Leigh Odlin

By Andrew Warn

I was listening to BBC Look East just before the New Year and was startled to hear that East Anglia is the most important area in Britain for creative arts. Then I thought that’s not so surprising, given the number of ‘creatives’ that reside in our Benefice.

Leigh Odlin

For example Leigh Odlin - who seems to have been part of Glinton forever. Many years ago one of our sons was collecting for the NSPCC. He knocked on Leigh’s door, who promptly put all his loose change into the collection box and I mean all his loose change. What a lasting effect a simple gesture can have, and a playground legend was born. “That’s where the richest man in the world lives.”

Leigh appears unexpectedly in village life. AMVC students going through the standard ‘wanna be a rock star mode’ may have had their band recorded by Leigh’s company, and I remember standing outside a cold church in Peterborough waiting for a sound recordist to turn up - I recognised an ancient Volkswagen and sure enough, it was Leigh who had taken on the job of turning the Peterborough Male Voice Choir into something that sounded half decent.
Leigh has been a graphic designer, soldier, teacher, musician, recording engineer, theatre producer, and filmmaker. Indeed one of his films ‘Box On’ won him a BBC 2 film award, and several other Leigh Odlin films have won East Anglian television awards.
I watched the original BBC 2 contest on DVD, five films were in the final, there were four judges, one of whom was a very young Michael Winner, another an equally young Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, the other two names we don’t recognise now. The programme shows each film, and then the judges make learned comments. When it comes to Leigh’s film, the comments become less slick and more heartfelt, ‘Box On’ takes the award by unanimous vote, and I guess everybody goes away humbled at how a 12 minute film can create a sense of hope out of adversity. All the actors were students or parents at Lincoln Road school, and I’m not going to tell you the story because it could be a brilliant teaching aid for someone, and I would hate to spoil the plot.
Leigh now spends a lot of his time composing and creating music for Craftsman audio books. Apparently the book producer describes the mood required for part of a story, Leigh has to create that mood on a keyboard in the time specified, typically 90 seconds, then move on to the next bit of the story and the next mood. It is quite extraordinary, a little like a very sophisticated version of the pianist who accompanied the old silent movies, but without the advantage of moving pictures. The kit and what he does with it is remarkable, Leigh moves from a simple keyboard composition to a full orchestral production without moving from his console. Shut your eyes for a minute and you could easily be in the Royal Albert Hall. His problem is that if a particular piece is going well, time flies by. He might notice that it’s getting dark and realise that he hasn’t eaten all day! He still records choral societies and orchestras, but not many rock bands these days.
He says that the most interesting and absorbing thing about recording is not so much the technical wizardry, but the process and techniques required to capture and even enhance the performance. It can be very rewarding when the performers, on hearing the end product, realise that they sound much better than they thought they did! There is also the added pleasure and inspiration gained through meeting so many gifted and accomplished individuals.
Leigh’s father was an engineer at Brotherhoods, who played violin in his spare time before he switched to saxophone to take advantage of the dance band era, and Leigh’s brother was a jazz trumpeter. The boy was clearly destined to become a musician, and duly became a pianist.
He joined the Peterborough Repertory Theatre from school, working backstage as a 15-year-old, and learnt just how much work goes into creating the magic and romance that is live theatre. From there he started an apprenticeship as a commercial artist, and then trained as a graphic designer at Leicester Art College, picking up a teaching qualification along the way.
His first interview for a teaching job and his call up papers arrived on the very same day! He spent the next two years in the East Anglian Regiment, learning how to blow things up and how to cause general mayhem to the enemies of Queen and Country, then came back to Civvy Street a very different person, as did most people who had done National service. He found that an enforced stint in uniform taught inner strengths and reserves that many people who have not been through the ‘military mill’ never discover about themselves. In particular it set him up for his main career as a teacher, on the premise that you can’t give orders unless you have been on the receiving end.
He began his teaching at the old Lincoln Road secondary modern school in Millfield, now a community centre. It was at this time that all his skills and life experiences came together, so though his main teaching subjects were art and design, he realised that the newly built and very well equipped stage in the school hall was under utilised, so why not incorporate his knowledge of music and theatre into his art and design lessons. By drawing on the talents and enthusiasm of pupils from a wide age range and abilities, and with strong support from staff, it became possible to create more and more demanding and adventurous productions. Film sequences were incorporated into the scripts so that the action could move beyond the confines of the stage and continue on projected film images and then return to the stage, now dressed in a new set. Recorded music and sound tracks were woven into the story telling, along with elaborate scenery, costumes, masks, song and dance, mime, slides, complex lighting plots and a (very loud) live band adding to the organised and very exciting mayhem! I wish I’d been there. It sounds like more fun than many of us ever had at school.
After thirty-four years, Leigh decided to retire from teaching to leave him free to concentrate on his life long passion for music, which has brought him through to his present full-time occupation of recording and composing.
There is a common thread about Leigh’s life, whether its is creating the musical mood for talking books, theatre production for schools, recording various choirs and orchestras, or film making. Despite his undoubted talents, he has never sought to be the star, but to create stardom in others, or at the very least make them feel good about their chosen art.
While writing this, I am listening to a Leigh Odlin wind quintet, and it reminds that there is so much awesome musical talent in this watery fen that is our Benefice, and so many possible venues, whether pubs, churches, or village halls scattered around the villages, that we could have an amazing musical festival one summer, maybe spread over two or more weekends?
Anyone up for that? contact the Tribune with your ideas.