Bob Wooler Gravely Ill...

[HMVNipper]

Sent by a friend...

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I want to die, insists ailing ex-Cavern DJ Feb 4 2002




By Lew Baxter Daily Post Correspondent


EX-CAVERN Club DJ Bob Wooler has told close friends he "wants to die" after
being taken seriously ill.

Sir Paul McCartney is among those who have sent get well wishes - and a huge
bouquet of flowers - to Mr Wooler who is seriously ill in the Royal Liverpool
Hospital.

But last night close friends of Wooler insisted the pop star doesn't realise
how critical things are for the man who introduced Brian Epstein to the
Beatles.

Bob's long time friend and business partner Alan Williams - the Fab Four's
first manager - described his condition as graver than people think.

McCartney wrote on a card accompanying the colourful blooms: "Get well soon,
you lovely man".

The ailing Bob Wooler, 76 last month, was rushed into hospital after friends,
worried that they couldn't contact him, called police to break into his flat
off Lark Lane, where they found him lying on the floor helpless.

He has been unwell for some time with a heart condition and diabetes.

Messages of good will have flooded into the hospital from scores of local
showbiz celebrities including McCartney's brother Mike, Chris Curtis of the
Searches band, Radio Merseyside's Billy Butler, musician Mike Byrne and even
Iris Caldwell, the sister of the ill-fated singer Rory Storm.

Bob's ex-wife Beryl Adams, ironically Brian Epstein's first secretary, has
been at his bedside almost daily since he was admitted.

Fighting back tears as she held Bob's hand, Beryl - they were married for six
years - said: "We didn't want to broadcast it at first because he is a very
proud man and in a general public ward with no privacy."

But she confided that in her opinion Mr Wooler is declining rapidly.

She said: "It is sad to see such a once lively personality in this
undignified state.

"He has had checks on his kidneys and liver but it's been hard to find out
exactly what is happening. All that the staff will say is that they are
dealing with it."

Beryl went on: "It is awful that his last days should be so tragic. He is
stuck here in this public ward with the television blaring day and night.

"And because he can't walk he even has to perform his ablutions in front of
other patients. No-one even bothers to draws the curtain. It is so
humiliating for him." Bob Wooler - his feet and lower legs swollen
grotesquely by chronic water retention - has told friends: "I just want
something to happen. I can't go on like this. I want to die now."

A clearly distraught Beryl Adams said: "We asked if he could be moved to a
quieter side ward - with just two beds - but it seems they are only for
infectious cases."

Over the past 10 days, Beryl said she and other friends have tried
desperately to find a private nursing home for Bob to see out his last days
with some pride intact. "But he doesn't have much money and they are so
expensive." An upset Allan Williams added: "When you think of what Bob has
contributed to Liverpool's culture and music industry it is appalling that he
is suffering like this. Just left to fade away.

"We just wish something could be done at least to make his end more
comfortable and leave him with a little self respect," he said.

Bob Wooler was resident compere during the Cavern heydays from 1961, when the
fledgling Beatles cut their teeth, through to 1967 when the old club closed
down..

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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com) February 2002 Issue Now Up!

Come see the Rooftop Sessions staff at the NY Metro Beatlefest, March 8-10 in Secaucus, NJ! Ticket information at [URL=http://www.beatlefest.com]

"O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis! O truer than steel!" -- Walt Whitman

[SF4-EVER]

My thoughts go out to Bob and his family. Let's hope either his condition improves or that they can find him a private place within the hospital.

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Contributing Editor for Rooftop Sessions (http://www.rooftopsessions.com)
www.sandraulbrich.com (http://sandraulbrich.com)

[Amalthea]

Yes, I hope he'll get well soon, so that his depression will get over... I can understand him, and I know that he'll get back happy if he carries on, so I wish him that http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

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"Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside"
- Paul McCartney, 1982

[Amalthea]

Sadly, he didn't make it...

http://www.ananova.com/yournews/story/sm_516110.html

Influential Beatles aide dies

A former DJ who helped launch the career of the Beatles has died after along illness, aged 76.

Bob Wooler organised The Beatles' first major gig after their return from Hamburg in 1960.

He introduced the band on stage hundreds of times at Liverpool's legendary Cavern club.

The former docks railway clerk was also asked by John Lennon to accompany the band to its first meeting with manager Brian Epstein in 1961.

Wooler, who met Lennon when they were in rival skiffle groups during the late 1950s, was invited to follow Epstein and the band to London, but chose to stay in his native Liverpool.

Merseybeat DJ Billy Butler said: "Bob was there at the birth of it all, with the skiffle groups. He was a legend at the Cavern, and not just for the Beatles but the whole Merseybeat scene."

Beatles guide Phil Coppell described Wooler as a "friend and trusted adviser to the Beatles."

He said: "It was Bob who accompanied the Beatles when they went to see Brian Epstein for the first time.

"If Bob had turned round and said to them 'Don't trust him' then things might have turned out differently. He was a witty man and a good friend who the Beatles trusted."

Wooler's relationship with Lennon was not always smooth, and the pair had a well-publicised punch-up at Paul McCartney's 21st birthday party, apparently sparked by Wooler making a joke about Lennon's sexuality.

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"Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside"
- Paul McCartney, 1982

[Cecilia]

http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/frown.gif another Beatle-related has passed.

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"No sign of love behind the tears, cried for no one..." Paul McCartney, 1966

[HMVNipper]

Here's an article from the Liverpool Echo:

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Tributes flood in for Cavern DJ

Feb 8 2002
by Joe Riley, Liverpool Echo

TRIBUTES were paid today to Bob Wooler, the Cavern DJ who introduced the
Beatles to the world.

Mr Wooler, 76, died in the Royal Liverpool hospital, where he had been
receiving treatment since collapsing at his Wavertree home last month.

Today he was hailed as "one of the true architects of the Merseybeat scene"
by his solicitor, Rex Makin.

Bob Wooler introduced the Beatles live at the Cavern Club nearly 400 times
between 1961 and 1963.

Within hours of his death there was uncertainty over what will happen to his
unique collection of Beatles memorabilia, said to number hundreds of items.

As Mr Wooler was unmarried and had no family, there is no apparent heir to
his estate, said Mr Makin.

A search was also underway to find a book which Mr Wooler was said to have
written about the 1960s Liverpool pop music scene, but which he said must
not be published during his lifetime.

Mr Wooler's lifelong associate Allan Williams, the first Beatles manager,
said: "We had our ups and downs, but we were also very firm friends over the
years.

"When everyone else went off to London in the wake of the Beatles' world
fame, Bob decided to stay in Liverpool."

Liverpool music promoter Joe Flannery, who had known Mr Wooler since the
1950s, said: "He was the gentleman of the Cavern. He was so loved by
everbody.

"Bob never cashed in on being such a vital part of the Beatles scene, but
his name will remain for ever a vital part of that story."

Mr Wooler hit the national headlines in 1963, when he was struck in the face
by John Lennon at Paul McCartney's 21st birthday party.

It was reported that the Cavern DJ had asked Lennon about his suspected
homosexual liaison with group manager Brian Epstein.

Mr Wooler worked at the railway dock offices in Garston before becoming
Cavern DJ and a freelance music journalist.

He was the first writer to predict the Beatles' future rise to world fame.
He was renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge of pop music, and introduced
the Beatles to many of the cover numbers by American singers which they
performed during their Cavern days.

But Bob Wooler remained cynical about the many false stories and
exaggerations which surrounded the Beatles' Liverpool roots.




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Rooftop Sessions - The Finest In Beatles-Related Fiction. www.rooftopsessions.com (http://www.rooftopsessions.com) February 2002 Issue Now Up!

Come see the Rooftop Sessions staff at the NY Metro Beatlefest, March 8-10 in Secaucus, NJ! Ticket information at [URL=http://www.beatlefest.com]

"O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis! O truer than steel!" -- Walt Whitman

[brackets]

Rest In Peace Bob Beatle

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[FiendishThingie]

My thoughts & prayers to his family & friends, too!

FT http://65.200.23.220/ubb/smilies/wink3.gif

(Where are all these Beatley people going? I'm starting to feel old!)

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"I hold you in my heart.
I know that you're a part of me."

[beatlebangs1964]

Prayers for Bob and his immediate family.

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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

BB1964

[darkhorse]

(One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven)

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"Silence often says much more
Than trying to say what's been said before"
~ George Harrison, 1973

[Amalthea]

That's it, Cristian http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/smile.gif

And here's an article for Liverpool Echo (sorry, no link)

Emotions run deep at Bob Wooler's funeral Feb 19 2002

By Lew Baxter, Daily Post Correspondent

IT WAS probably a quirk of the breeze but as Bob Wooler's coffin was gently
carried into the ancient quadrangle of Liverpool Parish Church at the Pier
Head, a few mourners cocked their heads as what sounded like the faint
refrains of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band wafted in from over the
Mersey.

Yet the Walton-born man whose main claim to fame was that he introduced the
Beatles to the world, and more tellingly to Brian Epstein, would have
publicly eschewed the formal funeral ceremony that was laid on for his
farewell.

For Bob was actually a most diffident if terrifically erudite character.

Even the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Coun Gerry Scott and his wife Ann were
present, displaying sparkling gold chains, marking the city's respect and
admiration for Bob's perception at almost single-handedly providing a launch
pad for the 60s Mersey Beat boom. How Bob would have chuckled at that honour.

But there were no words of condolence from Sir Paul McCartney or his
Wirral-based brother, Mike, even though they had sent a bunch of flowers to
Bob in hospital. He would have smiled wryly and shrugged.

Close on 500 old friends and acquaintances packed the pews and the aisles of
the 700-year-old church of Our Lady and St Nicholas for a service led by
Canon Nicholas Frayling, the Rector of Liverpool, with the St Nicholas
Singers.

Many of them were musicians who Bob, who had just turned 76 when he died 12
days ago, encouraged and supported in his time as the inimitable Cavern Club
disc jockey between 1961 and 1967.

There was also the still close coterie of one-time Cavernites, some who had
travelled long journeys to pay their respects such as Linda Shepherd from
Jersey and Dave Crook from Kent who had kept in touch with Bob every week by
telephone. They remembered, no doubt, those far distant days when his now
world famous chime: "Hi There Cave Dwellers, Welcome to the Best of Cellars",
would echo around the sweaty confines of the club in what he was later to
dismiss as Mythew Street, disillusioned by the legions of chancers who have
clambered on the Beatles bandwagon.

But he would surely secretly have delighted in certain elements of the
sentiment that demonstrated the warmth so many felt for him.

Affection was so evident in St Nick's church yesterday afternoon as the
tributes and the tears flowed for Bob who in later years thought himself so
much alone.

As his long-time friend, Billy Butler, the ebullient local radio broadcaster
whom Bob took on as a Cavern DJ in 1964 commented during the service: "This
former little railway clerk had the amazing vision to see the potential of
the Liverpool music scene. He was the true Father of Merseybeat and we, his
sons, will miss him." In the muffled murmurings of grief amongst the grizzled
musos and silver-haired show business pals, his former wife, Beryl Adams, who
had remained his lifelong friend and confidante, quietly set the mood of
contemplation with a short reading from Revelations.

Then as the lilting harmonies of Billy Kinsley and Tony Crane, the original
Merseybeats whom Bob considered his very own, swept into a haunting rendition
of the Everley Brother's evocative hit Let It Be Me - one of Bob's favourite
tunes - emotions for some were too much, and the hankies fluttered.

It was left to rock historian Spencer Leigh to lighten the tone with his
witty revelations about Bob's planned biography he was helping to write; a
project that finally hit the rails when Bob blew hot and cold over its
contents. Spencer revealed that Bob's pet hate was reserved for the people
who made up tales about their Beatles' connections.

"He called them The Deathwatch Beatles and liked to include Allan Williams,
the Beatles' first manager, in that band," added Leigh.

And he revealed that Bob had warned in his usual pithy manner. "I am the
Ghost of Mersey Beat Past and will come back to haunt them."

Smiling but sad at the loss of his old sparring partner, Allan Williams
retorted: "Ha, he's even managed to have a go at me from the grave. But I
have the last laugh because he was dressed in my favourite shirt and bow tie.
I bet I don't get them back now." Later friends such as Les Maguire and
Freddy Marsden from Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freda Kelly, the Beatles'
one-time fan club secretary, Ian Edwards, leader of the Zodiacs and Dave
Jameson from the Rory Storm band mingled with scores of others whose fame and
names were intertwined with that of Bob Wooler.

Bill Heckle who runs the Mathew Street Festival commented that without Bob,
the annual event would probably never have started.

Last night the famous Cavern club erupted to the thump of rock 'n' roll as
dozens of groups and musicians - including the Kirkbys, managed in the 60s by
Bob and Beryl Adams - took it in turns to play a final musical tribute to the
man who was indeed the very Father of Merseybeat...

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"Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside"
- Paul McCartney, 1982