Fred Wedlock: Funnyman Of Folk
Fred Wedlock: Funnyman Of Folk
By John Hudson
Fred Wedlock, born in the heart of Bristol, reckoned his first professional engagement was as a toddler singing in his parents’ pub.
He became a star of the vibrant Bristol folk scene of the Sixties, notably at the dockside Bthurst Hotel and the legendary Troubadour in Clifton. A fine traditional singer, in the Seventies he joined Billy Connolly, Jasper Carrott and Mike Harding as one of folk’s leading comedy entertainers.
Years later, his novelty single Oldest Swinger in Town propelled him to national stardom - but his heart was in the West, and it was largely there that he spent the last thirty years of his career, performing to audiences from across the spectrum, becoming a reassuring television face and acting in one of Bristol’s great theatrical showpieces of the post-war years.
In this first autobiography, written with the much-valued support of his widow Sue, John Hudson celebrates Fred Wedlock, a true funnyman of Folk.