Howard Broadbent - a man of many talents

“I can still smash the ball,” he explained, “but the legs don’t always work.” Fortunately, Howard is not letting a little thing like that stop him.

This unusual attitude of taking life gently but firmly by the scruff of the neck is something in which this familiar character has always excelled. Not that you get the full picture when you talk to this modest man plainly at the front of the queue when they were giving out talents. Today, Howard is better known for his musical career, especially as a songwriter and, not too surprisingly, he is also busy with a variety of musical projects these days as well.

The avid Boltonian was actually born in Romford, Essex. His parents, Aaron and Mabel, were both from Bolton but moved South when his father worked at the Ford factory in Dagenham.

The family returned to Bolton to live in Halliwell during wartime and one of Howard’s earliest memories is of seeing spotlights raking the sky and of bombs falling.

The eldest of three children, he went to St Thomas’s and Oxford Grove primary schools before moving on to Whitecroft Secondary and then Bolton Technical College. He suffered from scarlet fever when young, leaving him with ear condition mastoiditis which still affects his balance.

When he was 11, his mum decided that he should have piano lessons with Miss Morris in Elgin Street nearby and, although he didn’t really want to go, he did.

To young Howard’s astonishment, he loved making music – although he failed to stay at his lessons long enough to take any exams. As a teenager, though, he was taught by Bolton musician Percy Hickman to master “stride piano” – a rare skill now. By day, he was learning to become an engineering draughtsman at Hawker Siddeley while by night he was performing in local pubs.

At the age of 17, Howard discovered golf – “although, like everything else, I had to work hard at it”. His efforts paid off and he became a scratch golfer. He played at Bolton’s Old Links Club and was a well-known local sportsman.

He won the Bolton Golf Championship in successive decades, represented Lancashire and played in the 1967 British Open Golf Championships at Hoylake. In fact, he became a professional golfer at a club for a short time “but it didn’t suit me,” he recalled. “And, anyway, I was really more interested in music.”

In 1970, he answered an advert for a honky-tonk piano player at the Last Drop Village, starting what became hugely popular singalong sessions. As well as being an accomplished singer, Howard also began writing songs, combining his sharp observations with a strong social conscience.

It was around this time that he and the late Jimmy Smith wrote The Blackpool Belle,. This is probably one of Howard’s most famous songs and he has just updated it with an extra stanza to celebrate the latest Virgin Pendolino train between Euston and the famous Lancashire resort being named The Blackpool Belle.

In the 1970s, the Houghton Weavers sang this song on their own TV series, Sit Thi Deawn, and it became an enduring hit. It’s still one of the Weavers’ most requested numbers.

Howard has continued writing songs about his beloved Lancashire in general and Bolton in particular ever since and is currently involved in a project to produce a musical around The Blackpool Belle.

Howard himself is a lofty figure with trademark long hair and a flamboyant sense of style. His love of “a beautiful song” has guided his life and he favours songwriters like Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn and Hoagy Carmichael, singing snatches of their best-known standards whenever he mentions one of them.

He still writes songs and cares about music and people. He’s taken to using a golf wedge as a kind of walking stick these days, chipping the ball on spare land whenever the opportunity presents itself.

“My short game is coming on well,” he reported, “so I think I’ll keep at it.” And that reflects the determination to make the very most of life that is definitely the hallmark of Howard Broadbent.