Wit is a form of intelligent humour —the ability to say or write things that are clever and typically funny. Someone witty is a person who is skilled at making clever and funny remarks. Forms of wit include the quip , repartee , and wisecrack .
112-662: Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall ; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit , best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band , for his exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (as a radio series for John Peel , as an audio recording , as a book and as a film ), and for acting as Master of Ceremonies on Mike Oldfield 's album Tubular Bells . Stanshall
224-448: A Times music critic stated: ... the time has come for serious musical criticism to take account of performances of great music reproduced by means of the records. To claim that the records have succeeded in exact and complete reproduction of all details of symphonic or operatic performances ... would be extravagant ... [but] the article of today is so far in advance of the old machines as hardly to admit classification under
336-584: A bingo caller and spending the winter painting the fairground attractions. To set aside enough money to get through art school (his father having refused to fund this), Stanshall spent a year in the Merchant Navy . He said he was a very bad waiter, but became a great teller of tall tales. Stanshall enrolled at the Central School of Art and Design in London. He joined fellow students in forming
448-401: A de luxe price. Later, Decca Records introduced vinyl Deccalite 78s, while other record companies used various vinyl formulations trademarked as Metrolite, Merco Plastic, and Sav-o-flex, but these were mainly used to produce "unbreakable" children's records and special thin vinyl DJ pressings for shipment to radio stations. The playing time of a phonograph record is directly proportional to
560-426: A euphonium under his arm, and large rubber false ears. And I thought, well, this is an interesting character." At about this time, Stanshall changed his first name to 'Vivian', the name his father had abandoned. This was not made his legal name until 1977. Those who knew him from his student days continued to call him 'Vic'. Later friends and collaborators knew him as 'Viv'. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band were named after
672-457: A vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a phonograph (or "gramophone", "turntable", or "record player"). Records have been produced in different formats with playing times ranging from
784-513: A 10-inch 78 in 1922 for Victor . Longer musical pieces were released as a set of records. In 1903 His Master's Voice in England made the first complete recording of an opera, Verdi 's Ernani , on 40 single-sided discs. In 1940, Commodore released Eddie Condon and his Band's recording of " A Good Man Is Hard to Find " in four parts, issued on both sides of two 12-inch 78s. The limited duration of recordings persisted from their advent until
896-502: A 15-minute autobiographical piece called Vivian Stanshall: The Early Years , a.k.a. Crank , for BBC2 's The Late Show . He confessed to having been terrified of his father, who he said had always disapproved of him. His last television appearance, on The Late Show , was broadcast on 27 November that year. A programme for BBC Radio 4 , Vivian Stanshall: Essex Teenager to Renaissance Man (1994) included an interview with his mother. She insisted his father had loved him. Stanshall said on
1008-558: A Fairytale of Grimm Art (illustrated by the young illustrator and animator Ben Wickey) contains not only Longfellow's impressions of the life and work of her husband of 18 years, but also the remembrances of many of his closest friends, as well as Vivian's private journals. Wit As in the wit of Dorothy Parker 's set, the Algonquin Round Table , witty remarks may be intentionally cruel (as also in many epigrams ), and perhaps more ingenious than funny. A quip
1120-597: A band (including Rodney Slater , Roger Ruskin Spear and Neil Innes , who was studying art at Goldsmiths College ). Innes said of their first meeting: "We first met in a big Irish pub in South London, the New Cross Arms ... he was quite plump in those days, and he was wearing Billy Bunter check trousers, a Victorian frock coat , black coat tails, horrible little oval, violet-tinted pince-nez glasses, he had
1232-608: A basic, inexpensive turntable called the Duo Jr., which was designed to be connected to their radio receivers. According to Edward Wallerstein (the general manager of the RCA Victor Division), this device was "instrumental in revitalizing the industry". The production of shellac records continued throughout the 78 rpm era, which lasted until 1948 in industrialized nations. During the Second World War,
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#17327984280731344-425: A biography titled Ginger Geezer: The Life of Vivian Stanshall . In the same year, Jeremy Pascall and Stephen Fry produced a documentary about Stanshall for BBC Radio 4. Fry knew Stanshall quite well and, along with his personal thoughts, introduced a series of reminiscences. The show featured many clips from Stanshall's work. The recording includes one of Stanshall's last poems, titled "With My Mouth Turned Down for
1456-415: A broader and smoother frequency response, which produced a dramatically fuller, clearer and more natural-sounding recording. Soft or distant sounds that were previously impossible to record could now be captured. Volume was now limited only by the groove spacing on the record and the amplification of the playback device. Victor and Columbia licensed the new electrical system from Western Electric and recorded
1568-558: A competing vinyl format, the 7-inch (175 mm) 45 rpm disc, with a much larger center hole. For a two-year period from 1948 to 1950, record companies and consumers faced uncertainty over which of these formats would ultimately prevail in what was known as the "War of the Speeds" (see also Format war ). In 1949 Capitol and Decca adopted the new LP format and RCA Victor gave in and issued its first LP in January 1950. The 45 rpm size
1680-400: A daughter from an earlier relationship. The Stanshalls had a daughter, Silky, born on 16 August 1979, before they married; she was named after Silky Sullivan , a racehorse that was a childhood favourite of her mother. Stanshall celebrated Silky's birth in "The Tube", and his marriage to Ki in "Bewilderbeeste", both songs being included on his album Teddy Boys Don't Knit . He later gave his wife
1792-649: A few minutes to around 30 minutes per side. For about half a century, the discs were commonly made from shellac and these records typically ran at a rotational speed of 78 rpm , giving it the nickname " 78s " ("seventy-eights"). After the 1940s, "vinyl" records made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) became standard replacing the old 78s and remain so to this day; they have since been produced in various sizes and speeds, most commonly 7-inch discs played at 45 rpm (typically for singles , also called 45s ("forty-fives")), and 12-inch discs played at 33⅓ rpm (known as an LP , "long-playing records", typically for full-length albums ) –
1904-407: A four-part serial adventure titled "Breath From The Pit", featuring the surreal exploits of a Dick Barton or Bulldog Drummond -style gentleman adventurer, Colonel Knutt (played by Stanshall) and his working-class sidekick, the 'likeable cheeky cockney, Lemmy'. This character was a thinly-veiled parody of the character of the same name from Charles Chilton 's Journey into Space , with Moon playing
2016-421: A governor and says that spring drives had replaced hand drives. It notes that: The speed regulator was furnished with an indicator that showed the speed when the machine was running so that the records, on reproduction, could be revolved at exactly the same speed...The literature does not disclose why 78 rpm was chosen for the phonograph industry, apparently this just happened to be the speed created by one of
2128-506: A houseboat, The Searchlight , moored on the Thames between Chertsey and Shepperton . During this period, Stanshall compiled and re-recorded material from his popular BBC Radio 1 broadcasts for Peel, which was released as Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in 1978. He also wrote the script for the film adaptation of the same name, later produced for Tony Stratton Smith 's Charisma Records company in 1980. Following 'Sir Henry', Stanshall wrote
2240-512: A long table; shortly afterwards, Stanshall himself reprised the role of Hubert, reciting a poem loosely based on Edward Lear 's "The Owl and the Pussycat". During this same period, Stanshall embarked upon the recording of a proposed new Rawlinson End album, but this activity was curtailed in its early stages by its creator's untimely death in March 1995. After this, BBC Radio 4 retrieved some of
2352-592: A miscarriage while he was away, and no-one informed him. The band subsequently decided to split whilst they were still friends. They played their last show in March 1970, at Loughborough University . Stanshall formed a number of short-lived groups during 1970 alone, including biG GRunt (formed while the Bonzos were still on their farewell tour, and including fellow Bonzos Roger Ruskin Spear and Dennis Cowan , and with Anthony 'Bubs' White on guitar), The Sean Head Showband (again featuring Cowan and White), Gargantuan Chums, and
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#17327984280732464-629: A mix of music and specially written and recorded comedic sketches. Of the original four episodes, only episodes 2, 3 and 4 remain in the BBC archives; these were re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2014 and again in 2016. All four episodes and a Christmas 1971 compilation special have also circulated among collectors as low-quality, edited off-air recordings since the 1970s. Contributors to the sketches in Radio Flashes included Moon, Traffic 's Jim Capaldi and actress Chris Bowler. The sketches included
2576-748: A niche resurgence in the early 21st century, growing increasingly popular throughout the 2010s and 2020s. Phonograph records are generally described by their diameter in inches (12-inch, 10-inch, 7-inch), the rotational speed in revolutions per minute (rpm) at which they are played ( 8 + 1 ⁄ 3 , 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 , 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 , 45, 78), and their time capacity, determined by their diameter and speed (LP [long play], 12-inch disc, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm; EP [extended play], 12-inch disc or 7-inch disc, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 or 45 rpm; Single, 7-inch or 10-inch disc, 45 or 78 rpm); their reproductive quality, or level of fidelity (high-fidelity, orthophonic, full-range, etc.); and
2688-656: A phonograph record that would hold at least 20 minutes per side. Research began in 1939, was suspended during World War II, and then resumed in 1945. Columbia Records unveiled the LP at a press conference in the Waldorf-Astoria on 21 June 1948, in two formats: 10 inches (25 centimetres) in diameter, matching that of 78 rpm singles, and 12 inches (30 centimetres) in diameter. Unwilling to accept and license Columbia's system, in February 1949, RCA Victor released
2800-584: A small solid circle that fit onto the bottom of the spindle (meaning only one 45 could be played at a time) or a larger adapter that fit over the entire spindle, permitting a stack of 45s to be played. RCA Victor 45s were also adapted to the smaller spindle of an LP player with a plastic snap-in insert known as a " 45 rpm adapter ". These inserts were commissioned by RCA president David Sarnoff and were invented by Thomas Hutchison. Capacitance Electronic Discs were videodiscs invented by RCA, based on mechanically tracked ultra-microgrooves (9541 grooves/inch) on
2912-427: A special release for Record Store Day 2011, Capitol re-released The Beach Boys single " Good Vibrations " in the form of a 10-inch 78-rpm record (b/w "Heroes and Villains"). More recently, The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has released their tribute to blues guitarist Charley Patton Peyton on Patton on both 12-inch LP and 10-inch 78s. CBS Laboratories had long been at work for Columbia Records to develop
3024-480: A spot as the house band on Do Not Adjust Your Set , a weekly children's television revue series that was also notable for early appearances by half of what became the Monty Python team. According to their manager/agent Gerry Bron , after a perhaps ill-advised agreement that the band should be left to their own artistic devices, Stanshall was allowed several weeks in a hired rehearsal space to write songs for
3136-448: A tailor's shop where he admired a pair of trousers on display. Moon then arrived, posing as another customer, and admired the same trousers, demanding to buy them. When Stanshall protested, the two men fought and split the trousers in two, so that they ended up with one leg each; the tailor, understandably, became furious. Then, a one-legged actor – hired by Stanshall and Moon – arrived, saw the split trousers, and proclaimed: "Ah! Just what I
3248-455: A three- or four-speed player (78, 45, 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 , and sometimes 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 rpm); with changer, a tall spindle that would hold several records and automatically drop a new record on top of the previous one when it had finished playing, a combination cartridge with both 78 and microgroove styli and a way to flip between the two; and some kind of adapter for playing the 45s with their larger center hole. The adapter could be
3360-485: A time, with four items per EP, or in a boxed set with three EPs or twelve items. The large center hole on 45s allows easier handling by jukebox mechanisms. EPs were generally discontinued by the late 1950s in the U.S. as three- and four-speed record players replaced the individual 45 players. One indication of the decline of the 45 rpm EP is that the last Columbia Records reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 45 rpm EP records, called Frank Sinatra (Columbia B-2641)
3472-441: A track from his self-titled debut album (with "The Beehive State" on the flipside). Reprise did not proceed further with the series due to a lack of sales for the single, and a lack of general interest in the concept. In 1978, guitarist and vocalist Leon Redbone released a promotional 78-rpm single featuring two songs ("Alabama Jubilee" and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone") from his Champagne Charlie album. In
Vivian Stanshall - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-431: A variety known as extended play (EP), which achieved up to 10–15 minutes play at the expense of attenuating (and possibly compressing) the sound to reduce the width required by the groove. EP discs were cheaper to produce and were used in cases where unit sales were likely to be more limited or to reissue LP albums on the smaller format for those people who had only 45 rpm players. LP albums could be purchased one EP at
3696-401: A variety of sizes. As early as 1894, Emile Berliner 's United States Gramophone Company was selling single-sided 7-inch discs with an advertised standard speed of "about 70 rpm". One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators, or governors , as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Berliner Gramophone shows
3808-455: A wild eccentric, and a powerful personality who could be both charming and intimidating, Stanshall was perhaps too large a figure even for the music business to handle. ... He needed a producer to channel his energies, but always wanted to remain his own boss, having suffered too many perceived indignities in his early experience of the music business." He was described by Neil Innes as "a national treasure". In 2001, Welch and Lucian Randall wrote
3920-540: A word game that Stanshall played with co-founder Slater, in which they cut up sentences and juxtaposed fragments to form new ones. 'Bonzo Dog/Dada' was one result which they liked. The band initially performed under this name, but grew tired of explaining what Dada meant; hence they changed it to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, 'doo-dah' being a quaint expression that both Slater's mother and Stanshall himself used to describe everyday objects. Later this name
4032-399: Is an observation or saying that has some wit but perhaps descends into sarcasm , or otherwise is short of a point. A witticism also suggests the diminutive. Repartee is the wit of the quick answer and capping comment: the snappy comeback and neat retort. Metaphysical poetry as a style was prevalent in the time of English playwright William Shakespeare , who admonished pretension with
4144-552: The Bloomsbury Theatre . After this, he returned to the stage again, touring in a solo show, 'Rawlinson Dog-Ends', initially with support from musicians including Jack Bruce . When Bruce quit, over a lack of adequate rehearsals, Moss stepped in to provide bass. In 1968, Stanshall married fellow art student Monica Peiser, and their son Rupert was born that year. They divorced in 1975. On 9 September 1980, Stanshall married Pamela 'Ki' Longfellow , an American writer who had
4256-662: The Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey, whose products would come to dominate the market for several decades. Berliner's Montreal factory, which became the Canadian branch of RCA Victor , still exists. There is a dedicated museum in Montreal for Berliner ( Musée des ondes Emile Berliner ). Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 130 rpm, and
4368-558: The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was front-page news in The New York Times , which reported: The audience broke into applause ... John Philip Sousa [said]: '[Gentlemen], that is a band. This is the first time I have ever heard music with any soul to it produced by a mechanical talking machine' ... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but
4480-494: The working men's club circuit, mainly in the north of England. The band dominated their lives, as they frequently travelled to low-paying gigs in an old van crammed with any number of musical instruments, an assortment of props, and prop robots. In 1967, they appeared in the Beatles ' television film Magical Mystery Tour , in which they played Stanshall's " Death Cab for Cutie " during the strip club scene. The appearance led to
4592-608: The "B" side. In the 1990s Rhino Records issued a series of boxed sets of 78-rpm reissues of early rock and roll hits, intended for owners of vintage jukeboxes . The records were made of vinyl, however, and some of the earlier vintage 78-rpm jukeboxes and record players (the ones that were pre-war) were designed with heavy tone arms to play the hard slate-impregnated shellac records of their time. These vinyl Rhino 78s were softer and would be destroyed by old juke boxes and old record players, but play well on newer 78-capable turntables with modern lightweight tone arms and jewel needles. As
Vivian Stanshall - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-602: The 1880s. Emile Berliner improved the quality of recordings while his manufacturing associate Eldridge R. Johnson , who owned a machine shop in Camden, New Jersey , eventually improved the mechanism of the gramophone with a spring motor and a speed regulating governor, resulting in a sound quality equal to Edison's cylinders. Abandoning Berliner's "Gramophone" trademark for legal reasons in the United States, Johnson's and Berliner's separate companies reorganized in 1901 to form
4816-526: The BBC television satire series Up Sunday . In 1973, Stanshall recorded tracks for the soundtrack album of the movie That'll Be the Day backed by Moon, Ronnie Wood , Graham Bond and Jack Bruce , and collaborated on numerous musical projects, making a memorable appearance as the Master of Ceremonies on Mike Oldfield 's 1973 album Tubular Bells . (He reprised the role for Tubular Bells II in 1992, but
4928-567: The Bonzos' 1967 number, " The Intro and the Outro ": 'Great to hear the Rawlinsons on trombone.' In 1978, Stanshall released an album, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End , that reworked some material from the Peel sessions. This in turn was adapted into a film version in 1980, which was produced in a sepia-tinted black-and-white. It starred Trevor Howard as Sir Henry, and Stanshall as Hubert. Some of
5040-777: The Bonzos' yet-to-be recorded contractual obligation/reunion album of 1972. The session is also notable for marking the first appearance in any medium of an episode of Stanshall's magnum opus, Rawlinson End . Stanshall also found time during this period to be a founder member of the performance/poetry/music group Grimms , alongside Innes, The Scaffold and associated poets and musicians. Although Stanshall left Grimms before they made any recordings, he did continue to perform live with them on occasion. Throughout this period, still suffering badly with anxiety and now drinking heavily to self-medicate, Stanshall nonetheless continued to write, record and tour with Freaks and Grimms (and briefly as guest touring frontman for The Temperance Seven in 1972). He
5152-579: The Night". In 2003, Sea Urchin Editions published the script of the Stanshalls' Stinkfoot: An English Comic Opera , with an introduction by his widow, Ki. On 22 December 2009, BBC Radio 4's series Great Lives featured a programme on Stanshall, who had been nominated by Neil Innes, with Ki Longfellow as expert witness, hosted by Matthew Parris. In June 2010, the 1978 album Sir Henry at Rawlinson End
5264-614: The Stanshalls lived and worked on The Thekla , a Baltic Trader, which Ki sailed 732 nautical miles (1,356 km) from Sunderland to be moored in the Bristol Docks . Ki had bought the vessel and converted her into a floating theatre called 'The Old Profanity Showboat'. Stanshall joined her on it in 1983, when they opened the doors of the theatre. By this time, he was already suffering from alcohol and drug abuse, having become addicted to Valium while trying to control his anxiety. In December 1985, The Old Profanity Showboat produced
5376-555: The United Kingdom. Stanshall is represented in the work by two quotes and his name. In 2012, Poppydisc Records reissued both a vinyl and CD version of Stanshall's Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead , remastered with new liner notes from his widow and daughter. On 26 January 2018, Longfellow's biography/memoir/free-form art book detailing Stanshall's life was published. Filled with Stanshall's paintings, sketches, notes, letters, and private photographs, The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall,
5488-520: The United States Armed Forces produced thousands of 12-inch vinyl 78 rpm V-Discs for use by the troops overseas. After the war, the use of vinyl became more practical as new record players with lightweight crystal pickups and precision-ground styli made of sapphire or an exotic osmium alloy proliferated. In late 1945, RCA Victor began offering "De Luxe" transparent red vinylite pressings of some Red Seal classical 78s, at
5600-531: The Urban Spaceman " co-produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon under the alias 'Apollo C. Vermouth'. Meanwhile the band toured incessantly and recorded a multitude of radio sessions for the BBC, alongside several albums. They also embarked upon two poorly organised but well-received tours of the United States. (Neil Innes remembers that the band were stopped by a local sheriff and asked if they were carrying any firearms or drugs. When they denied both,
5712-602: The Wolf , produced by Robin Lumley and Jack Lancaster and featuring, among others, Gary Moore , Manfred Mann , Phil Collins , Bill Bruford , Stéphane Grappelli , Alvin Lee , Cozy Powell , Brian Eno and Jon Hiseman . 1976 saw the release of his single " The Young Ones ", where the old Cliff Richard standard was delivered in the style of Boris Karloff . In 1977, Stanshall and his companion, Pamela 'Ki' Longfellow , moved into
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#17327984280735824-531: The album The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse . During recordings for the album proper at Morgan Studios, Stanshall, wearing just a rabbit's head and underpants, interviewed members of the public in Willesden High Road. On the album track "We Are Normal", one interviewee can be heard to remark, 'He's got a head on him like a rabbit.' Later in 1968, the Bonzos scored a surprise top-ten hit with " I'm
5936-443: The album (and its contemporary single "Lakonga") can justifiably lay claim to being an early, unheralded example of a crossover between world music and rock music. Stanshall's long-standing friends and colleagues Innes, White, Traffic 's Steve Winwood , Jim Capaldi , Ric Grech and Rebop Kwaku Baah , Doris Troy and Madeline Bell also made notable guest appearances. Deleted after its first pressing and out of print for many years,
6048-462: The album was finally re-released on CD in 2012. The BBC documentary One Man's Week , broadcast on 9 April 1975, documented a week in Stanshall's life and included footage of him at The Manor recording studio during the sessions for Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead , where he played with White, Lawal, Mongezi Feza, and Derek (or Deryk) Quinn. In 1975, Stanshall provided the narration for Peter and
6160-778: The available groove length divided by the turntable speed. Total groove length in turn depends on how closely the grooves are spaced, in addition to the record diameter. At the beginning of the 20th century, the early discs played for two minutes, the same as cylinder records. The 12-inch disc, introduced by Victor in 1903, increased the playing time to three and a half minutes. Because the standard 10-inch 78 rpm record could hold about three minutes of sound per side, most popular recordings were limited to that duration. For example, when King Oliver 's Creole Jazz Band, including Louis Armstrong on his first recordings, recorded 13 sides at Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, in 1923, one side
6272-557: The brothers were never close. Stanshall studied at Walthamstow College of Art , where he met fellow students Ian Dury and Peter Greenaway . When he was 10, the Stanshall family moved to the Essex coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea . He attended Southend High School for Boys until 1959. As a young man, Stanshall (known as Vic) earned money doing various odd jobs at the Kursaal fun fair in nearby Southend-on-Sea . These included working as
6384-462: The corner, looking all sad." During the first half of the 1920s, engineers at Western Electric , as well as independent inventors such as Orlando Marsh , developed technology for capturing sound with a microphone , amplifying it with vacuum tubes (known as valves in the UK ), and then using the amplified signal to drive an electromechanical recording head. Western Electric's innovations resulted in
6496-589: The debut of their work Stinkfoot, A Comic Opera . Stanshall wrote 27 original songs for the opera, sharing book and lyric writing with his wife. It has proved popular over the years, and was revived in London some years later, with Peter Moss as musical director . It was also produced in concert form in Bristol , in July 2010. Having returned to London alone in 1986 while his wife recovered from an illness, Stanshall saw Stinkfoot briefly, but unsuccessfully, revived at
6608-525: The earliest jazz and military band recordings. The loudest instruments such as the drums and trumpets were positioned the farthest away from the collecting horn. Lillian Hardin Armstrong , a member of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band , which recorded at Gennett Records in 1923, remembered that at first Oliver and his young second trumpet, Louis Armstrong , stood next to each other and Oliver's horn could not be heard. "They put Louis about fifteen feet over in
6720-600: The early machines and, for no other reason continued to be used. In 1912, the Gramophone Company set 78 rpm as their recording standard, based on the average of recordings they had been releasing at the time, and started selling players whose governors had a nominal speed of 78 rpm. By 1925, 78 rpm was becoming standardized across the industry. However, the exact speed differed between places with alternating current electricity supply at 60 hertz (cycles per second, Hz) and those at 50 Hz. Where
6832-414: The film's music was provided in collaboration with Stanshall's friend Steve Winwood . A book of the same title – by Stanshall, illustrated with stills from the film – was published by Eel Pie Publishing in 1980. Nominally a film novelisation, it was distilled from the various versions and included considerable material that did not make it to the film. A projected second book, The Eating at Rawlinson End ,
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#17327984280736944-899: The final release featured Alan Rickman instead.) Stanshall made guest appearances on a number of other artists' recordings including John Entwistle 's Smash Your Head Against The Wall in 1971, Mike Hart 's Basher, Chalky, Pongo and Me in 1972, Pete Brown 's The Not Forgotten Association in 1973, and Robert Calvert 's 1974 concept album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters . In early 1974, Stanshall wrote, arranged, and quickly recorded his first solo album, Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead . A rather more serious work than many would have expected, its darkly comic lyrics detailed Stanshall's alcoholism and troubled emotional state, laced with surreal poetic imagery and literary reference. Other lyrics included implicit references to other musicians and
7056-429: The first 45 rpm single, 7 inches in diameter with a large center hole. The 45 rpm player included a changing mechanism that allowed multiple disks to be stacked, much as a conventional changer handled 78s. Also like 78s, the short playing time of a single 45 rpm side meant that long works, such as symphonies and operas, had to be released on multiple 45s instead of a single LP, but RCA Victor claimed that
7168-485: The first electrical discs during the spring of 1925. The first electrically recorded Victor Red Seal record was Chopin 's "Impromptus" and Schubert 's "Litanei" performed by pianist Alfred Cortot at Victor's studios in Camden, New Jersey . A 1926 Wanamaker's ad in The New York Times offers records "by the latest Victor process of electrical recording". It was recognized as a breakthrough; in 1930,
7280-403: The form of the compact disc , had gained a larger market share, and the record left the mainstream in 1991. Since the 1990s, records continue to be manufactured and sold on a smaller scale, and during the 1990s and early 2000s were commonly used by disc jockeys (DJs), especially in dance music genres. They were also listened to by a growing number of audiophiles . The phonograph record has made
7392-445: The formerly standard "78s" over the next decade. The late 1950s saw the introduction of stereophonic sound on commercial discs. The phonautograph was invented by 1857 by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It could not, however, play back recorded sound, as Scott intended for people to read back the tracings, which he called phonautograms. Prior to this, tuning forks had been used in this way to create direct tracings of
7504-422: The happiest time of his childhood. When the war ended his father returned, but the young Victor found him difficult and comparatively stern after having been alone with his mother. His father made him speak with a "plummy" accent for which he later became known. The family moved to the father's hometown of Walthamstow , Essex , where Stanshall's younger brother Mark was born in 1949. With six years between them,
7616-466: The introduction of the LP record in 1948. In popular music, the time limit of 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 minutes on a 10-inch 78 rpm record meant that singers seldom recorded long pieces. One exception is Frank Sinatra 's recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein 's " Soliloquy ", from Carousel , made on 28 May 1946. Because it ran 7m 57s, longer than both sides of a standard 78 rpm 10-inch record, it
7728-480: The late 19th century, at first competing with earlier cylinder records. Price, ease of use and storage made the disc record dominant by the 1910s. The standard format of disc records became known to later generations as "78s" after their playback speed in revolutions per minute, although that speed only became standardized in the late 1920s. In the late 1940s new formats pressed in vinyl, the 45 rpm single and 33 rpm long playing "LP", were introduced, gradually overtaking
7840-421: The latter being the most prevalent format today. The phonograph record was the primary medium used for music reproduction throughout the 20th century. It had co-existed with the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880s and had effectively superseded it by around 1912. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as the compact cassette were mass-marketed. By the 1980s, digital media , in
7952-550: The mains supply was 60 Hz, the actual speed was 78.26 rpm: that of a 60 Hz stroboscope illuminating 92-bar calibration markings. Where it was 50 Hz, it was 77.92 rpm: that of a 50 Hz stroboscope illuminating 77-bar calibration markings. At least one attempt to lengthen playing time was made in the early 1920s. World Records produced records that played at a constant linear velocity , controlled by Noel Pemberton Billing 's patented add-on speed governor. Early recordings were made entirely acoustically,
8064-461: The music business, and a rather more explicit satire of the author's relationship with his own penis. Musically, while certain tracks display Stanshall's usual keen sense of rock and roll parody, most of the album has a 'tribal' or 'fusion' flavour. Prominently featuring the Nigerian musician Gasper Lawal and with many tracks infused with richly textured African percussion and chorus vocal stylings,
8176-483: The name of 'Ki' from a dream. Even though their comic opera Stinkfoot was a success in late 1985, Stanshall returned alone to London after the turn of the year, while Longfellow recuperated from an illness brought on by overwork and stress. The Stanshalls lived apart until his sudden death in March 1995. Years later, Longfellow wrote The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art , detailing Stanshall's life and work from 1977 to 1995. In 1991, Stanshall made
8288-704: The new Bonzo Dog Band album. When Bron arrived at the location to check the progress of these endeavours, he found that Stanshall had not written anything at all and had instead built a variety of hutches for his pet rabbits. Bron mentioned in a television documentary that this occurred in May 1968 in a hall in Acton, west London ; the actual location is Askew Road Church Hall, at the start of Bassein Park Road in Shepherd's Bush . The date would suggest that these were rehearsals for
8400-436: The new high-speed changer rendered side breaks so brief as to be inconsequential. Early 45 rpm records were made from either vinyl or polystyrene . They had a playing time of eight minutes. At first the two systems were marketed in competition, in what was called " The War of the Speeds ". The older 78 rpm format continued to be mass-produced alongside the newer formats using new materials in decreasing numbers until
8512-536: The number of audio channels ( mono , stereo , quad , etc.). The phrase broken record refers to a malfunction when the needle skips/jumps back to the previous groove and plays the same section over and over again indefinitely. The various names have included phonograph record (American English), gramophone record (British English), record, vinyl, LP (originally a trademark of Columbia Records ), black disc, album, and more informally platter, wax, or liquorice pizza. Manufacture of disc records began in
8624-432: The officer asked how they were going to defend themselves. Stanshall piped up from the back of the minibus, "With good manners!") It was during the particularly disastrously organised second tour that the Bonzos decided to break up, partly because of Stanshall's growing stage fright – combined with his increasing use of valium to help combat this – but also because of anger with their management, after Spear's wife suffered
8736-525: The onset of an anxiety disorder that caused a nervous breakdown and would continue to plague him for the rest of his life. However, he soon recovered sufficiently to record and release, on the Liberty label, his first solo single "Labio-Dental Fricative/Paper Round", credited to Vivian Stanshall and The Sean Head Showband (an oblique reference to Stanshall having shaved off all of his hair during his breakdown), and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar. Later in
8848-410: The original Peel show recordings from the vaults for late-night repeat during Christmas 1996. Stanshall regularly performed live with Grimms , as well as occasionally working with The Alberts and The Temperance Seven during the first few years of the decade. He was also a frequent contributor to BBC radio at this time, appearing weekly on Start The Week and Jack de Manio Precisely , and also on
8960-432: The phrase "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit". It may combine word play with conceptual thinking, as a kind of verbal display requiring attention, without intending to be laugh-out-loud funny. Indeed wit in verse can be a thin disguise for more poignant feelings. English poet John Donne is the representative of this style. More generally, one's wits are one's intellectual powers of all types. Native wit —meaning
9072-442: The role of Lemmy. Stanshall had developed what many consider to be his seminal work, Rawlinson End , as a spoken word performance piece during the first few years of the 1970s, recording an early version as part of The Bonzo Dog Band's reunion project Let's Make Up And Be Friendly . Beginning in 1975, he expanded upon the concept as an episodic surrealist radio serial for BBC Radio 1 's John Peel slot, elaborating further upon
9184-452: The same band, masquerading under a variety of names.) In early 1971, Stanshall reunited again with Innes, Cowan and White as 'Freaks' to tour new material. In order to promote ticket sales, they were more often than not billed as 'Bonzo Dog Freaks'. With Keith Moon guesting on drums, Freaks quickly recorded a BBC radio session for John Peel that featured solo numbers by Stanshall and Innes alongside tracks from Let's Make Up And Be Friendly ,
9296-493: The same name. Electrical recording and reproduction have combined to retain vitality and color in recitals by proxy. The Orthophonic Victrola had an interior folded exponential horn, a sophisticated design informed by impedance-matching and transmission-line theory, and designed to provide a relatively flat frequency response. Victor's first public demonstration of the Orthophonic Victrola on 6 October 1925, at
9408-577: The same programme that his father had never shown it, not even on his deathbed. Stanshall was found dead on the morning of 6 March 1995, after an electrical fire had broken out as he slept in his top-floor flat in Muswell Hill , north London. His private funeral service was held at the Golders Green Crematorium , north London. A few days later his memorial service was held at St Patrick's Church, Soho Square . A memorial plaque
9520-533: The same vein of Tin Pan Alley revivals, R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders issued a number of 78-rpm singles on their Blue Goose record label. The most familiar of these releases is probably R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders' Party Record (1980, issued as a "Red Goose" record on a 12-inch single), with the double-entendre " My Girl's Pussy " on the "A" side and the X-rated "Christopher Columbus" on
9632-400: The same year, a temporarily rejuvenated Stanshall embarked upon a nationwide concert tour, titled 'Rawlinson Dog Ends', with support from former Bonzos and centred around a performance of new Rawlinson End material. 'Sir Henry' was last seen in a television commercial for Ruddles Real Ale (c. 1994), where he was portrayed by a cross-dressing Dawn French , presiding over a family banquet at
9744-424: The second 'Sir Henry' album on it during a period of debilitating physical illness. The album was disowned by Stanshall after its release, as he said it was both unfinished and unsatisfactory, and that the record label had rush-released it without his permission in an attempt to profit from his potentially imminent demise. However, the noticeably superior BBC radio broadcasts continued sporadically until late 1991. In
9856-406: The second session, on 30 April, the two 12-inch recordings were longer: "Embraceable You" was 4m 05s; "Serenade to a Shylock", 4m 32s. Another way to overcome the time limitation was to issue a selection extending to both sides of a single record. Vaudeville stars Gallagher and Shean recorded "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean", written by themselves or, allegedly, by Bryan Foy, as two sides of
9968-438: The slightly longer-lived Bonzo Dog Freaks, with Innes and the ever-faithful Cowan and White (this conglomerate was also known simply as 'Freaks'). Early that year, biG GRunt recorded a well-received session for BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel , and shortly afterwards made a memorable appearance on BBC television. Despite this promising start, biG GRunt dissolved during their first UK tour when Stanshall became incapacitated by
10080-454: The songs for his third album Teddy Boys Don't Knit (1981), which included three songs about his family, and contributed a lyric to Winwood's Arc of a Diver . He and Longfellow married in 1980, and together they wrote some of the songs they later used for a musical comedy , Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera . In 1982, Stanshall provided a spoken word segment on " Lovely Money ", a single by The Damned . After The Searchlight eventually sank,
10192-471: The sound was collected by a horn and piped to a diaphragm , which vibrated the cutting stylus. Sensitivity and frequency range were poor, and frequency response was irregular, giving acoustic recordings an instantly recognizable tonal quality. A singer almost had to put their face in the recording horn. A way of reducing resonance was to wrap the recording horn with tape. Even drums, if planned and placed properly, could be effectively recorded and heard on even
10304-642: The summer of 1958 in the U.S., and in a few countries, such as the Philippines and India (both countries issued recordings by the Beatles on 78s), into the late 1960s. For example, Columbia Records ' last reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 78 rpm records was an album called Young at Heart , issued in November 1954. Columbia and RCA Victor each pursued their R&D secretly. The commercial rivalry between RCA Victor and Columbia Records led to RCA Victor's introduction of what it had intended to be
10416-476: The town's seaside promenade. It is made of 300 slabs of granite that cover about 2200 square meters. Featuring catchphrases, jokes and names, it commemorates more than 1000 selected "influential" comics, most of whom have played Blackpool in the last hundred years. The project was commissioned by the Blackpool Council as part of its redevelopment plan, and it is one of the largest pieces of public art in
10528-426: The vibrations of sound-producing objects, as by English physicist Thomas Young in 1807. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph , which etched sound recordings onto phonograph cylinders . Unlike the phonautograph, Edison's phonograph could both record and reproduce sound, via two separate needles, one for each function. The first commercially sold disc records were created by Emile Berliner in
10640-508: The weird and wonderful adventures of the inebriated and blimpish Sir Henry Rawlinson, his wife, the distanced and ethereal Florrie, his "unusual" brother Hubert, loyal manservant Old Scrotum 'the wrinkled retainer ', the rambling and unhygienic cook Mrs E.; and many other inhabitants of the crumbling Rawlinson End and its environs. Stanshall had been playing around with the Rawlinson characters for some time, and they were first referred to on
10752-515: The wits with which one is born—is closely synonymous with common sense . To live by one's wits is to be an opportunist , but not always of the scrupulous kind. To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quick reasoning . To be at the end of one's wits ( "I'm at wits' end" ) is to be immensely frustrated . 78 record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record , especially in British English) or
10864-523: The year, his single version of Terry Stafford 's song " Suspicion ", credited to Vivian Stanshall and Gargantuan Chums and featuring Keith Moon and John Entwistle of the Who , was released. Featured on the B-side was "Blind Date", the only officially released track by biG GRunt. (However, all of Stanshall's backing bands of 1970 featured the same core personnel, so it could be argued that they were essentially
10976-435: Was 2:09 and four sides were 2:52–2:59. In January 1938, Milt Gabler started recording for Commodore Records , and to allow for longer continuous performances, he recorded some 12-inch discs. Eddie Condon explained: "Gabler realized that a jam session needs room for development." The first two 12-inch recordings did not take advantage of their capability: "Carnegie Drag" was 3m 15s; "Carnegie Jump", 2m 41s. But at
11088-455: Was also a regular guest, broadcaster and presenter on numerous series on BBC radio. Despite his ongoing personal difficulties, Stanshall's humorous exploits continued unabated. His adventures with long-time drinking buddy Keith Moon (who would become Stanshall's regular partner in crime for much of the 1970s after producing and appearing on Stanshall's single " Suspicion ") were legendary. In one quite possibly apocryphal example, Stanshall visited
11200-672: Was born on 21 March 1943 at the Radcliffe Maternity Home Shillingford , Oxfordshire , son of Victor George Stanshall (1909–1990; born Vivian), at the time of his son's birth an RAF corporal, later a company secretary, then company director ( FCIS ), and Eileen Monica Prudence (née Wadeson). He was christened Victor Anthony. He lived with his mother while his father served in the RAF during the Second World War . Stanshall described this early period as
11312-624: Was gaining in popularity, too, and Columbia issued its first 45s in February 1951. By 1954, 200 million 45s had been sold. Eventually the 12-inch (300 mm) 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 rpm LP prevailed as the dominant format for musical albums, and 10-inch LPs were no longer issued. The last Columbia Records reissue of any Frank Sinatra songs on a 10-inch LP record was an album called Hall of Fame , CL 2600, issued on 26 October 1956, containing six songs, one each by Tony Bennett , Rosemary Clooney , Johnnie Ray , Frank Sinatra , Doris Day , and Frankie Laine . The 45 rpm discs also came in
11424-544: Was issued on 7 December 1959. The Seeburg Corporation introduced the Seeburg Background Music System in 1959, using a 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 rpm 9-inch record with 2-inch center hole. Each record held 40 minutes of music per side, recorded at 420 grooves per inch. From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, in the U.S. the common home record player or "stereo" (after the introduction of stereo recording) would typically have had these features:
11536-543: Was joined by Innes, Rick Wakeman , Danny Thompson , Rodney Slater, Sam Spoons, Vernon Dudley Bowhay-Nowell , 'Legs' Larry Smith and John Otway , to perform Sir Henry at Rawlinson End at the Bloomsbury Theatre . The event was organised by Livesley and Stanshall's son Rupert. On 11 October 2011, the Blackpool Comedy Carpet , a large public artwork by Gordon Young , was unveiled in Blackpool on
11648-436: Was looking for! I'll buy them!" Thanks to his association with John Peel, in 1971 Stanshall was asked to fill in for the disc jockey while he was on a month's holiday. The resulting short series, titled Vivian Stanshall's Radio Flashes , was recorded under the supervision of Peel's regular producer John Walters and broadcast on BBC Radio One on Saturday afternoons during August 1971. The series of four two-hour programmes were
11760-481: Was never completed. A second Rawlinson album, Sir Henry at N'didi’s Kraal (1984), recounts Sir Henry's disastrous African expedition, omitting the rest of the Rawlinson clan. At the time, Stanshall was living on The Searchlight , a houseboat that he had bought from Denny Laine and kept moored near Shepperton on the River Thames . He lived on The Searchlight from 1977 to 1983, and recorded and produced
11872-547: Was not until the LP era that an entire album of material could be included on a single record. In 1968, when the hit movie Thoroughly Modern Millie was inspiring revivals of Jazz Age music, Reprise planned to release a series of 78-rpm singles from their artists on their label at the time, called the Reprise Speed Series. Only one disc actually saw release, Randy Newman 's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today",
11984-432: Was re-imagined by Michael Livesley as a one-man show, in which he starred as the narrator and all the characters, backed by a six-piece band replicating the instrumentation of the original. The production won rave reviews, then premiered in London on 14 October 2011. It also drew praise from Innes and Adrian Edmondson , who were in the audience. On 25 March 2013, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Stanshall's birth, Livesley
12096-506: Was released on Columbia 's Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12-inch record. In the 78 era, classical-music and spoken-word items generally were released on the longer 12-inch 78s, about 4–5 minutes per side. For example, on 10 June 1924, four months after the 12 February premier of Rhapsody in Blue , George Gershwin recorded an abridged version of the seventeen-minute work with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. It
12208-490: Was released on two sides of Victor 55225 and ran for 8m 59s. "Record albums" were originally booklets containing collections of multiple disc records of related material, the name being related to photograph albums or scrap albums. German record company Odeon pioneered the album in 1909 when it released the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky on four double-sided discs in a specially designed package. It
12320-399: Was shortened to The Bonzo Dog Band, or just The Bonzos. Much of the band's original repertoire was based on comedic re-workings of songs from the 1920s and 1930s, found on 78 records , bought for pennies from local flea markets . For a while the band operated semi-professionally, playing local pubs and the college circuit. After acquiring a manager, they went full-time and were booked on
12432-568: Was unveiled in the Poets' Corner at Golders Green Crematorium on 13 December 2015, opposite that of his friend Keith Moon , by his widow Ki and his daughter Silky. Others attending included actor Tony Slattery , singer Linda Thompson and actress Cherri Gilham . The cost of the plaque was met by many of his fans and friends via online crowdfunding . Writing in The Independent after Stanshall's death, Chris Welch wrote: "Seen by some as
12544-583: Was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory ... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 [cycles per second], or five and a half octaves ... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process. Sales of records plummeted precipitously during the early years of the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the entire record industry in America nearly foundered. In 1932, RCA Victor introduced
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