Miles Tredinnick, also known as Riff Regan, (born Warrington 18 February 1955) is a rock musician, songwriter and a stage and screenwriter. In the 1970s, he was the lead singer with the British rock band London.^[1] Afterwards he went on to write comedy plays for the stage. He has also written scripts for Frankie Howerd, including the television special Superfrank!^[2] and the stage comedy Up Pompeii!

Rock musician

In 1976, with drummer Jon Moss, guitarist Dave Wight (real name Colin Wight) and bassist Steve Voice, Tredinnick formed the punk band London.^[3][4] He was the lead singer Riff Regan. The band came to the notice of Danny Morgan who was a talent scout for ex-Yardbirds and ex-Marc Bolan manager Simon Napier-Bell.^[5] He secured them a record deal with MCA Records and a nationwide tour supporting The Stranglers. Their singles "Everyone’s A Winner", "Summer of Love"/"Friday on My Mind" and "Animal Games" and their one and only album Animal Games were all produced by Napier-Bell at the IBC Studios in London. Their recording of "Friday on My Mind" was made in the same studio that The Easybeats had made the original.

Although London had a popular live stage act, ticket sales never transformed into record sales. This was despite flamboyant film director Mike Mansfield directing the video for "Everyone's A Winner". The highest UK chart position they reached was 52 for their EP Summer of Love. Jon Moss was particularly impatient to have chart success and following a nationwide tour the band decided to call it a day. They broke up after a farewell gig at the Marquee Club in Wardour Street.^[6] Jon Moss joined The Damned and later formed Culture Club with Boy George; Colin Wight became a Professor in International Politics;^[7] Steve Voice formed The Original Vampires; Simon Napier-Bell went on to manage George Michael and Wham!.

Tredinnick, as Riff Regan, released four more singles on MCA Records; "All The Nice Boys And Girls in the World" (produced by Napier-Bell), "Japanese Girls" (produced by Andy Miller), "You Call Me Lucky" and "The Only One" (both produced by Liam Sternberg) before recording "Hard Hearts Don’t Cry" (produced by Andy Miller) on Epic Records in 1981. In August 2015 his first solo album Milestones was released on Beach Café Records.

In 1997, Captain Oi! Records released a best of London CD called London The Punk Rock Collection.^[8] It contains all the band's MCA recordings.

Tredinnick also co-wrote the song "Hottest Woman in Town" with Andy Miller in 1982. Recorded at London's Trident Studios by ex-Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Gillan lead guitarist Bernie Torme, it was released as a single and featured on the "Metal Killers" album.

In 2007 he reformed London with original bass player Steve Voice and new guitarist Hugh O'Donnell and new drummer Colin Watterston. The band played their first London gig in over 30 years at the 12 Bar Club in Soho, London on Saturday 23 February 2008. Reboot, their first studio album in 34 years, was released in February 2012^[9] and The Hell for Leather Mob album was released in July 2020.

Theatre and television

Tredinnick's first stage play, Because of Mr Darrow,^[10] was produced at the Finborough Theatre in London and his second comedy Laugh? I Nearly Went To Miami! had a successful fringe run at the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead. The latter was later produced for the first Liverpool Festival of Comedy.

In translation, Laugh? I Nearly Went To Miami! has been produced in many cities, including Vienna, where its title was ...Und Morgen Fliegen Wir Nach Miami. British Director Cyril Frankel directed with German translation by Adolf Opel.

In 1990, Tredinnick wrote the stage thriller Twist. This was translated into German by Ursula Grutzmacher-Tabori under the title Der Letzte Dreh and was later produced in London under the title Getting Away with Murder at the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead. The play had its US debut in Taunton, Massachusetts in 2010^[11] and an acting edition was published by Josef Weinberger Plays in 2019.

His next stage comedy was It's Now or Never!^[12] in 1994. Directed by Marina Calderone at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, England, it starred Tony Roper, Peter Polycarpou and Leyton Sommers as Elvis Presley. A German version, Jetzt Oder Nie, translated by Christian Wolffer has been successful as has a Dutch version translated by Martine Deboosere.

Topless, a one-woman play set on an open-top London sightseeing bus, followed in 1999. Produced by The Big Bus Company, this unique theatrical piece was actually performed, with audience, on top of a sightseeing bus driving through the streets of the West End of London. This was followed by Topless in Philadelphia (2009) featuring a male tour guide giving an open-top bus tour in America's most historical city and then Topless in Sydney (2014) and Topless in Las Vegas (2018).

Frankie Howerd

From 1985 to 1992 Tredinnick wrote regular stage and television scripts for Frankie Howerd including co-writing the hour long special, Superfrank! for Channel 4. He also wrote an updated stage version of Up Pompeii! although a proposed tour was put on the shelf when Howerd was offered a chance by Larry Gelbart to reprise his role as Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End. The new play, now revised and updated, received its premiere in Chesterfield^[13] in January 2011 before embarking on a UK tour. Produced and directed by Bruce James, it starred Damian Williams, host of Sky One's Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?, as Lurcio the slave. An acting edition of the play was published by Josef Weinberger Ltd in 2012.^[14]

Television

In 1987/8 Tredinnick created and wrote the BBC1 comedy series Wyatt's Watchdogs.^[15][16] Produced and directed by Alan J W Bell, it starred Brian Wilde and Trevor Bannister. In 1992 he joined the Alomo/BBCTV show Birds of a Feather as a writer on series 4.^[17]

Other work

In 1986 Tredinnick started writing for the international Disney Magazine^[18] creating cartoon stories for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and other well-known Walt Disney characters.

His first novel Fripp, was published in 2001. A Kindle ebook version was published in 2011.