On the Trail of Duff Lowe (1981)

 Paul tells the story about the recording of "In Spite of All the Danger" in concert these days and mentions Duff Lowe and how he bought the record from him many years later.  Well here is when it all started, in 1981.  Back when fans only heard that there was a song with this title and the fact that the record was still around was a shock to everyone.   It is wild how the record was saved and was eventually released on Anthology 1, and now if you see Paul in concert, you are invited to sing along with them to this well-known song. 

On the Trail of Duff Lowe

No Writer Listed

Sunday Mercury

July 12, 1981

    Since the existence of the first Beatles record was revealed, the hunt has been on for the mysterious Midland stockbroker said to own the only copy. The record has been put up for sale at Sotheby's in November by a Mr. Duff Lowe, who seems to be lying very low at the moment.

     Mr. Lowe is reported to have turned down an offer of £5000 from Paul McCartney for the disc, which includes McCartney's first recorded composition, "In Spite of All the Danger." Sotheby's have predicted a sale price in five figures.

     But now Mr. Lowe is not taking calls from anybody, and I'm told he has had legal consultation over the problem of the copyright to the record. Tracking Mr. Lowe down proved difficult. Sotheby's wouldn't say where he was, nor would Paul McCartney's publicist and the stock exchange in Birmingham said they had never heard of a stockbroker called Duff Lowe. The only stockbroker Mr. Lowe in the Midlands, has been diled by calls from everyone, including ATV and BBC. He's Mr. William Lowe of Stock on Trent, and he would like me to tell you he is not the right one. 

    So where is the mysterious Mr. Lowe? I managed to find an actor called Arthur Kelly, who has the best possible qualifications for verifying the story. He was there when the record was made. 

    Arthur is best known to TV fans as Detective Sargent Chegwin, the sidekick of the hero in the Chinese Detective, and he has just finished making three episodes of Angels in Birmingham. But back in his youth, he was one of the Liverpool lads in the Beatles' early days. He went to the same school and was a great friend of George Harrison. In fact, Arthur had a chance to play with the Beatles when they were the Quarrymen, but he turned it down because he couldn't afford to buy his own bass guitar. 

    "It was hardly a recording studio where they made the record; more like a back room in an old house, like a corner sweet shop," Arthur told me. "They ran off this one single on the same sort of machine they'd have in a fairground for do-it-yourself records. It cost a couple of pounds. It got passed around, everyone in the group and their friends, and I remember having it for a week or so."

     Arthur remembered Mr. Lowe, who was there to play piano on the record. "He was in the same class as Paul. Duff was just a school nickname, and I can't even remember his first name. 

    "He was in the cathedral choir, and he seemed to be a bit posh. He could play classical music, so we used to think 'he's not really a rocker.'"

     Anyway, the record certainly does exist, and so does Mr. Lowe somewhere in the Midlands.