Rawlinson End Radio Flashes

Rawlinson End was a series of thirteen 15-20 minute radio broadcasts, created and performed by Vivian Stanshall (formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) for BBC Radio 1 between 1975 and 1991. The sessions recorded between 1977 and 1978 formed the template for Stanshall's LP record album, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End in 1978.

Vivian Stanshall's first foray into radio as a solo artist began in 1970 with sessions for BBC radio DJ John Peel by his groups biG GRunt and Freaks, after which Peel's producer John Walters recruited Stanshall to substitute for Peel when the latter went on a month's holiday in August 1971. Each of Stanshall's four allotted two-hour slots, which he called "Radio Flashes", consisted of him acting as DJ, playing his own favourite records as well as the usual playlist. He punctuated the records with semi-parodic DJ patter and flights of wistful and/or surreal fancy, and pre-recorded comedy sketches starring himself and actress Chris Bowler. He also devised mock advertisements for absurdist household animal repellents such as "Rilla-Go!", "Repellephant" and "Rhi-No!" for the show, and created a four-part radio serial complete with cliffhanger ending for each episode, depicting the bizarre exploits of Dick Barton-style gentleman adventurer Colonel Knutt and 'his cheeky cockney sidekick' Lemmy. Starring himself as Colonel Knutt, The Who's drummer Keith Moon as Lemmy, and Traffic's drummer Jim Capaldi, it was this last feature of "Radio Flashes" that helped to sow the seeds for the original radio serial broadcasts of "Sir Henry At Rawlinson End" later in the decade.

During the same period he devised "Radio Flashes" Stanshall also created a spoken-word piece, conceived and honed through live performances throughout 1970 and 1971, entitled "Rawlinson End". This original piece was a reading of an isolated, apparently randomly-selected instalment of a nonexistent 'continuing serial' that told the story of a dysfunctional semi-aristocratic British family (the Rawlinsons) fallen on hard times, with added literary allusions and a slightly scatological aftertaste. An embryonic version of the piece was originally broadcast on radio DJ John Peel's Top Gear in early 1971 as part of a session by Stanshall's touring band Freaks.

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