Brian & Michael

As you may have gleaned if you read the entire thread, this was something of a formative number one for me. I was 15, growing up in Denton (a place you probably know fairly well) and starting to take an interest in Manchester’s political and cultural heritage as well as a family history that is situated (on my mum’s side at least) squarely amongst Salford’s smoky tops! So it was good to see a couple of local lads at the top of the chart – and of course the next two UK acts to have number ones, the Bee Gees and 10cc, had strong Manchester links too.

It’d be good if you could stick around and tell us a bit about the experience of having a number one. How surprising was it to get there with a subject like Lowry? What’s it like to be associated with one song in particular when you’ve been working in music for years? Is “Matchstalk Men” still played at the Lowry arts centre, which must be particularly satisfying for you? What are your memories of TOTP, Swap Shop etc? Are the royalties still coming in?! And how did you get Lou Macari and Alex Stepney to promote a song about having a ruck on an away trip with United?

And just in case you’re really an impostor pretending to be Brian and Michael (it does happen you know) – what’s the next line after “I couldn’t understand why/why my mama used to sit and cry”?

Oh and then there’s my dislike of any ‘professional’regional “characters/characterisations- northerners/cockneys/from anywhere* – the idea of Chas and Dave doing something this sentimental probably including a bit about sharing some jellied eels with Reggie Kray, “who loved his old mum you know”, well minus 10 wouldnt be low enough!

And finally my Lancastrian partner insists on having one of Lowry’s bloody pictures in pride of place in the main room.

*except possibly those from the South West (eg the Wurzels)because,well you just can’t take them
seriously can you?..only joking if there’s any carrot-crunchers oops I mean West Country types out there in Popular-land.

Not only was there one on Lowry, but it used a specially rerecorded and extended version of “Matchstik Men…” as a framing device. It wasn’t B&M singing it though- it was then presenter Mark Curry!

This would be the only show he ever presented on Radio 1, but he did present occasional music documentaries on the station, notably on Abba, Queen and the Stylistics, and he never showed any sign of crossing over to television, for example via Top of the Pops. His smooth style and Received Pronunciation voice (becoming more noticeable in later years; initially he had tried to sound more like a 1970s pop radio DJ) were unusual for Radio 1 even then, and would be utterly unthinkable now.

After leaving Radio 1 he would broadcast for BBC Radio 2 in the early 1980s, provide the voiceover for many TV and radio adverts, and continue his acting career, notably appearing in Emmerdale Farm (as it was then called). He subsequently became a newsreader for BBC World television and then moved to Hong Kong, where he became a popular broadcaster on the British Armed Forces radio service in the final years of British rule. His final appearance on national BBC radio came at the very end of 1991, when he presented “The Million Selling Singles of the 60s and 70s” on BBC Radio 2, although he was a contributor to Radio 1′s “25 Years of the UK Top 40″ which aired in September 1992.

After the Hong Kong handover in 1997, he continued working in radio, as well as commercial voice over artist and freelance video presenter until 2005, thereafter retiring to live in Thailand with his Thai wife. He currently owns a farm where they grow rice and mushrooms with the mountains of North Central Thailand in the distance.

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Browne_%28broadcaster_and_actor%29″

I have a far clearer recall of the Blackburn era.

(as Dollar’s Love’s Gotta Hold Of Me fades out)
Blackburn: “That was beautiful…and so am I”!

I got “Forever Autumn” and “Northern Lights” to review.

So, I get very unexcited about two singles that are neither good or bad.

And I get, in return, a badge. And a photo, maybe, I can’t remember. And, no records. Heck, I’d always get records when I did Radio 210 stuff!

Geldof (feverishly): “I’m gonna be like, I’m gonna be like, I’M GONNA BE LIKE ME!”

[one second of dead air]

Blackburn (witheringly): “Oh.”

“It’s got a good beat to it!”, chirped the caller.

“Yeah, but banging your head against a wall has got a ‘good beat’ to it”, retorted Blackburn, witheringly.

I have no idea why I remember these things.

Also, disavows a racist reaction.