Celebrity Jukebox #17: John Mills

Sir John Mills was that certain kind of classy British gent you just don't get in movies anymore. Maybe you don't get them in real life anymore. And maybe if you scratched below the surface of that stereotype, you'd find all kind of unpleasantness that wouldn't be fitting with contemporary mores. But I like to think John Mills was above that kind of stuff. 

Seven decades on screen is quite a career, from Ryan's Daughter to Quatermass, he certainly got around. He seems to have made less of an impression on the world of popular music though, beyond his famous grandson who famously divides opinion, even among those of us who felt Britpop was our salad days.

In fact, I could only find one lyric that mentions Sir John, and I'm not 100% certain that 80s alt-rockers fIREHOSE (whose CAPS LOCK button is obviously stuck on) are even referring to him, and not some other John Mills when they sing...

Facing with the racing and the mason and the dude

Sideways seeing John Mills on the sidelines talking rude

The temporal and the corporal set sights above the moon

Tweaking down the police sound by singing them a tune

I did wonder who The Mason and The Dude might be (especially as this is pre-Lebowski). I did discover that James Mason teamed up with Sir John on the movie Tiara Tahiti in 1962, and it looks like an absolute blast... and just the kind of movie where you might find John Mills talking rude.

Anyway, the fIREHOSE track is pretty cool, and I hope they've fixed their keyboard since this was released in 1987.

Those of you who understand the way my mind works will probably be able to guess who features in the next edition of Celebrity Jukebox. And she has a few more songs to her name than her dad does...