Let's have a Frank Sidebottom Day

In 2016, a primary school in Bury, Greater Manchester, staged an extraordinary tribute to comedian, musician and beloved personality Frank Sidebottom.

The youngsters emerged from Chapelfield Primary on the last day of term wearing gigantic papier-mâché heads like those worn by the iconic musician on their penultimate day at school. Kids at the school in Radcliffe, Bury, have been studying the life of the comedian Chris Sievey - who was made famous by his alter-ego Frank and who died in 2010. Teachers wanted to show Year 6 pupils that they can take any path in life they want - no matter how unusual.

Headteacher Malcolm Gate said the idea was brilliant. 'We have got the most creative and talented group of staff you could ever wish for and this is just part of their genius,' he told the Manchester Evening News (see report here). 'The Year 5 and 6 pupils spent weeks moulding and painting the enormous heads before unveiling the results to friends and parents on Tuesday afternoon.' If you don't know who Frank Sidebottom was, this short documentary will help:

   

Chris Sievey was a musician originally and his band - The Freshies - might have scored a hit with their single I'm in Love with the Girl on the Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk, had it not been for a BBC technicians' strike that scuppered their appearance on Top of the Pops. The single peaked at number 54. 

But then came the moment that changed his life - the day he wore a papier mache head to a fancy dress party. Frank Sidebottom was born. And he became a huge success with regular TV appearances and his own show, Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show on ITV. His other appearances ranged from children's TV to the Reading Festival and evening opening for Bros at Wembley Stadium. 

 A statue of Sidebottom now stands in his beloved home town of Timperley, Greater Manchester.

And in case you're wondering why I've featured this story on my blog, it's because this is how new traditions start. It starts with the people, not with governments or royals or big corporations. It happens when the 'common folk' feel the need to celebrate something that's important to them. You do it once, twice, three times and, before long, the idea gets some traction and starts to become part of the fabric of the town or village in which it originated. 

I hope there's a Frank Sidebottom Day every year so that, in five hundred years, historians will be able to say, ''No one is entirely sure how it all began - but it's important.'