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| Benny Hill music and other voices | Benny Hill music and other voices |
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| BEEN AND GONE By Nick Serpell BBC News Profiles Unit Our regular column covering the passing of significant - but lesser-reported - characters of the past month. | BEEN AND GONE By Nick Serpell BBC News Profiles Unit Our regular column covering the passing of significant - but lesser-reported - characters of the past month. |
| • Heavy metal is stereotypically seen as the preserve of head banging males but Kelly Johnson brought some glamour to the genre. Born in north London she joined the band Painted Lady which was renamed Girlschool in 1978. They toured with Motorhead and Black Sabbath, their playing style going down well with the fans. Kelly left the band in 1984 and moved to America where she learned sign language and worked with the deaf. She returned to the UK in 1993 reforming Girlschool and touring until cancer forced her retirement in 2000. | • Heavy metal is stereotypically seen as the preserve of head banging males but Kelly Johnson brought some glamour to the genre. Born in north London she joined the band Painted Lady which was renamed Girlschool in 1978. They toured with Motorhead and Black Sabbath, their playing style going down well with the fans. Kelly left the band in 1984 and moved to America where she learned sign language and worked with the deaf. She returned to the UK in 1993 reforming Girlschool and touring until cancer forced her retirement in 2000. |
| Don Arden was renowned for his fierce temper• Head banging was also the trade of Don Arden although, in this case, it was a reference to his reputation for violence. A former entertainer, he moved into managing musicians in the 1950s with stars such as Gene Vincent on his books. He was fearsomely protective of his charges and was not averse to using physical means to see off competitors. He enjoyed his greatest success in the 1970s managing two Midlands based bands, ELO and Black Sabbath. Arden's daughter, Sharon, later married Sabbath's lead singer Ozzy Osbourne. He and Sharon were later estranged for 20 years following a dispute over Ozzy's management contract, which he had given to her as a wedding present. | Don Arden was renowned for his fierce temper• Head banging was also the trade of Don Arden although, in this case, it was a reference to his reputation for violence. A former entertainer, he moved into managing musicians in the 1950s with stars such as Gene Vincent on his books. He was fearsomely protective of his charges and was not averse to using physical means to see off competitors. He enjoyed his greatest success in the 1970s managing two Midlands based bands, ELO and Black Sabbath. Arden's daughter, Sharon, later married Sabbath's lead singer Ozzy Osbourne. He and Sharon were later estranged for 20 years following a dispute over Ozzy's management contract, which he had given to her as a wedding present. |
| • The voice of Ivor Emmanuel was as far removed from heavy rock as it is possible to get. The Welsh born singer made his name in musicals where his fine physique and strong voice made him the natural for parts in shows such as Oklahoma and South Pacific. He achieved world-wide fame in the film Zulu playing the Welsh private whose rendition of Men of Harlech stiffened the resolve of the British soldiers facing the Zulu army at Rorke's Drift. He was a regular on television shows throughout the 1960s and 70s finally retiring in 1982. | • The voice of Ivor Emmanuel was as far removed from heavy rock as it is possible to get. The Welsh born singer made his name in musicals where his fine physique and strong voice made him the natural for parts in shows such as Oklahoma and South Pacific. He achieved world-wide fame in the film Zulu playing the Welsh private whose rendition of Men of Harlech stiffened the resolve of the British soldiers facing the Zulu army at Rorke's Drift. He was a regular on television shows throughout the 1960s and 70s finally retiring in 1982. |
| Peter Tuddenham was best known for his voice-work• Another famous voice was that of Peter Tuddenham a vital part of the BBC sci-fi series Blake's 7 although he never appeared on the screen. He provided the voice of Zen, the mainframe computer on the ship the Liberator, and the somewhat smaller and touchier Orac. His voice also featured in several Doctor Who episodes. He started his career in radio appearing in Mrs Dale's Diary in the 1950s. He made guest appearances in a number of TV dramas including The Onedin Line, Bergerac and Only Fools and Horses and was an acknowledged expert on the dialects of East Anglia. | Peter Tuddenham was best known for his voice-work• Another famous voice was that of Peter Tuddenham a vital part of the BBC sci-fi series Blake's 7 although he never appeared on the screen. He provided the voice of Zen, the mainframe computer on the ship the Liberator, and the somewhat smaller and touchier Orac. His voice also featured in several Doctor Who episodes. He started his career in radio appearing in Mrs Dale's Diary in the 1950s. He made guest appearances in a number of TV dramas including The Onedin Line, Bergerac and Only Fools and Horses and was an acknowledged expert on the dialects of East Anglia. |
| • Ron Miller was the songwriter who produced what is arguably the most excruciating set of lyrics ever to become a hit. I've Never Been To Me was written for and recorded by his then girlfriend Charlene Duncan. Containing immortal lines such as "I moved like Harlow, through Monte Carlo and showed them what I'd got" it flopped on release in 1976. Five years later US radio stations started playing it and it shot into the charts making Miller a millionaire. He later redeemed himself in the eyes of music lovers by penning For Once In My Life for Stevie Wonder. | • Ron Miller was the songwriter who produced what is arguably the most excruciating set of lyrics ever to become a hit. I've Never Been To Me was written for and recorded by his then girlfriend Charlene Duncan. Containing immortal lines such as "I moved like Harlow, through Monte Carlo and showed them what I'd got" it flopped on release in 1976. Five years later US radio stations started playing it and it shot into the charts making Miller a millionaire. He later redeemed himself in the eyes of music lovers by penning For Once In My Life for Stevie Wonder. |
| Benny Hill used the now-infamous Yakety Sax• Another composer of popular music was tenor saxophonist Boots Randolph who came up with the instrumental Yakety Sax. The tune became a hit in 1961 with many saxophonists trying, usually without success, to emulate Randolph's stuttering style. It was revived by Benny Hill where it featured in the closing credits of his TV shows when the comedian was chased by a bevy of attractive girls. Randolph wrote a number of other hit records and also played on hits by other artists including Rocking Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee and Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman. | |
| Editor and former reporter of the year, Richard Stott• A Benny Hill-style smuttiness helped propel the Sun newspaper to Britain's biggest-selling daily in the 1980s, under the flamboyant editorship of Kelvin MacKenzie. For much of that decade his arch rival was the Daily Mirror's editor, Richard Stott, whose steely reserve owed more the traditions of Fleet Street. Stott rose from the local press to the helm of Britain's second biggest daily, then in the ownership of the capricious, and ultimately disgraced, entrepreneur Robert Maxwell. Stott's guile and sharp editorial judgement, and his instinct for knowing his readers, saw him despatched to sister paper the Sunday People, before returning to the Mirror. On Maxwell's death, he switched sides to edit Rupert Murdoch's all-colour tabloid, Today, until it folded in 1995. | |
| Among others who died in July were former first ladies of France and America respectively Claude Pompidou and Lady Bird Johnson; jazz singer and bon viveur George Melly, socialite Count Gottfried von Bismarck and gossip columnist Nigel Dempster. |