[Last week I started a blog post with ‘It was twenty years ago today...’ but, in spite of my ‘Sergeant Pepper’ reference, the post had nothing to do with The Beatles. Now I’m starting with ‘It was fifty years ago today...’ and it has a lot to do with The Beatles so:]
It was fifty years ago today, 9th December 1962, that
The Beatles played in their usual venue, The Cavern Club in Liverpool, but to an
unusual member of the audience, George Martin, the Parlaphone Producer. It is
said that he looked totally out of place mingling with sweaty youngsters but he
was there on business and went on to record The Beatles’ first album, Please
Please Me.
1962 was an important year for The Beatles. They had their first
BBC Radio session in March and they recorded Love Me Do in September but I wasn’t
overly impressed by them... not yet. They were just another young pop group dividing
their time between UK and Hamburg and it could have stayed that way.
What if they hadn’t performed at The Cavern that night?
What if one of them had decided to live in Hamburg and the
group had split up?
What if they hadn’t gone on to record Please Please Me
with George Martin?
I do believe that success has a lot to do with being in the
right place at the right time. That’s what I think each time I submit a
manuscript. Will it land on the right editor’s desk at the right time, at a
time when he/she has a gap in their publishing list? I submitted a children’s
novel and a children’s picture book this week and I am really hoping that they land
on the right desk at the right time.
And a very Happy Chanukah to all those who are celebrating this week. I’ll be lighting an additional candle each evening until all eight plus the central lighter candle are burning and I'll be watching that miracle, the one where a tiny candle flame has the strength to overcome a room full of darkness.
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| These were my candles on the last day of Chanukah a few years ago. |
