People like Tony Hawks

Antony Gordon Hawksworth, MBE (born February 27, 1960), known professionally as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.

Born in Brighton, Sussex, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College.

After dropping out of a drama degree at Manchester University, Hawks appeared in the West End musical Lennon – A Musical Biography at The Astoria. By 1988, before he found chart success, he was already appearing in BBC Radio 4's Big Fun Show with Paul Merton, John Irwin and Josie Lawrence.

Hawks first attempted to break into show business as a singer-songwriter, but it was with a novelty record that he had his first brush with fame; as leader of the trio Morris Minor and the Majors, he reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart with the Beastie Boys parody, "Stutter Rap (No Sleep til Bedtime)" in 1988. It went on to sell 220,000 copies, and reached a peak of No. 2 in Australia. The follow-up, a pastiche of Stock Aitken Waterman titled "This Is the Chorus", fared less well. A television series followed from this, Morris Minor's Marvellous Motors, written by and starring Hawks. In it, the fictional bandleader attempted to maintain his pop career while running a garage; it ran for one series in 1989 on BBC1.