The Most Famous Grizzly Bear In The World

• Place – Dunblane, Scotland & London
• Time – 1980
• Artist – Hercules The Bear

Hercules the Bear

Hercules a trained grizzly bear who was famous for escaping during filming for a TV advert in the Outer Hebrides.

He was missing for twenty four days before being spotted, rescued and returned to his owner, Andy Robin, a professional wrestler.

The media reports made Hercules an instant celebrity around the world.

He went on to feature on the cover of Time magazine, helped promote the Miss World contest, caddied for Bob Hope, appeared in the James Bond movie Octopussy, sharing the screen with Roger Moore.

He also starred in numerous TV ads and small film roles.

He also was once named ‘Personality of the Year’ by the Scottish Tourist Board and even received a telegram from Ronald Reagan.

Overdrafts and Holidays

At the end of 1979 I was working on so many different projects I hardly had time to see my family at all.

This wasn’t ideal so I decided I would take us all on a holiday to the USA.

Unfortunately my timing wasn’t great, this coincided with paying the deposit on our first home as well risking considerable sums of money recording artists and developing product I had discovered.

Money was vanishing like butter on hot toast.

My overdraft, was so high that if Barclays Bank had loaned me one more pound they would have gone into liquidation.

Nevertheless we had the most wonderful three weeks driving from New York down to Florida stopping in Nashville and Memphis.

The credit cards were in a daily race to see which one would hit their limit first.

Being the era of pre-electronic transactions, I tried the old trick of leaving the cards on the dashboard of the car so the embossed numbers would dissolve slightly in the hot sun, therefore they wouldn’t register fully when swiped through any of the machines. This had worked by accident some years before in Spain, but not this time.

Back to Reality

On our return the financial implications of our trip became very apparent and with everything else going on it was all a bit scary, but being completely refreshed from the holiday my fears melted like a credit card on a hot dashboard.

All I had to do was get working and fast.

I immediately set about searching for as much production work as possible.

Anyone who has ever worked in the music industry for any length of time, will tell you how bizarre life in the industry can be, peculiar situations just seem to appear out of nowhere.

Bear With Us

After meetings and numerous phone calls, I heard there were a couple of guys in town with cash on the hip. They were looking for someone to produce as it was described to me, “An unusual pop record”. Little did I know.

Within hours I was meeting with them in their room at the Blakes Hotel in South Kensington.

They introduced themselves as Henry Spurway and Rudolf Huber, they had flown down from Edinburgh where they lived and also owned a club named The Royal Chimes Casino.

After the preliminary pleasantries they proceeded to tell me the story of Hercules The Bear who had recently been filming a television commercial in the Outer Hebrides.

During the filming, Hercules just took off and ran into the wilderness.

This story became national news over the next three weeks until eventually he was found and returned to his owner Andy Robin.

The worldwide attention Hercules had received convinced them that Hercules could have a chart hit. They decided to record a version of the Johnny Preston record Running Bear, with Hercules as the artist. Mmmmm, what could possibly go wrong?

They had signed a deal with Andy Robin the trainer and the owner of the bear, and were setting up their own label Royal Chimes Records specifically for the release of the single.

During this meeting, my initial reaction to the offer of producing a record with a nine foot high, thirty stone grizzly bear, was that the room had to be rigged with cameras and I was being secretly filmed for the TV show Candid Camera.

Still, as no one appeared with those magic words “You’re on Candid Camera” it became apparent they were deadly serious.

After discussing my fee and the very lucrative budget for making the record, we set about the logistics of how we were to record their newly signed artist.

Publicist Max Clifford Joins the Party

They acquired the services of the publicist Max Clifford.

Max and I were to fly on the 14th of October to Scotland and visit Andy and Hercules at their home in Dunblane Stirlingshire.

I met Max for the first time at the airport and by the time we arrived in Scotland I felt that I had known him forever.

He was a no-nonsense straight talking professional and a very nice guy, he had a soft-spoken voice, and was full of charm and charisma, no wonder he was a publicist.

He bore no resemblance to the character I read so much about in later years.

I was armed with only my self-confidence and a battery-operated Nagra portable tape recorder. This would have been little help to me if the artist turned out to be a little temperamental.

Arriving at The Sheriffmuir Inn

Henry, from the label met us at Edinburgh airport and drove us to our hotel. After a swift check-in and dumping our bags we all headed off to the home of Hercules.

After an hour or so driving through the unspoilt moorlands, rolling hills and impressive landscape we reached our destination, The Sheriffmuir Inn, a stunningly beautiful, three hundred year old white-painted stone building.

Andy and his wife were waiting to greet us as we pulled into the car park.

It was so peaceful and tranquil here you would hear a car coming from miles away and at night the sound of a grizzly bear growls from even further.

With the introductions over, we sat in the lounge whilst Andy’s wife Maggie served us all tea and sandwiches.

The Surrogate Son – Hercules

Andy enthusiastically told us all about their surrogate son Hercules, who they affectionately called Herky, all about his history and how he held the distinction of being the only bear ever to have wrestled his trainer without a muzzle.

My ears really pricked up when Andy mentioned what a fine set of teeth Herky had.

Andy left the room saying he would be back shortly, so we continued in polite conversation with Maggie.

This was soon to be interrupted by a thunderous sound growing louder and louder, eventually climaxing and culminating in the room right in front of us.

Hercules had arrived and proceeded to seat himself in front of the TV, like a child at cartoon time.

For the first time, the size of this enormous creature became very apparent. It was a extremely unnerving moment and even cool calm Max broke out in a bit of a sweat.

There was a slight relief when Andy entered the room shortly after and gave the big old softie a cuddle, not Max, the bear.

Time for Me to Record Herky

Andy took him back outside to his large caged area, Clutching my Nagra recorder tightly, nervously I followed them both into the enclosure.

Andy started speaking to Hercules encouraging him to make grunting noises and grizzly growls.

I gingerly held the microphone close to the bear’s mouth, recalling Andy’s comments about how piercing his teeth were.

We rambled around the enclosure recording until the tape on the recorder ran out.

Andy asked, “Do you have enough to work with?”

Knowing Hercules was never going to sing like Jungle Book’s Baloo, I was happy with what I had recorded, but even happier just to leave the cage.

We retired to the bar where Hercules joined us for a pint of beer. Yes, you heard it right, a pint of beer! It was quite a sight to see, although watching a grizzly bear to down a pint is a very messy affair, not to mention the obvious dangers of giving booze to a nine foot bear, I just prayed he was a happy drumk.

Happy to still be alive, Henry Max and I returned to Edinburgh for a champagne dinner at the Casino and discussed the game plan for the coming weeks.

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The Game Plan

Returning to London the next morning, I set about confirming the musicians and studio time, whilst Max was creating a buzz with the Fleet Street Newspapers using a photograph of Herky drinking a pint of beer.

The following day several national papers ran the story about Hercules making a record, along with a picture of him having a pint, it was all going to plan.

The record was completed at Pye Studios the following week with the lead vocals and harmonies sung by a young session singer, Suzie Mack.

The tapes were sent off to the pressing plant to manufacture the vinyl and the record Running Bear by Hercules & The Three Bears on the Royal Chimes label would soon be available to buy.

Hercules and the Three Bears Meet Russell Harty

On the Friday evening a week later I had a phone call from Max. He said me he had obtained a spot on the Russell Harty Show to perform the song live on the following Tuesday.

Unfortunately for us, Suzie Mack the singer had gone on a short tour in Germany and was unavailable for the show.

Somehow Max managed to find three girls who would make up the act, but they wouldn’t be in the UK until the Sunday evening this only gave the girls Monday to learn the track.

On the first run through at the TV studios on the Tuesday morning, Max and I were sitting watching the girls perform. As the song came to an end, Max turned to me and said, “Have you got your passport with you?”

It wasn’t the greatest of performances.

When the show went out that evening. First off Russell Harty chatted briefly to Andy with Hercules at his side, shortly followed by the ‘three bears’ performing the song.

Although the girls did well under the circumstances, as performances go, it sounded a bit like a zoo burning down.

Launch Night at the Café de Paris

On November the 7th, Max had arranged for the single launch to take place with a champagne lunch at the Café de Paris Leicester Square.

Hercules arrived in Regents Street in his own brightly decorated air-conditioned coach.

By the time Hercules made his entrance with Andy at his side. Max had made sure The Café de Paris was packed with press and celebrities.

Within an hour the RSPCA arrived to have Herky removed from the premises and close down the spectacle.

Fortuitously for Max someone (I wonder who that could have been) must have informed the RSPCA as to where and when they should show up.

The following day the story made every national newspaper.

On the 13th of November the Daily Mirror ran the story “Hercules banned from the BBC”.

They reported that vet James Hadley, had warned that the bear’s upcoming appearances on various TV shows maybe an offence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.

The law made it clear that wild animals can only appear in a circus.

This saw the end of Hercules’s recording career.

I thought this would be the end of the bear saga, especially for Henry and Rudi who had invested a substantial amount of money into this project.

Not Quite the End

But in life, I always say the next call can change it all.

A short time later I received a call from Henry, asking if I would like to sell my production percentage of the record for a one-off payment.

This offer could only mean they had a serious chance of selling a large quantity of Hercules records.

They explained that a client in the casino had lost a considerable amount of money without the funds to repay his losses.

This gentleman, Giovanni, was a high-ranking lieutenant in the Moonies, a nickname for the controversial Unification Church. It was suggested, or maybe it was suggested to him, a good way to repay his debt to the casino would be for the Moonies organisation to purchase from the Royal Chimes record label, 250,000 Running Bear singles at £1 a record.

These records would be given to the Moonie recruits to sell on the streets of the UK.

Everyones a Winner

Giovanni agreed to the deal, which repaid his debt, reimbursed Henry and Rudi’s investment along with a large profit and Andy and I received a very welcome unexpected cash bonus.

Although Herky never achieved his chart success he did actually manage to sell 250,000 singles.

There ain’t no rules in rock ‘n’ roll.

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