大象传媒

by Bob Stanley of

Brian Matthew is sat next to me with a coffee and a plate of chocolate biscuits. For one last time, we are looking back to his days at Saturday Club. "To tell the truth" he says, "I didn't realise how lucky I was. All of those great stars."

"was only a brief period to me - ran for so many years, and there was My Top 12 in the seventies... When Round Midnight was dropped from the schedules, I had to try to decide what to do with the rest of my life. Retiring didn't appeal to me, and still doesn't." That's a relief to Avids, I tell him. "Sounds Of The Sixties listeners have been immensely supportive" he says, with warmth.

"Of course I didn't think at the time that so much of the music would endure the way it has. Some of the musicians were very memorable - the Beatles, the Rolling Stones for different reasons - but most of them I really don't recall. I have to say that some of them weren't the brightest, but they were almost always polite!" We talk about Bob Dylan ("I never met him. Did anyone tell you I had?") and Dorothy Squires ("Oh yes. I went to a party she threw, a huge do, I remember. Extraordinary!"). For some reason I ask if he ever met the Rockin' Berries. "Yes... I think so..."

He does remember meeting Stevie Winwood for the first time - "a great talent... though he let it drift a little" - while recalling the rest of the Spencer Davis Group as "very dull". At 86, he can be frank - he doesn't have to worry about making or losing friends. As I put the microphone away, Brian says "I have been incredibly fortunate, haven't I?"