#14: Don’t Push Me by Hedgehoppers Anonymous

City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #123
Peak Position on Australian Singles chart ~ #28
YouTube: “Don’t Push Me”
Lyrics: “Don’t Push Me”

Hedgehoppers Anonymous were a British band founded in 1963. The members were Mick Tinsley (born 1940 in Portsmouth, England), John Stewart (born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, in 1941), Ray Honeybull (born in 1941 in County Durham, England), and Leslie Dash. The rhythm guitarist with the group was Tony Cockayne. Tinsley was with the Electrons before forming the band in 1963. In 1963 they took the name The Trendsetters and settled on Hedgehoppers in 1964. The bandmates were Royal Air Force personnel at the RAF base in Wittering, England. “Hedgehoppers” was RAF slang for low flying aircraft. Jonathan King took over management of the band in 1965 and added “Anonymous” to their name.

In June 1964, the Hedgehoppers opened for Unit Four Plus Two, The Hollies and The Kinks.

That winter the band opened for The Cascades. Hedgehoppers Anonymous’ debut single released in the fall of 1965, “It’s Good News Week“, was a #5 hit in the UK. The song listed headlines that were full of bad news. This included a) someone’s dropped a bomb somewhere, it’s blackening the atmosphere and darkening the skies, b) lots of blood in Asia now, they’ve butchered up the sacred cow, they’ve got a lot to eat, c) Doctors finding many ways of wrapping brains on metal trays to keep us from the heat, and other odd disconcerting headlines. This song was subsequently used as the theme song for Good News Week, a satirical news-based comedy quiz show on Australian television which ran from 1996 to 2000 and was revived in 2008. “It’s Good News Week” was also used in the UK comedy series Dead Man Weds in 2005.

In June 1965, Cockayne left the band to be replaced by Alan Laud, a civilian who lived near the Wittering RAF base. Dash was later replaced by Glenn Martin. Hedgehoppers Anonymous appeared on both Ready! Steady! Go! and Top of the Pops pop music variety shows.

Like their debut single, the next release was also written by Jonathan King. It was titled “Don’t Push Me”.

“Don’t Push Me” is a song about adversity and the pressures of life. The lyrics advise “Stick around the world you live in, don’t ever try to give in, ’cause you won’t be forgiven.” Moreover, others are seeking to control you and “You’ll never get a break, they’ll tie you to the stake.” And in the big picture, “the war has just begun, destructions’ gonna come.” All in all a song with a sobering assessment of the way the world works. The lyrics end, “And where you’re going to I won’t be helping you. Don’t push me.” Just keep looking out for yourself and don’t expect anyone to do you any favors.

“Don’t Push Me” reached #4 in St. John’s (NL), and #19 in Cleveland. It peaked at #28 in Australia and stalled at #123 in the USA.

There were three more single releases after “Don’t Push Me”. Of these, only “Daytime” charted anywhere (#58 on the UK pop chart). While they were still enjoying their post- “It’s Good News Week” glow, Hedgehoppers Anonymous shared the stage on billings with Tom Jones, Brian Poole and The Tremeloes, The Fortunes and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. After four years, Hedgehoppers Anonymous disbanded in 1966.

However, Glenn Martin was still interested in a reformed Hedgehoppers Anonymous moving forward in 1967. Some new musicians joined him, and Martin was able to persuade lead singer Mike Tinsley to briefly rejoin the group for a tour to Sweden that October.

Once again, Glenn Martin was alone with the other musicians on to other things. But in 1968, Martin became part of the backing band – the Streamliners – for Sandie Shaw. He took the name Hedgehoppers Anonymous with him. When the Streamliners weren’t backing Sandie Shaw for a concert, TV show or in the studio, they’d be at a club billed as Hedgehoppers Anonymous. This all ended abruptly when Glenn Martin was replaced in the Streamliners, and that was the end of any appearances in the UK of a group billing itself as Hedgehoppers Anonymous. Or so it seemed.

Writing for Retro Fresh, Nick Warburton details a further twist in the story. “The Colour Supplement, had…played two dates on the same bill as Mick Tinsley’s Hedgehoppers Anonymous during their Swedish tour in late 1967!” That band’s lead singer, Phil Tunstall, became the new lead singer for Hedgehoppers Anonymous in December 1968. None of the original members were in the group that was now trading off the name Hedgehoppers Anonymous. Nonetheless, in January 1969, “Decca Records in South Africa re-released the three-year old “Don’t Push Me”. This resulted in an invitation of the group headed by Tunstall that had taken the name being invited to fly in February 1969 to South Africa.

In South Africa, the ex-pat UK group had a hit there called “Mary Mary”. In May 1970 there was a road accident and Phil Tunstall died. Fellow member, Mick Matthews contends Tunstall died because of the apartheid laws: “An ambulance that was only supposed to deal with non-whites turned up to our call – and left again, saying it could not deal with the case! It was a considerable time before a whites-only ambulance eventually got to us.”

Alan Avon replaced Phil Tunstall and in South Africa the group – now billed as the Hedgehoppers – released the album Hey. The title track, “Hey”, became a #1 hit in South Africa in 1971. The mellow, soulful, tune seemed auspicious for what was next for the UK ex-pat group. The Hedgehoppers won a SARIE (South African equivalent of a Grammy) Award for “Hey!”

UK ex-pat group that eventually became
known in South Africa as Hedgehoppers

But in early 1972, when another member of the group, Bill Honeyman, died in a second road accident, the Hedgehoppers folded.

Meanwhile, Mike Tinsley released a cover of “Let It Be Me” in 1968, but the song fizzled out. In the early 70s, Tinsley appeared on the New Faces Show, with Tony Hatch, and on The Opportunity Knocks Songwriters Show. He sang in the Yamaha World Song Festival in Japan in 1976. It was where he met Ellis Elias of Red Bus Int’ Music. Tinsley was invited to team up with Peter Yellowstone to write songs for Joe Dolan and Kelly Marie . “I Need You” followed as #1 hit in Ireland and South Africa for Joe Dolan. With Kellie Marie, Tinsley penned her #5 hit in South Africa titled “Run To Me”. This was followed by another song he wrote to Kelly Marie titled “Make Love To Me”, a #2 hit in South Africa which climbed to #5 in Australia. As recently as December 4, 2010, Mike Tinsley appeared in concert at the Amersham Rock ‘ Roll  Club, west of Watford, UK. Tinsley shared the bill alongside The Searchers, Vanity Fair and Chris Farlowe.

After disbanding in 1967 John Stewart focused on his songwriting and engineering career, working as an engineer in the UK, then as an engineer and producer in Canada and the US. In April 1971 he was hired as an engineer at Eastern Sound in Toronto. In the same year he founded his own production company. Latter in the 70s he was manager of MCA Records (Canada)’s publishing arm Leeds Music (Canada) Limited.

In 1977 he was hired as the first General Manager and A&R Director for a small record company and also a production company. In 1980, Stewart moved to Nashville recording Country & Western acts. He moved back to Canada in 1983 doing work as a manager and producer.

Glenn Martin worked from the late 60s into the 2010s as a session drummer. He has been the drum chair at the Surrey Jazz Orchestra in the UK.

April 13, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Nick Warburton, “Hedgehoppers tracks set for re-release in South Africa,” BBC, December 29, 2010.
Nick Warburton, “Hedgehoppers Anonymous – Part 1,” Strange Brew, 2011.
Nick Warburton, “Hedgehoppers Anonymous,” Garage Hangover, September 27, 2010.

Newfoundland’s Only Official Survey VOCM 590-AM St. John’s (NFLD) | April 15, 1966