BARRY WHITWAM

I've always wondered what Barry was short for. I'm just gonna call him Barrance.

Barry Whitwambam, as I like to call him. Or Bean, to his mates. Now, don’t ask me where he got the nickname from, maybe it’s his favourite vegetable or something, or maybe when he was little he was dead tall and skinny so people used to call him Beanpole or Bean for short. Who knows? Who cares?! (sorry, only joking!)

Barry was drummer with Herman’s Hermits and still tours today as Herman’s Hermits, even though he is the only original member of the band who tours under that name (did you understand that?!). He had lessons for two years, but taught himself a lot.

Here’s a wee bit of info on him:

Name: Jan Barry Whitwam. But call him Bean, everyone else does. I don’t think he’d appreciate being called Jan, it’s a girl’s name. Unless of course he pronounces the J as a Y, then I take it back, it’s a bloke’s name.

DoB: July 1, 1946, he’s a couple of months older than Keith.

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Brown

Height: 5’11”

Lives: In Manchester somewhere.

Marital Status: I assume he’s married, but I don’t know.

Played: Drums. I never saw what kind, sorry, but I think maybe they were Pearl drums.

What would I do if he read this page: Wonder why he hadn’t signed my guestbook! Then I’d wonder what he was doing here anyway, after all, I’m a brunette and apparently he only likes blondes! HMPH! Look, Bean, brunettes do it better, it’s a well-known fact (amongst brunettes, that is…)! I don’t know what exactly it IS that they do better, but I’m sure they do lots of things better than blondes. Like being brunette, for example, they do that much better than blondes.

Best Bean Quote: I don’t even need to think about this! Here goes, straight away with the scene from Mrs Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter. (PLEASE NOTE: the second part of this scene can be found in Karl’s biography section!) The quote is “D’you mean we’re startin’ a group?!” but he pronounced it as “grope”, which made me laugh hysterically and think bassist thoughts about Keith…

PETER: She is fast, isn’t she? Look at the way she catches milkmen and rent collectors!

*Spev wonders if this is in fact the best method of judging a prize greyhound’s racing prowess*

BEAN: Yeah, she gets ‘em every time, right by the ankles!

*Spev realises that there must be SOMEthing in it!*

BEAN: But listen Tulley, we’ve each bought 20% of a greyhound puppy’s upkeep for fifteen nicker each, right?

*Spev wonders who the hell Tulley is, then realises that it’s Peter, who in the film is called Herman Tulley*

KARL: Yeah, it’s a bloody fortune, that!

*Spev is shocked that Karl swore, then notices how cute Keith is looking*

KEITH: Yeah, and what’ve we got to show for it? A pile of vet’s bills! When are we going to get something back?

*Spev isn’t really listening as she is concentrating on Keith’s manic gesturing with the table tennis paddle, his white jeans and white sweatshirt, the way he rests his hand on one hip and the table tennis paddle on the other and subsequently wishes that she was the table tennis paddle*

PETER: Look, you can’t race a dog without entrance fees, it costs fortunes!

*Spev decides that Peter has a point there*

LEK: Well, she’s not gonna get any more from me. Your old grandad should’ve left you some money along with the dog!

*Spev decides that Lek has a point there as well and thinks that too many people are making sense to her and so she wishes that the camera would go back to Keith so she could get back to her mindless perving*

PETER: I’m not asking you for any more money! Look, I promise you, if we get together and practice enough, I’ll get us booked into some pubs on the weekends.

*Spev thinks this is a fab idea, so long as she is plied with drinks all night*

PETER: Let’s get together tonight and tomorrow night and have a couple of practices!

*Spev thinks that this is a fantastic suggestion and applauds Peter for his ingenuity*

BEAN: D’you mean we’re startin’ a group?!

*Spev wonders why it took him five years after the group’s formation to realise this*

So, there you go, a page all about Barry Whitwam. I wonder if this has ever been done before? If it has, please will someone email me and give me the URL so I can link it from here?

If you have any comments about Bean, then please send them to this email address, and I’ll put them up here! Thank you!

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