The Hollies at Bristol Hippodrome on March 29

The drummer had a ball touring the world, appearing on TV shows and having hit after hit, like Just One Look, Bus Stop, Carrie Anne, On A Carousel, Stop Stop Stop and Jennifer Eccles.

“We would hang around with the West Coast stars such as the Mamas and Papas and The Beach Boys,” said Bobby.

The band also belonged to the New York social clubs and Bobby recalls seeing Jimi Hendrix’s first live appearance at The Bag O’ Nails club. “I knew Jimi when he was with Little Richard’s band, and I saw him when he went to Greenwich Village and played guitar with his teeth.”

But despite his American pals, the drummer and the rest of The Hollies remained a quintessentially English band, renowned for their distinctive harmonies.

The band never split up and are still going strong today, with Bobby as the powerhouse with his drumsticks and Tony Hicks on lead guitar and vocals. The guys are in the final stages of recording a new album, called Then, Now And Always.

“The title track sums it up. It is written by me and Tony, and is the story of two lads from the North coping with success,” said Bobby. “It has to be sung by me or Tony because it is about us. It is a personal thing.”

The album was mastered at Abbey Road Studios and has a number of tracks written by Mark Read, from the band A1. Mark has family links with The Hollies’ bass player, Ray Stiles.

After five decades of making music, Bobby still gets that holiday feeling when they head out on tour.

There are plenty of tour bus tales.

“I have archives of pictures throughout the years, so Tony suggested I do a book of our tours,” said Bobby. “It is chock full of photos showing what we got up to.”

These days, however, Bobby is more interested in the peaceful life.

He claims to be the only rock drummer who requests a quiet hotel room. “Not very rock ‘n’ roll, is it?” he said.