It must be - oh - August 1956. I'm 13 years old and I'm staying with my aunt and uncle in Whitley Bay, Northumberland. I've gone down to the sea-front into Spanish City, the amusement arcade and pleasure beach, and I'm wandering about, a bit bored.
There are some Teddy Boys, Geordies, hanging round a juke-box. One of them puts some money in the slot and a record starts. "Since my baby left me..found a new place to dwell..." I stand still and listen. WOW! I've heard of this Elvis Presley but never heard his records before. The Teddy Boys play the record over and over again. I'm getting hungry, it's lunchtime, but even the thought of ham salad and then homepicked rasperries and cream at auntie's can't get me out of Spanish City and away from Elvis. I'm hooked.
*******
I went home at the end of the month and I started saving my pocket money to buy each new Elvis release as it came out.
I love music in all forms. I'm a Big Band fan and adore Glenn Miller but Elvis was something special and there will never be another. Handsome like a Greek god and with a great voice and a raw energy, good humoured and a real gentleman, that was Elvis.