Fact #110698
When:
Short story:
Bill Haley And The Comets arrive in the UK on board the liner Queen Elizabeth II at Southampton. A chartered train takes the band to Waterloo Station, London, where they are mobbed by fans for twenty minutes.
Full article:
Van Joyce : May father's name was Jolly Joyce. He was the agent who looked after Bill Haley, Paul Anka, Bobby Darin. Our partners in England were Lou and Leslie Grade. I remember, when I was fifteen, going to New York with my dad and mom to see Bill Haley setting off on the Queen Elizabeth II to go to the UK to play his first tour there. There were said to be 200 reporters travelling on the boat with Haley.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, June 2014, for Audience magazine)
Michael Grade : My father (Sir Lew Grade) was the promoter that promoted the tour. He said, 'I've booked an American act, a band, they're coming over. I think they're going to be very big, Bill Haley And The Comets.
Rory Blackwell (Rory Blackwell And The Blackjacks) : The Daily Mirror got hold of us and said, 'Look, you're the rock'n'roll band in England. We want you to meet him. We want a great atmosphere.' The whole thing was to get the country behind it. And I don't think the Mirror quite knew what they'd started.
Sandra Burton (fan) : When Bill Haley arrived in England in February 1957, there was a special train organised by the Daily Mirror to meet him at Southampton. I won a ticket and we left Waterloo station, jiving to rock'n'roll records all the way there.
Michael Grade : When he docked at Southampton there were 5000 people on the quayside waiting for him.
Rory Blackwell : There was absolute chaos there. I mean the police didn't know where they were, just nobody knew where they were.
Michael Grade : And they took him onto the special train from Southampton up to Waterloo, and they filled the train with fans,
Rory Blackwell : First and foremost, the train had too many people on it. If you can imagine The Tube in London at rush hour when everybody's standing next to each other and you can't move, the train was like that and it weren't supposed to be.
But Haley stood for the lot and nobody
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(Source : interview with Johnny Black, June 2014, for Audience magazine)
Michael Grade : My father (Sir Lew Grade) was the promoter that promoted the tour. He said, 'I've booked an American act, a band, they're coming over. I think they're going to be very big, Bill Haley And The Comets.
Rory Blackwell (Rory Blackwell And The Blackjacks) : The Daily Mirror got hold of us and said, 'Look, you're the rock'n'roll band in England. We want you to meet him. We want a great atmosphere.' The whole thing was to get the country behind it. And I don't think the Mirror quite knew what they'd started.
Sandra Burton (fan) : When Bill Haley arrived in England in February 1957, there was a special train organised by the Daily Mirror to meet him at Southampton. I won a ticket and we left Waterloo station, jiving to rock'n'roll records all the way there.
Michael Grade : When he docked at Southampton there were 5000 people on the quayside waiting for him.
Rory Blackwell : There was absolute chaos there. I mean the police didn't know where they were, just nobody knew where they were.
Michael Grade : And they took him onto the special train from Southampton up to Waterloo, and they filled the train with fans,
Rory Blackwell : First and foremost, the train had too many people on it. If you can imagine The Tube in London at rush hour when everybody's standing next to each other and you can't move, the train was like that and it weren't supposed to be.
But Haley stood for the lot and nobody