The New Vaudeville Band The New Vaudeville Band was a group created by songwriter Geoff Stephens in 1966 to record his novelty composition `` Winchester Cathedral `` which was a song inspired by the dance bands of the 1920s . To his surprise , the song became a huge international hit , rising to # 1 in the United States . Once Stephens received several requests for The New Vaudeville Band to tour , he had to put together a group since the song was originally recorded by studio musicians hired only for the recording session . He contacted a real group , the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band , which played similar music at the time . Only Bob Kerr from that group was interested , so he left The Bonzos to help Stephens form a touring version of The New Vaudeville Band . The lead singer of the touring version of the group was Alan Klein who was billed as 'Tristram—Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood' . The group enjoyed success for two years until the novelty wore off . Kerr then formed his own group , Bob Kerr 's Whoopee Band , which continues to perform today . In 1967 , The New Vaudeville Band released the Finchley Central LP . Categories : English musical groups | 1960s music groups In other languages : Deutsch 