Stephen Pound in "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"

Welcome to the second and probably last in our series of postings on Labour MPs in British films of the 1960s. (The first was about Hazel Blears in A Taste of Honey.)

In February 2003 the Daily Mirror reported:

Steve Pound has revealed that he had a showbiz career in the late 60s before he became a Labour MP. He appeared in a movie called Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, shot in glamorous Stevenage.

"I appear twice in this film," brags Pound. "Once at the then Stevenage Locarno where I am seen in the crowd watching the Spencer Davis Group, and latterly as a nimble bus driver - with the sun glinting on my flowing auburn locks, a fag in my mouth and a copy of Labour Weekly sticking out of my back pocket."

Yes, the film features this blog's favourite band. It is even better than that. The film was made just as Steve Winwood was leaving Spencer Davis and setting up Traffic and both groups are featured on the soundtrack.

There are several clips from Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush on Youtube. It is even possible that Pound features in this one, which shows teenagers dancing to a post-Winwood Spencer Davis Group.

You can also enjoy the opening titles, a scene with Barry Evans and Adrienne Posta and (not from the film) this clip of Traffic playing the theme song.

There is a sad postscript to the film. The star of the film Barry Evans, who was brought up in children's homes, went on to appear in a couple of television sitcoms, but his career never really flourished. He was found dead in unexplained circumstances at his bungalow here in Leicestershire in 1997 and an open verdict was recorded by the coroner. There is a little more about his death in his Wikipedia entry.