Who is this bloke?

[hbmartin]

I've read several times about some bloke named Roger Field who claims he is the person responsible for persuading The Shadows to reform in 2004/5 and again in 2009 with Cliff. He's mentioned on Wikipedia and again on Facebook - see the link below - and has also given several interviews claiming the credit for reuniting Hank and Bruce.

Who is he, does anybody know?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Shado ... 308?v=info

[MartcasterJunior]

Probably their accountant.

[Stratpicker]

From "The Scotsman" (29/4-2004) -
Field days, from Schwarzenegger to the Shadows

NORRIS McWhirter and the Shadows may be an unlikely link, but their appearance in Edinburgh next week (the group’s, not Norris’s) has prompted us to give Roger Field his day in the sun, or the Diary at least.

Roger first contacted us a couple of years ago as his Scottish point man in his quest to get into The Guinness Book of Records as the man with the most newspaper profiles. To date, he has appeared in almost 2,500 newspapers.

This had all been prompted by his old acquaintance, Governor Gruppenfhrer. Roger had met Arnold Schwarzenegger while he was a trainer at Rolf Putzinger’s in Munich in the Sixties. The young Austrian got Roger to teach him English, but the meathead could only pronounce "the" as "de". One day, he lost his temper as Roger corrected him for the umpteenth them. "You are a zero, Roger, but vun day I vill be a hero." Arnie’s subsequent fame spurred Roger on in his quest. (Coincidentally, Roger also pumped iron with Sean Connery).

While we put Roger in touch with other Scottish papers with space to fill, we assured him his time would come. It has come now - he is the man responsible for bringing The Shadows back together. (Now you know who to blame).

Roger has known Hank Marvin since 1975, but it was the death of a mutual friend in the TWA 800 crash in 1996 that inspired him to try to persuade Hank and the rest of the group back together. Three years later, they reunited, thanks to Roger.

cheers
ian

[JimN]

Roger certainly does exist, and I've met him, just over ten years ago (we were introduced by Roberto Pistolesi). Roger is an excellent guitarist, playing in the Chet Atkins style with a certain amount of applomb. Also a Shadows fan who can play in an authentic Hank style when he wants to, he has had a chequered life and career. He is British, brought up in London, but he has spent time living in the USA and has lived in Germany for a couple of decades now.

Roger is a design engineer and inventor, and when living in Nashville, he was asked by Chet (no less) if it were possible to design a travel guitar that can be fitted into a suitcase or other travel luggage and simply be unfolded. It was a difficult job, but Roger designed a guitar which can not only be folded, but which unfolds completely in tune. The system involves rollers and locks which hold the intrument rigidly when unfolded. The strings are kept under tension - the same tension - when folded as when unfolded. Having gifted at least one to Chet Atkins (c. 1981), Roger had a couple of examples of the instrument with him when we met (at Tilburg) in 2001. That guitar is an engineering miracle.

JN

[hbmartin]

Ok, so he does exist. But why does he insist on telling everyone (especially newspaper journalists) that he was personally responsible for The Shadows reuniting in 2004. He says in one interview I've read that he personally discussed the idea of a reunion with Bruce, and then with Bruce's blessing he took the idea to Hank, and then he arranged for the two of them to meet to discuss the 2004 reunion tour. That's just total rubbish - isn't it?