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To begin with Brian, Christine and Philip lived with his parents in Beckenham. There was also another family member. One of the other Pretties owned a cat that early in 1966 had produced a litter of kittens, and Brian had brought one of them home one day, a black six week old female who was named Tibby. This Pretty Cat would live to the grand old age of 18.

Philip told me the fascinating story about a chance meeting in Beckenham High Street one day (I would estimate circa 1967) when one David Bowie saw Brian, approached him and asked him to join his band - to which Brian said "No"...it must be assumed that his negative experiences whilst with the Pretty Things weighed heavily in his mind when making his decision, possibly along with family opinion and responsibilities. One can only imagine what might have been had Brian's answer been "Yes". It is quite well documented that Bowie is a big early Pretties fan and he covered two of their tracks on his "Pinups" album.

After a three month gap during which he told Terry Coates that he practiced his guitar to jazz records to relieve the boredom, Brian got a job as an insurance underwriter and finally turned his back forever on pop stardom and a professional music career. Prior to this, Robert Stock who knew Brian well in later years disclosed that Brian had confided in him that he had actually been for an interview with Marks & Spencer and was doing very well until he revealed that he had been in a band - he didn't get the job!!!

Andrew Dobbie saw Brian one day after he began his new job - a very different man from the long-haired pop icon whose first record he had rushed out to buy. "I spotted Brian waiting to catch the Green Line bus...about the time he was living in Beckenham. We hadn't seen each other for years and I think neither of us was bold enough to break the ice and start up a conversation. I'll never forget his appearance - short hair, suit, tie, briefcase." Brian had reverted, in appearance and career at least, to exactly what his family had wanted him to remain all along. Despite all the pitfalls of being a Pretty Thing, the transition from pop star who played on some of the best records of the sixties, with hopes of a long term career as a musician, to the nine to five regime of office life in a more stable but hardly creative or exciting environment, couldn't have been easy.

Brian and his family eventually moved to Bromley, living in a flat in a street called Hope Park, and a second son, Stephen, was born in 1972. In 1977 they moved to Maidstone, to a semi-detached house in Tonbridge Road, Barming, a busy main road leading west out of the town.

Brian had been a very keen cyclist in his youth and Philip recalled to me recently how his father enjoyed watching the Tour De France on TV! He now bought a bicycle and began riding again, and joined the local cycling club, San Fairy Ann (its curious name arising from an anglicising of the French for 'it doesn't matter'). He also began to ride to work in London, no mean feat as the distance from Maidstone to the office behind St Paul's Cathedral where he worked was a distance of some 38 miles bearing in mind that motorways were out of bounds; it took him around two hours each way. However after a couple of weeks of this he had to give up as it was simply too dangerous; virtually every day he almost got knocked off his bike by the unrelenting commuter traffic.

Brian had not given up playing in bands even though he was no longer a pop star. He reverted to his first love, jazz and began playing with jazz bands in the area, including the Kent Jazz Orchestra, a fact of which he appears to have been quite proud. This helped keep his considerable talent fresh, as his elder son Philip recalled in one incident: "As a child I took violin lessons at school. I found the violin a very difficult instrument to play. One evening at home I was attempting to practice and failing miserably. With a grin on his face my father grabbed the violin, tucked it under his chin and proceeded to play. The sound that emanated from the instrument as he glided the bow over the strings was heavenly compared to what happened when I attempted to play it. I remember being utterly amazed that my father could pick up an instrument he had (to my knowledge) never played before and manage to get something tuneful out of it." Philip is rightly proud of his father's incredible musical ability.

Barry Clark was a very close friend of Brian and fondly remembers his sense of humour and has many memories of happy times, such as going to see Eric Clapton play live. On another occasion Barry, Brian and a friend called Adrian Line went to see the Stones play during their Urban Jungle Tour - Adrian recalled that at one point Brian disappeared and they later found out Brian had fought his way to the front to get a better look. On the way home his only comment was "Not bad!"

Barry recalled that although cycling was the only sport Brian really liked, he had a affection for the Wolverhampton/Dudley area where he was born, and when Barry went to see Wolverhampton Wanderers football club play (Brian was unable to go) Barry brought him back a sweatshirt which he wore with pride!

In the late 80s Brian and a singer named Paul Hollman formed a group called Sam Therapy; the reason behind the name was a mystery to me until I received an email from Steve Jourdan who explained that the name comes from the lyrics of a David Bowie song, Sons of the Silent Age, which contains the lines Sons of the silent age/listen to tracks by Sam Therapy and King Dice - King Dice having also been suggested as a name for the band. It would seem that although Brian had declined the opportunity to be a member of Bowie's band all those years before he still followed the star's career closely.

The band's line-up changed from time to time but featured at various times Paul Hollman and Adrian Line on vocals, Robin Smallbone and BJ Jackson on bass, Simon Harrison on drums and Robert Stock on guitar. Barry Clark acted as their road manager.

Their debut gig too place at the Kimberley Clark Club in Maidstone, and the band played at other Kent venues such as the Kent Hotel and The Ship in Margate, the Victory at Sheerness and the Red Lion at Gravesend. Brian's Pretty Thing past was not mentioned when announcing the forthcoming gigs, which was as he wished; but he had grown his hair long again.

On 22nd July 1989 Sam Therapy went to the Rose Yard Studios in Maidstone to record four tracks - 'Walk on the Wild Side', 'Don't Bring Me Down', 'All Along The Watchtower' and 'Vicious'. Barry remembers that it was the hottest day of the year and he would make frequent trips to the Market House pub nearby, returning with trays of beer for refreshment.

Like Barry, Adrian Line has fond memories of Brian, recalling how Brian would invite him to his home in Tonbridge Road, Barming to jam in his front room. Adrian considered himself to be no singer but Brian, as Adrian puts it, saw 'something' in him and even persuaded him to buy a harmonica! After closing time they would pass the time playing and singing. There were tapes made of these acoustic session but they have sadly disappeared.

Brian's wife Christine was still living in the house at the time but the marriage was drawing to a close and they would divorce in the early 90s, although they did continue to live together for a time after. "I never went in the lounge...that was Christine's room!" Adrian says of visits to the house; the musicians would use the living room or Brian's bedroom to jam. Adrian recalls a very old fashioned record player that Brian possessed "even back then it was dated" and that the floor of his room was always littered with books, LPs and bits of paper - music working outs. Brian gave Adrian two LPs - Jimmy Reed and BB King - which to this day he treasures as mementoes of a man who to him wasn't a former pop star but just a really good friend. "He never did really speak about (the Pretties)... it never sunk in until after his death, what he had actually achieved and who he had been associated with!" Occasionally Brian did talk about the past; he commented to Adrian about meeting the Beatles. "He had a lot of time for Paul and George and said that they had spoken at length" while, apparently, John Lennon had "sat quietly in a corner of the room."

One day Adrian and 'BJ' Jackson went round to see Brian, and found themselves invited to stay for dinner! "I was impressed," Adrian remembers "I had never seen him cook! He led me to the kitchen, where he opened the oven door to show me his corned beef hot pot. It consisted of a block of tinned corned beef, a tin of new potatoes, water and an Oxo cube. Let's just say we didn't have dinner at Brian's that evening." It would seem that Brian's cooking skills didn't equal his musical ones, nethertheless one can't criticise him for not making an effort!

Adrian instead invited Brian round his house close to the Fountain Inn where Brian would later give his interview to Terry Coates, and where Brian frequently met up with friends such as Adrian and Barry. Unlike some who remembered Brian having no appetite for anything except a pint, Adrian recalled that Brian used to eat like a horse! "I think it was the company that helped him relax" he recalls.

Adrian recalls that although he and Brian only performed live together in Sam Therapy three times - at Maidstone pub the Duke of Edinburgh and the Victory Inn at nearby East Farleigh, regular rehearsals too place and on one occasion, at the Victory, Brian produced a set of maraccas, which he said had once belonged to Phil May; Adrian would play them on numbers such as Little Walter's 'My Babe'. Other band favourites included 'Shame Shame Shame', the Jimmy Reed number, and tracks such as 'Baby Please Don't Go'

Eventually Paul May arrived on drums and the evolution of Sam Therapy into So What began. BJ Jackson stayed on board with Brian and Simon White came in on keyboards. The next phase of Brian's post Pretties musical career was beginning.

later years