the Virgin brand name. The record peaked at No 54. They had regional success in the Manchester area with "My Tape's Gone", "No Money" / "Oh Girl" and "Yellow Spot". Radio 1, and in particular Mike Read gave the Freshies a lot of airplay, especially the MCA release. After the "success" of "I'm in Love with the Girl on the Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk", the group released further singles, "Wrap Up the Rockets" and "I Can't Get 'Bouncing Babies' by the Teardrop Explodes", and although commercially successful in the Manchester area, they failed to make the national charts. They released 2 further cassettes, "Manchester Plays the Freshies" and "London Plays the Freshies", these were both essentially radio interviews with local and national DJs and concert recordings from each city. Chris had written his first LP by this stage, "The Johnny Radar Story", which, for various legal and contractual complications, was never released on vinyl. There are master copies on cassette in circulation though (albeit, very few). In February of 1982, Sievey abandoned the quartet lineup of the Freshies, and reformed it as a duo with Barbara O'Donovan. The duo version of the Freshies released one single, "Fasten Your Seat Belts". In 1982, he released the mini-album Denigration Now, his first work outside of the Freshies since 1976's All Sleeps Secrets. The following year he released a solo release, "Camouflage", with the A-side a song, and the B-side being computer programming. Frank Sidebottom (1984–1994) The Frank Sidebottom character first appeared on an untitled 1984 EP by Chris Sievey & the Freshies, in a spoken-word track wherein Frank talks to Chris. The character was instantly recognizable by his large spheroidal head, styled like an early Max Fleischer cartoon. This was initially made from papier-mâché, but later of fibreglass. In the documentary Being Frank, Martin Sievey (Chris's brother) states this was made using plaster of Paris. Frank, usually dressed in a 1950s-style sharp suit, was portrayed as an aspiring pop star from the small village of Timperley, near Altrincham. His character was cheerfully optimistic, enthusiastic, and seemingly oblivious to his own failings. Although supposedly 35 years old (the age always attributed to Frank irrespective of the passage of time), he still lived at home with his mother, to whom he made frequent references. His mother was apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes had a sidekick in the form of "Little