Band’s totally Bonzo line-up
QUESTION Is Eric Clapton the last living member of The Intro And The Outro list of personalities by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band?
Combining satirical comedy with trad jazz and psychedelic pop, the bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band found fame on the iTV children’s show Do not Adjust Your Set.
The intro And The outro was on their 1967 debut album gorilla and was written by the band’s Vivian Stanshall in the style of a master of ceremonies introducing musicians, who supposedly add an instrument, voice or sound effect to the recording.
The seven band members are named, after which there is an imaginary line- up of musicians, royalty, politicians, film stars and fictional characters.
The same riff, based on C Jam blues by Duke Ellington, is repeated throughout and though the music builds as the instruments and sound effects are added, the guest performer introductions continue to the end. Hence the song has only an intro and an outro!
in order, those named are ‘Legs’ Larry Smith (drums); Sam Spoons (rhythm pole); Vernon Dudley bohay-nowell (bass guitar); neil innes (piano); Rodney Slater (saxophone); Roger Ruskin Spear (tenor saxophone); Vivian Stanshall (trumpet); John Wayne (xylophone); Robert morley (guitar); billy butlin (spoons); Adolf Hitler (vibes); Princess Anne (sousaphone); Liberace (clarinet); garner Ted Armstrong (vocals); Lord Snooty and his pals (tap dancing); Harold Wilson (violin); Franklyn macCormack (harmonica); Eric Clapton (ukulele); Sir Kenneth Clark (bass saxophone); a session gorilla (Vox humana); incredible Shrinking man (euphonium); Peter Scott (duck call); Casanova (horn); general de gaulle (accordion); Roy Rogers on Trigger; Wild man of borneo (bongos); Count basie orchestra (triangle); The Rawlinsons (trombone); Dan Druff (harp); Quasimodo (bells); brainiac (banjo); Val Doonican (as himself); max Jaffa; Zebra Kid and Horace batchelor ( percussion) and J. Arthur Rank (gong). of the people named, all were alive at the time of record- ing except Adolf Hitler and Casanova. Stanshall died in 1995. only the other band members, Princess Anne and Eric Clapton are alive today. Kelvin Baldwin, Swanland, E. Yorks.
QUESTION A history of Henry VIII makes numerous references to cloth of gold. What was this material?
AFTER William the Conqueror, a vassal of the French king, made himself king of England in 1066, there were bloody wars between English and French royals.
However, in 1520 there was a meeting between Henry Viii of England and Francis i of France in an attempt to forge a diplomatic alliance and this was known as the Field of the Cloth of gold.
That June, Henry invited Francis to a retinue of more than 5,000 people. Hundreds of masons, carpenters and blacksmiths, as well as painters and glaziers, had been imported to make a gigantic marquee ten metres high that was painted to look like a palace, with 2,800 smaller tents set up around it.
The tents were made of silk interwoven with gold thread, so the shimmering sight gave the gathering its name.
it took place at the French/Calais border, just outside English-held territory, and Francis set up a similar camp on his side of the valley. The meeting was to seal a non-aggression pact the two monarchs had signed two years earlier, but in effect it was a huge party for the nobility.
People wrestled, danced, jousted and tilted for a fortnight amid scenes of festivity and pageantry, with a fountain keeping up a stream of red wine for guests to enjoy. Francis was a keen and elegant dancer, while Henry had costly suits of armour and caparison — the ornamental covering spread over a horse’s saddle — for jousting, including one made of 14 stone of gold and encrusted with 1,000 pearls. The kings did not joust against each other, and on one solemn day it was agreed they would each ride alone through their silent courtiers to embrace at a carefully calculated central point, still on horseback, then dismount to embrace again. Today, the location is a field along Route D231 marked with an obelisk . it did not do much for peace. The sovereigns retained their mutual suspicions and within days of leaving Francis, Henry met the French king’s arch-rival, Roman Emperor Charles V. Anglo-French rivalry soon erupted again when the nations found themselves on opposite sides of the italian War of 1521-26. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wilts.
QUESTION Has any wellknown scientist claimed to have seen a ghost?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his book The new Revelation stated: ‘i was amazed to find a number of great men — whose names were at the fore in science — thoroughly believe that spirit was independent of matter and could survive it.
‘When i regarded Spiritualism as a vulgar delusion of the uneducated, i could affect to look down upon it, but when it was endorsed by men such as Crookes, whom i knew to be the most rising british chemist; Wallace, who was the rival of Darwin; and Flammarion, the best known of astronomers, i could not afford to dismiss it.’
Another famous scientist who came to believe in this phenomena was Sir oliver Lodge FRS. His book Raymond or Life And Death (1916) detailed his search for proof that his son, who died in World War i, lived on in some way. Derided by many, he held fast to his belief and wrote further books on the subject.
Mrs José H. O’Ware, Methwold, Norfolk.
IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5TT; fax them to 01952 780111 or email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.