Rawlinson's End

In 1978, Charisma Records released the 'Sir Henry At Rawlinson End' album, a forty-minute introduction to the eccentric custodian of the crumbling British country estate, which incorporated characters & music from the various episodes of the Sir Henry saga, originally broadcast on the BBC's John Peel show from October 1975 up until 1991. The BBC regular re-broadcast Sir Henry even today. In 1980, Sir Henry was also unleashed on the public as a film, starring the great Trevor Howard & was also issued as book published by Eel Pie Publishing, owned at the time by The Who's Pete Townshend. In the years just before his untimely death in 1995, Vivian intended to generate a new album based around the content of three of the final episodes broadcast by John Peel on the BBC; 'Crackpot At The End Of The Rainbow' recorded in February 1988, 'The Eating At Rawlinson End', from August 1988 & 'The Thing At Rawlinson End', from April 1991. For decades it has been rumoured that a new Sir Henry album would be released & now finally Madfish / Snapper Music in collaboration with the Stanshall Family have made that rumour a reality. Using all the remaining tapes from Vivian's archive, Stanshall expert & performance artist Michael Livesley has manged to put back together the intended release, a process that he has described as similar to "putting back together a smashed vase". The results are a revelation with the final album now a double LP containing some of Vivian's finest work. Fans of Sir Henry, Old Scrotum, Mrs E & the various bizarre & evocative characters that inhabit the musty Rawlinson's End will be thrilled at the imagined adventures that await them.