Tony Meehan

[iefje]

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but it would have been Tony Meehan's 78th birthday yesterday. Unfortunately, I have never met him. I wasn't around yet when he was a member of The Shadows and when he teamed up with Jet, but I also wasn't present at Bruce's Shadowmania event in 2003, when Bruce, Jet, Tony and Brian Locking answered question from the audience. That must have been a great experience, to see three of the original Shadows members on stage again, together also with Brian Locking.

[Derek Mowbray]

I remember that Shadowmania ,Bruce played some BBC recordings and someone said were they available, Bruce said no ,then Tony asked him how did he have them.

[Iain Purdon]

I don’t remember Tony asking that but the answer is straightforward enough. ‘Available’ in this context means commercially on sale, with all permissions obtained and royalties paid. It would be OK, however, for the BBC to give Bruce a tape copy for personal listening only, as a memento of the studio session. Tony would have known that, though, so maybe he was asking for effect rather than for information?

Bruce’s video compilation “Shadows on the Box” was always shown during the meal interval at Shadowmania. It was a treat for us because, likewise, much of that stuff is TV performance not available anywhere else. (And if it is, it probably shouldn’t be!)