The orchestra was formed, as bit of fun, in 1985, soon after George Hinchliffe bought co-founder and friend Kitty Lux a ukulele for her birthday. According to Hinchliffe, the original idea was not to be a comedy act, but to create a liberating musical forum where any style of music could be played, from funk to rock-and-roll to classical, and the ukulele was chosen for its musical versatility more than its novelty value. "The humour only came in during the first gig, when we played in two keys by accident and were messing around, with the sheet music falling everywhere. I thought we should go with it." Their first gig was at the Roebuck pub, just off Trinity Church Square in London, within three years they had released an LP, appeared on BBC One, played at WOMAD and recorded a BBC Radio 1 session.