The Story Is Told

Joe Temperley

"When Kathy (Stobart) finally retired, Joe Temperley took over as deputy tenorist. Joe is another Scot, with a hearty contempt for woolly convention and a voice which is guaranteed to penetrate into the farthest corners of a crowded restaurant. A skilled and zealous musician with a high professional sense, Joe has the reputation as a scourge of bandleaders whose only equipment is bluff and 'discipline'. His laugh - staccato bursts of machine-gun fire - is a deadly weapon against pomposity or fake 'dignity'. ...

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At a party given by some of the staff at Granada Television, I suffered from severe palpitations when I heard the unmistakable Scottish bark from the clamorous recesses of the room: 'This party's too respectable!'

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When he vanished from the room a few minutes later I followed, apprehensive as to what practical form his protest might take. He was in the kitchen, frying eggs. When one of the hostesses came out to investigate the frizzling sounds coming from her kitchen, she was visibly impressed when the total stranger wielding her frying pan turned and asked bluntly: 'D'you want an egg?' "​

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From Second Chorus by Humphrey Lyttelton. (Publ. Macgibbon & Kee 1958) (currently unavailable except as used copies)

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Here is Joe Temperley in 1996 with the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra and Homecoming: