He also asked about his musical ability. Certainly in this case, despite his mum getting him his first guitar, John pretty much taught himself, it would appear. I asked why John was no longer speaking to Ian Brown, but was kind of hushed up. And with that, we reached the ground floor, and our brief interview with Mr and Mrs Squire was over. Scouse reckoned I should’ve got a picture of them, but I think I would’ve been a bit embarrassed asking.


So now, having come all this way, what was there to do next? Well, Scouse had a couple of friends in Manchester, one of whom lived in the north of the city, not too far from where we were, and the plan was to meet up with him. We stopped at a petrol station to ask directions. Here, a sweet Portuguese girl named Carla, who had just finished her shift, was on hand to help. As luck would have it, she lived just around the corner from the place we wanted to get to, around 6 miles away. She first of all tried to draw a map, but eventually, decided to hop in the car with us, helping us, and securing a lift for herself, simultaneously.


On the way, bizarrely, we passed first a major crime scene – just round the corner from Gallery Oldham is the off licence where a shooting, which made the national news, took place – and then Bernard Manning’s old club. Inevitably, it turned out, Jah Scouse had met Manning. It seems there are few celebrities from the last 50 years that Scouse hasn’t encountered, and most of them come with amusing anecdotes.


Soon, we were at the small club where we were to meet Scouse’s friend, Guy. That night, the club was holding a comedy night, and we saw a couple of local comedians who weren’t at all bad. Carla left us, promising to meet up with us at the gallery the following morning, but sadly, that was the last we saw of her. She did mention the blog she writes, but despite a bit of fisking, I’ve been unable to find her. As we all got on well, I had a slight concern for her safety – just hope she got home ok, anyway.


Guy’s hospitality extended to allowing us to sleep on his floor, which was initially difficult for me as Jah Scouse is a bit of a snorer. But I did manage to get a few zeds before we were kicked out bright and early in the morning as Guy had to go to work.


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