Fred Tomlinson

Frederick Tomlinson (18 December 1927 – 17 July 2016) was a British singer, choral director and composer. He founded the Fred Tomlinson Singers, who became well-known in the late 1960s for their association with the cult television series Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Education and career Tomlinson was born on 18 December 1927, in Rawtenstall, Lancashire. His older brother, Ernest Tomlinson, was a composer of orchestral light music. Fred won a scholarship to Manchester Cathedral choir school, attending until it closed in 1940 due to the war. He was then (aged 11) admitted to the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, attending King's College School, Cambridge. Tomlinson also composed and wrote songs for Monty Python, including "The Lumberjack Song", which he co-wrote with Terry Jones and Michael Palin. He and his Fred Tomlinson Singers then performed "The Lumberjack Song" on the show in December 1969, as well as the song "Spam" in 1970 while dressed as Vikings. Tomlinson also provided choral music for The Ken Dodd Show, The Goodies, The Two Ronnies (he was the soloist in the St Botolph Country Dance Team's rendition of 'Bold Sir John') and Only Fools and Horses, and there were musical contributions to documentaries such as Himalaya with Michael Palin, Timeshift, and The Amazing Race Australia.

Peter Warlock Tomlinson had a lifelong interest in the music of Peter Warlock and Bernard van Dieren. He acted as the chairman of the Peter Warlock Society for 25 years, producing editions of Warlock scores, and wrote several books about the composer, including A Peter Warlock Handbook (1974, 1977) and Warlock and van Dieren, with a van Dieren Catalogue (1978). His Centenary 'Curlew' Companion was arranged as a continuous suite of Warlock songs using the same instrumentation as The Curlew.

In 1971 Tomlinson put together a recording of drinking songs by Warlock, based on an anthology Warlock had compiled in 1929 using the name Rab Noolas (Saloon Bar written backwards). It was originally issued by Unicorn, and reissued in 2024 by Convivium.

Personal life Tomlinson married Pamela Mellor during the mid-1950s, having met her in Leeds. She sang as an alto with the Fred Tomlinson Singers. They had two daughters: Bridget (1957 – 6 October 1990) who died in a car crash; and Deborah, a sufferer from Rett syndrome, who died in 2011. Tomlinson died aged 88 on 17 July 2016 at his home in Walnut Way, Ruislip, after a long illness.