My datesheets were Georgie Fame, Geno Washington, John Mayall and a few smaller bands like Capability Brown and the Eyes Of Blue, soul type bands that would play the club circuit.

We were involved in the Stax tour with Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and Wilson Pickett at the Finsbury Park Astoria, which I think may have been a one-off gig that we booked from whoever brought them over, but I remember going to that show and it was a fantastic night. I think that whetted John and Rik Gunnell’s interest in bringing over more Americans.

Just about that time, Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood had decided to break from John Mayall and form Fleetwood Mac, and I took on their datesheet. I remember going to their very first gig at City Hall Newcastle when they were supporting Little Stevie Wonder, as he was known at the time - he was fantastic.

Then the Gunnell brothers told me they were planning to bring in a lot of American stars and they wanted me to hand all my datesheets to another booker, a guy called Clifford Davis, which I did.

We brought a few Americans over – Albert King, Freddie King, Joe Tex and Junior Walker – and they all did well, but then one of them – maybe it was Joe Tex – was contracted to come over and pulled out at the last minute, so I think the brothers got disillusioned at that and maybe the profits from those American artists wasn’t as great as I’d thought.

Anyway, they decided they weren’t going to do that any more, at which point I asked for my datesheets back from Clifford Davis and I immediately noticed one was missing. I said, “Where’s Fleetwood Mac?” and he looked at me in a slightly odd way, saying, “I think you’ll find that they want to stay with me.”  The next thing I knew, he’d left the office and was managing Fleetwood Mac - and the rest is history!

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