Coordinates: 51°37′41″N 0°25′06″E / 51.628°N 0.4184°E / 51.628; 0.4184

Billericay
Billericay High Street focusing on St Mary Magdalen Church
Billericay  Billericay shown within Essex
Population	40,000
OS grid reference	TQ675945
Civil parish	Billericay
District	Basildon
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BILLERICAY
Postcode district	CM11, CM12
Dialling code	01277
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Basildon and Billericay
List of places: UK • England • Essex

Billericay (ⁱ/bɪləˈrɪkiː/ BIL-ə-RIK-ee) is a town and civil parish in the Basildon borough of Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin, has a population of around 40,000, and constitutes a commuter town 28 miles (45 km) east of central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It is thought to have been occupied since the Bronze Ages.

History[link]

Some of the earliest records of human occupation of Billericay are the burial mounds in Norsey Wood: evidence of occupation in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Evidence of Roman occupation has been found at a number of locations in the town and there may have been a small cavalry fort at Blunts Wall.

The Saxons did not settle in the centre of Billericay. They established themselves two miles south, at Great Burstead. In the late 10th century it was known as 'Burhstede'. Billericay was not mentioned in the Domesday Book, as it lay within Great Burstead. At this time the parish church for Billericay was at Great Burstead. In 1291 the name 'Byllyrica' is first recorded. This is believed to be from a medieval Latin word, bellerīca, meaning 'dyehouse or tanhouse'.^[1]

Middle Ages[link]

In the 13th and 14th centuries some pilgrims to Canterbury journeyed via Billericay. Some of them may have spent the night in Billericay before crossing the River Thames at Tilbury. This may account for the large number of inns in the town.

Norsey woods

Billericay's most notable historical episode was on 28 June 1381, when King Richard II's soldiers defeated Essex rebels at Norsey Wood. About 500 rebels were killed in the battle, which ended the Peasants' Revolt.

The Wycliffe preachers influenced the town. Four local people (Thomas Watts, Joan Hornes, Elizabeth Thackwell, and Margaret Ellis) were burnt at the stake. Two other residents (Joan Potter and James Harris) were tortured for their faith during the reign of Queen Mary.

The Pilgrim Fathers[link]

A meeting of the Pilgrim Fathers prior to their sailing in the Mayflower is said to have taken place in Billericay, and many local names and much historical imagery reflect this: Mayflower House, Morris Men, Taxis, School, Hall. Sunnymede School's houses were called Mayflower, Pilgrim, Chantry and Martin (after Christopher Martin, a Billericay merchant who travelled on the Mayflower as Ship's Governor).

Four people from Billericay were on board, including Christopher Martin. He and his wife Marie, along with Solomon Prowe and John Langemore, perished shortly after their arrival at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The unfortunate fate of the would-be pioneers did not deter other inhabitants of Billericay from setting sail for the New World. The town of Billerica, Massachusetts was established in 1655 to commemorate the origins of some of the first settlers.

Georgian and Victorian eras[link]

In the Georgian period many excellent examples of the period's houses were built in Billericay. One of those remaining today is Burghstead Lodge in High Street, which used to house the library. The road from Billericay to Tilbury still had a reputation for "footpads" and highwaymen^{[citation needed]} operating along the road, where it passed through open country.

In the town, the Union Workhouse was built in 1840 to continue to implement the Poor Law. Parts of this building were later incorporated into what was St. Andrew's Hospital. The railway arrived in Billericay in 1889, being on the Great Eastern Main Line between London and Southend-on-Sea.

The 20th century[link]

In 1916, during the First World War, one of the giant German Zeppelin airships was shot down during an aerial battle over Billericay. During its fiery demise, it narrowly missed the High Street, crashing into a nearby field. Recent research has indicated that this may be identified with the 'ghost Zeppelin' of Tonbridge which was allegedly seen floating over that town earlier in the day.

St. Andrew's Hospital, which was formerly the site of the town's Victorian workhouse, continued to function as an important communal building. From 1973, it housed the internationally renowned Regional Plastic Surgery and Burns unit until this was relocated to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford in April 1998. After the relocation, most of the hospital was redeveloped into housing. The listed buildings remain intact but are now residential.

Geography[link]

The Boating Lake at Lake Meadows

Billericay is within the London Basin and lies on a mixture of London clay, Claygate Beds and Bagshot Beds. Near the High Street, there is a change in soil type from sandy to clay, which gives rise to local underground springs. Open spaces include Norsey Wood, Mill Meadows Nature Reserve, Queen's Park Country Park, Sun Corner, Lake Meadows, Hanningfield Reservoir and South Green. Billericay contains Billericay School, Mayflower High School and St John's School.

Governance[link]

Between 1 July 1837 and 1 July 1939 Billericay was a registration district. From 1974 until the present, the town falls under the Basildon district. The registry office is located in Basildon, in the council offices. There is also the facility to register deaths in Basildon Hospital.^[2]

Parliamentary[link]

Since major boundary changes in Essex for the 2010 general election, Billericay has been part of the parliamentary constituency of Basildon and Billericay, whose MP is John Baron of the Conservative Party. The town was previously represented by Teresa Gorman from 1987 to 2001, a Conservative rebel who had the whip withdrawn for opposing the Maastricht Treaty. Her predecessor, the Conservative MP Harvey Proctor, was also prominent in the news in 1987, when he was charged with indecency.^[3]

Local government[link]

Billericay is part of the Basildon district, although occasional proposals have been made to transfer it to the nearby Brentwood district.^[4] Basildon District Council is Conservative controlled. Billericay is also served by a town council of 20 members elected in 3 wards. There is also a youth town council, elected in schools around the town.^[5] The town council has powers related to local planning and finance, while the youth council has an annual budget of £500 to spend or invest in local services or entertainment.^[6]

Billericay parish was not formed until 1937; before then the area had been part of the ancient Great Burstead parish.^[7] In 1894 Billericay Rural District was created, which covered a wide area stretching as far as Brentwood and Pitsea.^[8] In 1934 the core of this district around Basildon and Billericay became Billericay Urban District, and in 1937 a Billericay civil parish was created covering the same area. The urban district, but not the parish, was renamed Basildon in 1955. In 1974 the district was abolished and became the present-day Basildon district.

Transport[link]

Billericay is a part of the London commuter belt.

It is served by Billericay railway station on the Greater Anglia route from Liverpool Street station, in the City of London, to Southend. The station connects to local bus routes.

Billericay is close to two primary routes: the A12 to the north and the A127 in the south. The A176 provides a road link to Basildon to the south of Billericay, as well as to the A127. The only secondary road in the town, the B1007, passes from just south of the town centre as Laindon Road, meets the A129 at Sun Corner and then continues northwards as Billericay's High Street and then Stock Road. It continues north to the county town of Chelmsford. Along its route is the village of Stock and an interchange to the A12. The town is a destination on the A129, linking it to the neighbouring towns of Brentwood and Wickford.

Sport[link]

Billericay Cricket Club

The town is represented by local teams in a number of sports. The grounds of the local football and cricket teams and tennis club are located in the West of Billericay, along Blunts Wall Road.

Billericay Rugby Football Club is the local rugby team, playing in Essex Division One. Their ground is the Willowbrook Sports Club to the North of the town off of Stock Road. They are the only team from Essex to play at Twickenham, the home of English Rugby, when they won the Tetley Bitter Vase in 1999, a trophy in which they were runners up in 2007. Billericay is the only town to have won both the football and rugby vases. The club was formed in 1969 (although evidence has been found dating back to 1905). There has been a tennis club in the town since c. 1930.

Billericay is also the hometown of the Essex Spartans American football team who play their home games on the 3G Astroturf field at Hannakins Farm Community Centre.

Football[link]

Formed in 1880, Billericay Town FC is the local football team and are currently in the Ryman Premier League. The stadium is called the New Lodge and has a capacity of 3,500. Whilst members of the Essex Senior League, the club won the F.A. Vase in 1976 when Stamford were beaten 1-0 after extra-time at Wembley Stadium.
The following season, 1976/77, saw the club go to Wembley again and – after a 1-1 draw there – played at Nottingham Forest F.C. in the replay and emerged victorious with a 2-1 victory over Sheffield, the oldest club in the world. Billericay Town became the first (and so far the only) club to win the F.A. Vase for a third time in 1979 when they defeated Almondsbury Greenway 4-1. This match was notable for a hat-trick by Doug Young – the first hat-trick in a Cup Final at Wembley Stadium since Geoff Hurst's in the 1966 World Cup Final. They have recently became champions of the Ryman Premier Division, promoting them to the Blue Square South.

Ivory FC, a Sunday League Team, were formed in 2007 and are linked to The Ivory Rooms, a bar in the town. The team gained notability by being part of a viral advertising campaign by Nivea winning the Great Football Experiment in 2011.^[9] They currently play in the Brentwood Sunday League Division 1, and are managed by Will Rockett.

Culture[link]

The town was immortalised in the Ian Dury and the Blockheads song "Billericay Dickie". Billericay is also mentioned in George Orwell's novel Down and Out in Paris and London. Billericay is also the setting of the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey as the home of Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne) and his parents, however the actual filming took place in Wales.

The Cater Museum is a privately owned local history museum housed in an 18th & 19th century building in the High Street.

Twinning[link]

Billericay is twinned with:

Notable people[link]

• Jack Reid, all time legend, born and lives in Billericay
• Andy Coulson, Journalist and political strategist
• Andy Robb, Award-winning Christian children's writer and illustrator lives in Billericay
• Alison Moyet, British pop singer, born in Billericay
• Barbara Follett, British politician, lived in Billericay as child
• Carl Beech, Christian writer & speaker; was senior pastor of Billericay Baptist Church
• Chris Haywood, Australian actor/producer, born in Billericay
• Christopher Martin, Mayflower pilgrim, lived in Billericay before his pilgrimage
• Daniel Corbett, British TV weather forecaster, lived in Billericay as child
• John Wright^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Famous photographer who has taken pics of Ant and Dec and others, currently living in Billericay with his family.
• Francis Thomas Bacon, British engineer, born in Billericay
• Lee Barnard, English football player, went to school in Billericay
• Michael Doyle, born and lives in Billericay
• Ricky Grover, Actor, lives in Billericay
• Lee Evans, Comedian, went to school and lives in Billericay
• March On Rome, rock band from Billericay, formed in 2009
• Marshall Jefferson, house music pioneer lived in Billericay in the late 1990s/early 2000s
• Lee Harrison, English football player, born in Billericay
• Mark Foster, British swimmer, born in Billericay
• Neal Asher, science fiction writer, born in Billericay
• Peter Bone, British politician, born in Billericay
• Russell Tovey, British actor, has Billericay as his hometown^[14]
• Stewart Robson, former English football player, born in Billericay
• David Gandy, English model (Dolce & Gabbana advertising)
• Perry McCarthy, Former F1 driver
• Kevin Painter British darts player, born in Billericay
• Patrick W. Welch English-American painter, born in Billericay
• Teresa Gorman, politician, former Member of Parliament
• Paul Parker (footballer), was raised in Billericay and lived there when he became a professional football player.
• Nicholas Farrell, Actor, born in Billericay
• Richard Osman TV Personality ("Pointless Friend" on BBC show Pointless), born in Billericay
• Steve Davis Snooker Player, lives in Billericay

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Billericay

• Local Interest in and Around Billericay 6 December 2007.
• The Billericay Society – Retrieved 9 November 2006.
• Wyn Grant's Billericay Page – Retrieved 9 November 2006.
• www.billericayessex.co.uk – Latest local news, events and business directory – 1 February 2011.
• Billericay Round Table – Local men's social club – 4 November 2011.

Willard Patterson "Toad" Norman (September 22, 1903 - July 1964) was a professional football player who played in 1928 for the Pottsville Maroons of the National Football League. He was also on the 1929 roster for the Orange Tornadoes. Norman attended and played his college football at Washington & Jefferson College.

Notes[link]

• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com • Pro-Football-Reference • Databasefootball.com

This biographical article relating to an American football running back born in the 1900s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Alexander Day (also known as Marmaduke Davenport, Esq.) was a British sharper known for cons committed in London in September 1722. Originally from St Andrew, Holborn, Day went under the name Marmaduke Davenport, Esq. and hired a carriage and footman to create the impression to shopkeepers in London that he was a respected member of the gentry. Once the shop proprietors had supplied their goods, Day would flee without paying.

In 1723, Day was arrested in connection with a robbery of a mail coach in Clapham. Although he was ruled out as a suspect of this crime, he was indicted on four counts of defrauding and two counts of grand larceny for crimes committed in the September of the previous year. After his trial, Day was found guilty on all counts of defrauding and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Newgate Prison, which included standing twice in the pillory and paying a fine of £200.

Criminal career[link]

Alexander Day originated from the parish of St Andrew, Holborn.^[1] He worked as a sharper in London,^[2] where he went under the pseudonym Marmaduke Davenport Esq. to suggest that he was a member of the gentry. To further this claim, Day would say that he had a large estate in Durham and was engaged to a wealthy heiress.^[3] Day also claimed to have left his own coachman and horses at his country seat and needed to hire a carriage and footman in London.^[4] Once he had hired the carriage and footman, he took this entourage around numerous premises in the city, where he would convince shopkeepers that he was about to spend large amounts of money on their expensive goods.^[3]

This perceived wealth and social status led him to be able to gain credit on purchases. Day would take delivery of upper-class items at his rented Queen Square property, but would fail to pay.^[1] Historian Hannah Grieg hypothesises that Day may have previously spent time in Bath, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, where he practised his craft and stole goods to furnish his London home and further convince his victims of his wealth.^[3]

Arrest and trial[link]

In 1723, Day was arrested on suspicion of robbing the Bristol mail coach at Clapham,^[1] though subsequent investigations ruled him out as a suspect. During this time, he was indicted on four counts of defrauding and two counts of grand larceny.^[2] These charges referred to crimes committed in September 1722,^[1] which included:

1. the theft of gold and silver lace to the value of £55,^[5]
2. the defrauding of Thomas Gravestock, the proprietor of the gold and silver lace,^[6]
3. the defrauding of Samuel Scrimpshaw for cambric valued at £48,^[7]
4. the defrauding of George Kendrick for tea valued at £51,^[8]
5. the "felonious" theft of 3.5 yards (3.2 m) of rich brocade, 15 yards (14 m) of cherry-powdered podesay and 15 yards (14 m) of white podesay at a combined value of £34,^[9]
6. the defrauding of a Mr. Hinchliff, the proprietor of the brocade and podesay.^[1][10]

During the trial, Day stated that he had stolen to keep up with annual £200 payments on his Durham estate, which was mortgaged for £1,200, but he was unable to provide evidence of the Durham estate and could not provide a witness willing to testify to his reputation.^[1] The court did not believe his defence and he was found guilty of defrauding all persons in the case.^[1]

On 24 April 1723, Day was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Newgate Prison.^[1][3] This would include standing twice in the pillory, as well as a fine of £200. He would then be under probation for the two years following his release.^[2] Peter King of the Open University identifies that Day's first pillory was in Covent Garden, where he was surrounded by a large crowd and was severely pelted with rotten vegetables and faeces for an hour.^[3] A newspaper report published after Day's sentence stated that he was "a great master of his profession [who] would not be at liberty to follow his former profession any longer".^[3] The second pillory took place at Ludgate Hill.^[1]

Notes[link]

References[link]

Ian Dury
Live at the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London 1978
Background information
Birth name	Ian Robins Dury
Born	(1942-05-12)12 May 1942 Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK
Died	27 March 2000(2000-03-27) (aged 57) Upminster, London, England, UK
Genres	Rock and roll revival, protopunk, New Wave, funk
Occupations	Singer, lyricist, actor
Instruments	Vocals, drums
Years active	1971–2000
Labels	Dawn, Stiff, Polydor, Demon, Ronnie Harris
Associated acts	The Blockheads, Kilburn & the High Roads
Website	IanDury.com
Music sample
"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" noicon

Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000) was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader, artist, and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music. He is best known as founder and lead singer of the British band Ian Dury and the Blockheads, who were one of the groups of the New Wave era in the UK.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Dury was born in north-west London at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Harrow (although he often pretended that he had been born in Upminster, Havering and indeed all but one of his obituaries in the national press stated this).^[1] His father, William George Dury (born 23 September 1905, Southborough, Kent; died 25 February 1968), was a bus driver and former boxer, while his mother Margaret (known as "Peggy", born Margaret Cuthbertson Walker, 17 April 1910, Rochdale, Lancashire) was a health visitor, the daughter of a Cornish doctor, and granddaughter of an Irish landowner.

William Dury trained with Rolls-Royce to be a chauffeur, and was then absent for long periods, so Peggy Dury took Ian to stay with her parents in Cornwall. After the Second World War, the family moved to Switzerland, where his father chauffeured for a millionaire and the Western European Union. In 1946 Peggy brought Ian back to England and they stayed with her sister, Mary, a physician in Cranham, a small village bordering Upminster. Although he saw his father on visits, they never lived together again.^[2]

At the age of seven, he contracted polio; very likely, he believed, from a swimming pool at Southend on Sea during the 1949 polio epidemic. After six weeks in a full plaster cast in Truro hospital, he was moved to Black Notley Hospital, Braintree, Essex, where he spent a year and a half before going to Chailey Heritage Craft School, East Sussex, in 1951. Chailey was a school and hospital for disabled children, and believed in toughening them up, contributing to the observant and determined person Dury became.^[3] Chailey taught trades such as cobbling and printing, but Dury's mother wanted him to be more academic, so his aunt Moll arranged for him to enter the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe where he recounted being punished for misdemeanours by being made to learn long tracts of poetry until a housemaster found him sobbing and put a stop to it:

I had to go into a box room where the suitcases were stored and learn 80 lines of Ode to Autumn by yer man Keats. If I got a word wrong I had to go back, they added that to the end of the sentence and after five nights of this my head had definitely gone.^[4]

He left the school at the age of 16 to study painting at Walthamstow Art College,^[5] having gained GCE 'O' Levels in English Language, English Literature and Art.^[6]

From 1964 he studied art at the Royal College of Art under British artist Peter Blake, and in 1967 took part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, alongside Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Stass Paraskos at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.^[7] When asked why he did not pursue a career in art, he said, "I got good enough [at art] to realise I wasn't going to be very good."^{[citation needed]} From 1967 he taught art at various colleges in the south of England.^[8] He also painted commercial illustrations for The Sunday Times in the early 1970s.

Dury married his first wife, Elizabeth "Betty" Rathmell (born 12 August 1942, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire), on 3 June 1967 and they had two children, Jemima (born 4 January 1969, Hounslow, Middlesex) and the recording artist Baxter Dury.^[8] Dury divorced Rathmell in 1985, but remained on good terms. He also cohabited with a teenage fan, Denise Roudette,^[8] for six years after he moved to London.

Kilburn & the High Roads[link]

Dury formed Kilburn & the High Roads (a reference to the road in North West London) in November 1970.^[9] Dury was vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with pianist Russell Hardy and later enrolling into the group a number of the students he was teaching at Canterbury College of Art, including guitarist Keith Lucas (who later became the guitarist for 999 under the name Nick Cash) and bassist Humphrey Ocean. Managed first by Charlie Gillett and Gordon Nelki and latterly by fashion entrepreneur Tommy Roberts, the Kilburns found favour on London's pub rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite favourable press coverage and a tour opening for The Who, the group failed to rise above cult status and disbanded in 1975.

The Blockheads[link]

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Live at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, 1978

Under the management of Andrew King and Peter Jenner, the original managers of Pink Floyd, Ian Dury and the Blockheads quickly gained a reputation as one of the top live acts of New Wave music. They built up a dedicated following in the UK and other countries and scored several hit singles, including "What a Waste", "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (which was a UK number one at the beginning of 1979, selling just short of a million copies), "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" (number three in the UK in 1979), and the rock and roll anthem "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". (Although it is sometimes claimed that Dury coined the phrase, there is evidence that it was already in common use and a virtually identical wording was used by Australian band Daddy Cool for the title of their second album Sex, Dope & Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven, released in 1972.^[10]) The tune is based on part of Charlie Haden's bass solo on "Ramblin'" on Ornette Coleman's 1959 album Change of the Century.

Live at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, 1978

Dury's lyrics are a distinctive combination of lyrical poetry, word play, observation of British everyday (working-class) life, acute character sketches, and vivid, earthy sexual humour. "This is what we find ... [H]ome improvement expert Harold Hill of Harold Hill, Of do-it-yourself dexterity and double-glazing skill, Came home to find another gentleman's kippers in the grill, So he sanded off his winkle with his Black & Decker drill." The song "Billericay Dickie" continues this sexual content, rhyming "I had a love affair with Nina, In the back of my Cortina" with "A seasoned-up hyena Could not have been more obscener".

The Blockheads' sound drew from its members' diverse musical influences, which included jazz, rock and roll, funk, and reggae, and Dury's love of music hall. The band was formed after Dury began writing songs with pianist and guitarist Chaz Jankel (the brother of noted music video, TV, commercial and film director Annabel Jankel). Jankel took Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, and they began recording with members of Radio Caroline's Loving Awareness Band—drummer Charley Charles (born Hugh Glenn Mortimer Charles, Guyana 1945), bassist Norman Watt-Roy, keyboard player Mick Gallagher, guitarist John Turnbull – and former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on the band. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for Dury's maverick style. Their classic single "Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll" marked Dury's Stiff debut and although it was banned by the BBC it was named Single of the Week by NME on its release.^[11] It was soon followed by the album New Boots and Panties!!, which was eventually to achieve platinum status.

In October 1977 Dury and his band started performing as Ian Dury & the Blockheads, when the band signed on for the Stiff "Live Stiffs Tour" alongside Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, and Larry Wallis. The tour was a success, and Stiff launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting in the Top Ten hit, "What a Waste", and the classic hit single, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", which reached #1 in the UK, was notably not included on the original release of their subsequent LP Do It Yourself. Both the single and its accompanying music video featured Davey Payne playing two saxophones simultaneously during his solo, in evident homage to jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, whose 'trademark' technique this was.

The band's second album Do It Yourself was released in June 1979 in a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over a dozen variations, all based on samples from the Crown wallpaper catalogue. Bubbles also designed the Blockhead logo which received international acclaim,^[12] and continued to be used by the Blockheads after Dury's death, e.g. on their DVD: Live in Colchester 2004.

Jankel left the band temporarily and relocated to the U.S. after the release of "What A Waste" (his organ part on that single was overdubbed later) but he subsequently returned to the UK and began touring sporadically with the Blockheads, eventually returning to the group full-time for the recording of "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"; according to Mickey Gallagher, the band recorded 28 takes of the song but eventually settled on the second take for the single release. Partly due to personality clashes with Dury,^[11] Jankel quit the group again in 1980, after the recording of the Do It Yourself LP, and he returned to the USA to concentrate on his solo career. The group worked solidly over the eighteen months between the release of "Rhythm Stick" and their next single, "Reasons To Be Cheerful", which returned them to the charts, making the UK Top 10. Jankel was replaced by former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who also contributed to the next album Laughter and its two minor hit singles, although Gallagher recalls that the recording of the Laughter album was difficult and that Dury was drinking heavily in this period.^[11] In 1980–81 Dury and Jankel teamed up again with Sly and Robbie and the Compass Point All Stars to record Lord Upminster. The Blockheads toured the U.K and Europe throughout 1981, sometimes augmented by jazz legend Don Cherry on trumpet, ending the year with their only tour of Australia.^[13] The Blockheads disbanded in early 1982 after Dury secured a new recording deal with Polydor Records through A&R man Frank Neilson. Choosing to work with a group of young musicians which he named The Music Students, he recorded the album Four Thousand Weeks' Holiday. This album marked a departure from his usual style and was not as well received by fans for its American jazz influence.

The Blockheads briefly reformed in June 1987 to play a short tour of Japan, and then disbanded again. In September 1990, following the death from cancer of drummer Charley Charles, they reunited for two benefit concerts in aid of Charles' family, held at The Forum, Camden Town, with Steven Monti on drums. In December 1990, augmented by Merlin Rhys-Jones on guitar and Will Parnell on percussion, they recorded the live album Warts & Audience at the Brixton Academy.^[13]

The Blockheads (minus Jankel, who returned to California) toured Spain in January 1991, then disbanded again until August 1994 when, following Jankel's return to England, they were invited to reform for the Madstock Festival in Finsbury Park; this was followed by sporadic gigs in Europe, Ireland, the U.K. and Japan through late 1994 and 1995.^[13] In the early 1990s, Dury appeared with English band Curve on the benefit compilation album Peace Together. Dury and Curve singer Toni Halliday shared vocals on a cover of the Blockheads' track "What a Waste".

In March 1996 Dury was diagnosed with cancer and, after recovering from an operation, he set about writing another album. In early 1998 he reunited with the Blockheads to record the well-received album Mr Love-Pants. In May, Ian Dury & the Blockheads hit the road again, with Dylan Howe replacing Steven Monti on drums. Davey Payne left the group permanently in August and was replaced by Gilad Atzmon; this amended line-up gigged throughout 1999, culminating in their last performance with Ian Dury on 6 February 2000 at the London Palladium. Dury died six weeks later on 27 March 2000.^[13]

The Blockheads have continued after Dury's death, contributing to the tribute album Brand New Boots And Panties, then Where's The Party. The Blockheads still tour, and are currently recording a new album. They currently comprise Jankel, Watt-Roy, Gallagher, Turnbull, John Roberts on drums, Gilad Atzmon and Dave Lewis on saxes. Derek The Draw (who was Dury's friend and minder) is now writing songs with Jankel as well as singing. They are aided and abetted by Lee Harris, who is their 'aide de camp'.

Spasticus Autisticus[link]

Dury's 1981 song "Spasticus Autisticus"—written to show his disdain for that year's International Year of Disabled Persons, which he saw as patronising and counter-productive—was banned by the BBC. Dury was a disabled person himself, having been left crippled by childhood polio. The lyrics were uncompromising:

So place your hard-earned peanuts in my tin

And thank the Creator you're not in the state I'm in

So long have I been languished on the shelf

I must give all proceedings to myself

The song's refrain, "I'm spasticus, autisticus" was inspired by the response of the rebellious Roman gladiators in the film Spartacus, who, when instructed to identify their leader, all answered, "I am Spartacus", to protect him. According to Professor George McKay, in a 2009 article in Popular Music called 'Crippled with nerves' (an early Dury song title):

Ian Dury, that ‘flaw of the jungle’, produced a remarkable and sustained body of work that explored issues of disability, in both personal and social contexts, institutionalisation, and to a lesser extent the pop cultural tradition of disability. He also, with the single ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ (1981), produced one of the outstanding protest songs about the place of disabled people in what he called ‘normal land’.^[14]

Acting and other activities[link]

Dury in concert

Dury's confident and unusual demeanour caught the eyes of producers and directors of drama. His first important and extensive role was in Farrukh Dhondy's mini-series for the BBC, King of the Ghetto (1987), a drama set in London's multi-racial Brick Lane area with a cast led by a young Tim Roth. Dury had small parts in several films, probably the most well-known of which was Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, as well as cameo appearances in Roman Polanski's Pirates and the Sylvester Stallone science fiction film Judge Dredd. He also made an appearance in the film Split Second starring Rutger Hauer and Kim Catrell

Dury also wrote a musical, Apples, staged in London's Royal Court Theatre. He had a small supporting role in The Crow: City of Angels, directed by Tim Pope, who had directed a few of Dury's music videos. He also appeared alongside fellow lyricists Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, respectively, in the movies Hearts of Fire (1987) and Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1989). In 1987 he appeared as the narrator (Scullery) in Road at the Royal Court Theatre. Among the cast was actress and singer Jane Horrocks, who cohabited with Dury until late in 1988, although the relationship was kept discreet.^[15]

Dury wrote and performed the theme song "Profoundly in Love with Pandora" for the television series The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1985), based on the book of the same name by Sue Townsend, as well as its follow-up, The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1987). Dury turned down an offer from Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the libretto for Cats (from which Richard Stilgoe reportedly earned millions). The reason, said Dury, "I can't stand his music."^[16] "... I said no straight off. I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber. He's a wanker, isn't he? ... [E]very time I hear 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' I feel sick, it's so bad. He got Richard Stilgoe to do the lyrics in the end, who's not as good as me. He made millions out of it. He's crap, but he did ask the top man first!"^[17]

When AIDS first came to prominence in the mid-1980s, Dury was among celebrities who appeared on UK television to promote safe sex, demonstrating how to put on a condom using a model of an erect penis. In the 1990s, he became an ambassador for UNICEF, recruiting stars such as Robbie Williams to publicise the cause. The two visited Sri Lanka in this capacity to promote polio vaccination. Dury appeared with Curve on the Peace Together concert and CD (1993), performing "What a Waste", with benefits to the Youth of Northern Ireland. He also supported the charity Cancer BACUP.

Dury appeared in the Classic Albums episode that focused on Steely Dan's album, Aja. Dury commented that the album was one of the most "hopeful" he'd ever heard, and that the album "lifted [his] spirits up" whenever he played it. He also felt that it showed Steely Dan's love for jazz musicians and that it had "California in its blood...[even though it was recorded by] boys from New York."

Dury also appeared at the end of the Carter USM track 'Skywest & Crooked' narrating from the book Don Quixote. The track appeared on 1992 – The Love Album.

Illness[link]

It was known for some time before his death that Dury had cancer. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 1996 and underwent surgery, but tumours were later found in his liver, and he was told that his condition was terminal. Upon learning of his illness Dury took the opportunity to marry his girlfriend, sculptress Sophy Tilson, with whom he had two children, Billy and Albert.

In 1998, his death was incorrectly announced on XFM radio by Bob Geldof, possibly due to hoax information from a listener.

In 1999, Dury collaborated with Madness on their first original album in fourteen years on the track "Drip Fed Fred". Suggs and the band cite him as a great influence. It was to be one of his last recordings.

Ian Dury & The Blockheads' last performance was a charity concert in aid of Cancer BACUP on 6 February 2000 at The London Palladium, supported by Kirsty MacColl and Phill Jupitus. Dury was noticeably ill and had to be helped on and off stage.

Death[link]

Dury died of metastatic colorectal cancer on 27 March 2000, aged 57. An obituary in The Guardian read: "one of few true originals of the English music scene".^[16] Meanwhile, he was described by Suggs, the singer of Madness, as "possibly the finest lyricist we've seen." The Ian Dury website opened an online book of condolence shortly after his death, which was signed by hundreds of fans. The 250 mourners at his funeral included fellow musicians Suggs and Jools Holland as well as other "celebrity fans" such as MP Mo Mowlam.

Legacy[link]

Ian Dury Memorial Bench in Richmond Park, south-west London

Dury's son, Baxter Dury, is also a singer. He sang a few of his father's songs at the wake after the funeral, and has released his own albums – Len Parrot's Memorial Lift, Floor Show and Happy Soup.

In 2002, a "musical bench" was placed in a favoured viewing spot of Dury's, Poet's Corner, near Pembroke Lodge, within Richmond Park, south-west London (see map at the Richmond Gate). This solar powered seat was intended to allow visitors to plug in and listen to eight of his songs as well as an interview, but has been subjected to repeated vandalism.

In 2009, a musical about his life entitled Hit Me! The Life & Rhymes of Ian Dury, was premiered at the Leicester Square Theatre in London, running from 6 January-14 February 2009.^[18]

Principal photography for the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll began in May 2009.^[19] Starring Andy Serkis as Dury, the film was released on 8 January 2010. Ray Winstone and Naomie Harris also appeared.

A musical, Reasons to be Cheerful, was produced by the Graeae Theatre Company in association with Theatre Royal Stratford East and New Wolsey Theatre. Set in 1979 the musical featured Dury classics in a "riotous coming-of-age tale". The 2010 production was supported by the Blockheads, while Sir Peter Blake, donated a limited edition print of the Reasons to be Cheerful artwork.^[20]

Discography[link]

See also[link]

• Barney Bubbles
• Stiff Records
• Bus Driver's Prayer
• Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (film)

Quotations[link]

NME – December 1977^[21]

NME – June 1979^[22]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition
• George McKay (2009). '"Crippled with nerves": popular music and polio, with particular reference to Ian Dury'. Popular Music vol. 28:3, pp. 341–365.
• Will Birch (2011). Ian Dury: The Definitive Biography

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ian Dury

• Official website
• theblockheads.com: The Blockheads' Biography
• theblockheads.com: The Blockheads' Discography
• New Ian Dury Biography by Will Birch
• Guardian obituary for Ian Dury
• Jools Holland biography of Ian Dury (archived 2003)
• BBC News website report on Dury's funeral
• BBC Music artist biography
• Dury's obituary in The Times
• 17 August 1998 interview with The Independent ("Ian Dury: Great sense of tumour")
• Institute for Performing Arts Development
• BBC iPlayer Desert Island Discs, 31 March 1996