bhowells

Did anyone enjoy Mike Hardings shows for the BBC in the late seventies, a genuinely funny man. Next to Billy Connoly he was my favourite of the folk club comedians.

Better known now for being presenter of Folk On Two.

smiffy

Mike used to drop into one of his old haunts ,now and again ,which was the Old house at home a little boozer ,set right in the middle of the ICI complex in Blackley village ( pronounced blakely ) the bottom end of Crumpsall where he grew up .
I used to frequent the place , (six nights out of seven in a good week )and It was there you would get advance information , that he was visiting, and would be joining the Folk Jam session At the , Ring O' Bells In Middleton , Another Real Ale Old pub ,which would be standing room only on those nights .
I Have no Idea what he Is like now ,but can only guess he Is as unpretentious now , as he was then , (and of course funny , but round here It's part of everyday life )

I May be getting older ,but I refuse to grow up

EllyMack

I once saw him live at De Montfort Hall and thought he was great.

Haven't seen him around or heard of him in recent years, even when I was hobnobbing with the like of Oysterband and Vikki Clayton et al. He turned into a bit of a warrior, I seem to recall, ramblers' freedom to roam and all that stuff.

EHV_Emmetts

Yes I do remember his shows and they were very funny.

Whilst Mike remained with his folk roots, Connelly went into TV and latterly films with varying degrees of success.

Caine

Wasn't he... T'Bradford Cowboy?

He was great I remember the one about the tortoise in the garden

penfold

Oysterband ....grrrr............but.......have you seen Vikki lately ????

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

bhowells

Funny you should mention this me and My Mrs were talking today about the weekend breaks we have had in Manchester and we said that another visit is wll overdue.

One of the nicest restaurants we visited was the one in the Old Wellington Pub by the cathedral.

Manchester is a great city an easy place to get around and the people are friendly.

We stayed at the Copthorne last time by Old Trafford and its great to savour the atmosphere after the game.

bhowells

Oysterband know their work well, I saw them in an arts venue outside Swansea some years back.

My favourite track is "Oxford Girl."

bhowells

Much as I love Billys stand up work I did get a little tired of his constant appearances on Parkinson. As you say his tv and film work has been patchy and I was never keen on his us tv stuff such as Head Of The Class.

bhowells

Mike Harding is a good musician proficient on many intsturments, his serious songs were never his strongest suit in my opinion but one I did like was called Jimmy Spoons about an elderly busker outside a cinema.

winsfordtown

I think every region in the seventies had a folk singer/comic. Does anybody remember Bob Williamson who was regular on the North West scene? He was probably a poor man's Mike Harding - The Rochdale Cowboy.

smiffy

Bob Williamson was from Bolton , and I seem to remember him having A regular spot on tv in the seventies/eighties .

Phil cool , the guy with the rubber face ,was another northern comic popular around the same time, I can't remember him singing, though I may be wrong

I May be getting older ,but I refuse to grow up

EllyMack

Oysterband are a great bunch. Vikki's a good friend of ours, and my bloke worked with her until very recently. She's still performing, but doing more solo work and stuff with her own band these days.

EHV_Emmetts

Phil Cool wasn't a musician. He was a protege of Jasper Carrot. Phil never really broke into TV - although he did have his own series Cool It which was very funny. I read somewhere that he had a heart attack in the early 90's and subsequently has retired from performing.

BobL

He was the Rochdale Cowboy

It's hard being a cowboy in Rochdale
Me spurs dont fit right on me clogs