And welcome to the very first edition of the
Chatterbox Redux podcast with Nick and Sue. Our
guest today is original Beatles drummer Pete
Best. And now on Chatterbox UK, we're just lucky
enough to welcome Pete Best. Pete, how are you,
sir? Welcome. Hello, Pete. Very well, thank you,
Nick. Thank you for inviting me on to Chatterbox.
It's great to see you. You are world famous,
I tell you. Everybody knows who Pete Best is
as well as the other four and we'll talk about
that in time. But let's talk about you, your
early life and how you got into music. Was it
a musical home as a kid? How did you get to being
a drummer, we know? Yeah, basically like most
kids in Liverpool when the skiffle boom happened.
Okay, which was late 50s, mid 50s. I ran out
and bought a guitar. Like most kids in Liverpool
did. You know, wanted to be Elvis Presley, stood
in front of the mirror and shook my hips and
all the other bits and pieces. I realised guitar
wasn't for me. I never felt comfortable with
it. OK. And then I was always banging pots and
pans on the table, you know, sitting down to
meals. And when my mother opened the Cavsburg
Club, which was 29th of August, 1959. And of
course, you know, the famous band which should
have opened at the left, Stewart Quartet broke
up and they were replaced by the Quarrymen, which
ended up being John George Paul and Ken Brown
and without a drummer. But it was actually absolutely
incredible because I watched on that particular
opening night. They didn't have a drummer. The
feedback and the... atmosphere I got from them
was absolutely fantastic. Little did I realize
12 months later right I would be asked to join
play drums. What had happened in the meantime
the Corriemen broke up an argument over money
after playing the Casbah for about six weeks
and um Ken Brown came up and saw him and he basically
said to him now and said Preet Mohler's in a
bit of a predicament that's my mother Mohna right
He turned around and said, I promised that I
would provide a band for her, okay, which you
know, play every Saturday night, because it was
going to be a residency and residencies were
like gold in those days. So we had a situation
and I turned around and said, do you know anyone?
I said, I happen to know a couple of guys, Chas
Newby and Bill Barlow, good guitarists, I'll
ask them what they're doing to form a band. So
went and saw them and he turned around, yes,
it sounds good. Went back to Ken, turned around
and said, got the guitarist, Ken. So I turned
around and said, fine. So I said, oh, you're
going to get to play drums. And he said, oh,
that single piece. He said, you're going to play
drums. So I turned around and said, well, there's
a problem there, Ken. I said, because I haven't
got any bloody drum kits, right? So I went to
see my mother, Mona, and my dad, John. And I
explained the situation to him that I was going
to form a little rock band called the Black Jacks.
They turned around and said, OK. But we're not
going to buy you a full drum kit to start with,
son. We're going to give you a snare drum and
a cymbal and you go away and practice and bang
and get yourself adapted to that. And when you
think you're okay doing that, then come back
and see us. And that's basically what I did,
Nick. Bashed away for about three months, got
myself up to playing speed on a snare drum and
cymbal. And then the big day came, I went down
to Rushworth and Draper's, which was the biggest
music store in Liverpool at that time. Okay,
I'm talking about. 1958, 59 now, and there was
a lovely old man in there, a drum mentor, I call
Mr. Swift. And I went and saw him and explained
the position to him and said, basically, Mr.
Swift, I am a budding novice drummer and what
drum kit would you, you know, point me in the
right direction on a song and make a success
in my life? And he went, well, he said, there's
a drum kit over there, he said, which I think
would be absolutely ideal for you. And I looked
at it, and it was the drum kit that I'd fallen
in love with when I walked in. I'd seen it out
the corner of my eye. And it was like, oh, God,
if ever there's a drum kit that I wanted to that
one. And that turned out to be the first drum
kit I ever had, which was the Sky Blue Mother
of Pearl. So once I got that, and I started bashing
away on the drums, you know, the Black Jacks
took over the residency at the Casbah. They started
to make my name in and around Liverpool. And
then all of a sudden, you know leap forward 12
months and August 1960 about the fatal ball call
of Paul McCartney which did change a few things.
So with the you mentioned the Casbah club at
the very beginning um was that the club that
your your mum Mona started in the basement is
that was that the Casbah club? That's right basically
what had happened is she fell in love with the
house in Eight Hamons Green Okay. And at that
stage, I'm talking now about mid fifties, early
fifties, my brother Rory had come back from school.
He walked past this house, which had been an
old conservative club in West Arby village. Very
dilapidated, very rundown. She went and saw it
and she fell in love with it. Okay. I nicknamed
it at that time. It was like Dracula's castle.
Okay. It was dilapidated, but she fell in love
with it. She had this dream. So she went and
saw my father John and she asked him, she turned
around and said she's in a lovely house, needs
a lot of work doing on it, would you be interested
in buying it? And he basically turned around
and said no, he said it's a big white elephant.
So what she didn't tell us Nick, she went and
pawned all her jewelry and she bet it on a horse
called Never Say Die, which was a rank outside
a 1954 Derby. being ridden by a novice jockey
called Leicester Piggott. Okay, which went on
to become world champion jockey. And the price
on that was 33 to one. Now we're watching the
1954 Derby and I'm watching my mother morning
and never say that it's coming up on the laps
and it's lapping and it's lapping and it's getting
ahead, getting ahead, getting ahead, getting
ahead. Anyway, never say that, shoots past the
post. The winner, this cool, calm, flaccid woman
suddenly became the screaming Banshee. running
around the kitchen, basically turning around
and saying, I won my house, I won my house. Then
she told us what had happened. My immediate reaction
was, that's absolutely fantastic, Mum. What was
the other side of the coin? You know, that if
you'd lost and she went peace, I didn't even
think about it. I never thought about it. So
she acquired the house. We'd moved in. And she
was watching a program on the television about
the Two Eyes Coffee Club in London, which spawned
all the, you know, famous English rocksters,
Cliff Richards, The Shadows, Judy Sherrod and
Wee Willie Russell. I could go on and on. And
she looked at me, she went, we've got sellers
downstairs now, haven't we, Pete? And I said,
yeah, they run all the way underneath the house.
So she said, how would you think about turning
the sellers into a coffee club? I said, sounds
absolutely fantastic. I said, when do we start?
She said, tomorrow morning. I said, who's going
to be the builder? She said, you are. Myself
and a gang of friends, for the next six months,
we blasted the cellars out. The back garden looked
like a construction site. We had wire in it,
we had cement in it, we had timber in it. you
name it, it was getting dropped in there, sand,
slates, everything required to do the club. Eventually
it happened and that took us up to, you know,
a couple of weeks before opening time and then
that incredible thing happened where the left
-steer courts had broke open. They were replaced
by the Corrie men and, you know, by this time,
Mourneau was well on the scene as regards it
and she basically called him. the Casbah, because
we turned around and said, what are you actually
going to call it, Monty? And she went, well,
let's keep it Eastern, let's keep it Eastern,
because the whole theme in the Casbah, I don't
know if you've ever been Nick, but if you have,
or you haven't, then you've got to get yourself
down here, because it stands in its total originality.
We've still got the Aztec ceiling that Lennon
painted, we've still got the rainbow ceiling
that McCartney painted, we've still got the salmon
ceiling that Harrison painted, the spider's web
in the band room I painted, Cynthia Lennon was
commissioned to paint John Lennon over the fireplace,
that's still there, and the stars on the ceiling,
the last time we had them valued because they
were painted by John, George, Paul, Ken Brown,
Cynthia, myself. Ascender, right? Uncle Tom Copley
and all. And it was very much a case of we had
them valued about 10 years ago. And I was only
talking to Rogue the other night about this and
that valuation about 10 years ago. Each star
on the sea line in the coffee bar area of the
Casbah is worth about 2 ,500 or was 10 years
ago. And there's about 150 close to 200 stars
on there. so just that one particular ceiling
alone right is worth quite a few bob you know
so uh you know we explain that to people and
people look at it and sort of basically can we
touch it you know are we okay hands off yeah
she called it the casbah and her dream was this
you know the war cry was come to the casbah which
allegedly would be that old famous charles buoyet
film wasn't it from tangiers when he was alleged
to have said it whether he ever said it and God
knows. But she had this dream come to the Casbah
and that became the walk right for her and that's
why we call it the Casbah Coffee Club. Love this,
that's a great story Pete, thank you. Okay we
get the phone call from Paul McCartney, fantastic
phone call. Now was that an invite because they
were going to Hamburg without a drummer or was
there a load of stuff happened before Hamburg?
All it was, I knew that they'd auditioned for
Larry Plants. They were calling themselves the
Silver Beatles then, and they ended up back in
a singer called Johnny Gentle instead of Billy
Fury. And they went off to Scotland and they
had a drummer called Tommy Moore, who was playing
with them at the time. The tour of Scotland with
Johnny Gentle, from what I'm led to believe,
wasn't the tour that everyone expected. And at
the end of it, Tommy Moore was a little bit disappointed
and he had a bit of a row with John Lennon and
it ended up that he left and he went back to
Garston Bottle Works and jumped on his forklift
truck and disappeared into the wild, blew yonder
for a couple of years. So that left a gap. I
didn't know about it. And then I got the phone
call from Paul, which basically turned down and
said, Pete, we've got the offer to go to Germany
and you know, we need a drummer. We realize you're
playing drums. you know would you be interested
in you know joining us and that was the question
Nick that's how it came about you know and it
was very much a case of well yeah I'll go and
check it with my own band and I went and checked
it with Ken Chaz and Billy and they went please
we don't want to be professional we want to make
something of our lives we don't know we want
to be a rock and roller so I went to some other
and explained the position to her and she went
well if that's what you want to do Pete go with
our blessings and I looked at my dad sitting
in the corner hidden behind a newspaper and he
went where are you going son and I said Hamburg
and there's only two words he said Nick he went
be careful McCartney turned round and said, OK,
come down and audition. I went down the following
day, auditioned at the Wyvern Club, which became
the famous Blue Angel Club. And about 10 minutes
after playing about six numbers, just box standard
numbers, we got into this little huddle in the
corner. Alan Williams came in, who was the manager
taking us out. And they basically turned round
and went, Alan, this is Pete, the new drummer.
And Alan Williams turned around and said, oh,
glad to meet you, Pete. He said, I've seen you
playing before. So I said, that's great. So I
said, there's one question, Alan, one question.
OK. So he said, what is it? So I turned around
and said, why did you make me audition? You know,
I've never auditioned before. You know, we changed
drummers and all that. Well, simple reason for
that, Pete. He said, we made you audition just
in case you asked for more money. And that was
the reason for that. A couple of days after that,
Nick, we were on this incredible journey. So,
Hamburg goes ahead, you scraped some of the charts,
I believe, in your day with My Bonnie, I think
that's you on that, I believe. Even a German
version was done, which did well in the charts,
and I think it just scraped here. you know prior
to Love Me Do It, My Bonnie I believe, if you
go right down to nearer 50 or something, yeah
they've been a hit here with you on the drums
and everything else. A lot of people overlook
that one. Let's move to the, I mean obviously
Hamburg was a massive thing for you and the Beatles,
but let's get to the Decker auditions which you're
on as well. Tell us a bit about the Decker auditions.
Well, when Epstein took over as manager, okay,
and I'm talking now about October, October 61.
And he'd seen us at the cabin, talked to Bob
Wooler, mentioned to Bob, who was the cabin DJ,
he wanted to basically see us. And we went and
saw him and he turned around and said, got a
business proposition to put to you guys. He said,
thinking about becoming a manager. Okay, would
you let me manage it? He said, I'm making it
quite clear. He said, I've never managed a band
before. Okay. And we knew Brian from NEMS, he
was the record manager there. So we turned around
and said, yes, he said, I'm being quite honest.
He said, this is the deal. He said, I'll manage
you. If it doesn't work, I'm not happy with you,
I'll walk. And he said, that sounds fair. And
he said, if you're not happy with me, you walk.
Okay. So that was a consensus of opinion. Cut
a long story short, Nick, we eventually ended
up agreeing to let him be the manager. But the
condition was the main condition that we took
him on as a manager. We had a record contract
with Polydor and we wanted out of that because
it was so uneconomical for us to keep going to
Germany to record. We wanted an English record
contract. So Brian and his wisdom went to the
biggest record company in England at that time,
which was Deca. Mike Smith, who was the head
and then came up to the cabin, saw us at the
um the cavern uh dinner time session loved what
he saw and the date was arranged for january
the first 1962 new year's day okay we always
say man and ask brian why did he pick new year's
day 1962 the reason he gave was start of a new
year you know new outlook new record company
what a way to kick the air off okay we were looking
at it as much as you're sending us down to London
on New Year's Eve, right? Yes. The kept talk
he gave us before we went down was, listen lads,
you've got the biggest record audition in your
life, right? On New Year's Eve with the biggest
company, I've got the biggest company in England
interested in you. Behave yourselves on New Year's
Eve, right? I like it. At two in the morning,
Nick, needless to say, We are drunk as skunks
in the middle of Trafalgar Square. But the saving
grace was Mike had been on the other side of
Trafalgar Square as well so he was late for the
audition as well. But we got it off and as history
portrays now unfortunately Mike Smith opted to
sign a local band called Brian Poole and the
Tremels. Yeah I wonder what happened to them
as well. Okay so um I don't think it's that I
mean obviously in 1962 we get to the stage we
get nearer and nearer to Love Me Do. Now I heard
a version with you playing which causes obviously
anthology which we talk about nearer the end
um but what happened uh you know the famous question
is what happened Pete how did you how did you
get The booth, yeah. I wish I knew. It's still
a grey area, but it's something I've well put
behind me many, many years ago. There's so many
conspiracy theories as to regard to what it was.
Even though I've stopped worrying about it and,
you know, my life's gone on a completely different
way, when it happened, I'll be quite honest,
it was life changing, it was gut wrenching. It
caused me a lot of hardship and embarrassment,
but it's like everything else. You've got to
There comes a time when you've got to basically
come to terms with the situation of what it is
and you suddenly realize it's pointless reflecting
about what happened you know that's out of your
control because of the you know the circumstances
and the way it happened and it's like forget
about that it's not about that you keep thinking
about that you're going to end up very bit twisted
and it's more about today and tomorrow and once
I came to To terms with that situation Then life
took on a new adventure for me. You know, it
was very much a case of okay Yeah, I agree. You
know, I'm gonna reinvent myself. It's about today
and tomorrow if people want to allude to me a
Concern of the dismissal in my history with the
Beatles fine. Yeah, okay. Yeah, sorry Pete best
a new person. Okay, which is leading his own
way. Yeah, there is I mean, obviously fans say
one thing or another but of course with the anthology
coming out and we got we all know the love me
do the got in the charts and of course there's
your version now on youtube people can listen
to just the drumming of Ringo and yourself individually
and on that particular song it's the only one
I've done Ringo keeps his rhythm all the way
through just the same the same. However, with
you, because there's parts in Love Me Do where
it actually stops, as in the song, for a split
second, then chorus kicks in and stuff, makes
it sound great. I believe your version, you're
speeding up and bringing the tempo up when that's
kicking back in after that little gap when I
think this John and Paul sit like together but
yeah i know you know the bit but it seems like
your drumming stops as well and then it's just
then you speed up which is the right thing to
do in my mind that's what happens on your version
yeah because basically what people forget um
until that was the arrangements that that was
the arrangement we took down to ami when we played
it for george martin and ron rigid And it was
very much a case of, you know, George Martin,
basically at that stage, basically turned down
and said, OK, let me think about what I'm going
to record. He ended up being, love me, doing
P .S. I love you, but he changed the format of
it, OK? Oh, yeah, yeah. Basically, what happened
was we had rehearsed it. So it wasn't a, you
know, a drop beat or a skip beat or a miss beat
or something like that. There was a definite
change in drum pattern to elevate the song. It
was brilliant. Yeah, yeah, OK. and it and it
was that was the whole idea behind it so you've
got yes so yeah i suppose in a way nick you've
got two camps you've got some people who look
at it and turn around and say always dropping
beach left right and center you've got other
people who are looking at and listening to it
and basically turn around saying no that's a
great blues version of love me do well it's which
camp you fall into you know i personally and
i'm not just saying this because you're here
i personally prefer your version because the
tempo i do i really do you know listen to that
more than once but including recently knowing
you were coming on anyway got to the stage pete
best got the boot you reinvented yourself but
i do if i just make a statement here as opposed
to a question i believe you pete are a great
ambassador for anyone with depression or going
through a rough time because I don't know how
the hell you got through it but what an amazing
guy you are that reinvention and you must have
had hard times and real downers but wow I look
up to you amazing how you how how you got through
it even you know it's one of those things you
know whether people use me as an inspiration
you know it's it's very flattering okay if I'm
a role model for someone and you know that can
help them possibly restructure their life then
Good, you know, I've achieved some good in my
life, you know, for people who need help. I think
you have to many people. I really have. You're
a great example of it. OK, so your life, you
reinvented yourself. What was Pete Best doing
in the 60s and 70s? How are you earning your
money and, you know, what do you do for a living
and keep your head above water? Yeah, well basically
like everything else, you know, you had your
bride, you'd been kicked out the best band in
Liverpool, which is going to become, you know,
the biggest thing in musical history. You had
to basically prove to people that, you know,
you were capable, you know, you're a musician
in your own right. That's what I did. I stayed
in music up until about 68. And then by that
time I was married, I fell in love with a beautiful
Liverpool girl, Cathy. who I've been married
to for 61 years, very proud of that fact. Very
good. And, you know, I've got two beautiful daughters
and four wonderful grandchildren, which I've
spoiled the backside out of, and I always will.
But, you know, they're old enough now whereby,
you know, when they were younger, I looked after
them. Now they're of the age 25, 26. It's like,
yeah, come on, Pop, we look after you. You know,
so it's my turn now to be chaperoned around,
right? But going back to it. Yeah, when I opted
out of show business, I realized that the only
way I could do it, Nick, and this has been quite
honest, and a lot of people look at it and sort
of turn around and go, oh, no, that's a little
bit skeptical. That's a little bit skeptical.
I had to basically turn around and say to myself,
I'm waking up, I'm finishing with show business,
and I'm going to become a regular guy and get
a regular job. And that was the mindset at that
time, OK? I didn't realise it would be so difficult
to basically establish myself. I had the educational
qualifications, I hadn't gone to high school.
I had five GCSEs, you know, which would walk
me into any job, because before getting into
rock, I was going to be a language teacher. And
it was very much a case of I went and applied
for jobs and I'd sit down, the person I was supposed
to be sitting there and I'd walk in and go. Oh,
Mr. Best, what have you done for the last eight
years since you left school? Oh, yes, yes, yes.
Well, yeah, we will be in touch with you, Mr.
Best. We will be in touch with you. Yes. Yeah.
Thank you for the audition. Thank you for the
interview. So I ended up a bit desperate, you
know, I was getting letters of rejection left,
right and center. So a friend of mine saw me,
there was work on manual work down in the bakery,
Taylor's Bakery down in Walton. So I opted off
down there, right, got a job in the Taylor's
Bakery, slinging bread, loading the vans, and
I stayed there for 12 months and proved to people
I'd tend to order a new leaf, right, and then
I had the offer from the Civil Service, which
is quite funny actually because it was only when
I joined the Civil Service I realised how many
ex -musicians were actually in the Civil Service.
So, you know, it tended to be the graveyard for
ex -musicians, but it was great because I'd be
getting phone calls from people turning around
and saying, oh, you're one of us now, are you
Pete? Well, we used to be, you know, so, you
know, welcome to the club. So I stayed with them
and I got the promotional angles, became a trainer,
manager for the Northwest of England. And then
like everything else, I took early retirement.
Enough was enough. And then I didn't realise
that my tapestry, my calmer, was pointing me
in the direction of going back into shield business
again, which is what I did in 1988. Wonderful.
And yes, the Pete Best band, you're still very
well known around Liverpool and the north west
in general, I believe. You get packed houses
in the venues you go to. What's that like? I'm
sure you get a little bit of screaming still.
I'm sure you do. Oh, I get a blast out of it.
Don't get me wrong. We've just done a mini tour
of America. We got back to you, Greg, which is
a complete hoot because we haven't been to the
States for quite some time. So it's nice to go
back there and shred the boards. But, you know,
I've got a great band. I put a CDL, which is
my anthology. When the Beatles anthology came
out, you know, my band turned around and said,
OK, we're going to answer that anthology with
your anthology. Okay, yeah. And that was, hence
you say that the album was Heyman's Green, okay,
and because of the famous ripping of the heads
on Anthology 1, you know, the cover of my anthology,
Heyman's Green, was that particular head, the
missing piece. Yes, oh yeah. You get it now?
Yeah, that's perfect. Okay, well that showcased
how good my band was as regards being songwriters
and being able to, you know, provide their own
material. And we got greater acclaim from that.
And, you know, it's been wonderful that, you
know, we tour, we're, you know, down to a rock
and roll band. But, you know, we do play numbers
from Hayman's Green and they're very well received
by the crowd. Brilliant, brilliant. My understanding,
I'll bring you in a sec, because then we'll close
it up to where we are. Now we're painting this
latest venture. But let's go back a second now.
Obviously, knowing we were going to have you
on chat box, I looked at various interviews,
TV interviews and radio interviews from the 80s
onwards, Letterman comes to mind, great interview.
But I understand that one day out in the blue,
Paul phones you up, says, we're bringing out
this anthology. offers you or gives you a nice
wad of money, quite a few noughts, and I'm not
interested how many noughts because that's not
anyone's business. But I think everybody, myself,
any fans, anyone in the music business, including
three messages just to me, everyone believes
you deserved every last penny. You deserved it.
But how many noughts? You deserved it because
that was a hard old time, I guess. So good that
came around, you know, just to have you on the
end. Okay. Yeah, that's been okay. Thank you
for that. I don't know where that's come from
because quite a few people that have had interviews
with Sam and I said, oh Paul made the approach
as regards to the anthology and it wasn't, no
it wasn't, it was made actually. Makes it even
better. Before we get up to the present day,
any questions for Pete? Hi Pete, have you had
from your fans ever chucked anything unusual
at you when you've been singing? Unusual as regards
what, apart from knickers and briefs and brassiers
and all the other bits and pieces. Oh wow, that
was just a moment. Well not really, you know,
I'll get the odd occasional jelly bean, you know,
the odd spanner, you know, hammer every one again,
few bricks. But yeah, the usual stuff, you know.
Wow. Brilliant, I like it. I've got one listener's
question. Well, they're two listeners because
they're married. Norman and Linda Peacock from
Stockport. They would like me to ask you, do
you wish that you had all the fame that the Beatles
had or are you actually okay with the way it's
all turned out? I'm happy with the way it's turned
out. That's nice. It's lovely to be part of it
and reflect back on it. Looking at the sacrifices
they've had to make because of the fame and fortune,
I've still got my own notoriety, I've still got
my own little brand of fame, but I'm still in
a position where I can walk into a pub on a Saturday
night and have a pint, okay. I can lead a normal
life, so I can mix both aspects of being a rock
star and inspiration, being a family man, and
also being able to go for a pint on a Saturday
night, if and when I wanted. I get that but I
think the whole world knows the name Pete Best
as well so it's great to be able to have it from
both angles. The Casbah is still there as it
was and the business side to Pete Best, there's
something happening there, I've got something
about the Casbah Coffee Club Suite so tell us
all about that Pete, what this latest thing is.
Yeah Rogan and I have gone into We're in partnership
with a lot of things. Rogue and I own the property,
which is the old family house, which is Heyman's
Green, which is directly above the Casbah Coffee
Club. And what we've done, we've changed the
rooms in the house above the Casbah. And we called
it the Casbah Coffee Club Suites, and we've nicknamed
the suites. the McCartney suite, the Leonard
suite, the Harrison suite, the chocolate suite,
and of course the best suite. And the reason
for that is what people don't know is the Beatles
played here, not just in the cow spa, in the
house as well. They partied here, right? They
brought their girlfriends here, they slept here.
Now we've made that available to the public,
okay? It's on Airbnb. We have been officially
opened from August 1, which even we are open
for business now. OK, so look at it this way,
Nick. It's unique. People can stay where the
Beatles partied, slept and played, right? They
can go around, feel the atmosphere, be in the
rooms where they did all those little attics,
right? Feel it for themselves. We've decorated
it. The decor is absolutely wonderful. It's another
Beatle experience, okay? We've got the museum
in town, the Liverpool Beatles Museum. This is
our next venture, okay? And we're looking forward
to it. And it's available on Airbnb at the present
moment. And we'd love to see everyone down here.
All you Beatle fans, which are out there listening
to the next show, chatterbox, get yourselves
onto Airbnb, book yourselves into the Casper
Coffee Club Suites, and we will entertain you
royally when you get down here. And that creates
you, Nick, and you believe me as well. Absolutely,
absolutely. We'll be there, don't you worry.
That's absolutely brilliant, Pete, I love it.
And always love a happy ending, a happy ending
to such a story because it's an amazing life.
Pete, I mean, you've probably done this years
ago. Autobiographies, any autobiographies or
self -penned stuff by you? Yeah, there's three
books out there. The first one I ever got involved
with was with a dear friend of mine, Pat Doncaster.
He used to be a Daily Mirror writer, if I remember
right. And that was called Beetle. And our last
escapade, I was involved with Rogue, and that
was The Beetle's The True Beginnings. Which is
available, you know, they're all still available
on Amazon, so people go out there. you know,
they still blow a few dust off the copy jackets
there, you know, they're still out there and
they're still good reads, you know, we're still
getting good reports on it, yeah. Fantastic.
So, anything else for Pete? Not at the moment.
Well, we're just going. We've got other interviews,
yeah. I'm going to ask a question, this is going
to sound so silly. How did they come up with
the name The Beatles? Oh, that was long before
I joined them. Sorry to ask that question. From
what I can make out, they were very impressive,
Budioli and the Crickets, OK? So they wanted
something which was insect -wise. They came up
with beetles. Initially, it was going to be...
They didn't want it to be spelled B -E -E as
in the, you know, the... Colorado Beatle or the
normal Beatle. It was a play on the word beatle.
They were the Silver Beatles when I joined them,
but transcribing what happened on our way over
to Hamburg, they decided that they were going
to drop the Silver, which they played with, you
know, under the Johnny Gentle regime, and they
were just going to become the Beatles. So that
was, you know, It's trying to be like the crickets
but also a play on the word beat because we were
a rock and roll band as well. Perfect, I like
it. I knew about the play on the words and many
groups have followed by having fragmented spelling
just to be in with the Beatles. Monkeys as well
but I don't know what a monkey on ease is like
but there you go. I wish you all the best of
luck with this B &B adventure, it sounds amazing.
Oh you have to come down, you have to come down
okay. catch my coffee club suite make a point
there's some things in liverpool that you need
to see as well so there you go we're sorting
out um pete i'm going to say one thing um i like
the fact that you can come go into a pub on a
saturday everything else but i'm looking at the
the uh the the drummers of the beetles and of
course there was also jimmy nickel there for
10 days and he was hoping he would take over
however Not looking Jimmy Nickle, I don't know
him or have spoken to him, but you are actually
a megastar compared to him. Everyone knows who
Pete Best was. There's no question about it.
Anyone that knows music does know you, seriously.
Which must be great the way things have panned
out now, but one last observation. You said you'd
be flattered if somebody, you know, if you helped
somebody who was depressed or going through a
hard time. Maybe if you do have a downer one
day, think about all the people you've helped
hopefully that will give you a lift up back because
you I know you've helped many many people you
know it's incredible what you've been through
there you go Nick as I've said before you know
I don't think about myself as being an inspirational
factor but if people want to use me as a role
model because of what I've been through and what
I've achieved in life and the way I live my lifestyle
now at the present moment and end up being a
very happy and contented family man and they
Gain anything from the lifestyle of lived and
what I've been through and and use it as an inspirational
factor then for God's sake do it, you know, I
love people to basically Make a success of themselves
or live a happier life because I've been a role
model for them. Perfect. It's amazing and social
media time website is Pete Weston website is
pete's best dot com pete's best dot com and you
click on that and it opens up to a whole load
of stuff from from gigs to the casbah coffee
club to what we've just been talking about gigs
coming up i said your biography news things that
are happening if you scroll down you can find
links to other social media including x probably
Twitter, Facebook, official Facebook's there,
there's a Facebook for the Casbah and some links
to the Liverpool Beatles Museum that we spoke
about as well. So pete'sbest .com it's all there,
do take a look at Pete's website and Pete it's
been amazing chatting to you. I don't think you're
going anywhere anytime soon, hopefully you've
got another business venture we'll have a chat
again or something happens we'll have a chat
again in the future but thanks for sharing and
giving up quite a bit of your Friday for our
listeners, and I know they'll all love it. Pete,
it's been great having you. Take care, sir. Bye
-bye. Take care, Pete. Nick, any good lady? Thank
you. Thank you. Okay, let's do it again. Please.
I'd love to. Pete, thank you so much, sir, and
do take care. Thank you. Thank you. It's been
my pleasure. Bye -bye, sir. Bye -bye. Bye -bye.
Bye -bye. This edition of the Chatterbox Redux
podcast was presented by Nick and Sue. We thank
our special guest who is original Beatles drummer
Pete Best. Inquiries please to nickelbum at myyahoo
.com. Alternatively, you could write to us or
you could send press releases, CDs, vinyl, merch,
whatever you like in the post to P .O Box 26.
the Old Observer Building, Telford Road, St Leonard's
-on -Sea, East Sussex, England, TN38, 9LZ. We
thank you very much for your company and look
forward to welcoming you again next time when
our special guest is Rod Davies of The Quarrymen.
Thanks for listening.