Pete Birrell

Born and raised in Wythenshawe, Manchester, Birrell was a shoe salesman before playing bass guitar for Freddie and the Dreamers, a band that achieved many hits including "I'm Telling You Now", "Do The Freddie", and "You Were Made For Me". During performances, Birrell was seen "doing the Freddie", a dance move invented by the Dreamers that was first seen in 1965.

Birrell performed with the band in a variety of shows including Hullabaloo, Shindig!, The Merv Griffin Show, Blue Peter, and The Ed Sullivan Show. They also performed at televised events such as the New Musical Express (NME) poll shows and at the London Palladium.

In 1965, Birrell acted in Every Day's a Holiday, playing the role of Chef Sigmund and again in the 1966 film Lights Camera Backbeat with the song "Funny Over You". He later appeared with the Dreamers in the comedy film Cuckoo Patrol in 1967, in which he and his bandmates featured as scouts who get lost in the middle of nowhere after accidentally departing from their scout leader (played by Kenneth Connor.)

After the Dreamers broke up, Birrell continued to perform as an actor from 1968 to 1973. He starred with his former bandmate Freddie Garrity in the ITV children’s television show Little Big Time (his most notable role was as a grandfather clock named Oliver.)[1] Only eight minutes of footage exist of Little Big Time due to the BBC wiping it from tapes so as to re-use them. In 1976, Birrell rejoined the Dreamers, until the early 80s. He can also be seen performing alongside Freddie and a different line-up in the 1982 Channel 4 show The Unforgettables. Eventually, Birrell left the group due to being sick of travelling, according to Garrity.

After leaving the Dreamers in the 1980s, Birrell dropped out of music and became a taxicab driver before becoming the chauffeur to the Lord Mayor of Manchester.