The group was led by keyboard player Mike O'Neill as "Nero", and had two minor hits in the UK, "Entry of the Gladiators" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King".
He played in Vince Taylor's band before joining The Cabin Boys, who backed singer Colin Hicks, the younger brother of Tommy Steele.
In 1959, Hicks and his band accepted an offer to tour Italy, where they had a hit with a version of "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" and appeared in a movie, Europa di Notte.
Before they left, however, O'Neill and the group's bass player, Rod "Boots" Slade, obtained several sets of gladiator costumes, largely made of plastic, which had been used in the 1951 movie, Quo Vadis, filmed at the Cinecittà studios in Rome.
[1] Returning to Britain, O'Neill and Slade formed a new group, Nero & the Gladiators, with guitarist Colin Green and drummer Laurie Jay (born Laurence Joseph Jacobson, 1941, South Tottenham, North London).
[2] It was not broadcast on BBC radio, because of the Corporation's policy, initiated by Sir Arthur Bliss, of banning pop versions of classical tunes.