John Shuttleworth (character)

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John Shuttleworth
Shuttleworth at the Big Chill in 2010
First appearance
Created byGraham Fellows
Portrayed byGraham Fellows
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationMusician, radio presenter
SpouseMary
Children
  • Darren Shuttleworth
  • Karen Shuttleworth

John Shuttleworth is a fictional singer-songwriter and radio presenter, created in 1985

PSS portable keyboard[2] and include "Pigeons in Flight", a song that Shuttleworth attempted to have selected for the Eurovision Song Contest
.

Character portrait

Shuttleworth is a pathetic character, essentially decent and benevolent, but with a painful lack of self-awareness. The unfortunate gap between his actual musical talent and his steadfast belief in the possibility of his eventual pop super-stardom is the main source of the character's tragi-comedy. His "next-door neighbour and sole agent", Ken Worthington is more of a hindrance than a help in John's life.

The character was inspired by some demo tapes sent in to

Jilted John – worked as a songwriter in the 1980s, and takes some of his mannerisms from Graham's father (who was from Croydon)[3] and from mouse breeders he knew as a young man in Sheffield. A character prototypical of John Shuttleworth appeared on the single "Men of Oats And Creosote", issued under Fellows' own name in 1979.[4]

Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme, on 3 June 2015, Fellows suggested that Shuttleworth was an amalgamation of the "very steady types" he had served beer to in a working men's club in Sheffield and the more eccentric characters he had met while showing fancy mice.[5]

Supporting characters

Shuttleworth has fronted several radio and television series, usually supported by other characters, also voiced by Fellows, including agent / manager Ken Worthington ("TV's Mr. Clarinet Man"), who came last on the TV talent show New Faces in 1973, as well as John's wife Mary Shuttleworth, their two teenage children Darren and Karen, and Mary's friend Joan Chitty. Other characters included Janet Le Row (formerly Rowbotham - John came up with the idea for a name change, which has brought Janet relative success), a fellow singer-songwriter who shares John's agent; Plonker, a friend of Darren; Maxime, a friend of Karen; and Peter Cornelius, a salesman and friend of Ken who is always keen to sell his products.

Broadcasting

The Shuttleworths' various adventures have featured on several radio shows, including The Shuttleworths, Shuttleworth's Showtime and Radio Shuttleworth, with Fellows supplying all the voices and performing on his organ. He also made a four-part TV series supposedly filmed by Worthington, 500 Bus Stops (the title being a parodying reference to Frank Zappa's 200 Motels), about a UK national tour thwarted very early when his beloved Y-reg Austin Ambassador broke down, but then continued by public transport. The venues visited were invariably mundane and uninspiring, and situations experienced usually demoralising, but were optimistically dealt with as if they were defining moments in his career. There followed a television special, Europigeon, following the success (or otherwise) of "Pigeons in Flight".

In May 2008 Fellows appeared in the BBC's Comedy Map of Britain in which he discussed the origin of his Shuttleworth character.

In February 2019, The Shuttleworths was placed at number 26 in the Radio Times 'Top 30 From Plomley To Peel' poll of BBC radio shows (Radio Times print edition, 16–22 February 2019).

Radio

Shuttleworth has also guested on

Loose Ends
.

Television series

It's Nice Up North and Southern Softies

In 2006, Fellows (as Shuttleworth) made a film with photographer

Shetland Islands, the most northerly part of the United Kingdom. In summer 2007 he travelled to the Channel Islands
to shoot another film, Southern Softies. Again featuring an appearance from Parr, Shuttleworth aims to discover whether people are softer the further south you go.

Other TV appearances

Other recordings

  • John Shuttleworth in Performance (1986, cassette)
  • Swimming With Sharon (1987, 7" and 12" single) – a song performed by John, with additional vocals by his son, Darren.
  • The Ghost of Giggleswick (1990, cassette)
  • Seven Songs By Sunset (1992, cassette) – comedy special, in which John's manager, Ken Worthington refuses to pay John unless he writes 7 new songs by the following morning.
  • Do You Ken Ken Worthington (1993, cassette)
  • Y Reg (1996, CD single)
  • Talkin' (1996–1998) – A series of educational videos produced for children by English Heritage. John Shuttleworth hosted 3 episodes Talkin' Roman (1996), Talkin' Saxon (1997) and Talkin' Viking (1998).
  • The Yamaha Years (1997, CD)
  • Shuttleworth Live (2000, CD)
  • Blue John (2001, CD)
  • One Foot in the Gravy (live) (2001, CD, VHS, DVD)
  • The Voiceprint Christmas CD (2001, CD)
  • The Dolby Decades (2008, CD)
  • The Minor Tour (2009, DVD)
  • The A1111 And Other Ones (2017, CD, LP)

Other media

In December 2015, Fellows recorded a satellite navigation voice for TomTom devices as Ken Worthington, made available as a free download.[9] A John Shuttleworth voice was also planned.[citation needed]

Stage show

In April 2007 Shuttleworth started touring with a new stage show With My Condiments. It was inspired by Jamie Oliver's promotion of healthy food for school children. Fellows thought "what would happen if Shuttleworth did the same for a slightly older age group".[12] In June, Shuttleworth's 4 Rather Tasty Tracks was released as a download or CD, reaching the appropriately modest number 96 in the UK charts and number 29 in the Indie Charts in July 2007.

In November 2008 Shuttleworth began his Minor Tour – and other Mythological Creatures tour.

In October 2010 Shuttleworth began a five-month A Man With No More Rolls tour, claiming that it was a misprint and should have been called A Man With No Morals.

In Spring 2015 it was announced that Shuttleworth was to appear in a one-night concert John Shuttleworth & Friends, on 28 June 2015, at the

Jilted John.[5]

In Spring 2017 Shuttleworth embarked on a 53-date "farewell" tour, titled "My Last Will and Tasty Mint".[14]

In May 2022 Shuttleworth had to abandon a performance in the Peak Cavern, Derbyshire, due to fears of rocks falling down the cliff face. An operation by the Edale Mountain Rescue ensued to reach a walker who had fallen down the side of the cavern and was clinging to a tree above a 100 ft (30 m) drop.[15]

Television advertising

In 2009 Shuttleworth appeared in a UK television advertising campaign for Yorkshire Tea.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ "About Graham Fellows". Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  2. ^ Inglis, Sam (May 2004). "Graham Fellows (aka John Shuttleworth) - Making Engineering Funny". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  3. YouTube
  4. ^ 45cat.com
  5. ^ a b "BBC Radio 4 - Midweek, Graham Fellows, Matthew Oates, William McLellan, Kate Waters". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  6. ^ Baldwin, Kevin. "Kevin Baldwin". YouTube. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Photos and videos by WILL YAPP (@WILLYAPP7)". Twitter. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Graham Fellows aging with John Shuttleworth". www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  9. ^ a b "The JSAS eShop". www.shuttleworths.co.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  10. ^ "The Shuttleworths Pilot Episode". Amazon. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  11. ^ "The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer - At Home With Vic and Bob - TheTVDB.com".
  12. ^ The Independent, 20 April 2007 (5-minute Interview)
  13. ^ "Tour details and news". Shuttleworths.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  14. ^ "Tour details and news". Shuttleworths.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
  15. ^ Watson, Greig (20 May 2022). "John Shuttleworth cave concert abandoned due to cliff rescue". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  16. YouTube
  17. YouTube

External links

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