A Tribute To Peter Stringfellow

A great anecdote from Damon Rochefort.

RIP Peter Stringfellow.

I first met him when I was an 18 year old Law student, freshly arrived from Cardiff and lucky enough to have grabbed a gig as a roving cub reporter for ‘Blues & Soul’ magazine.

He’d opened the Hippodrome on Leicester Square, which was a huge deal at the time and I would often beg music biz friends to blag me into the ‘Star Bar’ there as there were always ACTUAL CELEBS present and I could write about them in my magazine column.

One night I was there, pestering Mel or Kim or possibly both when Peter himself walked in and being a cheeky twat at the time I showed off (probably trying to impress Ian Dewhirst) took the piss a bit , thinking my 18year old self was as sophisticated and urbane as it got.

Next day I got a call at home from a lady who said her job was to ‘empty Peter’s pockets’ of a morning and she’d found my name on a piece of paper with a little star next to it. She said this meant Peter wanted me to have a VIP card to the Hippodrome and where could she send it?