Goldfingers

Not that a tenuous link to a famous person is necessary where the Yorkshire City of Kingston Upon Hull is concerned because in terms of personalities who changed the world there is an abundance anyway but it is nice to add one more.

The list includes those born in the City or who spent their most important years in it. I apologise for the many omissions.

Those in the English schools system will be very familiar with the Venn Diagram. I myself have cursed a few times at where to place the concentric circles for inclusivity or not. The mathematician John Venn came from Hull.

The study of the hefty subject of 17th Century metaphysical poets will have brought about a distinct love or hatred for the works of Andrew Marvell, he of "To his Coy Mistress" fame.

In the 20th Century the works of Philip Larkin really put Hull on the map although he was originally from Coventry. Filmgoers and comedy enthusiasts will have seen Tom Courtenay and Maureen Lipman many times on the big and small screens over the last five decades.

Pioneers on a wider world stage included the aviator Amy Johnson who was the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Performers on a more conventional stage range from Fat Boy Slim to Lene Lovich and Bowie's Spiders from Mars to the Housemartins, Fine Young Cannibals to Everything but the Girl.

The City has been a great seed bed for the creative and inventive as well as being the hustings for prominent politicians from William Wilberforce in the abolition of Slavery to more recent public figures of John Prescott and Alan Johnson, MP's.

There may be some looser links in the foregoing as some of the greats are not strictly born and bred Hullensians but they, to a man or woman, cite their residency or appointment to the Hull as an influencing and catalytic factor in their CV's and memoirs.

I would therefore like to add the name of J.B Prendergast to the list.

He was born in York in the early 1930's and had a local education including the Choir School where he showed a talent for music, both in performing and composition. In a pop group bearing his theatrical name, which consisted of his christian and middle name he had some success in the charts and became quite a celebrity in this guise.

His link to Hull is that his father, Jack Prendergast, owned a number of cinemas in the North of England in the days when a typical entertainment emporium had a large raised stage in front of the projection screen and could therefore be used for live music shows.

On all of the main arterial roads of Hull there could be found until well into the post war period many such picture palaces under exotic or iconic sounding names. These were drastically thinned out by obsolescence as television in homes reduced the number of cinema goers. Often falling into disrepair and if not able to be used for alternative purposes such as a Bingo Hall or furniture warehouse then demolition would follow.

Fortunately the imposing Astoria on Holderness Road in East Hull survived, more recently painted bright flamingo pink, and this was one of the Prendergast empire.

The younger J.B and his pop group were well received by the music fans in Hull when they performed on the Astoria stage and a local following will have translated into record sales and the top ten national successes in the singles charts of the day.

Some home grown pop stars may have felt happy with fame, albeit rather fleeting, but J.B Prendergast found further acclaim and his fortune in the United States through his music scores for the multi-billion dollar Hollywood Film Industry.

In a career stretching from 1960 to 2001 his name found its way onto the credits of movies (not in any particular chronological order) such as The Deep, Mercury Rising. Raise the Titanic, The Ipcress Files and Howard the Duck.

Chances are that the melody in your head at this very moment is one of his for J.B or John Barry attained superstar status which saw him win 5 Oscars and multiple Grammy Awards.

For some subconscious reason I have been humming or singing John Barry compositions for the last few weeks. I cannot pinpoint the reason but then again none is really required given the sheer quality of the music, each a rich tone poem which cannot fail to produce an emotional response.

Take the theme from Born Free, the soundtracks of Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves, the lilting rythm of Midnight Cowboy and the catchiness of The Persuaders theme. These are impressive enough but add to the achievements the 11 James Bond Film Scores and he figures amongst the elite of the art in the company of only John Williams and Ennio Morricone.

John Barry died aged 77 in January 2011 after a very full and eventful professional and personal life.

I like to think that the notation in his scores carries a little bit of the time he spent in my home city of Hull and if you listen between the notes there is something there for sure.