Vivian Stanshall was the quintessential pop hero of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Viv shot to fame in 1968 in the BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND, but as many listeners of the John Peel Show are aware, his tales of the upper-class Rawlinsons and Maynards were the bees knees for anyone with a warped sense of humour. Born Victor Anthony Stanshall, 21 March 1943, Shillingford, Oxfordshire, his post-WWII family settled in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea, in Essex. From bingo-caller to painting fairground attractions (and a spell in the merchant navy), Stanshall enrolled at London’s Central School of Art and Design. It was there in September 1962, he met Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater and Neil Innes (the latter attended nearby Goldsmiths College) and, with other equally unorthodox musicians, formed The BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND.