The Master Singers

The Master Singers were a British vocal group in the 1960s. Comprising four schoolmasters, they specialised in comedic recordings of mundane documents and announcements such as the radio weather forecast and Highway Code, performed a cappella as Anglican chant. Two of their records, "Highway Code" and "Weather Forecast", both produced by George Martin, reached the UK singles chart in 1966.

History

The original setting of the Highway Code as a psalm chant was devised by John Horrex, a teacher at Abingdon School, in the late 1950s. He performed it with various friends at local church and school social events for several years. In 1963, to celebrate the school's tercentenary, Horrex with three other teachers – George Pratt, Geoff Keating and Barry Montague – made a private recording of the Highway Code in several different styles. A copy of the recording reached broadcaster and humourist Fritz Spiegl, who in turn passed it to the BBC where it was played on a radio show hosted by Winston Churchill, the grandson of the former Prime Minister.^[1]

The group were then contracted to record for Parlophone Records. They first appeared on record in late 1965 with Peter Sellers on his version of the Beatles' "Help!", which was released as the B-side of his version of "A Hard Day's Night", produced by George Martin.^[2] The group also recorded Christmas carols with Cliff Richard; although the recordings were not used, they were heard by another popular vocal group, The King's Singers, who then asked Pratt to arrange carols on their own recordings.^[1]

The Master Singers' version of "Highway Code", arranged by Horrex and Keating and produced by George Martin, was released in April 1966, and rose to no.25 on the UK pop chart.^[3] They followed it up with "Telephone Directory", and then "Weather Forecast", which reached no. 50,^[3] although they encountered copyright difficulties with "Telephone Directory", as the General Post Office claimed copyright on the names and telephone numbers and prohibited the group from using the directory's contents.^[4] They also recorded two songs for a Keele University charity record, The Master Singers And Shirley Kent Sing For Charec 67,^[5] and released an EP comprising two of their singles.^[6]

The group also made several television appearances. Montague left the group to move to Australia, and was replaced by Mike Warrington from Cheadle Hulme School. As the original members each left Abingdon School, and their teaching careers took them to different parts of the country – Horrex to Glasgow, Pratt to Keele, and Keating to Cheadle Hulme – the group split up.^[1]

Later life

John Horrex joined the staff at The Glasgow Academy as Head of the Physics Department in January 1965, where he was also much involved in many Academy stage productions – as writer, producer, actor and technical adviser. Some 16 years later he moved to become Head of Physics at St Edmund’s School, Canterbury He died on 18 March 2013.^[7] Geoff Keating became Director of Music at Millfield School and also taught at Sherborne School before retiring to Scotland. George Pratt became Professor of Music at Huddersfield University, and a frequent radio contributor,^[8] and retired to Exeter. Mike Warrington became a head teacher in Oldham before retiring.^[1]

References