Philip Pope

Philip R J Pope is a British composer and actor He was educated at Downside School and New College Oxford Pope appeared in the Oxford Revue in Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1978 and 1979 both with Angus Deayton He performed in the BBC radio comedy series Radio Active 198087 and has also starred in a number of television comedy series including Who Dares Wins 198388 Chelmsford 123 198890 Round the Bend 198991 and KYTV 198993 He made guest appearances in Blackadder as the painter Leonardo Acropolis and Horatio Nelson and in Shelley as pop star Hobo Pope also appeared as Tony Angelino the singing dustman in the Only Fools and Horses episode Stage Fright in 1991 Pope toured the UK as a member of the cast of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Radio Series Live for which he was also musical director3 Pope portrayed several minor parts in the original radio series as well as the subsequent adaptations of the later novels Pope appeared in the radio series Old Harrys Game 19952009 and he has performed as a singer with the Thame Chamber Choir With Richard Curtis Pope cowrote the Hee Bee Gee Bees single Meaningless Songs the Bside of which was Posing in the Moonlight released in 1980 to parody the style of a series of disco hits by The Bee Gees The Hee Bee Gee Bees went on to record two albums spoofing numerous acts including Eagles Michael Jackson The Police Status Quo and Supertramp Pope also wrote or cowrote many comic songs for Not the Nine OClock News and Spitting Image the latter of which included the British Number 1 hit single The Chicken Song for which Rob Grant and Doug Naylor wrote the lyrics Along with Simon Franglen Pope wrote the main theme for Round the Bend a threeseries childrens comedy produced by Yorkshire Television for CITV and later shown on Channel 4 and Nickelodeon Pope has also composed a large amount of music for radio and television including the theme tunes for Through the Keyhole Whose Line Is It Anyway KYTV My Hero and Ruddy Hell Its Harry and Paul He was the musical director and composer for The Fast Show as well as the popular BBC childrens programmes Words and Pictures Fimbles and The Roly Mo Show Pope also provided the voice for the characters of Yugo and Migo from The Roly Mo Show Pope has scored numerous dramas and comedydramas for television including Ted Ralph Midnight Flight Crazy for A Kiss Hospital and Margery Gladys as well as the film Kevin Perry Go Large 2000 He was invited to arrange Snow Patrols Run 12 remixed by Jacknife Lee to which he contributed additional guitar On 5 October 2004 Pope featured in an episode of the radio series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy entitled Fit the Fifteenth as one of three aliens from the planet of Krikkit They sang a song called Under the Ink Black Sky which Pope wrote and performed On 13 February 2013 Pope and his wife Rosie appeared on ITVs From The Heart a programme about organ donation and which featured their 20yearold son Will who was seriously unwell with a failing heart had only months to live and was in desperate need of heart transplantation He finally obtained a new heart in a successful operation and was slowly nursed back to health by his family