Peter Frederick Wedlock (23 May 1942 – 4 March 2010) was an English

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

singer best known for his UK hit

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"The Oldest Swinger in Town", which was covered by German comedian

Karl Dall Karl Bernhard Dall (, 1 February 1941 – 23 November 2020) was a German comedian, singer, and television presenter. His distinctive 'hanging' eye was caused by a congenital ptosis. Family Karl Dall was born in Emden, the son of a scho ...

as "Der älteste Popper der Stadt". He performed at many venues in Britain and Europe, presented programmes for

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

TV and acted with the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

, as well as undertaking after-dinner speaking engagements.

Early life

Fred Wedlock was born in the old Bristol Maternity Hospital in Southwell Street,

Kingsdown, Bristol Kingsdown is an area of Bristol, located on high ground immediately north of the city centre and south of Cotham. It lies within the Cotham council ward. Kingsdown remained rural until the 18th century, but around 1737 land on the southern sl ...

. He was brought up in Redcliffe, where his father ran the York House

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

. He sang in the church choir at

St Mary Redcliffe The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of the city of Bristol, England. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the pr ...

. Wedlock was educated at

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

in the 1950s. He represented the school and the Old Bristolians playing hockey.

Career

After attending

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

, he taught in the East End of London during the 1960s, at South Bristol College, Elm Park School Winterbourne and the Castle School, Thornbury (1969 to 1971), before taking up music full-time in the 1970s. Wedlock was a regular performer at the

Bristol Troubadour Club The Bristol Troubadour Club was a short lived but influential club in the thriving contemporary folk music scene in Bristol in the late 1960s and early 1970s, It was located in Clifton village, the student quarter above the city centre. The clu ...

and he played the folk circuit, both prior to, and in the wake of, his single

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success, with performances at clubs and festivals all over the world. He also presented many programmes on

TV including ''Bargain Hunters'' on HTV. In 1997 Wedlock took a leading role in

's production of ''Up the Feeder, Down the Mouth'', a theatrical history of

Bristol Docks Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was prevented from going out p ...

, written by A. C. H. Smith. In 2001 the production was restaged on the waterfront. He also appeared in several productions for Bristol theatre company, The Ministry of Entertainment, most recently in December 2009. Wedlock's albums include ''The Folker'' (1971) (notable for the title track

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of "

The Boxer "The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a stan ...

" by

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

), ''Frollicks'' (1973), ''Out of Wedlock'' (1978), ''The Oldest Swinger in Town'' (1981) and ''Fred Wedlock Live'' (1982). In early 1981 "The Oldest Swinger in Town", reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was subsequently released in Australia where it peaked at number 60. His daughter, Hannah Wedlock, was an occasional member of the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra, another Bristol-based outfit, whom Fred made his support band at an early stage of their career. She now performs with the Blue Note Jazz Band. His grandfather, Billy Wedlock, captained

Bristol City F.C. Bristol City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern ...

and was a regular for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the early 20th century. The former Wedlock Stand at Ashton Gate was named in his honour. He lived at Amesbury near

Timsbury, Somerset Timsbury is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in England, in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority of the county of Somerset. It lies south-west of Bath, Somerset, Bath, close to the Cam Brook river. The paris ...

where for many years he contributed to village life by providing entertainment and helping with raising funds for local projects.

Death

It was announced on 4 March 2010 that Fred Wedlock had died, in hospital in

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

, following a heart attack, after having contracted pneumonia. Dick Greener of ''Strawbs Web'', the website of

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band

The Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hit " ...

, said that he was "A huge comic talent, and an all round thoroughly nice guy, I know ... those who have seen Fred in the past during his long and successful career, would want to pass on their condolences to Fred's family." Derek Cleverdon, chairman of the Variety Club Children's Charity South West, said Wedlock was also devoted to charitable causes. "He performed on numerous occasions for the Variety Club, and raised thousands of pounds for us over the years." A large number of people attended a funeral service held at

church on 15 March 2010. Family and friends paid homage with tributes and songs. A local press report said that "he filled Bristol's largest church to capacity." Wedlock was survived by his wife and two daughters.

Personal papers and recordings

Videos and CDs of television programmes and performances, promotional photographs and press cuttings, song lyrics, jokes, scripts, research notes, papers and correspondence are held by

Bristol Archives Bristol Archives (formerly Bristol Record Office) was established in 1924. It was the first borough record office in the United Kingdom, since at that time there was only one other local authority record office (Bedfordshire Record Office, Bedf ...

(Ref. 44790)
online catalogue
.

Summary discography

*''The Folker'' – Village Thing VTS 7, 1971 *''Frollicks'' – Village Thing VTS 20, 1973 *''Home Made'' – Pillock Produckshuns PPS1, 1975 *''Greatest Hits'' (not a compilation as the title suggests: new live recordings of songs predominantly from his first two albums) – Pillock Produckshuns PPS17, 1977 *''Out of Wedlock'' – One Up OU2217, 1978 *''The Oldest Swinger in Town'' (with Chris Newman) – Pillock Produckshuns PPS 271, 1979 *''The Oldest Swinger in Town'' (different track listing) – Rocket TRAIN 13, 1981 *''Live'' (with Chris Newman) – Rocket TRAIN 19, 1982 *''The Complete 'Folker' and 'Frollicks' Albums'' – Village Thing, 2008 *''Wrinklies' Revolution'' – own label *''Souvenir'' – own label *''Something Old, Something New'' – own label *''Festive Fred'' – own label

References

External links

Video tribute from BBC WestOfficial website
archived from th
original
on 28 August 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wedlock, Fred 1942 births 2010 deaths Singers from Bristol People from Timsbury, Somerset English folk singers English comedy musicians Deaths from pneumonia in England People educated at Bristol Grammar School Alumni of Swansea University Scrumpy and Western Rocket Records artists British novelty song performers English male singer-songwriters English male comedians Comedians from Bristol 20th-century English singer-songwriters 20th-century English male singers 21st-century English singer-songwriters 21st-century English male singers