Guitarist Mick Douglas’ Autobiography Is A Musical Delight

Published on: 2 Mar, 2016
Updated on: 25 Jul, 2017

By David Rose

Anyone who has enjoyed live music in the Guildford area at any time over the past six decades will surely have heard the guitar playing of Mick Douglas.

And plenty of local musicians have got to know him and and have played with him. To many of them he is known as ‘Dougo’.

Mick Douglas with his autobiography. It is being launched at Guildford Museum on Saturday morning, March 12.

Now, he has written down his memories and stories of the many bands he’s played with and the antics they have got up.

It’s all in his autobiography with the unassuming title Division III South The Story Of A Failed Rock Star.

Spring 1959, and Mick with a Gibson 330 in the garden of his home at 89 Raymond Crescent, Guildford.

He may not have become famous, but failed he has not.

His career as either a professional or semi-pro musician is full to the brim and makes a great read.

His music-making began in Guildford in the late 1950s with skiffle that soon turned into rock ‘n’roll.

A lucky break saw him turn professional in the 1960s and he was off to play in Hamburg in the footsteps of the Beatles.

Back in Blighty, and from about the 1970s right up to the present he has been doing what he loves best – making music with fellow musicians and entertaining those who go to gigs.

Mick is a no nonsense kind of musician, a mate to one and all, and without the kind of ego that some of those rock stars who have made it have developed.

He began writing his story in 2000. He says: “I started writing down my memories mainly for my grandchildren, so if they ever wonder what I did they can find out.

“My grandfather fought in the First World War, but I never got to hear what he did. I wish I had asked him.”

The book in definitely not the work of someone who is trying to boast of all the things they have done and those they have rubbed shoulders with along the way.

Chris Ravel and the Ravers. Mick is standing far left.

But Mick has met or shared a stage with some very famous artists and entertainers. He tells his stories in an endearing way. Those celebs are a fascinating mix ranging from, for example, Keith Richards of the Stones and Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, to entertainers like Bonny Langford and Tommy Cooper!

Then there are the many local, to the Guildford area, bands he has played with. Here are just a few: the Stormsville Shakers, Circle, Camel, Friends, Sweet Charity, Razzle Dazzle, the Corvetts, Straubenzee, etc.

Who of the stalwarts of the local scene hasn’t he made music with? Another long list with a just few being, Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Kirk Riddle, Stuart Reffold, Dick Middleton, Graham ‘Cupcake’ Cooper, Tony Leach, and Johnny Kelly.

It was with fellow guitarist Johnny Kelly that he played with back in the early 1960s, and they are back together again now with a reformed Rockin’ Crescendos.

Mick (far right) with the rock ‘n’roll band Razzle Dazzle.

His on-the-road stories about travelling to and from gigs are never dull. You’ll have to read for yourself his tale of a late-night kickabout in a street in West Germany with some very famous footballers from Leicester City that included goalkeepers Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton. Mick has long been a football fanatic (hence the football reference in the book’s title) and by what he writes, that night in particular was very special.

The book contains lots of pictures (black and white and colour) of the bands he’s been in – and I’ve forgot to mention the Hi Fi’s who were a hit in West Germany, the Lost Roberts and Maiden Flight.

In fact, the listings of bands and their members and their respective instruments makes for a useful directory of local talent.

It’s worth £15 of any music lover’s money and Mick will be launching the book at an event hosted by and at Guildford Museum in Quarry Street on Saturday morning, March 12, from 11am. Go and grab a copy and Mick will sign it for you.

Copies can also be bought from him direct, call 01483 493946. Or send an email to: dougo@tinyworld.co.uk

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