This is your life
Part 5: Peter Gill
Full Name: Peter Gill
Born: 8/1/64
Family: Father —
Education: Lady Of Walsingham Infant School, Thomas Aquinas, Salesian College
Hobbies: Modelmaking, drawing
Occupation: Percussionist with Frankie Goes To Hollywood
THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
Little Peter Gill was always going to be a drummer.
“I remember seeing him in a school concert when he was very young,” says Kay Gill. “Of course, he wasn’t very good then but he had bags of enthusiasm.”
“First he was into Gary Glitter as a kid,” remembers his dad, Ray. “Then as he got older he started getting into the older stuff. He went to see AC/DC at Knebworth once
“He’d always wanted a drum kit so we bought him a cheap set for Christmas for about a hundred pounds. He was really made up. He’d set it up in the living room and drum along to Led Zeppelin records, just to pick it up.”
SCHOOL’S OUT
Ped was an average pupil at school. “It was okay,” he says. “I wasn’t a trouble maker or anythin’ like that, but me and me mates always had a good time.”
Ped and his friends, Stewart, Gary, Steven, Ian and Alan —
“I used to be really keen,” remembers Ped. “We’d go to the stands every Saturday and cheer the team on. I’d often go up with me dad. It’s ironic really. They’re doing dead well now just when I never have the time to see them.”
BIKE MAD
“I used to be in a cycling club called Phoenix Aintree,” says Ray. “I’d won a few medals and Ped was keen so I bought him a 1 O-speed racer. Ped used to cycle round Holmskirk until he had a crash when he went past a girl in a mini skirt, he didn’t see this car and bang, he was up in the air.”
“I looked round for a second, just a second!” protests Ped. “And suddenly I was all over the road. They whipped me off to hospital really sharpish. Me lip was nearly ‘anging off me face. There’s still a mark.”
Ped gave up cycling and started to go on holidays with his friends instead.
“They went to Spain and places like that,” says Kay, “it used to be when Ped was around fifteen. But he was always very mature for his age.
When Ped left school he was lucky. His dad managed to get him a job with himself, working for Hygena Kitchens in Kirby.
“He worked there two years as an apprentice wood machinist,” says Ray, “from 16 to 18. But then the police closed the place down —
“Actually there was a load of nicking going on,” says Ped. “And they used to lose more gear than they made. In the end they had no alternative but to close it.”
Hygena did prove to be very useful for Ped in the end. He took his redundancy money, went down to town and bought his first proper drum kit for a thousand pounds.
“We went to see Frankie twice at the Larks In The Park at Sefton Park,” says Ray, “and they were pretty good.
“The image was brilliant. Holly came on wearing just a G-string and the girls that were on with them were outrageous. Holly was swearing and that but I enjoyed it. They’d wind people up a bit but the crowd were really into it. Kay was a bit unsure, though. As they went on they got a lot more sophisticated in their dress but that day Ped wore shorts a leather jerkin and a policeman’s black cap.
AND NOW
“Best gear I ever wore,” adds Ped, not too seriously. “Much better than all this Goatier muck we all wear now.”
“It’s amazing,” says Ray, “but Frankie are still all the best of mates. You’d think they got on one another’s nerves but no, as soon as they come back to Liverpool they’re all off on the town together.”
Ray, Kay and Ped’s sister Pat all enjoy Ped’s new found fame.
“Pat gets a little embarrassed by all the Frankie this and that t-shirts,” says Ray, “but she’s made up for him. She’s doing well an’ all, got a couple of A levels and gone to Liverpool Poly.
“We don’t mind the fans who come to see us, in fact we’ve had some nice chats with them. They come from real long distances to see us, it’s great.”
Last word on Ped goes to Mark, a long time friend. “Some people think that Ped’s stupid ‘cos he mucks around all the time and hasn’t got the patience to behave himself during boring interviews. But he has got a good, clear view of what Frankie are about. It’s usually him that tells us to get on with the job if we’re mucking around. Without Ped Frankie just wouldn’t be the way they are now.”
Peter Gill is twenty one years of age, has a charming girlfriend called Lisa and drives a two-litre, fuel injected suicide machine. He is not a vegetarian.