John Gorman (born 4 January 1936), is an English comedian, vocalist and comedy musician.

The Scaffold

After

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, Gorman worked as a

Telecommunications Engineer Telecommunications Engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication engine ...

. He was the founder of the comedy music group

The Scaffold The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...

, best known for their 1968 hit single ''Lily the Pink'', and its successor the band

Grimms GRIMMS was an English pop rock, comedy and poetry group, originally formed as a merger of The Scaffold with core members of the Bonzo Dog Band and the Liverpool Scene for two concerts in 1971 at the suggestion of John Gorman. The band's ...

– the 'G' in Gorman providing the 'G' in Grimms. He also made a comedy musical album for

DJM Records DJM Records (also known as Dick James Music) was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, ...

, ''Go Man Gorman''. During the 1970s he made brief film appearances in

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

's medieval set farce ''

Up the Chastity Belt ''Up the Chastity Belt'' (also released as ''Naughty Knights'' in the United States) is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Frankie Howerd. It was a spin-off from the TV series '' Up Pompeii!'' Plot Eleanor of Aquit ...

'' (1971), ''

Melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

'' (1971),

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...

's ''

Jabberwocky "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The bo ...

'' (1977), where he is credited as 'second peasant', and ''

The Music Machine The Music Machine was an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1966. Fronted by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Sean Bonniwell, the band cultivated a characteristically dark and rebellious image reflected in an untamed mus ...

'' (1979) as a newsagent.

Television

He also made appearances on the British children's television show ''

Tiswas ''Tiswas'' (; an acronym of "Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile") was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV. It was c ...

'' between 1977 and 1981, (became a regular member in 1978) and was one of the Four Bucketeers, a novelty band whose highest-charting single was "Bucket of Water Song", which reached No. 26 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1980. After ''Tiswas'', he worked with

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

on its adult-orientated successor '' O.T.T.''. He then moved to Tyne Tees, first on the children's game show ''How Dare You!'' and later on another children's show, ''Razzmatazz''. After a period living in France, he returned as Artistic Director for the ''Theatre on the Steps'' in

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

, Shropshire, England. He appeared on the Tiswas Reunited show on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

on 16 June 2007. Also in 2007 he announced plans to establish a Wirral Academy of the Arts at

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

. On 16 April 2022, Gorman reunited once again with Bob Carolgees, Sally James and Chris Tarrant for a ''Tiswas'' reunion show at St George's in Bristol as part of the city's annual

Slapstick Festival The Slapstick Festival is an annual event in Bristol, United Kingdom. During the festival, which was created in 2005 by Bristol Silents, there are screenings of silent, classic, and visual comedy films. The intent of the festival is to introduce th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, John 1936 births Living people English male singers British parodists Parody musicians English comedy musicians English male comedians English television presenters People from Birkenhead Entertainers from Merseyside The Scaffold members Grimms members

The Scaffold

Television

See also

References