In the evening of June 14, 1964, the four Beatles held a party, without Jimmy Nicol, until 4 a.m.
Source: Beatles Bible
For Jimmy Nicol, his 12 days with the Beatles left a lasting impression, and conflicted feelings.
“Standing in for Ringo was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Until then I was quite happy earning thirty or forty pounds a week. After the headlines died, I began dying too.” He has resisted the temptation to sell his story, stating in a rare 1987 interview: “After the money ran low, I thought of cashing in in some way or other. But the timing wasn’t right. And I didn’t want to step on The Beatles’ toes. They had been damn good for me and to me.”
Professionally, he struggled… Ironically, he briefly reunited with the Beatles while performing once again as stand-in drummer, this time for the Dave Clark Five…
After his time with The Beatles, Nicol reformed the Shubdubs, re-naming themselves “Jimmy Nicol and the Shubdubs”. They released a single “Husky”/”Don’t Come Back”, followed by “Humpty Dumpty”/”Night Train”, neither of which were a commercial success. Nicol was called upon a second time to stand in for an ailing drummer, when Dave Clark of The Dave Clark Five fell ill, replacing him in the band for a season in Blackpool, Lancashire. Whilst there, Nicol was reminded of just how popular, albeit briefly, he had been as a Beatle, when he received via the postal system a bundle of 5,000 fan letters passed on to him from an Australian radio disc jockey. Nicol sent a message back thanking the fans, and promising that he would one day return to Australia permanently. He was later reunited with The Beatles when his band was set down on the same bill as them and The Fourmost on 12 July, 1964 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Brighton. In 1965 Nicol declared bankruptcy with debts of £4,066, just nine months after being a temporary Beatle.[3] Later that year he joined the successful Swedish group The Spotnicks, recording with them, and twice touring the world. He left them in 1967, spending time in Mexico studying samba and bossa nova rhythms, whilst also going into business setting up a button factory. In 1975 he returned to England. Other work at this time included housing renovations and carpentry. In 1988 it was rumoured that Nicol had died, but an article in 2005 by the Daily Mail confirmed that he was still alive and living as a recluse in London.
Source: Wikipedia. For more, check out a great collection photos spanning Jimmy’s career here.
Thanks for reading!
“
In June 1964, the world tour began. We went to Scandinavia, Holland, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Ringo missed part of the tour because he was in hospital with tonsillitis. We couldn’t cancel, so the idea was to get a stand-in. We got Jimmy Nicol, a session drummer from London. He played well - obviously not the same as Ringo, but he covered well.
It wasn’t an easy thing for Jimmy to stand in for Ringo, and have all that fame thrust upon him. And the minute his tenure was over, he wasn’t famous any more: ‘I was the guy who stood in for Ringo!’ But he did great and Ringo joined us out in Australia when he had recovered.
”“ When I was on the plane back to London, I felt like a bastard child being sent back home from a family that didn’t want me. When you have had the best, you can’t accept anything else. ”
May 6, 2010
1 note
Jimmy Goes Home, June 15, 1964.
The Beatles Bible…
At 8am on the morning of 15 June 1964, Jimmy Nicol left the Southern Cross Hotel on Bourke Street, Melbourne. Accompanied by Brian Epstein, he was driven to the airport where he was given a final agreed fee of £500, as well as a gold watch with the engraving: “To Jimmy, with appreciation and gratitude - Brian Epstein and The Beatles.”
Nicol didn’t say goodbye to The Beatles; they were sleeping off the previous night’s party, and he felt he shouldn’t disturb them. The group was celebrating their reunion with Ringo Starr, who had missed the early part of their world tour after being struck down by acute tonsillitis and pharyngitis.
Footage of Jimmy’s departure can be seen in this video.
TV footage of the Beatles and Jimmy waving to their fans from the hotel balcony, June 14, 1964.
Footage of the June 14, 1964 press conference with the four Beatles and Jimmy Nicol. Notice how the cameraman excludes Jimmy except briefly.
Q: (to Jimmy) “What do you intend to do when you go back to Britain? Do you have any engagements lined up?”
JIMMY: “Umm well, I’ll just stop in Australia first.”
Q: “Have you had any firm offer here in Australia, Jimmy?”
JIMMY: “I haven’t had any firm offer, as yet.”
Q: “Are you in the market for one?”
JIMMY: “Yes, I think.”
Q: “As a drummer with a group?”
JIMMY: “Not with a group. No.”
[inaudible]
Q: “Do you feel like a man out here?”
JIMMY: “No. Not at all.”
UPDATE: More of the fab gear press conference footage in three parts 1, 2, 3.
“ It was great being back with the boys and back in the band. ”
Ringo Starr in the Beatles Anthology
Five Beatles!
JOHN: “For me?”
RINGO: “I’ve missed you.”
JOHN: “I’ve missed you too.”
Source: Beatles Interviews
UPDATE: Video here.
More on the Melbourne reception. Here’s the Beatles Bible…
At the hotel, meanwhile, there were so many people hoping to catch a glimpse of them that army and navy troops were called in.
The Beatles were given a police escort of 12 motorcyclists during their route into Melbourne at 4pm. They were driven into a garage entrance at the Southern Cross and a police car pulled up at the front as a diversion. A scene of mayhem ensued, with 300 police officers and 100 military personnel attempting to keep the crowd at bay.
Here’s a contemporaneous report in Melbourne’s The Age…
About fifty young people were taken to hospital yesterday after a near-chaotic welcome to the Beatles by 20,000 outside the Southern Cross Hotel.
Another 200 teenagers were treated on the spot, many of them in Red Cross stations set up in the hotel and in the Australian-American Club opposite.
…
Girls fainted but were carried along upright in the crush.
Police on horseback and on foot were sometimes powerless to halt the human tide.
Numerous fights broke out but lasted only seconds.
One slightly built girl began hitting a man over the head with her stiletto shoe when he blocked her view.
Some fans climbed on top of cars; others scaled trees in the centre of the street. One fell 10 feet into the crowd when the branch of a tree snapped.
The Beatles, who had come from Melbourne Airport in a closed car, entered the hotel by a staff entrance in Little Collins Street.
UPDATE: A collection of yet more Beatles in Melbourne footage here.
