Screaming Lord Sutch

David Edward Sutch
Born	10 November 1940 Hampstead, London, England[1]
Died	16 June 1999 (aged 58) South Harrow, Greater London, England[1]
Occupation	Musician, perennial candidate

David Edward Sutch (10 November 1940 – 16 June 1999),^[1] also known as 3rd Earl of Harrow, or simply Screaming Lord Sutch, was an English musician. He was the founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and served as its leader from 1983 to 1999, during which time he stood in numerous parliamentary elections. He holds the record for losing all 40 elections in which he stood.^[1] As a singer he variously worked with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Charlie Watts and Nicky Hopkins.^[1]

Musical career

Sutch was born at New End Hospital, Hampstead, London.^[1] In the 1960s, inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his stage name to "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", despite having no connection with the peerage. His legal name remained David Edward Sutch.

After his career as an early 1960s rock and roll attraction, it became customary for the UK press to refer to him as "Screaming Lord Sutch", or simply "Lord Sutch". Early works included recordings produced by audio pioneer Joe Meek.

During the 1960s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, dressing as Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Alice Cooper. Accompanied by his band, the Savages, he started by coming out of a black coffin (once being trapped inside of it, an incident parodied in the film Slade in Flame). Other props included knives and daggers, skulls and "bodies". Sutch booked themed tours, such as 'Sutch and the Roman Empire', where Sutch and the band members would be dressed up as Roman soldiers.

Despite self-confessed lack of vocal talent, he released horror-themed singles during the early to mid 1960s, the most popular "Jack the Ripper", covered live and on record by garage rock bands including the White Stripes, the Gruesomes, the Black Lips and the Horrors, the latter for their debut album.

In 1963, Sutch and his manager, Reginald Calvert, took over Shivering Sands Army Fort, a Maunsell Fort off Southend and in 1964 started Radio Sutch, intending to compete with other pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline. Broadcasts consisted of music and Mandy Rice-Davies reading Lady Chatterley's Lover. Sutch tired of the station, and sold it to Calvert, after which it was renamed Radio City, and lasted until 1967. In 1966 Calvert was shot dead by Oliver Smedley over a financial dispute. Smedley was acquitted on grounds of self-defence. About this time Ritchie Blackmore left the band. Roger Warwick left to set up an R&B big band for Freddie Mack.

Sutch's album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in Colin Larkin's book The Top 1000 Albums of All Time, despite the fact that Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins performed on it and helped write it.

For his follow-up, Hands of Jack the Ripper, Sutch assembled British rock celebrities for a concert at the Carshalton Park Rock 'n' Roll Festival. The show was recorded (though only Sutch knew), and it was released to the surprise of the musicians. Musicians on the record included Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Matthew Fisher (keyboard); Carlo Little (drums); Keith Moon (drums); Noel Redding (bass) and Nick Simper (bass).

Political activities

In the 1960s, Sutch stood in parliamentary elections, often as representative of the National Teenage Party. His first was in 1963, when he contested the by-election in Stratford-upon-Avon caused by the resignation of John Profumo. He gained 208 votes. His next was at the 1964 General Election when he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency. Here he received 518 votes.

He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 and fought the Bermondsey by-election. In his career he contested over 40 elections, rarely threatening the major candidates, but often getting a respectable number of votes. He was easily recognisable at election counts by his flamboyant clothes and top hat. In the mid 1980s, the deposit paid by candidates was raised from £150 to £500. This did little to deter Sutch, who increased the number of concerts he performed to pay for campaigns. He achieved his highest poll and vote share at Rotherham in 1994 with 1,114 votes and a 4.2 per cent vote share.

His most significant contribution to politics came at the Bootle by-election in May, 1990. He secured more votes than the candidate of the Continuing Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by former Foreign Secretary David Owen. Within days the SDP dissolved itself. In 1993, when the British National Party gained its first local councillor, Derek Beackon, Sutch pointed out that the Official Monster Raving Loony Party already had six.

He appeared as himself in the first episode of ITV comedy The New Statesman, coming second ahead of the Labour and SDP, in the 1987 election which saw Alan B'Stard elected to Parliament.

Adverts in the 1990s for Heineken Pilsener boasted that "Only Heineken can do this". One had Sutch at 10 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister.

Personal life

Sutch was friends with and at one time lived at the house of Cynthia Payne.^[2] However, he suffered from depression and committed suicide by hanging on 16 June 1999, following the death of his mother on 30 April 1997. At the inquest, his fiancée said he had "manic depression".^[2]

Sutch is buried beside his mother in the cemetery in Pinner, Middlesex. He was survived by a son, Tristan Lord Gwynne Sutch, born in 1975 to American model Thann Rendessy.^[3]

In 1991, his autobiography, Life as Sutch: The Official Autobiography of a Raving Loony (written with Peter Chippindale), was published. In 2005 Graham Sharpe, who had known him since the late 1960s, wrote the first biography, The Man Who Was Screaming Lord Sutch.

Discography

Sutch released records from 1961 onwards. Later works include:

• Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends, also known as Smoke and Fire (1970)
• Hands of Jack the Ripper (1972)
• Jack the Ripper (Studio, 1976)
• Alive and Well (Live, 1980)
• Jack the Ripper (Compilation, 19??)
• Rock & Horror (Compilation, 1982) Ace Records CDCHM 65
• Story/Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages (Compilation, 1991)
• Live Manifesto (Live, 1992)
• Murder in the Graveyard (Live, 1992)
• Raving Loony Party Favourites (Compilation, 1996)
• Monster Rock (Compilation, 2000)
• Midnight Man (EP, 2000)
• Munster Rock (Compilation, 2001)
• The London Rock & Roll Show DVD ASIN: B00007LZ56

Elections fought

Election	Type	Constituency	Party	Vote	% vote	Place	Candidates
15 August 1963	BE	Stratford-upon-Avon	National Teenage	209	0.6	5	5
31 March 1966	GE	Huyton ^1	National Teenage	585	0.9	18	22
18 June 1970	GE	Cities of London and Westminster	Young Ideas	142	0.4	5	5
10 October 1974	GE	Stafford and Stone	Go to Blazes	351	0.6	4	4
24 February 1983	BE	Bermondsey	Official Monster Raving Loony	97	0.3	6	16
23 March 1983	BE	Darlington	Official Monster Raving Loony	374	0.7	4	8
9 June 1983	GE	Finchley ^1	Official Monster Raving Loony	235	0.6	5	11
28 July 1983	BE	Penrith and The Border	Official Monster Raving Loony	412	1.1	4	8
1 March 1984	BE	Chesterfield	Official Monster Raving Loony	178	0.3	5	17
4 July 1985	BE	Brecon and Radnor	Official Monster Raving Loony	202	0.5	5	7
10 April 1986	BE	Fulham	Official Monster Raving Loony	134	0.4	5	11
17 July 1986	BE	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Official Monster Raving Loony	277	0.7	4	7
14 July 1988	BE	Kensington	Official Monster Raving Loony	61	0.3	7	15
10 November 1988	BE	Glasgow Govan	Official Monster Raving Loony	174	0.6	7	8
15 December 1988	BE	Epping Forest	Official Monster Raving Loony	208	0.6	7	9
23 February 1989	BE	Richmond (Yorks)	Official Monster Raving Loony	167	0.3	6	9
4 May 1989	BE	Vale of Glamorgan	Official Monster Raving Loony	266	0.6	8	11
15 June 1989	BE	Vauxhall	Official Monster Raving Loony	106	0.4	10	14
22 March 1990	BE	Mid Staffordshire	Official Monster Raving Loony	336	0.6	7	14
24 May 1990	BE	Bootle ^2	Official Monster Raving Loony	418	1.2	6	8
27 September 1990	BE	Knowsley South	Official Monster Raving Loony	197	0.9	6	7
8 November 1990	BE	Bootle ^3	Official Monster Raving Loony	310	1.1	5	7
7 March 1991	BE	Ribble Valley ^3	Official Monster Raving Loony	278	0.6	6	9
4 April 1991	BE	Neath	Official Monster Raving Loony	263	0.8	7	8
16 May 1991	BE	Monmouth ^4	Official Monster Raving Loony	314	0.7	4	7
4 July 1991	BE	Liverpool Walton	Official Monster Raving Loony	546	1.4	5	6
9 April 1992	GE	Huntingdon ^1	Official Monster Raving Loony	728	1.0	6	10
9 April 1992	GE	Islwyn ^5	Official Monster Raving Loony	547	1.3	5	5
9 April 1992	GE	Yeovil ^6	Official Monster Raving Loony	338	0.6	5	6
6 May 1993	BE	Newbury	Official Monster Raving Loony	432	0.7	7	19
29 July 1993	BE	Christchurch	Official Monster Raving Loony	404	0.8	5	6
5 May 1994	BE	Rotherham	Official Monster Raving Loony	1,114	4.2	4	5
9 June 1994	BE	Bradford South	Official Monster Raving Loony	727	2.4	4	5
9 June 1994	BE	Eastleigh	Official Monster Raving Loony	783	1.4	5	14
16 February 1995	BE	Islwyn	Official Monster Raving Loony	506	2.2	5	7
25 May 1995	BE	Perth and Kinross	Official Monster Raving Loony	586	1.4	5	9
27 July 1995	BE	Littleborough and Saddleworth	Official Monster Raving Loony	782	1.9	4	10
1 February 1996	BE	Hemsworth	Official Monster Raving Loony	652	3.0	5	10
11 April 1996	BE	South East Staffordshire	Official Monster Raving Loony	506	1.2	5	13
31 July 1997	BE	Uxbridge	Official Monster Raving Loony	396	1.3	4	11
20 November 1997	BE	Winchester	Official Monster Raving Loony	316	0.6	5	8

Notes:-

• ¹ This election was won by the incumbent Prime Minister.
• ² Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the rump SDP.
• ³ Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the continuing Liberal Party.
• ⁴ Sutch achieved a better result than the joint candidate from the Green Party of England and Wales and Plaid Cymru.
• ⁵ This election was won by the incumbent Leader of the Opposition.
• ⁶ This election was won by the incumbent Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

References

1. Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 1998 – 1999". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
2. "Lord Sutch fought long battle with depression. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
3. "Minor British Pop Star And Leader of the Monster Raving... News Photo | Getty Images | 3140812". Getty Images. 1 January 1975. Retrieved 19 June 2013.

General

• Chippindale, Peter. "Sutch, David Edward (1940–1999)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/72456
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950–1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1974–1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)

External links

• Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages History
• Official Radio Sutch
• BBC report of Sutch's death
• BBC obituary
• David Sutch's gravesite