The Alberts

The Alberts were a British music/comedy troupe of the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, featuring brothers Anthony "Tony" and Douglas "Dougie" Gray, along with Bruce Lacey. Educated at the Oratory School (Kensington), they were evacuated during WWII to Penzance. They left school after the war and performed their National Service in Egypt.

Career

They appeared on several of Spike Milligan's television series. They intended to inaugurate the fledgling BBC2 on 20 April 1964, but a power failure delayed the launch until the following day. For almost the entire year of 1963, beginning January 1963, in the West End, The Alberts, along with Joyce Grant, Ivor Cutler, Michael Codron and William Donaldson, presented An Evening of British Rubbish, which Princess Margaret attended twice, and which was released on an LP record by George Martin, head of Parlophone at the time.

The Gray brothers appeared in several films directed by Ken Russell, including Dante's Inferno and The Music Lovers. They toured the world with the Royal Opera house with non-singing roles in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes and released a single in May 1962, produced by George Martin at Abbey Road, called "Morse Code Melody", with "Sleepy Valley" on the flip side. Another single, "Goodbye Dolly (Gray)" / "Blaze Away" and credited to The Massed Alberts, an expanded version of the group again featuring Bruce Lacey, was also released on Parlophone in July 1964 but similarly failed to chart.

The Temperance Seven

The Temperance Seven is a British band specialising in 1920s-style jazz music.

Career

The Temperance Seven were founded at Christmas 1955 by students at the Chelsea School of Art, though the band mythologized its foundation as dating from 1904 at the fictitious Pasadena Cocoa Rooms, Balls Pond Road, North London. The three founder members were Paul McDowell (who originally played trombone), Philip Harrison (who originally played banjo) and Brian Innes (drums). Gradually the band evolved into a nine-piece ensemble with a light-hearted and humorous performing style, although they were all serious musicians. The name "Temperance Seven" was suggested by Douggie Albert, of the Alberts fame. The Alberts were cult figures in the art scene in the mid 1950s and were forerunners to the sort of humour that became Monty Python. (This was not the band's only link with Monty Python; see below). The Temperance Seven was a subtle play on words – the number seven being "one under the eight". That there were nine members or "one over the eight" implied intemperance.

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band) was a band created by a group of British art-school students of the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelic pop with surreal humour and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to the attention of a broader British public through a 1968 ITV comedy show, Do Not Adjust Your Set.

History

Formation and early years (1962–1966)

On 25 September 1962, Vivian Stanshall (tuba, later lead vocals along with other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (saxophone) bonded over a transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston. Slater had previously been playing in a trad jazz band at college with Chris Jennings (trombone) and Tom Parkinson (sousaphone). Roger Wilkes (trumpet) was the founder of the original band at the Royal College of Art, along with Trevor Brown (banjo). They slowly turned their style from more orthodox music towards the 1920s-style sound of The Alberts and The Temperance Seven. In the early 1960s comedic pop records were popular, with artists such as Charlie Drake, Spike Milligan and Bernard Cribbins enjoying chart success, along with the pop parodies of The Barron Knights.