33 Facts About Neil Innes

Neil James Innes was an English writer, comedian and musician.

Neil Innes first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python troupe on their BBC television series and films, and is often called the "seventh Python" along with performer Carol Cleveland.

Neil Innes wrote and voiced the 1980s ITV children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls.

Neil Innes's Scottish father was a warrant officer in the British Army, and Innes spent his childhood in West Germany where his father was deployed with the British Army of the Rhine.

Neil Innes took piano lessons from age 7 to 14 and taught himself to play guitar.

Neil Innes's parents were supportive of their children's artistic leanings, and his father drew and painted.

Neil Innes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Goldsmiths in 1966.

Neil Innes had met the band's co-founders Vivian Stanshall and Rodney Slater some time earlier when they and bandmate "Legs" Larry Smith were studying at the Central School of Art, but Neil Innes' official entry into the band was actually facilitated by his then-landlord and college tutor, Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell, who happened to be the band's bass guitarist at the time.

Neil Innes won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Novel Song in 1968 for "I'm the Urban Spaceman".

GRIMMS remained an informal enough setup throughout this period to allow the various members to come and go as they pleased and continue with their own outside musical, performing and literary careers, and in 1973 Neil Innes recorded his debut solo album How Sweet To Be An Idiot, aided and abetted by various GRIMMS.

Neil Innes contributed music to the Monty Python albums Monty Python's Previous Record and The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, and played a major role in performing and writing songs and sketches for their final TV series in 1974, after John Cleese temporarily left the troupe.

Neil Innes wrote a squib of a song called "George III" for the episode "The Golden Age of Ballooning", which was sung by the Flirtations but billed onscreen as the Ronettes.

Neil Innes is one of only two non-Pythons ever to be credited writers for the TV series, the other being Douglas Adams.

Neil Innes appeared on stage with the Pythons in the UK and Canada in 1973, in London in 1974 and in New York City in 1976, performing the Bob Dylanesque "Protest Song" on the album Monty Python Live at City Center.

Neil Innes performed the songs "How Sweet to Be an Idiot" and "I'm the Urban Spaceman".

Neil Innes appeared as one of the singing "Bruces" in the Philosopher Sketch and as a Church Policeman in the "Salvation Fuzz" sketch.

Neil Innes wrote original songs for the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, such as "Knights of the Round Table" and "Brave Sir Robin".

Neil Innes appeared in the film as a head-bashing monk, the serf crushed by the giant wooden rabbit, and the leader of Sir Robin's minstrels.

Neil Innes had small roles in Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky and Monty Python's Life of Brian, and performed the whistling on the latter's hit song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

Neil Innes had to testify under oath that he had not listened to the songs at all while composing the Rutles' songs, but had created them completely originally based on what he remembered various songs by the Beatles sounding like at different times.

Neil Innes went on to play the role of the Magician in the live-action children's television series Puddle Lane, made by Yorkshire Television.

Neil Innes wrote and voiced the 1980s children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls, a motley collection of "rejects" from a toy factory.

Neil Innes composed and performed original music and songs for children's television, including Puddle Lane, The Raggy Dolls, The Riddlers and Tumbledown Farm.

Neil Innes brought Monty Python's Terry Jones's book Fairy Tales to television as East of the Moon.

Neil Innes contributed all the stories and music on this production.

Neil Innes was involved with the popular children's show Tiswas.

Also, during the 1980s, Neil Innes wrote and performed incidental music and songs for the BBC TV series, Jane.

In 1998, Neil Innes hosted a 13-episode television series for Anglia Television, called Away with Words, in which he travelled to different areas of Britain to explore the origins of well-known words and phrases.

Neil Innes took part, along with the remaining Monty Python members, in the 2002 Concert for George, in memory of George Harrison.

Neil Innes was occasionally heard standing in as the pianist for the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Neil Innes toured the UK in 2006 and produced a new Bonzo CD as part of the Bonzo Dog Band's 40th Anniversary tour.

In late 2010, Neil Innes announced the formation of the Idiot Bastard Band, a comedy musical collective featuring himself, Adrian Edmondson, Phill Jupitus, Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron.

Neil Innes died of a heart attack on 29 December 2019 at Montcuq, Lot, France, where he had lived for several years.