Chris Hutchins Chris Hutchins Chris Hutchins is a British author, journalist and former public relations practitioner. Christopher Neville Hutchins is the younger of two sons and one daughter of Edward Victor Hutchins (d. 1944) and Kathleen Ness. He was educated at Torquay Boys' Grammar School. In 1956, he began a fan club for ventriloquist Terry Hall and Lenny the Lion. Hutchins lost interest when he discovered Elvis Presley and girls. Hutchins then landed a job as a journalist on the "Mid Devon Times" on a salary of £2-a-week. In 1961, Hutchins joined the "NME" ("New Musical Express") but left the paper the
Terry Hall (ventriloquist) show aged 15. Hall created Lenny the Lion in 1954 after he visited the zoo while working at the summer season in Blackpool. Lenny was made from an old fox fur and papier-mâché, with a golf ball for the nose. He originally had a mouthful of fearsome teeth, but they were removed at the suggestion of singer Anne Shelton to avoid scaring children in the audience. Hall and Lenny first appeared on BBC Television in 1956, in a variety show entitled "Dress Rehearsal" that also signalled Eric Sykes's television debut. The "Lenny the Lion Show" ran on from 1957 to