William Henry Crump (17 April 1865 – 14 January 1942), better known by the stage name Harry Champion, was an English music hall composer, singer and comedian, whose onstage persona appealed chiefly to the working class communities of East London.

He made his stage debut at the age of 17 at the Royal Victoria Music Hall in Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, in July 1882.

In 1887 he changed his stage name to Harry Champion and started to perform in other parts of London where he built up a wide repertoire of songs.

After more than four decades on the stage, Champion took early retirement after the death of his wife in 1928, but returned two years later to appear on radio, gaining a new, much younger audience as a result.

[2] Champion made his debut at the Royal Victoria Music Hall in Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, in July 1882, as "Will Conray, comic".

Champion followed this up with "When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire" (written and composed by Harry Wincott), which he introduced into his act in 1893.

The Entr'Acte wrote, "Champion is a comic singer who is endowed with genuine humour, which is revealed in his several songs, of which the audience never seems to get enough".

The song depicts the joys of the well known Cockney dish of the same name which was eaten frequently in London's East End community at the turn of the 20th century.

The song is a playful reworking of the life and times of Henry VIII, in this case not the monarch, but the eighth husband of the "widow next door.

[10] The titles of many of Champion's songs, supplied mainly by professional writers, centred around various types of food, consumed, chiefly by the working class community of East London.

[11] Food became an essential part of his repertory,[12] so much so that during the First World War, a plate of boiled beef and carrots was known as "an 'arry Champion".

[2] Champion also sang about cucumbers, pickled onions, piccalilli, saveloys, trotters, cold pork and baked sheep's heart, all basic elements in a Cockney's diet.

[11] With the outbreak of the First World War, traditional music hall entertainment declined in comparison with the new genre, variety.

[2] Troupes of veterans were much in demand in the 1930s and Lew Lake's Variety, 1906–1931—Stars who Never Failed to Shine went on tour throughout the country early in the decade with Champion as a leading member.

[14] In 1932, Champion appeared at the royal variety performance with other representatives of old style music hall, including Vesta Victoria, Fred Russell and Marie Kendall.

He was the embodiment of the spirit of the poorer parts of London, wearing shabby, ill-fitting clothes, old work boots and a frayed top hat.

[2] One critic noted "Like music hall itself, Harry Champion was of the people, he expressed the tastes of practically all his listeners, even those who would not openly admit it and in World War 2 he sang to troops who found him a splendid tonic".

[19] On 30 November 1889, at St Peter's Church, Hackney, Champion married Sarah Potteweld (1869–1928), who accompanied him on many of his tours.

[42] In 1960 the actor and singer Stanley Holloway recorded an album entitled Down at the Old Bull and Bush, which included a cover of "Any Old Iron".