Half a minute pilot programme from 1993 - John Otway

A pilot programme from 1993 - It is a bit rough and ready. It was a work in progress but It never saw the light of day. John Otway was the host. John is an English singer-songwriter who has built a cult audience through extensive touring. Otway was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Although his first single, "Gypsy"/"Misty Mountain" was released in 1972, Otway initially received some coverage on the back of punk rock and a performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test.[2] His sixth single, the half-spoken love song "Really Free" reached number 27 in the UK Singles Chart in 1977. It would be his greatest success for some time. The song earned him a five-album deal with Polydor Records, who viewed him as a punk rather than merely an eccentric.[1] His first album, recorded with Wild Willy Barrett, was produced by Pete Townshend but sold only fitfully. The follow-up singles fared no better despite some imaginative promotion, which included an offer for Otway to come to a buyer's house and perform 1979 single, "Frightened and Scared", if their copy was one of only three copies from which the vocal had been omitted.[1] Otway's and Barrett's only other UK chart success came in July 1980 with "DK 50/80", a modest No. 45 hit. When Otway turned solo, his audience remained loyal despite poor record sales. In the mid 1980s, he often appeared on Vivian and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall's showboat, the Old Profanity Showboat, in Bristol's Floating Harbour.[4] He also appeared as the musical guest in the final episode of the British sitcom The Young Ones, "Summer Holiday". His 1990 autobiography, Cor Baby, That's Really Me (subtitled Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure) was a study in self-deprecation, and his touring continued to sustain him.[1] In the 1990s, he toured as "Headbutts and Halibuts", with Attila the Stockbroker with whom he wrote a surreal rock opera called Cheryl. In 1992 Otway appeared at GuilFest. In 1993 he was able to draw 2,500 fans to a gig in London[1] and, in 1998, 4,000 celebrated his birthday with him at the Royal Albert Hall, coinciding with the release of Premature Adulation, his first album of new material for over ten years. By then, Otway had realised he could use his fanbase, who were in on the joke, to engage in minor publicity stunts. A grassroots campaign saw his "Beware of the Flowers Cause I'm Sure They're Going to Get You Yeah" voted the seventh greatest lyric of all time in a BBC poll.[5] In 2002, when asked what he wanted for his 50th birthday, he requested "a second hit". A concerted drive, including a poll (scrutinised by the Electoral Reform Society) to select the track, saw "Bunsen Burner" — with music sampled from the Trammps song "Disco Inferno" and lyrics devised to help his daughter with her chemistry homework – reach number nine in the UK Singles Chart on 6 October,[3] and earned Otway an appearance on Top of the Pops, BBC Television's flagship popular music programme. To encourage fans to buy more than one copy of each of the single, he released three different versions. The flip-side of "Bunsen Burner – The Hit Mix" was a cover of "The House of the Rising Sun" recorded at Abbey Road Studios and featuring 900 of his fans on backing vocals, each of whom was credited by name on the single's sleeve. Thanks to this second hit he has now been able to release his Greatest Hits album. Commenting on the fact that the title of this album is now in the plural, Otway said that he was very proud of it, having "finally got it (the 's') on the right side of Hit". Otway is still touring in various formats. In October 2012, to celebrate his 60th birthday, Otway booked the Odeon Leicester Square to show the documentary of his life. Titled Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie, the screening saw cinematic history made with the final scenes of the movie being filmed from the red carpet on the morning of the film.[6] The film was funded by fans becoming producers who, as with the Hit campaign, were all individually credited in the movie credits. Following the success of the producers' premiere, 2013 saw Otway take the completed movie to the Cannes Film Festival. Ever resourceful and still with an eye for a publicity stunt, Otway and 100 of his fans (who donned Otway masks and dressed up in Otway's traditional black jeans and white shirt) travelled down the Promenade de la Croisette to the red carpet. The film also had its theatrical release at Glastonbury Festival in June 2013, before going on a national cinema tour in the summer.