| Jonny Griffiths | |
| Birth Date: | 1960 9, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Dartford, Kent, England |
| Origin: | Dartford, England |
| Genre: | jazz, doo-wop, blues rock |
| Occupation: | Musician, composer, mathematician, teacher |
| Instrument: | Singing, guitar, violin, phonofiddle, percussion, ukulele |
| Years Active: | 1981–1987 |
| Label: | Hubbadots |
| Associated Acts: | Harvey and the Wallbangers |
| Website: | http://www.jonny-griffiths.net |
Jonny Griffiths (born 15 September 1960 as Jonathan Paul Griffiths)[1] is an English mathematician, and former member of the Jazz vocal harmony group Harvey and the Wallbangers. He was a member of the jazz group from 1981 until 1987. Since then he became a maths teacher and has authored or co-authored numerous books mainly to do with mathematics since then.
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Born in Dartford, Kent in 1960, Griffiths moved to Malaysia with his family where his father worked as a water engineer, and his mother as a doctor. He returned to Kent in 1968 and attended Dulwich College on a state scholarship. After doing well there he won a mathematics scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge. At Cambridge[2] In his second year he was awarded the Thirkill prize (named for Henry Thirkill) and he graduated in 1982.[3] Durin his time at Clare College he met Harvey Brough, who invited him to join Harvey and the Wallbangers.
See main article: Harvey and the Wallbangers.
While at Cambridge, Griffiths joined Harvey and the Wallbangers. Along with Griffiths and Harvey Brough, the band's members included Christopher Purves,[4] Jeremy Taylor, Neil McArthur (who performed under the name Reg Prescott), Richard Allen and Andrew Huggett. Each band member but Huggett, the drummer, contributed vocally to the music as well as playing a variety of instruments. The Wallbangers’ music drew on a variety of musical genres, including doo-wop, blues rock and vocal harmony.
Harvey and the Wallbangers’ first performance was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1981; they subsequently performed in a number of venues before becoming a full-time enterprise in 1983. Between then and 1987, they performed new stage shows regularly and in a variety of venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Sadler's Wells Theatre, The Forum, Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and the Tempodrom in Berlin, and made many television appearances. The band also performed at the Royal Variety Performance in 1984,[5] and recorded an album with Simon Rattle in 1987.[6]
After performing with them for 6 years, in 1987 Griffiths left the group. Shortly there after Harvey and the Wallbangers would dissolve following a final tour.[7] Following his departure from the group, Griffiths became a maths teacher at St Philip Howard comprehensive school in Tower Hamlets. Since then he has gone on to work at a variety of schools in England including: St Dominic's Sixth Form College, Paston College in Norfolk, and most recently Frome College in Somerset.
He announced his retirement from teaching on Twitter 'X' in September 2023.[8]
Along with teaching, Griffiths has also written for the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, HarperCollins, Hodder & Stoughton, Imperial College, Mathematics in Education and Industry, and Underground Mathematics. As well as this he is the creator of the A level mathematics competition 'Ritangle',[9] He also made the educational resource 'Carom Maths', a website containing maths questions of varying difficulty aimed at "bridging the gap between A-level and University" for A-level maths & further maths students.[10]
Jonny Griffiths has authored or co-authored 15 books, predominantly related to mathematics and maths education, though not exclusively. As well as these he has made articles on mathematics for a variety of different publishers. This is the list of books he has authored or co-authored excluding textbooks.
| Book Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Denominator |
|
| Does My Denominator Look Big in This? |
|
| The 100 Word Bible |
|
| The Mindset Blueprint: Unlocking Your Brains Potential For Success |
|
| Big Ideas. The Mathematics Book |
|
| The fAtZ of Life |
|
| Maths – Simply the Essentials |
|
| Did We Say... |
|
| A Shock of Corn |
|
| Snow Incense |
|
Along with his books, Griffiths has appeared on television. He was invited to play the character 'Stringfellow' in the Children's television programme Playdays and wrote some of the songs for his character.