Norwich is not noted for it's contribution to Britain's pop culture but for a brief period in the early eighties this city can lay claim to having had a "scene". For some, the band name that springs to mind will be the Farmers Boys who made it into the top 20 on EMI.

But definitely the most influential band from the Norwich scene were the Higsons, fronted by Charlie Higson who called himself "Switch" and featuring Terry Edwards on guitar and brass.

Whilst riding on the crest of the post-punk new wave The Higsons' mission was to put some punk into the funk. They enjoyed a cult hit single early on with "I Don't Want to Live with Monkeys" on Chrysalis before moving to small indie -  Upright Records for their debut album The Curse of the Higsons.

In recent years "Music to Watch Girls By" has received significant club play and since the use of Andy Williams' original in a recent TV advert the phone has been ringing off the wall with requests to whip out The Higsons version. Better yet, here it is with the whole album on mid-price CD with many of the tracks the band are remembered for.

When the untypical live favourite "Music to Watch Girls By" (track 7) was released in early '83 it received rave reviews and five plays a day on Radio 1 for three weeks solid

Chrysalis were kicking themselves for dropping the band while fledgling indie Upright Records and it's distributor Rough Trade floundered attempts to get a chart position and it became the one that got away

The Higsons carried on pleasing crowds in Europe and the USA until 1986 when (as Charlie put it) he could no longer keep it up with dignity.

After a spell as a painter and decorator Charlie teamed up with college pal Paul Whitehouse to write scripts. They did not wait long for their first break with their character Stavros for Harry Enfield on Saturday Night Live.

They followed it up in the second series with an even bigger hit Loadsamoney. The monstrous popularity of this character lead to a nation-wide tour, best selling book and a top five single. (in the charts at last). Since then the pair have become kings of comedy writing for The Harry Enfield TV Programme for the BBC.

Charlie became associate producer for the first Vic & Bob series for the BBC which won comedy series of the year in '93.

He became series producer for and appeared in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer in '95. He became programme associate for Shooting Stars before he and Paul wrote and appeared in a sketch show of their own The Fast Show.

The rest, as they say, is geography.