Esteem for AWSoP

from Jodie Marsh

Jodie Marsh, a British glamour model and darling of the tabloids, was the subject of The Orange Pop Programme, aired on the UK's ITV channel late on 8 February 2006. Gigglingly interviewed by presenter Jayne Middlemiss, the 'Human Viagra' (illustrated, left) talked about her nosejob, celebrity liaisons, racy lifestyle, and numerous pet dogs. Asked to dedicate a song to someone special, she nominated A Whiter Shade of Pale to be played for her parents, whose wedding song it had been.

The snippet that was played was a surprise (to anyone not forewarned by BtP): not the timeworn Top of the Pops footage, but a live A Whiter Shade of Pale from VRT's Jazz Festival at Bilzen, Belgium, 1967, the band's first-ever gig with Trower and Wilson. The hitherto unseen clip was overlaid with banners (always alluding to 'Procol Harem' [sic]), one of which claimed that even Keith Reid didn't know what the song was about.

The ebullient Marsh claimed that the song invariably made her feel warm and happy, and rightly observed that 'everybody loves it'.