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Selected Tales
from the Waste family travels for Bechtel Corporation |
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Tenby, Wales,
UK
1962-1964 |
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Tenby is a very scenic little town on
the coast of South Wales. On the left is a view of the harbor
with Castle Hill in the center. On the right is a view of the
Waste kids up on Castle Hill high above Tenby Harbour, perhaps
about 1964. From the left: Steve, me, Jamie and Shawn. |
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Click on the links above
for more pictures and stories |
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The beginning of Beatlemania occurred
soon after we arrived in Tenby. We bought the Beatle records
and listened to them constantly. My parents liked them a lot,
too. The movie "A Hard Days Night" was filmed while
we lived in Tenby. I remember watching news reports about all
the commotion surrounding their location shooting.
Later on back in California, my family
went to see the Beatles in concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco
in August, 1965. Yes, we "saw" them but I can't honestly
say that we "heard" them because the screaming fans
were so loud. |
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We also first listened to the Shadows
in Tenby. They were an instrumental guitar band who dominated
the British rock charts before the Liverpool music scene exploded.
They're still one of my favorite bands of all time. Remember
the song called "Apache" back around 1960? Well, that
was originally a Shadows song.
We were very lucky to have been there
at the height of their most excellent musical period. (see The Shadows and Jet
Harris homepage for more info). But
I'm afraid that most Americans will never know what they're missing!
You can find their music on CD at a lot of music stores so check
'em out. |
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While we were living there in quiet
peaceful Tenby, the TV news broadcast quite a few stories about
the battles between the Mods and Rockers. See "Mods:
1960's Fun-loving Criminals" for
the true story, which was also the inspiration for the Who's
musical masterpiece "Quadrophenia".
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Mods on their scooters |
Rockers in their leather
jackets. |
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We also lived there during the Profumo
affair - one of the greatest sex scandals
of all time (remember Christine Keeler?), the 1963 Great Train
Robbery, '62 Cuban missile crisis and Kennedy assasination. |
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I actully saw the original broadcast
of the first Dr. Who episode in Tenby on Nov. 23, 1963.
But what I remember most fondly from
British TV in those days were the music shows like "Top of the Pops"
and "Ready,
Steady, Go!" We got to see them
every week - every great English band of that time appeared on
those shows. The host of Top of the Pops back then was Jimmy
Saville who later became Sir Jimmy Saville. Now, he's dead amidst
a terrible scandal.
We watched the very first Dr. Who
episode on the BBC and liked it very much. The Daleks on the
show became very, very popular at school.
Looking back, it all helped to keep
us from being too homesick for the USA. |
My first expedition
to Scotland, 1963
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Here is a still frame from a home movie
of me swimming in Loch Ness, age 9. Searching for Nessie the
hard way.... |
August, 1963 - near-freezing
and more than a little unnerving!
Live
Loch Ness Webcam |
