The Philharmonic’s 88-year-old organist has only one plan…to keep on playing

Dear members — it’s not every day you get to sit down with a Liverpool music legend, but last week Abi got the chance to meet Dave Nicholas: the 88-year-old organist at the Philharmonic who’s pulled out all the stops in his career so far (excuse the pun). He’s played up and down the country to 60s stars like Diana Dors, released numerous albums and even had his name printed on the side of a bus. 

But before we get into that story, here’s your Post briefing — including the expansion of the city’s Christmas market and a big win for one Beatles fan. 

Your Post briefing

Eight men have been sentenced for their part in the Suites Hotel riot last year in Knowsley, which saw a violent protest erupt outside the hotel which housed asylum seekers. The protest was originally organised after allegations were made about one of the hotel's residents, but it quickly descended into violence with rocks and fireworks thrown at the police and a car set alight. All eight of the men had admitted to being present at the riot, but denied any violent disorder. Jack wrote about the riots last year — you can read his analysis here.

Beatles fans — get digging through your record crates in search of a copy of Please Please Me, and check that pressing number for a chance to win big. Last week, charity shop manager Jaime-Marie Madden was shocked to find her original pressing of the album was not worth a few hundred pounds like she originally thought, but was instead sold on eBay for just over £4,200. That’ll certainly Please her.

After the success of last year’s Christmas market outside St George’s Hall — which saw 750,000 visitors across the month of December — Liverpool Council have already begun planning the expansion of festivities for 2024. Local organisations now have the opportunity to submit ideas around re-introducing the Ice Festival at Pier Head, which could see an ice rink and a whole host of other amenities take over the riverside as well as the city centre. Take a look here. 

If you’ve ever taken a trip to the Philharmonic Hall on movie night, you’ll know Dave Nicholas. Positioned stage left behind his organ, with his trademark glasses and dapper attire, for three decades Dave’s music has filled the hall during each film’s interval and credits. And he’s got no intention of stopping yet. 

Last year, the Echo proclaimed Dave the oldest organist in the world, and while that seems impossible to fact check, at 88 he’s got to be close. And even if there is some 89-year-old tapping away at a rusty organ in the foothills of Himalayas, surely there are no octogenarian players with a storied career to match Dave’s. He’s met the likes of Ringo Starr, performed for former Cabinet minister Tony Benn and played with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Liverpool, one of the oldest and most prestigious concert societies in the world. On a Thursday afternoon, I went along to meet him. 

When I arrive at the Phil, I’m escorted into a room where Dave is sitting waiting patiently, dressed in a navy suit with an array of CDs, papers and memorabilia splayed out in front of him. As soon as he sees me he jumps out of his seat, a big smile across his face and a small toy bus in his hands. “I’ve bought this for you to look at,” he tells me, shuffling forward to hand me the toy. The bus, he explains, was a replica of a vehicle that appeared on his 1972 album, Around The World with Dave Nicholas; his name written in big letters across its side. The next ten minutes are spent along these lines — Dave handing me an item from the table and explaining its significance in great detail. It’s clear he’s thrilled to share these little treasures with me; proud of his life’s achievements after a long and illustrious career in music. 

Yet Dave’s love for music came long before a gig at the Phil and the novelty buses. He was born with perfect pitch, he says, taking his first piano lesson aged four in his hometown of Birkenhead. That was 1940. Dave was lucky enough to already have a piano at home to practise on — his family’s lodger had purchased one before being drafted for World War II, allowing young Dave to hop up behind the keys and tinker away. His parents Cyrus and Alice filled the house with records and a gramophone. “They sacrificed a lot for me,” he says, noting they always made sure to scrape together the funds to keep him in his music lessons.

But nowadays, Dave isn’t known for his skills on the piano. He’s a nationally-recognised organist, having toured the country from Scarborough to Clacton-on-Sea throughout the seventies and eighties. So when did he first become acquainted with the instrument? “I remember hearing the Cuckoo Waltz by Ken Griffiths, and it was just — it made me fall in love with the organ,” he says. It was 1954 and he was 18 at the time. A lifelong love affair had just begun. 

Of course, organs weren’t exactly in abundance at the time (nor now, as far as I’m aware) — they were huge, unwieldy and expensive instruments which could usually only be found in churches and theatres. So, that’s where Dave went. He approached his local church in Birkenhead. At the time he was earning his keep as a shopboy, and would work long shifts before trekking over to Willmer Road Presbyterian Church to practise in the evening. “Those were long, long days,” he laughs. But they were worth it, he adds. 

Indeed they were — because by the late 1950s Dave and his organ were gaining traction. He was able to pursue a career as a full-time musician, playing at clubs, hotels and cinemas across Merseyside, including the Plaza on the Wirral and the Sandon Hotel in Anfield. He continued happily down this path until 1961, when a friend suggested he write into the holiday resort Butlins and ask for a touring slot. 

I’ll be honest. As a woman in her twenties, when I hear the word Butlins a shiver runs down my spine. It’s badly run conga lines, horrible, soggy buffets and jukeboxes blasting out the Cha Cha Slide. But that wasn’t always the way — even Ringo Starr played in a band at one site before joining The Beatles, Dave tells me. Butlins was the place to be.

Sure enough he was invited up for an audition, and after playing through a few songs on the organ, he was practically hired on the spot. The next few years, he says, were some of the most exciting of his life. He played across the country each summer, meeting big stars like actress Diana Dors and comedian Bud Flanagan, as well as one of his closest friends — Butlins Redcoat employee Babs Morrison — who he remains in close contact with to this day.

Yet it isn’t really the celebrity glitz and glamour of 1960s Butlins that Dave is thankful for. “It really taught me to think of my feet,” he says. “If someone fainted or something happened in the audience, you’d have to get the attention back to the stage and ad-lib.”

After a decade-long stint he returned to Birkenhead, in part to look after his father. His mother had passed away a few years earlier, and while neighbours had been kind enough to watch over his dad, Dave felt it was time to take up that responsibility. While living back at home he took up a job at Rushworth’s music store in Liverpool, acting as the in-house organ and piano demonstrator before a chance meeting with acclaimed piccolo player Myra Bennett led to an invite to the Philharmonic Hall — home to one of the world’s most famous orchestras. In 1989 Dave was invited on board as a permanent addition to the Phil, soundtracking their famous movie nights from in front of the screen. 

“I never could have imagined it happening to me, ending up here,” Dave says, adding that as a child he remembers visiting the Phil, watching in awe as the orchestra performed, and members of that same orchestra visiting his school in Birkenhead. “The entire place is so nostalgic to me”. 

As for highlights, well, the time he performed for Labour’s Tony Benn springs to mind. Or the time he soundtracked Hitchcock’s The Lodger. But really, his true passion lies in making sure an audience savours each and every moment.

To Dave, there's beauty in an interval. So often we wish away the time before a film begins, or shuffle anxiously in our seats as we wait for the credits to finish. Instead, Dave tries to create moments of joy in these often unappreciated parts of a show, renditions of I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside bringing a smile to faces before the curtains are drawn. “It’s amazing seeing what the young ones know these days,” he says. “You even get little tots singing along — you wouldn’t think that but it does happen. It’s a great feeling.”

However special a place the Phil has in Dave’s heart, Dave is held equally as dear to the Phil. As we walk through the winding corridors of the theatre, stepping carefully over wires and rogue bits of equipment, every person we pass beams when they see Dave, stopping to greet him. “He is absolutely adored here,” Miles Etchells, the programme manager at the Phil tells me as Dave natters away to a group of workers. “I think he’s a great example of what [the Phil] is — it really is that blend of old with more contemporary elements, that’s why we still have so many people come [to the film showings]”.

Despite nearing 90 years old, Dave tells me he has no intention to retire any time soon. Currently, he takes to the stage twice a month for their monthly movie nights — the next on his agenda One Love, the Bob Marley biopic released earlier this year, and the second instalment of Frank Herbert’s Dune. He’ll be front and centre as the seats begin to fill, jovial renditions of Gigue Fugue and Tin Soldier bouncing through the air. 

“Each day for me, it is a gift,” Dave says. “Music is nostalgia — as people get older their generation of music passes, and then when they hear it again it brings back so much. That’s what it’s all about.”

Find out more about the Philharmonic film showings, along with Dave’s performances, here.