He was also scriptwriter on the 1967 satirical film "Smashing Time". This period of his life is described in "Owning Up". He returned to jazz in the early 1970s with John Chilton's Feetwarmers, a partnership that ended in 2003. He later sang with Digby Fairweather's band. He released six albums in the 1970s including "Nuts" in 1972 and "Son of Nuts" the next year. He wrote a light column, "Mellymobile", in "Punch" magazine describing their tours. He was an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. George Melly was President of the BHA 1972–4, and was also an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Association. He was also a member of the Max Miller Appreciation Society and on 1 May 2005 joined Roy Hudd, Norman Wisdom and others in unveiling a statue of Miller in Brighton. His singing style, particularly for the blues, was strongly influenced by his idol, Bessie Smith. While many British musicians of the time treated jazz and blues with almost religious solemnity, Melly rejoiced in their more bawdy side, and this was reflected in his choice of songs and exuberant stage performances. He recorded a track called "Old Codger" with The Stranglers in 1978, which was especially written for him by the band. Melly, who was bisexual, moved from strictly homosexual relationships in his teens and twenties to largely heterosexual relationships from his thirties onwards. He married twice and had a child from each marriage, though his first child Pandora was not known to be his until she was much older. He married his second wife, Diana Moynihan (née Dawson), in 1963 and they lived on Gloucester Crescent in Camden Town. She brought with her two children (Candy and Patrick) from two previous marriages, though Patrick later died from a heroin overdose in his twenties. Their own son, Tom, was born two days after the wedding. Diana published an autobiography in 2005 of their life and (open) marriage together. The two participated in a televised celebrity couples quiz in the 1970s. Asked separately what made them decide to marry, Diana announced "I was pregnant!" and George, in his turn, merely said, "The less said about that, the better." George and Diana Melly had a country retreat, the Tower, at Scethrog in the Brecon Beacons, between 1971 and 1999.