The setting: the plush "Talk of the Town", London's best-known nightspot.
    I am in the star dressing room - talking with Peter Noone. Better known as Herman. He has just finished an exhausting hour-long act before before what is probably the most critical audience in Britain. He has cut his first night act by one number. And, amidst a popping of champagne corks, a pouring of whisky and Coke; and a smattering of show-business agents we talk. Peter snuggles closer to his French wife. We talk. And talk. And talk.
    This is just part of that interview:

    Q: Why have you always kept to the same backing group? Other artistes - Dave Dee, Gerry Marsden and Andy Fairweather-Lowe, for example - have left their groups to pursue a solo career. Yet you haven't.
    A: That's not really true. I just work with the group and it just so happens that Herman's Hermits are more popular than Peter Noone.
    I don't really know how to explain it. I can't find the right words. Since we started I have always done some things on my own.
    I do television shows without the group. We get on with each other fairly well. It just seems the best thing at the moment. Until now I have never thought of leaving the group completely. We can work as a unit one night and then I can do solo another. We have done everything together and now we have built up a cabaret act. It is a happy arrangement.
    Q: Does it mean you will always be Herman - and the Hermits?
    A: Oh, no. Definitely I will have to go solo. I can't be a pop singer in a group for ever. It would be stupid to be thirty-five with a bald backing group! Eventually it has to end. I don't know when it will happy. It could happen over a week-end. It could happen next week. Or it could happen the week you print this article. There's a day when you just have to say I've got a better offer. But of one thing I am certain - if and when it does happen it will be a friendly parting. I won't turn round to the boys and say 'you're fired'. We have been too good friends to do that.
    Q: When you eventually do become a solo performer what would you like to do?
    A: Eventually I want to do musicals. Not the way Gerry Marsden and Joe Brown have done it but more like Tommy Steele. He has really shown what a singer can do. I have had more than seven years' experience travelling round the world and eventually comes the stage where I can say I have had enough and go on to something else. What many people forget is that I am still only twenty-two. Most of the performers don't have a chance to get into musicals until they are round about thirty.
    Q: What sort of musical would you like to do - something simple or a strong plot?
    A: So long as I can do something good for me I don't care what its about and who else is in it. If my part is good then it's all right. I don't care if it's a stupid musical. I know I can do it. I just have to wait for the right time to do it and the right vehicle. Of course there are some shows I would turn down. It might be a right bummer and I would lose both Herman's Hermits and Peter Noone.
    Q: You don't seem to do as many television shows as some of your contemporaries. Is there a reason behind this?
    A: Everybody seems to be doing television series. But I would only do one if it was fantastic. I don't think enough about it to be given a completely free hand but I would like something like the Tom Jones Show where I could bring in fabulous guests from America and all over the world. I would do one if it was fabulous but I wouldn't like the sort of show where I would just have English guests. Now the Andy Williams show is a proper television show. It is a family show. He really is the leader of the show and you know it is the Andy Williams Show and not just a collection of guests. Also I wouldn't do a television series unless I knew it was also for America.

       Q: Do you or the group have any outside interests?
    A: I don't. But one of the boys has got a garage - it's Barry who has the garage; and Karl has an agency in Manchester. He runs a show-business agency handling groups up in Manchester. I don't have anything else. This is my business. I like to keep in one thing. I spend all day worrying what I am going to do next. I wouldn't like to have to also worry about an outside business. My wife doesn't do anything either - except be my wife. She has designed my stage clothes but she doesn't do this for profit. She doesn't design clothes for an agency or anything like that. She always travels around with me. It would be terrible if she couldn't do it.
    Q: Has being married made any difference to you - or your career?
    A: Not at all - except that it has made my life better. I still do the things I used to - only it is better having my wife travelling with me.
    Q: Nowadays we don't hear quite to much of you on record - how important are records to yoU?
    A: Records are always going to get your name in the news. It is better to have a record in the charts every six months than not to have one at all. It is a fantastically easy way of getting publicity. I enjoy making records and enjoy going in the studio and doing it. I don't really bother who has written the song or who else has recorded it as long as I like singing it. That's the only thing I worry about. I have got to like it. If I don't like the song I can pretend I can't sing it. I would never record a song I didn't like.
    Q: When you more or less first became a pop group hit you did a pantomime. In Christmas 1969, you did your second panto. Do you like doing this sort of work?
    A: What I really like to do is something different. I really enjoy working to kids. By kids I mean the really young ones - the five-year-olds. There was a tremendous difference between our two pantos. The first we did was in a small theatre in Manchester and then the next in London. I played Aladdin and the boys played policemen or something. It is good to work with children.
    Q: As Herman you have done a lot in your still young career. How do you decided what to do next?
    A: I have been a pop singer for practically seven years and we have sold millions upon millions of discs. At one time we were the biggest group in America. But you have to progress. Everything I have done has given me valuable experience. There came a time when I had to stop touring the country doing one-night stands with the group. so we went into cabaret. At first you have to play the small night-clubs to build up an act before you are ready to do somewhere like the "Talk of the Town". I do everything for experience. I will consider anything that is offered to me. If any manager thinks I should do it I will think seriously about it. Fortunately I am in a position where I have earned a lot of money. I don't need to work all the time and I can try and pick and choose. If I think a new idea will add to my experience I would take it and do it. That is the only way you can keep progressing.
    Q: You are obviously fond of children - have you plans to have any of your own?
    A: Of course we want children. I like children and I like getting down to them. We don't want any children just now. It wouldn't be fair to them. I want to look after them properly as a father. I would like to have a year's holiday if I have any children. I would do nothing at all in that year. I would like to be a father to them - not treat them like a dog. How can you be a proper father if you are rushing all over the country. That isn't the sort of life they should have - only seeing their father every now and then. If you have children you have to be in a position to look after them properly. So if a child does come along I would take a year off - and wouldn't do any work at all.

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