A real Hampshire Hero!

Those of you you who are regular  followers of the always emboldened Culture-all will have come across Hampshire Heroes … and now there is a set of “ lesser known heroes“ from Culture-all (now moved to Hampshire Biographies) , a somewhat more obscure bunch than the previous lot.

Now I must admit to only having heard of two of the people on the new list, but maybe you are aware of more than I am?

However missing from the list is Reg Presley, a real “Hampshire Hero” and certainly someone who anyone who remembers the 1960s will know. For those of you who did not experience, at first hand, one of the finest decades to be alive in the 20th century, Reg Presley was the lead singer with the Troggs… and the Troggs came from Andover!

It was rare for pop groups not to be metropolitan, and coming from deepest Hampshire was unusual… I recall the DJ on Radio Caroline saying that they came from Andover which he described as a rural backwater rather than the thriving urban centre it is today.

Some of their best work, the singles ‘Wild Thing’, ‘With A Girl Like You’, ‘I Can’t Control Myself’ and ‘Any Way That You Want Me’ were perfect for the time and latterly the Wet Wet Wet release of ‘Love is All Around’ revived interest in Presley as a songwriter…. and anyone who rhymes waitin’ with hesitatin’ gets my vote as a hero, although his funding and interest of the study of crop circle may slightly diminish his heroic status.

So who else has been left off?