Saturday, July 04, 2015

Noisy neighbour jailed for singing along with 'Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs'

A council tenant has been jailed for making his neighbours’ lives hell by belting out ‘Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs’. Michael Thornton loved to bellow the tune, inspired by artist LS Lowry, which was a 1978 No.1 for folk group Brian and Michael. After drinking, the 51-year-old would sing it at the top of his voice.



He would also invite friends back to his ground floor flat in Northfield, Birmingham, after the pubs had closed for rowdy gatherings where they would shout, swear and sing into the early hours. But Thornton was silenced by a 20-week jail term imposed at Birmingham Country Court after he broke an anti-social behaviour injunction (a civil court ASBO) requiring him to keep the peace. The city council also wants to kick him out of his property.

One relieved neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “It would go on and on and on, he would play it over and over and sing along himself. At least now we’ll have a few weeks of peace and quiet.” Another neighbour spoke of “late-night bawling, shouting and loud music” and said anyone who complained was bombarded with foul-mouthed abuse. They said the trouble had been going on for three years.


YouTube link.

Sgt David Lamerton, of Northfield Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “Mr Thornton has persistently shown a flagrant disregard for the feelings of his neighbours. West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council worked together to get a court order against him. He chose to flout the order and now faces the consequences.” Sgt Lamerton said many noisy neighbour cases involved house, rap and hard rock music, and it was almost unheard of for a song like 'Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs' to feature in a case.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How odd. I never would have considered that a drinking song. Or a being drunk song.

For a being drunk song, I offer you ...

Fee-ee-e-elings
Nothing more than feee-e-elings ...

etc.

Lurker111

Keen Mustard said...

Clearly a man of culture. Lowry would have been honoured.

Fester said...

Could have been worse. Could have been "Knees Up Mother Brown."

Anonymous said...

@Fester: I could have gone my whole life without knowing a whit about "Knees Up Mother Brown." Of course, there is the "Hokey Pokey."

Lurker111