Listen To Les
''Listen to Les'' was a long-running comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 2 starring Les Dawson. Dawson performed various deadpan monologues and played in a number of recurring character sketches including'' "At Home with the Desponds"'', ''"The Sophisticates"'' and ''"Cissy and Ada"'' supported by other performers including Daphne Oxenford, Colin Edwynn and Roy Barraclough Roy Senior Barraclough (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English comic actor. He was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy, the devious, mournful landlord of the Rovers Return in the long-running British TV soap '' Coronation Street'', .... Every show ended with Dawson calling upon the studio audience to join him in a singalong with a popular or classic song, which he would deliberately play badly at the piano, to great comic effect. BBC Radio comedy programmes {{BBC-radio-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. The Radio 2 about page says: "With a repertoire covering more than 40 years, Radio 2 plays the widest selection of music on the radio—from classic and mainstream pop to a specialist portfolio including classical, country, folk, jazz, soul, rock 'n' roll, gospel and blues." Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between and from studios in Wogan House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are broadcast on FM radio, digital radio via DAB, digital television and BBC Sounds. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 14.4 million with a listening share of 16.1% as of September 2022. History 1967–1986 The network was launched at 5:30am on Saturday 30 September 1967, replacing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Les Dawson
Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife. Early life Les Dawson was born at Collyhurst, Manchester, on 2 February 1931, the only child of bricklayer Leslie Dawson, Sr. (2 August 1905 - 10 April 1970) and Julia Nolan (14 January 1908 - 29 September 1957) who was of Irish descent. His first job was in the parcels department of the Manchester Co-op. He worked briefly as a journalist on the ''Bury Times''. Career Early in life, Dawson wrote poetry and kept it secret. It was not expected that someone of his working class background would have literary ambitions. In a BBC Television documentary, he spoke of his love for canonical figures in English literature, in particular the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb, whose florid style influenced Dawson's. He did, moreover, appear with The Nelson Players in Nelso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Daphne Oxenford
Daphne Margaret du Grivel Oxenford (31 October 1919 – 21 December 2012) was an English actress, known for her early stage roles, and later her radio and television work. She was the voice (''"Are you sitting comfortably ...?"'') of BBC radio's '' Listen with Mother'' from its inception in 1950 to 1971. As spinster Esther Hayes, she was part of the original cast of ''Coronation Street''. Other notable roles include Mrs Plummer in '' Man About the House'' (1973), Alice Dutton in ''EastEnders'' (1990), and Mrs. Oldknow in the mini-series ''The Children of Green Knowe'' (1986). Early life and early career Born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, to chartered accountant Dudley Oxenford and his wife Marie (née du Grivel), a writer of historical fiction, Oxenford first appeared on stage at the age of thirteen and trained at the Embassy School of Acting in Swiss Cottage, North London. She was briefly employed by a bank before working in censorship during World War II while performing in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Colin Edwynn
Colin Edwynn (23 September 1933 – 31 October 2018) was an actor who appeared as PC Jimmy Conway in the British television soap opera '' Coronation Street'' between 1967 and 1972. Career He appeared in several episodes of the long running BBC Radio comedy ''The Clitheroe Kid'' as Mr Humphrey Brocklebank and worked with Les Dawson in his long-running radio show '' Listen to Les''. He has also appeared in the television series '' Bergerac'', '' Out of the Blue'', '' Wycliffe'' and '' Heartbeat''. Edwynn also made an appearance in one episode of the sitcom '' Dinnerladies''. From 1981 he ran the Queen's Head pub in Tebworth, Bedfordshire. Personal life Born as Colin Edwin Thompson, on becoming an actor he changed his name to Colin Edwynn - his surname made up of the name of his idol actor Ed Wynn. In 1959 he married Elizabeth Quickfall. They had two sons together. His wife predeceased him. Edwynn died in Luton, Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremoni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roy Barraclough
Roy Senior Barraclough (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English comic actor. He was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy, the devious, mournful landlord of the Rovers Return in the long-running British TV soap '' Coronation Street'', and for the double-act Cissie and Ada with comedian Les Dawson. Career Roy Barraclough began his career as a draughtsman, taking time off to work as an entertainer in a holiday camp on the Isle of Wight. Combining his day job with local amateur theatre for several years, he was eventually offered a full-time acting contract by repertory theatre producer Nita Valerie with her company in Huddersfield. Barraclough regularly appeared on stage and at times played piano in the pit, including for comedienne Hylda Baker. Barraclough later joined the repertory company at Stoke (appearing alongside Ben Kingsley) and then Oldham in 1966, appearing alongside Barbara Knox and Anne Kirkbride, who later both became colleagues on ''Coronation Stree ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |