July
5. LPs released. Middlesboro, had breakdown.

6. Bought LPs, both very good.

10. Ma's birthday, bought ironing board.

11. Won £2 on fruit machine (lot of similar entries).

18. Majestic, played with Talismen, good. To Blue with Gerry Levene and Ricky Valance.

20. Majestic, Tower, then to Jac and Blue Angel. Ringo there. Home about 4.

31. Orrell Park, German audition. Got 3 months definite.

August
2. Got suede ties.

3. Ringo, George and Tony Sheridan at Blue Angel.

15. Cavern television, all day.

(Piles of details re Liverpool days but would take ages to decipher!).

October: At Star Club with Dominoes and Freddie Starr.

Nov/Dec back in Liverpool. so much going on that writing is even harder to read.

December
13. To Locarno for Poll results. Us 18th, ok.

January 2 1964: Connah's Quay. Played okay. went to Blue. Big fight.

Editor's Notes: As the diaries ended, we never did discover how the romance with Eileen ended – with a bang or a whimper! He has certainly crossed her name out. Did they make it up once again as they did so many other times? Johnny was married twice and had a son and a daughter. Virginia and I were friends with Johnny’s second wife Margaret, but I don’t know who Johnny’s first wife was – could it have been Eileen?

When Rory Storm & the Hurricanes disbanded, Johnny joined the Merseyside Ambulance Service in 1974 as a technician. He contracted motor neurone disease and retired in 1998. Sadly, he collapsed at his home in Stuart Road, Crosby on Wednesday 18 August 1999 and died at the age of 59.

Many thanks to our photo researcher Chazz for the images used in this feature. Although the quality of some of the pictures leaves a lot be desired, they retain a historical value in the context of the history of the Mersey scene.

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