Owen Money

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language of t ...

(born Lynn Mittell, 16 May 1947) is a Welsh

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, comedian, and

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

. He was born in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tyd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2 ...

. In the

2007 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2007 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Money was made an

for services to entertainment in Wales.

The Bystanders

Mittell was bassist of Merthyr Tydfil-based band The Crescendos, who amalgamated with another Merthyr band ''The Rebels'' to form The Bystanders in 1962. Mittell changed his name to Gerry Braden, and became lead singer in a line-up with: * Micky Jones – guitar and vocals * Clive John - guitar, keyboards and vocals * Ray Williams - bass * Jeff Jones - drums The band signed to the record label Pylot records in 1963, with initial release ''"That's The End"'', with ''"This Time"'' as the 'B' side. They were then signed to

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

, where they released the double-sided cover single ''"98.6"'' (backed with

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's ''"Stubborn Kind Of Fellow"''), which peaked at number forty five on 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 ...

in February 1967 Gerry Braden left ''The Bystanders'' in 1967, to be replaced by Vic Oakley from ''The Meteorites'', who was, in turn, replaced by Deke Leonard, when ''The Bystanders'' became

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

. Owen Money reformed the Bystanders in 1998 for a one-off performance at Maesteg Town Hall for his TV programme

Tomfoolery

Mittell formed comedy entertainment Tomfoolery in 1974, which rapidly became a successful comedy show band, topping the bill at

South Pier, Blackpool South Pier (originally known as Victoria Pier) is one of three piers in Blackpool, England. Located on South Promenade on the South Shore, the pier contains a number of amusement and adrenaline rides. It opens each year from March to November an ...

. The band toured extensively in the UK and Europe, winning many comedy awards on the way. In 1980 Owen Money left Tomfoolery for the comedy circuit, starting a tradition for the band where members come and go, including ex-lead singer

Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of ''The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-yea ...

1980 and onwards

Owen Money toured the club circuit as a comedian, winning the Club Land ''"Comedian of the Year"'' award, performing alongside

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

and Tom Jones. In 1987, Money joined

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales ...

with weekly programme ''"Money for Nothing"'', which increased in popularity through 1997 to win two gold

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

: one for ''"Regional Broadcaster of the Year"'', and the other for ''"Best Music Sequence Programme of Year"''. ''"Money for Nothing"'' is presently broadcast every Saturday morning. Money regularly appears with his band the ''Travelling Wrinklies'', and takes the ''"Owen Money Laughter Show"'' to venues around Wales and

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

Business interests

Money used to be the landlord of a pub called The LA in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. It was originally named the Hafod Inn; Money used to say that LA stood for "Lower 'Afod". The pub is now the Hafod Inn once again. Money was formerly a director and chairman of Merthyr Tydfil FC, and was instrumental in trying to bring

Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talen ...

to the club.

Pantomime

In 2000, after appearing himself in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, he set up his own pantomime company, The Owen Money Theatre Company, with the aim of taking family friendly pantomimes around the theatres of Wales from November to February. The first production was '' Aladdin'', followed by ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' (2001/02), ''

Jack And The Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Col ...

'' (2002/03), ''

Dick Whittington Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale ''Dic ...

'' (2003/04), '' Aladdin'' (2004/05), ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'' (2005/06), ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythic ...

'' (2006/07), ''

'' (2007/08), ''

'' (2007), Adult pantomime ''Buttons Undone - The Cinderella Story continues...'' (2008), Robinson Crusoe (2008), Aladdin (2009), Dick Whittington (2010), Peter Pan 2011/2012), Babes in the Wood (2012/2013), Aladdin (2013/2014).

Personal life

Married, Money lives in

Porthcawl Porthcawl (, ) is a town and community on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, west of the capital city, Cardiff and southeast of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the ...

, and has a daughter Katie and a son Mathew. He has a niece who lives in Merthyr Tydfil called Deni Davies. In March 2006, he suffered a minor

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop funct ...

while at his holiday home in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. He flew back home, and was admitted to hospital in

's Morriston Hospital.BBC NEWS , Wales , Entertainer suffers minor stroke
/ref> Under his given name of Lynn Mittell, Owen Money was awarded an

in the Queen's New Year Honours List 2007. The citation reads: "Radio Presenter and Comedy Music Performer. For services to entertainment in Wales".

References

External links

Official website

''Money for Nothing''
(BBC Radio Wales)
''Owen Money's Solid Gold Sunday''
(BBC Radio Wales)
Details of Owen Money theatre company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Money, Owen 1947 births Living people People from Merthyr Tydfil Welsh male singers Welsh comedians Welsh radio presenters Welsh television presenters BBC Radio Wales presenters Members of the Order of the British Empire