WW L L INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH MIKE McCARTNEY
Wirral ’ s Mike McCartney known professionally as Mike McGear is a performing artist , writer and photographer who was a member of the satirical humour trio Scaffold and is the younger brother of Paul McCartney . Here he talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive and revealing interview .
Born on 7th January 1944 at the end of World War 2 and brought up in Liverpool , Mike McCartney was educated at the Liverpool Institute High School for boys . He tried to get into next doors art college but lack of GCE ’ s meant that he ended up a lady ’ s hairdresser . From here he entered ‘ show biz ’ in the Liverpool One Fat Lady None Electric Show , which eventually became Scaffold . Because of the sheer enormity of Beatle mania , Mike , not wanting to appear to be cashing in , changed his name to McGear . He was an integral part of the 60 ’ s Merseybeat era but Scaffold were mainly a theatre , university , satirical comedy act . In 1967 , Mike got them into the pop world by writing their first top five single ‘ Thank U Very Much ’ incidentally it became the Queen Mother ’ s and Prime Minister Harold Wilson ’ s favourite record . In 1968 , their huge hit Lily the Pink reached the top of the charts ( here and abroad ) and stayed number one for four weeks .
You are a notable Musician , Photographer and Author . But what did you want to be as a kid ? A big kid .
Is it quite surreal that your original 2 up - 2 down family home has been bought by the National Trust ? It is surreal . We had lived in the property from when I was 11 years old and I have some great memories from there . The new owner Mrs Jones had shown the National Trust around the property but they weren ’ t remotely interested because it was now a modern two up two down . It was only when they looked at my photographs they said if we can have the photographs we ’ ll buy it ... and they did .
Did you really whistle the theme tune to the Liver Birds TV Show ? ( Mike answers by whistling the theme tune ) Yes I did for 20 years . It brightened up the life of the wonderful actor Alan Cumming no end , in fact he had to shake my hand . We were at Panoramic , Liverpool doing an interview for Sky TV ’ s Urban Secrets . I whistled for him and he shook my hand and said “ I can now tell my Mum in Scotland that I ’ ve shaken the hand of the man who whistled the Liver Bird theme tune .” So yes , that was me .
Did you sign with David Frost ? We were with Brian Epstein and his big rock and roll Merseyside stable but we didn ’ t fit in . We were a comedy , satirical poetry type act ... we weren ’ t singers at all . So we left Brian to join David Frosts agency , Noel Gay because we were big fans of ‘ That Was The Week That Was … TW3 ’
You were originally called The Liverpool One Fat Lady Non Electric Show before The Scaffold , what happened there ? We were called the Liverpool One Fat Lady None Electric Show , but nobody could pronounce it ! So we changed it to Scaffold .
How quickly did London accept Scousers after the Merseybeat invasion ? The Merseybeat invasion was a very important part of social history in the old North and South divide days . Immediately after Merseybeat there was a sudden change in attitude and perceptions . For such a long time Liverpool people and northerners were ignored by London as we didn ’ t speak the same language and were no use to them . It was also very much a class thing but the working class now had a voice - it changed history for ever .
Who were your heroes growing up ? The traditional ones … Elvis , Chuck Berry , Little Richard , Everly Brothers and particularly Fats Waller , I love him to this day , I guess that ’ s where my love of comedy and satire came from , he was a big hero . Other hero ’ s were Marlon Brando and JFK . I wasn ’ t into Bridget Bardot , every other child in the world , particularly in Liverpool , were into her . I was an awkward bugger so I decided on Jeanne Moreau of Jules et Jim etc .
Was your choice to take the satirical route early on a chance to sidestep Beatlemania ? Yes I suppose it was . Brian Epstein asked me if I ’ d like to be a pop singer and offered to manage me . I politely declined . In reality , to try and compete with the best band in the world would be insane , you don ’ t go there . That had been well done in the family , well encapsulated . I wanted to pursue comedy / satire . I even changed my name so not to look like I was cashing in on my proud McCartney name . Which at that time was like Sinatra or Presley etc . and to protect the innocent I became Mike McGear . However , I was nearly Mike Dangerfield from J . P . Donleavy ’ s ‘ Ginger Man ’ but it was a little too pretentious . The two ‘ in words ’ in Liverpool at that time were Fab and Gear , so I was nearly Mike McFab ! But McGear sounded Irish so I went with that .
Was the reason for you and Paul to drop your actual first names - you being Peter and Paul being James an early attempt at an alter ego ? Our parents actually dropped our first names , still don ’ t know why .
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