I used to be at the same school as Norman Pace. He was a good 4 years older than me so we weren't in the same year. I remember him staring in a school version of HMS Pinafore. He was brilliant, couldn't stop himself with the ad lib's, much to the disgust of the fusty old teachers we had. You could see he was destined for greater things.
As a ginger I can remember the utter piss taking the next two weeks or so at school, also my dad shouting go on ginger when watching me play football didn't help either.
When I was very young and discovered Rea, I sometimes wasn't sure what song is Dire Straits or Chris Rea... so the transformation with the headband and dobro guitar was gold for me. Today I can't understand how I could mix Chris' voice with Mark's arguably lesser voice (and I have nothing against Mark, on the contrary). Back to the topic - this was a great parody. I loved it then, I love it today.