Saw this on digitalspy and also reports on Twitter.

 

Chris Sievey, better known as Frank Sidebottom, has died after collapsing at his home. RIP

 

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnew...lapsing_at_home

 

 

Edited June 21, 201015 yr by Mark.

I remember him from that old saturday morning show No.73 with Sandi Toksvig but he was a regular on the alternative comedy circuit which

is where a lot of his core fans know him from. He's had guest spots on various tv shows over the years, and was a regular guest on Mark Radcliffe's

old Radio 1 evening show.

Very sad. One of the UK's most unique artists. He will be sorely missed.

Bobbins news. I was a fan of his Northern humour.

 

I loved Timperley TV made by Yorkshire TV in the late 1980s/early 1990s which featured the likes of Caroline Aherne; Craig Cash & Mark Radcliffe.

 

 

 

 

What's tragic is no-one has yet mentioned The Freshies.... :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 201015 yr by Severin

Sad news. I never really "got" the Frank Sidebottom thing, but The Freshies did put out a couple of fine singles (and I remember a B-side, "Tell Her I'm Ill" being decent as well.

 

--

Richard

oh dear... another great has been taken. :(

Yes, I was shocked to hear he had cancer. Even more shocked that he's been taken away already.

 

I blogged a short obit earlier on: http://www.culturedeluxe.com/music/musicne...y-dies-aged-54/

 

Bobbins news. I was a fan of his Northern humour.

 

I loved Timperley TV made by Yorkshire TV in the late 1980s/early 1990s which featured the likes of Caroline Aherne; Craig Cash & Mark Radcliffe.

 

Was ‘Timperley TV’ only broadcast in the Yorkshire TV region or late at night? I do not seem to recall it being shown on Granada, even though Frank Sidebottom has been popping up on local TV [including ‘ultra-local Channel M] for many years. I would have expected it to have been shown on TV here in the North West, as they are all stars very much associated with ‘Granadaland’.

 

Even though I cannot remember a show that featured both Frank Sidebottom and Mrs Merton, I do remember many of Caroline Ahern’s first appearances on TV. I first remember seeing Mrs Merton on a Saturday morning TV show on Granada that used to go out after The Chart Show at 12.30pm. I cannot remember the name of the show, but I remember that it was a regional version of the BBC 2 show No Limits [the UK version of Entertainment USA] and I seem to remember that instead of Jenny Powell as presenter, it had ‘Johnny Dangerously’ from the band I Am Kloot as host.

 

On the show, Mrs Merton was the resident ‘agony aunt’ and used to answer people’s problems from either a ‘chippy’ or local café somewhere in the Greater Manchester region. I would guess that this filming would have actually taken place in a ‘Greasy Spoon’ establishment in Stockport, as in the early 1990s Ahern and Cash had late night shows on the town’s local KFM radio station.

 

Originally KFM was a pirate radio station and in the early days of [legitimate] broadcasting, it was like an early 1990s version of 6Music. I did not listen to the station much in those days as I was usually listening to Gary Davies or Bruno Brookes on Radio 1, though I did get to meet The River City People at their studios, because KFM operated in the same building where a family friend worked.

 

I do not know if many people remember The River City People for anything else than their Mamas & Papas cover, though some people may also remember the lead singer Siobhan Mayer from her time as a presenter on CBBC. I cannot remember too much about her show but it probably involved either Andy Crane or Mark Curry, as was the case for most shows that were broadcast from the North West.

 

When it came to the summer Saturday Morning TV schedules, I would usually prefer to watch an ITV show such as ‘Get Fresh’ over any of the BBC Shows that came from studios in the North West [for example ‘UP2U’ or ‘The 8:15 From Manchester’]. This was because they would start at least an hour earlier than the corporation’s winter shows [for example ‘Going Live’ or ‘Saturday Superstore’] or any of the rival shows on ITV [9.25am], at a time when I would either be asleep or watching a TV-am show such as ‘The Wide Awake Club’ or ‘Saturday Mayhem’.

 

I liked watching ‘Number 73’ and remember most of the original cast. In addition to Toskvig as Ethel, I remember that film director Andrea Arnold played Dawn and a guy, who I think was called Nick Stevenson, played Harry. In addition to these people there was a Scottish character called Alec who had a library in his toilet. I do not remember much about Alec as he left after one series and was replaced by various people from the ‘ZZZZap!’ comic show series, such as Neil Buchanan and Richard Waites [‘Cuthbert Lilly He’s Dead Silly’].

 

I think Number 73 [or 7T3 when it ‘relocated’ to a ‘Wild West’ theme park] ran every year that TVS in Maidstone had an ITV licence. Unfortunately, I remember that they lost their licence to Meridian, in about 1992, as the directors of TVS hugely overbid for the rights to run the Southern operational region and so it was thought by the IBA that TVS would just bankrupt themselves, in about a year, on these new terms [i think they bid about £75 million when it awarded to newcomers Meridian for a fraction of that cost].

 

I am not sure if the TVS studios in Maidstone still exist in 2010. I know TVS became The Family Channel for a few years, but I think that service was discontinued in the late 1990s. I think it is very likely that the studios would have been flattened to make way for housing now, so it is very possible that somebody is actually living at house number 73 on the same site of that famous TV house, which is something to think about.

 

Loz