Remembering artists of the British Invasion

Dear Editor:

I am 78 and my first wife is 76 and a blonde. (er hem,) Yesterday, she said to me “I am ‘Ball eyed sick of hearing about COVID-19, is there nothing else to talk about?”

So, I will challenge any of you real diedin- the-wool Canadians, I will put you to the test, and you can even bring along any of your cohorts, and I still will bury you, I will baffle you with science, it is a non-starter, you don’t have a prayer, me being an original ex-Limey. I will have you agog with my senile memory, you can even include the old ‘Goat’ from ‘Olalla, or the Queen of comment from Penticton, (Miss Elvena) you can throw in Barillaro and even the Woodstock reject, James Miller.

Joe Fries is too young to be officially included he’s only a lad, and the other movers and shakers in Penticton won’t stand a chance either, they were too long under the U.S. umbrella, plus you had the Canadian government insisting on the radio station’s using the Canadian content rules.

Nah sorry , it’s a non-starter, you all missed out on the British Invasion from across the pond.

Sure, you had Elvis Presley and Anne Murray plus Paul Anka and a good dose of Leonard Cohen... but hey Canadians... we had early Sixties UK — Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Cilla Black, The Beatles, Herman’s Hermits, Jerry and the Pacemakers, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Billy J Kramer, Donovan, Elton John, Frank Ifield, The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Adam Faith, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Kinks, LuLu, Sandy Shaw, The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro. There are quite a few more but you get the drift.... give it up Canada you were on the “lug” as they used to say across the pond. Don Smithyman

Oliver