Steve Mackey: Sheffield star Richard Hawley's beautiful sweary tribute to late Pulp bassist at awards ceremony

The acclaimed singer-songwriter described Mackey, who tragically died aged just 56 last month, as his ‘dearest friend’ and ‘brother’, tellling how they had become lifelong pals after meeting on their first day of infant school at Hucklow Road ‘many, many years ago’. “I'm going to miss him my whole life," he added, as he took to the stage at the Olivier Awards, where Standing at the Sky’s Edge, for which he wrote the music, won best new musical and best original score.

He then launched into a funny childhood story at the awards ceremony on Sunday, which was aired live on Magic Radio, using a few expletives along the way and apologising for exceeding his 40-second time limit on stage, joking ‘you can edit this s*** out, right?’.

He told how during the summer holidays in 1977, he, Mackey and their friends used to ‘p*** in a corner’ at an old Victorian toilet block at school ‘to make rainbows’. “It was only Steve Mackey who knew it was called a prism. I just thought it was p*** in the sun,” he continued. “I mean, these days, literally, I have to take Viagra so I don’t p*** on my f***ing slippers.”

Tributes flooded in after Mackey’s death, with Sheffield band Reverend & The Makers, The Reytons, from Rotherham, and former Oasis guitarist Paul Arthurs among those paying their respects to the popular musician.