Island Life Magazine Ltd November/December 2005 | Page 16

JOHN HANNAM
came to Sandown Pavilion in 1978 I was writing for the now defunct
IW Weekly Post and Gene was not doing any interviews during his
stay. Eighteen years later, through a mutual friend, I suddenly found
myself in Gene's dressing room at the Guildhall, Portsmouth. The
interview was well worth the wait.
I was lucky enough to visit the Manchester studios of Coronation
Street for a special John Hannam Meets radio show. The night
before I went, the Granada press office rang to tell me just who I
was due to interview. It was four of the younger cast members who
had not been in the show very long. I was happy but a little
disappointed that none of the major names would be available. I
had a very good contact in the studio who sensed my
disappointment when he rang, a little later, to see who I would be
interviewing. He assured me, all would be fine on the day.
I left the Island on the 3-30am Cowes to Southampton ferry, walked
to the station, caught the first train to Reading and then a train to
Manchester. It was due in at 10-20am and arrived on the dot. I took
a taxi to the studio and 20 minutes later was walking through the
famous street. As there were no children filming that day they set
me up in their play room and I just waited for the actors to be
brought in. Everything went to plan and the press girls left after my
first four interviews, which they had set up. My contact then told
me: "Sit tight. You never know what might happen."
Within the next hour in came Liz Dawn (Vera), Bill Tarmey (Jack),
Helen Worth (Gail) and Jimmy Harkishin (Dev). That was not the
end of it. I was invited to Leeds, a few months later, to attend the
Liz Dawn Charity Concert for her breast cancer charity and
interviewed another seven from Coronation Street, including Sue
Nicholls (Audrey), Malcolm Hebden (Noris) Vicky Entwhistle (Janice)
and Jenny McAlpine (Fiz.)
My recent visits to London have not been without incidents. I went
to the West End to interview Bernie Nolan, who plays Sheelagh
Murphy in The Bill, on the day after the London bombings. I was sat
in the first carriage of an underground train, with just three others.
One was a guy who kept looking round and grinning at us in a
menacing fashion. Did he know something we didn't? I was glad to
get off at Oxford Circus.
The next trip was on the very day of the failed bombs and the city
was again in turmoil with so many hold-ups and bomb scares. Mike
Batt made the visit well worthwhile.
On another visit, around the same time, I decided to go for three
interviews on the same day, in different parts of London. I began in
Fulham with ^