Hello everyone and I hope you are well. Thankyou for joining me in another walk down Memory Lane. This week I am thinking about pop stars of yesterday, when the charts meant something and we called it the hit parade.

I rarely attend the theatre these days but I could not resist going to the Alban Arena for the musical nostalgia show celebrating Marty Wilde's 60th anniversary in showbiz. Marty is great and it was lovely he was joined by other 1960s veterans including Mark Wynter and Eden Kane. In the early 1960s Mark was a teenage pin up and enjoyed hits such as Venus In Blue Jeans and Go Away Little Girl. In the mid 1960s he decided to turn to stage acting, which he still does, so his appearance was special. Aged 74, he still sounded as fresh as ever.

Eden Kane, now 77, came over from America to reprise his hits including Well I Ask You and it was a wonderful evening. Looking around, it was also a bit sad to think the artists and the audience, including myself, who remember this great music first time round, are now of a certain age, so this cannot be repeated in a few years' time.

I have been going to see such shows since the mid 1970s to watch artistes like Billy Fury, Heinz, Herman's Hermits, and The Searchers to just name just a few.

On occasions I have met some of these great entertainers and the one and only Jess Conrad is a friend. I hate how he refuses to age and loves sending himself up.

From a later period I recall meeting David Soul backstage at the Royal Festival Hall many years ago. At the time he was a hot number, as we say in showbiz, appearing in Starsky And Hutch and having a couple of big singles. A nice man who I believe still lives in London.

Back in the early 1980s I met Paul McCartney at Elstree Studios where he was making a film called, I think, Give My Regards To Broad Street or something like that. He kindly agreed to meet four young men who were portraying The Beatles in a stage play in Borehamwood called John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert. We spent about 30 minutes in his dressing room chatting and he allowed photos to be taken by the film unit photographer. However, he did not want the photos to be sold on to the general media so I had to go back the next day when Paul selected the photo to be used. We then had to sign an agreement that the the photo was for private use only, except it could appear in the Borehamwood Times just to publicise the local show. I still have my copy. At the time I had to pinch myself in that I was meeting Paul of The Beatles, recalling as a youngster going to see them recording an episode of Morecambe And Wise at ATV in Borehamwood back in 1963.

At Elstree Studios, after we reopened the facility in 1996, I was serenaded by Shirley Bassey and a full orchestra. She was rehearsing on a sound stage one weekend with the door open whilst I was opposite sorting out old film cans. I recall bumping into Tom Jones, who also turned up to rehearse his show and he said his big career start was in Borehamwood where he was launched at the old ATV Studios.

Mind you, I was not always good at recognising pop bands of their day. I remember bumping into East 17 at Elstree. They were a bit lost and asked me where they should be going. I did not recognise them and thought they were members of some job creation scheme and directed them to the underground car park, which we were refurbishing. I was also introduced to a band called Cabbage or Garbage, who I still do not know. As you may suspect I am not really into wrap, shed, garage or grunge music but I am of that age.

Sometime I will tell you about my encounters with Cliff Richard and Robbie Williams but you have endured enough of my name dropping for another week. However, I expect you to get out those old records and give me five minutes of the mashed potato or the twist otherwise consider yourself on a charge and I will be having you paint coal white!