|
Murgatroyd And Winterbottom
The comedy act Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom ("Two minds with not a single thought") was a popular feature of BBC radio in the 1930s and 1940s. It was written and performed by Ronald Frankau (Murgatroyd) and Tommy Handley. Handley's biographer Barry Took describes the act as "a sophisticated crosstalk of quickfire word and idea association"; the combination of the Eton College, Old Etonian Frankau's patrician tones as Murgatroyd and Handley's fast-talking Scouse patter as Winterbottom became one of the BBC's most popular comedy features. Took quotes a typical example of Murgatroyd and Winterbottom's rapid cross-talk: :Murgatroyd: How are you, Mr Winterbottom? :Winterbottom: I feel a bit funny. :Murgatroyd: Only a bit? Oh, I feel frightfully funny. :Winterbottom: Well, it ought to be a good act tonight. :Murgatroyd: It won't be appreciated by the audience in the studio. :Winterbottom: Why not? :Murgatroyd: Well, ''look'' at them – there's a fellow there eating a bit of cheese. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Frankau
Ronald Hugh Wyndham Frankau (22 February 1894 – 11 September 1951) was an English comedian who started in cabaret and made his way to radio and films. Family Frankau was born in London, the third child of Arthur Frankau, son of Joseph Frankau, a German Jew who came to London from Frankfurt in the late 1830s and started a cigar trading business. His mother was Julia Davis Frankau, who would later become a celebrated writer of satirical novels. His mother's siblings included Henry Irving's mistress Eliza Aria and theatre critic and librettist Owen Hall, whilst their sister Florette was married to architect Marcus Collins, a brother of Drury Lane Theatre manager Arthur Collins. His brother Gilbert Frankau, in his memoirs, states that it was "obscure" why their mother "tacked the stage-famous ' Wyndham' onto the 'Ronald Hugh'" in Frankau's name. Frankau's siblings were Gilbert, Jack and Joan. Gilbert went into the family cigar business (living and working in Germany throug ... [...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] |
Barry Took
Barry Took (19 June 192831 March 2002) was an English writer, television presenter and comedian. His decade-and-a-half writing partnership with Marty Feldman led to the television series ''Bootsie and Snudge'', the radio comedy ''Round the Horne'' and other projects. He is also remembered in the UK for presenting ''Points of View (TV series), Points of View'', a BBC Television programme featuring viewers' letters on the BBC's output, and the BBC Radio 4 programme ''The News Quiz''. Early life and education The son of a manager at the Danish Bacon Company, Took was born in Victoria Road, Muswell Hill, north London, and lived in Winton Avenue, Bounds Green. When Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II, evacuated to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire during the Second World War, he ran away from his assigned home there, cycling 20 miles to Peterborough in order to get a train back to London. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, Cambridge, making it the 18th-oldest Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) school. Eton is particularly well-known for its history, wealth, and notable alumni, called Old Etonians. Eton is one of only three public schools, along with Harrow (1572) and Radley (1847), to have retained the boys-only, boarding-only tradition, which means that its boys live at the school seven days a week. The remainder (such as Rugby in 1976, Charterhouse in 1971, Westminster in 1973, and Shrewsbury in 2015) have since become co-educational or, in the case of Winchester, as of 2021 are undergoing the transition to that status. Eton has educated prime ministers, world leaders, Nobel laureates, Academy Award and BAFTA award-winning actors, and ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scouse
Scouse (; formally known as Liverpool English or Merseyside English) is an Accent (dialect), accent and dialect of English language, English associated with Liverpool and the surrounding county of Merseyside. The Scouse accent is highly distinctive; having been influenced heavily by Irish, Norwegian, and Welsh immigrants who arrived via the Liverpool docks, it has little in common with the accents of its neighbouring regions or the rest of England. Scouse is also a general term for this pan-ethnic community or Liverpool, Liverpudlians in general. The accent is named after Scouse (food), scouse, a stew eaten by sailors and locals. The development of Liverpool since the 1950s has spread the accent into nearby areas such as the towns of Runcorn and Skelmersdale. Variations within Scouse have been noted: the accent of Liverpool's Liverpool city centre, city centre and northern neighbourhoods is usually described as fast, harsh, and nasal, while the accent found in the southern s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renee Roberts
Irene Roberts (24 September 1908 – 6 February 1996) better known by her professional name Renee Roberts was an English actress who is best remembered for her portrayal of Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby, Miss Ursula Gatsby in ''Fawlty Towers'' in both series in 1975 and 1979. She made numerous television appearances in Britain, starting in the 1960s. Personal life She was married to the actor Ronald Frankau. Her daughter, Rosemary Frankau, was also an actress. References External links * 1908 births 1996 deaths English television actresses 20th-century British actresses British comedy actresses 20th-century English women 20th-century English people Frankau family {{England-tv-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and ''The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
