When Will Swindon-Born Mark Lamarr Get the Statue He Deserves?

Isn’t it about time that we gave one of our own the respect they deserve? One of the UK’s most talented comedians, radio DJs and television presenters of our generation, Swindon-born Mark Lamarr has enjoyed a hugely successful career in entertainment since being brought up in the Park South area of Wiltshire’s county town. His mother was a cleaner and his father, a maintenance engineer working in a busy cake factory. Lamarr certainly emerged from humble beginnings before moving on to pastures new with that unmistakable rockabilly quiff that made him such an icon of the early '90s entertainment scene.

Lamarr longing for London’s rockabilly scene

With a reasonable academic background, having picked up 5 O-Levels at the now-demolished Park Grammar School, Lamarr upped sticks to Harrow, North London at a young age. He was a young adult that longed to be a part of the emerging rockabilly revival in the early-to-mid '80s, but it wouldn’t be long before his creative talents would come to the fore. In 1985, Lamarr started performing stand-up comedy gigs at the capital’s Comedy Store and was eventually scouted for two television gigs that would make him a household name in '90s television. Lamarr starred as co-presenter for the Channel 4 series The Word, which "changed television" according to The Guardian, alongside other emerging talents such as Terry Christian, Dani Behr and Alan Connor. With five series and 104 episodes, it was a relatively long-standing show that went live every Friday evening. The late timeslot – beyond the watershed – meant that the show’s guests dabbled in game shows and features that were often provocative and controversial. From worm-eating to licking sweat off people’s skin, it received considerable backlash from the tabloids, but it certainly pushed the likes of Lamarr and co. into the media spotlight.

From Down Your Doorstep to panel show host, and rock n' roll

In fact, almost as soon as Lamarr had left The Word, he was promptly snapped up by another Channel 4 TV show that became a breakfast-time institution in the 90s. The Big Breakfast, produced by Bob Geldof-owned Planet24, would become an instant hit. Filmed from ‘Lock-keeper’s Cottages’, which was a studio house in Bow, East London, Lamarr spent four years on the show between 1992 to 1996, working as an outside presenter for the ‘Down Your Doorstep’ feature. Lamarr would turn up live and unannounced at viewers’ homes, surprising them with prizes and a chance to be famous on live television. The Big Breakfast enjoyed almost ten years as an early-morning show before closing its doors in March 2002. It competed with GMTV and BBC Breakfast for viewers and fared very well thanks to a long line of zany presenters, including Chris Evans, Johnny Vaughan, Paul Ross and Keith Chegwin.

Lamarr’s success on The Big Breakfast secured him two solid gigs on popular evening panel shows, Shooting Stars and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Lamarr was a team captain on Shooting Stars between 1995 and 1997, where he was tasked with playing a dour, bitter character, displaying contempt at all times for the show’s hosts, Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves. Shooting Stars was a huge success, with eight series and 72 slapstick episodes on BBC Two. However, it would be BBC's Never Mind the Buzzcocks which would catapult Lamarr into another echelon as a television personality. With 17 series as presenter between 1996 and 2005, Lamarr developed a reputation as a man with blatant disregard for pop music and boy bands. It was perhaps fitting that Lamarr would then graduate from television to radio, presenting a number of radio shows on BBC Radio 2, as well as guest appearances on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5. Lamarr was hosting the Radio 2 show on the day that underground music pioneer and long-time BBC DJ John Peel passed away in 2004, which was apt considering Lamarr’s own passion for obscure rock ‘n’ roll. Today, Lamarr is somewhat out of the limelight, having stayed in music to assist lesser-known rock bands and record labels, so now is surely the right time to acknowledge his career.

How could we pay tribute to Lamarr?

One wonders whether Swindon Town Football Club would consider renaming The County Ground to The Lamarr Ground... But joking aside, the town is no stranger to celebrating the lives of special Swindonians by naming streets in their honour. The likes of Levi Morse, founder of Swindon's inaugural department store, property developers such as William Hunter and brewer, John Shepherd have all had roads named after them in recognition for their efforts. Lamarr Lane has quite a nice ring to it, in our opinion. How about encouraging one of Swindon's pubs or restaurants to name a dish after Lamarr? Wouldn't it be great if Old Town Thai introduced a Phad King Lamarr? The Wyvern Theatre, which reopened back in 2007, has a long and proud history of comedy and live shows. Perhaps The Wyvern-Lamarr Theatre would suffice? Maybe the town's 24-hour community radio station could assist, acknowledging Lamarr's qualities as a radio DJ by renaming Swindon 105.5 asLamarr's Swindon 105.5. It's not unusual for celebrities who have become brands in their own right to influence pop culture-related merchandise, either. For instance, personalities from Michael Jackson to Marilyn Monroe or even the characters of Game of Thrones have borrowed their likeness to slot games, while other types of video games such as Rage Software's 2002 Rocky for the PlayStation, PC and Xbox aren't that far-fetched. After all, Kim Kardashian has released her own iPhone app, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood - and audiences nowadays are famously interested in nostalgia and retro themes. A television documentary about the life and times of Mark Lamarrwould also be fascinating, or perhaps a film about the London rockabilly scene that Lamarr was such a big part of? Fashion designers could try and breathe new life into the rockabilly style and bring out a new "Lamarr" clothing range including super-slick bomber jackets and retro bowling shirts. Sure, some of this is rather outside the box, but the fact is that Lamarr has a legacy that we should celebrate.

Disappointingly, Lamarr has always been very dismissive of his upbringing and his links to Swindon, unlike Melinda Messenger, who still retains close links to the town despite shooting to fame overnight in the late 1990s. There’s no doubt that a statue of Melinda Messenger in the heart of Swindon town centre would be more aesthetically pleasing, given her beautiful blonde looks. Mark who?!