Ramblings

The Animals in 1964 (photo: Richard William Laws)

I have known John Holder for many years, but met him only occasionally. He worked for a rival firm in the City, and I respected him greatly. When recently I took part in the Great North Run he saw my post on Facebook and was kind enough to sponsor me. Then he also made contact by email. His message was intriguing.

“ I hope you enjoyed the run. I watched a lot on TV, but did not see you. It brought back happy memories of my old stamping ground. I loved Newcastle so much that I failed my exams. I probably should not have gone clubbing during re-sits with Alan Price and Eric Burdon before they got together as The Animals and released House of the Rising Sun.”

Wait, what???!!! I had to find out more about this story. Fortunately John was happy to oblige: furthermore he has agreed to let me publish his story on Ramblings. It’s a brilliant nugget of rock history, capturing the moment one of the great British bands of the 1960s was born. Enjoy!

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Having failed my second year exams at King’s College, Newcastle (then part of the University of Durham), I hitched up to take my re-sits and stayed with a local girl. To my shame I cannot recall her first name, but I know her surname was Catto, as she was related to a former Governor of the Bank of England.

When having a drink together in a City centre pub, she spotted a friend she had not seen for a while and invited him to join us. It turned out to be Eric Burdon, who told us he had just returned from Hamburg where he had, I think, been playing the trumpet or trombone. I did not know him, but my friend told me that his father was a bin man and that he was a good musician.

We spent the evening drinking together and she suggested that he might like to join us in visiting a newly opened club where the Alan Price Combo were due to perform the following evening – the Club A Go Go. I knew Alan and Chas Chandler, as they played regularly in a small bar in the Union building at the Uni. Eric, Ms Catto and I met up next evening and went to the club together. In those early days there were three rooms in the club. One was a mini casino with a roulette table, which was well attended. Another was a new concept of a disco with a DJ, which was packed out. For the live music the audience was the three of us plus one other couple!

Eric asked for permission to sing with the band, and I was blown away. He performed three Ray Charles numbers. I was there at the start and had passing thoughts of becoming their manager, but I quickly decided that I was not entrepreneurial enough. Nor did I have the industry contacts at the time.

As I failed a paper in my resits, I didn’t return to the north east for many years. I did however write to the girl and observed that it was ridiculous that the band was playing to so few people and suggested that they come south. I explained that a local band had outgrown the Station Hotel in Richmond and were now packing them in at the big barn of a pavilion shared by Richmond and London Scottish rugby clubs. That band was the Rolling Stones.

I had been introduced to Mick Jagger a few months earlier by a mutual friend at a coffee bar called L’Auberge near Richmond Bridge and Mick invited me to come and hear them the following Friday at the pub. I then became a regular. I can’t remember it ever costing me more than the price of a pint or two.

©John Holder 2025