A family business — entertaining
They have quite a family record, the Townshends. Twenty-year-old Pete leads The Who pop group.
Grandfather, the late Horace Townshend, was star of the Jack Shepherd concert party.
He and his soubrette wife wrote the Betty Driver song “Bathing in the Briny” compared with Pete’s “Substitute” or “My Generation,” the title sounds gally escapist.
Pete’s father is Cliff Townshend, 49-year-old director of the Squadronaires, first formed in 1940 as the R.A.F. Dance Orchestra. Pete’s mother was a singer—Betty Dennis of the Sidney Torch Band.
Cliff with his saxophone was once reckoned as way-out as Pete with his guitar.
Ten years ago people were attacking the Squadronaires’ “jazz noises” and the stupidity of teenage girls who cheered them (this was before the days of screaming).
Pete says: “My parents have created the right atmosphere for my work. Mum used to manage my group and dad’s advice has helped to shape my life.
He is a better musician than I am, I will never be able to catch up with him.”
Cliff chuckled when I mentioned Pete’s pathetic pallor, chopped hair, and clothes several sizes too small.
“I don’t understand the attraction this has for fans,” he said. In the Squadronaires the image was dashing and immaculate.
“We had more girls hanging around the stage door than these beat boys do.”
