Comprising four schoolmasters, they specialised in comedic recordings of mundane documents and announcements such as the radio weather forecast and the Highway Code, performed a cappella as Anglican chant.
The original setting of the Highway Code in Anglican chant was devised by John Horrex, a teacher at Abingdon School, in the late 1950s.
In 1963, to celebrate the school's tercentenary, Horrex with three other teachers – George Pratt, Geoff Keating and Barry Montague – made a private recording of the Highway Code in several different styles.
A copy of the recording reached broadcaster and humourist Fritz Spiegl, who in turn passed it to the BBC where it was played on a radio show hosted by Winston Churchill, the grandson of the former prime minister.
As the original members each left Abingdon School, and their teaching careers took them to different parts of the country – Horrex to Glasgow, Pratt to Keele, and Keating to Cheadle Hulme – the group split up.
He established The Grammar Singers a combined choir with the Girls' Grammar School and initiated a Service of Lessons and Carols at St John's Cathedral as well as performances of major works such as Bach St John Passion, Faure Requiem, Haydn Nelson Mass and Elgar's The Music Makers.
[11] He was instrumental in the founding of the influential Lindsay String Quartet and secured a Leverhulme Scholarship for them to begin their careers as artists in residence at Keele.