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 enginee ...

. 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, ''Go Man Gorman''. During the 1970s he made brief film appearances in Frankie Howerd's medieval set farce '' Up the Chastity Belt'' (1971), ''

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

'' (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), '' ...

'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 ...

'' (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 mu ...

'' (1979) as a newsagent.

Television

He also made appearances on the British children's television show '' Tiswas'' between 1977 and 1981, (became a regular member in 1978) and was one of the

Four Bucketeers The Four Bucketeers were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV children's programme ''Tiswas''. Officially, the Four were Chris Tarrant, Sally James, John Gorman and Bob Carolgees; sometimes Lenny Henry contributed as well. Gorman was ...

, 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 on its adult-orientated successor ''

O.T.T. Ott, OTT or O.T.T. may refer to: Entertainment * OTT (group), a pop band from the late 1990s * Ott (record producer), British record producer and musician * "O.T.T" (song), a song by Fugative * ''O.T.T.'' (television series), a UK TV programme f ...

''. 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. Histor ...

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

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 pu ...

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. ...

. 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.

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