BBC Radio 2

Larry Parnes was the prototype rock'n'roll manager and impresario of the late 1950s and 1960s. He was probably the most important non-performing figure in the development of popular music in Britain. Parnes ran a "stable" of stars - all bearing a unique badge of his ownership, a new and often eccentric rock'n'roll name that he coined for each of them. This is a story of cutthroat showbiz and sharp practice.