In the Examiner of February 14 on David Cretney’s page, there was a photograph of the Bee Gees statue.

The caption said: ‘Arguably the island’s most famous sons, the Bee Gees, had a February hit with Tragedy.’

The Manx regard the Bee Gees as local treasures but documentaries about them say next to nothing about their time here.

Very few people would be able to say how long they did live here, even on the Isle of Man.

Their statue shows them as they had looked when they did their Staying Alive video for this single.

On this famous video the rough area of New York could be seen in the background.

This was part of the soundtrack album for the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever.

Nobody seemed to associate this film with us when it was having huge success at the box office, nor the soundtrack album when it sold very well.

The official unveiling of statues to the Bee Gees located on Loch Promenade in Douglas - (Isle of Man Newspapers)

Barry Gibb wrote the theme song for the very successful 1978 musical Grease.

People did not seem to associate Grease with the Isle of Man.

I think the Bee Gees wanted their fans to think they originally came from Manchester. It sounded more cool. The Hollies came from Manchester.

Everybody knows the Beatles came from Liverpool. Manchester is also a very big city in the North West so I think the Bee Gees wanted their fans to think of them as a northern band.

The late twins Maurice and Robin may have associated themselves with the land of their birth in their later years but this was at a time when they both had serious health scares.

I used to work with a man who came from the North East. He once said to me he thought the Bee Gees were from America. At first I thought this was unusual but they would have lived in America for most of their professional lives.

In short, the Bee Gees barely acknowledged their Manx roots when they were at the height of their fame.

Here is an interesting thought which occurred to me a while ago.

The Isle of Man has been described as Britain’s most popular tax haven, even though some people here have insisted it is not a tax haven.

You would think that if it ever had been Britain’s favourite tax haven, more famous people would have come here to retire.

The island should have had more big names who could have put us on the map.

Ian Ellis

Richmond Grove

Douglas

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