Australian tenor Jonathon Welch – who is best known for his work with the Choir of Hard Knocks, which was featured on the award-winning ABC documentary – will perform his cabaret show I’m Just Wild About Harry at Glen Street Theatre in Belrose, NSW this month. Centring on the life and music of Welsh tenor and comedian Sir Harry Secombe, the show will include songs such as Love is a Many Splendoured Thing, Bless this House, This is My Song, I Believe, and If I Ruled the World. Jonathon Welch spoke to Limelight to explain why he’s wild about Harry.

Jonathon Welch. Photograph supplied

When did you first hear Harry Secombe’s music?

I first heard him sing in the 1960s when my mother played his LPs, and his beautiful voice would fill our home with all the great tenor classics that he and many of the other singers of the day were recording.

Were you mostly influenced by hearing him sing, or by hearing him on the British radio comedy program The Goon Show?

I remember listening to The Goons on the radio on Saturday afternoons, but didn’t realise that it was the same...