Oscars: How drumming with spoons put a Market Drayton lad on the road to a Best Score nomination

Professor Dent said: "I have seen him win at the Venice Film Festival and then a Golden Globe, then the BAFTA nomination, and finally when the Oscar nomination came it was surreal."

Jerskin's family name at their home near Market Drayton is Joscelin Dent-Pooley, taking his mum and dad Roger Pooley's surnames in a hyphenated merger. Sadly his dad died two years ago but both he and Helen surrounded their three children with music from a young age.

"Jos was three when a jazz musician spotted his talent," said Helen. "He had a couple of spoons and was banging out a rhythm on the drums. The musician said he had a real talent and said we should get him some drums."

And since then Jos has been on an escalator to musical success which has taken him from Market Drayton via the leadership of the Shropshire Youth Orchestra in Shrewsbury to the bright lights of Hollywood.

But Helen says he still likes to come home to the silence of his bedroom where he can concentrate on his projects away from the hustle and bustle of London, where he now lives.

Professor Dent, a clinical and forensic psychologist, is a music lover who says she wanted her children to play an instrument. All three of them did - but Jos has made it to the top.

"Being nominated is wonderful - whether he gets it or not I am content and so pleased for him," she said.

And she has received comments from friends and neighbours sharing her joy.

"People are just thrilled and I think most people are amazed to know somebody from Market Drayton who has been nominated for an Oscar.

"My husband, Jos's father, died two years ago," she said. "He was a talented amateur musician and I received a text saying he would have been so proud."

Now with awards night approaching, Helen is hoping to be at the glittering big occasions with her son.

And she has a not-so secret wish to perhaps bump into Born in the USA hit-maker Bruce Springsteen.

Jos had also been nominated for a Golden Globe but his quirky film music was pipped to the post after Oppenheimer took the trophy for Best Original Score.

But he has already won an award for Best Original Music at the Ghent International Film Festival.

Before he took on the professional name of Jerskin Fendrix, he was spotted by peripatetic violin teacher Claire Stanley when he was a pupil at Hugo Meynell CoE Primary School in Loggerheads.

He then attended Market Drayton’s Musicland, where he was taught violin by Janine Kitchen.

He went to Haberdashers’ Adams, Newport, where he is still fondly remembered by staff.

Headteacher Gary Hickey said: “Joscelin was an outstanding student in many ways, bursting with creativity and talent.

“Bursting with creativity and talent, and always caring deeply for integrity and honesty in the arts, especially in music - it is no surprise to any of us here at Adams that he has done so magnificently well.”

Fendrix was hired after his 2020 debut album Winterreise caught the ears of director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Jos had been hoping to watch the film at the Festival Drayton Centre, which he visited in his youth, during a screening on February 19.

But now his mum has confirmed that Jos won't be able to make it because the BAFTAs are so close.