"'The Beatles failed to excite me:” Tributes to much respected former Peterborough journalist - who once wrote scathing review after Fab Four performed in city
Tributes have been paid to a much loved and respected former Peterborough journalist, who has passed away following a battle with cancer.
Lyndon Whittaker was perhaps best known for a scathing review of an early performance by The Beatles at the city’s Embassy Theater, two years after he started his career in 1960 at the Peterborough Standard having grown up in the city.
But during his career, he left a long lasting impact for many, acting as a mentor to young reporters working in the area.
He left school aged 15 and learned shorthand and typing at Peterborough Technical College before joining the Standard as a trainee reporter.
Lyndon went on to work at the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, the St Neots office of Cambridge Evening News and the Rutland & Stamford Mercury before joining the Melton Times.
He sadly passed away aged 81 after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in September last year.
Lyndon acted as a much respected mentor to many young reporters during his career, and many of his former colleagues and friends gathered for a celebration of Lyndon’s life at the Wheatsheaf pub in Oakham on May 28.
“’The exciting Beatles' rock group failed to excite me”
However, it was his review of the then up and coming band, The Beatles, after a performance in Peterborough, that lived with him long after it was published in 1962.
Lyndon was much more impressed by the singer Frank Ifield at the city’s Embassy club than his support act, ‘The Fab Four’, who of course went on to worldwide fame a year later following their first UK number one.
He wrote in his review that the Beatles ‘quite frankly failed to excite me’, that they ‘sounded as though everyone was trying to make more noise than the others’ and that Love Me Do ‘was tolerable’.
He was particularly scathing of drummer Ringo Starr, saying: “The drummer apparently thought his job was to lead, not provide the rhythm. He made far too much noise.”
Speaking to The Peterborough Telegraph’s sister paper, The Melton Times, his wife of 46 years, Rosie, said: “Lyndon always laughed that he was more embarrassed about his praise for Frank Ifield than his condemnation of the Beatles.
"In 1969 he interviewed John Lennon and Yoko at the Amsterdam Hilton during their Bed-in for peace. He didn’t mention his 1962 review to John.”
Lyndon retired in 2004 after reporting for the Grantham Journal and back at the Stamford Mercury for a short period.
“So many journalists have told me that ‘Lyndon was my mentor’ "
Rosie said: “So many journalists have told me that ‘Lyndon was my mentor’ and he was mine too when I used to sit next to him at the Peterborough Standard.”
He loved his real ale, particularly a pint of Adnams at Southwold, and had a strong passion for jazz music – he enjoyed three trips to New Orleans to listen to his favourite artists.
Lyndon played petanque for more than 30 years and for 11 years he was chairman of the Rutland and District Petanque League, playing for the White Lion at Whissendine, as well as several other teams.
Rosie added: “Lyndon’s was a life of fulfilment, contentment and fun, with wonderful times spent with good friends and family, playing petanque, listening to music and enjoying life with a beer or a glass of wine in the garden or by a roaring fire.”
Lyndon also leaves his Melton Mowbray-based son, Steven, daughter-in-law Sandra, grandchildren Sarah, Lynne and Martyn, plus four great-grandchildren.