Leader: The long and winding road went through Dingwall

IF YOU'VE made it in Dingwall, you can make it anywhere," may have been the inspiration behind the visit of a then little-known pop group to the town hall back in January 1963.

While the local sensation band the Melotones drew an audience of 1,200 a few miles away at Strathpeffer, a hardy audience of 19 stuck it out for a visiting young band called the Beatles. They went on to do pretty well, but the Dingwall audience was unimpressed. Now, in a remarkable feat of detective work, the Dingwall Business Association has tracked down all 19 members of that audience, plus another 28 who showed up but didn't reckon the band was worth staying for. Indeed, some went off to hear the Melotones instead.

Barely ten days after that dismal evening, the Beatles released their first Number 1 hit. They may not have made it in Dingwall, but they certainly made it everywhere else. A reunion concert given by the tribute band the Upbeat Beatles has turned the memory of that mean evening into gold. Those who attended the original now have a unique claim to Beatles fame. Spurning the world's most famous pop group has put Dingwall on the world musical map. But what a pity the Melotones could not be re-united to mark the night they outshone the Beatles.