Fact #190283
When:
Short story:
The Quads play at Birmingham University, Birmingham, England, UK, Europe. DJ for the evening is John Peel.
Full article:
Jim Simpson (manager/promoter, Big Bear) : John Peel was almost single-handedly responsible for the success of There Must Be Thousands, the debut single of Birmingham band The Quads.
[John] played both sides of the 7" for the first time on 09 August 1979 and then immediately played the start of the A-side again because he liked the opening guitar passage so much. At the close of that evening's show he played 40 seconds of the B-side again in lieu of his usual signature tune. Both sides of the 7" were played again on his next show, Monday 13 August 1979, while each show for the remainder of that week featured either the A or the B side. Peel went to see their gig in Birmingham on 8 December 1979. He claimed many years later to have played football with them, and averred, "They were as good at that as they are making records".
There is, however, a little-known back story. John had long been supportive of what we got up to, referring to me as 'The Big Bear' which gave rise to our company name, Big Bear Records. He championed releases of Big Bear acts Bakerloo, Tea And Symphony and Black Sabbath, as well as informing listeners that he was wearing his Henry’s Blueshouse T-Shirt while on air.
I always tried to book him into a Birmingham gig the days that a local football team was playing his beloved Liverpool FC.
On the date referred to above, December 8th 1979, I booked him to appear at Birmingham University alongside The Quads, to coincide with the Aston Villa v. Liverpool match that afternoon. Villa’s press officer was delighted to have John Peel as a celebrity guest, and gave us the star treatment. In the VIP suite, surrounded by suits, John, clearly uncomfortable in the company he found himself in, quickly went into his shell.
I took the press officer aside and told him that John would prefer to stand on the terraces with the Liverpool fans. So we were led through seemingly unending labyrinthine tunnels to emerge among the Liverpool fans, who simply treated John as one of them with no fuss whatsoever.
At one point it looked as if the exercise was going to be a total success, with Liverpool running out the winners with 3 goals to 1. However, when we emerged onto the streets of Aston things suddenly changed. A group of disgruntled Aston Villa fans ran at the Liverpool supporters and attacked at random. John became one of the unfortunates when he was floored by a flying dropkick to the chest.
Clearly in pain, he did a proper job at the University that evening; watching the Quads in action certainly cheered him up.
On air on the Monday, he complained at length about the attack at Villa Park and never let me quite forget the incident – “Don’t accept an invitation to go to a football match with Jim Simpson”, he would warn folk.
Jim Simpson
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[John] played both sides of the 7" for the first time on 09 August 1979 and then immediately played the start of the A-side again because he liked the opening guitar passage so much. At the close of that evening's show he played 40 seconds of the B-side again in lieu of his usual signature tune. Both sides of the 7" were played again on his next show, Monday 13 August 1979, while each show for the remainder of that week featured either the A or the B side. Peel went to see their gig in Birmingham on 8 December 1979. He claimed many years later to have played football with them, and averred, "They were as good at that as they are making records".
There is, however, a little-known back story. John had long been supportive of what we got up to, referring to me as 'The Big Bear' which gave rise to our company name, Big Bear Records. He championed releases of Big Bear acts Bakerloo, Tea And Symphony and Black Sabbath, as well as informing listeners that he was wearing his Henry’s Blueshouse T-Shirt while on air.
I always tried to book him into a Birmingham gig the days that a local football team was playing his beloved Liverpool FC.
On the date referred to above, December 8th 1979, I booked him to appear at Birmingham University alongside The Quads, to coincide with the Aston Villa v. Liverpool match that afternoon. Villa’s press officer was delighted to have John Peel as a celebrity guest, and gave us the star treatment. In the VIP suite, surrounded by suits, John, clearly uncomfortable in the company he found himself in, quickly went into his shell.
I took the press officer aside and told him that John would prefer to stand on the terraces with the Liverpool fans. So we were led through seemingly unending labyrinthine tunnels to emerge among the Liverpool fans, who simply treated John as one of them with no fuss whatsoever.
At one point it looked as if the exercise was going to be a total success, with Liverpool running out the winners with 3 goals to 1. However, when we emerged onto the streets of Aston things suddenly changed. A group of disgruntled Aston Villa fans ran at the Liverpool supporters and attacked at random. John became one of the unfortunates when he was floored by a flying dropkick to the chest.
Clearly in pain, he did a proper job at the University that evening; watching the Quads in action certainly cheered him up.
On air on the Monday, he complained at length about the attack at Villa Park and never let me quite forget the incident – “Don’t accept an invitation to go to a football match with Jim Simpson”, he would warn folk.
Jim Simpson