When we used to book the group for the art college dances, there seemed no problem with Stuart's performance. I remember once in the room at the back of the canteen stage, Stuart handed me his guitar and I tried to strum on it and found that the skin had come off my fingers! I hadn't realized I needed a plectrum!

In fact, I never heard any criticism of Stuart as a musician until the publication of Williams' book.

Pauline Sutcliffe, Stuart's young sister, told me that Stuart had had piano lessons, along with the rest of the family, and his father had brought him an acoustic guitar from Spain as a present some years before.

Stuart, who had always been interested in music and art, was a big Presley fan. When he obtained his bass guitar on hire purchase from Frank Hessy's (he never bought it with the money he received from selling a painting at the John Moores' exhibition, as legend has it) he began to practice to Elvis records on his tiny record player and had David May, a fellow art student who was in a local group the Silhouettes, teach him how to play the Eddie Cochran number 'C'mon Everybody.' May also began to coach him on further numbers.

Pauline said that from letters she received and what people told her, Stuart was a popular performer in Hamburg, and a highlight of the Beatles' act was Stuart's solo on 'Love Me Tender.' He left the Beatles for reasons other than his musical ability, but still hungered for the stage and actually joined a German rock group, the Bats, for a few weeks to fill in for their absent bassist, shortly before his death.

She also told me that he was a better musician than history remembers him, commenting, "I don't think he was as outstandingly bad as he's been described, became none of them were excellent, were they, until they went to Hamburg and started to play." She added, "George was better, Paul was better, but nothing like the musicians they became. I mean, they were just more competent, but according to Stuart's letters, and conversations with him, he thought himself good enough to do session work after he left them and, I've got the letters, he was asked to be in other groups."

I Talked to Rick Hardy (aka Richards), who was a member of the first British rock band to appear in Hamburg, the Jets. The Beatles performed on some sessions with the Jets on their first trip and when I told him what Allan had written in his book, he said, "What's the matter with this guy? Stu never turned his back on stage. I remember him as he played 'Matchbox', appearing a lonely figure on stage, dressed like James Dean. He certainly played to the audience and he certainly played bass. If you have someone who can't play the instrument properly, you have no bass sound. There were two rhythm guitarists with the Beatles and if one of them couldn't play, you wouldn't have noticed it - but it's different with a bass guitar.

"I was there and I can say quite definitely, Stuart never did a show in which he wasn't facing the audience."

When the group was playing in Liverpool and Hamburg, there seemed to be no complaints about Stuart's ability in the group.

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