OTHER WORK
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THEATRE
Doctor Music's Special Mixture
a Musical Cabaret.
First performed - Edinburgh festival Fringe. 1976 Touring 1976-77 Music, lyrics, & performance
Bogeyman: a Musical compendium of magical conundrums
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1976. Touring 1976-77
Script, music,lyrics (and a bit acting)
Oh Mother, You'll never believe this.
a one man play
First performed - Edinburgh Fringe 1977
Fringe First Award - Nominated.
Open Space Theatre, London 1983
Manoeuvres: a black comedy
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1978
One Off: a science fiction play
Commissioned by Ed Berman/ Interaction Theatre
Almost Free Theatre, London. 1978 starring Carmel McSharry
Edinburgh Festival.1979 Toronto. 1980; Los Angeles. 1981
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RADIO, TV, & FILM
'And now the good news' 13 x 30-minute, topical comedy shows.
A show of songs, jokes, and sketches based upon whatever was in the news. Some likely news items could be predicted - (bonfire night, the opening of Parliament, for example). Richard Stilgoe would write and rehearse pieces based on these topics well in advance of the recording date. The show was recorded on a Thursday morning and broadcast that same evening. My job was to scour all the Wednesday and Thursday morning papers for possible subject matter, and write comedy material which was based on the news it was literally – "hot off the press". I had to phone my scripts through to the BBC offices by 10 o'clock on the Thursday morning, and never knew which bits of mine would be used until it was "on air". The show was performed in front of a live audience. I watched and listened to each broadcast with great interest. I was not on a salary; I was paid £10 per laugh.
BBC 2 Television First broadcast 1978
Gags & sketches for Richard Stilgoe
'Chicken on the road' a radio play starring Kenneth More and Michael Kitchen
Something is not right. How come the arrogant young hitch-hiker knows so much about the life of business man who's given him a lift; about his worries, his wife, his mistress.
Who is he - and whose hands are on the wheel?
BBC Radio 4. Afternoon Theatre. First broadcast 1979
'Sweet Logic' a radio comedy
LIMBO: the computer in a computer dating agency doesn't understand the point of matching up complete strangers. Vera doesn't understand men; they are so emotional and illogical. She is LIMBO's new operator. It's a perfect match.
Starring Tim Woodward and Victoria Plucknett
and featuring the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
BBC Radio 4. Afternoon Theatre. First Broadcast 1981
'Pottery Patter' 2 x 30-min light entertainment shows.
A televised version of ‘Dr Music’s Special Mixture
ITV Midlands. 1979 : Script, songs & performance
Click the pic to hear a song from the show >>>
'Stanley Bagshaw' a series of 6 cartoon films (Rostrum animation) for Yorkshire television
Story, Scripts, Artwork, Music & Narration.
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First broadcast: ITV Network. 1984
Repeated : ITV 1989 & 1990,
Channel 4. 1987
Los Angeles Film Festival 1984
Golden Gate' award special jury prize.
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You can buy a DVD of all six stories, and also the original artwork from which the TV series was made, here on this web site.
Go to The Shop
'Words & Pictures' a 25 minute. live action documentary film
for the Thames TV series for schools 'Seeing & Doing'
Script, & TV presentation
Broadcast 1986 . ITV Network
Repeated 1889 & 1990
This 25 minute programme was filmed in my studio, and around the area where I then lived.
In it I explained and demonstrated how I went about writing, researching and illustrating 'Stanley Bagshaw and the 22 ton whale.'
To see an episode click the pic >>>
'Joshua Jones' a series of 13 cartoon films for television (Stop-frame puppet animation) .
I created the characters, originated the story lines, and wrote the scripts.
S4C/ Bumper Films
First broadcast BBC1 1991.
repeated BBC1- 1992 & 1996
Channel 4 1994 & 1998
'The Legend of Lochnagar' a 30 minute cartoon film .(full animation)
Treatment, story lines and original script
S4C/Scottish TV :
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First broadcast
1993 ITV Network
repeated 1994 1996.
then
ABC Network(USA) 1993.
Disney video 1995
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SONGS & MUSIC
I started writing songs in the 60's when I was in London and performing regularly in folk and blues clubs.
( See: About me - St Martin's and Bunjies)
I had a returning audience and needed to expand my repertoire. I was beginning to feel awkward singing folksongs about my life as a penniless millworker, and blues about me being a negro slave working on a chain gang when in truth I was an art student living in a flat in Wandsworth. I decided to write songs that, if not about me, personally, were, at least about things I knew about.
The first song I wrote :'Silicosis' was a jaunty little number about a terminal lung disease. It was written and sung in a strong Stoke dialect. Thus being unintelligible to my London audience it acquired the kudos of folky authenticity. It is still being sung in folk clubs and has travelled to the USA where it is annotated as - "anon traditional"
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Some years later I re-recorded "Silicosis" in the Clock Tower recording studio at Keele University. it was then transcribed onto a few hundred rubber records that were sold for charity as part of their rag week. A copy was presented to Sir Harold Clowes the Lord Mayor mentioned in the song.
I took advantage of being in a proper recording studio to recorded a few more of my songs. Here is one of them.
A local documentary film-maker chanced upon some of these recordings and used them as the soundtrack of a series of films about the regeneration of the potteries.
Click the pic to hear & see.
Soon I was writing songs that were to be performed rather than just sung; ensemble pieces for musical theatre that were that were to be danced to such as the song "Alice down the Palace" (click here)
or written for a particular character to sing such as The Financial Advisor in my play 'Bogeyman'
This led to my being commissioned to write new songs to enhance a specific film sequence such as the one below.
Click the pic to hear & see
I also had a go at writing for brass band. Here below is the theme for the Stanley Bagshaw TV series
I've recorded a CD of my songs. You can sample and download tracks on Spotify or Apple iTunes
Here is a version of one of the tracks which are on the CD performed by Canadian singer and pianist Kimberly Dunn
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PAINTINGS & SKETCHES
I've been painting on and off for well over sixty years - landscape mostly. I do the bulk of the work on the spot finishing off in the studio later. I use a variety of techniques and lots of different media: water-colour, gouache, oils, pastels, biro, ink, crayon, wax resist, bleach - sometimes quite a few at the same time.
Below is a representative selection.
Some of these paintings were commissioned, some have been sold at exhibitions, some are in private collections - (i.e. given to friends and relatives whether they want them or not). Most I still have and are cluttering up the house.
Here I am at work
I still keep a sketchbook. Here is a random selection of pages from one that's ongoing.
I use the photo albums section on my Facebook Home page as a way to store digital copies of all my paintings and sketchbooks. If you'd like to see more of them - and have the opportunity to enlarge them too, the links are here >>>
Paintings England click here
Paintings France click here
Paintings Ireland click here
Portraits from life click here
Paintings Wales click here
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