Born on November 18th 1927 at Bury in Lancashire and named Allan Smethurst, he died on 22nd December 2000 in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. His parents brought him to Sheringham, Norfolk as a two year old where he spent the rest of his childhood. His invalid father died and his mother re-married and he moved to Cleethorpes with them as a teenager. He had attended Paston Grammar School, North Walsham and, this being a fine seat of learning, it is remarkable that he kept his strong, Norfolk accent.
Smethurst, a real life postman, hummed his tunes on his daily round, He had bought his guitar from Woolworths in 1949 and started writing and playing his own dialect songs, initially confining his activities to his bedroom. The nostalgic songs were based on his young life in Norfolk. “It was ten years afore I dare let people hear them,” he once admitted.
Plucking up the courage to send a tape to the BBC in Norwich containing ‘Hev Yew Gotta Loight Bor’ it landed on the desk of Ralph Tuck. Ralph was part of a milling family but, at the time, circa 1964, he was working as a presenter on a regional radio programme.
Ralph liked what he heard and promptly founded a record label called 'The Smallest Recording Organisation In The World' in Lowestoft to promote the Singing Postman. The 100 discs which Tuck had cut promptly sold out and Smethurst became an overnight star.
CD Track Listing
When The Moon Peeps O'er The Hill
Thirty Nine
The Foxhunt
The Postman And The Milkgirl
The Light In The Sky
Bubbles And The Wall
My Boy John
Daddy's Old Trombone
The Ghost Of Hardship Hall
Willy The Verger
My Christmas Dream
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Allan Smethurst
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English
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