Multiple Lotus owner, concours winner and newly recruited ICJAG classic concours judge who used to drum a bit
GEARBOX
1 I paid £26 (nearly a week’s wages) for this secondhand Ludwig 400 Snare Drum. It featured constantly in my 50-year career and powered the musical Les Misérables for the first 25 years.
2 I became a professional drummer at 16 with Don Lang & His Music at London’s Empire Ballroom. We recorded for the BBC at Aeolian Hall Studios in January 1967, then drove to Regent Sound in Denmark Street where they transferred the tapes to these vinyl and acetate discs.
3 I bought the new Linndrum LM1 Model Drum computer instead of buying a new car. Other drummers saw it as a threat, but I saw it as a tool that, once programmed, allowed me to earn two fees in a day. I cleaned up. You can hear mine on Amii Stewart’s Knock On Wood, plus tracks for Galaxy, Jocelyn Brown etc.
4 I was the drummer in a Glenn Miller-inspired orchestra at Lord Montagu’s 50th birthday party. Everything was WW2 themed to perfection, including specially commissioned tin mugs. It was topped off by a performance by Dame Vera Lynn.
5 In 1985 I got a call to play with The Barbican of London Orchestra for a new musical: Les Misérables. That diary filler lasted 25 years! I hit this Tam Tam to start every performance and, when I left the show, the cast and orchestra signed it.
6 A friend was going to throw out this La Pavoni Piccola Espresso Machine – the same as used by Roger Moore in Live and Let Die – so I restored it. It now makes the finest espresso this side of Milano.
7 My very first car recently resurfaced. It’s beautifully play-worn from pushing it un
