BRIAN Epstein would not let "his boys" on BBC radio without having one particular sound mixer.

Epstein's boys were, of course, the Beatles and the mixer with the magic touch was Keith Bateson from Bolton.

His Northern background was not an insignificant factor in his dealings with the Fab Four.

Their original radio sound mixer was an old Etonian who had language problems with the Liverpool lads and Keith was called in to translate.

Educated at Bolton School, Keith lives at Sharples and lectures in Performing Arts at the Leigh Campus of Wigan and Leigh College.

His enthusiasm for hi-tec sound is obvious but he recalls that when the Beatles were on radio, the sound equipment had seen better days. Keith started as an engineer in Manchester and progressed to a producer in London in 1960.

En route he did the sound effects on shows such as Mrs Dale's Diary and the Navy Lark moving to mixing for the Joe Loss Orchestra and Mantovani.

His interest in pop music led him to sound mix not only for the Beatles but many other sixties groups including the Hollies, the Rolling Stones, the Searchers and solo artists such as Tom Jones, Gene Pitney, Englebert Humperdinck and Roy Orbison.

Despite his dedication to the college - he's proud of the state of the art studio facilities there for performance, composition and arrangements and recordings audio/video techniques - Keith still finds time to be the Musical Director at Halliwell Labour Club and is the Organist and Master of Choristers at St Bede's, Bolton. He's keen to point out that while the Liverpool Institute may get the lion's share of publicity because of Paul McCartney's imput, life on the Leigh campus has plenty to offer.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.