Allan Smethurst

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Allan Smethurst (November 19 1927 - December 23 2000), aka The Singing Postman was an English postman and singer.

Smethurst was from Sheringham, Norfolk, but there is a little confusion from sources as to where his birthplace was. Whilst some sources such as this Times Article say that he was indeed born in Sheringham, other sources such as this article from Anglian Music state that he was actually born in Lancashire but brought up in Sheringham. This online article from The Independent also states that he was born in Lancashire. His mother came from the village of Stiffkey.

Smethurst hummed tunes on his daily post round for many years, before starting to write and sing songs in his native Norfolk dialect in the 1950s. An audition tape sent to the BBC earned him a spot on Ralph Tuck's local radio show. Tuck promoted Smethurst under his own record label, "The Smallest Recording Organisation in the World".

In 1966, the Singing Postman's best known hit "Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Bor?" won Smethurst the Ivor Novello Award for best novelty song of the year. The hit knocked the Beatles from the top of the East Anglian hit parade and remained in the charts for nine weeks. The song had a small comeback in 1994 when it was featured on a television commercial for Ovaltine.

After appearing on The Des O'Connor Show, he signed with EMI and went on to record over 80 songs. He quit the music business in 1970.

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