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home / early years / big time / nz interview / pressures / enough is enough / AFTER THE PRETTIES / later years |
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Brian was born on 13th April 1944 in Wolverhampton, to Raymond and Kathleen Pendleton (nee Brownsword); Raymond and Kathleen had married early in 1942. Brian was born in Wolverhampton Road in the Heath Town district of the city, at an address that no longer exists. When he was still a baby the Pendletons moved to Dartford in Kent and his younger sister was born in 1950.
The teenage Brian attended Dartford Grammar School. He was in the year below future Pretty Thing Dick Taylor and superstar-to-be Mick Jagger. Although Brian and Dick would recognise each other at a later date (Dick certainly remembered Brian from school) it seems that as they were in different years they didn't speak much, it is a playground truth that those pupils in the years below were not generally considered worthy of attention and this is doubtless still the case today! English schools divide their pupils into groups called 'houses' which are usually named after a person of local historic significance and represented by a colour. Brian was a member of the house called Daeth, possibly in honour of a local (Dartford) family; it's colour was yellow. Peter Pike was in the same year as Brian and recalls that he was a reserved character but could from time to time be funny and lively. The two of them travelled to Germany in 1959 with other pupils on a school trip to Niederlahnstein near Koblenz on the Rhine. Peter remembers that they had a lot of fun on the trip and Brian came across as having a rather dry sense of humour. Peter also recalled that Brian was a member of the 'Combined Cadet Force', a kind of military club where boys would train for army or airforce activities. This may explain how Brian developed a passion for guns and target practice, and acquired an air pistol. Sidney Palmer was a close friend, frequently spending time at Brian's home in Watling Street, Dartford (on the main road from Dartford to Crayford). He recalls that Brian's father, Raymond was a keen amateur photographer and had a dark room in the house; he was also part of an amateur dramatic group. Sidney remembers that Brian's parents always made him feel very welcome and that the Pendleton home "always appeared to me to be very regulated and without dramas." It was at Brian's home that Sidney and Brian practised guitar together, mainly to Duane Eddy and Elvis Presley records. The two lads had had their first experience of a live rock and roll band when Cliff Richard performed at the local cinema, around 1958; but they also enjoyed non-music related time together: "Most Saturdays were spent together playing on Dartford Heath (there was a disused army camp which was perfect for trials bicycling or amateur bomb-making!)" but sadly as their teens progressed they would drift apart. Movingly, Sidney says: "Brian was always a good friend, not at all loud or self opionated and it was with great sorrow that I read his obituary in the Guardian." Another schoolmate who got in touch with me recently was Derek Roberts. Derek attended the same Sunday School as Brian at Christ Church, Dartford around 1951 and then in 1955 joined Brian at Dartford Grammar School. Remembering Brian as "a quiet, very nice inoffensive boy who anyone would be pleased to have as a friend" they were in the same class for a couple of years before drifting off in different directions. Derek was Captain of the Cricket Team for the Daeth House to which both Brian and Mick Jagger belonged, and Derek recalls selecting Mick, who was in the year above, to play in the house team; with the passage of time he is unsure but believes he also asked Brian to play on occasions. Derek was surprised when later on Brian popped up in the Pretty Things, as "this did not fit in with the stereotype picture of Brian I had developed in my mind" but was less surprised to see Mick appear in the Rolling Stones as "he was always much more outgoing than Brian". Brian would leave school in July 1960, having sat his exams and got six 'O' Levels. He was the only member of his family with musical interests and these centred on the guitar as his main instrument although as time would show he was one of those enviable people who can get a tune out of any instrument they pick up. The young Brian was also a keen cyclist. In 1962 Brian was working London for a city insurance brokers, Edward Lumley & Sons; his father also worked in the insurance industry. The new band employed Brian's services. It has been suggested that this was largely due to the fact that Brian owned a particularly good amplifier but this is surely unfair as Dick himself said later "He was a very good choice because he was the tidiest in his musicianship." However Dick did teach Brian how to play blues guitar as he had only played jazz up to that point. A drummer was recruited (who would soon be replaced by Viv Andrews) and initially the band played as Jerome and the Pretty Things. The Jerome part soon got abandoned. Their very first gig Brian described in his interview with Terry Coates: "I think it was at a place called the Railway Hotel." In his excellent biography, The Pretty Things Growing Old Disgracefully which is currently (late 2005) being rewritten and updated, Alan Lakey mentions that whenever trains passed the whole place shook! Brian continues: "I remember the place very well. A really tiny venue...with a very small stage. We really enjoyed ourselves...all the other guys' amps packed up and they had to plug into mine. We played so loud that night by the time I got home my ears were totally f*cked up!" Andrew Dobbie, who went to Dartford Grammar School while Brian was there, recalls: "Brian had gone to the same primary school as some of my friends so I knew him slightly through them. After he left school and joined the Pretty things we used to go to any gigs they were playing at local venues such as the Black Prince in Bexley or the Bromley Court Hotel. I remember at one of their Bromley gigs having a drink with Brian at the bar during the band's interval and we enjoyed a good laugh about what the nasty little headmaster at Dartford would make of the Pretty Things phenomenon. The school authorities were already upset that a long-haired ex-pupil called Jagger was giving it a bad name." Meanwhile, the band secured the services of Bryan Morrison and Jimmy Duncan as a management team which proved to be very much a double-edged sword as Duncan got them a contract with the Fontana label but also embezzled the band out of a good deal of money.
Viv Andrews remembers Brian from around this time as "just a nice quiet guy who smoked a lot." Similarly, when Phil May was interviewed once the band found fame he said of Brian "He's very quiet and saves all his money." According to John Stax,
Duncan came up with a composition of his own, Rosalyn, and the band recorded it but without Viv Andrews on drums, who left during recording (Bobby Graham took his place), causing the release of the single to be delayed a little while. He would be replaced by the legendary and certifiable Viv Prince. On it's release in the Summer of 1964, Rosalyn sold well and reached a very respectable No. 41 in the charts. The song is made special by John Stax's bass runs, Phil May's loutish vocal and most importantly the distinctive sound of Brian's slide guitar. It also helped to establish the band's image as even hairier and dirtier than the Rolling Stones. Andrew Dobbie, a fellow pupil at Dartford Grammar School who had been in a year below Brian, recalled the excitement when Rosalyn came out. "I was in the sixth form and a group of us rushed out during the lunch hour and bought the record. One of my friends lived just around the corner from the school so went to his house, set the autochanger on his parent's Dansette to replay and played it over and over! For the next few days, whenever there was a lull in the conversation, someone would pipe up "Oh, Rosalyn...Yeah, Rosalyn" and rest would join in!" Partly inspired by the PTs and the Stones Andrew and some of his fellow sixth formers formed their own band which lasted until they went their separate ways on leaving school; he recalls attempting to crib Brian's guitar style on some of the Pretty Things' number that the group attempted.
To satisfy the curiosity of those fans who wanted to know everything there was to know about their idols and hearthrobs, pop group members of the time would submit to answering questions about themselves and supplying the sort of superficial information their devotees thrived on. When it came to the Pretty Things, even the quiet and secretive Brian managed to give away a little bit about himself. In one such article early in their success, he stated that he liked Chinese and some Italian food, and drank vodka and lime, light ale and tomato juice; his favourite colours were navy blue, brown and green. More interesting perhaps, he said he'd been playing guitar since he was 17 and owned 50-60 LPs many of which were modern jazz; he mentioned liking Bobby Timmons and Cannonball Adderley in particular. Brian also divulged that he had disliked flying to start with but now enjoyed it, which was just as well as his career with the Pretties would often take them abroad, although he preferred flying in big jet planes to the smaller ones. Most revealing and insightful was Brian's answer when asked his ambition: "To play modern jazz, though not necessarily for money. I'd like to have a second string to provide a living and play for enjoyment." In retrospect those words were to prove most significant. Teenagers loved the Pretty Things. Grown ups despised them - no doubt including Brian's parents who were most unhappy about their son's decision to give up his insurance job and throw his lot in with the band. The world of cinemas packed with screaming girls and endless hours on the road, photo sessions and media fascination beckoned. The Pretty Things were on their way. |
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By the late summer of 1963 Brian had played guitar in a couple of jazz bands. Jazz was Brian's first love, although he was aware of and had listened to some rhythm and blues. As Brian recalled to Terry Coates in his only interview, he saw an advertisement in "Melody Maker" and found himself speaking to Dick Taylor on the phone. They chatted and established that they had been at school together, and an arrangement made for the members of the new band to visit Brian's house. Brian's reply had been the only one the new band considered interesting, in that he had a guitar and said he could play. When Brian's mother answered the door she took one look at the young men stood on her doorstep 
