Those of you in the UK will certainly heard of the death of Bob Holness this week aged 83. Bob was the host of the iconic Blockbusters TV show for from 1983 to 1994. Anyone for “Can I have a P please Bob?” He began working in radio in 1955 and starred as James Bond in a radio adaptation of Ian Fleming‘s ‘Moonraker’ in 1956. he was possibly the first person to portray the famous secret agent.
He was also the subject of a wonderful and long lasting urban myth. It has long been believed by many that he was the saxophonist on Gerry Rafferty‘s “Baker Street“. However this is definitely a myth, Raphael Ravenscroft played the sax on that song. the myth arose following a regular Stuart Maconie article in the NME back in the 80s for the “Believe It Or Not” section. It was a piece, like many of those included, that Maconie had made up. Bob did play along with the story on some occasions and embellished it a few times too. He has said that he also played lead guitar on Derek and the Dominoes “Layla”. Those gullible people reading this please note; Bob Holness clearly had a great sense of humour.
Bob kept his street cred account well stocked, here he is with Frank Sidebottom and Little Frank
There is a real music link for the South African born TV and Radio presenter though. His daughter Ros was a member of the band Toto Coelo. They were 80s one hit wonders with “I Eat Canibals” in 1982 a song which was produced by 70s hitmaker Barry Blue.
I would like to pass on my condolences to Bob Holness’ family, friends and legions of fans. RIP Bob Holness
It’s January 8th 2012 which means that David Robert Jones is now a pensioner; yes, Mr Bowie is officially an old bloke aged 65. I have made many posts about David Bowie since I started this blog and indeed I have posted on his birthday before as well. So what can I say that I haven’t said before about the Dame? Well how about some trivia about him that you may or may not have heard?
He left school with just one GCE O Level, which means that I left school with twice as many O Levels as he did. The lack of even minor academic qualifications hasn’t held him back though has it?
It is widely known that he shares a birthday with Elvis Presley who was born 12 years before Bowie in 1935. But did you know that he shares that birthday with a number of other music stars as well?
On top of that it is also the same date that the new North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was born in either 1983 or 1984 and Stephen Hawking in 1942.
I am in the middle of reading Peter Doggett’s book ‘The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie And The 1970s’ which is a journey through the 70s song by song of everything Mr Bowie recorded. Parts of it are a little too muso for me, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an excellent book. I have learnt some new things about Bowie, which is really something for a moderately obsessive fan! Did you know that Bowie had wanted Phil Spector to produce the ‘Aladdin Sane‘ album? I certainly didn’t, but it would have been a fascinating mix of styles. That album sold less than half of the nearly 11 million sales achieved by the ‘Lets Dance’ album in 1983.
It would be fair to say that “Rebel Rebel” from the ‘Diamond Dogs’ album is a brilliant pastiche of the Rolling Stones. Did you know that Bowie also provided backing vocals and hand-claps on the Stones hit “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” from 1974? Live Aid in 1985 prompted Bowie and Mick Jagger to record together again with a cover of Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing In The Street”. Not the best cover version in the world in my opinion. In a survey by the PRS last year it was voted as the song that most people would play at street parties to celebrate last years Will and Kate Royal nuptials.
As well as being a musician David has always been a music fan as well and has often championed some of his favourite acts. Back in the early 70s he heard that Mott The Hoople were about to break up so he got in touch and offered them a song to persuade them to stay together. The band went on to have a massive hit with Bowie’s “All The Young Dudes” but did you know that the first song he offered them was “Suffragette City”? They turned it down saying that it didn’t really suit them. Bowie went on to produce Mott’s ‘All The Young Dudes’ album with Mick Ronson. In 1975 Ronson became a member of the band for a short while and recorded what became their farewell single “Saturday Gigs” with them.
So that’s enough of my drivel and it just remains for me to wish David Bowie a fantastic 65th birthday and to share with you the most played Bowie tracks on Spotify in descending order;
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