Chapman House Crocodile Rock remembered on BBC Radio

Music has always played an important part in Worth’s history and none more so than the Chapman House Crocodile Rock! In 1976 the School was honoured to have none other than Radio 1 DJ Annie Nightingale come to judge that year’s music competition and the winning performance was Chapman Houses's version of the Elton John Classic.

Last Saturday Annie was the special guest on Radio 4’s Saturday Live and Michael Bernard C’77 contacted the show to remind her of her visit. Michael recalled, “We played a version of Crocodile Rock and Annie was kind enough to say she thought Elton John would be proud and that if somebody had a recording she would play it on her show, which she did, the following weekend, much to our eternal gratitude” Michael added, “I’m still playing guitar in cover bands on the strength of being able to claim (more or less truthfully) to have been on Radio 1”.

Remarkably, Annie Nightingale remembered her visit to Worth ‘incredibly well’ and went on to say that it was one of the joys of her broadcasting career to be able to make somebody’s fantasy come true.

After leaving Worth Michael went to Oxford to study Experimental Psychology and then had a long career in Marketing with IBM. Now retired he is enjoying his role as a Governor at Downside and working with two charities; an NHS Foundation Trust and Exeter Business School. He has also recently joined the board of a social enterprise that provides a mental health app for schools and universities, has found time to write a book on Strategy due out next month, and of course is still playing his guitar.

You can listen to the episode of Saturday Live on BBC Sounds.