In 1974 I was in the first run of 'Joseph' at the Leicester Haymarket with cast that included a very young Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons and Ben Cross !!
At Manor High School I played my Uncle Tony's old Alto Sax in the Military Band
The Military Band had a tour of the mental hospitals in Leicester, such as 'The Towers' pictured here
It was at these hospitals that I started to play Ragtime Piano solos, my favourite being the 'Maple Leaf Rag'
We played on The Towers Ballroom stage, where the piano stool's 4th leg gave way while I was playing
In 1975 the Military Band played in the Abbey Park Bandstand and the wind blew all our music away!
Ted Bottle, Science teacher who conducted the Military Band, often waved his arms so hard that the baton flew across the room
In the Manor High production of 'Alice,' the dry ice drifted off the stage into the band 'pit' so we couldn't see anything ... every night!
It was at Manor High that i played 'Jaws' on the Piano for the first time ... E_____ F!
In 1977 I went to Beauchamp College and started to play piano for the shows, such as 'O What A Lovely War' and ....
.... What Would You Like for Breakfast? (that's me on the far right-hand side with the dickie bow)
I played Piano in various concerts at Beauchamp, including Mozart's Concerto for 2 Pianos in A
In 1981 I went on a school cruise on the SS Uganda and was asked to play Piano for the Sunday service. I needed to play The National Anthem but had not manuscript so used a sick bag instead!
I was offered a place at Birmingham to study Music - hooray!
