David Edward Sutch
Born	November 10, 1940 Hampstead, North West London, England
Died	June 16, 1999 West Harrow, Middlesex, England
Occupation	musician, politician

David Edward Sutch (or Screaming Lord Sutch) (November 10, 1940 – June 16, 1999) was an English musician and politician.

Contents 1 Musical career 2 Political activities 3 Private life 4 Discography 5 Elections fought 6 References 7 External links

Musical career

Sutch was born at New End Hospital, Hampstead, North West London. In the 1960s, inspired by one of his favourite rock and roll stars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, he changed his name to Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow. Despite the fact that he had no connection with the peerage, the deed poll laws of England permitted this. Following a successful career as an early-'60s rock 'n' roll attraction, it became customary for the UK press and citizens to refer to him as Screaming Lord Sutch, or simply Lord Sutch. Early works included recordings produced by legendary audio pioneer Joe Meek.

During the 1960s, Screaming Lord Sutch was known for his horror-themed stage show, as well as for usually dressing as Jack the Ripper, pre-dating the shock rock antics of Alice Cooper by several years. Accompanied by his band, The Savages, he often started the show by coming out of a big black coffin. Other stage props included knives and daggers, skulls, and "bodies". Sutch also booked 'themed' concert tours, such as 'Sutch and the Roman Empire', where the Sutch and the band members would be dressed up as Roman soldiers. Despite his self-confessed lack of any vocal talent, he released many horror themed singles during the early- to mid-'60s, the most popular and well known of which is "Jack the Ripper", which has been covered both live and on record by many garage rock bands over the years, including the White Stripes, The Black Lips and The Horrors for their debut album, Strange House.

In 1963, Sutch and his then manager, Reg Calvert, took over a fort built during World War II, just off the coast at Southend. This was to be 'Radio Sutch', intending to compete with the other pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline. He planned to play music and broadcast Mandy Rice-Davies reading extracts from "Lady Chatterley's Lover". It didn't really happen and Calvert took over the project, renaming it 'Radio City', which lasted for a couple of years. In 1966 Calvert was shot dead by Oliver Smedley over a financial dispute. However Smedley was subsequently acquitted of this killing on grounds of self-defence.

In 1968, Dave Sutch took off for the USA in a Rolls Royce emblazoned with a Union Flag on the roof and pulling a trailer full of Marshall amplifiers which he intended to sell. He had a share interest in the Marshall company.

Lord Sutch's album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in Colin Larkin's book The Top 1000 Albums of All Time, despite the fact that legends such as Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck , Noel Redding and Nicky Hopkins among others performed on it and helped to write it.

For his follow-up album, Hands of Jack the Ripper, Sutch assembled a group of British rock celebrities for a concert at the Carlsharlton Park Rock 'n' Roll Festival. The entire show was recorded (though only Sutch knew), and after some quick editing, cutting and pasting it was released - much to everyone else's surprise! Musicians appearing on the record included Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Matthew Fisher (keyboard); Carlo Little (drums); Keith Moon (drums); Noel Redding (bass) and Nick Simper (bass).

Political activities

In the 1960s, he stood in various parliamentary elections, often standing as a representative of the 'National Teenage Party'. His first attempt to enter Parliament was in 1963, when he contested the by-election in Stratford-upon-Avon caused by the resignation of John Profumo. He gained 208 votes. His next foray was at the 1964 General Election when he stood in Harold Wilson's Huyton constituency. Here he got 518 votes.

He founded the Official Monster Raving Loony Party in 1983 and fought the Bermondsey by-election. In his career he contested over 40 elections, rarely threatening the major party candidates, but often getting a respectable number of votes. He was an easily recognisable figure at election counts due to his flamboyant clothes. It was shortly after he polled several hundred votes in Margaret Thatcher's Finchley constituency in 1983 that the deposit paid by candidates was raised from £150 to £500. This did little to deter the legendary deposit-losing Lord Sutch, who increased the number of rock concerts he performed per year to pay for his mock political campaigns.

Arguably his most significant contribution to British politics came as a result of the Bootle by-election in 1990. He secured more votes than the candidate of the Continuing SDP, led by former Foreign Secretary David Owen. Within days the SDP dissolved itself. In 1993, when the British National Party (BNP) secured its first local councillor, Derek Beackon, Sutch was able to point out that the Official Monster Raving Loony Party already had six councillors.

He also made an appearance - as himself - in the first episode of ITV comedy The New Statesman, coming second in the 1987 election (ahead of the Labour and SDP candidates) which saw Alan B'Stard elected to Parliament.

A series of adverts in the 1990s for Heineken beer boasted that "Only Heineken can do this". One ad had Sutch at 10 Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister.

Private life

Despite his seemingly light-hearted antics, Screaming Lord Sutch in reality suffered from periods of depression and committed suicide by hanging on June 16, 1999, following the death of his mother the previous year. At the coroner's inquest into his death, his fiancee stated that he had "manic depression". However, her descriptions, both of his symptoms and their treatment by doctors with antidepressants , suggest that Sutch suffered from clinical depression.

Sutch never married, but is survived by a son, Tristan Lord Gwynne Sutch, born in 1975 to the American model Thann Rendessy.

In 1991, Sutch's autobiography Life as Sutch: the Official Autobiography of a Raving Looney (co-written with Peter Chippindale) was published; however, the book was recalled by publishers swiftly. Versions are available: Angus & Robertson, ISBN 0-207-17240-4 and HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-255090-3. In 2005 Graham Sharpe, who had known Sutch since the late 1960s, when they both lived in Harrow and Sharpe was a rookie reporter on the Harrow Weekly Post, wrote the first biography of the man, The Man Who Was Screaming Lord Sutch. The culmination of almost two years' research and around 200 interviews by Sharpe, who had been with Sutch just three days before his death, the book received very positive reviews and seems likely to be the definitive biography.

Discography

Sutch released records from 1961 onwards. A comprehensive-looking discography can be found at wangdangdula.com. Later works include:

• Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends (1970)
• Hands of Jack the Ripper (1972)
• Alive and Well (Live, 1980)
• Jack the Ripper (Compilation, 19??)
• Rock & Horror (Compilation, 1982) Ace Records CDCHM 65
• Story/Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages (Compilation, 1991)
• Live Manifesto (Live, 1992)
• Murder in the Graveyard (Live, 1992)
• Raving Loony Party Favourites (Compilation, 1996)
• Monster Rock (Compilation, 2000)
• Midnight Man (EP, 2000)
• Munster Rock (Compilation, 2001)
• The London Rock & Roll Show DVD ASIN: B00007LZ56

Elections fought

Election	Type	Constituency	Party	Vote	% vote	Place	Candidates
15 August 1963	BE	Stratford-on-Avon	National Teenage	209	0.6	5th	5
31 March 1966	GE	Huyton 1	National Teenage	585	0.9	3rd	3
18 June 1970	GE	Cities of London and Westminster	Young Ideas	142	0.4	5th	5
10 October 1974	GE	Stafford and Stone	Go to Blazes	351	0.6	4th	4
24 February 1983	BE	Bermondsey	Official Monster Raving Loony	97	0.3	6th	16
23 March 1983	BE	Darlington	Official Monster Raving Loony	374	0.7	4th	8
9 June 1983	GE	Finchley 1	Official Monster Raving Loony	235	0.6	5th	11
28 July 1983	BE	Penrith and The Border	Official Monster Raving Loony	412	1.1	4th	8
1 March 1984	BE	Chesterfield	Official Monster Raving Loony	178	0.3	5th	17
4 July 1985	BE	Brecon and Radnor	Official Monster Raving Loony	202	0.5	5th	7
10 April 1986	BE	Fulham	Official Monster Raving Loony	134	0.4	5th	11
17 July 1986	BE	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Official Monster Raving Loony	277	0.7	4th	7
14 July 1988	BE	Kensington	Official Monster Raving Loony	61	0.3	7th	15
10 November 1988	BE	Glasgow Govan	Official Monster Raving Loony	174	0.6	7th	8
15 December 1988	BE	Epping Forest	Official Monster Raving Loony	208	0.6	7th	9
23 February 1989	BE	Richmond (Yorks)	Official Monster Raving Loony	167	0.3	6th	9
4 May 1989	BE	Vale of Glamorgan	Official Monster Raving Loony	266	0.6	8th	11
15 June 1989	BE	Vauxhall	Official Monster Raving Loony	106	0.4	10th	14
22 March 1990	BE	Mid Staffordshire	Official Monster Raving Loony	336	0.6	7th	14
24 May 1990	BE	Bootle 2	Official Monster Raving Loony	418	1.2	6th	8
27 September 1990	BE	Knowsley South	Official Monster Raving Loony	197	0.9	6th	7
8 November 1990	BE	Bootle 3	Official Monster Raving Loony	310	1.1	5th	7
7 March 1991	BE	Ribble Valley 3	Official Monster Raving Loony	278	0.6	6th	9
4 April 1991	BE	Neath	Official Monster Raving Loony	263	0.8	7th	8
16 May 1991	BE	Monmouth 4	Official Monster Raving Loony	314	0.7	4th	7
4 July 1991	BE	Liverpool Walton	Official Monster Raving Loony	546	1.4	5th	6
9 April 1992	GE	Huntingdon 1	Official Monster Raving Loony	728	1.0	6th	10
9 April 1992	GE	Islwyn 5	Official Monster Raving Loony	547	1.3	5th	5
9 April 1992	GE	Yeovil 6	Official Monster Raving Loony	338	0.6	5th	6
6 May 1993	BE	Newbury	Official Monster Raving Loony	432	0.7	7th	19
29 July 1993	BE	Christchurch	Official Monster Raving Loony	404	0.8	5th	6
5 May 1994	BE	Rotherham	Official Monster Raving Loony	1,114	4.2	4th	5
9 June 1994	BE	Bradford South	Official Monster Raving Loony	727	2.4	4th	5
9 June 1994	BE	Eastleigh	Official Monster Raving Loony	783	1.4	5th	14
16 February 1995	BE	Islwyn	Official Monster Raving Loony	506	2.2	5th	7
25 May 1995	BE	Perth and Kinross	Official Monster Raving Loony	586	1.4	5th	9
27 July 1995	BE	Littleborough and Saddleworth	Official Monster Raving Loony	782	1.9	4th	10
1 February 1996	BE	Hemsworth	Official Monster Raving Loony	652	3.0	5th	10
11 April 1996	BE	South East Staffordshire	Official Monster Raving Loony	506	1.2	5th	13
31 July 1997	BE	Uxbridge	Official Monster Raving Loony	396	1.3	4th	11
20 November 1997	BE	Winchester	Official Monster Raving Loony	316	0.6	5th	8

Notes:-

• ¹ This election was won by the incumbent Prime Minister.
• ² Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the rump SDP.
• ³ Sutch achieved a better result than the candidate from the continuing Liberal Party.
• ⁴ Sutch achieved a better result than the joint candidate from the Green Party of England and Wales and Plaid Cymru.
• ⁵ This election was won by the incumbent Leader of the Opposition.
• ⁶ This election was won by the incumbent Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Preceded by Office Created

Official Monster Raving Loony Party Leader 1983-1999

Succeeded by Howling Laud Hope

References

1. BBC Suicide verdict on Sutch 31 August 1999
2. Screaming Lord Sutch Page in Fuller Up, The Dead Musician Directory

• British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1983)
• British Parliamentary Election Results 1974-1983, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Research Services 1984)

External links

• Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages History
• BBC report of Sutch's death
• BBC obituary
• David Sutch's Gravesite
• Screaming Lord Sutch at Ward's Book of Days