Come and Hear the Joyful Singing

Author: Michael A. Perry

Michael Arnold Perry (1942-1996) was one of the UK's leading hymnwriters of the 20th century. He was closely associated with Jubilate Hymns. Michael Perry was born in Beckenham, Kent on 8 March 1942. He was educated at Dulwich College and went on to study at University College London; Oak Hill Theological College, London; Ridley Hall, Cambridge; and University of Southampton. It was during his student days at Oak Hill in 1964 that he wrote his best-known hymn, the Calypso Carol, the first line of which is "See him lying on a bed of straw". He wrote this for a college concert, and it only became famous by accident when Cliff Richard substituted it for a missing recording in a radio show. After ordination in the Church of England Dio… Go to person page >