Basil Boothroyd
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John Basil Boothroyd (4 March 1910 – 27 February 1988) was an English humorous writer, best known for his long association with ''
Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
''. As a young man he worked for a bank, but began contributing articles to ''Punch'', and became its assistant editor, a post in which he served for eighteen years. His career as a writer for ''Punch'' spanned the editorships of
E. V. Knox Edmund George Valpy Knox (10 May 1881 – 2 January 1971) was a poet and satirist who wrote under the pseudonym Evoe. He was editor of ''Punch'' 1932–1949, having been a regular contributor in verse and prose for many years. Life Knox was ...
to
Alan Coren Alan Coren (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz ''The News Quiz'' and a team captain on BBC television's ''Call My Bluff''. Coren was also a journalis ...
. Boothroyd's chief literary work outside the comic essay was an official biography of
Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
undertaken at the request of its subject. Boothroyd also wrote for television and radio, and was a frequent broadcaster.


Biography

Boothroyd was born in
Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...
, England, son of James and Sarah Jackson Boothroyd (née Binch).Gale Contemporary Authors Online
(requires subscription), retrieved 28 August 2009 He later said of his birthplace,"You can either call it the middle of the
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
coalfield or the beautiful
Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cores ...
according to what sort of article you are writing."''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', obituary, 1 March 1988, p. 37 James Boothroyd was a man of diverse trades, whom Boothroyd later remembered accompanying on clock-winding visits to great houses.''The Times'' obituary, 1 March 1988 Boothroyd was educated at
Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...
Choir School and Lincoln School. In 1927 he became a bank clerk (it was later a source of pleasure to him that
P G Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
had started his working career similarly) and in his spare time he played the saxophone in a band called 'The Synco Peppers' and was a part-time repertory actor for the St Pancras People's Theatre. While still working as a bank clerk he started writing for ''Punch'' in 1938, and during
World War II 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 opposin ...
he continued to contribute, using his experiences in the
RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
as source material. At first he was an instructor in the RAF Police and was later commissioned, becoming personal assistant to the provost marshal. He was demobilised in 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant. His books about service life included ''Home Guard Goings-On'', ''Adastral Bodies'', ''Are Sergeants Human?'' and ''Are Officers Necessary?'' Back in civilian life, he resumed his double-harness career with the bank and ''Punch'', but in 1952 he was appointed full-time assistant editor of the magazine.
Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was an English journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, in Essex). In ...
who became editor in 1953 insisted on a less cosy style of writing ("No more articles about Celia and the washing-up"), and Boothroyd, according to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' "chafed at … having to mount an attack on people whose only offence was to have been in the headlines that week, and much preferred chronicling the waywardness of common things or the vagaries of commuting." In 1970 Boothroyd, was invited to write an official biography of the
Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...
. It was the duke who suggested Boothroyd for the job, on the strength of a recent ''Punch'' profile. ''The Times'' said of the biography ''Philip'', published in 1971, that it was "lightly and elegantly written, the quality of the research being in no way concealed by the occasionally frivolous detail." Boothroyd had a long connection with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
writing radio comedy, including a series for
Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career spanning 70 years. He found prominence in the films of the Boulting brothers, including ' ...
and
Charlotte Mitchell Charlotte Mitchell (born Edna Winifred Mitchell; 23 July 1926 – 2 May 2012) was an English actress and poet. Biography In the 1950s she provided lyrics, sketches, and occasionally acted in revues on London's West End. She was especiall ...
, ''The Small, Intricate Life of Gerald C Potter'', which ran from 1975 to 1981, and was still receiving repeat broadcasts in 2022. He also wrote for television, including adaptations of
George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Weedon Grossmith Walter Weedon Grossmith (9 June 1854 – 14 June 1919), better known as Weedon Grossmith, was an English writer, painter, actor, and playwright best known as co-author of ''The Diary of a Nobody'' (1892) with his brother, music hall comedian ...
's ''
Diary of a Nobody ''The Diary of a Nobody'' is an English comic novel written by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith, with illustrations by the latter. It originated as an intermittent serial in ''Punch'' magazine in 1888–89 and first appeared in book for ...
'' in 1979 and
H F Ellis Humphry Francis Ellis (17 July 1907 – 8 December 2000) was an English comic writer. He created A. J. Wentworth, the ineffectual schoolmaster whose fictional diaries were first published in the magazine ''Punch''. Life Humphry Francis Ellis was b ...
's ''
A J Wentworth, BA ''A.J. Wentworth, B.A.'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV in 1982. Set in the 1940s, the programme was shown posthumously following the death of its lead actor Arthur Lowe, who died on 15 April 1982. Based on the writings of H. F. Ellis, ...
'', in 1982. He was a frequent
after-dinner speaker Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech delive ...
, and in 1973–74 was speechwriter to Sir Hugh Wontner,
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
. In 1987 he published his autobiography, ''A Shoulder To Laugh On.'' Boothroyd married Phyllis Barbara Youngman in June 1939. She died in 1980 and he married June Elizabeth Leonhardt Mortimer in 1981. There was one son of the first marriage.


Reputation

In an obituary tribute,
Alan Coren Alan Coren (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz ''The News Quiz'' and a team captain on BBC television's ''Call My Bluff''. Coren was also a journalis ...
said of Boothroyd:
He was probably the most professional writer I have ever known; and consequently both the most self-punishing and the least self-satisfied. Few have worked harder to make a sentence right, or to conceal the effort that had made it so, few have truffled longer or deeper in our bottomless vocabulary for the one word which would corral the elusive thought, and very few indeed have sat like him, staring at a typed semi-colon for half an hour and deliberating whether or not a full colon might produce a more effective pause. Then coming back two hours later and making it a comma … It prevented him from writing novels – "I might spend the rest of my life re-polishing the first thousand words".Coren, Alan, ''The Times'', Diary, 2 March 1988.
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
said of Boothroyd, "There are very few humorists you can rely on to be funny every time. In fact I can think of only one. He is a writer of whom I never miss a word."


Books

Boothroyd published eighteen books between 1941 and 1987, mostly collections of his ''Punch'' articles, together with his biography of Prince Philip and his autobiography. * * ''Adastral Bodies'' 1942 * * * * * * * ''To My Embarrassment'', 1961 * ''The Whole Thing's Laughable'', 1964 * ''You Can't Be Serious'', 1967 * * ''Stay Married Abroad'', 1968 * ''Boothroyd at Bay: Some Radio Talks'', 1970 * * * * *


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boothroyd, Basil 1910 births 1988 deaths British male journalists 20th-century English writers 20th-century English poets English autobiographers People from Worksop People educated at Lincoln Grammar School People from Lincoln, England Punch (magazine) people Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers People educated at Lincoln Minster School