Pete Townshend at 80

Happy Birthday Peter.

I first met Pete Townshend backstage at Charlton Football Club on 31st May 1976. I was introduced by my mate, Keith Moon. I was 18 and Pete was around 31. It’s crazy to think that it’s been 49 years! Many of our musical heroes seem to be turning 80 at the moment.

Pete and Roger recently announced The Who’s retirement tour of the USA. I don't know if they will actually say goodbye here in the UK, though. When I first got involved with The Who in late 1975, thanks to Keith Moon, I could feel the tension around them all and their management. Saying that, the band’s managers were Bill & Jackie Curbishley. Jackie was absolutely fantastic and so lovely to be around. I was renting an office inside their offices, and I was a freelance photographer. What I mean is, I was never employed by The Who. However, Jackie would often come into my office and say, Danny, I need your help. I would then go off with Jackie and we would rather gently, take both arms of Kit Lambert and gently walk him along the corridor and down the stairs, into Flaxman Court, next to The Ship. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were the band managers before Bill & Jackie. Kits claimed he was owed money and frequently came in shouting and screaming. He was rather inebriated on most occasions. It was such a shame, I would have loved to have more conversations with him, but my task was to help Jackie remove him.

One hot summer’s evening in June 1978, I was leaving the office with Peter Meadon (who first managed The High Numbers and The Who), as we were about to wander down to the Marquee, which was only 100 yards (or metres) from our office. Suddenly, Pete Townshend also came out of our office and said he was going for a bite to eat next door. He asked if we wanted to join him. So, we did.