ITMA
   HOME
*



picture info

ITMA
''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other characters orbited. The programmes were written by Ted Kavanagh and produced by Francis Worsley. Handley died during the twelfth series, the remaining programmes of which were immediately cancelled: ''ITMA'' could not work without him, and no further series were commissioned. ''ITMA'' was a character-driven comedy whose satirical targets included officialdom and the proliferation of minor wartime regulations. Parts of the scripts were rewritten in the hour before the broadcast, to ensure topicality. ''ITMA'' broke away from the conventions of previous radio comedies, and from the humour of the music halls. The shows used sound effects in a novel manner, which, alongside a wide range of voices and accents, created the programme's atmosphere. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Tommy Handley
Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme ''It's That Man Again'' ("''ITMA''") which ran between 1939 and 1949. Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went on the stage in his teens and after military service in the First World War he established himself as a comedian and singer on the music hall circuit. He became nationally known as a pioneer broadcaster. From 1924 onwards he was frequently heard on BBC variety programmes as a solo entertainer and an actor in sketches. In the 1930s Handley frequently performed on air with the comedian Ronald Frankau in a popular comedy act as " Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom". Handley's greatest success came in 1939 with the BBC radio comedy show ''It's That Man Again'', which, after an uncertain start, caught the British public's imagination and reached an unprecedentedly large audience. He starred as the good-natured, fast-talking anchor-man around whom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ted Kavanagh
Henry Edward Kavanagh (7 March 1892 – 17 September 1958) was a British radio scriptwriter and producer. Ted Kavanagh was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1892. He initially studied medicine in Edinburgh before pursuing a career as a writer. He is best remembered as the writer of ''It's That Man Again'' (ITMA), a radio comedy series which ran for a decade from 1939 and was immensely successful. ''ITMA'' was devised by Kavanagh, producer Francis Worsley and the Liverpudian comedian Tommy Handley as Handley's specific vehicle; Kavanagh had been writing for him since 1924, and co-wrote two feature films for Handley, ''It's That Man Again (film), It's That Man Again'' (1943) and science fiction/ comedy ''Time Flies (1944 film), Time Flies'' (1944). Kavanagh's biography of Handley was published in 1949, the year of the comedian's death and the end of their radio show. A prolific writer, ''ITMA'' and his work for Handley constituted only a small proportion of his total oeuvre. In 19 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Francis Worsley
Francis Frederick Worsley (2 June 1902 – 15 September 1949) was a radio producer for the BBC who was known for producing the radio comedy series ''It's That Man Again'' (ITMA) from 1939 to 1949. As a young man, he was briefly a first-class cricketer. Life and career Worsley was educated at Brighton College and Balliol College, Oxford."Obituary: Mr Francis Worsley", ''The Times'', 16 September 1949, p. 7 He was a talented cricketer as a schoolboy and during summer holidays he played for Cardiff Cricket Club, as a result of which he was selected by Glamorgan twice in the 1922 and 1923 seasons.Haigh, p. 147 On coming down from Oxford he entered the Colonial Education Service and worked in the Gold Coast, but within two years his health obliged him to resign. In 1928, Worsley joined the BBC as an assistant in its talks department at Cardiff, and later worked in the corporation's outside broadcasts department and as programme director of the West Region, before joining the var ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


John Watt (broadcaster)
John Watt (27 October 1901 – 23 February 1960) was a British broadcaster and producer. Watt was born on 27 October 1901 at 4 Hidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, London, to Richard Watt, a solicitor, and Minnie (née Dale). He went to Cranleigh School and University College London. Among the shows he worked on as the BBC's Director of Variety were '' Workers' Playtime'' and ''ITMA''. He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme ''Desert Island Discs'' on 3 December 1956. Watt died on 23 February 1960 at home in Montpelier Street, Brighton. His wife Violette (they married in 1927) survived him; she wrote professionally, under the pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ... of Angela Jeans. Further reading * References External links * 1901 bi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

The Goon Show
''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1951, was titled ''Crazy People''; subsequent series had the title ''The Goon Show''. The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan, who performed the series alongside Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and (for the first two series) Michael Bentine. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. There were also light music interludes. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades. Elements of the show satirised contemporary life in 1950s Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, educ ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Round The Horne
''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The fourth was written by Took, Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Donald Webster. Horne's supporting cast comprised Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and, in the first three series, Bill Pertwee. The announcer was Douglas Smith, who also took part in the sketches. All except the last series featured music by Edwin Braden, played by the band "the Hornblowers", with a song in the middle of each show performed by the close-harmony singing group the Fraser Hayes Four; in the fourth series, the music was by Max Harris with a smaller group of players than the earlier series. The show was the successor to ''Beyond Our Ken'', which had run from 1958 to 1964 with largely the same cast. By the time the new series began, television had becom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests. It also oversees online audio content. Of the national radio stations, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Live are all available through analogue radio ( AM or FM (with BBC Radio 4 LW on longwave) as well as on DAB Digital Radio and BBC Sounds. The Asian Network broadcasts on DAB and selected AM frequencies in the English Midlands. BBC Radio 1Xtra, 4 Extra, 5 Sports Extra, 6 Music and the World Service broadcast only on DAB and BBC Sounds, while Radio 1 Dance and Relax streams are available only online. All of the BBC's national radio stations broadcast from bases in London and Manchester, usually in or near to Broadcasting House ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Steve Furst
Steven Jonathan Furst (born 3 September 1967) is a British comedian, actor and writer. He appeared in the Orange mobile phone cinema adverts in the UK (with Brennan Brown), playing the role of Eliot, a spoof studio executive, and has appeared regularly in the BBC comedy television programme '' Little Britain'' as well as cabaret character ''Lenny Beige''. Comedy career He first worked in comedy writing for Chris Evans's ''Power Up'' show on BSB's Power Station music channel in 1990. He then set up Britain's first comedy magazine called ''The Heckler''. In 1992, he worked as a stand-up comedian and promoter, founding comedy nights such as ''The Double Six Club'', ''The Youth Club'', and ''The Regency Rooms''. Lenny Beige Furst also works under the name ''Lenny Beige'', promoted comedy nights (started on the ''Regency Rooms'') and fought the 1997 general election in Putney under that name, and had 2 series on BBC Choice with guests including Terry Wogan, Davina McCall, Cl ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Band Waggon
''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added Diana Clare for two episodes. ''Band Waggon'' was co-produced by Gordon Crier and Harry S. Pepper and was the first comedy show to be designed for radio. Together with ''Monday Night at Eight, Monday Night at Seven'', it established the practice of broadcasting a regular comedy and music programme at the same time each week. The show ended in 1940, allowing Askey to pursue a career in film and Murdoch to join the Royal Air Force. A stage show of the same name and starring Askey and Murdoch was toured by Jack Hylton beginning in November 1938. The show with the addition of Tommy Trinder was playing at the London Palladium when the Second World War broke out. The following year, another version - with Norman Evans in place of T ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World Wars, but the facility was closed in 1956. Scapa Flow has a shallow sandy bottom not deeper than and most of it is about deep; it is one of the great natural harbours and anchorages of the world, with sufficient space to hold a number of navies. The harbour has an area of and contains just under 1 billion cubic metres of water. Since the scuttling of the German fleet after World War I, its wrecks and their marine habitats form an internationally acclaimed diving lo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Danger! Men At Work
''Danger - Men at Work!'' was a British radio comedy programme, broadcast by the BBC over seven series between 1939 and 1947. The show was written and produced, at first, by Max Kester and Anthony Hall, with later series by Kester alone. It was the first British radio comedy in the "crazy" style of the Marx Brothers, and centred on the attempts of wealthy widowed hotel owner Mrs Ponsonby (played by Doris Nichols) to have work done by men who would invariably try to trick her out of her money. The workmen were played in the first series by American double act Van and Allen; in the second series by Jack Train and George Moon; and in later series by Haver and Lee (Clay Keyes and Frank Tully), as the characters Eggblow and Duckweed. A recurring character was Nikolas Ridikoulos, played by Jacques Brown.Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, jo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass media (such as films, internet, literature and publishing, television, and radio). Some become the de facto or literal "trademark" or "signature" of the person or character with whom they originated, and can be instrumental in the typecasting of a particular actor. Catchphrases are often humorous, but are never long enough or structured enough to be jokes in themselves. However, a catchphrase can be (or become) the punchline of a joke, or a reminder of a previous joke. Culture According to Richard Harris, a psychology professor at Kansas State University who studied why people like to cite films in social situations, using film quotes in everyday conversation is similar to telling a joke and a way to form solidarity with others. "People a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]