George Best & Me: Waggy's Tale

Manchester in the late 1960s and early 1970s revolved around the exploits of one man - George Best. At his side throughout this exciting period was his best friend and confidante Malcolm Wagner (or 'Waggy' as he is universally known) with whom George eventually opened Slack Alice night-club in 1973. Now for the first time Waggy sets the record straight on George's exploits during a period when he was the most recognisable face in the world. The relationship began following a chance meeting at a Manchester night-club in the mid-sixties. Some months before, Malcolm's career as a singer with early 60s pop-combo The Whirlwinds had ended but that chance meeting with Best, then a young footballer with a growing reputation following a number of sensational performances for Manchester United, led Malcolm into a new social group - the Best Set, which grew in reputation as George's fame grew. By 1968 George was winning the European Cup and Malcolm was running the Village Barber, often cutting Bestie's hair in front of crowds of adoring fans. Manchester was their oyster and as George's fame grew, it soon became clear that the pair needed a sanctuary. They found it in the infamous environs of The Brown Bull, a rundown pub on the wrong side of the tracks. Within weeks of the pair setting up residence there, the nation's most famous celebrities were attracted to a previously non-descript Salford pub. By 1973 George and Malcolm opened Slack Alice night-club in the city, once more attracting the celebrity cream of the day to a club tucked down a small side street in Manchester. Again, the power of George's magnetism ensured the venture's success even if by now Bestie's football career had ended. Regular visitors included the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart. The pair travelled the world together from Canada down to Mexico via Palm Springs, then later on to South Africa and Israel. The tales of these trips and many other exploits are told here for the first time as Malcolm comes clean about life with George and the power of his celebrity and reveals the seeds of his ultimate demise through alcoholism. At its centre, this is the tale of two lads with the world at their feet in an era when anything seemed possible. It includes contributions from: Sir Michael Parkinson, Bernard Manning, Graham Gouldman, Paddy Crerand, Andy Peebles, and George Best.

MALCOLM WAGNER has been a pop star, nightclub owner, hairdresser to the stars, international playboy, publican, restrauteur, hotelier, inventor, pilot, husband and office boy during an action-packed life. As lead singer of early sixties pop group The Whirlwinds , alongside future 10cc front man Graham Gouldman, Malcolm played on the burgeoning northern club circuit at legendary venues such as the Devonshire Sporting Club and Bernard Manning s World Famous Embassy . Following the success of his Village Barber hairdressing business and his continued globe-trotting, Malcolm opened Slack Alice nightclub in 1973 with George Best and business partner Colin Burne. Later, Malcolm expanded into the restaurant trade, opening Oscars on the site of the old Waldorf Hotel before going on to run Mr Thomas s Chop House, another famous Manchester institution. Along the way, Waggy also hit upon an idea for an ice dispenser, the invention of which took him years to complete before he bought The Grants Arms Hotel in Ramsbottom in the early 1990s. Now retired 'Waggy' looks back on an eventful life that has seen him surrounded by the famous, the funny, the clever and the downright daft..