.

That way you saw Little Richard or Chuck Berry. It was captivating stuff because otherwise you never saw, what to us were iconic rockers, for long enough to get bored or analytical. You just saw they were rocking up a storm and with that you would be back to the more sobering tones of Josephine Douglas, Freddie Mills or Peter Murray – adults who compered Six-Five Special.

We did not have the internet, so the only chance of seeing these stars was if they appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium and only a few made it over, because in those days the Musicians Union insisted the US take one of our acts in exchange. The US was understandably luke-warm about the concept. Imagine it: Wee Willie Harris at the Copa!

So that 30 second segment was like a brief window on where it was at.

I can remember which chair I was sitting in and I can see the wallpaper, the vase with brown beach tree sprigs when Pete Murray announced that “really making it big in the US“Is That’ll be the day by the Crickets”.

Cue spidery guitar intro, Buddy Holly’s voice and I was gone for 30 seconds that have to date stretched into a lifetime.

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