I was born at 4 Ashley Terrace (now called 233 Leicester Road) Mountsorrel on December 5th 1934. I have always had an interest in music and later took up photography and the processing of films and prints in black and white. These two soon developed into financial hobbies, my first drumming booking was at aged 16 and lasted one week then the landlord of the pub found out I was too young and reluctantly had to fire me. After National Service I applied to the White Horse in Quorn for a job explaining I had no transport for my drums. The landlord agreed to fetch them and when he arrived he said "I am sorry but you don't look old enough to work in a pub." I had to fetch my demob papers to prove that I was 21! I played there for three years and to my delight I met my wife to be, Wendy, there.
Photography developed further by taking pictures of this beautiful lady and I started to do colour printing with the help of a chemist shop in Mountsorrel who obtained all the necessary chemicals. We were married in 1960 and I set up a dark room in the two-bedroom house we lived in. I then started playing drums with various dance bands about three times a week. About two weeks later I had a letter from Ken Spencer asking if I would like to join his band. I wrote back saying I would be interested and we arranged for me to go to his house.
He gave me a drum and asked me to play to a record. This I did and after a short time he said "you've got the job of the drummers, I've interviewed you're the only one who knew where the off beat was." He then explained he played rock 'n' roll music with a five piece band and we arranged to meet the other musicians for an audition. From that day I became a Warlock.
I have written a biography called 'Memories of a Leicester drummer'. I tried to get it published by various book publishers and gave up trying because of the high prices charged. A thousand pounds and more! I was talking to Mr. Warlock Ken (I had stopped playing drums in 1985 but still stayed good friends with him), I told him about my book and the prices quoted to get it bound up. He gave me a catalogue of illustrated historical books by Reprint of Loughborough. There were about 300 books listed so I phoned him and asked if he could bind my book. He agreed to do it for a nominal fee. Since then David Dover and I have been very good friends. So good in fact that he gave me the honour if he could publish my biography.
Recently I wrote a murder story and David bound these for me. This year, 2009, I wrote another murder story based in Leicestershire and David again asked if he could publish it. David then asked if I would be interested in a project he had thought of which was to print a book showing how Mountsorrel had changed in about 100 years. He had two books with black and white photos which he printed for me to take to Mountsorrel and take pictures in colour showing the changes. This I did and now David has published it.
My life has been extremely interesting, through my two hobbies, I have made many good friends for which I am very pleased.
Reprint publish the following books by Brian Rushin.
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Accident? Suicide? or Murder? In Leicestershire!
Price: £8.00
Accident, Suicide or Murder is a murder story set around a murder story.
Tony and Veronica have moved from Lower Cloisters to Leicestershire to retire until a man asks them to use their efforts to … [more]
Memories of a Leicester Drummer
Price: £8.00
Drummer with local band Warlock, Brian Rushin, tells his story from his earliest interest in music through the 1950s up to the 1980s. An interesting tour through the clubs and music venues of … [more]
Memories of a Leicester Photographer
Price: £8.00
Brian Rushin as a young boy took a great interest in photography and over the years has introduced a wide circle of friends this book makes a very intresting read.
Price: £8.00
This book shows views of Mountsorrel from history, matched with recent photographs by author Brian Rushin - over 60 photos altogether.