at London's Wembley Pool. But in 1963, Meek and Goddard's association with Leyton ended; that circumstance, combined with the British beat boom, cast Leyton adrift immediately, although he found a lot of acting work in television and film to keep him busy. Despite trying to give Leyton's music more of a 'group' sound by giving him a backing group, The LeRoys, his chart career faded out by the beginning of 1964. In that same year, according to the music journalist Bob Stanley, 'Leyton headlined a tour with up and coming support act the Rolling Stones. Very quickly, it became apparent that the Stones were more popular than the headline act and Leyton, with great dignity, abandoned his pop career on the spot to concentrate on acting.' Heyday as an actor Leyton was a familiar face in film and television during the 1960s. He played himself in the 1962 Dick Lester film It's Trad, Dad!, performing his latest single "Lonely City" in a radio studio. In The Great Escape (1963) he played tunnel designer Willie Dickes, one of the only three characters to successfully make it to freedom. Leyton also cut a single with lyrics to Elmer Bernstein's theme to the film. He also appeared in Guns at Batasi in 1964; Every Day's a Holiday (aka Seaside Swingers in the United States) and Von Ryan's Express starring Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard in 1965. In Krakatoa, East of Java, in 1969 he played the designer of a diving bell. From 1966 to 1967, Leyton played the lead role as SOE Royal Navy Lieutenant Nicholas Gage, an expert in demolitions, in Jericho, an American TV series about espionage in the Second World War. Later career He returned to Britain in the early 1970s and unsuccessfully attempted to re-launch his singing career, signing to the York record label in 1973. A single, "Dancing in the Graveyard c/w. Riversong (York SYK 551) and an album, John Leyton (York FYK 416) was released that year. A year later (1974) Leyton's cover version of the Kevin Johnson hit, "Rock 'n' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)", York YR 210) was issued in the UK but without success. In the mid 1970s, Leyton starred in the ITV television series, The Nearly Man. Acting roles became fewer and farther between during the 1970s, and by the early 1980s, he was no longer active in