Eric Griffiths (October 31, 1940 – January 29, 2005) was the guitarist in the original lineup of The Quarry Men until he left the group in the summer of 1958. October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining, as the final day of October. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Quarry Men (sometimes Quarrymen) were a little-known skiffle group formed around Liverpool, England in March 1957 by John Lennon. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Born in Denbigh, North Wales, on 31 October 1940 to Liverpudlian parents, Eric Griffiths lived in a small village near Denbigh until his mother returned to Liverpool in 1945 to live with her parents after her husband's death as an RAF pilot. In 1950 the family moved to Halewood Drive, Woolton and at the age of 11 Griffiths won a scholarship to Quarry Bank High School where he met John Lennon, Pete Shotton and Rod Davis. This article is about a town in Wales. ... Liverpool waterfront by night, as seen from the Wirral. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Woolton is a suburban area of South Liverpool, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. ... An English grammar school (equivalent to American middle- and high schools), located on Harthill Road in Allerton, England, a suburb of Liverpool, and founded in 1922. ... John Winston Lennon (later John Winston Ono Lennon) (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980) was best known as a singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist for the British rock band The Beatles. ... Boyhood friend of John Lennon of the Beatles, who also attended Dovedale Primary and Quarry Bank schools. ...

The four boys were in the same House at school and shared an interest American music; particularly skiffle. Lennon and Griffiths attended some guitar lessons but found it too slow to learn and dropped the lessons when Lennon's mother taught them to play easier banjo chords. The two boys would play truant to practice in the Griffiths home whilst his mother was at work. Griffiths also befriended a novice drummer, Colin Hanton, with whom he would also practice. When Lennon formed The Quarry Men with Shotton and Davis, Griffiths was invited to add his rudimentary skills because he had a new guitar and was Hanton's drums were a rare asset. Skiffle music is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influence, usually using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea-chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, or a comb and paper, and so forth. ...

Griffiths left school in the summer of 1957 with GCE passes in English, Mathematics and History and became an engineering apprentice whilst continuing to play as lead guitarist in the band. When Paul McCartney joined The Quarry Men he aspired to be lead guitarist but his ineptitude at his one public attempt stymied that. The other band members decided that neither McCartney nor Griffiths were suitable lead guitarists. When George Harrison joined the band they suggested that Griffiths buy an electric bass and an amplifier but he could not afford this and the band instructed Nigel Whalley, the band's manager, to tell Hanton that Griffiths was no longer wanted. Griffiths was not invited to McCartney's house for the next rehearsal and when he phoned them during the practice session, he was told that he was sacked. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The General Certificate of Education or GCE was introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1951, replacing the older School Certificate (SC) and Higher School Certificate (HSC). ... Engineering applies scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. ... Paul McCartney (1964) Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born June 18, 1942) is a British singer, musician and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of The Beatles. ...

Griffiths decided to abandon engineering too and he joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet navigating officer. He continued to meet his old friends from the band when he was on leave but he lost contact with Lennon and McCartney after they first recorded with EMI. In most seafaring countries, the merchant marine (or merchant navy) is a fleet of ships used for commerce that sometimes complements the navy. ...

Griffiths left the navy in 1964 and married Relda at Woolton Parish Church. He spent the next thirty years working in the prison service modernising prisoners' working practices. In 1972 he left the English Prison Service to join the Scottish Prison Service and he moved to Edinburgh with his wife and three sons. Her Majestys Prison Service is the British Executive Agency reporting to the Home Office tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own Prison Services). ... The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) is the executive agency reporting to the Scottish Executive tasked with managing prisons within Scotland. ... Edinburgh (pronounced ), Dùn Èideann () in Scottish Gaelic, is the second-largest city in Scotland and its capital city. ...

In 1994 he left the Prison Service to concentrate on running the family business, a chain of dry cleaners. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

In January 1997, Griffiths returned to Liverpool to meet some of his former band members at the Cavern Club's 40th anniversary. All the surviving original Quarry Men were there and that evening they gave an impromptu performance with borrowed instruments on the stage. When the band were persuaded to reform for a charity gig in Woolton in July 1997 Griffiths had to buy a guitar and re-learn a few chords. 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cavern Club, which was opened on January 16, 1957, is a legendary rock and roll club at 10 Mathew Street, Liverpool, England, where Brian Epstein was introduced to the Beatles in 1961. ...

The reunion was a huge success and generated demand for a CD. Griffiths decided that the reformed band should record an album and John Lennon’s Original Quarrymen—Get back Together was released in September 1997. Griffiths then toured widely with The Quarrymen until his last performance at SAS Garden Hotel, Trondheim, Norway on November 27, 2004. He had been complaining of back pain and it became so acute that he had a hospital check-up where cancer of the pancreas was diagnosed. He died at his Edinburgh home on January 29, 2005. He is survived by his wife Relda and their three sons, Tim, Matthew and Daniel. November 27 is the 331st day (332nd on leap years) of the year. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• John Lennon's Original Quarrymen