Johnnie Hamp

Johnnie Hamp (born in the 1930's, sometimes referred to as John Hamp, or Johnny Hamp) is a British television producer, now retired. He is responsible for the early British television appearances of such acts as the Beatles, singer Cilla Black, comedian Woody Allen and singer Lisa Stansfield as Head of Light Entertainment with Granada Television. Johnnie became the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at Manchester's Victoria & Albert Hotel. Now retired and still living in Manchester, Hamp concentrates on his love of oil painting, charity work and after-dinner speaking.

Links to Peel
Hamp introduced Peel to work for some music shows in presenting on ITV's Granada region programmes.

In 1969, Peel recorded a pilot for a potential TV series in Manchester. Granada TV producer Johnny Hamp told the Melody Maker:

"'This was really a trial show to see how John shaped up on TV. He was excellent. But it was a very loose format, and might be a quite different show if we were able to do a series.'"

The guests were Tyrannosaurus Rex, Blodwyn Pig, Harvey Matuso's Jews Harp Band, an Indian dancer and poetry. The show failed to be broadcast on television.

During 1970, Johnny Hamp produced a TV show called John Peel In Concert, which featured Peel introducing Marc Bolan in concert. That also was not transmitted on Granada or any other TV channel.