Barney Colehan (19 January 1914 – 21 September 1991) was an English radio and television producer, best known for producing and directing '' The Good Old Days'' throughout its 30-year transmission on BBC Television.

Early life

Colehan was born Bernard Colehan in 1914 in

Calverley Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about from Leeds city centre and from Bradford. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328. It is part of the City of Leeds wa ...

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 22,408. History T ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. His father worked in a

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

and his mother was a

charwoman A charwoman (also chargirl, charlady or char) is an old-fashioned occupational term, referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually ...

. He had a younger brother Edward Joseph Colehan, who was a qualified Pharmacist, and manager of the retail dispensary and chemist's shop for Chas F Thackray Ltd, Great George Street, Leeds He was educated at

St Bede's Grammar School ) , established = 1900 , closed = 2014 , type = Secondary school , religious_affiliation = Roman CatholicDiocese of Leeds , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Mr. F. Ashcroft , r_head_label = E ...

. He left school when he was 16 and began working in a pharmacy. He also began pursuing his interest in theatre, acting and directing with a local amateur operatic society, of which he became a president in the 1930s. In 1939, at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he joined the army. While in military service, he sent radio scripts to the

British Forces Network The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselve ...

in London, which resulted in him being recruited by the variety department. He soon became a producer for the Network. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of major. He left the army in 1947.

Career

Returning to civilian life, Colehan moved into working for the BBC. He first came to prominence in 1948 as the producer responsible for the radio quiz programme '' Have A Go'', hosted by

Wilfred Pickles Wilfred Pickles, OBE (13 October 1904 – 27 March 1978) was an English actor and radio presenter. Early life and personal life Pickles was born in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, with his family ...

. The programme was recorded on location at

community centre Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

s and town halls across the UK. Colehan would personally hand the prize money to the winning contestant, in response to the audience cry of "Give him (or her) the money, Barney!" As a light entertainment producer Colehan produced the first programme when television arrived in the North of England in 1951. One of his early successes was ''

Top Town Top Town was a New Zealand game show series where teams from different towns in New Zealand competed in various obstacle challenges against each other, along the lines of the earlier British series ''It's a Knockout''. The show first ran in New ...

'', a talent show pitting contestants from neighbouring towns against each other. His longest running success was '' The Good Old Days'', which started in 1953 and was on air for 30 years, making it the longest-running light entertainment programme ever broadcast. Colehan tested his idea for a television variety show with a pilot broadcast in 1952 from the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds, entitled ''The Story of the Music-Hall''. Colehan also came up with the idea of dressing the audience in Edwardian costumes. Many high-profile entertainers appeared on the show, including

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A lifel ...

and

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Colonial India, where he spent his ...

. The programme was hosted by

Leonard Sachs Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor. Life and career Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated t ...

. The show eventually became so popular that the waiting list for tickets had to be closed, when it rose to a total of 25,000 people. Colehan was also involved in other major television successes. Colehan had the idea in 1963 of making a TV version of Jimmy Savile's popular

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

show ''Teen and Twenty Disc Club''. He produced the pilot which later became ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

''. In August 1966, Colehan brought ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show '' Intervilles'', and was part of the international '' Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 ...

'' to the screen which ran for 16 years under his watch. In 1981, he was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to entertainment. The following year, he was awarded the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters Gold Badge for lasting contribution to the UK's entertainment industry. He retired from the BBC in 1983, after the last broadcast of ''The Good Old Days''. In 1985, he directed a television special for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

entitled ''Don't Say Goodbye, Miss Ragtime!'', which featured various performances of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

music on a riverboat. Barney suffered a stroke whilst playing golf (Otley), his favourite pastime, and died on 21 September 1991 in hospital at Rawdon, near

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

Personal life

Colehan was married to Monica, they had two children Margaret and Eileen. Although Colehan travelled extensively, he never lived outside of Yorkshire. Barney was a member at Otley Golf Club

References

External links

"Yorkshire at the heart of broadcasting!" Article on the BBC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colehan, Barney 1914 births 1991 deaths BBC people English radio producers English television producers People from Pudsey People educated at St. Bede's Grammar School 20th-century British businesspeople