Godfrey Old playing his harmonica

YOU may have heard him before you saw him – his harmonica ringing through a pub in Hampstead, or whistling across the Heath as he performed to crowds on the bandstand.

Talented musician and illustrator Godfrey Old, has passed away aged 71 after suffering a heart attack on Sunday.

His death comes just a few months after the closure of the Pentameters Theatre in Heath Street, which he ran for decades with his partner of 40 years, Léonie Scott-Matthews.

She said:  “It was love at first sight. We’ve been deliriously happy, working together – it’s been a wonderful time. I’ve been very privileged to have had this time with him.

“He was loved by everyone, hugely talented, caring. You couldn’t wish for a better person.”

Their daughter, Alice Old, added: “He was an amazing father, and completely devoted to my mother. He made me who I am – everything I love was what he loved and all my gifts are from him, we were cut from the same cloth.

“I was looking at the moon and even looking at that reminds me of him because we’d walk and talk about where we come from. He was a beautiful philosopher.”

Mr Old was drawn to music, anything sonically strange and unusual – from hardcore psychedelia to obscure electronic bands, blues and soul.

He performed with his group Mad Dog Bites in Hampstead pubs, including the King William IV and the Wells Tavern or on Hampstead Heath.

Godfrey with Leonie Scott Matthews and their daughter Alice 

Close friend, Conrad Blakemore said they had first met while auditioning for the same band in the 1970s.

“He was very gifted in being able to listen to something and then just play it, that is the sign of a top notch musician,” he said.

Mr Old was inspired to learn to play the harmonica after listening to On The Road Again by blues rock group Canned Heat.

Mr Blakemore added: “Godfrey was a genius, a natural performer, he was always trying to in a sense steal the show with his antics.

“Making the most extraordinary noises, he wasn’t just a harmonica player he was a soundscape artist. You had a whole orchestra behind you with Godfrey.”

Mr Old also worked on Hampstead Heath as a ranger from 1991 to 2018.

Godfrey Old with Mad Dog Bites

Among colleagues, there was a running joke that Mr Old could never be found and that he would disappear for hours, only to reappear later in one of the huts reading a philosophy book.

Colleague and Mr Old’s manager Danny Murphy said: “You could never get angry at him. He knew absolutely everybody in the area.

“He really did love the Heath and was immensely talented.”

Mr Old was also a gifted illustrator and designed posters for Heath events, retirement parties and birthday cards for colleagues and family.

He also created much of the artwork for Pentameters Theatre, always in a distinctive 1970s hippy cartoonist style.

Known for his quirky sense of humour, and mischievous smile, he liked cooking and playing records around the house.

Mr Blakemore added: “Hampstead has lost a lot in terms of its character and Godfrey was a little light on the horizon that kept a sense of bohemian, eccentricity, and uniqueness.

“He was a very talented guy. It will be a lot duller in Hampstead without Godfrey around.”