| The "Northerners" in the title
perhaps is more important as a reference to the observers. That is, Northerners
to whom? The answer would be Londoners (for whom there are also Southerners).
To be really successful in British entertainment, you had to move to London.
George Formby's father had proved this, as had countless other northern
musicians and actors. The inhabitants of industrial cities like Liverpool,
apart from their importance to shipping and manufacturing, were an object
of derision among the urbane citizens of the capitol, who commonly saw
them as a source for comedians whose accents marked them as uncultured,
or at least provincial. [Map of Britain.] |
| Nevertheless, music was an
important part of northern music. In 1956, Hubert W. David in his regular Melody Maker column "Songsheet" comments on how active
musical life is in the north of Britain. "...[I]t has always been
known that more records and sheetmusic are sold in the top half of Great
Britain with particularly big strongholds in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds,
Glasgow, and Newcaste-on-Tyne. ... There are pubs and clubs where you
will see and hear entertainment which would make many southerners gape
with astonishment. Yes—the Northerners certainly enjoy their popular
music." (26 May 1956: 10) |
|
