My REAL musical biography (scroll down for the fake one...)

 I've been playing music since my early teens, and have been writing songs since then too. I used to invent songs for my fellow Scouts to sing while sitting around campfires during summer camps. I started on the ukelele and ukelele banjo, before progressing to the guitar. I  have been writing songs seriously (is it possible to write a humorous song seriously?) since my mid-teens, and appeared in many shows at my secondary school, both as part of the choir and as a member of the close harmony singing group, Pheonix. In the world of higher education I was Liverpool Hope University Geography Department's unofficial songwriter during my time at Liverpool Hope University College! I was a member of the Campfire Leaders' Club for over ten years, and for many years I was the Baden-Powell Scouts' national training team's official songwriter. One of my most memorable occasions was singing a song called "Dry Spell Blues" live on the Steve LeFevre show on BBC Radio Leeds back in the drought-hit summer of 1995.

 I cut my folk music teeth as a member of the Liverpool Singaround Folk Club (unfortunately no longer running), and used to attend the Stainsby Folk Festival in Derbyshire on a regular basis. It was at Stainsby in 1999 that I reached the final of the singers competition. At Stainsby in 2000 I reached the final again and took second place in the performers competition whilst winning the Best Original Song category with my song "Eyes of a Child". When time allows I enjoy visiting different folk clubs around Merseyside and the north west, and over the years have had bookings to perform at The Prospect (Weston Village), Heswall Folk Club (as was), Haslingdon Trades, and Anthony John Clarke's folk club in Liverpool. I am also a lapsed member of the Shellback Chorus sea shanty singing group. During my time with the Shellbacks I performed with them at festivals in Liverpool, Whitby, Fleetwood, Banbury, Edinburgh/Leith, Upton-upon-Severn, and Saltburn, usually singing the song I was commissioned to write for them - the Song of the Salty Young Sea Dog.

 Since 1998 I have been involved in the Liverpool poetry and music scene, and have performed at Explosive Mouth, The Dead Good Poets Society, Rubyactive, Borders (Speke), Borders (Cheshire Oaks), Café Pop (Manchester), New Brighton Beer Festival, BBC Music Live, and New Brighton Comedy at the Railway. I was also one of the two guests who took part in the opening night of Outlet, the Tuebrook writing group.

 If all that wasn't enough, I also run and co-host 'Come Strut Your Stuff', a monthly poetry and acoustic night at Liverpool's Egg Café. Occasionally I even find time to perform, if I can fit myself into the running order. My other host is Nick Payne (from the Dead Good Poets Society), and the evening features Stan the Harper. You can find out more details by following the link in the 'My websites' section of this website.

 I have taken my musical talent to different countries (mainly through Scouting links) and have entertained people at campfires and bars in countries such as Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and latterly the USA. It was in the United States, whilst working at Camp Freeland Leslie in Wisconsin that I picked up a copy of a campfire songbook which I took back to England, edited, added to, and published on the internet. A link to The Good Book of Peter Henry can be found in the 'My websites' section of this site.

 Over the years I have been inspired by some of the greats of musical comedy. At university one of my lecturers, Jo Woodhouse, introduced me to the delights of Tom Lehrer. I remember walking home from lectures listening to a tape of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park for the very first time. Wow! While at the height of his fame Tom Lehrer suddenly stopped writing and performing. When asked why he said that there was nothing left to write about - there were no taboos left to break. After such a statement it's great to see the satirical spirit of Tom Lehrer still alive today in the guise of Amateur Transplants, a duo who find plenty of taboos to break!

 I'm also a fan of Flanders and Swann, and in recent years have discovered the late, great Jake Thackray. Thanks to my good friend Eric Cymbir I was introduced to the wonderful world of Noel Coward. His ability to mix memorable melodies with clever lyrics is an inspiration. His serious songs are also of the highest quality. My (as yet unrecorded) song 'A Close Shave' is inspired by, and dedicated to, Mr Coward. My Song 'Ernie was a Lonely Earthworm' was written in homage to the comic genius that is Mr Les Barker.

Fake Musical Biography

  I was born in 1969 and started singing almost immediately. Most of these infantile songs were unrecognisable to the adult population but were greatly admired by fellow infants. I was a big hit with the other babies at the Mother and Toddler group with songs such as, "The Nappy Changing Mambo", "Feed Me, Mamma", and the hugely popular "I'm Gonna Hurl All Over The Place And Cry Until My Head Turns Red Ch-Cha".

 In junior school my first musical instrument was the piano which I failed to practice on a regular basis. I then tried my hand at not practicing the clarinet which I found, to my amazement, I was rather good at. Following this I also considered not practicing a whole host of more difficult instruments but was put off this idea after hearing the junior school orchestra's rendition of The Theme from The Pink Panther.

 It was in the transitional period between junior school and senior school that I started to play an instrument with real conviction. [This followed his totally fictitious conviction for other minor offences which have since been stuck from my record and cannot therefore be used in evidence] The first instrument to suffer at my hands was the ukelele, with the first audience to suffer at his hands being made up of fellow members of my Scout Troop. I also bought a ukelele banjo (or banjolele for short) and made quite a name for myself by not singing George Formby songs.

 I eventually found the ukelele to be rather restrictive (in a musical sense) and moved from this four-stringed instrument to a six stringed guitar. With only having four fingers and a thumb on my left hand I battled on valiantly against this handicap until I was at the stage where I felt confident enough to entertain people at my school's Christmas concert. My rendition of Irving Berlin's seasonal classic White Christmas was surpassed only by my totally unscripted (and unrehearsed) solo on the spoons in the middle of the song.

 During my twenties, I developed as a performer, musician and songwriter. My own inimitable sense of humour was reflected in most of my songs. Indeed, during one performance I started off with a full head of hair and ended it totally bald, such was the power of my comic timing (and the extreme length of that particular song).

 Eventually, during the spring of 2000, I finally had enough decent material [sic] to consider recording my own CD. Following a meeting with a total stranger from Stoke-On-Trent who offered to record me for £15 and a bottle of Blue Nun I went into a recording studio and the rest is phonographic history. The CD "It's A Frog's Life" was born and the world never looked back!