Geoff Phillips

Geoff Phillips was born 1946 in Byker and he was an only child. His father inspired his love of local history and music. When he was young they would play together in local bands and his Dad would play the Hawaiian Guitar!

Geoff would socialise with friends in the pubs and clubs of the North East; La Dolce Vita, The Cavendish, Sands Club. At the same time, Geoff played in leading bands such as Jerome and the Originells (notice the unusual spelling!). There are two of their songs on You Tube which were called “My Girl” and “Nights”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2ulAadWaCU

His best friend Bill of 60 years tells this story. “One evening we were in the Sands Club in Whitley Bay watching Leapy Lee (of Little Arrows fame). While performing, the singer approached random members of the audience to get them to sing into his microphone. Not one to miss an opportunity, Geoff sang, and so well that he out-shone Leepy Lee who then quickly took the microphone back and immediately ended the audience participation.”

Geoff attained a Degree in Electrical Engineering at Newcastle Polytechnic. While he was doing his degree, he was also training as an engineer with Parsons and won their Apprentice of the Year award. After graduating, Geoff went to work for Reyrolle Parsons Automation (RPA) as an electronics design engineer.

After he got married in 1971 he ran his own band “The Geoff Phillips Band” that played regularly at the Swallow Hotel, Newcastle and then at the Eden Arms Hotel Rushyford, Durham.

He then worked as a Project Manager at Thorn Lighting where he was responsible for bringing various lighting designs from concept to sale, including one of the first motion detector security lights. He wrote a book called The Electronics Toolkit

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NewnesElectronicsToolkitGeoffPhillipsebook/dp/B01DRY78XW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Electronics+Toolkit&qid=1596543419&s=books&sr=1-1

In his spare time he also had a company called GP Electronics and would repair amplifiers among other things. This business morphed into a repair of electronic ballasts for fluorescent lighting and then became a supply of the same products. In 2007 Geoff took a back seat in GP Electronics and the business was run by his daughter Christine.

Geoff had inherited his father’s collection of old photos of Newcastle, some dated as far back as 1890. His Dad’s collection of photos inspired him to take photos in 1940 of the same shot as his collection which in turn inspired Geoff to do the same in the 1990s for his books which can be seen here. http://www.newcastlepastandpresent.co.uk/ What’s really special about the books is the family history and there are several photos which include Geoff’s father and Geoff himself.

Two other books to note are, one called “Memories of Tyne Tees Television” where Geoff writes about the history about the history of Tyne Tees television. Geoff was one of the contributors on the Honky Tonk production “When We Were Kids” which was broadcast several years ago on ITV and then he wrote a book of the same name also documenting the lives of the people who appeared on the TV show. Geoff also appeared on the TV and in the newspaper on numerous occasions and was interviewed live by Mike Neville.