SOUTH EALING, LONDON, UK (ANS) -- When Dan Wooding was much younger – he’s now 71 – we both worked together on a West London newspaper called The Middlesex County Times.

Dan Wooding pictured outside the Ealing Film Studios during a recent visit to South Ealing (Photo: Peter Wooding)

However, before I joined the paper as a cub reporter back in 1973, Dan had already been with the weekly paper for several years. He rose to the position of Chief Reporter after joining the staff in 1969 after losing his job, also  as Chief Reporter, with The Christian, Billy Graham’s UK-based paper, which sadly was closed down, much to the disappointment of many British Christians.

After a few weeks, Bert Munday, the editor of the County Times, as it was known, called Dan into his office and told him that he was appointing him as the South Ealing reporter.

“We haven’t had even one story from South Ealing for six months now, and so I want you to start digging out stories from there for us,” Munday told Dan.

It didn’t take long for Wooding to discover, as he later told me, that the reason that they hadn’t had any stories was the fact that the previous reporter used to go fishing instead of “fishing” for stories in this small part of the newspaper’s circulation area.

DVD cover of one of the most famous movies made at the Ealing Film Studios

Probably the most famous place in South Ealing was the Ealing Film Studios, the oldest working film studio in the world. It had defined the British Film Industry, with the first screen version of Hamlet in 1912, and also through the 1940’s and 1950’s classics, The Lady Killers, The Lavender Hill Mob, Passport To Pimlico, and Kind Hearts and Coronets. These films starred people like Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway and Margaret Rutherford. In fact, Ealing Studios has produced 5 of the top 20 highest grossing British independent films in the UK including the St. Trinian's franchise.

So it was natural that Dan would make the Ealing Film studios his first call.

“The BBC had recently taken over the studios and when I arrived at the front office and explained that I was ‘looking for stories’, the receptionist called the BBC press officer and she told me that a ‘crazy group called Monty Python’s Flying Circus’, where about to start shooting a new series for the BBC and added, ‘How would you like to write the first story about them?” recalled Wooding.

“Of course I jumped at the opportunity and when I got back to the office, I wrote up the very first story about them. Soon, I was being invited to report on them as they filmed their strange antics in the streets of Ealing and I was invited to many of their film launches.”

A clip from the Dead Parrot sketch with Michael Palin and John Cleese

Years later, Dan’s eldest son, Andrew Wooding, found out that Michael Palin, one of the Monty Python team, would be signing books in Pasadena, California, and went along, armed with a video camera, and told Palin that “my Dad helped to launch your career” and asked him if he would mind recording a message, which he promptly did.

Dan told me that when his son arrived home, he told his father to sit down watch the video. Suddenly, Palin came on the screen and said, “Dan, on behalf of the whole Monty Python team, I would like to thank you for helping to launch our careers. None of us could have imagined what was going to happen in the years to follow, so again, a big thank you.”

After starting off this with story, Dan decided, later that week, to again try and see if he could dig out any more stories in the area and, after visiting various shops where he was asked to “leave” by the owners who said they didn’t want any publicity, he found himself inside a rather non-descript store at the end of the South Ealing Road called The Musical Bargain Center.”

Cover of Dan's latest book

“When I walked inside, I suddenly heard someone playing the most amazing keyboards at the back of the store,” said Wooding. “I waited until he had finished and then talked with him. That person was Rick Wakeman and he told me that he was then a student at the Royal College of Music in London and was also doing sessions with different musicians. He told me had had just played piano on and arranged Morning Has Broken for Cat Stevens and also played Mellotron on Space Oddity for David Bowie. Both went on to become number 1 hits both in the UK and the USA.

“Rick told me that he had never been interviewed before, so I wrote up his first story for the paper and we became best friends. He invited me to his home in Northolt and I sat there spellbound as he played for me on his home piano. I had never heard anything like it.

“I shared with him a little about my background, explaining to him that I was born of missionary parents in Nigeria, and it was then that Rick told me that he was also a Christian and had been baptized at South Harrow Baptist Church and, at that time, was also a Sunday School teacher there.

Sir Elton John, Dan Wooding and Rick Wakeman, a picture taken for the back cover of the original book

“As his career blossomed, I went on to write his authorized biography, which was recently re-released as ‘Caped Crusader – Rick Wakeman in the 1970’s’ by the Gonzo Media Group in London. It carries a foreword by (Sir) Elton John foreword, and the three of us even had our picture taken together at Brentford F.C. for the back cover of the book.”

Wooding, who now lives in Southern California, added, “Rick and I have remained close friends for all these years and he has also performed several concerts for ASSIST in the United States.

“I am delighted that his incredible story, or at least the earlier part of it, can be told again for those in this new generation, who possibly don’t know too much about the ‘Grumpy Old Man’ that they see on British TV, will be able to learn about his incredible talents as a keyboard player, composer and songwriter.”

Why the title? Wooding says it comes from the fact that the blond figure of Wakeman would wrap his glittering shimmering cape around his giant frame and head on stage at arenas around the world to start another incredible performance on his battery of electronic keyboards.

And, even today, the “Caped Crusader” continues to push back the limits of music with his extraordinary talents.

So there you have it, as Dan Wooding looks back fondly at the week that he “accidentally” launched these two lots of careers – and it all began because the previous reporter decided to go fishing!

By the way, I also went on to cover the South Ealing beat, but I never was fortunate enough to find stories that matched the caliber of Wooding’s that launched these two careers.

And finally, if you know Dan as well as I do, you may now understand where he get is rather off-the-wall humor from – Monty Python’s Flying Circus!

After reading this, you may like to go ahead and purchase a copy of “Caped Crusader”. If so, just go to: http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335474883&sr=1-1 

** Michael Ireland is the Senior International Correspondent for ANS. He is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB UK, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649, at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can make a donation online under 'Donate' tab, then look for 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' under 'Donation Category' to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' Michael is a member in good standing of the National Writers Union, Society of Professional Journalists, Religion Newswriters Association, Evangelical Press Association and International Press Association. If you have a news or feature story idea for Michael, please contact him at: ANS Senior International Reporter