The Autograph man and the stars of the Swinging 60s
He started to get autographs for me because I was about nine and too young to go to concerts myself
SWINGING sixties doorman Joseph Palmer met most of the stars while working at Newcastle City Hall.
And he made sure his young daughter Brenda at their home in the city’s North Kenton, shared in the excitement as he collected the signatures of the top acts for her autograph books.
Today, the books will be sold by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland, with an estimate of £600 to £1,000.
Among the autographs which the late Mr Palmer secured were Stevie Wonder, Cliff Richard, Donovan, the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, Georgie Fame, Frank Ifield, Del Shannon, The Animals, Wayne Fontana, Roy Orbison, Bobby Vee, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey, Julie Rogers, Frank Berry, Marianne Faithfull, Suzy Cope, Brenda Lee, Joe Brown, Dave Clark, Louis Armstrong, Dave Berry, Val Doonican and Freddy Garrity of Freddy and the Dreamers, Jewel Brown, Tony Marsh, Lorraine Grey, Peter Quaife, Dodie West and John Walker.
The names of all four Beatles are thought to have been signed by the group’s then road manager Neil Aspinall, believe Anderson & Garland.
Brenda, now 63 and living in Newcastle, said: “Being a doorman at night at concerts at the City Hall was a second job for my father.” By day he worked in the warehouse of the Marks & Spencer store in the city. “He started to get autographs for me because I was about nine at the time and too young to go to the concerts myself, but he would tell me all about them,” said Brenda. “The books are something I have had in a cupboard for years. You put things away and forget about them.” Also in the sale are the First World War medals of South Shields teacher and Labour councillor Cuthbert Barrass. They include his Military Medal which he won for conspicuous gallantry in 1917. Mr Barrass was assistant master at Dean Road School in South Shields and a member of the executive of the National Union of Teachers. He lived at Ashley Road in South Shields and Westcott Road in Tyne Dock. Before the war, he and his brother ran a youth cub in Jarrow. The medals are valued at £300 to £500.
The sale also includes a rarity in the shape of a silver button, made around 1780 by Newcastle silversmiths John Langlands and John Robertson, , which is engraved with sheep and the inscription “Success to the improvement of Cheviot wool.”
Also included is a medallion with the engraving “To William Smith, Melkington, for Cheviot Ewes, Kelso Show 1872.”
They are rated at £100 to £150.