Podcast appearances and mentions of Frankie Howerd

John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious.  Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious.  Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious.  Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madeline Smith is an actress best known for playing Bond girl Miss Caruso in Live and Let Die with Rodger Moore but also had larger roles in the Hammer horror films The Vampire Lovers, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Tam-Lin, Theatre of Blood and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. She stared in comedy films including Up Pompeii, Up the Front and Carry On Matron and the musical film Take Me High with Cliff Richard. Her television credits include Doctor at Large, The Two Ronnies, His and Hers with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Casanova '73 with Leslie Phillips, Steptoe and Son and The Howerd Confessions with Frankie Howerd. She was a member of the regular cast of the BBC2 series The End of the Pier Show and In The Looking Glass alongside satirists John Wells and John Fortune and composer Carl Davis. Madeline also starred in The Passionate Pilgrim which was the final screen appearance of Eric Morecambe.Madeline Smith is guest number 397 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things she'd like to put in a time capsule; four she'd like to preserve and one she'd like to bury and never have to think about again .Follow Madeline Smith on Twitter: @maddysmith007 .
Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens and Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by matthewboxall.com .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people . Get bonus episodes and ad-free listening by becoming a team member with Acast+! Your support will help us to keep making My Time Capsule. Join our team now! https://plus.acast.com/s/mytimecapsule. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up Pompeii is brought along by Steve who introduces Jeffers to the delights of Frankie Howerd and his dinky donky doo-dahs! The episode in question is S01E08 'The Love Potion', from 1970, which also features Lynda Baron, John Ringham, Mollie Sugden and many more.  

In 1954 Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes, along with Ray Galton, Alan Simpson and Frankie Howerd, formed Associated London Scripts, envisaged as a comedy scriptwriters' cooperative, situated above a greengrocers in Shepherd's Bush. Soon it would swell in number, with the likes of Johnny Speight, John Antrobus, Terry Nation, Brad Ashton and Dick Vosburgh coming on board, with the mighty Beryl Vertue acting as sort of de facto agent for them all. Between them they were responsible for much of the comedy coming out of Britain in the late fifties and sixties, including The Goon Show, Hancock's Half Hour, The Army Game, Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe & Son, Sykes And A..., The Arthur Haynes Show and many more, while Terry Nation wrote for Tony Hancock and then came up with the idea for some pepperpot-shaped Timelord-botherers and never looked back. The story of ALS is too big a topic to condense down to ninety minutes, but Tyler and guest Mike Haskins try their best - Mike was involved in a Radio 4 documentary about ALS some twenty years ago and had access to the likes of Antrobus and Galton & Simpson and has some fascinating tales to share!

In this episode we look at the brilliant fifth radio series episode The Unexploded Bomb.  Tim, James, Jon and Martin consider how brilliant Kenneth Williams is in this episode with his two contrasting voices of the vicar and the bomb disposal expert and also look at the excellent contribution from Hattie Jacques.The Gang of Four discuss the great characters played by Alan Simpson, the edits made to the earlier vinyl and cassette release and their views on the final scene.  The four also discuss pyjama parties and how many they have been invited to and debate, in detail, how to cook a five course meal with just one saucepan.As always, the team get side tracked, this time by the Fawlty Towers vinyl box set, comedy records by Bernard Cribbins, Terry Scott, June Whitfield and Frankie Howerd and conclude with a look at the Hancock connection with The Wombles!Don't forget to rate and subscribe to the podcast. And, if you haven't done so already, why not join the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society - full details of how to join are at www. tonyhancock.org.uk We have an event planned to celebrate what would have Hancock's 100th birthday in May 2024 and our annual reunion dinner in September; we'd love to welcome you as a member and see you at our events. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with a review of The New Nose from the fourth television series. Hope to see you then.

"Mrs Wilberforce..? I understand you have rooms to let." And so we are introduced to the sinister and mysterious Professor Marcus, performed with brio by Alec Guinness as a sort of unhinged Alastair Sim grotesque, in Alexander McKendrick's sublime 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers. The film – described by McKendrick as a film about Britain in subsidence - was the first major film role for Peter Sellers, after a string of low budget and mostly forgettable little comedies. Although his role as the aging Ted and spiv Harry Robinson is very much a supporting one, it did get him noticed, and his subsequent career in films grew steadily with a BAFTA for Best Actor five years later and international super-stardom in less than a decade. Alongside Guinness and Sellers are the splendidly menacing Herbert Lom as Louis Harvey, Cecil Parker as Major Courtney and Danny Green as 'One Round', posing as members of a string quintet who have robbery on their minds. Playing the role of her lifetime as the titular 'lady' is Katie Johnson in her penultimate film as Mrs Wilberforce, a performance which won her a BAFTA. Joining Tyler to talk about the film is Graeme Lindsay-Foot, for whom this film remains one of his all-time favourites after having first seen it as a teenager. Together they break down the film from its earliest beginnings, as fragments of a dream occurring to the writer William Rose, to the production process. casting, plot and - yes- there WILL be spoilers. Fans of Frankie Howerd are duly warned that he comes in for a bit of flack. We answer these questions: WHY did Herbert Lom wear a hat throughout the film? WHO was the inspiration for the look of Professor Marcus? WHAT bits of the film were cut out, causing Sellers much annoyance? HOW did Sellers commemorate the film in the form of a gift for cast and crew? WHERE was Mrs Wilberforce's lopsided old house actually situated in London? ... And much more!

Comedian, actor and @MyTCpod host Michael Fenton Stevens directs the movie of his life, in the latest episode of Toby Earle's podcast. While creating his own biopic, Mike chats about having a number one record, his career advice to David Tennant, working with Julia Davis, burying an EastEnder, and how Frankie Howerd ruined his dinner...   @fentonstevens @TobyonTV @TheGreenlitPod

Living in New York during lockdown, Adam Gopnik spent his time enjoying the escapism of foreign TV shows - like the BBC's W1A and 2012. While these shows were unapologetically British, chock-full of alien cultural references to Frankie Howerd and Dad's Army, Adam says these shows helped him appreciate the universal language of satire. 'I'd say we enjoy satire more when we don't know the things being satirized' he writes, 'and so cannot protest their portrayal'. He says we 'depend on the satirist for all our information, both for the ground and for the graffiti he scrawls upon it.' Producer: Sheila Cook Sound Engineer: Peter Bosher Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross

Greetings citizens and welcome back to YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING, a podcast about British sitcoms.In this episode, Tony Black & Robert Turnbull travel back to ancient Pompeii--or should that be the very early 1970s--to discuss bawdy Frankie Howerd-starring sitcom UP POMPEII!, which ran through the 1970s and was rebooted briefly in the early 1990s.Along the way they discuss Howerd's career, stage musicals, Carry On films, proto-Blackadders and the fascinating history of one of British comedy's cheekiest sitcoms...-Remember: subscribe to EXTRA LAUGHS for early access to episodes, ad-free listening and bonus episodes not available to regular listeners. Support the show here: https://wemadethis.supportingcast.fm/you-have-been-watchingNew episodes of YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING drop every two weeks on Thursdays...Host / EditorTony BlackCo-HostRobert TurnbullYou Have Been Watching on social media:Twitter: @yhbwatchingpodSubscribe to YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING: EXTRA LAUGHS:https://wemadethis.supportingcast.fm/you-have-been-watchingSupport the We Made This podcast network on Patreon:www.patreon.com/wemadethisWe Made This on Twitter: @we_madethisWebsite:www.wemadethisnetwork.comTitle music: Jumping Cricket (c) Birdies via epidemicsound.com

"He opened the door and there he was standing in just a pair of gold boxer shorts..." This was how a young BBC Radio producer named Griff Rhys Jones met Frankie Howerd for the first time! Sometimes on this podcast we like to open it up and talk more generally about comedy - and especially when we get a special guest of Griff's calibre! Rude not to. Griff - who will be touring his new show from May and filming Griff's Vietnam Adventure this year - joined Tyler to talk about his career (which does include a prominent role in the film adaptation of Spike Milligan's Puckoon) and was more than happy to reminisce about his time on the likes of Not The Nine O'Clock News, Alas Smith & Jones and The Young Ones, as well as university revues, radio, plays and his subsequent documentaries and travel shows over the last twenty years. Includes chat about: * Mel Smith and their long comedy partnership * Some favourite S&J sketches (including Porno & Bribeasy) * The Homemade Xmas Video * The Two Ninnies and Ronnie Barker's reaction to it * Being Bambi * Alexei Sayle * Douglas Adams * John Lloyd * Chris Langham * Beryl Reid flirting with him * The post-war generation of comedians * Almost appearing in Blackadder the Third * Restoration * Cleaning skyscraper windows in New York * Performing in Australia and New Zealand * The television landscape * Reacting to critics * And working with Frankie of course! As well as his thoughts and observations on Spike and the Goons in general. Griff was extremely generous with his time and tickets for his forthcoming tour are available here: https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/g/34307/griff_rhys_jones

#417 Starfish Perineum - Rich is back to his usual chair this week and tries to influence an impossible to win bet before being joined by Victoria Coren Mitchell. They chat about the disconnect between Victoria's teenage angst and then partying with Frankie Howerd, the worst celebrity poker players, why the coughing Major should have gone for anal beads, how Victoria charmingly manages to lose money doing her Radio 4 show, how it's possible that she didn't learn to ride a bike as a child, the possible arrogance of the producers of Mary Poppins, the statue that made Victoria cry. Plus are the cracks starting to show in the Coren-Mitchell marriage? (or can the tabloids manage to spin this conversation to make it appear that they are?). Rich is over tired and starts to lose it by the end, so worth hanging around for that!Come and see us live http://richardherring.com/rhlstpBuy Richard's new book here http://gofasterstripe.com/ballSUPPORT THE SHOW!Watch our TWITCH CHANNELSee extra content at our WEBSITESee details of the RHLSTP TOUR DATES Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/rhlstp. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is comedy writer and broadcaster Paul Hawksbee, co-host of the Hawksbee and Jacobs daily show on Talksport. But before becoming a broadcaster, Paul had a stellar career as a comedy writer, working with some of the greats of British comedy including the Two Ronnies, Frankie Howerd, Al Murray and Harry Hill. Add in the co-creation of iconic football magazine 90 Minutes, his attempts to get Jurgen Klinsmann to tumble in the penalty box on Fantasy World Cup, and his time working at Chelsea despite being a Spurs fan, and we had lots to chat about. Enjoy! You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts

We look at Frankie Howerd, a comedy great, and his most successful series Up Pompeii, a great comedy

HMS PINAFORE; OR, THE LASS WHO LOVED A SAILOR COMPOSER: Arthur Sullivan LYRICIST: W.S. Gilbert BOOK: W.S. Gilbert DIRECTOR: W.S. Gilbert CHOREOGRAPHER: John D'Auban PRINCIPLE CAST: Blanche Roosevelt (Josephine), J.H. Ryley (Sir Joseph), Hugh Talbert (Ralph Rackstraw) OPENING DATE: December 1st, 1879 CLOSING DATE: December 27th, 1879 PERFORMANCES: 28 SYNOPSIS: Josephine, the daughter of a British Naval Captain, has become the object of two men's desires: Ralph, a lowly Sailor, and Sir Joseph, the First Lord of Admiralty. Trapped between society's expectations and her own heart's desires, Josephine must make a decision on whom to marry. Rupert and Richard Holmes detail the unparalleled significance on musical theatre history by Gilbert and Sullivan's second major collaboration, H.M.S. Pinafore, which established the popularity of witty patter songs and laid a framework for love stories told through operetta. The simplicity of the narrative and clarity of the stock characters has made the show a success which has delighted audiences through the ages. Upon its American premiere, H.M.S. Pinafore was an immediate success, launching a new standard for musical entertainment which would redefine what musical theatre could accomplish. Gilbert and Sullivan's joint and individual oeuvres are detailed through an analysis of their longstanding global popularity. Richard Holmes- A fixture of the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players for forty years, he recently performed H.M.S. Pinafore's Captain Corcoran for the 215th time, and has earned kudos in 31 principal roles in all 13 Savoy operas across the United States and England. He made his stage debut in the Metropolitan Opera Childrens' Chorus and his extraordinary half-century career at the Met was recently highlighted in the acclaimed film The Opera House. He has additionally played 160 major roles at such venues as Glimmerglass Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Virginia Opera, countless others, and soloed at major festivals across Europe and Russia. Rupert Holmes- the first person in Broadway history to solely win Tony® awards as author, composer and lyricist of a musical—The Mystery of Edwin Drood—which also won the Tony® for Best Musical. Add identical Drama Desk awards plus their additional category of Best Orchestration. He received the Best Book Drama Desk award for Curtains and Tony® noms for Book and Add'l Lyrics. For Say Goodnight, Gracie he received a Tony® Best Play nom and won LORT's National Broadway Theatre award. Twice a recipient of MWA's “Edgar” Award, his novels are Where the Truth Lies, Swing and The McMaster's Guide to Homicide. TV: Creator-writer of AMC's Remember WENN. SOURCES HMS Pinafore by WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, published by Dover Publications (2002) HMS Pinafore, The D'Oyle Carte Company & Isidore Godfrey, Decca Records (1959) Ayre, Leslie. The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: Papermac, 1985. Gilbert and Sullivan: HMS Pinafore starring Frankie Howerd and Peter Marshall, directed by Rodney Greenberg. Acord Media (1982)   The Topsy Turvy World of Gilbert and Sullivan by Keith Dockray and Alan Sutton, published by Fonthell Media (2020) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on January 2nd 2022. A Happy New Year to you all as we plummet headlong into the space year 2022 with another action-packed year of our show. Well, perhaps not exactly action-packed, but I think we've certainly got a few exciting tasty morsels to tempt you with over the coming weeks, and they're not all of them simply the stale leftovers from our Christmas hamper. This time last year, Sandy and I gathered here at VoS HQ and discussed the various telly faces that had been lost to us in the previous year, but this year we've decided that we're really not in the mood to do that again, and instead, I decided to strap Sandy into his recording chair as I went through the list of shows we produced for VISION ON SOUND last year, many of which he hadn't been involved in, and ask if he had any further nuggets of information or extra insight he might have into our various topics and, as you'll hopefully find out as well, even when he didn't, it was just nice for me to rediscover what an eclectic mixture of topics we'd covered during the past twelve months. In the course of the hour, we revisit Scandi Noir (some filmed in Stockport - The new Hollywoodford!), ponder upon the binge watch, chat about some of our favourite new shows, the Christmas Panto, police dramas, Flash Gordon and the urge to bellow "All Hail Ming!" at Stockport County. We also touch upon SPIRAL, TOMORROW'S WORLD, SCHITT'S CREEK, SPIES, BIG BROTHER, not being the fan of THE WEST WING that I think he is, music, THE SWEENEY, Simon Park, CALLAN, THE HUNDRED, Concert-going Post-Lockdown, SHERLOCK HOLMES, FRANKIE HOWERD, and CORONATION STREET. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

Jeremy is joined for the Christmas edition of the podcast by fellow podcaster Tyler Adams for the latter-day pantomine that is 1992 historical comedy Carry On Columbus, with a conversation that takes in A View to a Kill, how to write for The Simpsons, buried sitcoms, Frankie Howerd's oscillating career and Curb Your Foot in the Grave..

Juliet and Terence: travel back to 1978 for the Sgt Pepper movie; trailercore and insipid Christmas TV commercials; and how music fans are exploited, and put at risk. {Frankie Howerd and his toupée}

Visit our store for more shows Audioshows.e-junkie.com The series format was not too dis-similar to ‘Hancock's Half-Hour'. Howerd plays ‘Francis Howerd', an exaggerated version of himself, a humble comedian with aspirations of becoming an international star. Each edition would begin with Frankie addressing the audience directly, before relating a personal experience which would be told in flashback. Each week he would be aided and abetted by various star guests.

In this week's episode, top British Producer-Director Ian Hamilton returns to continue sharing memories of his incredible career in television – from the start-ups of TVam and The Chase, fond recollections of David Frost, Clive James and Frankie Howerd, to his adventures in EuroDisney, Las Vegas and at The Playboy Mansion. Listen by clicking here: https://open.spotify.com/show/12mxZrfS7Hyl9dTgwo83Zp https://podcasts.apple.com/.../behind-the.../id1550444432... https://anchor.fm/behindthesceneswithcolin

Simon Cartwright is an extraordinary actor/performer, he does something wonderful for fans of certain comedy icons such as Frankie Howard & Bob Monkhouse, he brings them back to life with his 100% portrayals, he doesn't just try their voice he lives and breathes their mannerisms and facial expressions, I mean extraordinary is an understatement. I'll leave the conversation to the man himselfWelcome to Eyes and Teeth edition 116 Simon Cartwright

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 17th 2021 Returning guest expert STEVE HATCHER returns to the show to talk all about the life and career of the late FRANCIS ALICK HOWARD, who was far better known as the actor and comedian FRANKIE HOWERD, who is probably best known on television for UP POMPEII! which returned to television in several versions, alongside a feature film version. This wide-ranging conversation, however, covers many of the other series and pilots that he made in a career which lasted several decades, including THEN CHURCHILL SAID TO ME which wasn't shown on television until after his death because of a strange decision to ban it due to the invasion of the Falkland Islands, which accorded it a perhaps undeserved "legendary" status, which is another strange twist in a career which involved several comebacks from the very brink of obscurity. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

Barry Cryer is perhaps best known as a panelist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on BBC Radio 4 but his career is so much more than that. Amongst other things, too many to mention, he has written for Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Sir Bruce Forsyth, Sir David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie Howerd, Richard Pryor, Spike Milligan, Mike Yarwood, The Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise. Barry Cryer is guest number 104 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he'd like to preserve and one he'd like to bury and never have to think about again .Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens & Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by Matthew Boxall .Social media support by Harriet Stevens .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Barry Cryer is perhaps best known as a panelist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on BBC Radio 4 but his career is so much more than that. Amongst other things, too many to mention, he has written for Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Sir Bruce Forsyth, Sir David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie Howerd, Richard Pryor, Spike Milligan, Mike Yarwood, The Two Ronnies and Morecambe and Wise. Barry Cryer is guest number 104 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he'd like to preserve and one he'd like to bury and never have to think about again .Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens & Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by Matthew Boxall .Social media support by Harriet Stevens .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Frankie Howerd to Sherlock: Beryl Vertue is the producer of some classic TV shows including Men Behaving Badly. She took Steptoe and Son to America, negotiated for writer Terry Nation to retain some of the rights for his Dr Who Daleks creation, and back when she began in the 1960s, worked with a Who's Who of comedy writing talent at Associated London Scripts as well as representing Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd as their agent. As chairman of the family firm Hartswood Films, her more recent projects have included revamping Dracula and Sherlock for TV. She discusses the successes and failures she has had in her six decade career with Matthew Sweet and shares with him what it was like working with Ken Russell and Tina Turner on Tommy and what she thinks makes a good deal. Producer: Torquil MacLeod You can find other conversations about classic TV in the Free Thinking archives including Quatermass: Nigel Kneale's groundbreaking 1950s TV sci-fi series with Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Una McCormack , Claire Langhamer and Matthew Kneale https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b03y The Goodies: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie talk to Matthew Sweet about how humour changes and the targets of their TV comedy show which ran during the '70s and early '80s https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000hcb British TV and film producer Tony Garnett talks to Matthew Sweet about a career which encompassed the Wednesday Play for the BBC, This Life and Undercover. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07h6r8l

Steve's furious as per after Remfry takes 25 minutes to make a coffee ... Why do something in 3 minutes when you can do it in 25 eh? Once we get around to talking about ... ya know, MUSIC, we discuss the news that Download are set to host a three day pilot festival at a capacity of 10,000 in three weeks time ... a festival ... with music ... in a field ... in three weeks. Bet the internet's still gonna kick off though isn't it! Oh and ex-Megadeth bassist David Ellefson is, in the words of Frankie Howerd, a very dirty old man. Reviews this week are Cavalcade by black midi (23:26) Lustful Sacraments by Perturbator (54:09) Wretched Abyss by Noctule (80:13) and Perfect by Mannequin Pussy (91:26) This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

In this episode, I talk to the comedy legend BARRY CRYER about his comedy career. Barry Cryer is an English writer, comedian and actor.  He has written for many major comedians that are feature in my blog including Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Bob Monkhouse, Frankie Howerd, Bruce Forsyth, Kenny Everett, Richard Pryor and Spike Milligan. I have watched many of his shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and he is a master at constructing and delivering a joke.  Since 1972, he has been a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and is frequently on TV talking about comedy on various shows including fronting Comedy Legends on Sky Arts. It was an honour and a pleasure talking to the great comedian.  Thank you so much for listening to my podcast, if you like what you hear, please subscribe and I hope you enjoy the interview. Please read Barry Cryer's blog at: www.arichcomiclife.blog Barry Cryer's Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarryCryerScrapbook/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/barrycryer80    

On this week's Broken Records Steve and Remfry continue their search for the worst album of all time by casting a highly critical eye over Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band… hold on there a second before you decide it's time we're #Cancelled, we do not mean The Beatles culture defining 1967 masterpiece, but rather the long forgotten 1978 soundtrack to the long forgotten movie of the same name. Featuring a star-studded, but ultimately rag tag and jarring, cast, we try and work out just why The Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood decided to cast his charges in a bizarre, plotless mess of a film alongside shock rocker Alice Cooper, elderly New York Comedian George Burns, funk pop mavericks Earth Wind & Fire, camp UK comic Frankie Howerd, hard rock strutters Aerosmith, a staggeringly coked up Steve Martin and others, and make them turn the most enduring and influential back catalogue in the history of popular music into a flabby, kitsch disco mess.  The critics hated it, the fans sent it back and The Bee Gees tried to bury it. But, was it really that bad? Listen here to find out. 

In his latest incredible work, former Most Haunted presenter David Wells examines real life experiences to uncover the extraordinary truth behind psychic events. What really causes possessions and past lives, and why is visualisation and meditation important? Is it to allay our own fears, or to communicate with the ghosts of those long passed – or is it something more? From the young girl who learned how to communicate with her disabled son to a soul level, to the extraordinary power of past life regression, you'll discover the practical side of what really makes things "go bump in the night", including: Frankie Howerd's haunted house, How children can develop their abilities safely,The parents who found the answer to their son's sudden death through discovering their karmic link.

Day 17 of the This Is Our Everest Advent calendar inevitably sees Edward and Ian watching The Generation Game Christmas Special from 1973. Both of your heroes are thrilled to bits to see Frankie Howerd again and are effusive in their praise for both him and the show's titular host (he's in charge), Bruce Forsyth. Ian is very busy this episode, explaining the evolution of Christmas crackers, commiserating with the balding younger gentleman and wondering out loud whether your team's manager making a cameo on The Generation Game is what is really needed during a relegation battle. However, leave it to Edward to explain exactly why The Generation Game is called The Generation Game. All bases: covered. If you'd like to see what all the fuss is about, you can watch it here. Tomorrow, it's time for something that you almost certainly won't have heard of if you're British, but it's the weirdest TV show I've ever seen. It's The Lawrence Welk Show's Christmas Special from 1972. There’s a bunch of different ways in which you can subscribe to the 200% podcast. You can do so through Spotify, which you can find right here, whilst the podcast RSS feed is here and you can subscribe through Itunes here. And finally, a humble request. These podcasts take a lot of effort to write, record and release, and we would be extremely grateful for your financial support, in whatever way you can manage. We have our Redbubble shop, for the sartorially minded amongst you, and subscribe through joining us on Patreon. We even now have a Kofi button on the site, so do feel free to send us whatever you’re able to. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why did the band Muse sue Celine Dion? Who wouldn't welcome a traction engine through the post? Which rocker requires our Unsolicited Celebrity Advice? What is the best time? And how do the Alans fit into all this? Find out in another trouser-wrenching edition of the programme that aims to find sense in the madness of the world through our history and pop culture detritus. In the entertainment sack this week is a ban on "hand signed" autographs, Beatlemania, one of Werner Herzog's better decisions, 'Pedo Guy' revisited, a really big shoe, the Old Farmer's Almanac, the biggest leaf comes into question, Toni Braxton's bosom crisis, bastard killer whales, the formation of the Wide Awake Club, a genuine claustrophobic breakdown and, as always, a drawing of Nick Wilton having a bath. Oh and the robot's back. Sorry about that. Send us a question via @dontletschart on Twitter, dontletschart@gmail.com or our new Speakpipe set up: https://www.speakpipe.com/DontLetsChart And if you want episodes early, along with a lot of extra shows, outtakes and bonus stuff (alongside supporting us making it!) then please visit: https://www.patreon.com/dontletschart

Lee Young was born James Stevenson Young in Scotland in 1928 His mother was a concert soprano and his father an amateur actor. Lee became stage struck at a very early age, fascinated by his father’s make-up box and collection of false beards.An unsuccessful audition for the Entertainment National Service Association (he was too young), brought him to the eye of an auditioning agent who was handling Scottish Variety dates. He booked Lee’s dance act to appear at the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr.Keen to appear in a West End show, he successfully auditioned for the legendary Windmill Theatre and subsequently commenced a career in London theatres, clubs and revues.He has anecdotes aplenty concerning a galaxy of stars that he has either worked with or been on close terms. These include Frankie Howerd, Richard Burton, Marlene Dietrich, Benny Hill, Terry Thomas, Danny LaRue and Mrs Mills.In 1953, Lee made what may have been the first rock and roll record issued outside the United States when he recorded the song Rock, Rock, Rock.Lee settled in Sydney in 1971 and quickly established himself as a much loved and respected part of the show business fraternity ‘down under’ in theatre restaurant, revue and as a popular headline cabaret performer on the club circuit.As a theatre performer his credits include Stepping Out, Blithe Spirit, King Lear, Dad’s Army - the musical; and Arsenic and Old Lace where he toured with Gwen Plumb and June Bronhill.Lee is a much-lauded member of the distinguished theatrical group The Glugs, who in 2019, awarded him the Rodney Seaborn Lifetime Achievement Award.An hour in his company is a valuable history lesson and contagious inspiration. Ladies and Gentlemen …. Mr Lee Young.

Episode 50A sees us starting our Golden Anniversary celebrations with a '50 Episode' quiz provided by Ben. Andy P stays with the golden theme as he takes at look at the 1983 BBC serial 'The Cleopatras' written by Philip Mackie and produced by Guy Slater. Next we travel 'Up Pompeii' to hang out with Frankie Howerd as Lurcio, forever failing to finish the Prologue, then Martin looks at the 1970 'Softly, Softly : Task Force' story 'Open And Shut' by Allan Prior. Finally Ben returns to remember the rubber world of 'Spitting Image' without even sticking a deck chair up his nose. That's all in Episode 50A of 'Round The Archives' starring Lisa Parker, Andrew Trowbridge, Ben Baker, Andy Priestner and Martin Holmes. Episode 50 will continue with Episode 50B which will be along in due course...

Episode eighty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Shakin’ All Over” by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and how the first great British R&B band interacted with the entertainment industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode, on “Under Your Spell Again” by Buck Owens. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ (more…)

Episode eighty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Shakin’ All Over” by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and how the first great British R&B band interacted with the entertainment industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode, on “Under Your Spell Again” by Buck Owens. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ —-more—- Resources   As usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. Only one biography of Kidd has been written, and that’s been out of print for nearly a quarter of a century and goes for ridiculous prices. Luckily Adie Barrett’s site http://www.johnnykidd.co.uk/ is everything a fan-site should be, and has a detailed biographical section which I used for the broad-strokes outline. Clem Cattini: My Life, Through the Eye of a Tornado is somewhere between authorised biography and autobiography. It’s not the best-written book ever, but it contains a lot of information about Clem’s life. Spike & Co by Graham McCann gives a very full account of Associated London Scripts. Pete Frame’s The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Be warned, though — his jokey and irreverent style can, when dealing with people like Larry Parnes (who was gay and Jewish) very occasionally tip over into reinforcing homophobic and anti-semitic stereotypes for an easy laugh. Billy Bragg’s Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is one of the best books I’ve read on music at all, and gives far more detail about the historical background. And a fair chunk of the background information here also comes from the extended edition of Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In, which is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Beatles, British post-war culture, and British post-war music.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript As we get more into this story, we’re going to see a lot more British acts becoming part of it. We’ve already looked at Lonnie Donegan, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele, and Vince Taylor, but without spoiling anything I think most of you can guess that over the next year or so we’re going to see a few guitar bands from the UK enter the narrative. Today we’re going to look at one of the most important British bands of the early sixties — a band who are now mostly known for one hit and a gimmick, but who made a massive contribution to the sound of rock music. We’re going to look at Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “Shakin’ All Over”] Our story starts during the skiffle boom of 1957. If you don’t remember the episodes we did on skiffle and early British rock and roll, it was a musical craze that swept Britain after Lonnie Donegan’s surprise hit with “Rock Island Line”. For about eighteen months, nearly every teenage boy in Britain was in a group playing a weird mix of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie songs, old folk tunes, and music-hall numbers, with a lineup usually consisting of guitar, banjo, someone using a washboard as percussion, and a homemade double bass made out of a teachest, a broom handle, and a single string. The skiffle craze died away as quickly as it started out, but it left a legacy — thousands of young kids who’d learned at least three chords, who’d performed in public, and who knew that it was possible to make music without having gone through the homogenising star-making process. That would have repercussions throughout the length of this story, and to this day. But while almost everyone in a skiffle group was a kid, not everyone was. Obviously the big stars of the genre — Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt, the Vipers — were all in their twenties when they became famous, and so were some of the amateurs who tried to jump on the bandwagon. In particular, there was Fred Heath. Heath was twenty-one when skiffle hit, and was already married — while twenty-one might seem young now, at the time, it was an age when people were meant to have settled down and found a career. But Heath wasn’t the career sort. There were rumours about him which attest to the kind of person he was perceived as being — that he was a bookie’s runner, that he’d not been drafted because he was thought to be completely impossible to discipline, that he had been working as a painter in a warehouse and urinated on the warehouse floor from the scaffolding he was on — and he was clearly not someone who was *ever* going to settle down. The first skiffle band Heath formed was called Bats Heath and the Vampires, and featured Heath on vocals and rhythm guitar, Brian Englund on banjo, Frank Rouledge on lead guitar, and Clive Lazell on washboard. The group went through a variety of names, at one point naming themselves the Frantic Four in what seems to have been an attempt to confuse people into thinking they were seeing Don Lang’s Frantic Five, the group who often appeared on Six-Five Special: [Excerpt: Don Lang and his Frantic Five, “Six-Five Hand Jivel”] The group went through the standard lineup and name changes that almost every amateur group went through, and they ended up as a five-piece group called the Five Nutters. And it was as the Five Nutters that they made their first attempts at becoming stars, when they auditioned for Carroll Levis. Levis was one of the most important people in showbusiness in the UK at this time. He’d just started a TV series, but for years before that his show had been on Radio Luxembourg, which was for many teenagers in the UK the most important radio station in the world. At the time, the BBC had a legal monopoly on radio broadcasting in the UK, but they had a couple of problems when it came to attracting a teenage audience. The first was that they had to provide entertainment for *everyone*, and so they couldn’t play much music that only appealed to teenagers but was detested by adults. But there was a much bigger problem for the BBC when it came to recorded music. In the 1950s, the BBC ran three national radio stations — the Light Programme, the Home Service, and the Third Programme — along with one national TV channel. The Musicians’ Union were worried that playing recorded music on these would lead to their members losing work, and so there was an agreement called “needletime”, which allowed the BBC to use recorded music for twenty-two hours a week, total, across all three radio stations, plus another three hours for the TV. That had to cover every style of music from Little Richard through to Doris Day through to Beethoven. The rest of the time, if they had music, it had to be performed by live musicians, and so you’d be more likely to hear “Rock Around the Clock” as performed by the Northern Dance Orchestra than Bill Haley’s version, and much of the BBC’s youth programming had middle-aged British session musicians trying to replicate the sound of American records and failing miserably. But Luxembourg didn’t have a needle-time rule, and so a commercial English-language station had been set up there, using transmitters powerful enough to reach most of Britain and Ireland. The station was owned and run in Britain, and most of the shows were recorded in London by British DJs like Brian Matthew, Jimmy Savile, and Alan Freeman, although there were also recordings of Alan Freed’s show broadcast on it. The shows were mostly sponsored by record companies, who would make the DJs play just half of the record, so they could promote more songs in their twenty-minute slot, and this was the main way that any teenager in Britain would actually be able to hear rock and roll music. Oddly, even though he spent many years on Radio Luxembourg, Levis’ show, which had originally been on the BBC before the War, was not a music show, but a talent show. Whether on his original BBC radio show, the Radio Luxembourg one, or his new TV show, the format was the same. He would alternate weeks between broadcasting and talent scouting. In talent scouting weeks he would go to a different city each week, where for five nights in a row he would put on talent shows featuring up to twenty different local amateur acts doing their party pieces — without payment, of course, just for the exposure. At the end of the show, the audience would get a chance to clap for each act, and the act that got the loudest applause would go through to a final on the Saturday night. This of course meant that acts that wanted to win would get a lot of their friends and family to come along and cheer for them. The Saturday night would then have the winning acts — which is to say, those who brought along the most paying customers — compete against each other. The most popular of *those* acts would then get to appear on Levis’ TV show the next week. It was, as you can imagine, an extremely lucrative business. When the Five Nutters appeared on Levis’ Discoveries show, they were fairly sure that the audience clapped loudest for them, but they came third. Being the type of person he was, Fred Heath didn’t take this lying down, and remonstrated with Levis, who eventually promised to get the Nutters some better gigs, one suspects just to shut Heath up. As a result of Levis putting in a good word for them, they got a few appearances at places like the 2Is, and made an appearance on the BBC’s one concession to youth culture on the radio — a new show called Saturday Skiffle Club. Around this time, the Five Nutters also recorded a demo disc. The first side was a skiffled-up version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, with some extremely good jazzy lead guitar: [Excerpt: Fred Heath and the Five Nutters, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll”] I’ve heard quite a few records of skiffle groups, mostly by professionals, and it’s clear that the Five Nutters were far more musical, and far more interesting, than most of them, even despite the audible sloppiness here. The point of skiffle was meant to be that it was do-it-yourself music that required no particular level of skill — but in this case the Nutters’ guitarist Frank Rouledge was clearly quite a bit more proficient than the run-of-the-mill skiffle guitarist. What was even more interesting about that recording, though, was the B-side, which was a song written by the group. It seems to have been mostly written by Heath, and it’s called “Blood-Red Beauty” because Heath’s wife was a redhead: [Excerpt: Fred Heath and the Five Nutters, “Blood Red Beauty”] The song itself is fairly unexceptional — it’s a standard Hank Williams style hillbilly boogie — but at this time there was still in Britain a fairly hard and fast rule which had performers and songwriters as two distinct things. There were a handful of British rock musicians who were attempting to write their own material — most prominently Billy Fury, a Larry Parnes artist who I’m afraid we don’t have space for in the podcast, but who was one of the most interesting of the late-fifties British acts — but in general, there was a fairly strict demarcation. It was very unusual for a British performer to also be trying to write songs. The Nutters split up shortly after their Saturday Skiffle Club appearance, and Heath formed various other groups called things like The Fabulous Freddie Heath Band and The Fred, Mike & Tom Show, before going back to the old name, with a new lineup of Freddie Heath and the Nutters consisting of himself on vocals, Mike West and Tom Brown — who had been the Mike and Tom in The Fred, Mike, & Tom Show, on backing vocals, Tony Doherty on rhythm guitar, Ken McKay on drums, Johnny Gordon on bass, and on lead guitar Alan Caddy, a man who was known by the nickname “tea”, which was partly a pun on his name, partly a reference to his drinking copious amounts of tea, and partly Cockney rhyming slang — tea-leaf for thief — as he was known for stealing cars. The Nutters got a new agent, Don Toy, and manager, Guy Robinson, but Heath seemed mostly to want to be a songwriter rather than a singer at this point. He was looking to place his songs with other artists, and in early 1959, he did. He wrote a song called “Please Don’t Touch”, and managed to get it placed with a vocal group called the Bachelors — not the more famous group of that name, but a minor group who recorded for Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI run by a young producer named George Martin. “Please Don’t Touch” came out as the B-side of a Bachelors record: [Excerpt: The Bachelors, “Please Don’t Touch”] One notable thing about the songwriting credit — while most sources say Fred Heath wrote the song by himself, he gave Guy Robinson a co-writing credit on this and many of his future songs. This was partly because it was fairly standard at the time for managers to cut themselves in on their artists’ credits, but also because that way the credit could read Heath Robinson — Heath Robinson was a famous British cartoonist who was notable for drawing impossibly complicated inventions, and whose name had become part of the British language — for American listeners, imagine that the song was credited to Rube Goldberg, and you’ll have the idea. At this point, the Nutters had become quite a professional organisation, and so it was unsurprising that after “Please Don’t Touch” brought Fred Heath to the attention of EMI, a different EMI imprint, HMV, signed them up. Much of the early success of the Nutters, and this professionalism, seems to be down to Don Toy, who seems to have been a remarkably multi-talented individual. As well as being an agent who had contracts with many London venues to provide them with bands, he was also an electrical engineer specialising in sound equipment. He built a two-hundred watt bass amp for the group, at a time when almost every band just put their bass guitar through a normal guitar amp, and twenty-five watts was considered quite loud. He also built a portable tape echo device that could be used on stage to make Heath’s voice sound like it would on the records. Heath later bought the first Copicat echo unit to be made — this was a mass-produced device that would be used by a lot of British bands in the early sixties, and Heath’s had serial number 0001 — but before that became available, he used Toy’s device, which may well have been the very first on-stage echo device in the UK. On top of that, Toy has also claimed that most of the songs credited to Heath and Robinson were also co-written by him, but he left his name off because the credit looked better without it. And whether or not that’s true, he was also the drummer on this first session — Ken McKay, the Nutters’ drummer, was a bit unsteady in his tempo, and Toy was a decent player and took over from him when in April 1959, Fred Heath and the Nutters went into Abbey Road Studio 2, to record their own version of “Please Don’t Touch”. This was ostensibly produced by HMV producer Walter Ridley, but Ridley actually left rock and roll records to his engineer, Peter Sullivan: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “Please Don’t Touch”] It was only when the session was over that they saw the paperwork for it. Fred Heath was the only member of the Nutters to be signed to EMI, with the rest of the group being contracted as session musicians, but that was absolutely normal for the time period — Tommy Steele’s Steelmen and Cliff Richard’s Drifters hadn’t been signed as artists either. What they were concerned about was the band name on the paperwork — it didn’t say Fred Heath and the Nutters, but Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. They were told that that was going to be their new name. They never did find out who it was who had decided on this for them, but from now on Fred Heath was Johnny Kidd. The record was promoted on Radio Luxembourg, and everyone thought it was going to go to number one. Unfortunately, strike action prevented that, and the record was only a moderate chart success — the highest position it hit in any of the UK charts at the time was number twenty on the Melody Maker chart. But that didn’t stop it from becoming an acknowledged classic of British rock and roll. It was so popular that it actually saw an American cover version, which was something that almost never happened with British songs, though Chico Holliday’s version was unsuccessful: [Excerpt: Chico Holliday, “Please Don’t Touch”] It remained such a fond memory for British rockers that in 1980 the heavy metal groups Motorhead and Girlschool recorded it as the supergroup HeadGirl, and it became the biggest hit either group ever had, reaching number five in the British charts: [Excerpt: Headgirl, “Please Don’t Touch”] But while “Please Don’t Touch” was one of the very few good rock and roll records made in Britain, it wasn’t the one for which Johnny Kidd and the Pirates would be remembered. It was, though, enough to make them a big act. They toured the country on a bill compered by Liverpool comedian Jimmy Tarbuck, and they made several appearances on Saturday Club, which had now dropped the “skiffle” name and was the only place anyone could hear rock and roll on BBC radio. Of course, the British record industry having the immense sense of potential it did, HMV immediately capitalised on the success of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates doing a great group performance of an original rock and roll number, by releasing as a follow-up single, a version of the old standard “If You Were the Only Girl in the World and I Were the Only Boy” by Johnny without the Pirates, but with chorus and orchestra conducted by Ivor Raymonde: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd, “If You Were The Only Girl in the World”] For some reason — I can’t imagine why — that didn’t chart. One suspects that young Lemmy wasn’t quite as fond of that one as “Please Don’t Touch”. The B-side was a quite good rocker, with some nice guitar work from the session guitarist Bert Weedon, but no-one bothered to buy the record at the time, so they didn’t turn it over to hear the other side. The follow-up was better — a reworking of Marv Johnson’s “You’ve Got What it Takes”, one of the hits that Berry Gordy had been writing and producing for Johnson. Johnson’s version made the top five in the UK, but the Pirates’ version still made the top thirty. But by this time there had been some changes. The first change that was made was that the Pirates changed manager — while Robinson would continue getting songwriting credits, the group were now managed through Associated London Scripts, by Stan “Scruffy” Dale. Associated London Scripts was, as the name suggests, primarily a company that produced scripts. It was started as a writers’ co-operative, and in its early days it was made up of seven people. There was Frankie Howerd, one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the time, who was always looking for new material; Spike Milligan, the writer and one of the stars of the Goon Show, the most important surreal comedy of the fifties; Eric Sykes, who was a writer-performer who was involved in almost every important comedy programme of the decade, including co-writing many Goon episodes with Milligan, before becoming a TV star himself; Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who wrote the most important *sitcom* of the fifties and early sixties, Hancock’s Half Hour; and Scruffy Dale, who was Howerd and Sykes’ manager and was supposed to take care of the business stuff. In fact, though, most of the business was actually taken care of by the seventh person and only woman, Beryl Vertue, who was taken on as the secretary on the basis of an interview that mostly asked about her tea-making skills, but soon found herself doing almost everything — the men in the office got so used to asking her “Could you make the tea, Beryl?”, “Could you type up this script, Beryl?” that they just started asking her things like “Could you renegotiate our contract with the BBC, Beryl?” She eventually became one of the most important women in the TV industry, with her most recent prominent credit being as executive producer on the BBC’s Sherlock up until 2017, more than sixty years after she joined the business. Vertue did all the work to keep the company running — a company which grew to about thirty writers, and between the early fifties and mid sixties, as well as Hancock’s Half Hour and the Goons, its writers created Sykes, Beyond Our Ken, Round the Horne, Steptoe and Son, The Bedsitting Room, the Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film, Til Death Us Do Part, Citizen James, and the Daleks. That’s a list off the top of my head — it would actually be easier to list memorable British comedy programmes and films of the fifties and early sixties that *didn’t* have a script from one of ALS’ writers. And while Vertue was keeping Marty Feldman, John Junkin, Barry Took, Johnny Speight, John Antrobus and all the rest of these new writers in work, Scruffy Dale was trying to create a career in pop management. As several people associated with ALS had made records with George Martin at Parlophone, he had an in there, and some of the few pop successes that Martin had in the fifties were producing acts managed by Dale through ALS, like the Vipers Skiffle Group: [Excerpt: The Vipers Skiffle Group, “Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy-O”] and a young performer named Jim Smith, who wanted to be a comedian and actor, but who Dale renamed after himself, and who had a string of hits as Jim Dale: [Excerpt: Jim Dale, “Be My Girl”] Jim Dale eventually did become a film and TV star, starting with presenting Six-Five Special, and is now best known for having starred in many of the Carry On films and narrating the Harry Potter audiobooks, but at the time he was still a pop star. Jim Dale and the Vipers were the two professional acts headlining an otherwise-amateur tour that Scruffy Dale put together that was very much like Carroll Levis’ Discoveries show, except without the need to even give the winners a slot on the TV every other week. This tour was supposed to be a hunt for the country’s best skiffle group, and there was going to be a grand national final, and the winner of *that* would go on TV. Except they just kept dragging the tour out for eighteen months, until the skiffle fad was completely over and no-one cared, so there never was a national final. And in the meantime the Vipers had to sit through twenty groups of spotty kids a night, all playing “Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O”, and then go out and play it themselves, every night for eighteen months. Scruffy Dale was unscrupulous in other ways as well, and not long after he’d taken on the Pirates’ management he was sacked from ALS. Spike Milligan had never liked Dale — when told that Dale had lost a testicle in the war, he’d merely replied “I hope he dropped it on Dresden” — but Frankie Howerd and Eric Sykes had always been impressed with his ability to negotiate deals. But then Frankie Howerd found out that he’d missed out on lucrative opportunities because Dale had shoved letters in his coat pocket and forgotten about them for a fortnight. He started investigating a few more things, and it turned out that Dale had been siphoning money from Sykes and Howerd’s personal bank accounts into his own, having explained to their bank manager that it would just be resting in his account for them, because they were showbiz people who would spend it all too fast, so he was looking after them. And he’d also been doing other bits of creative accounting — every success his musical acts had was marked down as something he’d done independently, and all the profits went to him, while all the unsuccessful ventures were marked down as being ALS projects, and their losses charged to the company. So neither Dale nor the Pirates were with Associated London Scripts very long. But Dale made one very important change — he and Don Toy decided between them that most of the Pirates had to go. There were six backing musicians in the group if you counted the two backing vocalists, who all needed paying, and only one could read music — they weren’t professional enough to make a career in the music business. So all of the Pirates except Alan Caddy were sacked. Mike West and Tony Doherty formed another band, Robby Hood and His Merry Men, whose first single was written by Kidd (though it’s rare enough I’ve not been able to find a copy anywhere online). The new backing group was going to be a trio, modelled on Johnny Burnette’s Rock and Roll Trio — just one guitar, bass, and drums. They had Caddy on lead guitar, Clem Cattini on drums, and Brian Gregg on bass. Cattini was regarded as by far the best rock drummer in Britain at the time. He’d played with Terry Dene’s backing band the Dene Aces, and can be seen glumly backing Dene in the film The Golden Disc: [Excerpt: Terry Dene, “Candy Floss”] Gregg had joined Dene’s band, and they’d both then moved on to be touring musicians for Larry Parnes, backing most of the acts on a tour featuring Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran that we’ll be looking at next week. They’d played with various of Parnes’ acts for a while, but had then asked for more money, and he’d refused, so they’d quit working for Parnes and joined Vince Taylor and the Playboys. They’d only played with the Playboys a few weeks when they moved on to Chas McDevitt’s group. For a brief time, McDevitt had been the biggest star in skiffle other than Lonnie Donegan, but he was firmly in the downward phase of his career at this point. McDevitt also owned a coffee bar, the Freight Train, named after his biggest hit, and most of the musicians in London would hang out there. And after Clem Cattini and Brian Gregg had joined the Pirates, it was at the Freight Train that the song for which the group would be remembered was written. They were going to go into the studio to record another song chosen by the record label — a version of the old standard “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” — because EMI had apparently not yet learned that if you had Johnny Kidd record old standards, no-one bought it, but if you had him record bluesy rock and roll you had a hit. But they’d been told they could write their own B-side, as they’d been able to on the last few singles. They were also allowed to bring in Joe Moretti to provide a second guitar — Moretti, who had played the solo on “Brand New Cadillac”, was an old friend of Clem Cattini’s, and they thought he’d add something to the record, and also thought they’d be doing him a favour by letting him make a session fee — he wasn’t a regular session player. So they all got together in the Freight Train coffee bar, and wrote another Heath/Robinson number. They weren’t going to do anything too original for a B-side, of course. They nicked a rhythm guitar part from “Linda Lu”, a minor US hit that Lee Hazelwood had produced for a Chuck Berry soundalike named Ray Sharpe, and which was itself clearly lifted from “Speedoo” by the Cadillacs: [Excerpt: Ray Sharpe, “Linda Lu”] They may also have nicked Joe Moretti’s lead guitar part as well, though there’s more doubt about this. There’s a Mickey and Sylvia record, “No Good Lover”, which hadn’t been released in the UK at the time, so it’s hard to imagine how they could have heard it, but the lead guitar part they hit on was very, very similar — maybe someone had played it on Radio Luxembourg: [Excerpt: Mickey and Sylvia, “No Good Lover”] They combined those musical ideas with a lyric that was partly a follow-on to the line in “Please Don’t Touch” about shaking too much, and partly a slightly bowdlerised version of a saying that Kidd had — when he saw a woman he found particularly attractive, he’d say “She gives me quivers in me membranes”. As it was a B-side, the track they recorded only took two takes, plus a brief overdub for Moretti to add some guitar shimmers, created by him using a cigarette lighter as a slide: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “Shakin’ All Over”] The song was knocked off so quickly that they even kept in a mistake — before the guitar solo, Clem Cattini was meant to play just a one-bar fill. Instead he played for longer, which was very unlike Cattini, who was normally a professional’s professional. He asked for another take, but the producer just left it in, and that break going into the solo was one of the things that people latched on to: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “Shakin’ All Over”] Despite the track having been put together from pre-existing bits, it had a life and vitality to it that no other British record except “Brand New Cadillac” had had, and Kidd had the added bonus of actually being able to hold a tune, unlike Vince Taylor. The record company quickly realised that “Shakin’ All Over” should be the record that they were pushing, and flipped the single. The Pirates appeared on Wham!, the latest Jack Good TV show, and immediately the record charted. It soon made number one, and became the first real proof to British listeners that British people could make rock and roll every bit as good as the Americans — at this point, everyone still thought Vince Taylor was from America. It was possibly Jack Good who also made the big change to Johnny Kidd’s appearance — he had a slight cast in one eye that got worse as the day went on, with his eyelid drooping more and more. Someone — probably Good — suggested that he should make this problem into an advantage, by wearing an eyepatch. He did, and the Pirates got pirate costumes to wear on stage, while Kidd would frantically roam the stage swinging a cutlass around. At this point, stagecraft was something almost unknown to British rock performers, who rarely did more than wear a cleanish suit and say “thank you” after each song. The only other act that was anything like as theatrical was Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, a minor act who had ripped off Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ act. The follow-up, “Restless”, was very much “Shakin’ All Over” part two, and made the top thirty. After that, sticking with the formula, they did a version of “Linda Lu”, but that didn’t make the top forty at all. Possibly the most interesting record they made at this point was a version of “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, a song Willie Dixon had written for Muddy Waters: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “I Just Want to Make Love to You”] The Pirates were increasingly starting to include blues and R&B songs in their set, and the British blues boom artists of the next few years would often refer to the Pirates as being the band that had inspired them. Clem Cattini still says that Johnny Kidd was the best British blues singer he ever heard. But as their singles were doing less and less well, the Pirates decided to jump ship. Colin Hicks, Tommy Steele’s much less successful younger brother, had a backing band called the Cabin Boys, which Brian Gregg had been in before joining Terry Dene’s band. Hicks had now started performing an act that was based on Kidd’s, and for a tour of Italy, where he was quite popular, he wanted a new band — he asked the Pirates if they would leave Kidd and become the latest lineup of Cabin Boys, and they left, taking their costumes with them. Clem Cattini now says that agreeing was the worst move he ever made, but they parted on good terms — Kidd said “Alan, Brian and Clem left me to better themselves. How could I possibly begrudge them their opportunity?” We’ll be picking up the story of Alan, Brian, and Clem in a few months’ time, but in the meantime, Kidd picked up a new backing band, who had previously been performing as the Redcaps, backing a minor singer called Cuddly Dudley on his single “Sitting on a Train”: [Excerpt: Cuddly Dudley and the Redcaps, “Sitting on a Train”] That new lineup of Pirates didn’t last too long before the guitarist quit, due to ill health, but he was soon replaced by Mick Green, who is now regarded by many as one of the great British guitarists of all time, to the extent that Wilko Johnson, another British guitarist who came to prominence about fifteen years later, has said that he spent his entire career trying and failing to sound like MIck Green. In 1962 and 63 the group were playing clubs where they found a lot of new bands who they seemed to have things in common with. After playing the Cavern in Liverpool and a residency at the Star Club in Hamburg, they added Richie Barrett’s “Some Other Guy” and Arthur Alexander’s “A Shot of Rhythm and Blues” to their sets, two R&B numbers that were very popular among the Liverpool bands playing in Hamburg but otherwise almost unknown in the UK. Unfortunately, their version of “A Shot of Rhythm and Blues” didn’t chart, and their record label declined to issue their version of “Some Other Guy” — and then almost immediately the Liverpool group The Big Three released their version as a single, and it made the top forty. As the Pirates’ R&B sound was unsuccessful — no-one seemed to want British R&B, at all — they decided to go the other way, and record a song written by their new manager, Gordon Mills (who would later become better known for managing Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck). “I’ll Never Get Over You” was a very catchy, harmonised, song in the style of many of the new bands that were becoming popular, and it’s an enjoyable record, but it’s not really in the Pirates’ style: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, “I’ll Never Get Over You”] That made number four on the charts, but it would be Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ last major hit. They did have a minor hit with another song by Mills, “Hungry For Love”, but a much better record, and a much better example of the Pirates’ style, was an R&B single released by the Pirates without Kidd. The plan at the time was that they would be split into two acts in the same way as Cliff Richard and the Shadows — Kidd would be a solo star, while the Pirates would release records of their own. The A-side of the Pirates’ single was a fairly good version of the Willie Dixon song “My Babe”, but to my ears the B-side is better — it’s a version of “Casting My Spell”, a song originally by an obscure duo called the Johnson Brothers, but popularised by Johnny Otis. The Pirates’ version is quite possibly the finest early British R&B record I’ve heard: [Excerpt: The Pirates, “Casting My Spell”] That didn’t chart, and the plan to split the two acts failed. Neither act ever had another hit again, and eventually the classic Mick Green lineup of the Pirates split up — Green left first, to join Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, and the rest left one by one. In 1965, The Guess Who had a hit in the US with their cover version of “Shakin’ All Over”: [Excerpt: The Guess Who, “Shakin’ All Over”] The Pirates were reduced to remaking their own old hit as “Shakin’ All Over ’65” in an attempt to piggyback on that cover version, but the new version, which was dominated by a Hammond organ part, didn’t have any success. After the Pirates left Kidd, he got a new group, which he called the New Pirates. He continued making extremely good records on occasion, but had no success at all. Even though younger bands like the Rolling Stones and the Animals were making music very similar to his, he was regarded as an outdated novelty act, a relic of an earlier age from six years earlier. There was always the potential for him to have a comeback, but then in 1966 Kidd, who was never a very good driver and had been in a number of accidents, arrived late at a gig in Bolton. The manager refused to let him on stage because he’d arrived so late, so he drove off to find another gig. He’d been driving most of the day, and he crashed the car and died, as did one person in the vehicle he crashed into. His final single, “Send For That Girl”, was released after his death. It’s really a very good record, but at the time Kidd’s fortunes were so low that even his death didn’t make it chart: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the New Pirates, “Send For That Girl”] Kidd was only thirty when he died, and already a has-been, but he left behind the most impressive body of work of any pre-Beatles British act. Various lineups of Pirates have occasionally played since — including, at one point, Cattini and Gregg playing with Joe Moretti’s son Joe Moretti Jr — but none have ever captured that magic that gave millions of people quivers down the backbone and shakes in the kneebone.

Episode eighty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Shakin' All Over" by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and how the first great British R&B band interacted with the entertainment industry. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode, on "Under Your Spell Again" by Buck Owens. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ ----more---- Resources   As usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. Only one biography of Kidd has been written, and that's been out of print for nearly a quarter of a century and goes for ridiculous prices. Luckily Adie Barrett's site http://www.johnnykidd.co.uk/ is everything a fan-site should be, and has a detailed biographical section which I used for the broad-strokes outline. Clem Cattini: My Life, Through the Eye of a Tornado is somewhere between authorised biography and autobiography. It's not the best-written book ever, but it contains a lot of information about Clem's life. Spike & Co by Graham McCann gives a very full account of Associated London Scripts. Pete Frame's The Restless Generation is the best book available looking at British 50s rock and roll from a historical perspective. Be warned, though -- his jokey and irreverent style can, when dealing with people like Larry Parnes (who was gay and Jewish) very occasionally tip over into reinforcing homophobic and anti-semitic stereotypes for an easy laugh. Billy Bragg's Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is one of the best books I've read on music at all, and gives far more detail about the historical background. And a fair chunk of the background information here also comes from the extended edition of Mark Lewisohn's Tune In, which is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Beatles, British post-war culture, and British post-war music.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript As we get more into this story, we're going to see a lot more British acts becoming part of it. We've already looked at Lonnie Donegan, Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele, and Vince Taylor, but without spoiling anything I think most of you can guess that over the next year or so we're going to see a few guitar bands from the UK enter the narrative. Today we're going to look at one of the most important British bands of the early sixties -- a band who are now mostly known for one hit and a gimmick, but who made a massive contribution to the sound of rock music. We're going to look at Johnny Kidd and the Pirates: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "Shakin' All Over"] Our story starts during the skiffle boom of 1957. If you don't remember the episodes we did on skiffle and early British rock and roll, it was a musical craze that swept Britain after Lonnie Donegan's surprise hit with "Rock Island Line". For about eighteen months, nearly every teenage boy in Britain was in a group playing a weird mix of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie songs, old folk tunes, and music-hall numbers, with a lineup usually consisting of guitar, banjo, someone using a washboard as percussion, and a homemade double bass made out of a teachest, a broom handle, and a single string. The skiffle craze died away as quickly as it started out, but it left a legacy -- thousands of young kids who'd learned at least three chords, who'd performed in public, and who knew that it was possible to make music without having gone through the homogenising star-making process. That would have repercussions throughout the length of this story, and to this day. But while almost everyone in a skiffle group was a kid, not everyone was. Obviously the big stars of the genre -- Lonnie Donegan, Chas McDevitt, the Vipers -- were all in their twenties when they became famous, and so were some of the amateurs who tried to jump on the bandwagon. In particular, there was Fred Heath. Heath was twenty-one when skiffle hit, and was already married -- while twenty-one might seem young now, at the time, it was an age when people were meant to have settled down and found a career. But Heath wasn't the career sort. There were rumours about him which attest to the kind of person he was perceived as being -- that he was a bookie's runner, that he'd not been drafted because he was thought to be completely impossible to discipline, that he had been working as a painter in a warehouse and urinated on the warehouse floor from the scaffolding he was on -- and he was clearly not someone who was *ever* going to settle down. The first skiffle band Heath formed was called Bats Heath and the Vampires, and featured Heath on vocals and rhythm guitar, Brian Englund on banjo, Frank Rouledge on lead guitar, and Clive Lazell on washboard. The group went through a variety of names, at one point naming themselves the Frantic Four in what seems to have been an attempt to confuse people into thinking they were seeing Don Lang's Frantic Five, the group who often appeared on Six-Five Special: [Excerpt: Don Lang and his Frantic Five, "Six-Five Hand Jivel"] The group went through the standard lineup and name changes that almost every amateur group went through, and they ended up as a five-piece group called the Five Nutters. And it was as the Five Nutters that they made their first attempts at becoming stars, when they auditioned for Carroll Levis. Levis was one of the most important people in showbusiness in the UK at this time. He'd just started a TV series, but for years before that his show had been on Radio Luxembourg, which was for many teenagers in the UK the most important radio station in the world. At the time, the BBC had a legal monopoly on radio broadcasting in the UK, but they had a couple of problems when it came to attracting a teenage audience. The first was that they had to provide entertainment for *everyone*, and so they couldn't play much music that only appealed to teenagers but was detested by adults. But there was a much bigger problem for the BBC when it came to recorded music. In the 1950s, the BBC ran three national radio stations -- the Light Programme, the Home Service, and the Third Programme -- along with one national TV channel. The Musicians' Union were worried that playing recorded music on these would lead to their members losing work, and so there was an agreement called "needletime", which allowed the BBC to use recorded music for twenty-two hours a week, total, across all three radio stations, plus another three hours for the TV. That had to cover every style of music from Little Richard through to Doris Day through to Beethoven. The rest of the time, if they had music, it had to be performed by live musicians, and so you'd be more likely to hear "Rock Around the Clock" as performed by the Northern Dance Orchestra than Bill Haley's version, and much of the BBC's youth programming had middle-aged British session musicians trying to replicate the sound of American records and failing miserably. But Luxembourg didn't have a needle-time rule, and so a commercial English-language station had been set up there, using transmitters powerful enough to reach most of Britain and Ireland. The station was owned and run in Britain, and most of the shows were recorded in London by British DJs like Brian Matthew, Jimmy Savile, and Alan Freeman, although there were also recordings of Alan Freed's show broadcast on it. The shows were mostly sponsored by record companies, who would make the DJs play just half of the record, so they could promote more songs in their twenty-minute slot, and this was the main way that any teenager in Britain would actually be able to hear rock and roll music. Oddly, even though he spent many years on Radio Luxembourg, Levis' show, which had originally been on the BBC before the War, was not a music show, but a talent show. Whether on his original BBC radio show, the Radio Luxembourg one, or his new TV show, the format was the same. He would alternate weeks between broadcasting and talent scouting. In talent scouting weeks he would go to a different city each week, where for five nights in a row he would put on talent shows featuring up to twenty different local amateur acts doing their party pieces -- without payment, of course, just for the exposure. At the end of the show, the audience would get a chance to clap for each act, and the act that got the loudest applause would go through to a final on the Saturday night. This of course meant that acts that wanted to win would get a lot of their friends and family to come along and cheer for them. The Saturday night would then have the winning acts -- which is to say, those who brought along the most paying customers -- compete against each other. The most popular of *those* acts would then get to appear on Levis' TV show the next week. It was, as you can imagine, an extremely lucrative business. When the Five Nutters appeared on Levis' Discoveries show, they were fairly sure that the audience clapped loudest for them, but they came third. Being the type of person he was, Fred Heath didn't take this lying down, and remonstrated with Levis, who eventually promised to get the Nutters some better gigs, one suspects just to shut Heath up. As a result of Levis putting in a good word for them, they got a few appearances at places like the 2Is, and made an appearance on the BBC's one concession to youth culture on the radio -- a new show called Saturday Skiffle Club. Around this time, the Five Nutters also recorded a demo disc. The first side was a skiffled-up version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll", with some extremely good jazzy lead guitar: [Excerpt: Fred Heath and the Five Nutters, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll"] I've heard quite a few records of skiffle groups, mostly by professionals, and it's clear that the Five Nutters were far more musical, and far more interesting, than most of them, even despite the audible sloppiness here. The point of skiffle was meant to be that it was do-it-yourself music that required no particular level of skill -- but in this case the Nutters' guitarist Frank Rouledge was clearly quite a bit more proficient than the run-of-the-mill skiffle guitarist. What was even more interesting about that recording, though, was the B-side, which was a song written by the group. It seems to have been mostly written by Heath, and it's called "Blood-Red Beauty" because Heath's wife was a redhead: [Excerpt: Fred Heath and the Five Nutters, "Blood Red Beauty"] The song itself is fairly unexceptional -- it's a standard Hank Williams style hillbilly boogie -- but at this time there was still in Britain a fairly hard and fast rule which had performers and songwriters as two distinct things. There were a handful of British rock musicians who were attempting to write their own material -- most prominently Billy Fury, a Larry Parnes artist who I'm afraid we don't have space for in the podcast, but who was one of the most interesting of the late-fifties British acts -- but in general, there was a fairly strict demarcation. It was very unusual for a British performer to also be trying to write songs. The Nutters split up shortly after their Saturday Skiffle Club appearance, and Heath formed various other groups called things like The Fabulous Freddie Heath Band and The Fred, Mike & Tom Show, before going back to the old name, with a new lineup of Freddie Heath and the Nutters consisting of himself on vocals, Mike West and Tom Brown -- who had been the Mike and Tom in The Fred, Mike, & Tom Show, on backing vocals, Tony Doherty on rhythm guitar, Ken McKay on drums, Johnny Gordon on bass, and on lead guitar Alan Caddy, a man who was known by the nickname "tea", which was partly a pun on his name, partly a reference to his drinking copious amounts of tea, and partly Cockney rhyming slang -- tea-leaf for thief -- as he was known for stealing cars. The Nutters got a new agent, Don Toy, and manager, Guy Robinson, but Heath seemed mostly to want to be a songwriter rather than a singer at this point. He was looking to place his songs with other artists, and in early 1959, he did. He wrote a song called "Please Don't Touch", and managed to get it placed with a vocal group called the Bachelors -- not the more famous group of that name, but a minor group who recorded for Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI run by a young producer named George Martin. "Please Don't Touch" came out as the B-side of a Bachelors record: [Excerpt: The Bachelors, "Please Don't Touch"] One notable thing about the songwriting credit -- while most sources say Fred Heath wrote the song by himself, he gave Guy Robinson a co-writing credit on this and many of his future songs. This was partly because it was fairly standard at the time for managers to cut themselves in on their artists' credits, but also because that way the credit could read Heath Robinson -- Heath Robinson was a famous British cartoonist who was notable for drawing impossibly complicated inventions, and whose name had become part of the British language -- for American listeners, imagine that the song was credited to Rube Goldberg, and you'll have the idea. At this point, the Nutters had become quite a professional organisation, and so it was unsurprising that after "Please Don't Touch" brought Fred Heath to the attention of EMI, a different EMI imprint, HMV, signed them up. Much of the early success of the Nutters, and this professionalism, seems to be down to Don Toy, who seems to have been a remarkably multi-talented individual. As well as being an agent who had contracts with many London venues to provide them with bands, he was also an electrical engineer specialising in sound equipment. He built a two-hundred watt bass amp for the group, at a time when almost every band just put their bass guitar through a normal guitar amp, and twenty-five watts was considered quite loud. He also built a portable tape echo device that could be used on stage to make Heath's voice sound like it would on the records. Heath later bought the first Copicat echo unit to be made -- this was a mass-produced device that would be used by a lot of British bands in the early sixties, and Heath's had serial number 0001 -- but before that became available, he used Toy's device, which may well have been the very first on-stage echo device in the UK. On top of that, Toy has also claimed that most of the songs credited to Heath and Robinson were also co-written by him, but he left his name off because the credit looked better without it. And whether or not that's true, he was also the drummer on this first session -- Ken McKay, the Nutters' drummer, was a bit unsteady in his tempo, and Toy was a decent player and took over from him when in April 1959, Fred Heath and the Nutters went into Abbey Road Studio 2, to record their own version of "Please Don't Touch". This was ostensibly produced by HMV producer Walter Ridley, but Ridley actually left rock and roll records to his engineer, Peter Sullivan: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "Please Don't Touch"] It was only when the session was over that they saw the paperwork for it. Fred Heath was the only member of the Nutters to be signed to EMI, with the rest of the group being contracted as session musicians, but that was absolutely normal for the time period -- Tommy Steele's Steelmen and Cliff Richard's Drifters hadn't been signed as artists either. What they were concerned about was the band name on the paperwork -- it didn't say Fred Heath and the Nutters, but Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. They were told that that was going to be their new name. They never did find out who it was who had decided on this for them, but from now on Fred Heath was Johnny Kidd. The record was promoted on Radio Luxembourg, and everyone thought it was going to go to number one. Unfortunately, strike action prevented that, and the record was only a moderate chart success -- the highest position it hit in any of the UK charts at the time was number twenty on the Melody Maker chart. But that didn't stop it from becoming an acknowledged classic of British rock and roll. It was so popular that it actually saw an American cover version, which was something that almost never happened with British songs, though Chico Holliday's version was unsuccessful: [Excerpt: Chico Holliday, "Please Don't Touch"] It remained such a fond memory for British rockers that in 1980 the heavy metal groups Motorhead and Girlschool recorded it as the supergroup HeadGirl, and it became the biggest hit either group ever had, reaching number five in the British charts: [Excerpt: Headgirl, "Please Don't Touch"] But while "Please Don't Touch" was one of the very few good rock and roll records made in Britain, it wasn't the one for which Johnny Kidd and the Pirates would be remembered. It was, though, enough to make them a big act. They toured the country on a bill compered by Liverpool comedian Jimmy Tarbuck, and they made several appearances on Saturday Club, which had now dropped the "skiffle" name and was the only place anyone could hear rock and roll on BBC radio. Of course, the British record industry having the immense sense of potential it did, HMV immediately capitalised on the success of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates doing a great group performance of an original rock and roll number, by releasing as a follow-up single, a version of the old standard "If You Were the Only Girl in the World and I Were the Only Boy" by Johnny without the Pirates, but with chorus and orchestra conducted by Ivor Raymonde: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd, "If You Were The Only Girl in the World"] For some reason -- I can't imagine why -- that didn't chart. One suspects that young Lemmy wasn't quite as fond of that one as "Please Don't Touch". The B-side was a quite good rocker, with some nice guitar work from the session guitarist Bert Weedon, but no-one bothered to buy the record at the time, so they didn't turn it over to hear the other side. The follow-up was better -- a reworking of Marv Johnson's "You've Got What it Takes", one of the hits that Berry Gordy had been writing and producing for Johnson. Johnson's version made the top five in the UK, but the Pirates' version still made the top thirty. But by this time there had been some changes. The first change that was made was that the Pirates changed manager -- while Robinson would continue getting songwriting credits, the group were now managed through Associated London Scripts, by Stan "Scruffy" Dale. Associated London Scripts was, as the name suggests, primarily a company that produced scripts. It was started as a writers' co-operative, and in its early days it was made up of seven people. There was Frankie Howerd, one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the time, who was always looking for new material; Spike Milligan, the writer and one of the stars of the Goon Show, the most important surreal comedy of the fifties; Eric Sykes, who was a writer-performer who was involved in almost every important comedy programme of the decade, including co-writing many Goon episodes with Milligan, before becoming a TV star himself; Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who wrote the most important *sitcom* of the fifties and early sixties, Hancock's Half Hour; and Scruffy Dale, who was Howerd and Sykes' manager and was supposed to take care of the business stuff. In fact, though, most of the business was actually taken care of by the seventh person and only woman, Beryl Vertue, who was taken on as the secretary on the basis of an interview that mostly asked about her tea-making skills, but soon found herself doing almost everything -- the men in the office got so used to asking her "Could you make the tea, Beryl?", "Could you type up this script, Beryl?" that they just started asking her things like "Could you renegotiate our contract with the BBC, Beryl?" She eventually became one of the most important women in the TV industry, with her most recent prominent credit being as executive producer on the BBC's Sherlock up until 2017, more than sixty years after she joined the business. Vertue did all the work to keep the company running -- a company which grew to about thirty writers, and between the early fifties and mid sixties, as well as Hancock's Half Hour and the Goons, its writers created Sykes, Beyond Our Ken, Round the Horne, Steptoe and Son, The Bedsitting Room, the Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film, Til Death Us Do Part, Citizen James, and the Daleks. That's a list off the top of my head -- it would actually be easier to list memorable British comedy programmes and films of the fifties and early sixties that *didn't* have a script from one of ALS' writers. And while Vertue was keeping Marty Feldman, John Junkin, Barry Took, Johnny Speight, John Antrobus and all the rest of these new writers in work, Scruffy Dale was trying to create a career in pop management. As several people associated with ALS had made records with George Martin at Parlophone, he had an in there, and some of the few pop successes that Martin had in the fifties were producing acts managed by Dale through ALS, like the Vipers Skiffle Group: [Excerpt: The Vipers Skiffle Group, "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O"] and a young performer named Jim Smith, who wanted to be a comedian and actor, but who Dale renamed after himself, and who had a string of hits as Jim Dale: [Excerpt: Jim Dale, "Be My Girl"] Jim Dale eventually did become a film and TV star, starting with presenting Six-Five Special, and is now best known for having starred in many of the Carry On films and narrating the Harry Potter audiobooks, but at the time he was still a pop star. Jim Dale and the Vipers were the two professional acts headlining an otherwise-amateur tour that Scruffy Dale put together that was very much like Carroll Levis' Discoveries show, except without the need to even give the winners a slot on the TV every other week. This tour was supposed to be a hunt for the country's best skiffle group, and there was going to be a grand national final, and the winner of *that* would go on TV. Except they just kept dragging the tour out for eighteen months, until the skiffle fad was completely over and no-one cared, so there never was a national final. And in the meantime the Vipers had to sit through twenty groups of spotty kids a night, all playing "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O", and then go out and play it themselves, every night for eighteen months. Scruffy Dale was unscrupulous in other ways as well, and not long after he'd taken on the Pirates' management he was sacked from ALS. Spike Milligan had never liked Dale -- when told that Dale had lost a testicle in the war, he'd merely replied "I hope he dropped it on Dresden" -- but Frankie Howerd and Eric Sykes had always been impressed with his ability to negotiate deals. But then Frankie Howerd found out that he'd missed out on lucrative opportunities because Dale had shoved letters in his coat pocket and forgotten about them for a fortnight. He started investigating a few more things, and it turned out that Dale had been siphoning money from Sykes and Howerd's personal bank accounts into his own, having explained to their bank manager that it would just be resting in his account for them, because they were showbiz people who would spend it all too fast, so he was looking after them. And he'd also been doing other bits of creative accounting -- every success his musical acts had was marked down as something he'd done independently, and all the profits went to him, while all the unsuccessful ventures were marked down as being ALS projects, and their losses charged to the company. So neither Dale nor the Pirates were with Associated London Scripts very long. But Dale made one very important change -- he and Don Toy decided between them that most of the Pirates had to go. There were six backing musicians in the group if you counted the two backing vocalists, who all needed paying, and only one could read music -- they weren't professional enough to make a career in the music business. So all of the Pirates except Alan Caddy were sacked. Mike West and Tony Doherty formed another band, Robby Hood and His Merry Men, whose first single was written by Kidd (though it's rare enough I've not been able to find a copy anywhere online). The new backing group was going to be a trio, modelled on Johnny Burnette's Rock and Roll Trio -- just one guitar, bass, and drums. They had Caddy on lead guitar, Clem Cattini on drums, and Brian Gregg on bass. Cattini was regarded as by far the best rock drummer in Britain at the time. He'd played with Terry Dene's backing band the Dene Aces, and can be seen glumly backing Dene in the film The Golden Disc: [Excerpt: Terry Dene, "Candy Floss"] Gregg had joined Dene's band, and they'd both then moved on to be touring musicians for Larry Parnes, backing most of the acts on a tour featuring Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran that we'll be looking at next week. They'd played with various of Parnes' acts for a while, but had then asked for more money, and he'd refused, so they'd quit working for Parnes and joined Vince Taylor and the Playboys. They'd only played with the Playboys a few weeks when they moved on to Chas McDevitt's group. For a brief time, McDevitt had been the biggest star in skiffle other than Lonnie Donegan, but he was firmly in the downward phase of his career at this point. McDevitt also owned a coffee bar, the Freight Train, named after his biggest hit, and most of the musicians in London would hang out there. And after Clem Cattini and Brian Gregg had joined the Pirates, it was at the Freight Train that the song for which the group would be remembered was written. They were going to go into the studio to record another song chosen by the record label -- a version of the old standard "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" -- because EMI had apparently not yet learned that if you had Johnny Kidd record old standards, no-one bought it, but if you had him record bluesy rock and roll you had a hit. But they'd been told they could write their own B-side, as they'd been able to on the last few singles. They were also allowed to bring in Joe Moretti to provide a second guitar -- Moretti, who had played the solo on "Brand New Cadillac", was an old friend of Clem Cattini's, and they thought he'd add something to the record, and also thought they'd be doing him a favour by letting him make a session fee -- he wasn't a regular session player. So they all got together in the Freight Train coffee bar, and wrote another Heath/Robinson number. They weren't going to do anything too original for a B-side, of course. They nicked a rhythm guitar part from "Linda Lu", a minor US hit that Lee Hazelwood had produced for a Chuck Berry soundalike named Ray Sharpe, and which was itself clearly lifted from “Speedoo” by the Cadillacs: [Excerpt: Ray Sharpe, "Linda Lu"] They may also have nicked Joe Moretti's lead guitar part as well, though there's more doubt about this. There's a Mickey and Sylvia record, "No Good Lover", which hadn't been released in the UK at the time, so it's hard to imagine how they could have heard it, but the lead guitar part they hit on was very, very similar -- maybe someone had played it on Radio Luxembourg: [Excerpt: Mickey and Sylvia, "No Good Lover"] They combined those musical ideas with a lyric that was partly a follow-on to the line in "Please Don't Touch" about shaking too much, and partly a slightly bowdlerised version of a saying that Kidd had -- when he saw a woman he found particularly attractive, he'd say "She gives me quivers in me membranes". As it was a B-side, the track they recorded only took two takes, plus a brief overdub for Moretti to add some guitar shimmers, created by him using a cigarette lighter as a slide: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "Shakin' All Over"] The song was knocked off so quickly that they even kept in a mistake -- before the guitar solo, Clem Cattini was meant to play just a one-bar fill. Instead he played for longer, which was very unlike Cattini, who was normally a professional's professional. He asked for another take, but the producer just left it in, and that break going into the solo was one of the things that people latched on to: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "Shakin' All Over"] Despite the track having been put together from pre-existing bits, it had a life and vitality to it that no other British record except "Brand New Cadillac" had had, and Kidd had the added bonus of actually being able to hold a tune, unlike Vince Taylor. The record company quickly realised that "Shakin' All Over" should be the record that they were pushing, and flipped the single. The Pirates appeared on Wham!, the latest Jack Good TV show, and immediately the record charted. It soon made number one, and became the first real proof to British listeners that British people could make rock and roll every bit as good as the Americans -- at this point, everyone still thought Vince Taylor was from America. It was possibly Jack Good who also made the big change to Johnny Kidd's appearance -- he had a slight cast in one eye that got worse as the day went on, with his eyelid drooping more and more. Someone -- probably Good -- suggested that he should make this problem into an advantage, by wearing an eyepatch. He did, and the Pirates got pirate costumes to wear on stage, while Kidd would frantically roam the stage swinging a cutlass around. At this point, stagecraft was something almost unknown to British rock performers, who rarely did more than wear a cleanish suit and say "thank you" after each song. The only other act that was anything like as theatrical was Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, a minor act who had ripped off Screamin' Jay Hawkins' act. The follow-up, "Restless", was very much "Shakin' All Over" part two, and made the top thirty. After that, sticking with the formula, they did a version of "Linda Lu", but that didn't make the top forty at all. Possibly the most interesting record they made at this point was a version of "I Just Want to Make Love to You", a song Willie Dixon had written for Muddy Waters: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "I Just Want to Make Love to You"] The Pirates were increasingly starting to include blues and R&B songs in their set, and the British blues boom artists of the next few years would often refer to the Pirates as being the band that had inspired them. Clem Cattini still says that Johnny Kidd was the best British blues singer he ever heard. But as their singles were doing less and less well, the Pirates decided to jump ship. Colin Hicks, Tommy Steele's much less successful younger brother, had a backing band called the Cabin Boys, which Brian Gregg had been in before joining Terry Dene's band. Hicks had now started performing an act that was based on Kidd's, and for a tour of Italy, where he was quite popular, he wanted a new band -- he asked the Pirates if they would leave Kidd and become the latest lineup of Cabin Boys, and they left, taking their costumes with them. Clem Cattini now says that agreeing was the worst move he ever made, but they parted on good terms -- Kidd said "Alan, Brian and Clem left me to better themselves. How could I possibly begrudge them their opportunity?" We'll be picking up the story of Alan, Brian, and Clem in a few months' time, but in the meantime, Kidd picked up a new backing band, who had previously been performing as the Redcaps, backing a minor singer called Cuddly Dudley on his single "Sitting on a Train": [Excerpt: Cuddly Dudley and the Redcaps, "Sitting on a Train"] That new lineup of Pirates didn't last too long before the guitarist quit, due to ill health, but he was soon replaced by Mick Green, who is now regarded by many as one of the great British guitarists of all time, to the extent that Wilko Johnson, another British guitarist who came to prominence about fifteen years later, has said that he spent his entire career trying and failing to sound like MIck Green. In 1962 and 63 the group were playing clubs where they found a lot of new bands who they seemed to have things in common with. After playing the Cavern in Liverpool and a residency at the Star Club in Hamburg, they added Richie Barrett's "Some Other Guy" and Arthur Alexander's "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" to their sets, two R&B numbers that were very popular among the Liverpool bands playing in Hamburg but otherwise almost unknown in the UK. Unfortunately, their version of "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" didn't chart, and their record label declined to issue their version of "Some Other Guy" -- and then almost immediately the Liverpool group The Big Three released their version as a single, and it made the top forty. As the Pirates' R&B sound was unsuccessful -- no-one seemed to want British R&B, at all -- they decided to go the other way, and record a song written by their new manager, Gordon Mills (who would later become better known for managing Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdinck). "I'll Never Get Over You" was a very catchy, harmonised, song in the style of many of the new bands that were becoming popular, and it's an enjoyable record, but it's not really in the Pirates' style: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, "I'll Never Get Over You"] That made number four on the charts, but it would be Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' last major hit. They did have a minor hit with another song by Mills, "Hungry For Love", but a much better record, and a much better example of the Pirates' style, was an R&B single released by the Pirates without Kidd. The plan at the time was that they would be split into two acts in the same way as Cliff Richard and the Shadows -- Kidd would be a solo star, while the Pirates would release records of their own. The A-side of the Pirates' single was a fairly good version of the Willie Dixon song "My Babe", but to my ears the B-side is better -- it's a version of "Casting My Spell", a song originally by an obscure duo called the Johnson Brothers, but popularised by Johnny Otis. The Pirates' version is quite possibly the finest early British R&B record I've heard: [Excerpt: The Pirates, "Casting My Spell"] That didn't chart, and the plan to split the two acts failed. Neither act ever had another hit again, and eventually the classic Mick Green lineup of the Pirates split up -- Green left first, to join Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, and the rest left one by one. In 1965, The Guess Who had a hit in the US with their cover version of "Shakin' All Over": [Excerpt: The Guess Who, "Shakin' All Over"] The Pirates were reduced to remaking their own old hit as "Shakin' All Over '65" in an attempt to piggyback on that cover version, but the new version, which was dominated by a Hammond organ part, didn't have any success. After the Pirates left Kidd, he got a new group, which he called the New Pirates. He continued making extremely good records on occasion, but had no success at all. Even though younger bands like the Rolling Stones and the Animals were making music very similar to his, he was regarded as an outdated novelty act, a relic of an earlier age from six years earlier. There was always the potential for him to have a comeback, but then in 1966 Kidd, who was never a very good driver and had been in a number of accidents, arrived late at a gig in Bolton. The manager refused to let him on stage because he'd arrived so late, so he drove off to find another gig. He'd been driving most of the day, and he crashed the car and died, as did one person in the vehicle he crashed into. His final single, "Send For That Girl", was released after his death. It's really a very good record, but at the time Kidd's fortunes were so low that even his death didn't make it chart: [Excerpt: Johnny Kidd and the New Pirates, "Send For That Girl"] Kidd was only thirty when he died, and already a has-been, but he left behind the most impressive body of work of any pre-Beatles British act. Various lineups of Pirates have occasionally played since -- including, at one point, Cattini and Gregg playing with Joe Moretti's son Joe Moretti Jr -- but none have ever captured that magic that gave millions of people quivers down the backbone and shakes in the kneebone.

A doctor of neuroscience by training and a former Royal Society fellow at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Rachel Genn's debut novel The Cure was published by Corsair in 2011. Her second novel, What You Could Have Won, is due for publication in 2020 by Sheffield-based publisher And Other Stories. She teaches creative writing MA programmes at Sheffield and the Manchester Writing School. Keith Hutson's much anticipated debut collection, Baldwin's Catholic Geese, was published to acclaim by Bloodaxe in 2019. A prolific comedy writer for stand-ups including Les Dawson and Frankie Howerd and a scriptwriter for Coronation Street, Keith has had more than 150 poems published in journals and anthologies. His pamphlet, Troupers, was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice publication.

This week we review - Frankie Howerd (Series 2 Episode 4)Originally made for and broadcast on BBC Radio 2, there isn't a huge amount written about this Frankie Howerd show which seems somewhat confused by it's own identity. Named in listings and on the BBC website as simply 'Frankie Howerd' but rereferred to in the show as 'Frankie Howerd's Illustrious Memoirs' and even named in some quarters as 'The Frankie Howerd Show' (a throwback to his 1966 radio show), this radio show spanned twenty episodes, divided into three series between 1973 and 1975.A cross between stand up and a meandering sketch show, it was recorded in front of a studio audience with the assistance of June Whitfield, Ray Fell, Olwyn Griffiths and a four piece band.In this episode, Frankie is accused of being a spy, gets hypnotised and joins a local literary group. Written by David McKellar & David NobbsProduced by David HatchA BBC Production.Frankie Howerd is available here: https://bbc.in/2VVX0roThe Comedy Slab Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, Spotify and Youtube.Subscribe for a new episode each Monday.Get in touch - we're @ComedySlab on Twitter and ComedySlab on Facebook.

With fascinating stories of his time working with some of the icons of British Comedy including Frankie Howerd, Peter Cook and Roy Hudd, Writer and comedian Julian Dutton reflects on his career in comedy. To find out more information about this and my other interviews, please go to my website: www.beyondthetitle.co.uk www.facebook.com/beyondthetitle

In today's episode Robert Ross, Britain's Comedy Historian, shares his personal tribute to the king of titters, Frankie Howerd. He discusses Frankie's life, his involvement with the Carry On Films and Up Pompeii. 

Just the Tip Episode 6: Live and Let Live Not Live As Carlsberg would never say… Probably the most inept podcast ever made. Kit and Sands turn their own life Wins into Life Woes while entertaining some pretty eccentric guests. Who else can get an eclectic list like James Mason, Frankie Howerd (and yes millennials! It is spelled that way), Bob Geldof and Tony Montana from Scarface. A Ribald time is had by all trying to help the helpless. Actually it all falls apart as it always does. Listen. Or don’t listen. I would recommend anything else on iTunes The Show Notes Don’t let the fact that James Mason has been dead since 1984. He was happy to be on our show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mason Want to see a website that looks like it hasn’t been updated since 1995? Click the link below to see the god Bob Geldof’s timeworn portal to his wise brain http://www.bobgeldof.com Everyone knows Tony ‘’DA MAN” Montana so check out this amazing Pinterest board https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/320740804683068901/ Also the Just the Tip team have a website that is occasionally updated http://fuzzydice.co.uk

So it turns out that Peter Frampton sucks - oh you knew that already? The Brothers Gibb surround themselves by people who can't sign and play as well as they do and let everyone else drag them into the depths of garbage. But Barry's hair looks amazing, at least. Sgt Pepper's on it's face is a "do not do" movie before it even starts - you don't cover The Beatles unless you really are supremely talented, which The Bee Gees completely are, but the problem is that they allowed other people to be involved. You've got George Burns, Steve Martin, Alice Cooper, Peter Nicholas (yeah, who?), Donald Pleasance, Stargard and Frankie Howerd all covering Beatles tracks. Look, only a few people get to do that and none of you are qualified. Stop it! Stop IT! And leading the "not-good-at-stuff" is the constant O-faced, Peter Frampton. He is the absolute worst. Consistently off-key and when "on" his face is off. His "acting" (he doesn't utter a single line of dialogue) is about as good as his mouth guitar. As a whole, Sgt. Pepper's is a complete disaster and nothing works within it's pieces. Yet it doesn't have any of the yummy crummy goodness like The Apple, Breakin 2 or Can't Stop the Music. It has its occasional moments but you have to look at Peter Frampton to get to those points so its not really a fair trade-off.

British painter Peter Blake takes listeners on a magical journey in an old char-à-banc bus. He is joined by characters who have peopled his imagination over the years - Elvis, Ian Dury, Frankie Howerd, Kim Novak to name a few...one in particular though is the White Knight played by John Hurt. Produced for BBC Radio 3

John presents a Hannam Archive from 1980 featuring FRANKIE HOWERD.

This week we're playing word games. Featuring the origin of faffing, arse-ropes, bum fodder, Salvador Dali meeting Frankie Howerd, Susie's middle of the night blues and Gyles's star turn as Hamlet. A Somethin' Else Production.Susie's trio of words for the week are:Gigglemug: someone who is permanently cheerful.Coulrophobia: a fear of clowns.Maverick: named after Samuel Augustus Maverick, who left his herd of cattle un-branded. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Show about Frankie Howerd Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

song Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Show About Frankie Howerd Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Parkinson on Frankie Howerd Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

A new episode Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

A new episode Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1973 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Song Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Frankie Howerd Radio Show 1966 with June Whitfield Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

song Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Song Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/frankie-howerd-radio-shows-and-songs/donations

Jazz Conversations with Craig Milverton Special Guest Mike Hatchard recorded live at The Blue Vanguard Jazz Club Exeter Featuring the Craig Milverton Trio, with Coach York with Al Swainger.   For only the second time the club hosted 2 pianos, this podcast is a real treat not only with 2 of the UK's finest pianists but also Mike Hatchard's openness and great humour. We hope you enjoy the podcast. Mike Hatchard has had an extraordinarily diverse career as a musician. He began as the pianist for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and studied piano under Peter Wallfisch and composition with Philip Cannon at the Royal College of Music (winning the composer's prize). Subsequently he toured America as Cleo Laine's accompanist as a member of the John Dankworth Quintet and became Matt Monro's youngest ever musical director. However, a penchant for cartooning and comedy made his career take some unexpected turns. He invented a character ‘Marvin Hanglider', and for many years performed at the Edinburgh Festival, described in the Scotsman as a ‘fringe staple.' This led to cabaret on many of the world's top cruise liners and tours of India and Europe. Having composed literally thousands of songs over the years, often appearing on BBC Local Radio making up songs on the spot for people who phone in, he is delighted to at last have some of his work published by Kevin Mayhew.   Mike drew cartoons for Carlton TV's ‘After the News' and made his own chat show for CTV. He toured as musical director for comedienne Pamela Stephenson, and co-wrote songs with Frankie Howerd and Spike Milligan. For many years he was closely associated with Herbie Flowers (of Sky fame) which included all sorts of work in prisons, in schools and at the Southbank (Mike has also performed his one man show twice at the Purcell Rooms) and in disabled centres. He has also worked with David Essex, the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia, the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Julia Migenes Johnson, Liane Carroll, Alan Barnes, George Martin and Tina May. Recently his career went  full circle when he was asked to compere Cleo Laine's eighty-fifth birthday concert at Wavendon, and also appeared alongside Cleo in the celebrated Christmas Shows to packed audiences. As well as being in demand as a jazz musician and raconteur, Mike plays a good deal of classical music. He regularly does educational and community projects for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and is resident pianist with the Chamber Ensemble of London. He has taught at Trinity College Summer School and Dartington International Summer School as well as at Worth Abbey. Mike recently went back to something he did a lot of in his youth – painting – and has had a few exhibitions mainly on the South Coast. Thanks to Kevin Mayhew for the bio. Craig Milverton http://www.craigmilverton.co.uk  Coach York http://www.gyork.co.uk/coachyork.htm Al Swainger https://www.alswainger.com      

Emily Oldfield is hotly-tipped young writer and poet whose work has been described as weird, dark and wonderful. She is currently an editor at Haunt Manchester, and is a researcher on the Writing Manchester map. She is working on her first pamphlet. Keith Hutson's much anticipated debut collection, Baldwin's Catholic Geese, was published to acclaim by Bloodaxe this year. A prolific comedy writer for stand-ups including Les Dawson and Frankie Howerd and a scriptwriter for Coronation Street, Keith has had more than 150 poems published in journals and anthologies. His pamphlet, Troopers, was selected by Carol Ann Duffy as a Laureate's Choice publication.

John Hannam Meets Frankie Howerd

It's Sgt Pepper...but not as we know it! Tilt and Gary take a trip to Heartland, USA - a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Actor, theatre director and passionate birdwatcher Samuel West presents five very personal stories, beginning with the dipper, followed by the bullfinch, the joy of long tailed tits, and then the Frankie Howerd calling eider and finally the turtle dove, whose song is long lamented in the British Isles.

Toby Hadoke - comedian, actor and TV aficionado - provides today's free podcast and download as he talks to another person involved with Doctor Who's first 54 years on television!

CBeebies Presenter Chris Jarvis looks ahead to the CBeebies Prom by choosing some of his favourite classical music for, and about children, including Saint-Saëns's "Carnival of the Animals", Fauré's "Dolly Suite", Schumann's "Kinderszenen", Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter", Trevor Duncan's "Children in the Park" suite, Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk", and Frankie Howerd's inimitable recording of "Peter and the Wolf".

John Hannam talks with Frankie Howard in a JH Archive from 1980 #FrankieHowerd #JohnHannamMeets #isleofwight

In a look at The Fires of Pompeii and The Aztecs, Ben and Mark discuss rewriting history, the statute of limitations on joking about catastrophic human tragedy and whether or not William Hartnell was the first of the romantic Doctors. Also: An appreciation of 1960's design work, ham fisted attempts to pronounce ancient Mexican names, The Crystal Maze theme tune and Frankie Howerd.

Kirsty Young's castaways this week are the comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. They've been at the rock-face, mining for laughs, for over 40 years and they've given us plenty of gems ... amongst them monologues in the '70s for Frankie Howerd, the era-defining character Alan B'Stard MP, star of The New Statesman, and now the successful revival of their long running and much loved sitcom "Birds of a Feather". Grammar school boys from North London they first met as ten year olds at a youth club, growing up to have 'real jobs' in the civil service and journalism, before finally embarking on the precarious business of making a living from putting words into other people' mouths. Producer: Sarah Taylor.

#doctorwho #tindogpodcast     Midlands premiere convention for Doctor Who fans! Guests Photo Gallery Tickets About Whooverville Counting down to Whooverville 7! 5 September 2015 at QUAD, Derby. 0 7 3 Days 2 2 Hours 0 3 Minutes   Guests More guests will be added as they are confirmed. Please remember all announced guests appear subject to work commitments. Colin Baker For the second successive year we are proud to be bringing a Doctor to Whooverville – and it's an old friend of our group and our convention. We are absolutely delighted to be able to announce that COLIN BAKER has agreed to return to Whooverville.Colin, the Sixth Doctor of course, needs no introduction. If you have yet to see him at a convention you are in for a treat. He is a fabulous guest and a genuinely nice guy.He was the main guest at the very first Whooverville, back in 2009 and we are really looking forward to showing him what we have done with our little convention, as well as to asking him about Big Finish, his part in the 50th Anniversary Celebrations, I'm A Celebrity… and so much more. Many thanks to Colin for agreeing to come back and see us again Guests Jenny T. Colgan Jenny published her first novel in 2000 and is one of the UK's most popular romantic novelists, winning the award for Romantic Novel of the Year in 2013 for Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams. A life-long Who fan, who once won a competition to meet Peter Davison, Jenny's first Doctor Who novel, Dark Horizons was published in 2012. She is also a contributor to the recently published collection of Who novellas, originally published as e-books, Time Trips. Many thanks to our friends at BBC Books for helping to arrange Jenny's appearance at Whooverville. Richard Marson Richard is the author of two acclaimed biographies of Doctor Who producers. JNT: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan Turner, published in 2013, confounded many people's expectations by being a serious, scholarly and above all sympathetic account of the life of the last producer of classic Doctor Who. He has followed this up his year, with his biography of the series' first producer, Drama and Delight: The Life of Verity Lambert, which is garnering rave reviews. Both books are published by Miwk Publishing, to whom our thanks go for facilitating Richard's appearance at Whooverville. Richard was for many years a contributor to Doctor Who Magazine and was editor of Blue Peter between 1998 and 2007. He also produced the fabulous 2012 documentary, Tales of Television Centre. We very much look forward to meeting him. Jeff Cummins Since winning a Magpie art competition with a portrait of George Best in 1969, Jeff has had a successful career as a graphic designer and artist. In the 1970s he worked with the legendary Hipgnosis, designers of album covers, working with artists such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues and Peter Gabriel. His painting for the Paul and Linda McCartneyalbum ‘Wings Over America' propelled him into the international arena. of course he is well-known to Who fans as the designer of the covers of a number of Target books. More information on Jeff and his work can be found at  Many thanks to Jeff for contacting us, we look forward to meeting him. Karen Louise Hollis Karen is an old friend and a member of our group, who is known for her two books relating her convention experiences Un-Conventional and The Other Side of The Table. She is the author of the forthcoming Anthony Ainley biography, The Man Behind The Master, to be published by Fantom Films. Michael Pickwoad Michael is the current Production Manager on Doctor Who, the man ultimately responsible for all art and design matters on the series. The son of War Machines actor William Mervyn, he has never done a convention before. Many thanks to our friend Tristan Peatfield for making the introductions. Dan Starkey Dan has become the go-to-guy for Sontarans both for televised Doctor Who and for Big Finish audios, since appearing in the 10th Doctor Story The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky. He is probably best known as Commander Strax, a role which he first played in the Eleventh Doctor story A Good Man Goes To War and which he has reprised on several occasions since as part of the Paternoster Gang. After 3 seasons in prosthetics as Randal Moon in Wizards vs. Aliens, Dan finally got his face on-screen as Ian the elf in the Doctor Who Christmas Special Last Christmas, before covering himself in glory as part of the winning team in the Christmas 2014 series of University Challenge. Dan is a long-standing Doctor Who fan, which will make it particularly pleasing to welcome him to Whooverville. Terrance Dicks Terrance Dicks is a very old friend of our group, having twice previously visited us for Friday evening meetings, as well as for one of the 625 Lines events at QUAD that we co-organised. Terrance needs no introduction, he is simply the most important writer ever to contribute to Doctor Who and the biggest influence on the show of the last 40 years. Terrance is a great convention guest, a font of fascinating stories and memories, and a genuinely nice, approachable person. If you haven't met him yet, you are in for a treat. David Benson David Benson is perhaps best know to us as the voice of Panda in the Big Finish Iris Wildthyme audio range, for playing Orson Welles in ‘Invaders from Mars', also for Big Finish and (among others) Aleister Crowley in ‘The Scarifyers'. He is also known for his hit one-man show ‘Think No Evil Of Us', based on the life of Kenneth Williams as well as for his similar show based on Frankie Howerd and for playing Noel Cowerd in the BBC comedy show ‘Goodnight Sweetheart'. David made his television Doctor Who debut this year as the Master of Ceremonies of the Archery Contest in ‘Robot of Sherwood'. Matthew Waterhouse The son of a solicitor, Matthew was a great fan of Doctor Who in his younger days and went on to play Adric alongside the 4th and 5th Doctors. Matthew has recently returned to Doctor Who as Adric for Big Finish alongside Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor.   Photo Gallery

Libby Purves meets singer and actor Anita Harris; polar explorer Paul Rose; art historian Vanessa Nicolson and Zoe Phillips, assistant armourer at the Royal Opera House. Zoe Phillips is senior assistant armourer at the Royal Opera House. She makes and maintains weaponry for opera and ballet productions. Her work ranges from knives, swords, and retractable daggers to leather holsters and scabbards and she is currently working on items for a new Royal Opera House production of Rossini's William Tell. Vanessa Nicolson has worked as an art historian and curator. The daughter of Ben Nicolson and granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, she was brought up in London and Florence with holidays at Sissinghurst Castle. In her memoir, Have you been Good? she writes about her parents' marriage and the death of her daughter, Rosa, at 19. Have you been Good? is published by Granta Books. Paul Rose is a polar explorer and ocean diver. He presents a new BBC Two four-part series to mark the 50th anniversary of the 268-mile Pennine Way. He was the base commander of Rothera Research Station in Antarctica for the British Antarctic Survey for ten years and was awarded The Queen's Polar Medal. The Pennine Way is broadcast on BBC Two. Anita Harris is a singer, dancer and actor who is sharing her stories and songs as part of the London Festival of Cabaret. Spotted ice-skating at 15 by a talent scout for the Bluebell Girls, she soon found herself performing with the troupe in Las Vegas. She has worked with acts including Morecambe and Wise; Tommy Cooper and Frankie Howerd and appeared in two Carry On films. Anita Harris is performing at the Pheasantry as part of the London Festival of Cabaret. Producer: Paula McGinley.

Just after the 2nd BBC TV series of the same name, Frankie Howerd returned to the radio for 'The Frankie Howerd Show' which lasted for 10 editions between 24th July and 25th September 1966.    Support in this series was provided by June Whitfield, Wallis Eaton and Robertson Hare. Shop For Frankie Howerd Dvd's and Books

Just after the 2nd BBC TV series of the same name, Frankie Howerd returned to the radio for 'The Frankie Howerd Show' which lasted for 10 editions between 24th July and 25th September 1966.    Support in this series was provided by June Whitfield, Wallis Eaton and Robertson Hare. Shop For Frankie Howerd Dvd's and Books

Just after the 2nd BBC TV series of the same name, Frankie Howerd returned to the radio for 'The Frankie Howerd Show' which lasted for 10 editions between 24th July and 25th September 1966.    Support in this series was provided by June Whitfield, Wallis Eaton and Robertson Hare. Shop For Frankie Howerd Dvd's and Books

Just after the 2nd BBC TV series of the same name, Frankie Howerd returned to the radio for 'The Frankie Howerd Show' which lasted for 10 editions between 24th July and 25th September 1966.    Support in this series was provided by June Whitfield, Wallis Eaton and Robertson Hare. Shop For Frankie Howerd Dvd's and Books

Just after the 2nd BBC TV series of the same name, Frankie Howerd returned to the radio for 'The Frankie Howerd Show' which lasted for 10 editions between 24th July and 25th September 1966.    Support in this series was provided by June Whitfield, Wallis Eaton and Robertson Hare. Shop For Frankie Howerd Dvd's and Books

A master of off-the-wall wordplay, Noel James is disarmingly honest about his struggles with comedy and real life. We analyse his use of metaphor and analogy as well as delving into his psychology, what it's like to commit one's life to comedy, and the public craving for “one voice of truth”. Bangor University, Taunton, One Liners, Gavin Webster, New Zealand, Laurel And Hardy, Monty Python, James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, Spike Milligan, British Telecom, Mark Thomas, Kevin Day, Maria Callas, Graham Norton, Frankie Howerd, Ken Dodd, Time Out, Tunnel Club, Malcolm Hardee, Game Of Thrones, Paul Foot, Phil Kay, Chortle, Daniel Dennett, Colin Wilson, The Outsider, Bill Hicks, Joe Rowntree, SNL, Saturday Night Live, Ben Elton, Arthur Smith, Tim Vine, Glee Club, Selling Out, Eric Sykes See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RHEFT 2013 #6: Rory McGrath, Josh Widdicombe and Carly Smallman - Is It Still My Mind? Rich has been to see Adam Buxton and you will find out if he makes good on the promise of a hand job for the flowers. And he has two guests today. First up Josh Widdicombe who has just slightly trapped his hand in a door, but isn't going to make a bid deal about it. He chats about Million Pound Drop, Tim Lovejoy pretending to be his friend and goes into proper depth on the badger/cow conundrum. And secondly Rory McGrath back on stage at the Fringe for the first time in 23 years, who has indiscreet things to say about Griff Rhys Jones and Frankie Howerd plus memories of Peter Cook. Musical stand-up from Carly Smallman.

TV producer Beryl Vertue is Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs.In the famously fickle world of telly where last year's hero is this year's zero she has stood the test of time. Indeed in TV circles the noun "vertuosity" is defined as "the ability to make enormously successful sitcoms for British television and then sell the formats to the American market".The cast list of her working life is a who's who of quality broadcasting and includes Jack Lemmon, Galton & Simpson, Frankie Howerd, Jack Nicholson and most recently Benedict Cumberbatch.She started out typing Goon Show scripts in the mid 50s, accidentally became an agent, and as a producer she has risen to the very top of her industry, with hits including the rock musical Tommy, the sit-com Men Behaving Badly and the drama series Sherlock.She says "it's terribly important not to know too many rules. If you know rules and obstacles you spend a lot of time dealing with them. If you don't know there's a rule you just do it."Producer: Alison Hughes.

TV producer Beryl Vertue is Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs. In the famously fickle world of telly where last year's hero is this year's zero she has stood the test of time. Indeed in TV circles the noun "vertuosity" is defined as "the ability to make enormously successful sitcoms for British television and then sell the formats to the American market". The cast list of her working life is a who's who of quality broadcasting and includes Jack Lemmon, Galton & Simpson, Frankie Howerd, Jack Nicholson and most recently Benedict Cumberbatch. She started out typing Goon Show scripts in the mid 50s, accidentally became an agent, and as a producer she has risen to the very top of her industry, with hits including the rock musical Tommy, the sit-com Men Behaving Badly and the drama series Sherlock. She says "it's terribly important not to know too many rules. If you know rules and obstacles you spend a lot of time dealing with them. If you don't know there's a rule you just do it." Producer: Alison Hughes.

The weekend when Charlie from Busted and Fightstar went solo and came in for a chat, a load of nudists were up in arms about a block of flats going up overlooking where they like to go starkers, and Jamie Theakston did his best Frankie Howerd impression on ‘Brief Encounters.

Roy Plomley's castaway is comedian Frankie Howerd.Favourite track: Jerusalem by Blake/Parry Book: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Luxury: Cross given to him by his mother

Roy Plomley's castaway is comedian Frankie Howerd. Favourite track: Jerusalem by Blake/Parry Book: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Luxury: Cross given to him by his mother