Jonny Hurst

{{short description|English chant laureate}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Notability|Bio|date=October 2019}}

Jonny Hurst (born 11 June 1966), originally from Solihull, Birmingham,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/world/europe/the-poetry-of-gimme-an-a-gimme-an-s-gimme-a-t.html |title=The Poetry of 'Gimme an A! Gimme an S! Gimme a T!' |publisher=New York Times |date=4 December 2004 |accessdate=13 June 2021}} latterly Wanstead, north London, is England's first (and to date only) Chant Laureate.

Barclaycard set up the competition to choose a Chant Laureate, who would be paid £10,000 to tour Premiership stadiums and compose football chants for the 2004–5 football season. The judging panel was chaired by the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, who said "What we felt we were tapping into was a huge reservoir of folk poetry." Ironically, Hurst, a Birmingham City fan, composed the winning entry about Birmingham's local rivals Aston Villa. The chant, sung to the tune of Barry Manilow's Copacabana, refers to that club's star player, Juan Pablo Ángel.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3702313.stm |title=Football's first Chant Laureate |publisher=BBC News |date=11 May 2004 |accessdate=13 November 2009}} Some 1,500 people applied for the role.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/11/books.arts |title=Bard of the Boots keeps singing the Blues |publisher=The Guardian |date=11 May 2004 |accessdate=13 June 2021}}

A veteran of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Canal Cafe Theatre NewsRevue,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/world/europe/the-poetry-of-gimme-an-a-gimme-an-s-gimme-a-t.html |title=The Poetry of 'Gimme an A! Gimme an S! Gimme a T!' |publisher=New York Times |date=4 December 2004 |accessdate=13 June 2021}} Jonny Hurst is both a comedy writer and a lawyer.

He published his first book, 'Becoming a Lawyer', in July 2013.{{cite news |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Lawyer-Law-Really-Career/dp/1445397269/ |title=Becoming a Lawyer: Is Law Really the Career for You? |publisher= BPP Learning Media |date=26 July 2013 |accessdate=13 June 2021}}