WINDRUSH FOUNDATION
PRESENTS
LORD WOODBINE, THE BEATLES & HAMBURG
Born in 1929 in Trinidad, Harold Phillips (who later became known as Lord Woodbine, the Calypsonian) volunteered for the Royal Air Force to fight for Britain in World War II. After being demobbed when the War ended, he returned to England on the Empire Windrush on 22nd June 1948. Like 235 other passengers, Harold was accommodated at Clapham South Deep Shelter, London, before moving to Wellington (Shropshire). He later settled in Liverpool, having formed a calypso band: ‘Lord Woodbine and His Trinidadians,’ which was the first to tour Britain.
Harold played a tenor pan as part of the first professional steel band in the UK. He was the first singer-songwriter-performer mentor with whom John Lennon and Paul McCartney had interacted, He and his business partner were the first ones to have promoted them in their early years when they were known as the ‘Silver Beetles’. Even though they went on to become the most influential band of all time, their first opportunity to perform overseas, in Hamburg, was provided by Woodbine and Allan in 1960. They travelled in Woodbine’s van. Join us as we commemorate sixty years since the tour and discuss the history.
JOIN WINDRUSH FOUNDATION ON WEDNESDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 from
7pm to 8.30pm
CONTRIBUTORS: DR JAMES McGRATH
CAROL PHILLIPS
BURT CAESAR
ALEXANDER D GREAT
ARTHUR TORRINGTON
ALL WELCOME ZOOM TICKETS FREE
SUPPORTED BY NATIONAL LOTTERY HERITAGE FUND
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