Television: Vivian Stanshall – One Man’s Week 1975
Broadcast on April 9, 1975, this episode of BBC series One Man’s Week captured Vivian Stanshall at a career high.
Stansall chats to Jack “De Maniac” at “Brainwashing House”, summons up the Boy’s Brigade by “playing” a length of plastic tube, collects a duck-shaped ukelele from the ceramicist and medieval instrument maker Michael Lynch, discusses whether animals should wear trousers at Chessington Zoo, cycles around London in traffic-stopping get-ups, sifts through 78s in Goldie Oldies in The Old Kent Road and records – with Gaspar Lawal, Mongezi Feza and other luminaries – the gorgeous Lakonga and Baba Tunde, both sides of a single in the Afro-jazz vein of his great solo album Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead!.
On the Barney Bubbles blog I’ve posted a stunning poster produced by the graphic designer for a one-off performance by Stanshall of his show An Evening At Rawlinson End, as well as sketches Bubbles produced for a Stanshall-blessed, but never realised, spoken word LP which was to pair sports commentary giants John Arlott and Peter O’Sullevan.
See here.