The behind-the-scenes story has been so colourful and exciting, so fraught with almost heartbreakingly depressing periods - and periods of the utmost happiness, that if I devoted the whole of this issue to telling you the MERSEY BEAT story, I would only be scratching the surface. Perhaps I will write a book about it all one day.

I steadfastly maintain that there is no publication in the whole of the British Isles today which promotes artists and helps virtually unknown groups as we do. And now that we cover a wider beat than Merseyside we still champion worthwhile talent - whether it originates in Scotland, Birmingham, Manchester or any other part of the British Isles. No other paper has gone so far out of its way, as we have, to see that genuine talent succeeds.

I well remember the heavy criticism that was leveled at me when I promoted the Beatles in every single issue of MERSEY BEAT at a time when, literally, no one but their local fans wanted to know them. To those who sneered at me and called the paper 'The Mersey Beatle' in mocking tones - I was proud to prove my point so many months later when I took up their suggestion and called a section of the paper 'Mersey Beatle.'

Yes, there have been the people who have disliked, or even hated MERSEY BEAT for some petty reason, and it is surprising to what lengths some people will go to try and damage something they are envious of.

I still remember the death of STUART SUTCLIFFE and how I sat all afternoon in the office, completely stunned when I heard of the loss of such a close friend. I remember the joy of a telegram I received from BRIAN EPSTEIN telling me that he'd secured a recording contract for the Beatles, I remember the pride I felt when the newspapers and show-business VIPs flocked to the city I had affectionately called 'my Rocking City.'

I could go on, but I must end sometime - and I'll just say that my readers, who I have thought so much of over the years, are an integral part of the MERSEY BEAT story too.

I am proud of the fact that I have written more about Liverpool and the Mersey Scene than anyone else on earth - and I hope to go on doing so for many more years to come.

Editor's note: This was the editorial I wrote in the 100th issue of the newspaper and well, yes, here I am in October 2004, forty years later and still writing about the scene, revealing even more stories which weren't actually covered in the original issues.

Of course, my tribute goes to Virginia, she was the glue that held Mersey Beat together and it could never have continued without her support. She was also a great champion of the artists and put a lot of her strength and energy into battling to keep the paper going in the times we had to struggle to survive.

It's surprising how the little things that happened in that first tiny attic office have had a major effect. My coining of the name 'Mersey Beat' for the newspaper, my mistaking Cilla White's surname and calling her Cilla Black in the first issue, having John write his piece on the Beatles for me which told of a man coming down on 'a flaming pie' and seeing that it resulted in a hit album by Paul decades later, running a special 'Mersey Beatles' section and finding the name used to describe the Liverpool Beatles conventions over a quarter of a century later.

Then the hundreds of little things - my hypnotizing Faron in the office to give his most dynamic performance - and it worked! Working such long hours in the office that I collapsed with blood running from my nose and being carted to hospital - and also being carted to hospital when my back gave out while interviewing the Swinging Bluejeans at the Mardi Gras, sitting in the office awaiting Armageddon after Bob Azurdia had warned us that America had fired atomic warheads at Cuba!

Taking Bob Dylan to the Blue Angel, playing the fruit machine with Judy Garland, inspiring George to write 'Don't Bother Me,' encouraging John to keep on writing, getting Brian Epstein to listen to Cilla singing in the Blue Angel, asking John to give a number to Beryl Marsden and finding Brian Epstein vetoed it, protecting the groups from confidence tricksters.

There are so many lost friends and characters and artists from the Mersey scene - Norman Beaton, Ted Knibbs, Lance Railton, Derry Wilkie, Jim Ireland, Brian Kelly, Bob Wooler, Lord Woodbine, Eddie Parry, Rita Hughes, Paddy Chambers, Colin Manley, Jim Gretty, Stu Leathwood, Tony Jackson, my columnists Bernard Falk, Bob Azurdia and Geoff Leack, my photographers Graham Spencer, Barry Farrell, Bill Connell, together with many others who all who still live on in my mind. Let this site also be their tribute.

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