The Vipers

[Ian Miller]

Hi All,

I stumbled upon this video of Wally Whyton's Vipers. It's good quality B/W but no sound, quite interesting though.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicbl ... es-skiffle

My apologies if this has been posted before.

Regards

Ian

[Stratpicker]

I got some Vipers. They're on my front Vindscreen!
Sorry, Ian

[JimN]

The Guardian is well up to its usual standards of accuracy, I see...

Completely unable to tell the difference between Bruce Welch (never a Viper) on the one hand and Jet Harris and Tony Meehan (both one-time Vipers) on the other.

And Tommy Steele as a Viper? That latter snippet of nonsense makes it look like they got their misinformation from here: http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirv/vipers.htm

In turn, it looks like that website may have gained some of its duff info from http://www.tommysteeleinternationalfanclub.com/TOMMYSTEELEBIOGRAPHY.htm

But only if you read more into the story than is justified.

JN

[Pinner Fan]

Here is part of that same clip, but with sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27n8PFfKsc4

[GoldenStreet]

Donna started a thread with this video.

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8438

Bill

[Ian Miller]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for that, I missed it first time round!

All The Best

Ian

[RayL]

The members of The Vipers in that clip have been identified in the other thread as Johnny Booker (aka John Martyn), Wally Whyton, Dickie Bishop and Tony Tolhurst.

But there is a guy playing a drum in the background between Booker and Whyton. I'm pretty sure that it is Mike Pratt, best known for the UK 1960s TV series Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). That series was 10 years after the Vipers clip, by which time he had no beard and his face had filled out. To see him midway between those dates, you'll need the film The Party's Over (1962 but not released until 1965 after extensive cuts demanded by the Censor). Mike Pratt plays Geronimo, a jazz-drumming cuban beatnik! Geronimo? Ah, a link back to The Shadows!

Ray

[Alan Taylor]

Johnny Booker (aka John Martyn, but not to be confused with John Martyn!) had this 2007 obituary in The Guardian which also includes that Hank & Bruce / Vipers information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/apr/02/guardianobituaries.obituaries2

[RayL]

From Bruce's autobiography (P.71)

In September (1958), Hank took part in the musician's shuffle when he joined a newly-reformed Vipers, along with Tony Meehan and Jet Harris, for a series of engagements on the road. It could easily have meant the end of the Geordie Boys partnership, but Hank lasted a week before he returned to London. After seven days in Birmingham, he realised he didn't fit in.

Ray

[UlrichS]

MM 1958-06-28 p01 news.jpg

Ulrich