LOONY TUNES

HEARD THE ONE ABOUT... MARION McMULLEN PICKS OUT SOME TUNEFUL COMEDIANS

1965

Tattyfilarious tunes: Sir Ken Dodd enjoyed music hit after music hit during his career. He was presented with a silver disc at the London Palladium for selling more than 250,000 copies of Tears, and also released tracks like Happiness and Love Is Like A Violin.

1971

Mine’s a pint: Comedy song Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The

West) earned comedian Benny Hill

a Christmas number one hit. He actually worked as a milkman before entering showbusiness.

2010

Calling the tune: American comedy star Steve Martin won a Grammy for his album The Crow: Songs For The Five String Banjo. He often played the banjo during his stand-up routines and once joked: “All I’ve ever wanted was an honest week’s pay for an honest day’s work”.

1996

Knowing the score: Comedians and Fantasy Football League presenters Frank Skinner and

David Baddiel brought out Three

Lions with Ian Broudie from The

Lightning Seeds for Euro 96 and it quickly became a soccer anthem and went platinum. It has been played at every major football tournament since. 1983 It’s no joke: The Office and Extras star Ricky Gervais (right) joined forces with Bill Macrae in the 1980s to form a group called Seona Dancing.

Their single More To Lose

proved popular in the Philippines and began with the lines: “We used to cry

about the day when one of us might fall weak and blindly into another’s arms”.

1978

Didn’t he do well?

TV favourite Sir Bruce Forsyth went into the recording studio to cut the single I’m Backing Britain

as part of a nationwide campaign. The song was written by married couple Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and featured the lyrics: “good times are blowing our way”.

1968

24-carrott gold: Midlands comedian Jasper Carrott ended up on Top

Of The Pops with his 1970s

novelty hit Funky Moped. It was produced by ELO’s Jeff Lynne.

1972

Music wisdom: Comedian, actor and singer Sir Norman Wisdom was a self-taught musician and could play many instruments including trumpet, clarinet, drums, saxophone, piano and French horn. He composed his own theme tune Don’t Laugh At Me (‘Cause I’m A Fool) with June Tremayne.

1976

Days goon by: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Sir Harry Secombe brought out many comedy records as the Goons, including I’m Walking Backwards For Christmas and The Ying Tong Song. Spike (left) had perfect pitch and was an accomplished cornet player, Harry appeared in many musicals, while Peter (right) brought out singles like Goodness Gracious Me.