THIS photo will bring back memories for those who followed Blackburn pop group The Four Pennies, who reached number one in 1964.

It was taken not long after the band made it into the charts and shows lead singer Lionel Morton with a group of young fans hoping to get his autograph.

But does anyone recognise the guy in the thick black specs? No, it’s not Hank Marvin, but a press officer for ABC Television at the time, called Alec Stuttard.

Ten years earlier both Lionel and Alec had been choirboys at Blackburn Cathedral but had not realised they would meet again in such very different circumstances.

Alec, still working as a freelance journalist after a long career in national and provincial newspapers, said: “I had no idea at the time that The Four Pennies were scheduled to be at the studio.

“It turned out that they were there to record their hit Juliet for a programme called Thank Your Lucky Stars which was normally recorded in Birmingham. The band probably couldn’t get down to Birmingham so they came to the Manchester studios.

“We had a chat about our time in the choir – well, we hadn’t seen each other since then so there was a bit of catching up to do.”

After the Four Pennies broke up in 1967 Lionel, who was born Lionel Walmsley, went on to forge a solo career. He appeared for some years as a presenter on BBC children’s series, Play Away and Play School and in the 70s appeared in a number of musicals.

Alec worked as a journalist at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in the 60s and 70s.

l The Four Pennies first entered the pop charts in January 1964 with ‘Do You Want Me To’. Their follow-up ‘Juliet’ came into the charts on April 2 and stayed there for 15 weeks, reaching No 1.

They had three more Top 20s in the next 18 months – ‘I Found Out The Hard Way’, ‘Black Girl’ and ‘Until It’s Time For You To Go’.