Fantastic!

You knew there was something about me, didn’t you? How many times have you thought,” That John Corley, I’m sure there’s something hidden there. Nobody can really be that much fun, that much excitement, that much fantasticness without there being some amazing hidden history. For one thing nothing is known of him before he got married in 1967 in East Coker parish church, a small village in Somerset where T.S. Eliot’s heart is buried. Surely the truth will come out some day?” Well, friends, that day is here. Now that I have reached retirement age and quit the boards, hung up my scale rule and guitar, it’s time to own up. I am the same person who deducted 43 days from my age (in a salute to the Emperor Claudius who invaded Britain in 43 A.D.) and donned the burnt cork which would accompany my first professional career behind the footlights. Intrigued? Well, here is the entry on my early life, as recorded by Wikipedia™:-

”The Fantastic Johnny C (born Johnny Corley, 28 April 1943, Greenwood, South Carolina) is an American soul singer. Discovered by Jesse James while singing in a church choir, Corley adopted the stage name "The Fantastic Johnny C" and scored a top ten Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1967 with "Boogaloo Down Broadway", written by James, which peaked at number seven, followed by a minor hit, "Hitch It to the Horse", a year later.”

After that, I became a quantity surveyor.