Hebden Bridge Web

Hippy Valley is an eBook published by Pennine Pens - monologues and songs performed by George Murphy

When he wanted to write about the recent history of Hebden Bridge and the other towns and villages of Upper Calder, George Murphy decided to use the almost dead genre of the comic monologue. He learned the craft of performance in front of audiences in pubs, libraries, comedy and storytelling clubs and on local radio stations.

In some tales, George gives new life to the ancient folklore of boggarts and water nymphs by connecting them to recent events.

He often uses the news and discussion pages of Hebweb for inspiration. Recently he has added songs to his repertoire on topics such as Le Grand Depart and the notorious Fancy Man Stan. In keeping with musical hall tradition, George includes bawdy humour in his act. He hopes he has written tales that all - above the age of 12 - can enjoy and some monologues or songs that a few people might want to learn to perform for themselves.

George has been performing his tales at The Shaggy Dog Storytellers' club in Hebden Bridge where he has floor spots most months.

While the tales are about Hebden Bridge and the Calder Valley, the dialect has been tempered to appeal to a wider audience. Many of them have been performed alongside Rod Dimbleby, a teller of dialect tales from the recent past, "a proper Yorkshireman" and an authority on the great Victorian writer and performer John Hartley. Rod told George that in Yorkshire dialect writing aitches are not dropped in the spelling, only in the speaking. "So think on!" Pam Dimbleby has written the musical notation to go with some of the tunes and songs he's made up.

George offers thanks to "the good people of Hippy Valley - and the bad people, without whom most stories would be incomplete." And to Kath, his present wife, for laughing… "sometimes in the right places."

£2.95 Available for immediate download

Amazon Kindle version     Apple iBooks version.