Prime Minster Harold Wilson Successfully Sues Band

Moving In The Wrong Direction

Now this is amazing. During the Wild West time of the 1960s, the world of music was still trying to find its way. Bands were royally ripped off by management, publishing deals were particularly shady and all sorts of bizarre gimmicks and stunts were used to sell records. Which brings us to The Move. This Brummie based outfit featured Roy Wood (who later wrote and performed I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day) and Jeff Lynne of ELO. They managed nine top 20 singles over five years, but for their ambitious manager, that wasn’t enough. Tony Secunda loved to come up with crazy schemes to get his band publicity, but this particular stunt wildly backfired. To promote the single Flowers in the Rain he printed up postcards of Prime Minster Harold Wilson in the nude. Wilson wasn’t impressed, sued the band and, on this day in 1967, he won the case. All royalties from the single (which was the first record to be played on Radio 1) went to charities picked by Mr Wilson and still do to this day. The Move soon got a new manager.