Concert Details

Show Notes:

The band played a private afternoon party at the home of Ted Willis (created Baron Willis in 1963). Willis was a Labour politician and dramatist best known as the writer of the TV series, “Dixon of Dock Green,” and creator of shows like “The Adventures of Black Beauty,” “Hunter’s Walk,” “Mrs. Thursday” and “Coppers End.”  He also wrote numerous plays and films.

In Eric Clapton Day By Day 1963-1982, Marc Roberty noted that the performance was a publicity stunt arranged by the band’s publicist, Greg Tesser. Willis had declared in the House of Lords that youth music was “a cheap candyfloss substitute for culture and would not last more than five minutes.” Tesser’s father was a childhood friend of Willis and Willis agreed to do a favour for Greg. The press had been tipped off (of course) and the band turned up and demanded to play in Willis’ garden to prove they were not part of the “candy floss culture”. Photos and stories ran the next day in the national press creating a huge publicity buzz for The Yardbirds.