Brian Laurence Bennett OBE, (born 9 February 1940, in Palmers Green, North London, England) is a drummer, pianist, composer, arranger and record producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group, The Shadows. Educated at Hazlewood School, Palmers Green, London and Winchmore Hill School. He finished school at the age of sixteen to play drums in a Ramsgate skiffle group performing for holiday makers. After returning to London he became the in-house drummer at The 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho and was a regular on Jack Good's TV show Oh Boy! He then became a member of Marty Wilde's Wildcats in 1959. After a successful period with the Wildcats, during which he appeared on their instrumental record without Wilde (recorded as the Krew Kats), "Trambone", he backed Tommy Steele for some of his London stage performances, and then in October 1961 he joined Cliff Richard and The Shadows as the replacement for Tony Meehan. He stayed with the group throughout all of their subsequent line-ups, and in May 2005 took part in The Shadows' European tour. During a show in Reykjavik, Iceland he sustained what was thought to be a minor injury to a finger. A splinter from a drumstick pierced under his fingernail on his right hand, he removed it with a pair of old pliers and applied a plaster. A few days later after arriving in Paris, France he was in so much pain he called a doctor. The doctor diagnosed a bad infection and recommended Bennett go to hospital immed