HOWZAT

After he left the services he forged a singing career, joining trumpeter Mick Mulligan’s Magnolia jazz band just as interest in traditional jazz was booming. The band toured Britain aboard tatty buses, drinking, smoking and having sexual adventures.

"They were terrific times we had. Hard drinking and squalid digs, but absolutely no regrets," he recalled.

He made successful records for Decca and was on the way to stardom when he gave it all up in 1962 to concentrate on writing.

He also gave up being gay and embraced heterosexuality, and was twice married, lastly to Diana in 1963. Their son, Tom, was born the same month.

By the early 1960s he was an acknowledged art expert with a fine collection of surrealist paintings. As pop music and film critic for newspapers such as The Observer, among others, he became a respected commentator on style.

The respectable writing career was however not enough, and in 1974 he resumed his role as Goodtime George and went back on the road with John Chilton’s Feetwarmers - he carried on singing with them until 2003. He toured theatres, colleges and pubs all over Britain, and his Christmas residency at Ronnie Scott’s in London became a sell-out tradition.

He was a noted drinker but claimed to have cut down in later years. "I’m very fond of alcohol, but I drink a minute amount compared with what I did at one period in my life, when I drank at least a bottle of brandy a night, plus gins and things during the day," he said.

"Now I’ll have a dry sherry around noon, maybe a glass of wine at lunch and then in the evening I’ll have two or three gin and tonics and half a bottle of wine and probably a couple of brandies, which for me is practically being teetotal."

Away from showbusiness and writing, his main recreation was fly fishing and he owned a mile-long stretch of the River Usk in Wales near his holiday home at Scethrog, Brecon, Gwent. The fishing beat cost him £47,000 in 1985, forcing him to sell three of his surrealist masterpieces - a Magritte, a Klee and an Ernst.

The flamboyant jazzman continued to perform even after collapsing on stage during a concert with the band Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen in Hove, East Sussex, in January. His last gig was on June 10, with a special concert at the 100 Club in London.

He had only just recorded a new album.

Paul Clark, the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, the city of Melly's birth, said: “Liverpool has lost one of its most cherished sons today.

“George Melly was more than just a jazz legend. His contribution to literature, art and journalism ensured his place as one of Britain’s cultural greats of the 20th century.

“He lived his life with a flair and an energy few could match, and his contribution to the arts is without equal. He entertained and enlightened the nation for more than 50 years and despite his illness, he was doing what he loved right up until the end."

Les Squires, of the JazzCo management company, had worked with Melly for 30 years. He said: “He was a one-off.

“I found him an amazing character. You would just not ever find anyone like him. He was working right the way up to the end.

“He was flamboyant and that is what set him apart but he was a great talent, with so much charisma when he went on stage.”

Melly is survived by his wife, his son Tom, his daughter Pandora, his step-daughter Candy and his four grandchildren.

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