Back in the early 2000s (because I can’t bring myself to say “oughts”), I used to play a little online game with celebrities called “5 for the Famous.”
Back then it was easy to get people’s email addresses (before all of you became stalkerish creeps). I used to write and ask random celebrities to play along. They would get 10 questions and had to choose 5 to answer.
Here is one of those interviews:
March 30, 2003
Peter Noone
In 1963, Peter Noone joined a Manchester beat group, The Heartbeats, whose name was changed shortly thereafter to Herman and The Hermits and eventually shortened to Herman’s Hermits. Peter Noone became Herman.
The group’s phenomenal string of successes began with their first #1 recording, “I’m into Something Good” (also seen memorably in “The Naked Gun“). A veritable buttload of top 20 hits followed, including the likes of “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat,” “Just a Little Bit Better,” “Listen People,” ” Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” and “Henry VIII.” In particular, “There’s a Kind of Hush” is easily the hardest song to get out of your head once you hear it.
During their pop chart reign, Herman’s Hermits sold 52 million records and performed to sold-out audiences throughout the world. Peter graced the cover of every national and international magazine, including Time in April 1965. Herman was a teen pop idol, appearing on hundreds of national television programs and three major motion pictures. Herman’s Hermits was named Cashbox Top Entertainer for two years in a row.
The 1970s found Noone pursuing a solo career as an actor and musical star. He starred in two Broadway shows in the 1980s. He garnered guest-starring roles in television shows such as “Married with Children,” “Quantum Leap” and “Laverne and Shirley.”
The 90s found Noone as host of “My Generation” on VH1.
Peter Noone still performs to sold out audiences around the globe in over 200 concerts a year. So with all that charisma and charm and wit, why not give him 5 questions?
I spent my first 4 years of life in the late 60s, what did I miss?
You missed 4 great fab fun filled years and luckily you can still hear a lot of the songs which cannot be said for the music from the 1860s.
If cameras followed you around like a reality television show, how many seasons would the show last?
Not a week. My life is incredibly boring, unless you like to watch people read books, type emails,write stories, go to the supermarket and put unwanted condoms (trojans), and gas easing tablets in octagenarian’s carts, just to see them at the cash register saying “these aren’t mine someone must have put them in the wrong cart, and be a good father and husband.
Why Henry the 8th? What was wrong with Henry the 7th?
Henry was the eight husband because all the others were under age and no one likes a young sam or a small willie.
What is the oddest thing you ever did with a midget, a politician and a gum wrapper? Or any other odd pairing?
I have a friend who is a midget and he doesn’t like to be called a midget or a dwarf so I bowl with him at the bowling alley. He slides really well and wears a helmet.
Politicians are to be ridiculed so mostly they avoid me, and of course I only get one vote unlike most musicians and actors who speak for the people (vox pop is not me).
I have never had a gum wrapper. We use suitcases
Do you have any weapons of mass destruction that Hans Blix should know about?
No, but I do have tourrettes syndrome AND I forget what he wants. Has he ever told us? I have massive destructive personality disorders but have never wanted my own country or shoes that make me look taller. I have never stepped up on a box to tell people who they should believe in, and like Tom Jones, think that musicians should be seen and not heard.
