Ringing endorsement
OUR mention of the book being launched about 1960s Glasgow group The Beatstalkers reminds a reader of when the band was booked to play at the Dennistoun Palais, but couldn't appear as they had gone to a London recording studio to make a record. Instead, cardboard cut-outs of the band were put on the stage. After the support act the Bo Weevils had performed, a phone on the stage rang and the Palais manager went over and answered it, and it was the Beatstalkers phoning from London. The crowd was screaming with delight.
Our old chum Eddie Tobin, then manager of the Bo Weevils, later said: "I presume they were paid an enormous fee for not appearing… and we did all the work and got buttons.”
Smashed it
GROWING old continued. A Kelvinside reader tells us: "The wife shouted through to ask if I had put some tennis on the telly. It seemed the noise I made bending down to pick up a dropped glasses case was similar to someone serving a tennis ball."
Magic response
OUR story about entertaining children when a flight is delayed reminds Hugh Campbell: "At the end of our Inverness to Luton flight at the start of the Easter holidays, there was a delay in disembarking and two young siblings started to have a mini stooshie which was brought to an instant conclusion when their mother said the magic words, 'Remember – the Harry Potter Tour can still be cancelled!'"
And another reader recalls: "When your dad was driving you somewhere and you started acting up in the back seat he would shout, 'I can turn this car round you know!' Even though you had driven 30 miles and you were almost at the destination, you still didn't know if he was joking, so you shut up."
Train of thought
THE Herald story about Scots spending a large portion of their salary on train fares has a Glasgow reader getting in touch to say: "I got an early morning train from Glasgow to Edinburgh which was so full many folk were standing. The chap who managed to get a seat beside me remarked, 'It's kind of sad that getting a seat on the train will probably be the highlight of my day, and I'll be talking about it when I get home'."
A bit flushed
BET a few folk can identify with this – Glasgow stand-up and Strictly contestant Susan Calman remarked yesterday: "At 3am, I got up to go to the toilet. Unbeknownst to me, my wife did the same thing two minutes before. I met her in the hallway. In the dark. I fell to the floor and screamed for about half an hour. It's fair to say I am extremely brave in surprise situations."
Keeping calm
AN Ayrshire reader passes on the words of wisdom from a member in his golf club bar who declared: "Giving my wife helpful little pointers on how to calm down never seems to have its intended effect."
Kick-start
WE had a passing mention of Boots Corner on Glasgow's Argyle Street which provoked us to dig out Colin MacFarlane's book The Real Gorbals Story in which he wrote: "Every Friday night there would be some girl standing there greeting her eyes out because her fancy man had not turned up. This was called 'giving someone a dizzy' and the spot was known as Dizzy Corner. 'Ah cannae believe it,' a pretty tear-stained girl said to us one night. 'Ah knew he wis a wee chancer but Ah agreed to go on a date wi'l him and he hasn't even bothered tae turn up – he's given me a right dizzy. Wait till ma big brother finds out. He'll kick his head in. Nobody gies me a dizzy and gets away wi it'."
Presumably with mobile phones now, Dizzy Corners are a thing of the past.
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