Enter the Bonzos –Vernon Dudley Bohe Nowell looking exactly as he looked in the original Bonzos. He carried a banjo and a saw ingeniously packed in the same case.

Then Rodney with sax and clarinet and washboard– looking even better than he did in the Bonzos – a really good advert for the vegan diet he sticks to since a heart problem knocked him for six a couple of years ago.

 

In came an immaculately dressed Legs Larry Smith offering to tap dance ‘only if there was a medical team standing by’. Enthusiastic, stylish, funny and full of energy he had to do a lot of sitting and waiting while the musicians got their intros and outros together.

Bob Kerr, an ex- Bonzo who left to form The New Vaudeville band and then The Whoopee Band, with whom he continues to tour twice a year, bought his trumpet and cornet to the fray.

Sam Spoons, still teaching graphics at a London art school, arrived with his array of drums and things that rattle….oh and a tiger suit.

Then there was Roger, setting up his Rowmonium, 7ft tall, a sort of noise machine – anything from a thunder clap to a sigh of steam.

So what with that and the leads criss- crossing the room, cases piled like coffins from floor to ceiling – Bonzo parafanalia everywhere, there was not an inch to spare. When everything was unpacked set up and discussed in detail, the rehearsal of the first half began.

Roger, Bob and Rodney play together for the first time in years- lovely to watch!