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Here is the legendary story of the most famous band of actors ever, from their early beginnings to their eventual domination of the world, followed by their tragic split-up.
Our incredible tale begins in the famous northern port of Weatherpool in 1958. A tough city, where young lads either turned to petty crime or acting. Many dimly lit backstreet clubs sprang up here in the early sixties, but the most famous was without doubt The Tavern, where four young lads were to first perform their roughly crafted work to packed audiences of screaming young theatre lovers.
Two local lads, still at school at this time, had formed a little group of players called The Silver Streetles. They appeared at fetes and church events, but little did they know; the Big Time was only a few short years away. Their names have become icons in the entertainment world. They were of course John Duckworth and Paul McSugden.
They recognised a creative talent in each other, and would spend many hours at John's auntie Mimi's house writing the early plays which were to become well loved standards the world over.
In time, they teamed up with George Barlowson and Norman Starr, who was known in the clubs by his nickname, Curly, because he wore his hair in rings. They soon shortened their name to The Streetles, and refined the spelling one stage further to become The Streatles. The most famous band of actors the world will ever see......was born!
They were spotted by the owner of a local Weatherpool record store. His name was Alec Epstein. He had contacts in the entertainment world, and he offered to be their manager. The lads agreed, and better class work followed, including TV and radio performances. They spent some time learning their craft the hard way in the red light district of Hamburg, where they would often have to put on three plays a night, and share the billing with strippers. They returned to Weatherpool to find their first play, Love Me, Chuck! had rocketed to the number one position, and they were in big demand!
Their debut film followed. Shot in black and white, A Hard Day's Graft was widely praised by film and theatre critics the world over. Two years later, still under the British director Dick Bicester, they switched to colour and went on location to The Bahamas to film the work which had the temporary title of Eight Arms to Hold You, but eventually saw the light of day as Eh Up!
But their film work did not continue to receive high acclaim. The querky and off-beat Magical Studio Tour, first shown on television on Boxing Day 1967 missed the target, and it was another four years before their final film, Let It Lie, appeared. It was this documentary-style film which depicted the acrimonious end to the group, and did not make for comfortable viewing.
At one stage, a ridiculous rumour sprang up that Paul McSugden had, in fact, died. The rumour spread across the world like wildfire. It was started by the cover picture on one of their recordings, Rosamund Street. On the album cover, the band were seen using the now-famous zebra crossing on Rosamund Street, supposedly walking to the studio. If you looked very closely, Paul could be seen holding a whippet under his arm. It was said that if you held the sleeve up to the light and half closed one eye, you could just see that the whippet was barefoot. This was well known to be a symbol of death in those superstitious northern towns.
Their popularity in the USA suffered greatly when John told a press conference that they were more popular than Johnny Carson. There was outrage across the conservative states of Middle America. Bonfires were lit in the streets, where angry former fans were encouraged to burn the group's recordings and merchandise. John was forced to publicly apologise, and say that what he meant was they were more popular than God. The fans in the US were relieved to hear this correction, and all was well again.
Their clean-cut image took a severe knock when they became sucked in by the growing pigeon culture of the sixties. Paul was prosecuted for being found in possession of pigeons, and later freely admitted that he raced pigeons regularly for recreational purposes, and for the creative inspiration they provided to his work. He was banned from entering Japan from that day to this. Their classic Ena in The Sky with Viaducts was clearly laden with pigeon references. e.g. "suddenly something is there in the backyard, the bird with kaleidoscope eyes."
But their studio work had become so technically accomplished that it became increasingly impossible to reproduce in theatres. Their last public performance was in 1966 at the vast Shea Greyhound Stadium in Manchester.
Perhaps their finest hour came in a massive live TV link up in 1967. 200 million Streatles fans the world over were treated to a wonderful performance of the northern dietary classic All You Need Is Tripe.
But the end was in sight, and the Streatles were in decline. Opinions are divided as to the reason for their ultimate split. Many will assert that it was as a direct result of John marrying the enigmatic Japanese barmaid Vera Ono, others blame their ill-fated foray into the world of business and promotion, under the all-encompassing banner Grapple Corps, named after an old wrestler John used to know at drama school in Weatherpool.
Their last public appearance was on the roof of the Rovers Return. It was an impromtu performance of some of their best loved works. Fans looked upwards from every ginnel, filled with wonder as they heard the well-loved favourites like Ballad of Jack and Vera, Hey Stan, Back in the DHSS, The Long and Winding Maud, Fool on the Hilda and Hello Tar- rar.
Within months, the entire world was saying tar-rar to those four lovable lads from Weatherpool. John, Paul George and Curly.
John became reclusive and withdrawn, and never left his apartment building in Bacup which he shared with Vera Ono. Curly went on to become well known for doing voice-overs for animated trains. George travelled widely in the east and absorbed much of its culture and religion. Mainly, this involved Gateshead.
Still profoundly influenced by his experiences with pigeons in the early years, Paul named his new band Wings.
What do they leave behind? Well, hundreds of well-loved episodes which are constantly being released on CD in anthology format, complete with out-takes, their films are frequently shown on TV every Christmas, and there's the fridge magnets, of course. But the world will remember them for the pleasure they have given to millions, and continue to do so.
John Duckworth, on the roof of the Rovers Return, 1969
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