Bobby Natural
John A
"Christ alive!"
Those were the words with which Bobby Natural (1946-) opened each episode of the inaugural 1960 series of "Songs Of Praise". The teen preacher, born in Bristol, UK but educated in the Baptist southern US states, brought a new form of worship to British TV, one that had pious bobbysoxers hysterical with more than just the love of Jesus!
Natural, frequently accompanied by his puppet "Mefty", was a familiar face in living rooms nationwide. Were it not for a backlash by the Women's Institute (who termed SoP "overheated Christian nonsense") and the mischievous theft of Mefty by a young Michael Aspel, the Church of England might have fared better in the liberated late sixties. As it was, Bobby Natural faded into obscurity.
A resurgence in his fortunes in recent years (thanks to a BBC4 special) has seen him back on TV as the face of the Lavender Marketing Board.
Having grown up in the Southern united states, this is, unfortunately, eerily familiar.
Normally, though, it'd be a t-shirt about the "original body piercing" or a short-sleeved buttoned white shirt with a tie and a Jesus fish tie tack.
-genevieve