Web Page 30949 26th August 2023 First Picture: Album cover

Second Picture: Cherry Wainer

Third Picture: DVD Cover

Fourth Picture: Jack Good

Lord Rockingham's XI Lord Rockingham’s X1was a group of British session musicians, led by Scotsman Harry Robinson (1932–1996), who had a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1958 with "Hoots Mon". The group was created to perform as the resident band on the pop TV programme Oh Boy!, which was produced by Jack Good, and shown nationally on Britain's ITV network during 1958/59. They were fronted by Harry Robinson and also included jazz baritone saxophonist (later well-known writer/broadcaster) Benny Green, and organist Cherry Wainer. Other members were Cherry Wainer's husband Don Storer (drums), Reg Weller (percussion), Red Price (tenor sax), Rex Morris (tenor sax), Cyril Reubens (baritone sax), Ronnie Black (double bass), Bernie Taylor (guitar), Eric Ford (guitar). Joining the group later were Kenny Packwood (guitar) and Ian Fraser (piano). In addition to backing the singers of the day such as Marty Wilde and Cuddly Dudley, they recorded several novelty rock instrumentals for Decca Records, the first being "Fried Onions", which fa iled to chart in the UK but did slip into the US Billboard charts for a week at No. 96. The second single, was HarryRobinson's "Hoots Mon", a rocked-up version of the traditional Scottish song "A hundred Pipers", featuring Scots phrases like "Hoots mon, there's a moose loose aboot this hoose!", it rose up the charts supported by weekly TV exposure, and stayed at number one for three weeks. Following a legal case brought by descendants of the real Lord Rockingham, which was settled out of court, the group toured and made several less successful follow-ups, including "Wee Tom" (#16, 1959). They disbanded with the end of the TV show in 1959, although the name was revived for a couple of albums in the 1960s. Harry Robinson's career in TV and music continued, one notable credit being for his string arrangement on Nick Drake's track "River Man". "Fried Onions" was used in a television advertisement for Options indulgence chocolate drink, first shown on UK TV in December 2011. Cherry Wainer, probably the most well known member of the group, died in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 14, 2014, at the age of 79. Mary Writes:- I read your blog with great interest. My parents were just the same as yours. After seeing 1 episode they refused to watch it saying it was disgusting & an insult to the country. Some years later I was with my parents at a charity cricket match held at the Bat & Ball Inn. David Frost was there, & I was quite shocked to see him. On TV he appeared to be quite a good looking man. He didn`t look very nice at all, & was quite unpleasant to members of the public who tried to speak to me. He just totally ignored them. After that I never took any notice of what he had to say! Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com