Now you may ask how did a scruffy little Yorkshireman end up as the ‘Disco King of Yorkshire’
Ok, so we have to go back a ways, do you remember SILH (8) A Desperate Finale ? Well, after that little escapade I returned to Jersey and met a guy who was the D.J. at the Deep Discotheque in St Helier. I commenced this illustrious career by standing in the DJ box talking to girls who came for a request. Anyone who knows me will understand that this wasn’t a task I was adverse to 🙂 From there I began to put the needle on the record and shortly afterwards I was covering Monday nights. Not wanting to bore you with a blow by blow, let’s just say this was a hobby for the next ten years. Eventually I returned to Yorkshire to lick my wounds (another story) and ended up working for a couple who ran a Mobile Disco company. Now this is where I perfected the ‘all round DJ.’ with Birthdays, Weddings, Wedding Anniversaries, 60’s and 70’s nights and Tea Dances
Oh yes, with Waltzes, Quicksteps, Foxtrots and not lets forget the Rhumba, Cha Cha, Jive and Tango, a little tedious as all I did was announce the dances, but the Hotel tours, now they were different. Tee hee, holiday makers. Yup I’m the guy who pounced out onto the dance floor, dragged you from your seat and taught you how to do the Birdy Song backwards, embroiled you in a Barn Dance and then just when you got the hang of it, I made it ‘progressive,’ (you swop partners after the clap) no it’s a hand clap this was a Hotel tour not a hedonistic under 30’s). Then of course there was the Bingo afternoons at Christmas (well someone had to entertain them) The Bingo machine we had was similar to the one, below courtesy of Roof Top Antiques
Oh, what fun I had at the start, having carefully slid the wire retainer from the top of the machine I informed everyone that I had never done this before. Consequently when I switched it on; well my balls went everywhere, so to speak. Of course there wasn’t just the Birdy Song, I had Agadoo, Superman, YMCA too 🙂
On a more serious note, OK stop laughing, I know I wasn’t saving lives here 🙂 There was the Injured Jockeys Club dinner dances always attended by the Emmerdale Farm crowd and of course the ‘posh’ 21st Birthday parties that usually went on until around 5am 🙂 Then I went travelling aha! that just had to raise its head again 🙂 Next week I’ll explain how I became the disco king of Yorkshire 🙂
HaHa, nice one Charlie !
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I love this post! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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And thank you for reading 😜
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Oh I love music, Charlie! 😀
This was such a fun post… You must have had such fun being a DJ. With a little bit of this and a little bit of that and you wiggle your *** dum dum dum dum! Hahaaaa…
I loved the Blackpool Tea Dance clip; there were some good dancers amongst them! What a great way to spend time…
At a Christmas Ball last year the host taught us all a routine he’d choreographed for the YMCA tune; heaps of fun for all… Oh yes, Charlie; music and dance is such a wonderful pastime.
I’m looking forward to next week’s ‘Disco King’… 😀
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Thank you Carolyn, clever you spotting the Blackpool ballroom, sadly I never got to play there and I couldn’t find any photos of Morley Town Hall tea dances 😜 it’s great to hear people are still using stuff like YMCA we choreographed an Austrian theme to a song called Clap Clap by the Klaxons which I think I am demonstrating in the photo 😀 Yes it was a lot of fun 😀
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I thought “Disco King of Yorkshire” was a hard line to follow, then I saw your legs…
It’s really hard to type whilst crying with laughter.
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😢 someone once called me ‘lucky legs’ 😜
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From the photographic evidence it’s hard to form a definite view. 🙂
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Wow! Looks like your time as a DJ was fun. 😊
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Nice😀👌
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I look forward to hearing more about the “disco king of Yorkshire!”
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Thank you, I’ll try not to disappoint 😜
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Oh gosh, I really am laughing even though I have participated in said Birdie dance to my shame. Disco king of Yorkshire – love it!
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Aha, but did you ever do it backwards 😜 thank you very much 😀
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I did do it backward (shamed expression) 😕
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Yay 😀😜👌
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Hahaha, Awesome! How fun 🙂
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Thank you, it really was 😀
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Great fun post!
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Oops up side your head, I said oops up side your head. Not easy to shimmy when you’re sitting down on a dance floor.
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I had forgotten that one 😀😀
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Wow you were a different so was my husband he had bad records like that too lol! Xx
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Funny how we have to wait 30 years to admit it, bit like state secrets 😂
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Yeh isn’t that 100 years tho 🤔😆x
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I thought it was 60 🤫
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Probably was xx
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