Michael Flanders
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| Michael Flanders | |
 Michael Flanders in 1957
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| Born | 1 March 1922 London, England |
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| Died | 14 April 1975 (aged 53) Betws-y-Coed, Wales |
| Cause of death | Intracranial berry aneurysm |
| Occupation | Actor, broadcaster, writer and performer |
| Known for | Flanders and Swann |
| Spouse | Claudia Cockburn |
| Children | Stephanie Flanders Laura Flanders |
Michael Henry Flanders OBE, (March 1, 1922 – April 14, 1975) was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known to the general public for his partnership with Donald Swann performing as the double act Flanders and Swann.
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[edit] Life and career
Michael Flanders was born in London on March 1, 1922. The son of an actor and a professional violinist, Flanders' ambition from an early age was to work in the theatre. He attended Westminster School (where he first met Donald Swann) and went on to read History at Christ Church, Oxford in 1940.
While at Oxford, Flanders started work as a professional actor, but then left Oxford to join the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. HMS Marne, the ship on which he was serving was torpedoed off the coast of Africa, west of Gibraltar in November 1942. Flanders survived the attack. Later he was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant but contracted poliomyelitis at sea, and spent the rest of his life from 1943 onwards in a wheelchair.
Unable to return to Christ Church to continue his studies, he found work as a radio broadcaster. A chance meeting with Swann in 1948 led to the start of their professional partnership. They began writing songs for West-End producer Laurier Lister, Swann writing the music and Flanders writing the words. Their songs were performed by artists such as Ian Wallace and Joyce Grenfell. They subsequently wrote two two-man revues, At The Drop Of A Hat and At The Drop of Another Hat, which they performed all over the world until their partnership ended in 1967.
Some of their more famous songs were "The Hippopotamus" ("Mud, mud, glorious mud") and "First and Second Law," in which they put to music the laws of thermodynamics. One of their most enduring numbers is the ever-so-mildly risqué "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear." Their songs celebrated transportation ("The Slow Train," "The Last Tram," "A Transport of Delight," the last-named a tribute to the London double-decker omnibus), animal life ("The Wart-Hog," "The Gnu," "The Elephant," and many others), common inconveniences in "The Gas-Man Cometh," "Motor Perpetuo," (about parking a car), "Song of Reproduction" (about hi-fidelity phonographs), and even classical music, with an irreverent "Guide to Britten" and a setting of lyrics by Flanders to the finale of Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 ("Ill Wind"). Some of his songs were also political commentary, such as "20 Tons Of TNT" or "The War Of 14-18".
Outside of his partnership with Swann, Flanders was a versatile librettist, actor and broadcaster. He wrote the words for comic operas such as Three's Company and Christmas Story, and a children's cantata Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo. He appeared on stage in The Soldier's Tale and Ten Years Hard, and in two films, Doctor in Distress (1963) and The Raging Moon (1971). He also made many appearances on radio and television, and received an OBE in 1964.
His narration for Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf remained a staple of EMI's classical output for many years. Within the last few months of his life he also provided English-language narration and voicework for the French export children's animation Barbapapa.
Flanders died suddenly of a ruptured intracranial berry aneurysm on April 14, 1975 while on holiday at Betws-y-Coed, Wales. He was survived by his wife Claudia Cockburn, daughter of journalist Claud Cockburn and first wife Hope Hale Davis, and daughters Laura and Stephanie.
On June 30, 2007, a documentary about Flanders and his work, presented by his daughter Stephanie, aired on BBC Radio 4's The Archive Hour, called Flanders on Flanders.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Flanders, Stephanie (2007-6-29). Re-discovering my father. BBC. Retrieved on 26 November 2007.
