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In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom a person shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in an immediate family in which there is a more specific term (e.g., mother, father, sister, brother, etc.). The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of a genetic link.

Systems of "degrees" and "removals" are used in the English-speaking world to describe the relationship between two cousins and the ancestor they have in common. Various governmental entities have established systems for legal use that can handle kinships with common ancestors existing any number of generations in the past, though common usage often eliminates the degrees and removals and refers to people with common ancestry as simply "cousins" or "distant cousin".

By extension, the term "cousin" can also be used when referring to the genetic relationships between humans and any other form of life, as per the theory of evolution of all life on Earth descending from one common ancestor. However, the term in this sense is most commonly restricted to the fields of study surrounding ecological genetics.

Basic definitions[link]

The ordinals in the terms "first cousins", "second cousins", "third cousins", describe the "degree" of the cousin relationship. The degree of two cousins' relationship is determined by the number of generations to their closest common ancestor.^[1] When the cousins are not the same generation, they are described as "removed". In this case, the smaller number of generations to the common ancestor is used to determine the degree, and the difference in generations determines the number of times removed. Note that the ages of the cousins are irrelevant to the definition of the cousin relationship.

Asymmetric definitions[link]

The dyadic definitions of cousins in the previous section are common but not universal. As with other relationship definitions, e.g., father-daughter; aunt-nephew, some people prefer to use an asymmetric terminology that defines both the relationship and the roles played by each person in the relationship.^[2] In this case, the degree of the relationship from cousin A to cousin B is determined by the distance from A to the common ancestor and the number of times removed is the difference in generations between A to B. Sometimes "upwards" or "downwards" is used to indicate the direction of this difference. For example, if A has a grandparent whose sibling is B's parent, then B is A's "second cousin, once removed (upwards)", whereas A is B's "first cousin once removed (downwards)".^[3]

Additional terms[link]

The following is a list of less common cousin terms.

Colloquial usage[link]

Although precise legal nomenclature exists, in day to day speech, "cousin" is often used unmodified. Thus, a person may use the term "cousin" to refer to cousins of all types, e.g., first, second, and third cousins, as well as cousins once or more times removed. Modifier terms such as "half-cousin" or "step-cousin" are rarely used in everyday speech. The term "cousin" is also sometimes used for people someone is close to, even if they are not actually blood relatives.

Relationships chart[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

A "cousin chart", or "table of consanguinity", is helpful in identifying the degree of cousin relationship between two people using their most recent common ancestor as the reference point. Cousinship between two people can be specifically described in degrees and removals by determining how close, generationally, the common ancestor is to each person.

Canon law relationship chart[link]

Canon Law Relationship Chart. See an example of how to use chart.

Another visual chart used in determining the legal relationship between two people who share a common ancestor is based upon a diamond shape, usually referred to as a "canon law relationship chart".

The chart is used by placing the "common progenitor" (the person from whom both people are descended) in the top space in the diamond-shaped chart, and then following each line down the outside edge of the chart. Upon reaching the final place along the opposing outside edge for each person, the relationship is then determined by following that line inward to the point where the lines intersect. The information contained in the common "intersection" defines the relationship.

For a simple example, in the illustration to the right, if two siblings use the chart to determine their relationship, their common parents are placed in the topmost position and each child is assigned the space below and along the outside of the chart. Then, following the spaces inward, the two would meet in the "brother (sister)" diamond. If their children want to determine their relationship, they would follow the path established by their parents, but descend an additional step below along the outside of the chart (showing that they are grandchildren of the common progenitor); following their respective lines inward, they would come to rest in the space marked "1st cousin". In cases where one side descends the outside of the diamond further than the other side because of additional generations removed from the common progenitor, following the lines inward shows both the cousin rank (1st cousin, 2nd cousin) plus the number of times (generations) "removed".

In the example provided at the right, generations one (child) through ten (8th great-grandchild) from the common progenitor are provided; however, the format of the chart can easily be expanded to accommodate any number of generations needed to resolve the question of relationship.

Mathematical definitions[link]

Table of Consanguinity, showing legal degrees of relationship

There is a mathematical way to identify the degree of cousinship shared by two individuals. Each "great" or "grand" in the description of one individual's relationship to the common ancestor has a numerical value of 1.

Example: If person one's great-great-great-grandfather is person two's grandfather, then person one's "number" is 4 (great + great + great + grand = 4) and person two's "number" is 1 (grand = 1). The smaller of the two numbers is the degree of cousinship. The two people in this example are first cousins. The difference between the two people's "numbers" is the degree of removal. In this case, the two people are thrice (4 − 1 = 3) removed, making them first cousins thrice removed.

Example 2: If someone's great-great-great-grandparent (great + great + great + grand = 4) is another person's great-great-great-grandparent (great + great + great + grand = 4), then the two people are 4th cousins. There is no degree of removal, because they are on the same generational level (4 − 4 = 0).

Example 3: If one person's great-grandparent (great + grand = 2) is a second person's great-great-great-great-great-grandparent (great + great + great + great + great + grand = 6), then the two are second cousins four times removed. The first person's "number" (2) is the lower, making them second cousins. The difference between the two numbers is 4 (6 − 2 = 4), which is the degree of removal (generational difference).

See also[link]

• Collateral descendant
• Consanguinity
• Cousin marriage
• Cross cousin
• Family
• Genealogical numbering systems
• Kinship terminology
• List of coupled cousins
• Most recent common ancestor
• Parallel cousin
• Generation

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up cousin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Genealogy.com definition of various cousins
• Genealogy.com: What makes a cousin?
• Genetic Genealogy

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The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in creative ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, and originally appeared in a series of children's novels from 1968.^[1] Although Wombles supposedly live in every country in the world, Beresford's stories are concerned with the lives of the inhabitants of the burrow on Wimbledon Common in London, England.

The characters became nationally famous in the UK in the mid 1970s as a result of a very popular BBC children's television show using stop motion animation. A number of spin-off novelty songs also became major hits in the British music charts. The Wombles (band) was the brainchild of British music writer and composer, Mike Batt.

The Womble motto is "Make Good Use of Bad Rubbish." This green message was a reflection of the growing ecology movement of the 1970s.^[2]

Background[link]

Elisabeth Beresford was a freelance ghost writer and children's book author. She was born in Paris and travelled the world with her BBC sports commentator husband Max Robertson.^[3]

One Christmas, Elisabeth Beresford took her young children for a Boxing Day walk on Wimbledon Common, where one referred to it as "Wombledon Common." On getting home, Elisabeth Beresford wrote down the idea and started developing the characters and storylines.^[4]

Characters[link]

Beresford developed the characters around members of her family, and named them after places the family had associations with:^[5][6]

• Great Uncle Bulgaria - the Wombles' leader, was based on Beresford's father-in-law and named after the country of the same name.^[2]
• Tobermory - an engineer, was based on Beresford's brother, a skilled inventor, and named after the capital of the Isle of Mull, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides islands.
• Orinoco - a shirker who loved sleep and food, was styled on Beresford's teenage son and named after the River Orinoco in South America
• Bungo - over-enthusiastic and bossy named after Bungo Province in Japan
• Tomsk - an athletic Womble with a rather low IQ named after Tomsk in Russia
• Wellington - scientifically inclined, but very insecure and absent-minded. Named after her nephew's school: Wellington School, Somerset.
• Madame Cholet - a cook, was styled on Beresford's mother, named after the town of Cholet in France
• Miss Adelaide - schoolmistress, named after the city of Adelaide in Australia
• Alderney - Madame Cholet's assistant, was named after Alderney in the Channel Islands where Beresford lived towards the end of her life. She appeared in the early books, but did not make it into the first TV series. Her character was revived in the second TV series, when many viewers wrongly assumed she was a new character.

Later character names for the film Wombling Free and second Wombles TV series developed in the same manner:

• Cousin Cairngorm McWomble the Terrible - named after the Cairngorms, a mountain range in Scotland. He was introduced in the second book (The Wandering Wombles) as a Highland Womble clan chief. He appeared in the TV series when he visited the Wimbledon burrow.
• Shansi - often paired with Alderney, as Bungo was with Orinoco, named after a Shanxi province in China
• Stepney - East Ender with dreadlocks, obviously got his name from the Stepney area in London's East End where he came from
• Obidos named after Óbidos, Pará in Brazil

In the first book, Bungo was the youngest and least experienced of the team, and the story is mostly viewed through his eyes. Afterwards Wellington (who was not introduced until the second book) took over the role of "new boy". Alderney and Adelaide appeared in the earlier books but were not included in the original 1970s TV series. Alderney was re-introduced in the later TV shows produced in the 1990s (the Channel Island of Alderney was actually Elisabeth Beresford's home at the time), along with Stepney (who appeared in none of the earlier versions).

The Storyline[link]

Though it is stated that Wombles live all around the world, the collection upon which Beresford's collection of stories, as well as the television series and the music, are based, is the group living in Wimbledon Common in London, England. Below a certain age, all Wombles are nameless. Upon coming of age, a Womble chooses his name by looking through Great Uncle Bulgaria's large atlas until they find a name that suits them. Some, like Bungo, "merely shut their eyes tight and point and hope for the best."^[7] They then leave Miss Adelaide's "Womblegarten" and join in the communal work of the burrow, which is mostly clearing up and recycling human refuse. The life expectancy of a Womble is over 200 years, with some reaching 300 (which would make them the longest-lived of all animal species).

Wombles are vegetarians (herbivores more precisely) and are very fond of mushrooms. They eat a variety of plants, fungi, and tree products that Human Beings cannot, or will not, eat. So daisy buns, acorn juice, fir-cone soufflé, elm bark casserole and grassbread sandwiches are part of the Womble menu - augmented by any food left behind on the Common by Human Beings.

Wombles are very careful to keep their existence secret from Human Beings - at least in the books and TV series. In the movie Wombling Free this is reversed as the Wombles seek to get Human Beings to listen to their "make good use of bad rubbish" pleas. Otherwise secrecy is the rule, though there have been a few exceptions, such as Mr. Smith, a lonely senior citizen who is invited inside the Wombles burrow on Christmas Eve.^[8] They generally have a low opinion of other animals, though kind to them. They especially have a poor opinion of Human Beings, with the exception of royalty, especially the Queen. They dislike lies and lying, though on occasion they are known to stretch the truth or omit important details.

There are other species and burrows of Wombles discovered throughout the series of books. The Loch Ness monster is revealed to be a clan of water Wombles and the yeti of the Himalayas are revealed to be giant snow-white Wombles. Wombles have a sixth sense which allows them to sense green spaces and wildlife, first mentioned in the Wandering Wombles, but developed to a keen long range telepathic sense by Dalai Gartok Womble in The Wombles Go Round The World. Wombles also apparently have retractable claws like cats, although they rarely use them.

In the original editions of the books the Wombles are pictured as bear-like and between 4 and 5 feet (about 1.5 metres) in height. Their size and appearance changed with the TV series, where they are portrayed as about knee high with pointy snouts, much like a raccoon's (although raccoons are not native to Britain). In the book and movie Wombling Free they are described as "short, fat, and furry", roughly between three or four feet (about 1 metre) in height.

Children's novels[link]

There were five novels:

• The Wombles (1968)
• The Wandering Wombles (1970)
• The Wombles at Work (1973)
• The Wombles to the Rescue (1974)
• The Wombles Go Round the World (1976)

All of these were out of print for many years, but through 2010 and 2011 they were re-issued by Bloomsbury with all-new illustrations. The last two books are less well known than the original three, perhaps because they appeared after the successful television series began. In The Wandering Wombles, the setting moved from Wimbledon Common to Hyde Park in central London. However The Wombles to the Rescue saw them return to Wimbledon Common.

Four of the books were illustrated by Margaret Gordon. The Wombles at Work (1973) was illustrated by Barry Leith. The appearance of the Wombles in the books followed the design of the Ivor Wood TV puppets, with the exception of The Wombles (1968) which preceded the TV series and depicted the Wombles as teddy bear-like creatures.

Wombles appearing in the books included:

• Great Uncle Bulgaria
• Tobermory
• Madame Cholet
• Miss Adelaide
• Tomsk
• Bungo
• Orinoco
• Wellington
• Alderney
• Shansi

Additional Wombles included:

• Cousin Yellowstone
• Cairngorm the MacWomble
• Omsk
• Culvain
• Ness
• Cousin Botany
• Speyer and Heilbronn
• Frau Heidelberg
• Habsburg Von Hohenzollern Womble
• Ms Atlanta
• Idaho
• Dalai Gartok
• Nanking
• Cairns and Perth
• Great-Great Aunt M. Murrumbidgee
• Eucula
• Uncle Dunedin
• Cousin Tokyo
• Hirado

Beresford also wrote a collection of short stories entitled The Invisible Womble and Other Stories (1973), in which the original Wimbledon Common setting was restored. Although based on episodes from the TV series, these stories occasionally refer to events in the novels.

In addition to these books, a great many annuals, picture-books and children's early readers have been published over the years, some of which were also written by Elisabeth Beresford.^[9]

Television[link]

A stop motion animated series was made between 1973 and 1975.^[10] Further animated episodes were made in 1998-1999.^[1]

Music[link]

Songwriter and producer Mike Batt wrote the series' theme tune, and later went on to perform and produce a number of highly successful novelty singles as The Wombles in the 1970s.^[1]

Film[link]

A feature-length live-action movie Wombling Free was released in 1977, starring The Wombles, David Tomlinson, Frances de la Tour and introducing Bonnie Langford. A soundtrack album was released in 1978. A region 2 DVD of the film was released by Network DVD in 2006, containing the film in its theatrical aspect ratio, the original theatrical trailer, and archive interviews with Bonnie Langford, David Tomlinson and writer/director Lionel Jeffries.^[11]

Other appearances[link]

The Wombles starred in a number of British comics including Teddy Bear (1973), Jack and Jill (1973–81), a number of holiday specials, and as the interval act at the Eurovision Song Contest 1974.

The Wombles were exported to American audiences in the late 1970s when they made occasional appearances on CBS' Captain Kangaroo.

The Wombles are popular in the MUD world, particularly on Discworld MUD.^[12]

In 2009 The Wombles featured in "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" which reached No.1 in the UK singles charts.

In 2011 The Wombles performed at Glastonbury.^[13]

The Wombles and sport[link]

Due to the Wombles' association with the area, some local sporting teams representing Wimbledon are sometimes affectionately dubbed "the Wombles". These teams include the Ladies side of Wimbledon RFC^[14] (whose mascot is Alderney), Wimbledon Volleyball Club and the Wombles Netball Club.^[15]

From 2000 to June 2003, Wimbledon F.C. used a Womble named "Wandle" as a club mascot after the local River Wandle. However, in light of the controversy over the moving of the club to Milton Keynes, the licence to use the character was not renewed.^[16] In 2006 the club's spiritual successor AFC Wimbledon agreed a licensing deal, and launched its own Womble mascot. After a naming competition in which the final name was chosen by Elisabeth Beresford herself, the club announced that the new Womble would be known as "Haydon," after Haydons Road, the nearest railway station to Wimbledon's original home ground, Plough Lane.

Elisabeth Beresford also gave permission for a team of Wombles to run the London Marathon every year raising money for Jesuit Missions UK.^[17]

In a special episode of "A Question of Sport" that was themed around the Wimbledon tennis championships, Sue Barker mentioned having asked then team captains Ally McCoist and John Parrott to name their Wimbledon heroes. The replies were "Vinnie Jones" and "Uncle Bulgaria"!

In popular culture[link]

Barrington Womble MBE (played by John Halsey) is the drummer of the fictional band The Rutles. A spoof of The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

Various allusions and puns are made in reference to the Wombles in the Warhammer 40,000 book series Ciaphas Cain by author Sandy Mitchell, being referenced in the form of the "Reclaimers" chapter of the Space Marines.

The 2005 film Breakfast on Pluto features the Wombles.

In the Bottom episode "'s Out", the main characters Eddie and Richie camp out on Wimbledon common and try hunting Wombles (Eddie mistakes a hedgehog for a womble) to get a meal. They fail.

The British comedy The Vicar of Dibley references the Wombles repeatedly. According to Dawn French's character Geraldine Granger: "I once tried to go on Mastermind, but they didn't like my special subject. Apparently there just aren't enough questions about the Wombles."

The Wombles are vitriolically parodied in The Borrible Trilogy by Michael de Larrabeiti as the Rumbles, the upper-class, rodent-like enemies of the working-class scavenger main characters.

The term "womble" is sometimes used in British slang to describe a person who is well-meaning but absent-minded or ineffectual. For example, Jeremy Clarkson often refers to Highways Agency Traffic Officers, who exasperate him as a matter of principle, as "traffic wombles" on Top Gear.

In the fifth season of The Ricky Gervais Show, Stephen Merchant compared Ricky Gervais to a Womble while discussing Ricky's experiences as an unemployed artist in the 1980s.

During the London Riots of 2011 people started to use the Twitter Hashtag #riotwombles to gather people over social media to help clean up the streets affected by the riots.^[18]

On 19 December 2011, the Wombles were featured on an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tidy Bag - The Online Wombles Museum
• Womble Lovers
• The Womble Burrow
• The Official Wombles Website
• Obituary for Elisabeth Beresford, and Mike Batt's connections with the Wombles

Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002^[1]) was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s.^[2][3] The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums states Donegan was "Britain's most successful and influential recording artist before The Beatles. He chalked up 24 successive Top 30 hits, and was the first UK male to score two U.S. Top 10s".^[1]

Early life and trad jazz[link]

Born as Anthony James Donegan in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a professional violinist who had played with the Scottish National Orchestra, he moved with his family in 1933 to East Ham, Essex (now in Greater London).^[4]

Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire to escape the Blitz in World War II, and he attended St Ambrose College, initially at the school's original site in Dunham Road, Altrincham.

In the early 1940s he mostly listened to swing jazz and vocal acts, and became interested in the guitar.^[4] Country & western and blues records, particularly by Frank Crumit and Josh White, attracted his interest and he bought his first guitar at the age of fourteen in 1945.^[4] From listening to BBC radio broadcasts in the following years he began learning songs such as "Frankie and Johnny", "Puttin' On the Style", and "The House of the Rising Sun".^[4] By the end of the 1940s he was playing guitar around London and visiting small jazz clubs.^[5]

The first band he played in was the trad jazz band led by Chris Barber, who approached him on a train asking him if he wanted to audition for his band. Barber had heard that Donegan was a good banjo player; in fact, Donegan had never played the banjo at this point, but he bought one and tried to bluff his way through the audition. More on personality than playing, he was brought into Barber's band.^[4] His stint with the band was interrupted when he was called up for National Service in 1949, but his military service in Vienna gave him contact with American troops, and access to records as well as the opportunity to listen to the American Forces Network radio station.^[5]

In 1952 he formed his first group, the Tony Donegan Jazzband, which found some work around London. On one occasion they opened for the blues musician Lonnie Johnson at the Royal Festival Hall.^[4] Donegan was a fan of Johnson, and took his first name as a tribute to him. The story goes that the host at the concert got the musicians' names confused, calling them "Tony Johnson" and "Lonnie Donegan", and Donegan was happy to keep the name.^[6]

In 1953 cornetist Ken Colyer, enjoying hero status for having spent time in a New Orleans jail (due to a visa problem), returned to England and, when invited to play with Chris Barber's band, became a moving figure within it. With the new name, Ken Colyer's Jazzmen, the group, with Donegan, made its initial public appearance on 11 April 1953 in Copenhagen. The following day, Chris Albertson recorded the group (as well as a Monty Sunshine Trio, with Donegan and Barber) for Storyville Records. These were Donegan's first commercially released recordings.^{[citation needed]}

Skiffle[link]

While playing in Ken Colyer's Jazzmen with Chris Barber, Donegan sang and played both guitar and banjo as part of their Dixieland jazz set. He also began playing with two other band members during the intervals, to provide what was called on their posters a "skiffle" break, a name suggested by Ken Colyer's brother, Bill, after recalling the Dan Burley Skiffle Group of the 1930s.^[4] In 1954 Colyer left, and the band became Chris Barber's Jazz Band.^[5]

With a washboard, a tea-chest bass and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan entertained audiences with folk and blues songs by artists such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie.^[4] This proved so popular that in July 1954 he recorded a fast-tempoed version of Leadbelly's "Rock Island Line", featuring a washboard but not a tea-chest bass, with "John Henry" on the B-side.^[4] It was an enormous hit in 1956 (which also later inspired the creation of a full album, An Englishman Sings American Folk Songs, released in America on the Mercury label in the early 1960s) but ironically, because it was a band recording, Donegan made no money from this recording beyond his original session fee. (Nevertheless, Donegan received considerable music publishing royalties from "Rock Island" simply by claiming the British copyright on an unregistered song which was considered to be in the Public Domain. This led to the peculiar situation that any "cover" version of "Rock Island Line" which was released on record in Britain from 1956 showed the song composition credited to Lonnie Donegan.) It was the first debut record to go gold in the UK, and reached the Top Ten in the United States.^[4] His next single for Decca, "Diggin' My Potatoes", was recorded at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 30 October 1954.^[4] Decca dropped Donegan thereafter, but within a month he was at the Abbey Road Studios in London recording for EMI's Columbia label. He had left the Barber band by then, and by the spring of 1955, Donegan signed a recording contract with Pye. His next single "Lost John" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.^[4]

He travelled to the United States, where he appeared on television on both the Perry Como Show and the Paul Winchell Show.^[4] Returning to the UK, Donegan recorded his debut album, Lonnie Donegan Showcase, in the summer of 1956, which featured songs by Lead Belly and Leroy Carr, plus "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Wabash Cannonball". The LP was a hit, securing sales in the hundreds of thousands.^[4] The popular skiffle style encouraged amateurs to get started, and one of the many skiffle groups that followed was The Quarrymen formed in March 1957 by John Lennon. Donegan's "Gamblin' Man" / "Puttin' On the Style" single was number one on the UK chart in July 1957, when Lennon first met Paul McCartney.^[1]

Donegan went on to make a series of popular records with successes including "Cumberland Gap" and particularly "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night)", his biggest hit song in the U.S., released on Dot.^[4] He turned to a music hall style with "My Old Man's a Dustman" which was not well received by skiffle fans, or in an attempted but ultimately unsuccessful American release by Atlantic in 1960, but it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. Donegan's group had a flexible line-up, but was generally formed by Denny Wright or Les Bennetts (of Les Hobeaux and Chas McDevitt's skiffle groups) playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals, Micky Ashman or Pete Huggett - later Steve Jones - on upright bass, Nick Nichols - later Pete Appleby and Mark Goodwin - on drums or percussion and Donegan playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead.^[4]

He continued to appear regularly in the UK charts until 1962, before succumbing to the arrival of The Beatles and beat music.^[4]

Later career[link]

Donegan recorded sporadically during the 1960s, including some sessions at Hickory Records in Nashville, Tennessee with Charlie McCoy, Floyd Cramer and The Jordanaires. After 1964, he was primarily occupied as a record producer for most of the decade at Pye Records. Among those he worked with during this period was Justin Hayward.^[4]

Donegan was unfashionable and generally ignored through the late 1960s and 1970s (although he wrote "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" for Tom Jones in 1967), and he began to play on the American cabaret circuit. A notable departure from his normal style was an a cappella recording of "The Party's Over". There was a reunion concert with the original Chris Barber band in Croydon in June 1975 - notable for a bomb scare, meaning that the recording had to be finished in the studio, though patrons were treated to an impromptu concert in the car park.^{[citation needed]} The resultant release was entitled The Great Re-Union Album.^[4]

He suffered his first heart attack in 1976 while in the United States and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. He returned to the public's attention in 1978, when he made a record of his early songs with such figures as Rory Gallagher, Ringo Starr, Elton John and Brian May called Putting on the Style.^[4] A follow-up album featuring Albert Lee saw Donegan working in a less familiar country and western vein. By 1980, he was making regular concert appearances again, and another album with Barber followed. In 1983 Donegan toured with Billie Jo Spears, and in 1984, he made his theatrical debut in a revival of the 1920 musical Mr. Cinders. More concert tours followed, along with a move from Florida to Spain. In 1992 Donegan underwent further bypass surgery following another heart attack.^[4]

In 1994, the Chris Barber band celebrated 40 years, with a tour with both bands. Pat Halcox was still on trumpet (a position he retained until July 2008). The reunion concert and the tour were recorded on CD and DVD.

Donegan experienced another late renaissance when in 2000 he appeared on Van Morrison's album The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast 1998, a critically acclaimed album featuring Donegan sharing vocals with Van Morrison and also featuring Chris Barber, with a guest appearance by Dr. John. Donegan also played at the Glastonbury Festival, and was awarded the MBE in 2000.

Donegan's final CD was This Y'ere the Story

Family[link]

Donegan married three times. He had two daughters by his first wife, Maureen Tyler (divorced 1962), a son and a daughter by his second wife, Jill Westlake (divorced 1971), and three sons by his third wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1977. He was the second cousin three times removed of the Scottish Gaelic Footballer, Chris Pendergast.

Death[link]

Lonnie Donegan died in 2002, aged 71, after suffering a heart attack in Market Deeping mid-way through a UK tour and shortly before he was due to perform at a memorial concert for George Harrison with The Rolling Stones. He had suffered from cardiac problems since the 1970s and had several heart attacks in his last years.

Legacy[link]

Mark Knopfler released a tribute song to Donegan entitled "Donegan's Gone" on his 2004 album, Shangri-La, and said that he was one of his greatest musical influences.^[2] Donegan's music formed the basis for a musical starring his two sons. Lonnie D - The Musical took its name from the Chas & Dave tribute song which started the show. Subsequently, Peter Donegan formed a new band that performed his father's material and has since linked up with his father's band from the last 30 years with newcomer Eddie Masters on bass. They released an album together in 2009 entitled "Here We Go Again". Donegan's eldest son, Anthony, also formed his own band, under the name Lonnie Donegan Jnr.

On his album A Beach Full of Shells, Al Stewart paid tribute to Donegan in the song "Katherine of Oregon". Additionally, in the song "Class of '58", he describes a seminal British entertainer who is either Donegan or a composite including him.

Quotations[link]

NME - June 1956^[7]

• "In England, we were separated from our folk music tradition centuries ago and were imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they. It was the reintroduction of the folk music bridge which did that." — Interview, 2002.
• "He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." — Paul McCartney
• "He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock." — Brian May.^[2]
• "I wanted to be Elvis Presley when I grew up, I knew that. But the man who really made me feel like I could actually go out and do it was a chap by the name of Lonnie Donegan." — Roger Daltrey
• "Remember, Lonnie Donegan started it for you." — Jack White's acceptance speech at the Brit Awards.^[8]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

• "Rock Island Line" / "John Henry" (1955) - UK #8 †
• "Diggin' My Potatoes" / "Bury My Body" (1956) †
• "Lost John" / "Stewball" (1956) - UK #2 †
• "Bring A Little Water, Sylvie" / "Dead or Alive" (1956) ‡
• "On A Christmas Day" / "Take My Hand Precious Lord" (1956) ‡
• "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" (1957) - UK #4 ‡
• "Cumberland Gap" (1957) - UK #1 ‡
• "Gamblin' Man" / "Puttin' On the Style" (1957) - UK #1 ‡
• "My Dixie Darlin'" / "I'm Just a Rolling Stone" (1957) - UK #10 ‡
• "Jack O' Diamonds" / "Ham 'N' Eggs" (1957) - UK #14 ‡
• "The Grand Coulee Dam" / "Nobody Loves Like an Irishman" (1958) - UK #6 ‡
• "Midnight Special" / "When The Sun Goes Down" (1958) ‡
• "Sally Don't You Grieve" / "Betty, Betty, Betty" (1958) - UK #11 ‡
• "Lonesome Traveller" / "Times are Getting Hard Boys" (1958) - UK #28 ‡
• "Lonnie's Skiffle Party" / "Lonnie Skiffle Party Pt.2" (1958) - UK #23 ‡
• "Tom Dooley" / "Rock O' My Soul" (1958) - UK #3 ‡
• "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" / "Aunt Rhody" (1959) - UK #3 ‡
• "Fort Worth Jail" / "Whoa Buck" (1959) - UK #14 ‡
• "Fort Bewildered" / "Kevin Barry" / "It is No Secret" / "My Lagan Love Buck" (1959) ‡
• "Battle of New Orleans" / "Darling Corey" (1959) - UK #2 ‡
• "Sal's Got A Sugar Lip" / "Chesapeake Bay" (1959) - UK #13 ‡
• "Hold Back Tomorrow" - UK #26 ¶
• "San Miguel" / "Talking Guitar Blues" (1959) - UK #19 ‡
• "My Old Man's A Dustman" / "The Golden Vanity" (1960) - UK #1 ↑
• "I Wanna Go Home (Wreck Of the 'John B')" / "Jimmy Brown The Newsboy" (1960) - UK #5 ↓
• "Lorelei" / "In All My Wildest Dreams" (1960) - UK #10
• "Rockin' Alone" - UK #44 ♠
• "Lively" / "Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)" (1960) - UK #13 ↑
• "Virgin Mary" / "Beyond The Sunset" (1960) - UK #27
• "(Bury Me) Beneath The Willow" / "Leave My Woman Alone" (1961)
• "Have A Drink on Me" / "Seven Daffodils" (1961) - UK #8 ↑
• "Michael, Row the Boat" / "Lumbered" (1961) - UK #6 ↑
• "The Comancheros" / "Ramblin' Round" (1961) - UK #14
• "The Party's Over" / "Over the Rainbow" (1962) - UK #9
• "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" / "Keep on the Sunny Side" (1962)
• "Pick A Bale of Cotton" / "Steal Away" (1962) - UK #11 ↑
• "The Market Song" / "Tit-Bits" (1962)
• "Losing By A Hair" / "Trumpet Sounds" (1963)
• "It Was A Very Good Year" / "Rise Up" (1963)
• "Lemon Tree" / "I've Gotta Girl So Far" (1963)
• "500 Miles Away From Home" / "This Train" (1963)
• "Beans in My Ears" / "It's a Long Road to Travel" (1964)
• "Fisherman's Luck" / "There's A Big Wheel" (1964)
• "Get Out Of My Life" / "Won't You Tell Me" (1965)
• "Louisiana Man" / "Bound For Zion" (1965)
• "World Cup Willie" / "Where In This World are We Going" (1966)
• "I Wanna Go Home" / "Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)" (1966)
• "Aunt Maggie's Remedy" / "(Ah) My Sweet Marie" (1967)
• "Toys" / "Relax Your Mind" (1968)
• "My Lovely Juanita" / "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (1969)
• "Speak To The Sky" / "Get Out of My Life" (1972)
• "Jump Down Turn Around (Pick a Bale of Cotton)" / "Lost John Blues" (1973 - Australia only release)

^[1]

Albums[link]

• Lonnie Donegan Showcase (December 1956) - UK # 2; UK #26 ‡
  • "Wabash Cannonball" / "How Long" / "How Long Blues" / "Nobody's Child" / "I Shall Not Be Moved" / "I'm Alabamy Bound" / "I'm a Rambling Man" / "Wreck of the Old 97" / "Frankie and Johnny"
• Lonnie (November 1957) - UK # 3
• Tops with Lonnie (September 1958)
• Lonnie Rides Again (May 1959)
• Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight) (1961)
• More! Tops with Lonnie (April 1961)
• Sing Hallelujah (December 1962)
• The Lonnie Donegan Folk Album (August 1965)
• Lonniepops - Lonnie Donegan Today (1970)
• The Great Re-Union Album (1974)
• Lonnie Donegan Meets Leinemann (1974)
• Country Roads (1976)
• Puttin' on the Style (February 1978)
  • Including guest musicians Rory Gallagher, Elton John, Brian May and Ringo Starr amongst others.
• Sundown (May 1979)
• Muleskinner Blues (January 1999)
  • The song "Lost John" was used to open the John Peel tribute album
• This Y'ere The Story (2000?)
• The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast (2000) - UK #14 †
  • Recorded November 1998 with Van Morrison, Chris Barber and others.
• The Last Tour (2006)

^[1]

Compilation albums[link]

• Golden Age of Donegan (1962) - UK #3
• Golden Age of Donegan Volume 2 (1963) - UK #15
• Putting On the Style (1978) - UK #51
• King of Skiffle (1998)
• Puttin' On the Style - The Greatest Hits (2003) - UK #45

^[1]

EPs[link]

• Skiffle Session (EP) (1956) - UK #20 †
  • "Railroad Bill" / "Stockalee" / "Ballad of Jesse James" / "Ol' Riley"

Billing[link]

Most of the above records were accredited to Lonnie Donegan; except, as follows:
† Billed as the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group
‡ Billed as Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group
¶ Billed as Lonnie Donegan meets Miki & Griff with the Lonnie Donegan Group
↑ Billed as Lonnie Donegan and his Group
↓ Billed as Lonnie Donegan and Wally Stott's Orchestra
♠ Billed as Miki and Griff with the Lonnie Donegan Group

^[1]

See also[link]

• List of honorific titles in popular music

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Lonnie Donegan Discussion Forum
• Go Lonnie go – article by Billy Bragg for The Guardian
• My Memories of Lonnie Donegan by Paul Griggs
• Lonnie Donegan biography and discography
• Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group
• His Old Man’s the Guv’nor – article by Alan Franks
• My twenty-year love affair with the joy of skiffle, article by Mark Kermode The Observer, 1 June 2008

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Albert Trotter
Buster Merryfield as Albert Trotter
Only Fools and Horses character
Portrayed by	Buster Merryfield
Created by	John Sullivan
Duration	1985–97
First appearance	Strained Relations
Last appearance	Comic Relief Special
Profile
Date of birth	19 November 1920
Date of death	c. 2001
Occupation	Retired
Family Wife Ada Trotter Brothers Edward Trotter George Trotter[citation needed] Jack Trotter Sons Stanley Trotter Daughters Audrey Trotter Nephews Reg Trotter Derek Trotter (great nephew) Rodney Trotter (step-great nephew) Damien Trotter (great great nephew) Nieces Joan Trotter (step great great niece)

Albert Gladstone Trotter is a fictional character from the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He was introduced during the fourth season as a replacement for the character of Grandad due to the death of actor Lennard Pearce. He was portrayed by Buster Merryfield.

Fictional character biography[link]

Albert joined the Royal Navy in 1937^{[citation needed]}, aged 17, and two years later was called to action following the outbreak of the Second World War. He spent the rest of his life recounting tales from the war. He won seven medals^{[citation needed]} - although this was largely because he had an extraordinarily unfortunate time serving on seven ships that were sunk over a period of 4 years. After the war, Albert joined the Merchant Navy. In spite of his past with the Royal and Merchant Navies, Albert cannot swim.^[1] He lost contact with his brother, Edward (Grandad Trotter) because of a fight over Albert's future wife Ada to whom they were both attracted.^[2]

Uncle Albert, as he was known by his two great nephews, Del Boy and Rodney, joined the cast in the early 1985 episode "Strained Relations" after the death of his older brother Edward Trotter - . Albert's marriage to Ada was childless and apparently very troubled, as Albert describes them as not being on speaking terms. Shortly after the funeral, Albert was abandoned by Stan and Jean, with whom he was living in their mobile home. After some resignation, Del agreed to let his Uncle stay. Albert was described by Del as "England's greatest sailor since Nelson lost the armada."

It is revealed by Albert in "Tea For Three", that Granddad and Albert fell out over Albert's later wife, Ada, whom they both fancied at the time. The fight ended in them both hitting each other and after that; it is revealed they never spoke again.

Albert was famed for telling stories that often began with the words "During the war...", which often annoyed Del and Rodney but almost always caught their interest once he started telling them the story. In Albert's final appearance in the series ("Time On Our Hands", the third and final chapter of the 1996 Christmas trilogy), a frustrated Del cuts Albert off at "During th..." threatening to pour a cup of tea over his head should he complete the sentence "During the war..." Albert cunningly says "During the 1939-1945 conflict with Germany..."

Albert was less of a help than a hindrance; in "Time On Our Hands", Albert ruins a long anticipated dinner with Raquels parents (who for many years had not spoken to her). After hours of preparation and worrying about the meal, and the over-sized table, Albert confuses the jars for coffee and gravy granules. Del realises too late however; the guests have already poured coffee over their meals. Before eating, Del punishes Albert by pouring the "gravy" all over his meal. The meal is abandoned early, and Raquel goes to fetch the "coffee" (which is gravy). In Del Boys Own Words "Not only have you managed to sink every battleship and aircraft carrier that you've ever sailed on, but now you've gone and knackered a gravy boat!"

Albert had a female friend called Elsie Partridge, who was first mentioned by Rodney in "The Unlucky Winner Is..., and was seen in the next episode "Sickness and Wealth". His nephews often teased him about this as well as his ability to sink ships and, with his bald head and big white beard, his resemblance to Captain Birdseye.

Although Del and Rodney often teased Albert, they showed their care for them when they found out he had died in "If They Could See Us Now", and they both regretted not taking him on holiday with them before he died. Damien, as a joke, puts Cassandra's pills in Albert's urn.

Originally, the final episode of Only Fools and Horses was meant to be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", with Del Boy leaving for Australia with new partner Jumbo Mills, Uncle Albert staying in Nelson Mandela House, and Rodney and Mickey Pearce taking over Trotters Independent Traders, but John Sullivan felt that this was not the end of the road for the Trotters. After the desicion had been made, Albert was meant to be in until the final episode, Sleepless in Peckham, but due to Buster Merryfield's sudden death, the script had to be changed, and Uncle Albert died in If They Could See Us Now.

After Merryfield's death[link]

Buster Merryfield died in 1999, and so, when a new series of Only Fools and Horses began in 2001, the character of Uncle Albert also died in "If They Could See Us Now". Del and Rodney, who had since become millionaires regretted not having taken him with them, but were consoled by the revelation that the "Ancient Marriner" never actually held a British passport. In the second episode of the early 2000s trilogy, "Strangers on the Shore", the two scatter Albert's ashes in the English Channel, before visiting the French village where Albert had been stationed for a time during the war only to find an entire town inhabited by bald men with white beards who all bore more than a passing resemblance to their late uncle, they joked it should have been called "Trottersville". In the final episode of the early 2000s trilogy, "Sleepless in Peckham", it was revealed that Albert had invested his share of the Trotter fortune in a safer spot prior to his death. Coupled with his choice of a simple lifestyle this meant he had around £290,000 at the time of his death, which he left to his two great nephews. This was enough to save them from being evicted from Nelson Mandela House and still leave them both £120,000 richer each.

Medals he won[link]

• 1939–45 Star
• Atlantic Star
• Africa Star
• Pacific Star
• Italy Star
• Defence Medal
• War Medal 1939–1945

References[link]

Alfred Hubert West (6 May 1893 – 7 January 1934) was a New Zealand international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Hawera and was capped twice for New Zealand.

Bibliography[link]

• Billot, John (1972). All Blacks in Wales. Ferndale: Ron Jones Publications. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Alfred West at AllBlacks.com