The early 1960s saw the start of the big 'roadshow' films - lavish 70mm presentations like the one which broke house, city and Scottish records - The Sound of Music.

Twoyears and eight months of my life was taken up showing The Sound of Music", recalls Peter. While he remembers being impressed by the clarity of a 70mm image on a screen 40 x 20ft, when asked how long it took him to get sick of the film, he admits "oh, not very long".

ABOVE: Projection Room of the Odeon Renfield Street featuring three projectors, spotlights and slide lantern.

Photograph courtesy of Hugh McCullough.

their own equipment. They relied on the cinema's own sound system, so I was responsible for eight or nine microphones and mixing the sound for some of the biggest groups of the day".

John's sound mixing duties led to an interesting discovery, "I do remember that one time when the Beatles were in their heyday - the place was full of screaming girls and the noise of the screams was so high, you could barely hear them singing. A lot of the time they just made up words to their songs, because nobody could hear the difference".

GAUMONT SAUCHIEHALL STREET

Rank's other major Glasgow cinema was The Gaumont Sauchiehall Street and in 1961 Peter was transferred there.

ODEON RENFIELD STREET

"I marched into Renfield Street on the Monday morning one day in 1960 and that was a real culture shock", recalls John.

"That place was run like a military operation. The chief projectionist was an ex-sergeant major and everything was all bull, and white lines, which you had to walk between, it was a beautiful projection room with three projectors, one as a back-up".

LIVE SHOWS AT RENFIELD STREET

The original Paramount cinema had been built with full stage facilities including an orchestra pit and cinema organ. The full depth of the stage was utilised by raising the screen and speakers which were on a scaffold, these were counterweighted and could be handled by just two men on ropes.

Live shows were still very much part of the Odeon programme when John arrived in the early 60s. The famous groups who played there included The Beatles, although on their first appearance they didn't top the bill. That honour went to Gene Pitney with the Fab Four closing the first half. Beatlemania was at its height by the time they made their second appearance and, as John recalls, "my never-ending memory of the Odeon during the 60s when we had these stage shows was the screaming of the girls".

Live shows meant of course that the projectionists had no films to show. Their duties then consisted of working the six huge spotlights, although John, with an interest in sound, found himself in a unique position. "In those days groups didn't bring