September
9. Orrell. First date from Butlin's. Played ok, big crowd. Pauline there but never spoke.

11. Eileen still loves me and wants to go with me. I don't want to hurt Pauline as she loves me terribly.

15. Blue Penguin, Bootle. Went down great.

21. Litherland Town Hall. Gerry, Beatles and us. Played good, great crowd.

October
7. Northwich. Went in Ty's car. went down good, nearly crashed on way back.

11. Jive Hive. Eileen told Ringo what she thinks of him.

15. Felt lousy, phoned Pauline. Played ok at Plaza, St Helens, then to Orrell, went home, had whiskey, sweated out chill.

16. Rory bought Danny's car (£90).

17. Saw James Dean 'East Of Eden'. Okay.

20. Emile Ford Show, Shrewsbury. Played good.

21. Fitted tremelo arm on.

27. Got three letters off Pauline. In a way, I wish she was back. The King's Social, Ellesmere Port, a dump of a place.

November
4. Crewe Town Hall. Went in van, cold, set some fireworks off, Ty went mad. Had row in Crewe, told some bird what I thought.

10. Tower Ballroom, New Brighton. 5000 there. Sam made £400. Met Niki, like her a lot. Had race with Beatles, nearly turned over.

18. Plaza, St. Helens. Played ok, didn't like it much. Went home in Ringo's car.

19. Don't know what to do about Eileen or Pauline.

24. Tower Ballroom. Emile Ford sang 'Fever' and 'Hound Dog' with us.

28. Leigh. Went in coach. Had row with Kelly, gave me £2 in coppers, threw it over his car.

December
1. Tower Ballroom. 2,000 in.

(No entries 10.12 - 19.12.)

20. Queen's, Southport. Rory came in track suit.

27. Went to see 'The Young Ones', okay.

28. Had row with Eileen, she saw one of Pauline's letters.

30. Ringo going to Hamburg. Went to Lime Street, saw Ringo, Eckhorn and Tony Sheridan off.

(Again, piles of booking details are omitted).

Editor’s Note: Obviously they couldn’t remain in Hamburg as Bruno Koschmider of the Kaiserkeller went along to the venue where they were playing and told the owner that under the contract they’d signed with him, they weren’t allowed to play in the area again for six months. Back in Liverpool, more fights mentioned at venues – there must be some good stories around concerning such slugfests. Johnny is still taking his dates to the pictures, but not as often as in earlier years. 

Johnny has also begun to get tardy with his diary entries, missing out huge swathes of dates. A pity they are so brief, if only there was more flesh on some of the bones of the entries – what happened when the doorman ran away with their money at one gig? What were the fights really like? What happened to the pictures they had taken with Gene Vincent? Who was the Les who gave stick to Bob Wooler and what was it about? Why did Eileen tell Ringo what she thought of him – and what DID she think of him?

The Zodiac Club in Duke Street where the Big Three appeared was where Cilla, who sang with them, served coffee behind the bar and met the love of her life - Bobby Willis. I remember being there one night with the Beatles and the Hurricanes when a gang came beating at the locked door. We had to stay inside for hours until the group of thugs went away as there was no rear exit.

The last entry relates to Ringo leaving the Hurricanes to take up the offer of backing Tony Sheridan in the Star Combo at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg. Promoter Peter Eckhorn was quite annoyed at Sheridan’s choice of name – because Sheridan had named it after a new club which was due to open in Hamburg in 1962: the Star Club. Roy Young was also in the band. Ringo found that Sheridan was a difficult and irritating musician to back, as he’d often change to another number in the middle of the one he was performing, or begin playing a number without informing the band. Ringo soon tired of the eccentricities and returned to Liverpool and the Hurricanes.

Socially, Johnny seems madly in love with Eileen at one moment, only to fall out the next – no doubt his confusion was caused because he was still playing the field.

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