GUEST STAR ENTERTAINMENT

Guest Star Entertainment was run by ex-RAF pilot Norman Guest (1921-2010), although his son Martyn points out that most of his father's missions were carried out as the co-pilot.

Guest was the local breadman by day and a promoter by night; his Jukebox Jamboree nights were held throughout the county in the late fifties and early sixties and are one of the region's first mobile discos. His son Martyn Guest pointed out, “The dances were a success, but dad was a bit naive and forgot to get a licence from the PRS to play the records. He received a fine, and I remember we had to tighten our belts while he paid it off.”

Guest was chairman of The Norwich Jazz Club between 1954 and early 1958 and is credited with first bringing The Orford Cellar to life as a music venue. He suggested the idea to the then-landlord George Doe and set about doing up the basement, which was very much in the mould of the subterranean music scene of London. The Norwich Jazz Club did not stay long at The Orford down to licencing technicalities, but he revived the Cellar when he formed his own jazz and skiffle club in February 1958. The club moved home several times, but when Guest took on the Assistant Entertainments Manager role at The Samson and Hercules Ballroom, space for it was found in the medieval cellar of the venue.

One of Guest's most successful promotions was The Swinging Cat Club, which took place during the beat boom at The George & Dragon PH, Thurton, from 1963 to 1964. He would DJ at these events, which would also showcase the influx of local beat bands that had appeared on the scene. He also acted as manager and agent to many of the bands during this period. In the late sixties, we see him playing bass in The Phil Martyn Trio, a band named after his two sons.

Bands on rosta:

list to follow -