When Joe Cocker was a kid he lived 10 mins away from my house the first time i saw him sing was at the Penny Farthing nightclub he went by the name of Vance Arnold i always thought he would do good.
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When Joe Cocker was a kid he lived about 10mins from my house the first time i saw him sing was at the Penny Farthing nightclub he went by the name of Vance Arnold i always thought he would do good.
When Joe Cocker went by Vance Arnold, did he also move with that same unique style? He is probably the best ever at covering a song and adapting it and making it his own.
Hey guys, How about Rosalind Nott? What was she like? I did a few stories for Powerboat & Waterskiing and wanted to meet her, but never got back to London.
There ya go, told you there were folk out there who had more exciting stories to tell than me. Always liked Joe Cocker but never even met him. He was Dave Biers favourite singer!
Roz Knott was one of the all time great female characters in the powerboat racing world with a laugh that was more of a snort than a laugh, but it would light up the room---------she listened to everyone, ------was passionate about powerboat racing! Married the Earl of Normanton ( himself a passionate offshore racer) and became a "Lady". ,
Wayne, if you never met her, you missed a treat---------had mad moments of depression when going for the ladies world water speed record.
Was one of that elite group of powerboat writers who included Ray Bulman, Rod Baverstock and the likes!
Usually gave a fairly accurate account of what was going on on the powerboat scene.
I had a stand at the Brighton Boat Show------Roz turned up with this fat kid-------she asked me what I thought of this Aussie bloke who had just done a new World Water Speed Record of 330 mph ? I just came straight out and told her," that guy has to be off his head--------a bloody lunatic-------and unheard of!
Typical Roz, she turned and said "Jackie--------meet KEN WARBY"
That's the kind of stories I'm talking about Jackie. You've already told many that keeps people coming back to this thread.
I actually met Ken Warby myself, but I already knew who he was. Worked out perfectly. We were at the APBA National Convention in Washington, D.C. After the meetings were over everyone went to a hospitality room. It was very small considering the number of people they should have expected. Very noisy, got very hot. Then someone yelled into the doorway "They're going to show who shot JR." Everyone immediately left the room except for Ken Warby and myself. I never watched the show "Dallas" because it was a soap opera with total BS regarding the oil industry. Ken Warby either didn't know about the show or cared less like me. So for nearly an hour we just talked. We talked about other things than his record, but he told me about how he did it on a shoestring and no one ever thought it would happen until it actually did.
I was in London for a week in 1975, and after touring around, I bought a copy of Powerboat & Waterskiing off a rack in London. I still have that issue. I had my first two page spread published by Powerboat out of Van Nuys, California the previous October. I looked inside the front cover and found that Rod Baverstock was the editor, and found the address. I wasn't too far from where it was published, so I thought I would just show up, see if they might me interested in some boat racing stories from the U.S., and try to get something going. The morning I was going to catch a taxi, I had stopped off at a shop around Picadilly Circus. Set my camera bags and cameras on a table and went to get some tea. My back was turned less than thirty seconds, and two of three cameras were going. It was cold, and everyone was covered with coats, jackets, etc. I know people saw it and I asked everyone, but no one even acknowledged me. They just looked away and kept their mouths shut. I went and filed a report with Interpol, but I knew nothing would ever happen, so the rest of the day was very miserable except for a young guy I met from Brighton. He like to gamble and was a fast talker. Took me for about twenty pounds a few pence or pounds at a time betting on how close he could bounce a coin to a stair step, picking cards, etc. He took me to a very nice club, and I lost the rest playing some game of chance, but it wasn't much money. Took me away from my misery and I went back to my room. Never tried to get to the P&W offices after that. Went to West Berlin for a week two days later.
I wish now that I had gotten to meet Rosalind. She came to the U.S. one time and did a story on Billy Seebold's boat factory. She was editor at P&W on all my stories they published, but we never talked or corresponded.
ROZ also had a number of girls around her who were very good. She delegated well.
Anybody remember Zoe Trumper--------Cees Velden would have remembered her better than most. She did lots of boat racing articles and publications.
Another interesting old fart would be Rod Baverstock, I flew to LA with him , he was covering the OMC record attempt at Lake Havasu--------he never made it, we spent the week in San Bernardino ? But that's another story.
Ray Bulman has had a very interesting life-------he's still staggering around holding up the odd bar or two on the Isle of Wight----------he's had a few interesting rides!
Ros Nott I new her but not that well but a very nice lady she went on to marry the Earle of Normanton who was some relation to James Beard they both raced the first Couger picklefork it had V4 OMC Evinrude power that was in the 1970 Paris 6 hr race it was also a stepped hull maybe 3 or 4 inch step the Earl spun it round he only just managed to stay in the boat but damaged his back he never drove a circuit boat after that.Attachment 62184 This Cougar cat had a powertrim system worked by clutch pedal and master cylinder engineered by Cougar.
James moved in an entirely different circle to most of us-----I was on a camping holiday in the south of France with my wife and five kids when I first met him. He was there with his brother and Grant Wilson. I had a boat on the back of a Ford transit camper van, was the only way I could carry all the kit that goes with five kids and a wife.
He was a friend of the nobility,but fell out with Prince Charles when he started dating Koo Stark who was the princes girl friend at the time and an absolute drop dead gorgeous female.
I remember the story about Koo Stark and think I still have an issue of Time Magazine with her picture and some controversy.
So Jackie and Steve, if I can get this to upload, here is my favorite photo of Rosalind appearing with James Beard. You can read the rest of the story as to why James Beard has his right foot atop the bottle of Long John Scotch whiskey. This is in the June 1978 issue of Powerboat & Waterskiing.
You can see the mischief in Roz's eyes------I'll bet a pound to a pincha----it was her idea to get James to pose. She was the fun person.
Koo Stark could have made a fortune if she ever told her side of her relationship with Prince Charles-------she never did.
She was stunningly beautiful and allowed a few revealing "Soft Porn" pictures to be taken------Buckingham Palace put the boot in and Charles never had any more to do with her. She was offered big bags of gold to tell all, but never uttered a word about their affair. That's a rare thing these days.
I won the Long JOHN gallon of whisky award------damned if can remember what it was for!
Drank the whisky, refilled the bottle with tea and built it into the bar of the farmhouse we lived in at the time.