It’s an amazing story that started in Huddersfield in 1946 and ended in a tragic killing 20 years later.
Reg Calvert had a dream to bring Rock ‘n’ Roll to England and acted like a pied piper to impressive youngsters during that era before ending up being a friend of zany singer and would-be politician Lord Sutch and guiding bands to pop stardom.
His story is told in a new book called Popcorn To Rock ‘n’ Roll by his daughter, Susan Moore.
Reg was brought up by his grandparents, Tom and Lilia Calvert in Huddersfield His parents, Ada Calvert and Edward Pearce, were both professional musicians and his mother continued her career which was unusual at that time, playing saxophone and clarinet in many of the famous women’s bands and orchestras – including with Ivy Benson who led an all-female swing band.
Susan says that her mum Dorothy (nee Rowe) worked in the doctor’s surgery on Bradford Road. Reg lived in a house behind the surgery and could see her through the rear window. He used to play the piano and sing love songs to her from the backyard – until the doctor complained at the noise!
Dorothy was educated at Greenhead High School and the family lived at Kilner Bank in old miners cottages. Her father had been a miner and died when she was young of consumption, as did other members of the family. Dorothy’s mother, Sarah Jane Rowe, moved to a new council house at Almondbury because the doctor thought Dorothy would also get consumption due to the damp living conditions at Kilner Bank.
Reg compered the Big Band Wednesday night dances at Huddersfield Baths and persuaded Dorothy to dance with him.
Susan wrote: “Wednesday night was the highlight of the week for those young people who could afford to go to the dance at the Huddersfield Baths. The swimming pool was converted into a ballroom and a crystal ball revolved from the ceiling, showering a thousand sparkling lights on the throng of dancers as they waltzed and quick-stepped to the rhythm of the big bands. This week’s star attraction was Joe Loss and his orchestra.”
Within a week, Reg proposed and Dorothy agreed to marry him when were just 18.
Reg was conscripted into the army 1946 and became camp barber at Catterick. He also played saxophone, clarinet and piano and played in the Wing Band with Johnny Dankworth – the English jazz composer who went on to marry singer Cleo Laine – while they were both stationed at Catterick.
When he was de-mobbed he bought an old bus and converted it into a caravan.
With no prospects, two babies Susan and Candy and little money they travelled south to Southampton and lived in an apple orchard for a while. Reg tried many ways to make a living, including making popcorn and in the evenings he compered ballroom dances and played piano in a club.
In 1956 Reg heard Bill Haley’s Rock Around The Clock which led to a new dream ... to bring Rock ‘n’ Roll to England. He was like the Pied Piper as young musicians and singers gave up their jobs to follow him as he created a new way of providing entertainment for teenagers.
The second book called The School of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ 1961-1965 is due to be published next year and is about a house called Clifton Hall near Rugby where acts mentored and managed by Reg came to live They took turns to tour the country, went to the various dance halls and also started to perform in German and French night clubs, including with the Beatles in Hamburg.
Reg spent time training his singers and musicians to make them into top performers – including The Fortunes, Danny Storm and Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours. Danny Storm’s record I Love You Honest I Do was, Susan believes, the most requested record of all time on radio programme Family Favourites.
The Fortunes reached number two in the charts with You’ve Got Your Troubles in 1965 while Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours reached number nine with Mirror Mirror in the same year.
Reg suggested that Screaming Lord Sutch stand at the Profumo 1963 by-election at Stratford-upon-Avon which he did, gaining 208 votes. Dorothy wrote the manifesto – that teenagers should get the vote at 18. It seemed a crazy idea at the time but it happened just five years later.
Reg always had a dream to have his own radio station. When Radio Caroline first went on air in Easter 1964 – using the Fortunes record Caroline as their theme tune – he decided he wanted to have his own ‘pirate’ station. He could not afford to buy a ship so discovered disused military forts in the Thames Estuary. It began as Radio Sutch 1964 with Screaming Lord Sutch partly as a publicity stunt to promote Sutch. Reg decided to run the station on his own more professionally and changed the name to Radio City.
At that time a businessman called Major Oliver Smedley – a paratrooper and gunner during the Second World War who won the Military Cross in July 1944 in the battle for Normandy – had set up Britain’s second full-time offshore commercial pirate radio station called Radio Atlanta which later merged with Radio Caroline.
Susan said: “Radio Atlanta/Radio Caroline asked to go into partnership with him but did not realise they were virtually bankrupt and unable to pay the bills. The new transmitter they promised arrived but it was about 30 years old, the wrong sort and did not work. “
The row escalated and Reg went to see Major Smedley at his home to sort things out, but he was shot dead.
During the subsequent trial the major claimed that he feared Calvert was there to kill him and was acquitted on the grounds of self-defence.
Pocorn To Rock ‘n’ Roll is £7.50 from Amazon Books or Amazon Kindle £1.90. It was first written as a stage play and there is more information and photographs on the web site: www.regcalvert-plays.co.uk
Book Two: Clifton Hall (The School of Rock ‘n’ Roll) to be published in 2015.
Book Three: Life and Death of a Pirate to be published 2015-6. Reg Calvert’s final years as he finds success with managing groups and setting up a pirate radio station in the Thames Estuary.
