Gary Glitter brick removed from Cavern Club

A brick bearing the name of disgraced rock musician Gary Glitter has been removed from the "wall of fame" at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

Convicted paedophile Glitter was among hundreds of stars who had played at the Matthew Street club to be honoured with their own memorial brick. But after a local media campaign, his name was chipped off last week. Instead, a plaque was displayed acknowledging the removal of the brick, as well as one recognising disgraced former music mogul Jonathan King.

Club owner Bill Heckle had fought the pressure to rewrite the club's history. "I used to be a history teacher and this is like Stalinism, revisionism," he said.

Glitter's brick has been replaced by one naming Merseyside musician Pete Wylie, formerly of the Mighty Wah! There is also now a plaque explaining that "two other performers played the Cavern Club between 1957 and 1973 and they had their bricks removed".

Heckle told the BBC: "We actually thought it had been done nine years ago when Glitter was done and we removed all the merchandise. But it's not up to us to censor the wall – it is a historical document. When the brick was made a big issue of, we thought it would attract attention and end up being vandalised. We spoke to a victim of paedophile crime and she said unequivocally 'Take it out'. I was still fighting the corner but ended up taking it out."

"The situation has been blown out of all proportion. Yes, Glitter committed heinous crimes but this is rock'n'roll. Chuck Berry was in trouble, as were lots of the stars."

Last week also saw a Gary Glitter song removed from a GCSE music syllabus.


Original article here