Partridge was contacted to produce the album after his band XTC had gone on strike against their label Virgin Records.

Normally, his rate was £3000 per song as a producer, but he agreed to take on the project anyway, provided that he receive the entirety of the budget "and handle everything - production, engineering, mastering.

"[1] On the album's songs, Newell denied that he was significantly influenced by the Kinks, and "although I was pretty familiar with the Beach Boys, at the time we were making the record, I'd never heard Pet Sounds.

XTC member Dave Gregory made frequent visits to the studio and was credited on the sleeve as "Pop Mastermind".

[1] The album's title was originally planned to be Great New Product and credited to "Martin Newell featuring the New & Improved Andy Partridge".

Humbug label owner Kevin Crace explained that "by the time we'd finished, it had become obvious that Andy had done so much on this album that he should have some other credit besides 'producer'".

It was decided that the album should actually be called The Greatest Living Englishman, but on initial pressings, the credit to a "new and improved" Andy Partridge was retained.

Newell played a small tour in the last three countries with a band that included Dave Gregory, Captain Sensible, the Brotherhood of Lizard's Peter Nice, and the Damned's Garrie Dreadful.