Coventry Hippodrome / Apollo / Theatre

As always, this is wonderful, Luke, thank you so much for your hard work. And grateful thanks to the anonymous lady too! First to Cliff Richard.... You are right about the date, it seems the annotation was the wrong month, and he was at our theatre on Sunday 7th May 1961. (Unless it was a programme for a show he did elsewhere - he was at the nearby De Montfort Hall in Leicester on the 13th February?) I've added Acker Bilk, too - that was twice in one year he came here - we must have enjoyed some trad jazz back then! You're also correct about Helen Shapiro - it was definitely the 11th, as in the archive, not the 10th. I've added the images, too - please thank the lady if you get the chance.

Hi Rob and All, I've been in contact with the very nice lady again and she said I could share these programmes too (provided she was uncredited again) and can be added to the show archive. They're all from 1963: "Your Lucky Stars" 04 March 1963 "The Big Star Show" 03 Nov 1963 "The Beatles Show" 17 Nov 1963 _____________________________________________________ I also, have myself, a copy of "Call Me Madam" (Mon 15th Jun until Sat 4th Jul 1953) that someone brought for me which I will upload later. Thanks All

Definitely went to the Beatles and probably Billy Fury. Look at all those acts in one show, although at that time would only be up and coming. They pay a fortune now just to see one group !

Apologies for the late reply, Luke - I managed to quickly fit in adding those super images to the theatre shows database, but then got too busy with things to get back to the forum and acknowledge you. But many thanks to you and the anonymous lady all the same, they add a nice splash of colour to bring the list of shows to life.

A bit of follow up information about people on these Coventry Theatre bills. In the 1970's 'Shane Fenton' became 'Alvin Stardust'. 'Eden Kane's' younger brothers both had hit records in the 1970's, they were Peter Sarstedt and Clive Sarstedt - these were their real names as opposed to stage names.

Aahhhh.... I knew the name Shane Fenton rang a bell, I just couldn't quite remember who he became! Thank you. (We'll be hearing about Reg Dwight and Harry Webb next! )

Hi Rob and All, The very nice unnamed lady has uploaded some more programme photos again (she wishes to be remain uncredited) and I thought we could add them too to the show archive. They're from 1964: "The Rolling Stones" 24th May 1964 "R & B '64" 1st Nov 1964 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ --- --- --- I've also asked Gray Forster if I could put his leaflet he put on Facebook onto the show archive and he kindly agreed: "Gene Pitney" 7th Apr 1968 Thanks, hope you're All well and having a nice weekend

My friend was a Gene Pitney fan so that was probably the show we went to. It always amazes me how many other groups were on these shows, probably unknowns then. I did not realise I had probably seen the Quo as well. Oh what happened to my programme collection. I think it must have got lost in one of our moves.

Not really a Hippodrome question but my brother tells me that the wall of bricks with family names and memorials on it is going to be pulled down. We had a brick for my mum and dad, Donald and Frances Mainwaring placed there. Is it true and does anyone know what they're planning to do with the debris?

As I see it, the transport museum is certainly under threat, so potentially the wall, ramp, bench and plaques are at risk but there doesn't seem to be anything concrete about what's happening to the site. Since they're working on the Ikea building as the replacement for the museum, completion of that might be needed before there is more news. The site is earmarked for more flats but with all the other developments including City Centre South, it's dubious that there is the demand in the short term. The sale of flats has tanked recently due to cladding and service charge scandals, so until a government addresses the issues, sales will be mostly for mass rental. The rental market also has issues but is currently being buoyed by governmental spending for all our new citizens The money will run out and/or there will be a change of government in the next 3-10 years. A change of government would probably impact universities too, so developers will have that in mind. Unless someone has an inside track, we might not know what's happening for a few years.

My Mum & Dad have a plaque on the wall as well

A small but cherished remembrance for our family.