Dr. Crock and His Crackpots were a British comedy band popular between the 1940s and 1960s. They were led by saxophone and clarinet player Harry Hines.

Henry Albert "Harry" Hines (born Henrick James Albert Rudolph Hinz; 9 June 1903 – 14 May 1971) was a jazz musician, born in Tottenham, London.[1] He learned clarinet when in the Royal Navy, later learned the saxophone, and became a professional musician in 1933. In the 1930s and early 1940s, he played in various dance bands, including those of Ambrose, Ray Noble, Teddy Brown, and Maurice Winnick, and wrote arrangements.[2]

In 1947, Winnick persuaded Hines to take over the musical interludes in the popular radio programme Ignorance Is Bliss, after Sid Millward and His Nitwits left the show. Though Hines, as a serious musician, was initially reluctant, he formed a band, which was given the name Dr Crock and His Crackpots by Winnick. They typically played classical themes at breakneck speed, interspersed with noises such as cowbells and hooters; writer Richard Anthony Baker described them as sounding "like a cross between a small symphony orchestra and a Dixieland jazz band".[2]

Soon afterwards, when Hines wanted to leave the radio show, he took a successful legal action against Winnick, who claimed he had the legal right to use the band name.[1] In the 1950s and early 1960s, Dr Crock and His Crackpots, with a line-up comprising both musicians and comedians, toured successfully, often topping the bill at variety shows and performing in a style similar to Spike Jones and His City Slickers.[3]

Harry Hines died in London in 1971, aged 67.[1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts, Robson Books, 1998, ISBN 1-86105-206-5, p.36
  2. 1 2 Richard Anthony Baker, Old Time Variety: an illustrated history, Pen & Sword, 2011, ISBN 978-1-78340-066-9, pp.115-116
  3. ↑ Michael Kilgarriff, Grace, Beauty and Banjos: Peculiar Lives and Strange Times of Music Hall and Variety Artistes, Oberon Books, 1998, ISBN 1-84002-116-0, pp.83-84
  4. ↑ "Harry Hines", Crescendo, June 1971, p.3
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