THE future direction of Sandown Pavilion was changed dramatically at the end of the summer of 1977.

It was all down to Irish singing stars, the Bachelors, John Redgrave and John Farrant.

With the new demand for star names in seaside shows, John Farrant, the South Wight Borough’s tourism and leisure chief, brought in John Redgrave ­— a superb producer and show director to provide the Pavilion summer shows.

The two of them decided to bring in the Bachelors for a trial week at the end of the season, and they sold out every show, which directly led to Mike and Bernie Winters coming for six weeks the following summer.

Their huge success changed everything.

In fact, at the end of that six week season, Mike and Bernie ended their long career at Sandown Pavilion.

They both went on to enjoy successful solo careers.

It was hardly surprising, despite doing a brilliant stage act together, they were not speaking to each other off stage.

Jimmy Tarbuck breezed into Sandown for the six peak weeks of the summer of ‘79.

Tickets were like gold dust.

Tarby played to a 98 per cent capacity for the complete run ­— a remarkable achievement.

He came back in 1981 with the most brilliant summer show ever seen in Sandown.

People still talk about the line-up that saw 30,000 visit Sandown Pavilion to see it.

Supporting Jimmy were Kenny Lynch, Aiden J Harvey, Denise Nolan, Pan’s People, and the Johnny Wiltshire Orchestra.

Radio 2’s Peter Murray did a live open house radio show from the theatre.

Jimmy Tarbuck was in his element and told many of his showbiz pals to follow him to Sandown, and it was no surprise when the likes of Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Leslie Crowther, Tommy Cooper and Cilla Black took his advice.

It was amazing in 1983, when Cilla came to star in the peak weeks.

They parked their car near the top of the hill and every night, hundreds of people waited just to see her walk down the hill to the Pavilion ­— that’s real stardom for you.

John Farrant was also very shrewd, backed by key members of his team, including Joyce Coleman, Jan Fletcher and Jill Ringer.

Later, a new producer arrived to take over from John Redgrave.

Nick Thomas proved another inspired choice.

He brought in Jimmy Cricket, Bernie Clifton, Charlie Williams, Matt Monro and Bob Monkhouse.

Nick Thomas is now the chairman of Qdos and is one of the most important people in British showbusiness.

It all really began for him at Sandown Pavilion.

Towards the end of the 1970s, and into the ‘80s, many huge stars came to the venue for one-nighters.

In 1978, top American singer, Gene Pitney was booked.

There was a queue along the seafront several hours before the tickets went on sale, and they were sold in less than two hours.

Other top names included American country music star, Billie Jo Spears, who almost cried off due to throat problems, but she did two sell-out shows.

David Essex proved a huge success, Peters and Lee came twice, Max Boyce did several shows and other stars featured including Freddie Starr, Cannon and Ball, Phil Cool, the Drifters, Vince Hill, Des O’Connor and Max Bygraves.

Bill Haley was booked for November, 1980, but sadly he died before his British tour.

The last big names to play summer seasons at Sandown were Les Dennis, and Little and Large.

In the ‘90s, Cornish comedian Jethro sold out every performance and even made a video at the Pavilion.

He did warn members of the audience that if they were there with someone they shouldn’t be, it would be best to leave.

That final decade also produced some brilliant local shows like Notre Dame, written by Islanders Anthony Wright and David Redston, and Jack Douglas also starred in Me and My Girl.

There were some disappointments over the years, none more than when Lenny Henry’s local support act ‘died’ on stage.

He was a bluecoat at Pontin’s, Little Canada, and performed a strange act under the name of Luke Skywalker.

Thankfully, he got better and became Shane Richie ­— I often still tease him about that Sunday night gig.

Showaddywaddy also blotted their copybook and short-changed their audience to get an earlier ferry ­— they were out of the theatre before the punters.

There were some great funny stories, particularly when Jimmy Tarbuck was in residence.

Early in the six week run, he hid a piece of raw fish in Aiden J Harvey’s dressing room ­— the stench got worse and worse.

He did eventually tell him in the final week.

When Jimmy came for the last time, in the summer of 1989, they had the serious fire and, within a few days, the show was up and running again at Shanklin Theatre ­— that took some work.

Here’s a ghost story to finish.

In 1991, two of the stars of the summer show, John Martin and Marc Duane, saw a screaming ghost walk through the gauze and heavy safety curtain.

They were terrified.

It might have been Luke Skywalker still trying to escape.

As I left the Sandown Pavilion on that late September night in 1998, for the very last time, I vowed never to walk on the pier again ­— and I haven’t.

Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.