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On the CBn main page from doublenoughtspy...

Charlie Higson's Top 10 Pop Hit

A look back at Higson's writing for a different sort of British icon

Excellent article, spy.

How have I gone my entire life and never heard of Loadsamoney?

One wonders what Loadsamoney is doing today.

Thanks Zencat! I hope this might be of interest to Young Bond Dossier readers as well.

While Loadsamoney will be unknown to American audiences, they probably recognize the performer, albeit for his voice.

Harry Enfield is the voice of Travelocity's Roaming Gnome.

Delmo asked me how on earth I came up with this article.

I was in the shower a few weeks ago, and for some bizarre reason I thought of Stavros and Loadsamoney. I had seen them 20 years ago when I was in Scotland, partying, I mean studying, at the University of St. Andrews.

So I started looking for clips on youtube, etc. and I was floored when the clip with Higson came up.

I did a whole lot of digging, and I concur with one of the web sites I came across that complained about the lack of concrete info on British tv comedy in the late 80s.

Love that video that's included.

Well-researched little nugget of Bond trivia, dns.

Well he was killed! As the article says Enfield killed him off. As I remember it was on Comic Relief night and he got run over- is that right?

One of my favourite Charlie clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JdJipPOhno...feature=related

Yes, I know what you're thinking: British humour is rather sophisticated; you're right!

Oh go on, one more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rFLEECcB60...feature=related

I loved these.

The book Wad and Peeps is hilarious if you can find it.

Good to hear. I ordered one for a few bucks yesterday.

Yes, you're quite right, they killed the character off on Comic Relief night 1988, and he was indeed hit by a car. Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse created much funnier characters later on however, especially Smashy & Nicey and the Old Gits for example.

By the way, the inspiration for Loadsamoney came from Paul Whitehouse's friend from Newcastle, in North East England who told Paul that he had been on holiday in Spain, and lads from the South would taunt the lads from the North with money and say "Look at that. Bet you've never seen so much money before. Look at my wad!!", as, at the time, the North East was in economical dire straits, whereas London was thriving (it was the yuppie era).

Whitehouse sympathised with his friend but also thought this was very funny and would be good to take the mickey out of these cocky cockneys and so the Loadsamoney character was born.

As an American I have no idea what "The Fast Show" or Loadsamoney or who this comedian Charlie Higson was. But then I read that he had a little known band called The Higsons and I was floored. The Higsons were one of the best bands to come out of the eighties and one of my favorites.

It still is astonishing to me that the main guy from The Higsons is writing official James Bond books. The Higsons were such an ofbeat, hip, cool band and one just figured the members all just retired into poverty and obscurity as all members of cool underground bands do. It is unreal that Charlie Higson is associated with one of the world's biggest phenomenons.

I must say, I saw The Higson's live when they toured New York and I remember him quite well. His between song banter was so dry and hilarious. "And the next number is" was a phrase that he soaked for all its comedic worth. Don't ask me exactly how, but believe me, he had the crowd howling. I am not surprised he went on to a comedic TV program.

The Higsons music is very difficult to find, but if you could ever hear some, check out:
"Conspiracy
"I Don't Want To Live With Monkeys"
"It Goes Waap!"
"Tear The Whole Thing Down"
The lyrics to "Conspiracy" proved to me there were some very sharp, intelligent minds behind this band. Definitely Charlie Higson, no?

Could someone from Britain explain the "Eric B...on Ya Bike!" line?

I know there is a rapper named Eric B but I wasn't sure if that was the reference or not.

He does a variation of it in the Youtube Video "Loadsamoney in the country" where he tells the Vicar to get on his bike.

Well "On Ya Bike" was one time Chancellor (85-87) Norman Tebbit's famous quote regarding the unemployment situation at the time. He was said to have said "get on your bike and look for work" but this turned out to have been paraphrashed from a speach he made about his father.

Thanks Safari Suit! Mystery solved.

Agree. Done.

I can't seem to get Loadsamoney's voice out of my head.