Garry Bushell
Encyclopedia
Garry Bushell is an English newspaper
column
ist, rock music
journalist
, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi!
band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring themes are comedy, country and class. He has campaigned for an English Parliament, a Benny Hill
statue and for variety and talent shows on TV. Although his TV column Bushell On The Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday
, Bushell is semi-retired and currently focuses on his band and novels.
(which was then a grammar school
). He first performed at secondary school
in the group Pink Tent, which was heavily influenced by Monty Python
. They wrote songs and comedy
sketches; performing at parties and at each other's houses. Bushell was involved in The National Union of School Students
and The Schools Action Union, a socialist
organisation that had a strong situationist streak that led them to mix schoolboy hijinks with student activism
..
He worked for Shell as a messenger, and then the London Fire Brigade
before attending North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London
) and the London College of Printing simultaneously. Bushell was an amateur boxer
and a musician
before becoming a full-time journalist
.
Pink Tent evolved into The Gonads, an Oi!
and punk pathetique
band that has continued to perform in the 2000s. They describe themselves as an "Oi-Tone" band because they play ska
and street punk
. Many of their songs are comical party tunes, but they have occasionally written more serious material. Two examples of their songs that include social commentary are "Dying for a Pint" (which comments on nightclub
bouncer
brutality
) and "Jobs Not Jails" (a critique of the Margaret Thatcher
government's policies). One of their humorous songs was "I Lost My Love To A UK Sub", which is about the allegedly huge libido
of UK Subs
singer Charlie Harper. The Gonads have also played punk rock
versions of old music hall
numbers such as Gus Elen's "Half A Pint Of Ale" and Charles Coburn's "Two Lovely Black Eyes." The band has released six studio albums, a split EP with Italian punk band Klasse Kriminale
, and have had songs on compilation albums. They have toured the United States and have performed in Germany and Sweden.
Other Bushell musical projects have included the bands Prole, Orgasm Guerrillas, and Lord Waistrel & The Cosh Boys. Prole was a socialist punk band that also included Steve Kent, the original guitarist of the Oi! band The Business
. Bushell managed The Blood
and Cockney Rejects
, getting them their EMI
deal. He also got Twisted Sister
signed in the UK to Secret Records. He compiled the first four Oi! compilation albums and contributed songs to later collections.
newspaper Socialist Worker
. He also wrote for Temporary Hoarding, Rebel, and his own punk rock
fanzine, Napalm. From 1978 to 1985, he wrote for Sounds
magazine, covering punk and other street-level music genre
s, such as 2 Tone
, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
and the mod revival
. Bushell was at the forefront of covering the Oi!
subgenre, also known as real punk or street punk
. In 1981, Bushell wrote the book Dance Craze - the 2-Tone story, and in 1984, he wrote the Iron Maiden
biography Running Free.
During his time at Sounds, Bushell gained notoriety for writing negative and sarcastic reviews of the early punk incarnation of Adam And The Ants
, which led to him being namechecked, along with veteran NME
writer Nick Kent
, in the band's song Press Darlings, containing the line "If passion ends in fashion, Bushell is the best dressed man in town." On the version which appears on the B-Side of the Ants' #2 hit single Kings Of The Wild Frontier (and on the US edition of the hit album of the same name
), singer Adam Ant
can be heard muttering "You can say that again, the scruffy sod!" after the verse in question. He was also targeted by Crass
in their song, "Hurry Up Garry", which also attacks Tony Parsons
, then with NME.
Bushell moved to Fleet Street
in 1985, working for The Sun
, Evening Standard
and The Daily Mirror
. He went back to The Sun to write its Bizarre column and to be the show business
editor. In 1991, he briefly became assistant editor of the Daily Star, where he wrote a current affairs column called Walk Tall With Bushell, as well as his TV column. Three months later, he quit and returned to The Sun.
Bushell wrote an article urging ITV
to ban comedian Julian Clary
from appearing on live television, in the wake of Clary's appearance at the British Comedy Awards ceremony in December 1993. The article was considered detrimental to Clary's career by some, although Clary has continued to be seen on television and Bushell has since dismissed the controversy as "a storm in a teacup". Bushell appeared on Clary's own BBC
TV show, All Rise With Julian Clary, and defended his stance; saying he objected to Clary's fisting
joke rather than his homosexuality
.
In 1994, Bushell was named critic of the year at the UK Press Awards. In the mid-1990s, Bushell hosted the TV programme Bushell On The Box, commenting on the week's TV programmes. It ran for 50 episodes and was number one on ITV's Night Network. The following year, Bushell became resident critic on Jonathan Ross
's ITV series The Big Big Talent Show. He also hosted Garry Bushell Reveals All for Granada Men & Motors. He has appeared on a wide range of other shows, including Celebrity Squares, Drop! The Celebrity, Newsnight and The Southbank Show. In 2000, Comic Heritage (formerly the Dead Comics Society, now the Heritage Foundation) gave him an award for "Services To Comedy."
A regular feature of Bushell's newspaper column was the "Garry's Goofs" section, in which he highlights an unintended double entendre
. In 2001, Bushell's crime novel
The Face was serialised in the Daily Star, leading to his dismissal from The Sun, even though the book's publisher John Blake admitted that Bushell had no knowledge of the serialisation deal. Two years after Bushell was fired, a poll of Sun readers named him their favourite columnist. In 2002, he published the book King of Telly: The Best of Bushell on the Box, containing highlights of his column.
After The Sun, Bushell wrote for The People
until 18 February 2007 when he left to work on books and screenplay
s. He announced his resignation as a TV critic, stating that he was becoming depressed at the state of British television. Bushell co-wrote the book Cockney Reject (about the punk band Cockney Rejects
) and has written a film script for Join The Rejects - Get Yourself Killed. He has published his own autobiography, Bushell On The Rampage, a book attacking the BBC soap opera EastEnders
called 1001 Reasons EastEnders Is Pony, and a book on UK youth subcultures called Hoolies. He has also co-written the autobiography of Cockney comic Jimmy Jones, Now This Is A Very True Story, published in 2011. In May 2007, Bushell's column returned to the Daily Star Sunday.
In August 2007, Bushell made a remark during a humorous exchange on the talkSPORT
programme Football First
implying that homosexuality
was a perversion, leading the regulator Ofcom
to find the segment in breach of standards for failing to justify offensive material by the context in which it was presented. A discussion about the 2008 European Cup Final, which was to be held in Moscow, digressed to the topic of a recent gay rights march in Russia. When Bushell, while making light of the arrest of activist Peter Tatchell
, was questioned by a co-presenter because he appeared to find the situation amusing, he responded: "I would not go to another country and try and impose my views on them, it’s up to them what they do. I think there are a lot of things to put right in this country before you go around preaching the gospel of perversion."
Ofcom rejected talkSPORT's claims that the comments made had been "off the cuff", and talkSPORT issued a statement saying its staff had been "made aware" that what Bushell had said was "unacceptable". Bushell later said that it was not homosexuality which he was referring to as a perversion, but the further lowering of the age of consent; and that his remarks were taken out of context. He has since left talkSPORT. In his 2009 book, The World According To..., Bushell says he made the remark to wind up another broadcaster. Bushell has publicly praised many gay performers, and Dale Winton
is the godfather of his daughter Jenna.
Since November 2007, he has been the resident TV critic for Nuts TV. Also in 2007, he started presenting a monthly punk and ska
podcast
show on TotalRock
, and the Heritage Foundation named Bushell "Critic Of The Year.". In 2009 he started an occasional ska show for Internet radio.
s and metaphor
s that court controversy, such as describing something as being "as fair as Frank Bruno
's arse
" or (in his 1 May 2005 column) "Today's TV is so obsessively gay, it's a wonder the Radio Times
doesn't come with a pink Versace
wrap and a free glass of Muscadet
". His humour angered some Sun executives, such as Rebekah Wade
, but fans include Dom Joly
and Roy Hudd
, who has called him "the Max Miller of the press." His tabloid column and writing style were regularly satirised in adult comic Viz
, including a one-off comic strip titled Garry Bushell The Bear, about a homophobic, xenophobic brown bear.
Responding to comments made by Bushell in the 25 November 1993 issue of The Sun ("Liberal permissiveness is eating the fabric of our society. You want video nasties peddling stomach-churning filth? You got 'em. Western values? Who needs 'em!"), John Martin's book Seduction of the Gullible: The Truth Behind the Video Nasty Scandal says: "[w]hen Bushell isn't blustering about decency and Western values, he can be found gloating and cracking jokes in his column over such incidents as the death of several transvestites in a sex cinema fire." Bushell aggressively dismissed the criticism on Richard Bacon’s Five Live show (October 2010), accusing militant gay activists and liberal intellectuals of distorting his views. Speaking to Philip Solomon on East Midlands radio, Bushell defended his writing style:
Bushell's columns have always been coloured by feuds, the most famous and long-running of which were with Ben Elton, Jo Brand and Janet Street-Porter. He has also had feuds with Phill Jupitus, Les Dennis
, Marcus Brigstocke and Arthur Smith, whom he dubbed "the world’s worst comedian".
, and was a member of the Trotskyist
International Socialists (which became the Socialist Workers Party
). In 1986, in his On The Soap Box column, Bushell raged against the middle class
es, who he claimed had ruined the Labour Party
.
He has opposed the European Union
and unfettered immigration, because he said it undercut working class
wages. He has written articles supporting the Smithfield meat porters who were fighting to preserve their market, and in favour of the UDR Four
, working class
comedians and Page Three girls. In the 2000s, Bushell's main political focus has been patriotism
and individual liberty. He considers himself English rather than British, and has campaigned to have St. George's Day recognised as a public holiday
in England, in the same way Saint Patrick's Day
is a holiday in Ireland.
In the 2005 General Election
, he stood as a candidate for the English Democrats Party
, who promote the establishment of an English Parliament, and who want England to leave the European Union. Bushell got 1216 votes (3.4% share) in the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency, finishing fifth out of seven in a race won by Nick Raynsford
of the Labour Party
. The result represented the high point for the English Democrats in the election, and Bushell finished ahead of the UK Independence Party candidate in that constituency. Bushell also represented the party in South Staffordshire, in the delayed vote (due to the death of a candidate) on 23 June; winning 643 votes (2.51%) His campaign was supported by the Campaign for an English Parliament
and Veritas
.
He considered running for Mayor of London
against Ken Livingstone
in 2008, but he pulled out of the race in January 2008 and stood aside for Matt O'Connor
.
singer Leah McCaffrey. In November 2006, Bushell appeared on the Channel 4
programme 100% English and offered a sample of his DNA
for testing. The results suggested that he was 8% Sub-Saharan Africa
n, most likely the result of a single ancestor within the previous five generations. Bushell wrote on his website: "I’d be delighted if it were true... Only Nazis
, and, it appears C4, think of national identity
in terms of racial purity... Besides, you could apply the same tests to the French
or Italians
and get similar results, but no one questions their right to nationhood."
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
ist, rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring themes are comedy, country and class. He has campaigned for an English Parliament, a Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
statue and for variety and talent shows on TV. Although his TV column Bushell On The Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday
Daily Star Sunday
The Daily Star Sunday is a weekly tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom. It was launched as a sister title to the Daily Star on 15 September 2002....
, Bushell is semi-retired and currently focuses on his band and novels.
Early life and music career
The son of a fireman, Bushell attended Charlton Manor school and Colfe's SchoolColfe's School
Colfe's is a co-educational independent day school in Horn Park in the London Borough of Greenwich. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The official Visitor to the school is HRH Prince Michael of Kent.-History:...
(which was then a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
). He first performed at secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in the group Pink Tent, which was heavily influenced by Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
. They wrote songs and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
sketches; performing at parties and at each other's houses. Bushell was involved in The National Union of School Students
National Union of School Students
The National Union of School Students was a short lived organisation founded in 1972. It campaigned primarily against compulsory school uniform and the use of corporal punishment in schools. With a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation the union published the magazine Blot which featured...
and The Schools Action Union, a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
organisation that had a strong situationist streak that led them to mix schoolboy hijinks with student activism
Student activism
Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. It has often focused on making changes in schools, such as increasing student influence over curriculum or improving educational funding...
..
He worked for Shell as a messenger, and then the London Fire Brigade
London Fire Brigade
The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for London.Founded in 1865, it is the largest of the fire services in the United Kingdom and the fourth-largest in the world with nearly 7,000 staff, including 5,800 operational firefighters based in 112 fire...
before attending North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London
University of East London
The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
) and the London College of Printing simultaneously. Bushell was an amateur boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and a musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
before becoming a full-time journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
.
Pink Tent evolved into The Gonads, an Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
and punk pathetique
Punk Pathetique
Punk pathetique is a subgenre of British punk rock that involved humour and working class cultural themes....
band that has continued to perform in the 2000s. They describe themselves as an "Oi-Tone" band because they play ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and street punk
Street punk
Street punk is a working class-based genre of punk rock which took shape in the early 1980s, partly as a rebellion against the perceived artistic pretensions of the first wave of British punk. Street punk emerged from the Oi! style, performed by bands such as Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Cockney...
. Many of their songs are comical party tunes, but they have occasionally written more serious material. Two examples of their songs that include social commentary are "Dying for a Pint" (which comments on nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
bouncer
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
brutality
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
) and "Jobs Not Jails" (a critique of the Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
government's policies). One of their humorous songs was "I Lost My Love To A UK Sub", which is about the allegedly huge libido
Libido
Libido refers to a person's sex drive or desire for sexual activity. The desire for sex is an aspect of a person's sexuality, but varies enormously from one person to another, and it also varies depending on circumstances at a particular time. A person who has extremely frequent or a suddenly...
of UK Subs
UK Subs
The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...
singer Charlie Harper. The Gonads have also played punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
versions of old music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
numbers such as Gus Elen's "Half A Pint Of Ale" and Charles Coburn's "Two Lovely Black Eyes." The band has released six studio albums, a split EP with Italian punk band Klasse Kriminale
Klasse kriminale
Klasse Kriminale is an Italian punk rock band founded in the Liguria region of Italy in 1985. Their sound is a fusion of Oi!, punk, ska and reggae. Their lyrics discuss social issues such as work, unemployment, drugs, media, street life, and generational gaps...
, and have had songs on compilation albums. They have toured the United States and have performed in Germany and Sweden.
Other Bushell musical projects have included the bands Prole, Orgasm Guerrillas, and Lord Waistrel & The Cosh Boys. Prole was a socialist punk band that also included Steve Kent, the original guitarist of the Oi! band The Business
The Business (band)
The Business are an English Oi!/punk rock band formed in 1979 in Lewisham, South London. Their album Suburban Rebels became influential in the Oi! movement...
. Bushell managed The Blood
The Blood
The Blood are a London-based punk rock band, formed in 1982. Led by Cardinal Jesus Hate and JJ Bedsore , the band formed in the early 1980s under the name Coming Blood. Their music is a blend of hardcore punk, Oi!, heavy metal, football chants and shock rock.Many of their songs criticize religion...
and Cockney Rejects
Cockney Rejects
Cockney Rejects are an English punk rock band that formed in the East End of London in 1978. Their 1980 song "Oi, Oi, Oi" was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre...
, getting them their EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
deal. He also got Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
signed in the UK to Secret Records. He compiled the first four Oi! compilation albums and contributed songs to later collections.
Journalism and writing
In 1973, at the age of 18, Bushell joined the International Socialists and started writing for the left wingLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
newspaper Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
. He also wrote for Temporary Hoarding, Rebel, and his own punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
fanzine, Napalm. From 1978 to 1985, he wrote for Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
magazine, covering punk and other street-level music genre
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
s, such as 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...
, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
and the mod revival
Mod Revival
The mod revival was a music genre and subculture that started in England in 1978 and later spread to other countries . The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence has lasted for decades...
. Bushell was at the forefront of covering the Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
subgenre, also known as real punk or street punk
Street punk
Street punk is a working class-based genre of punk rock which took shape in the early 1980s, partly as a rebellion against the perceived artistic pretensions of the first wave of British punk. Street punk emerged from the Oi! style, performed by bands such as Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, Cockney...
. In 1981, Bushell wrote the book Dance Craze - the 2-Tone story, and in 1984, he wrote the Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
biography Running Free.
During his time at Sounds, Bushell gained notoriety for writing negative and sarcastic reviews of the early punk incarnation of Adam And The Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
, which led to him being namechecked, along with veteran NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
writer Nick Kent
Nick Kent
Nick Kent is a British rock critic and musician.-Career:Along with writers including Paul Morley, Charles Shaar Murray and Danny Baker, Nick Kent is seen as one of the most important and influential UK music journalists of the 1970s. He wrote for the British music publication New Musical Express,...
, in the band's song Press Darlings, containing the line "If passion ends in fashion, Bushell is the best dressed man in town." On the version which appears on the B-Side of the Ants' #2 hit single Kings Of The Wild Frontier (and on the US edition of the hit album of the same name
Kings of the Wild Frontier
Kings of the Wild Frontier is a New Wave album by Adam and the Ants, released in 1980 . This album introduced the new Burundi drum sound. After having his previous backing band wooed away by producer Malcolm McLaren, who used them to form Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier...
), singer Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
can be heard muttering "You can say that again, the scruffy sod!" after the verse in question. He was also targeted by Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...
in their song, "Hurry Up Garry", which also attacks Tony Parsons
Tony Parsons
Tony Parsons is the name of:* Tony Parsons , Canadian news anchor* Tony Parsons , novelist and arts critic...
, then with NME.
Bushell moved to Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
in 1985, working for The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
and The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
. He went back to The Sun to write its Bizarre column and to be the show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
editor. In 1991, he briefly became assistant editor of the Daily Star, where he wrote a current affairs column called Walk Tall With Bushell, as well as his TV column. Three months later, he quit and returned to The Sun.
Bushell wrote an article urging ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
to ban comedian Julian Clary
Julian Clary
Julian Peter McDonald Clary is an English comedian and novelist, known for his deliberately stereotypical camp style, with a heavy reliance on innuendo and double entendre.-Early life and education:...
from appearing on live television, in the wake of Clary's appearance at the British Comedy Awards ceremony in December 1993. The article was considered detrimental to Clary's career by some, although Clary has continued to be seen on television and Bushell has since dismissed the controversy as "a storm in a teacup". Bushell appeared on Clary's own BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV show, All Rise With Julian Clary, and defended his stance; saying he objected to Clary's fisting
Fisting
Fisting is a sexual activity that involves inserting a hand into the vagina or rectum. Once insertion is complete, the fingers either naturally clench into a fist or remain straight. In more vigorous forms of fisting, such as "punching", a fully clenched fist may be inserted and withdrawn slowly...
joke rather than his homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
.
In 1994, Bushell was named critic of the year at the UK Press Awards. In the mid-1990s, Bushell hosted the TV programme Bushell On The Box, commenting on the week's TV programmes. It ran for 50 episodes and was number one on ITV's Night Network. The following year, Bushell became resident critic on Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...
's ITV series The Big Big Talent Show. He also hosted Garry Bushell Reveals All for Granada Men & Motors. He has appeared on a wide range of other shows, including Celebrity Squares, Drop! The Celebrity, Newsnight and The Southbank Show. In 2000, Comic Heritage (formerly the Dead Comics Society, now the Heritage Foundation) gave him an award for "Services To Comedy."
A regular feature of Bushell's newspaper column was the "Garry's Goofs" section, in which he highlights an unintended double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
. In 2001, Bushell's crime novel
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
The Face was serialised in the Daily Star, leading to his dismissal from The Sun, even though the book's publisher John Blake admitted that Bushell had no knowledge of the serialisation deal. Two years after Bushell was fired, a poll of Sun readers named him their favourite columnist. In 2002, he published the book King of Telly: The Best of Bushell on the Box, containing highlights of his column.
After The Sun, Bushell wrote for The People
The People
The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper. The paper was founded on 16 October 1881.It is published by the Trinity Mirror Group.In July 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 806,544....
until 18 February 2007 when he left to work on books and screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s. He announced his resignation as a TV critic, stating that he was becoming depressed at the state of British television. Bushell co-wrote the book Cockney Reject (about the punk band Cockney Rejects
Cockney Rejects
Cockney Rejects are an English punk rock band that formed in the East End of London in 1978. Their 1980 song "Oi, Oi, Oi" was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre...
) and has written a film script for Join The Rejects - Get Yourself Killed. He has published his own autobiography, Bushell On The Rampage, a book attacking the BBC soap opera EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
called 1001 Reasons EastEnders Is Pony, and a book on UK youth subcultures called Hoolies. He has also co-written the autobiography of Cockney comic Jimmy Jones, Now This Is A Very True Story, published in 2011. In May 2007, Bushell's column returned to the Daily Star Sunday.
In August 2007, Bushell made a remark during a humorous exchange on the talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
programme Football First
Football First
Football First is an interactive television programme on Sky Sports and since the 2010/11 season on Sky Sports HD and shows extended highlights of every Premier League match played on the day. It regularly airs on Saturdays at 8.25pm, and is currently presented by Sarah-Jane Mee...
implying that homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
was a perversion, leading the regulator Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
to find the segment in breach of standards for failing to justify offensive material by the context in which it was presented. A discussion about the 2008 European Cup Final, which was to be held in Moscow, digressed to the topic of a recent gay rights march in Russia. When Bushell, while making light of the arrest of activist Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, was questioned by a co-presenter because he appeared to find the situation amusing, he responded: "I would not go to another country and try and impose my views on them, it’s up to them what they do. I think there are a lot of things to put right in this country before you go around preaching the gospel of perversion."
Ofcom rejected talkSPORT's claims that the comments made had been "off the cuff", and talkSPORT issued a statement saying its staff had been "made aware" that what Bushell had said was "unacceptable". Bushell later said that it was not homosexuality which he was referring to as a perversion, but the further lowering of the age of consent; and that his remarks were taken out of context. He has since left talkSPORT. In his 2009 book, The World According To..., Bushell says he made the remark to wind up another broadcaster. Bushell has publicly praised many gay performers, and Dale Winton
Dale Winton
Dale Winton is an English radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Winton's father, Gary, was "domineering" and died when Winton was 13. Winton was brought up by his mother, actress Sheree Winton...
is the godfather of his daughter Jenna.
Since November 2007, he has been the resident TV critic for Nuts TV. Also in 2007, he started presenting a monthly punk and ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
show on TotalRock
TotalRock
TotalRock is a radio station based in London, England. The station first started in 1997 as Rock Radio Network , changing name to TotalRock in 2000...
, and the Heritage Foundation named Bushell "Critic Of The Year.". In 2009 he started an occasional ska show for Internet radio.
Writing style
Bushell's columns are notable for simileSimile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...
s and metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
s that court controversy, such as describing something as being "as fair as Frank Bruno
Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy Bruno MBE is an English former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC Heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests...
's arse
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
" or (in his 1 May 2005 column) "Today's TV is so obsessively gay, it's a wonder the Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
doesn't come with a pink Versace
Versace
Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...
wrap and a free glass of Muscadet
Muscadet
Muscadet is a white French wine. It is made at the western end of the Loire Valley, near the city of Nantes in the Pays de la Loire region neighboring the Brittany Region. More Muscadet is produced than any other Loire wine. It is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape, often referred to simply as...
". His humour angered some Sun executives, such as Rebekah Wade
Rebekah Wade
Rebekah Mary Brooks is a British journalist and former newspaper editor. She was chief executive of News International , having previously served as the youngest editor of a British national newspaper as editor of the News of the World and the first female editor of The Sun...
, but fans include Dom Joly
Dom Joly
Dominic John Romulus "Dom" Joly is a British television comedian and journalist. He came to note as the star of Trigger Happy TV, a hidden camera show that was sold to over seventy countries worldwide...
and Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd, OBE is an English comedian, actor, radio host and author, and an authority on the history of music hall entertainment.- Early life :...
, who has called him "the Max Miller of the press." His tabloid column and writing style were regularly satirised in adult comic Viz
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
, including a one-off comic strip titled Garry Bushell The Bear, about a homophobic, xenophobic brown bear.
Responding to comments made by Bushell in the 25 November 1993 issue of The Sun ("Liberal permissiveness is eating the fabric of our society. You want video nasties peddling stomach-churning filth? You got 'em. Western values? Who needs 'em!"), John Martin's book Seduction of the Gullible: The Truth Behind the Video Nasty Scandal says: "[w]hen Bushell isn't blustering about decency and Western values, he can be found gloating and cracking jokes in his column over such incidents as the death of several transvestites in a sex cinema fire." Bushell aggressively dismissed the criticism on Richard Bacon’s Five Live show (October 2010), accusing militant gay activists and liberal intellectuals of distorting his views. Speaking to Philip Solomon on East Midlands radio, Bushell defended his writing style:
The humour I like is abrasive and acerbic; taken out of context it can seem cruel but that’s true of everyone from Jackie Mason to Frankie Boyle. The key to getting it is not to take it out of context. As someone once said analysing a joke is like dissecting a frog; you can find out why it works but in the process you kill it.
Bushell's columns have always been coloured by feuds, the most famous and long-running of which were with Ben Elton, Jo Brand and Janet Street-Porter. He has also had feuds with Phill Jupitus, Les Dennis
Les Dennis
Les Dennis is an English comedian, television presenter and actor best known as the host of Family Fortunes for 15 years.-Early life:...
, Marcus Brigstocke and Arthur Smith, whom he dubbed "the world’s worst comedian".
Politics
Bushell started out as a socialistSocialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and was a member of the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
International Socialists (which became the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
). In 1986, in his On The Soap Box column, Bushell raged against the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
es, who he claimed had ruined the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
He has opposed the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and unfettered immigration, because he said it undercut working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
wages. He has written articles supporting the Smithfield meat porters who were fighting to preserve their market, and in favour of the UDR Four
UDR Four
The UDR Four were four members of the Ulster Defence Regiment who were convicted of the murder of Adrian Carroll in 1983. Adrian Carroll was the brother of the Sinn Féin councillor Tommy Carroll.Three of the UDR soldiers were acquitted on appeal in 1992...
, working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
comedians and Page Three girls. In the 2000s, Bushell's main political focus has been patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and individual liberty. He considers himself English rather than British, and has campaigned to have St. George's Day recognised as a public holiday
Public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....
in England, in the same way Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
is a holiday in Ireland.
In the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
, he stood as a candidate for the English Democrats Party
English Democrats Party
The English Democrats are an English federalist political party, committed to the formation of a devolved English Parliament with at least the same powers as those granted to the Scottish Parliament. Whilst not supporting English Independence, the English Democrats consider themselves the English...
, who promote the establishment of an English Parliament, and who want England to leave the European Union. Bushell got 1216 votes (3.4% share) in the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency, finishing fifth out of seven in a race won by Nick Raynsford
Nick Raynsford
Wyvill Richard Nicolls Raynsford , known as Nick Raynsford, is a British Labour Party politician. A government minister from 1997 to 2005, he has been the Member of Parliament for Greenwich & Woolwich since 1997, having previously been MP for Greenwich from 1992 to 1997, and for Fulham from 1986...
of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. The result represented the high point for the English Democrats in the election, and Bushell finished ahead of the UK Independence Party candidate in that constituency. Bushell also represented the party in South Staffordshire, in the delayed vote (due to the death of a candidate) on 23 June; winning 643 votes (2.51%) His campaign was supported by the Campaign for an English Parliament
Campaign for an English Parliament
The Campaign for an English Parliament is a pressure group which seeks the establishment of a devolved English parliament. Some members of the CEP were instrumental in the formation of the English Democrats Party in 2002.-Establishment:...
and Veritas
Veritas (political party)
Veritas is a political party in the United Kingdom, formed in February 2005 at Hinckley golf club by politician-celebrity Robert Kilroy-Silk following a split from the United Kingdom Independence Party . Kilroy-Silk served as party leader from formation, through the 2005 General Election, until...
.
He considered running for Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
against Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
in 2008, but he pulled out of the race in January 2008 and stood aside for Matt O'Connor
Matt O'Connor
Matt O'Connor is the founder of the fathers' rights group Fathers 4 Justice in the UK. Denied access to his children by the Family Courts, O'Connor created Fathers 4 Justice to demand reform of the family courts and government policy on parental access.In his GQ magazine feature on O'Connor in...
.
Family
Bushell has five children; three with Carol Bushell and two with Tania Bushell, who performs as the country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Leah McCaffrey. In November 2006, Bushell appeared on the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
programme 100% English and offered a sample of his DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
for testing. The results suggested that he was 8% Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
n, most likely the result of a single ancestor within the previous five generations. Bushell wrote on his website: "I’d be delighted if it were true... Only Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, and, it appears C4, think of national identity
National identity
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
in terms of racial purity... Besides, you could apply the same tests to the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
or Italians
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and get similar results, but no one questions their right to nationhood."