NEW FLAG - John Williams Syndicate, with Petula Clark.

Before Covid, I hadn’t seen or heard of John Williams since 1982. In those days, he was the manager of the pop band Blancmange & I was producing videos at Island Pictures, the movie bit of Island Records. Working with director Clive Richardson we’d picked some good jobs: Tears for Fears’ ‘Mad World’, a worldwide Number One; a trio for Steve Winwood and others for Grace Jones, Kid Creole & The Coconuts, Souxsie & The Banshees, Marianne Faithfull… One week, seven of ‘our’ songs featured in the Top 50. And records sold in them there days. John entered my life as the manager of Blancmange inviting us to make a video for their first single, ‘Living On The Ceiling’. Always up for a good wheeze, we thought it sounded ‘Egyptian’ & persuaded Egypt’s Cultural Ambassador, Mr Mosman, to chip in free flights, Shepherds Hotel, a tour bus, access to the Giza pyramids… Brilliant! Filming went like clockwork and Mr Mosman’s gamble vindicated. ‘Living The Ceiling’ entered the charts at Number 7 and Dave Lee Travis introduced its debut on Top of The Tops standing inside a replica Egyptian mummy! I abandoned my rock lifestyle shortly afterwards and eventually morphed into the Antique Roadshow’s glass specialist which I've miraculously remained for 16 years. John & my paths didn’t cross again until March during lockdown when we bumped into each other on Facebook. ‘Are you THE John Williams?’ Well, yes, he was! He’d remained in the music business throughout the intervening 38 years. Indeed, he had recently produced his first Number One album, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbot’s ‘Manchester Calling’. During our ensuring conversations, John mentioned that he was recording a lockdown song, ‘New Flag’. Over several weeks he sent me evolving versions of it, having played and sung every note of his joyful ode to new love. Engaged, I casually suggested, ’Shall we do a video for it?’ BANG! ‘Sure, let’s do it,’ smiled John. ‘It’ll be fun!’ And so it proved. But, before anyone could move, ‘New Flag’ had morphed into a duet…with John now sharing the vocals with Petula Clark, now 88-years-old, one of the most distinctive & famous singers of her generation and has lost none of her vocal prowess. You couldn’t make it up! So, in September, our gang converged on Kensington, just two doors down from David Cameron’s London gaff, to record an ‘as live’ video in John’s garden cabin studio. My first video in 38 years & it had worked like clockwork – a dream. John will be releasing ‘New Flag’ as a single in the quiet of January, hoping that it might get some radio play.