The Nurk/Nerk Twins

A Synth Post

Fiction

You may remember that two weeks ago I told you about a story written by Edward De Blasio in his 1964 book, All About The Beatles. According to the story, John first met Paul and George in a fish and chips shop when he invited himself to go on a hiking trip with the two younger future Beatles. The story continued that about a year later (no actual date was given) John and Paul decided to work together as a duo, calling themselves The Nurk Twins. No details are given about any shows they played, but apparently after two years of this, John decided “we’d do better in a larger group than as a duo.”¹ It sure is interesting that an “actual quote” is provided as evidence of a story that is completely untrue. In any case, George then joined the duo along with Stuart Sutcliffe, and a group was born. The name of that group…The Quarrymen Skiffle Group. Yeah, sure…

Another book that came out in 1964 was The Beatle Book (not related to The Beatles (Monthly) Book). No writers are credited, but the book was published by Lancer Books in New York City. The story told is similar to the De Blasio story, but with a couple of new details. First, the year that John and Paul began to play as The Nurk Twins was 1955, while John was at The Liverpool College of Art (which in reality he did not attend until 1957). Second, the decision to enlarge the group came after an unsuccessful audition with an agent. As in the De Blasio book, the enlargement consisted of adding George and Stuart Sutcliffe (who was identified as a drummer…more on that in a couple of weeks). Then they got their first big break, being hired to play at The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Good try, but not quite…

Several more books and magazines over the next two decades repeated some version of this story. Only minor changes showed up. Sometimes a touch of the real story came through. For example, a couple of sources say that the agent they auditioned for booked The Nurk Twins for a show in Reading, a show that did happen, but not quite in that way. Then there was the idea that Pete Best had joined as the drummer of The Quarrymen and would play with them at The Casbah. In fact, Pete never played with The Beatles in Liverpool until after they had already been to Hamburg. To its credit, one book, Bob Cepican and Waleed Ali’s 1985 Yesterday Came Suddenly, while maintaining the basic incorrect story, did finally get the spelling right, The Nerk Twins.

Fact

Well, to start, let’s just run through some of the things stated above. John did not go on a hiking trip with Paul and George in 1955. The Quarrymen existed, with several other members, long before John, Paul, George, and Stu played together. Stu, of course, was not a drummer. John and Paul did not have an audition with an agent that resulted in a Reading show for The Nurk/Nerk Twins. And the first club the boys played in Hamburg was the Indra, not The Star Club.

So what’s the real Nerk Twins story? It’s much more mundane than the stories make it out to be. First of all, The Nerk Twins was a name that Paul and his brother Mike sometimes used when they played and sang together as younger kids. As for John and Paul using the name? Here’s what happened:

Bett Robbins was Paul’s cousin, twelve years older than him. She and her husband, Mike, ran The Fox and Hounds pub in Caversham, close to Reading. In April of 1960, they invited Paul to visit for Easter and to bring a friend. That friend was John. The boys hitchhiked to Caversham, carrying their guitars and Paul’s tiny, green Elpico amplifier. They stayed in a room at the pub and would ask Mike Robbins questions about show business, as he had sung at one point in a vocal group called The Four Jones Boys.

During their time at The Fox and Hounds, John and Paul helped out at the bar serving drinks, and Mike said that they should set up their guitars and play for the customers. It was Saturday night, the 23^rd of April, 1960, that John and Paul, opening with “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” by Les Paul and Mary Ford, played their only show as a duo and the only show they would play using the name The Nerk Twins.

Incidentally, the main piece of evidence that the spelling was “Nerk” and not “Nurk” was that Paul himself sent his brother, Mike, a postcard from Caversham during the visit, and that is how he spelled it. The Fox and Hounds is still in operation to this day (apparently now using the name The Fox Beerhouse) and there is a plaque celebrating “their only gig as ‘The Nerk Twins.’ Fun stuff.

As always, thanks for being here and reading. I really do appreciate it. Please leave comments to let me know what you think and to add any relevant information to the discussion. Please follow or subscribe to

Though Substack is a subscription service, my content at this point is absolutely free.

Next week the subject will be the 2is Coffee Bar in London. Looking forward to that!

-            Adamson

Photo: Andrew Martin Adamson, 22^nd June, 2019

Quotes:

1) All About The Beatles, by Edward De Blasio (McFadden-Bartell, New York, 1964), p. 45.