Evergreen

114 EVERGREEN Autumn
The duo were frequent guests
on pop-music shows.
Released on the
Columbia label, not only
did Peter and Gordon’s
recording of the song go
to number one, but it
sold over a million copies.
Complete with acoustic
guitars, Beatle-style
haircuts (and Peter wearing
a pair of spectacles similar
to those that John Lennon
would adopt), the duo
toured with The Beatles
and The Rolling Stones,
and became part of the socalled
“British invasion” of
the USA, with appearances
on the Ed Sullivan Show
(with the inevitable screaming girls
in the audience!) and at numerous
other venues across the country.
Although Peter and Gordon
didn’t top the charts again, further
hits followed on both sides of the
Atlantic: three more McCartney
songs — “Nobody I Know” (1964:
UK number 10; USA number 12),
“I Don’t Want To See You Again”
(1964: USA number 16), “Woman”
(1966: UK number 28; USA number
14) — as well as “True Love Ways”
(1965: UK number 2; USA number
14), “I Go To Pieces” (1965: USA
number 9), “To Know You Is To
Love You” (1965: UK number 5;
USA number 24), “Baby I’m Yours”
(1965: UK number 19). The duo’s
last hit in Britain was “Lady Godiva”
which reached number 16 in the
charts in September 1966 (number 6
in the USA), although they entered
the Billboard Hot 100 in the United
States on two more occasions,
in 1967 with “Knight in Rusty
Armour” and “Sunday for Tea”.
The pair parted amicably in
1968. Gordon went on to pursue
a solo career (including an album
Gordon), and in the 1970s played
the part of Pharaoh in Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat before
running his own music publishing
business. He also, for a time, had
a market gardening business in
Northamptonshire, and, as a lifelong
railway enthusiast, whenever he
could he enjoyed regular trips on
board The Flying Scotsman!