Read Inside Out Online

Authors: Nick Mason

Tags: #Rock & pop

Inside Out (44 page)

‘It’s that shared experience element I miss. We can tell other people the stories, but to re-live it with someone who was
present tends to be a more intense version of the comedy, humiliation or raw fear shared. I was devastated to realise just
how much of my life was shared with Steve, and how irreplaceable he is.

‘Not a bad description might be to suggest that I feel like I’ve lost a shipmate. On the good ship “Floyd” Steve and I worked
together for over thirty years – mainly before the mast. We served under harsh captains. Mad Cap’n Barrett was the first;
his gleaming eyes with tales of treasure and strange visions nearly led us to disaster, until mutiny put us under the domination
of the cruel (Not So Jolly) Roger… Later Roger was to carelessly walk his own plank to be replaced by Able Seaman Gilmour.

‘Throughout these adventures, despite endless promises of promotion (some, I regret to say, from Steve) I remained Ship’s
Cook. Steve, I think, was Bos’un. He was never allowed to wear the captain’s uniform, but was frequently required to sail
the ship through stormy seas whilst all the crew squabbled below decks about how to divide the treasure.’

Given that there never is enough credit to go around with the vast cast of egomaniacs that accumulate with a band it is unlikely
that Steve’s contribution would ever be properly recognised. To be fair he was wise enough to know this, and smiled at the
occasional ‘Thanks to’ or even ‘Special thanks to’ that would grudgingly creep onto the odd record sleeve or programme. Inevitably
there are
significant contributions from Steve in this book, but I do regret the fact I wasn’t able to go through it all with him while
he said, ‘No, no, no, Nick, it wasn’t like that at all.’

Rereading this, I felt that the list of those who are no longer with us might be too morbid an ending, and if I sit back and
muse on what this book represents, I am reminded of all the good times, rather than the bad or the sad ones. So I was delighted
when at the Goodwood Revival meeting a couple of years ago, I was reunited with an 89-year-old Joe Mayo, the year tutor at
Regent Street Poly who granted me the sabbatical year I needed just as the band was taking off. Even better, Joe told me in
his opinion I might have made a perfectly good architect, something I had never dared to ask, so there’s still time for a
career change.

And if you are wondering why this piece is at the end of the book instead of appearing as the usual foreword, preface or introduction,
well, it is called
Inside Out…

THANKS

First, thanks to David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Richard Wright. Then, for accessing their memories for me and giving encouragement:
Douglas Adams, Chris Adamson, Peter Barnes, Joe Boyd, Marc Brickman, Lindsay Corner, Jon Corpe, Nigel Eastaway, Bob Ezrin,
Jenny Fabian, Mark Fenwick, Mark Fisher, Peter Gabriel, Ron Geesin, A.A. Gill, Nick Griffiths, James Guthrie, Tony Howard,
Andy Jackson, Peter Jenner, Howard Jones, Andrew King, Bob Klose, Mick Kluczynski, Norman Lawrence, Mike Leonard, Lindy Mason,
Lise Mayer, Clive Metcalf, Dave Mills, Bryan Morrison, Steve O’Rourke, Alan Parker, Alan Parsons, Guy Pratt, Gerald Scarfe,
Nick Sedgwick, Norman Smith, Tony Smith, Phil Taylor, Chris Thomas, Vernon Thompson, Storm Thorgerson, Judy Trim, Snowy White,
Robbie Williams, Peter Wynne Willson and Juliette Wright.

For helping the book to become a reality, thanks, first and foremost, to Philip Dodd, editor, amanuensis and compulsive coffee
maker, who has seen this through since the really early days, and sometimes been required to get out and push when it seemed
all was lost. Also Michael Dover at Weidenfeld & Nicolson whose enthusiasm for the book ensured it got finished, and all the
publishing team, including Jennie Condell, Kirsty Dunseath, Justin Hunt, Jenny Page, David Rowley, Mark Rusher and Mark Stay;
picture researcher Emily Hedges; and David Eldridge and Two Associates.

For their help along the way: archivist and keeper of the artefacts Stephanie Roberts; researchers Silvia Balducci, Jan Hogevold,
Jane Jackson, Lidia Rosolia, Jane Sen and Madelaine Smith; the Ten Tenths team of Julia Grinter, Stella Jackson, Michelle
Stranis-Oppler and Paula Webb; Jonathan Green for allowing me to use his own research; and for other assistance and favours
Elina Arapoglu, Jane Caporal, Paul Du Noyer, Vernon Fitch, Matt Johns, Suzenna Kredenser, Chris Leith, Ray Mudie, Olympus
Cameras, Tom O’Rourke, Shuki Sen, Rob Shreeve, Di Skinner, Paul Trynka, Sarah Wallace and Alan Williams.

Throughout the book I have been very sparing with name checks. Given that literally hundreds of people have worked with and
for us over the years (we had a crew of more than 200 on the last tour) it became impossible to credit or mention everyone.
Profuse apologies to all unnamed heroes or heroines.

This book is for Annette,
co-pilot, co-driver and when required perfect rock wife,
and also for the children, primarily Chloe,
Holly, Guy and Cary,
but also for all the long-suffering offspring of the band,
management and crew.

CHRONOLOGY

NB Release dates refer to UK releases

A Miscellany of Dates & Occurrences

1943

28 July 1943

Rick Wright born

6 September 1943

Roger Waters born

1944

27 January 1944

Nick Mason born

18 February 1944

Eric Fletcher Waters dies at Anzio

1945

8 May 1945

VE Day – the end of the Second World War in Europe

6 August 1945

Atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima

1946

6 January 1946

Syd Barrett born

6 March 1946

David Gilmour born

31 May 1946

London’s Heathrow airport opens

1947

14 October 1947

Chuck Yeager breaks sound barrier in the X-1

1948

1948

First 33 1/3 long-playing records released by Columbia Record Co.

30 January 1948

Mahatma Gandhi assassinated

1949

2 March 1949

First non-stop around-the-world flight by Capt. James Gallagher in a Boeing B-50A

1950

1 October 1950

First credit card issued, by Diners Club

1951

May 1951

The Royal Festival Hall, London, is opened as part of the Festival of Britain

July 1951

J.D. Salinger’s
Catcher In The Rye
published

1952

15 June 1952

Publication of
The Diary Of A Young Girl,
by Anne Frank

1953

5 February 1953

Sweets rationing ends in the UK

April 1953

Brigitte Bardot makes a stunning impact at the Cannes Film Festival

29 May 1953

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing conquer Everest

2 June 1953

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

December 1953

First issue of
Playboy
published

1954

6 May 1954

Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute-mile barrier

1955

17 July 1955

Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California

30 September 1955

James Dean dies in a car crash four weeks before the release of
Rebel Without A Cause

1956

31 January 1956

John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten born

October 1956

Elvis Presley’s
Rock’n’Roll
album released.

Tommy Steele’s ‘Rock With The Caveman’ hits the UK charts

1957

February 1957

Bill Haley and the Comets’ tour of the UK, the first by a rock’n’roll act

5 September 1957

On The Road
by Jack Kerouac published

4 October 1957

Sputnik I, first satellite in space, launched

1958

1958

First stereo recordings released

February 1958

CND, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, founded in London

March 1958

The first march from Aldermaston to London in support of CND

25 March 1958

Elvis Presley inducted into the US Army

16 August 1958

Madonna Ciccone born

29 August 1958

Michael Jackson born

1959

3 February 1959

Buddy Holly dies

26 August 1959

Alec Issigonis’s Mini car launched

November 1959

The M1, Britain’s first motorway, opens, running between St Albans and Birmingham

1960

1 May 1960

U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary Powers brought down by Soviet Union

6 August 1960

Chubby Checker debuts the Twist on the Dick Clark Show

1961

1961

Nick Mason passes driving test

April 1961

Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space

August 1961

The Berlin Wall is erected

1962

10 July 1962

Telstar communications satellite launched

5 August 1962

Marilyn Monroe found dead

September 1962

Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Nick Mason start their architecture course at the Regent Street Polytechnic

October 1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis

5 October 1962

First Bond movie,
Dr. No,
premieres

1963

4 June 1963

John Profumo, Conservative minister, resigns over a call-girl scandal

8 August 1963

The Great Train Robbery

9 August 1963

First broadcast of
Ready

Steady Go!
on ITV

7 October 1963

First flight of the Learjet 23

22 November 1963

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas

21 December 1963

First appearance of the Daleks on
Doctor Who

1964

1 January 1964

First broadcast of
Top Of The Pops
on BBC TV

May 1964

Mods and Rockers battle in Brighton

Easter 1964

Offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline starts broadcasting

October 1964

Harold Wilson’s Labour
government comes to power

1965

March 1965

First US combat troops sent to Vietnam

29 July 1965

The Beatles film
Help!
released

August 1965

First outdoor Notting Hill Carnival in London

15 August 1965

The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium to a then-record audience of over 55,000 fans

October 1965

Tea Set play at Libby and Rosie January’s birthday party

25 October 1965

The Beatles receive their MBEs from the Queen

1 November 1965

First concert at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco

1966

17 January 1966

Simon and Garfunkel release
Sounds Of Silence

March 1966

Pink Floyd play at the Marquee Club’s Spontaneous Underground event

29 June 1966

First British credit card, the Barclaycard, is issued

30 July 1966

England win the football World Cup

8 September 1966

First telecast of
Star Trek

30 September 1966

First Pink Floyd gig at All Saints Church Hall, Powis Gardens, London

15 October 1966

IT
launch party at the Roundhouse

31 October 1966

Blackhill Enterprises set up with Peter Jenner and Andrew King

4 November 1966

John Lennon says the Beatles are ‘more popular than Jesus Christ right now’

29 November 1966

Last appearance at All Saints Church Hall

3 December 1966

‘Psychodelphia vs Ian Smith’ event at the Roundhouse

12 December 1966

‘You’re Joking’ event at the Royal Albert Hall

23 December 1966

UFO club opening night

26 December 1966

Cultural Revolution declared in China

1967

6 January 1967

‘Freak Out Ethel’ event at Seymour Hall, London

11–12 January 1967

Recording session at Sound Techniques Studio in Chelsea includes ‘Arnold Layne’

17 January 1967

Commonwealth Institute show

12 February 1967

Keith Richards’ home at Redlands in Sussex raided by police

1 March 1967

Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London, opened

11 March 1967

‘Arnold Layne’ released

17 March 1967

Jimi Hendrix Experience’s ‘Purple Haze’ released

1 April 1967

EMI press launch

29–30 April 1967

The ‘14-Hour Technicolour Dream’ free speech festival at Alexandra Palace, London

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