Political cartoonist and jazz clarinettist who, using the pen name Trog, created the Flook strip
September 2022
From the Observer archive: Queen Elizabeth II special
From the archive: George Melly on the documentary Royal Family, 1969
The film was commissioned by the monarch to mark Charles’s investiture. It was unavailable to the public after 1977 until last year
February 2019
Back pages
All What Jazz by Philip Larkin - archive, 8 February 1970
In our latest classic review from the Observer archive, George Melly applauds the jazz buff’s crafted observations, particularly when he lets his hair down
September 2013
A look back
From the Observer archive, 26 September 1965: life's a gas for the latest pop sensations
George Melly sees the magic in a fledgling Marc Bolan and a 'musically limited' quartet from the East End
March 2013
A look back
From the Observer archive 25 February 1968: Farewell Alf Garnett, we all knew you
As Till Death Us Do Part comes off air, George Melly mourns a comedy whose appeal transcended class
February 2012
A look back
From the Observer archive, 11 February 1973: Behind the sex and drugs is a film of true insight
Originally published in the Observer on 11 February 1973: George Melly praises the hugely controversial black comedy Trash, which was produced by Andy Warhol
January 2012
A look back
From the Observer archive, 10 January 1965: The beginnings of 'chart art'
Originally published in the Observer on 10 January 1965: George Melly joins the paper as its first pop music critic and here surveys his subject's social and cultural worth
December 2011
A look back
From the Observer archive, 10 December 1967: Where the grass is really greener
Originally published in the Observer on 10 December 1967: TV critic George Melly is impressed but not entirely persuaded by the first full week of colour television
April 2008
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
July 2007
'I hope I die before I get (very, very) old'
In 1993 George Melly reflected in an Observer article on arriving at a pensionable age. Here is an edited extract.
January 2007
Mick Mulligan
Appreciation: On our very first day working together, Mick Mulligan and I drove out of London on the Great West Road past the Hoover Building.
April 2006
Last words
George Melly: It was my intention to end this column with a dramatic conclusion and a visit to see my lung specialist, Dr Kohn, offered the perfect fodder. He, the most frank yet honest of men, was to tell me the results of all the tests I've had.
How to light up a check up
George Melly: After a scan of my flabby torso, a diversion to find new hearing-aid batteries and being told I must wait an hour for a blood test, I was getting quite tetchy.
Zimmertime blues
George Melly: I'd twisted or broken my foot in Barrow-in-Furness, having got up too fast from a hotel chair and fallen down.
March 2006
Zimmertime blues
Off the rails
Party on
A broad church
February 2006
Dead good
George Melly: Death, while acknowledged to be inevitable, has become for most people today a near-taboo diluted by the politically correct.
