My Favourite Things by Yvonne Hanvey, head of the Status Quo fan club ‘FTMO…’
Head of the Status Quo fan club From The Makers Of…. since 2013, Yvonne Hanvey and husband Paul have been keeping the Quo flame alive by managing the fan club’s magazine, running conventions, and recently curating a successful exhibition at The Barbican Library in London. Here, Yvonne Hanvey shares her most treasured Quo memorabilia with MAG_BTM.
From the Makers of…. first appeared on the reverse of the Hello! album, along with the logo of the first two albums Dog of Two Head and Piledriver. The tradition carried on until Back to Back. I can only assume that this is why it was used as the fan club name. That would make sense as it was a was a familiar phrase to Quo Fans!
Yvonne Hanvey, head of FTMO…
My personal top five items from Status Quo by Yvonne Hanvey
The wooden money box
“This was a promo item. It shows all the albums that make up the collection: From The Makers Of… which is engraved into the wood.”
Status Quo FTMO wooden money box, photo courtesy of Yvonne Hanvey
“This isn’t everyones favourite I know! It seems to be the ‘Marmite’ of Quo collections. I am still on the hunt for the promo Rick Parfitt Toby Jug.”
The toby jugs and other Status Quo memorabilia, photo courtesy of Yvonne Hanvey
‘If You Can’t Stand The Heat’ – album sleeve artwork
“This was purchased at auction a few months ago. The collection shows how the album cover was produced by tearing photos of the main image and hand cutting the shapes out to complete the full layout as a collage.”
Photo courtesy of Yvonne Hanvey
Singles from the early days of the band
“Before the band were Status Quo they were know as The Spectres and Traffic Jam. Under these names they release four singles: ‘I (Who Have Nothing, Hurdy Gurdy Man and We (Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet) and Almost But Not Quite There. We finally got these four singles in the 1990s. When we first started looking for them via Record Collector magazine the singles were £35 each. This was far too much for us to pay. This was equivalent to a week’s food shop for us and we couldn’t justify the cost!”
photo courtesy of Yvonne Hanvey
Collection of early promo photos
“The first photo on the left shows the band when they were called The Paladins. They were never called The Scorpions – that is an urban myth! The second photo is the Spectres. The third photo shows the band at Minehead railway station and is fully signed on the reverse.”