Don shares his story of the swinging sixties

Black Country-born Don Evitts has released the first part of his self-published autobiography called From Copper Tops to Mop Tops.

He started writing his book after retiring to Devon in 2015 and it includes humorous stories, photographs and musical facts from throughout his life.

The book was initially planned for just family and friends but it attracted a lot of interest from people on social media wanting to know more and libraries wanted to stock it.

The first part of the autobiography ‘From Copper Tops to Mop Tops’ covers the early years of his life from 1948 to 1970 and tells the story of living and growing-up in West Bromwich, West Smethwick, Quinton and Brandhall.

Don, who worked in the music industry for many years, attended three schools in the borough - Oldbury Road Infants – George Betts Juniors and Sandwell Secondary Modern.

After leaving school in 1964 Don trained as a motor mechanic and worked at the service garage on the Oldbury Road.

In 1968, the Oldbury Road area including Don’s work place were demolished as part of the West Smethwick redevelopment scheme. “I moved to another garage Jackson & Lawley in Brades village before a complete change of direction. In 1969, I started working at E.T.M.A engineering in Blackheath,” explains Don.

Originally planned as a single book, he realised it was going to be too big and decided to split it into three volumes.

“The Copper Tops refers to my trainspotting days. My first school was Oldbury Road Juniors, the playground over-looked the GWR Smethwick Junction railway station – later renamed Smethwick West. The steam engines that called at the station all had copper top rimmed chimneys, a common feature on GWR engines.

“Like most kids back then we were all hooked on trainspotting, it was the Xbox of the day. Every child seemed to collect something or other in those days. The book contains lots of train photographs and stories of when we travelled to far flung places like Birmingham, Tamworth, Stafford and Crewe,” he added.

“The Mop Tops is perhaps more apparent to most people. It refers to The Beatles. My world changed at the beginning of 1963 when The Beatles came on the scene.

“They became a life-long obsession with me. I know more about the band than I do about my own family. “I started to dabble in music thanks to them and eventually in 1975 entered the music industry. I review all the Beatles’ releases year-by-year in the book and tell you what my favourite tracks were,” says Don.

His time in the music industry saw him try his hand at songwriting, managing, promotions, productions, publishing and A&R and this period in his life will be covered in his next book which has a working title of Beyond My Wildest Dreams.

Speaking about this first part of his autobiography, Don says: “The book is full of nostalgia; it covers all types of music styles and fashions. It has a musical thread entwined throughout with stories and events of the time.

“If you really want to know what it was like living in the swinging sixties, then this book won’t disappoint. It will resonate with a lot people.”

From Copper Tops to Mop Tops is available to loan at most local libraries, including Smethwick nd West Bromwich, or is available to buy by emailing Don at donevitts@icloud.com