We won’t number the various points in this article – we’ll divide it into ‘Visual Stuff’, ‘LP Stuff’ and ‘Solo Stuff’. If that’s okay with you…

Possibly the earliest visual bit of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band was for a 1967 Pathe Newsfilm about Eccentric English Behaviour.  The inclusion of pop acts in such films wasn't rare in the mid-60s and other bands took full advantage of this bit of free advertising (e.g. Syd Barett's Pink Floyd who filmed a colourful promo for their 'See Emily Play' B-side 'Scarecrow' the same year.  The Bonzos' appearence has been widly bootlegged and boasts the original line-up of the band - Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes, 'Legs' Larry Smith, Roger Ruskin-Spear, Rodney Slater, Sam Spoons and (possibly) Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell - indulging in a bit of curious choreography for 'Music For The Head Ballet' (from their debut  LP Gorilla).  This involved the band sitting in a line, expressionless, waving their heads around in unison to the song's harpsicordian delights while a puppet called Norman (presumably part of their stage act at the time) blew bubbles into the surroundings.  The avuncular voiceover, required by law on such newsreels, offered the following explanations:

After a report about the eccentric Linconshire sport of 'Nurdling' (one of Michael Bentine's Square Games apparently, the secrets of which he presumably took to his grave) we get a magical mimed 'Equestrian Statue' (Gorilla again) which cuts between performance footage (Neil Innes seemingly dressed as a Russian officer) and much larking about in a field, not to mention some messy eating, stock footage of ships and armies, a few reprised clips of other bits of eccentric behaviour in the film and a shot or two of an actual equestrian statue to give the whole thing a bit of credence.  The inclusion of the Bonzos in a film about English eccentricity is inspired, though a few obvious plugs towards their debut LP hint at something less than irreverent lunacy.  The 'Equestrian...' here is a slightly different mix/edit to the released version and Innes repeated refrain of 'Feel so gay...' over the speeded-up trumpet are far more ubiquitous and psychedelic.

The Bonzos hit television as the house-group for the children’s show Do Not Adjust Your Set in 1967. Can you imagine such a thing happening now? No, of course you can’t. The story goes that they were contracted to provide ‘an approximately musical item’ for each show, to break up the sketches provided by Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, David Jason and Denise Coffey. For a band with supposedly sniffy art-house leanings this was a remarkably out-of-character career choice, but, while any half-arsed academic could write a thousand words about their impenetrable dadaist leanings and the relevance of 20s sub-cultural iconoclasm in their work, the sight of them giggling like schoolboys at the childish innocence of Do Not Adjust Your Set is much more fun.

Most of the songs they played on Do Not Adjust Your Set were released as their third LP Tadpoles (one notable instance being ‘By A Waterfall’, which saw all the kiddies in the audience, totally unhampered by po-faced pop culture appreciation, prompted to sing all the ‘you-hoo-hoo-hoo’ refrains in this distinctly retro song - Vivian Stanshall delightfully corpsing at the sheer silliness of the whole event). However, earlier songs had received a DNAYS airing too, including scary performances of ‘Monster Mash’ and ‘The Sound Of Music’ from their first LP Gorilla (1967)

The Bonzos performing ‘Monster Mash’ on Do Not Adjust Your Set (Show 1, Dec ’67)

[NOTE: Both performances are included as audio tracks on the Bonzos rarities CD Anthropology.]

Colour photo from a Do Not Adjust Your Set session (‘Monster Mash’ – Show 1)

As well as providing musical numbers, the band also participated in sketches, did walk-ons and generally ossified their presence.

Do Not Adjust Your Set was a great show. Everything you’ve heard about it being a precursor to Python is totally correct. In fact, at least one item did become a Python sketch – an Eric Idle-written quiz show parody (which takes so long to explain its complex rules that it runs out of time) later popped up on Monty Python’s Previous Record. The final show meanwhile has a distinct atmosphere of ‘Election Night Special’ about it, Michael Palin as a frantic gibbering host, while the Bonzos fleshed out the canvas by manning phones and chattering in the background.

There were twenty nine shows in all. The first series ran for 14 editions from 26 Dec 1967 – 28 March 1968. Two specials (one on the 29 July and the 50 minute Do Not Adjust Your Stocking on Christmas Day) bridged the gap until the second series of 13, running from 19 Feb – 14 May 1969.

Nobody – least of all those involved in the show – seems to know exactly how many of the shows survive. Only two shows have been repeated in recent years (the first show was shown during C4’s ‘TV Heaven’ strand; a 30-minute edit of Do Not Adjust Your Stocking was broadcast during some other C4 theme night). The National Film and Television Archive hold nice original celluloid copies of these, plus a further three - shows 10 and 13 from series 1 and the final show from Series 2.

We were recently sent a nice lengthy chunk from one DNAYS show which boasted The Bonzos playing 'Beautiful Zelda'.  This totally knocked us out as it appeared to have survived as a video recording rather than a celluloid copy. 

The NFTVA print-out suggests that more shows survive but are unavailable for viewing. We could be wrong. Can anybody help?

‘Shhh…’ – a word from the Noise Abatement Society (Do Not Adjust Your Stocking, Christmas, 1968)

The group pay homage to The Sound Of Music

There was a rumour going around that a DNAYS video was due for release but we've heard no more...

Another big Bonzo Dog TV appearance was in the Beatles’ 1967 Christmas film Magical Mystery Tour. For this the band mimed to ‘Death Cab For Cutie’ (from Gorilla) onstage at the Raymond Revue bar, Soho, while a stripper peels off sultrily around them. In the audience, the Beatles shout ‘gerremoff’ while Ivor Cutler (himself very much part of same the counter-cultural soup which spawned English eccentric poets and performers like Vivian Stanshall, Sir John Betjemin, et al) cleans his specs in such a way that suggests he’s actually having a wank.

The stripper finally reveals her nakedness to the Bonzos and the Beatles, though not to us – a large ‘Censored’ caption blots out her areoli. Yeah, like anybody wants to look at tits when you’ve got Vivian Stanshall crooning in a white suit…

Magical Mystery Tour is still available on video.

[NOTE: There is a rumour which suggests that the transmission of Magical Mystery Tour actually clashed with the first episode of Do Not Adjust Your Set (both were broadcast on Boxing Day, 1967). Probably true. Mind you, if you were sensible you’d have watched Do Not Adjust… The Beatles’ film was repeated a few days later anyway, in colour. And it didn’t have Denise Coffey in it.]

[NOTE (2): The Bonzos weren’t the only band lined up for Magical Mystery Tour. Originally The Spencer Davis Group were to make an appearance too, singing their hit ‘Here We Go Around The Mulberry Bush’ For some reason this didn’t occur, although the song eventually spawned a swinging 60s groovy film of its own. The group’s Steve Winwood would later collaborate with Vivian Stanshall for the former’s solo work, notably the nice-in-places Arc Of Diver LP.]

The group also did a 45 minute Colour Me Pop special in December 1968. Colour Me Pop was a Late Night Line-Up offshoot, a sort of precursor to Whistle Test in that it allowed bands to perform their stuff in a studio, sans audience. BBC2’s early 90s Sounds Of The Sixties TV compilations featured loads of sessions from the show, including The Bonzos, The Mothers, The Small Faces and The Moody Blues which appear to survive in the archives for some reason.

Whether or not the full Bonzos Colour Me Pop show survives hasn’t been clarified. Clips of the group performing ‘Canyons Of Your Mind’ and ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’ still exist from the session but these may simply have been kept as test-tapes for engineers (The NFTVA holds a copy of the two sessions (along with TOTP sessions by Jethro Tull and Rod Stewart) on what appears to be an engineers tape).

The Bonzos performances are partly mimed, although the lead vocals are live.

A bootleg CD has been released - Urban Spacemen Do Exist - which features the full show, recorded off-monitor, possibly by a fan at the time (unless, the good lord willing, somebody sneaked a walkman into an archive somewhere recently).

Colour Me Pop - complete transcript

The group appeared on German TV’s Beat Club at least twice. The first saw them perform ‘Equestrian Statue’ with Neil as a sad-faced Pierrot, Stanshall dancing his way through the middle eight with a life sized puppet of himself and a punchline which featured one of Roger Ruskin Spear’s exploding toys.

The second included ‘Canyons Of Your Mind’. Both sessions were mimed, albeit to alternate mixes of the tracks (‘Canyons…’ was the original mono B-side mix which boasted a totally different vocal rendition and alternate reverb during the final belch-ridden crooning).

[NOTE: Other songs were played during these Beat Club sessions but only the above made it to the compilation programmes that used to litter the ITV night-time schedules. A clip of ‘Urban Spaceman’ was used in the opening titles but we’ve never seen a show which played it in full. It has however been played in its own right on satellite channels and reveals Roger Ruskin Spear playing his extremely long-necked guitar.

It's unclear whether the original programmes featured extended sets by the performers or a Top Of The Pops-type scenario. We know of one Beat Club broadcast totally given over to Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention (‘Happening Im Studio 1969’) which has been repeated in recent years on European music channels. The Who also seemingly spent a whole show miming to selections from their Tommy.

The surviving broadcasts are on video, but in black and white (although certain vague instances of faded subliminal colour can be detected in some audience shots for reasons which totally baffle us). Beat Club eventually changed its name to Musik Laden (Music Shop) as it embraced the 70s and the latter shows survive in colour. The Best Of The Beat Club compilations (introduced by Dave Dee in a pink shirt and distributed by Mike Mansfield Productions) featured material from the latter too. As you can imagine the last few shows were a bit barrel-scraping, featuring ‘a few acts you may not be too familiar with from Germany’ and Kevin Keegan singing his other song…

C4’s Top Ten Comedy Songs recently showed a tiny clip from the Beat Club ‘Canyons…’.]

We’ve no info as to whether this has ever been shown on TV but the Bonzo Dog Band also did a 30 minute film called The Adventures Of The Son Of Exploding Sausage in 1968. This is a bizarre affair with no dialogue (or in fact any vocals at all – the music on the soundtrack comprises of instrumental versions of their songs, including a snatch of ‘We Are Normal’ at one point). The very colourful film shows the Bonzos arriving in the grounds of a stately home, on an odd psychedelic train, decked out in all their finery. They proceed to set up their equipment in the field and honk their merry way through a few numbers. Later on they enter the house and indulge in a plasticine banquet with some stray 60s children and also play some silly games outside with them. At the end of the film, the band get into a big car and drive off. Very odd, but then again, no odder than the sort of promo films most 60s bands were making at the time. The strangest thing about the venture is that it doesn’t seem to be promoting anything other than the fact that The Bonzos exist.

We’ve only seen the film once, at a private viewing at the NFTVA. They hold a broadcast-quality copy on a great big videotape. If anybody out there has a copy they are willing to copy for us, please get in touch. Please.

On the subject of promo films, a straight promo for ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’ was also made around the same time. This was most recently shown on TOTP2 (which deserves a BAFTA for this reason alone). The filming session for the promo obviously took place on the same day as the photo sessions for the Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse cover. The enormous dogs and strange mediaeval costumery are very much evident. Innes, at one stage, is seen as a minstrel strumming a lute – a role he later became famed for in Monty Python & The Holy Grail.

‘My Brother Makes The Noises For The Talkies’/’I’m Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight’ – 1966 Parlophone single R5430
Alley Oop’/’Button Up Your Overcoat’ – 1966 Parlophone single R5499

GORILLA – Oct 1967 Liberty LBL/LBS 83056

Side One
Cool Britannia / The Equestrian Statue / Jollity Farm / I Left My Heart In San Francisco / Look Out There’s A Monster Coming / Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold / Death Cab For Cutie / Narcissus

Side Two
The Intro & The Outro / Mickey’s Son And Daughter / Big Shot / Music For The Head Ballet / Piggy Bank Love / I’m Bored / The Sound Of Music

‘Equestrian Statue’ / ‘The Intro And The Outro’ – 1967 Liberty single LBF 15040

THE DOUGHNUT IN GRANNY’S GREENHOUSE – Nov 1968 Liberty LBL/LBS 83158

Side One
We Are Normal / Postcard / Beautiful Zelda / Can Blue Men Sing The Whites / Hello Mabel / Kama Sutra

Side Two
Humanoid Boogie / Trouser Press / My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe / Rockaliser Baby / Rhinocratic Oaths / 11 Mustachioed Daughters / (hidden track)

‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’ / ‘Canyons Of Your Mind’ – 1968 Liberty single LBF 15144

TADPOLES – Aug 1969 Liberty LBS 83257

Side One
Hunting Tigers Out In "Indiah" / Shirt / Tubas In The Moonlight / Dr Jazz / Monster Mash / I’m The Urban Spaceman

Side Two
Ali Baba’s Camel / Laughing Blues / By A Waterfall / Mr Apollo / Canyons Of Your Mind

‘Mr Apollo’ / ’Ready Mades’ – 1969 Liberty single LBF 15201

‘I Want To Be With You’ / ‘We Were Wrong’ – 1969 Liberty single LBF 15273

KEYNSHAM – Nov 1969 Liberty LBS 83290

Side One
You Done My Brain In / Keynsham / Quiet Talks And Summer Walks / Tent / We Were Wrong / Joke Shop Man / The Bride Stripped Bare By "Bachelors" / Look At Me I’m Wonderful

Side Two
What Do You Do / Mr Slater’s Parrot / Sport (The Odd Boy) / I Want To Be With You / Noises For The Leg / "Busted"

LET’S MAKE UP AND BE FRIENDLY – March 1972 United Artists UAS 29288

Side One
The Strain / Turkeys / King Of Scurf / Waiting For The Wardrobe / Straight From My Heart / Rusty (Champion Thrust)

Side Two
Rawlinson End / Don’t get Me Wrong / Fresh Wound / Bad Blood / Slush

The original LPs were issued on United Artists’ Liberty label, aside from their 1972 contractual LP Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly which came out on Sunset (a United Artists subsiduary). To coicide with this release, United Artists also reissued the first four LPs but did some odd things to the covers, putting borders around artwork or retinting designs. Most were also given a uniform band logo design. Tadpoles meanwhile was renamed I’m The Urban Spaceman and given a cover which didn’t even try to ape the original.

The same material featured on the LPs (although ‘Canyons Of Your Mind’ was a slightly different version which included the ‘This is the B-side of our single, sports fans and I’m singing just for you, covered in sequins’ amusement from the ‘Urban Spaceman’ single flip.

Vinyl reissues of the LPs came out in the late 80s. Keynsham boasted a totally new cover design by Vivian Stanshall (though his collage for the original LP was better, frankly).

Currently available CD reissues are foreign imports which further confuses the situation. These editions feature slightly amended tracklists on some of the LPs (Tadpoles for instance features the non-LP track ‘Ready Mades’ in lieu of ‘Canyons…’). The booklets for the CDs feature both the original and the 70s reissues cover designs (for completist reasons, presumably – David Bowie did much the same thing for his first CD reissues).

There are currently two Bonzo Dog Band box sets available on the shelves. The first, Cornology, features all five official LPs, plus a collection of early singles and solo tracks. The material is separated into three CDs – The Intro; The Outro and Dog Ends. Each title has also been released as a separate CD. The set was originally released in 1992 but copies are usually still quite easy to find. You get a nice potted biography in the inlays too, written by Brian Hogg.

The Cornology box set omitted to include the extra track from the end of Doughnut In Granny’s Greenhouse (which features a grandiose piano solo which suddenly gets doused in water). Another slight anomaly is an unnecessary pause between ‘Trouser Press’ and ‘My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe’ when, on the original LP, the two tracks segue.

The other box set is Four Originals From The Bonzos which collects together the first four LPs and packages them as individual CDs in miniature facsimiles of the original sleeves. One doesn’t get the extras which appeared on Cornology (and no-one seems to know why Let’s Make Up And Be Friendly wasn’t included) but it looks lovely and the accompanying booklet features lots of rare Bonzos inserts. And the anomalies re: Doughnut don’t occur here.

Few people remember the Bonzos’ 1992 comeback single ‘No Matter Who You Vote For The Government Always Gets In (Heigh Ho)’. It was overlooked for the Cornology box set, sadly. The song was actually recorded to coincide with the 1987 General Election but, upon hearing that they’d missed the market, shelved it for five years – until the following Election. The CD single release was coupled with old faves ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’ and ‘The Intro & The Outro’ and a new reading of Innes’ ‘Them’ , a version of which had previously been aired on The Innes Book Of Records in 1981.

[NOTE: Does anyone know if there was a promo video for ‘No Matter Who You Vote For…’?]

The Bonzo Dog Band premiered a lot of their work in sessions for Radio One (mainly for John Peel’s Top Gear, but also for Saturday Club and others). Many of these sessions luckily survive and two releases have attempted to cobble the best of the tracks together. The first was a 12" vinyl EP on the Strange Fruit label (part of an ongoing series of Peel Sessions EPs. This featured four tracks – ‘We’re Going To Bring It On Home’; ‘Tent’; ‘Sofa Head’ and ‘Monster Mash’. ‘We’re Going To…’ and ‘Sofa Head’ are songs which were never released on any of the group’s own LPs and apparently formed part of their never-realised ‘Brain Opera’ project. ‘Sofa Head’, for this vinyl release, ends with an uncredited extra track – ‘Give Booze A Chance’, a very silly John & Yoko piss-take – before returning to the ethereal oboe of the previous track.

[NOTE: ‘The Brain Opera’ was also one of the many mooted titles for The Who’s Tommy. Isn’t that interesting.]

Yes, very…

A second Peely session collection, Unpeeled, came out on CD in 1995, again, courtesy of Strange Fruit. This featured a cover-painting by Vivian Stanshall (completed especially for the release shortly before his death) and inlay notes by John Peel. Disappointingly, this release didn’t feature the excellent ‘We’re Going To Bring It On Home’ or ‘Sofa Head’. A severely truncated ‘Give Booze A Chance’ appeared as a track in its own right (and had a DJ (Brian Matthew? Bernie Andrews? DLT? They all sounded the same back then) blethering over the intro). ‘Monster Mash’ also featured DJ-enhancement towards the end while ‘Tent’ was lacking its opening thumping drumbeats. All this proves that there must be several versions of The Bonzos’ sessions tracks in the archives – some which are original tapes and some which are tapes of transmissions. For tracks which fade in or lack intros, it’s safe to assume that the source tapes must have had irremovable DJ voices treading all over them.

Unpeeled also requires some historical dissecting as a few of the selections don’t sound any different from their counterparts on the actual LPs. The reason for this is presumably that many of the tracks on Doughnut… actually started out as Top Gear Radio 1 sessions. A sleevenote on the LP thanks ‘John and Bernie for tolerating the embryonic versions’ of several tracks. The versions of ‘Can Blue Men Sing The Whites’ and ‘Mr Apollo’ on Unpeeled are almost exactly the same as the Doughnut… versions, albeit in mono and less clear in sound-quality. ‘Hello Mabel’ meanwhile is as per the LP version but has a totally different vocal. There’s the odd little extra bit here and there to keep the completists happy but the irksome thing is that the compilers obviously didn’t bother checking the tracks with the LP versions – a lack of care which appears to run through a lot of Bonzos archive releasing. Which brings us to…

In 1999 a CD called Anthropology was released (via the internet only(?)) which collected together Bonzos radio sessions, performances and studio out-takes. Apparently put together by an ex-Bonzo member who’s name we forget, this too was a very mixed collection. A pre-release copy changed hands for a while and sounded somewhat bootleg-like. The final version didn’t differ much. Some excellent out-takes from the Keynsham sessions, a few dubs from Do Not Adjust Your Set, some very lo-fi rehearsal tapes and – obliquely – performances from Beat Club which were mimed anyway! The alternate vocal B-side version of ‘Canyons’ was included, as was the mono mix of ‘Urban Spaceman’ but these had the intros missing and fade outs at the end which, again, suggested that the source tapes were radio broadcasts. The masters must still exist in the EMI archives though. No-one has yet managed to satisfactorily explain where this CD is coming from. Is it official, semi-official or bootleg? Why are some tapes fantastic, others a bit murky? Why are some choices inspired; others a bit ridiculous? Maybe we’ll never know…

The CD featured the Top Gear version of ‘Look At Me I’m Wonderful’ which had also graced Unpeeled. Anthropology’s version was much better quality, but was edited slightly to cut direct references to the show upon which it was being performed.

Anthropology also marked the first time for ‘Sofa Head’ on CD, not to mention the full version of ‘Give Booze A Chance’ (though not segued with each other as per the original Strange Fruit EP). Sadly, ‘We’re Going To Bring It On Home’ wasn’t included and has yet to make its debut on CD as far as we know.

Side One
We’re Going To Bring It On Home / Monster Mash

Side Two
Sofa Head / Tent

Session recorded 29/7/69; transmitted 6/8/69.

UNPEELED
Do The Trouser Press (sic)* / Canyons Of Your Mind* / I’m The Urban Spaceman* / Hello Mabel** / Mr Apollo+ / Tent++ / Monster Mash++ / Give Booze A Chance# / We Were Wrong# / Keynsham# / I Want To Be With You# / Micky’s Son & Daughter## / The Craig Torso Show## / Can Blue Men Sing The Whites### / Look At Me I’m Wonderful+ / Quiet Talks & Summer Walks+

* Top Gear 29/4/68
** Saturday Club 29/10/68
+ Top Gear 31/3/69
++ Top Gear 29/7/69
# Top Gear 2/10/68
## Top Gear 8/11/67
### Top Gear 8/7/67

[NOTE: Looking at the session details here it would appear that ‘Give Booze A Chance’ was recorded almost a year before ‘Sofa Head’. Its inclusion on the Peel Sessions EP is therfore somewhat erroneous, although it’s possible that it was dropped into the original broadcast also.]

Johnnie Peely’s sleevenotes to Unpeeled suggest that there’s a certain confusion as to exactly how many sessions the Bonzos did. The following is from the excellent In Session Tonight by Ken Gardner:

TOP GEAR TX: 12/11/67: The Equestrian Statue, The Craig Torso Show, Mickey’s Son And Daughter; Death Cab For Cutey (line-up: Vivian Stanshall (tp, eu, tu, v); Neil Innes (p, g), Roger Ruskin Spear (cnt, ts, xyl), Rodney Slater (al, ts, bars, bsx, cl, bcl, tb, tu), Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell (bj, bs), ‘Legs’ Larry Smith (d, tu), Sam Spoons (d, perc). Recorded 8/11/67

TOP GEAR TX: 17/12/67: The Equestrian Statue, Mickey’s Son And Daughter, Rockaliser Baby, The Monster Mash, Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold. Recorded 5/12/67.

TOP GEAR TX: 5/5/68: Do The Trouser Press Baby, Canyons Of Your Mind, I’ve Found The Answer, I’m The Urban Spaceman (line up: Dave Clague (b) – replacing Bohay Nowell and Spoons) (Recorded: 29/4/68)

TOP GEAR TX: 21/7/68: Young Girl, Beautiful Zelda, Captain Cool, My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe, 11 Moustachioed Daughters (& Can Blue Men Sing The Whites TX: 18/8/68) (Recorded 8/7/68)

TOP GEAR TX: 20/10/68: Shirt, I’m The Urban Spaceman Baby, The Bride Stripped Bare ‘By The Bachelors’, Excerpt from ‘Brain Opera’ (& Ready Made [E’s Mad Dreg] TX: 1/12/68) (line up: Clague leaves) (Recorded 8/10/68).

SATURDAY CLUB TX: 2/11/68: Somebody Stole My Gal, Trouser Press, Hello Mabel, Canyons Of Your Mind, I’m The Urban Spaceman (line up: Dennis Cowan joins) (Recorded 29/10/68)

RADIO ONE CLUB TX: 13/11/68: Humanoid Boogie, Rockaliser Baby, I’m The Urban Spaceman, Trouser Press, Canyons Of Your Mind (line up: recorded before Cowan joined) (Recorded: 22/10/68)

SATURDAY CLUB TX: 21/12/68: My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe, Santa Cherie Baby, Rhinocratic Oaths, I’m The Urban Spaceman, 11 Moustachioed Daughters (Recorded 17/12/68)

SYMONDS ON SUNDAY TX: 9/3/69: Look Out, There’s A Monster Coming, Humanoid Boogie, Mr Apollo, Canyons Of Your Mind (Recorded 3/3/69)

TOP GEAR TX: 13/4/69: Look At Me I’m Wonderful, Mr Apollo, Quiet Talks And Summer Walks, Excerpt From ‘Brain Opera’ part 3 (Recorded 31/3/69)

TOP GEAR TX: 3/8/69: We’re Going To Bring It On Home, Monster Mash, Sofa Head, Tent (Recorded 29/7/69)

SYMONDS ON SUNDAY TX: 17/8/69: You Dun Mi Brane In (sic), Shirt, Quiet Talks And Summer Walks, Tent (Recorded 11/8/69)

DAVE LEE TRAVIS TX: 21/12/69: Keynsham, I Want To Be With You, Tent (line up: Aynsley Dunbar replaces Smith) (Recorded 15/12/69)

[The book notes that the ‘Contracts file suggests a possible final session recording three days later, on 18/12/69 in AO2 for BRANDON, but there is no record of it having been broadcast’.]

The above info of couse contradicts a lot of previous details, particularly those on the Unpeeled inlay. We’ll leave it to you (for now) to work out whether any of it is correct. But for now, a question – how many of the unreleased titles mentioned above (‘I’ve Found The Answer’, ‘Young Girl’, ‘Captain Cool’, ‘Somebody Stole My Gal’, ‘Santa Cherie, Baby’) still exist in the archives, and why weren’t they included on Unpeeled (was it just boring PRS reasons – as in the case of ‘Young Girl’ which was presumably a jokey rendition of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap’s paedophilic classic)? Moreover, what became of the various parts of the ‘Brain Opera’?

If Pete Towshend can be bothered to run around like a blue-arsed fly reconstructing The Who’s original ‘Lifehouse’ project and Beach Boys fans can spend years attempting to reassemble Brian Wilson’s original ‘Smile’ LP then surely someone can wade through what tapes still survive and put together a reasonable ‘Brain Opera’ facsimile? And if nobody else can be bothered then can we have the job please?

ANTHROPOLOGY – 1999 (no catalogue details available to us)

[NOTE: We don’t have any inlay info, save for a tracklist, so this is a bit assumption-ridden. Send corrections to the usual address…]

Tent (Top Gear Session) / Busted (alt. Version) / I’m The Urban Spaceman (Do Not Adjust…(?) / Mr Slater’s Parrot (alt. Version) / Canyons Of Your Mind (three sections – rehearsal; two takes) / Equestrian Statue (Beat Club) / Keynsham (alt. version) / Quiet Talks & Summer Walks (alt. Version) / What Do You do? (alt. Version) / Give Booze A Chance (Top Gear) / And ¾ (rehearsal tape) / National Beer (rehearsal tape – early version of ‘King Of Scurf’) / Canyons Of Your Mind (B-side version) / Joke Shop Man (alt. Version) / What A Wonderful Day (rehearsal tape) / Mr Hyde In Me (unreleased track) / Look At Me I’m Wonderful (Top Gear) / We Were Wrong (alt. Version) / Sofa Head (Top Gear) / By A Waterfall (Do Not Adjust…) / Boiled Ham Rhumba (unreleased track) / can’t remember the title to this one (rehearsal tape) / Monster Mash (Do Not Adjust…) / Humanoid Boogie (rehearsal tape) / I’m the Urban Spaceman (mono mix) / The Sound Of Music (Do Not Adjust…) / Little Sir Echo (unreleased track) / You Done My Brain In (alt. Version)

We don’t have too much concrete info here. The History Of The Bonzos is worth mentioning as it features a few solo tracks (e.g. Stanshall’s ‘Blind Date’ ) which are unavailable elsewhere and also – so we’re told – some alternate mixes. EMI’s Music For Pleasure budget label put out a pedestrian collection in 1984 - called ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’, obviously - which used the ‘clean mono version’ of the title track (by which they mean the 7" version which didn’t have Vivian Stanshall’s evil laughter overlapping from ‘Monster Mash’. The latter featured on the MFP compilation too, but ‘Urban Spaceman’ had to be placed as the first track, so as not to confuse the plebs). The Bestiality Of The Bonzos is a more recent compilation, the tracks apparently chosen by Stanshall himself.

We heard from somewhere that a new Bonzos LP, comprising of new sessions and unreleased Stanshall stuff, was being planned a few years ago, the title being something along the lines of ‘It Was A Wonderful Party Until Someone Brought A Hammer’. We’ve not heard anything else about this project since. A new Bonzos compilation, New Tricks, was recently released and features totally remastered cuts from the original 4-track masters.  Neil Innes got hands-on for the project, remastering tracks and repairing glitches that had bugged him for years (including Stanshall’s fluffed trumpet note on ‘Cool Britannia’). Defending this revisionism on Sean Hughes’ GLR show, Innes said it was finally a chance for people to hear what the band originally heard coming off the four-track. Hughes then played the remastered version of ‘Labio-Dental Fricative’ (a 1970 single by Viv Stanshall’s Sean Head Showband – although the indifferent Irish twat credited it to the Bonzos) but it didn’t sound all that different to us, particularly. We can’t get GLR very well though, living in London…

Our research is still all over the place here. The next update will blah blah blah...

NEIL INNES - 'Singing a song is easy...'

Neil Innes’ initial post-Bonzos work included a short lived band called The World who did at least one LP, Lucky Planet, and a Radio 1 session. The group featured Dennis Cowan alond with Ian Wallace and Roger Mckew. Then came the touring group of poets, musicans and fey madmen, GRIMMs featuring John Gorman, Andy Roberts, Innes, Roger McGough and Brian Patten (along with John Halsey, Zoot Money, John Megginson and David Richards. Vivian Stanshall was also partially involved at one stage). The group released a few singles and two LPs, Sleepers and Rockin’ Duck (the latter named after Innes’ famous idiot duck-hat). GRIMMs also released a book called Clowns On The Road which boasted lyrics, poems, cartoons and photostrips.

GRIMMs

[NOTE: GRIMMs’ John Gorman was a member of Scaffold (with Roger McGough and Mike McGear), notable for hits like ‘Lily The Pink’ and ‘Thank U Very Much’. He was later to co-devise and appear in the ground-breaking childrens show Tiswas. Fot the latter he also resurrected GRIMMs characters like ‘PC Plod’ and ‘The Masked Poet’. The show also featured a resident pianist called ‘Porky’ (who wore a rubber pig’s mask throughout and whose identity was never revealed). We only mention this because a sequence on one of the Best Of Tiswas videos released in the 90s features a sequence in which Porky and some oboe-playing bloke in a gorilla mask play some distinctly Bonzos-esque music (backing a precocious brat tapping out a drumbeat on peoples heads). Who were the musicians involved? There’s got to be a link there somewhere. And you were all so busy trying to work out who the Phantom Flan Flinger was?]

Innes’ subsequent solo career and Python / Rutland Weekend / Rutles-based stuff is dealt with in other articles on the site. A proper Innes Book Of records article will also be completed soon (which we will subsequently force sideways down the throat of that tall fey ignorant bastard from the PCAS).

[NOTE: Somebody mentioned that we haven't really delved into Innes' children's television work in this entry.  This was a deliberate reaction to the ideology of the TV Cream site which, true to its remit, has a snooty entry, dismissing Innes Book Of Records as a pointless exercise (based on shaky childhood memories) and the usual insistance that when he disappeared into kids TV this was a much more worthy situation for all concerned.

Our own memories of Innes Book... are those of childhood wonder, that such a beautiful series existed at all.  And a recent aquiring of tapes of the shows only served to back up those memories.  Now there's a novelty - a misty-eyed reminiscance which stays misty-eyed when you watch the hard evidence available.  Put that in your Blake's 7 and smoke it... 

But we don't intend to dismiss Innes' kiddiework either.  He epitomised an age where nice avuncular presenters were considered a good thing (a huge contrast to the spiky-haired Pokemon-peddling twats in trainers squealing over the credits of today's youth programming). We fondly recall his stint on The Book Tower (fitting perfectly into a slot which also boasted Roger McGough and Tom Baker as anchors).  There was also Puddle Lane, in which he played a hairy wizard whose best mate was a Welsh dragon puppet.  The 'magic tune' spell went 'pom, pom, pom-pom-pom' which Bonzo-spotters immediately recognised as a refrain from 'The Intro And The Outro'.  And let's not forget The Raggy Dolls, a cartoon series devised and narrated by Innes which was a lot more erudite and inventive than people realised.  Several volumes of the latter were released on video in the 80s.]

Ken Gardner’s trusty In Session Tonight has the following on The World / Neil Innes:

SYMONDS TX: 10/8/70: Not For The First Time, Angelina, Things I Could Have Said (plus Lead Up, TX: 21/9/70). Neil Innes (g, pv), Dennis Cowan (b), Ian Wallace (d), Roger Mckew (lg). Recorded 14/7/70

PEEL TX: 4/8/72: How Sweet To Be An Idiot, I Give Myself To You, Momma B, Every Time, Children’s Song. Neil Innes (o, pv), Tom McGuinness (lg), Hughie Flint (d), Dixie Dean (b), Tony White (rg). Recorded 11/7/72

PEEL TX: 7/2/74: Bandwagon, Twyford Vitromant, Momma B, Dream On/L’Amour Perdu, Disney Waltz, This Love Of Ours. (Gardner notes confusion as to the line up but claims it ‘possibly’ includes Alan Spencer (b), Ollie Halsall (g) and two others). Recorded 31/1/74

PEEL TX: 24/5/77: Drama On A Saturday Night, Randy Raquel, Queen Elizabeth, Cheese & Onions. Neil Innes (pgv), Ollie Halsall (lg, o), Brian Hodgson (b), Pete Baron (d). Recorded 18/5/77

As promo for his 1992 touring show More Jam Tomorrow , Innes appeared on Nicky Campbell’s Radio 1 show for an interview and played several acoustic tracks live in the studio accompanied by Andy Roberts (ex-GRIMMs, a solo artist and, to RWT fans, the first ‘all dead singer’).

NICKY CAMPBELL TX: 1992: For The Benefit Of Mankind, I’m The Urban Spaceman, Eine Kleine Middle-Klasse Musik, Joe Public, What’s Going On

Neil Innes has now thankfully got over his suspicion of the music business and is touring again. A recent ‘Rutles’ show in Winchester saw him reunited with John Halsey and Andy Roberts. He has a new album coming out soon and, if the rumours are correct, his solo LPs are finally to be released on CD.

Next Update: Away With Words - the philisophical ramifications of...

 
VIVIAN STANSHALL – ‘Sanity Is A Compromise’

Vivian Stanshall’s post-Bonzos work was as inspiring and inventive as it was sporadic and infrequent.

Initial radio work included Radio 1’s Viv Stanshall’s Radio Flashes which seemingly saw him standing in for John Peel who was on holiday. This was a two hour Saturday afternoon show, produced by John Walters and ran from 7 – 28 August 1971. Drinking buddy Keith Moon also featured.

Stanshall also teamed up with Kenny Everett and Kenneth Robinson for Radio 4’s If It’s Wednesday It Must Be… in 1972. The BBC Radio Collection’s Kenny Everett At The Beeb features several clips, including a great Xmas musical piece which features Stanshall.

He continued the radio link with John Peel, contributing the ongoing saga of ‘Sir Henry At Rawlinson End’. The story is disjointed and wonderful – fiendishly confusing but with an inner logic making it absolutely essential listening. The original sessions were later re-recorded as an LP for Virgin (which is just as good). There followed a film version, which starred Trevor Howard in the title role, Stanshall as ‘Hubert’ (Sir Henry’s ‘unusual but harmless’ brother), and Do Not Adjust Your Set’s Denise Coffey as ‘Mrs E’, the insufferable maid, and a book which managed to mix all hitherto versions of the tale into an elegant froth.

‘Do you like riddles?’ – Vivian Stanshall in Sir Henry At Rawlinson End

Here’s what Mr Gardner has about Stanshall’s Peels:

TOP GEAR TX: 21/3/70: Cyborg Signal, Blind Date, 11 Moustachioed Daughters, The Strain. Line-up (Viv Stanshall’s Big Grunt): Roger Ruskin Spear (sx), Dennis Cowan (b), Ian Wallace (d), Bubs White (g). Recorded 16/3/70

PEEL TX: 27/10/75: Trail Of The Lonesome Pine, The Unbridled Suite/In The Final Analysis, Aunt Florrie Remembers (from 'Giant Whelks At Rawlinson End’). Line-up: Vivian Stanshall (g, eu, pp, dum dum, talking drum, perc), Pete Moss (b, p, acc, vi, cel), Mox (hca, fl), Bubs White (bj, uk, g). Recorded 16/10/75

PEEL TX: 22, 23, 24 + 26/12/75: Christmas At Rawlinson End parts 1 – 4. Aunt Florrie Recalls, Convivial Vivisectionist, The Party’s Over Now, Uncle Otto, Roar Of The End, A Half For Chuck (Titles include musical backing tracks). Line-up: Stanshall, Moss, Julian Smedley (vi, mnd), Andy Roberts (dul). Recorded 2/12/75

PEEL TX: 6/4/77: Part 34: An Absence Of Whelks, Aunt Florrie Recalls Dan, Nice And Tidy. Recorded 21/3/77

PEEL TX: 23/5/77: Part 35: Spades, Balls And Sausage Trees, Wheelbarrow, Aunt Florrie Recalls. Line-up: Stanshall, Zoot Money (g, p, v), Barry Dransfield (vi, clo). Recorded 11/5/77

PEEL TX: 19/12/77: The Road To Unreason Part 37, Aunt Florrie Recalls, Three Vivisectionists, Mrs Radcliffe. Line-up: Stanshall, Money, Mox (hca, fl) Recorded 24/8/77 and 14/12/77

PEEL TX: 5/4/78: Florrie’s Waltz, Fool and Bladder, Interlewd, Smeeton. Line-up: Stanshall, Smedley, Jim Cuomo (cl, rec, cel, leg). Recorded 29/3/78

PEEL TX: 25/7/78: Ginger Geyser, Socks, Stripe Me A Pinky, Fresh Faced Boys, Aunt Florrie, Piece In Toto. Line-up: Moss replaces Cuomo. Recorded 18/7/78

PEEL TX: 24/12/79: Gooseflesh Steps Part 1: Sig / Cracks Are Showing / Swelter / End Roar / Cums. Line-up: John Kirkpatrick (acc, cnc, jh, bkv) replaces Smedley. Recorded 11/12/79

PEEL TX: 18/4/88: The Crackpot At The End Of The Rainbow, Florrie’s Waltz/Under The Sea, In The Pipes, Murder Living Next Door, Private Rhythms, In The Pipes (reprise), Cackling Gas, Florrie’s Waltz/Under The Sea. Line-up: Stanshall, Moss (p, d, acc), Kenny Baldock (b), Dave Swarbrick (vi, mnd). Recorded: 23/2/88

PEEL TX: 23/11/88: The Eating At Rawlinson End. Line-up: Stanshall, Swarbrick, Tony Roberts, Moss, Danny Thompson. Recorded: 9/8/88

PEEL TX: 6/4/91: Cackling Gas Capers, Octavio, Tour De Farce, Archmedillo, Peristic Waves. Line-up: Stanshall, Swarbrick, Roberts, Thompson, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear, Henry Lowther, John Megginson, Les Cirkel. Recorded 29/5/91 (That can't be right - we've got the recording date as being after the TX.  Where's the book?)

[NOTE: Five ‘Rawlinson End’ pieces were repeated on Radio 4 during one week at Christmas 1996 though we don’t recall which. There may also have been further Peel sessions after the final one mentioned above. We definitely recall a piece (with much the same line-up as the 6/4/91 session) called ‘The Thing At Rawlinson End’, a retread of an earlier storyline which saw Sir Henry befriending a dinosaur (the original version was repeated during the Radio 4 run as ‘Diplodocus Vs Concreton’ ). The dinosaur on the new version was given a fey Welsh accent.]

A second Rawlinson End LP, Sir Henry At Ndidis Krall has a controversy of sorts attatched, Stanshall himself disowning it and claiming it was released without his consent. It’s not the worst comedy LP in the world by any stretch. It plods along nicely, but is certainly more lightweight than the first, perhaps due to being a one-joke individual chapter rather than a mass of intertwining ideas and characters. Some critics have also dismissed it as racist. Quite how they expect a rabid reactionary madman character like Sir Henry to behave when confronted with an African tribesman is anybody’s guess.

Opinion also seems to be divided on the collective merits of Stanshall’s non-Sir Henry LPs, with most people lauding Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead as a pure 'artful' work while dismissing Teddy Boys Don’t Knit as silly or whimsical. Well for heavens sake, people, the plain truth is that they’re both great. Of course the sort of people who dismiss Teddy Boys… are usually those idiotic po-faced twonks who try desperately to cling onto some notion of post-punk ‘We mean it, maaaaan…’ ideology. If they could come out of character long enough to pull their heads out of their arses they might realise that songs like ‘Armchair’ and ‘Tube’ are the stuff which legends should be made of. As is usually the case in these situations, the reverse doesn’t happen – Teddy Boys… fans love Men Opening Umbrellas… too. So who’s the cunt?

1981 saw him contribute to the third series of Neil Innes’ Innes Book Of Records in a typically wondrous insert, sitting on his houseboat reading an ingenious poem about the sea, imbibing the show with an air of misty eyed resonance. It stands out as a fondly-remembered episode.

Now let's pursue a serious note
The German seaman sagt
'Ze Kraaken ist not eine gut idea
To waak-on'
Achtung, the water's fine to waak-on
The water's fine
Providing you're bearded and divine
And full of the faith and very brave
Good God, there goes another wave.

This is the point where a boring journalist might start blethering on about Stanshall’s ‘decline in later years’. We don’t hold with that view, and if anybody needs proof, try and find somebody with a copy of the incredible Crank (a BBC Late Show special repeated later as Vivian Stanshall The Early Years and, after his stupid death, Vivian Stanshall – Diamond Geezer) which mixed together old and new songs in an honest and faintly misty-eyed summing up of his life. The accompanying musicians included Rodney Slater. This session showed him to be as quick, barbed and poetic as he ever was.

Screengrabs from Crank – wonderful…

He also appeared, with Dawn French, in several amazing commercials for Ruddles Ale which pisses on every single indignant party-line opinion you’ve ever heard about how comedians shouldn’t do adverts.

Malcolm Porcupine went to see
If a moon of green cheese would float
He exhaled a spray of 'will you go away'
To the man with the hoppity oats
He brewed humpty of Ruddles which he dumped in puddles
And licked up whenever it snowed
In final conclusion, twas only illusion,
Malcolm Porcupine said 'I'LL BE BLOWED'

And we'll shortly be covering all of Vivian Stanshall's Ruddles ads in great detail.  And sobbing joyfully while doing so.

COLLECTABLES

That's the great thing about doing this site.  People send you STUFF.  Here's a short list of a few tapes which are doing the rounds.

1. DJ Intro
2. Can Blue Men Sing The Whites
3. Look At Me I'm Wonderful
4. Ready Mades
5. I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles
6. Hello Mabel (lead vocal by Innes)
7. Stanshall interview
8. I'm The Urban Spaceman
9. Tent
10. Stanshall Interview clip 2
11. Rockalizer Baby
12. Palladium-style end-theme

1. Rawlinson End (similar reading to LMUABF. References to 'wanking' removed)
2. Bad Blood (as per LMUABF)
3. Wotcha!
4. Come Out Into The Open (later to feature on Innes' How Sweet To Be An Idiot LP)

Audience tape of a gig. Punctuated by an odd audience cackle which sounds worryingly like the looped chuckle on 'Slush'. Digitally dehissed somewhere along the lines (with mixed results).

1. Rawlinson End (Stanshall - exclusive text. Innes plays intro as per LMUABF)
2. Don't Make Me Use My Imagination (Innes - bluesy version of the song, completely unlike the two-tone reading from IBOR)
3. Short Blues (Innes)
4. Sports News (Innes + Stanshall - pre-recorded taped sketch)
5. Country Soul (Stanshall)
6. Rawlinson End - part 2 (Stanshall - amusing barbed ref to '200 Motels' - which featured his mate Keith Moon)
7. (Hole In My Bucket?) (Innes messing about with his piano for bit)
8. How Sweet To Be An Idiot (Innes)
9. The Bible In Modern Translation (Stanshall - 'Jesus and Moses had done a gig up north…')
10. Children's Song (Innes - acoustic version of a song later rendered as a narrative reading on IBOR)
11. Instrumental (Innes + Stanshall)
12. Basement (Innes)
13. The Age Of Desperation (Innes - later to feature on RWT, HSTBAI, etc)
14. I Give Myself To You (Innes - later to feature on RWT, IBOR, etc)
15. Momma Be (Innes - later to feature on HWTBAI, IBOR, etc)
16. Canyons Of Your Mind (Stanshall + Innes)
17. A Bit Of Bach (Innes showing off - finishes with explosion)
18. Humanoid Boogie (Innes)
19. Some odd Afrikaan-style song
20. That Palladium Music the Bonzos always played at the end of shows
21. The Strain (Stanshall + Innes)

1. False Teeth
2. Rawlinson End - Part 1 (various familiar storylines linked with the songs 'Socks', 'Peristaltic Waves', 'Pick The Locks Of Heaven'; 'The Beasht Inside'; 'Nice N Tidy'; 'Fool & Bladder'; 'Murder Living Next Door'; 'Wheelbarrow'; Big Shot *; 'Up Jumped The Trousers'; 'Bad Blood'; 'The Cracks Are Showing')
3. The Book Of True Madness (collected silly stories from newspapers)
4. Armchair
5. The Garrot-O-Neck Capo (chat about the 'Teddy Boys Don't Knit' ad)
6. The Odd Boy
7. Terry Keeps His Clips On
8. I'd Rather Cut My Hands
9. Spondo Doghorn (a few pieces of verse)
10. Geezer
11. The Book Of True Madness (more newspaper cuttings)
12. I'm Strong
13. Introduces The Band
14. Love
15. Rawlinson End (more, more, more, including 'Stripe Me A Pinky'; 'There's The Rub')
16. Laughing Blues
17. Hunting Tigers Out In 'INDIAH'
18. Canyons Of Your Mind
19. Jollity Farm
20. Mr Slater's Parrot

* Not actually 'Big Shot' but a similar detective pastiche (includes a brief ref to the Tennents Pilsner ad - 'It's good but not that good…') and a dismissive nod to the original ('Oh, alright, a bum stopped me on the street, he said have you got a light mac…'), the punchline of which is delivered in unison by the delighted audience!

Stanshall's 'Tales Of True Madness' have obviously influenced Victor Lewis Smith's 'Funny Old World' columns in Private Eye.

Another fantastic element to this show is that it boasts a fuller version of 'I'd Rather Cut My Hands' than on Crank.

A Bonzos biography is actually coming out soon (called ‘Teddy Boys Don’t Knit’) so it’ll all be in there. And if the writer doesn’t mention Porky off of Tiswas we will personally pop round there and shove a rhino right up his shirt.

Chris Morris is an enormous Stanshall aficionado (and once interviewed him while working at GLR). The song 'Shirt' from Tadpoles (in which Stanshall interviewed passers by, asking for their opinions on said garment, while purportedly dressed as a rabbit) was a huge influence on Morris’ ‘Feedback Report’ pieces for On The Hour and The Day Today.  A sample from 'Slush' (the final track on Let's Make up...) often pops up on Blue Jam.

Another fan is Stephen Fry who once included a direct reference to ‘Shirt’ in his brilliant 1988 Radio 4 series Saturday Night Fry [see also ARCHIVE REVIEW] which involved Emma Thompson doing a similar vox pop, announcing ‘Now here comes a man with an enormous Bonzo Dog album under his arm – he’s hopping…’. Stephen Fry also chose ‘Shirt’ as one of the selections on Desert Island Discs .

A few Bonzos tracks have been used as advertising jingles, notably ‘Mr Slater’s Parrot’ who became ‘Mr Cadbury’s Parrot’ for a few months in the late 80s (Stanshall doing the vocal – although he later moaned about the backing track, claiming that he missed Rodney’s original honking sax), and ‘The Intro And The Outro’ which was also used by Cadbury in one of the original ‘How do you eat yours…’ cream egg campaigns (with Stanshall again providing a new voiceover).  Another ad which totally took us by surprise when we saw it again recently was the old Tennants Extra 'It's good but not that good' campaign.  The little animated detective robot (based on Gerry Anderson's Network 7 insert Dick Spanner) was voiced by Stanshall in clear 'Big Shot' mode.  'Terry Keeps His Clips On' (from Stanshall's Teddy Boys Don't Knit) was used, suitably re-lyriced, as a jingle for Toshiba.

Neil Innes has also contributed plenty to the advertising world.  His 'Magic Moments' ads, in which he played an intrusive cuddly-jumpered crooner, spring readily to mind.  We've also always assumed he was behind the 'Mummy wow, I'm a big kid now' jingle for nappies and will continue to pig-headedly believe so until someone rushes forth to correct us...

‘Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold’ was used as the end-theme to Radio 4’s original Who’s Line Is It Anyway shows.

Ben Elton alluded to ‘Cool Britannia’ in a rubbish song he did on his last BBC series.  Really wish he hadn't.

‘Love Fifteen’/’Love Fifteen Year Olds…’

Thanks to James Gent, David Balston and Garett Gilchrist for tapes and general splendidness.