David Freeman (22 August 1922 – 28 March 2005) was a British film and television writer, working chiefly in comedy.
He was one of the first generation of writers who established television, taking over from radio, as the most popular medium for comedy. His works were known for their usage of
pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s and
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...
.
During the small screen's Golden Age, he wrote scripts for comedians including
Benny Hill
Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...
,
Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor.
High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...
,
Ted Ray,
Terry Scott
Owen John "Terry" Scott (4 May 1927 – 26 July 1994) was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven of the ''Carry On films''. He is also best known for appearing in the BBC1 sitcom ''Terry and June'' with June Whitfield.
Early lif ...
,
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 Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...
,
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
,
Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...
,
Charlie Drake
Charles Edward Springall (19 June 1925 – 23 December 2006), known professionally as Charlie Drake, was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.
With his small stature (5' 1"/155 cm tall), curly red hair and liking for slapstick, h ...
,
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...
,
Sid James
Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen. He was best known for numerous roles in the Carry On film series.
Born to a mid ...
,
Leslie Crowther
Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host.
Biography
Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of ...
,
Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd, OBE (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment.
Early life
Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née ...
,
Jimmy Edwards
James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC (23 March 19207 July 1988) was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in ''Take It from Here'' and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in ''Whack-O!''.
Early lif ...
,
Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh prop comedian and magician. As an entertainer, his appearance was large and lumbering at , and he habitually wore a red fez when performing. He served in the British Army f ...
,
Harry Worth
Harry Bourlon Illingsworth (20 November 1917 – 20 July 1989), professionally known as Harry Worth, was an English comedy actor, comedian and ventriloquist. Worth portrayed a charming, gentle and genial character, totally bemused by life, ...
and
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian.
Early life
Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...
.
Early life
Dave Freeman was born in
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
, London. He trained as an electrician before joining the Royal Naval Fleet Air Arm 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 opposin ...
. His service with the Pacific fleet took him to Ceylon, India, South Africa, Kenya and finally Australia where he met and married his wife, Alberta. Upon return to England in 1946, he joined the Metropolitan Police as a police constable in Paddington rising to a
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
detective at
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...
.
After a period back at
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...
, he became a journalist, then took a job as a security officer for the American Officers' Club in
Regent's Park, London
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden ...
. One of his tasks was to book entertainment acts and when he struck up a friendship with
Benny Hill
Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...
, the pair started writing together.
Career
Benny Hill
Freeman co-wrote with
Benny Hill
Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...
from 1955 to 1968 for ''
The Benny Hill Show
''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody ...
'' on
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. ...
...
. The early series were notable for spoofs of popular television personalities of the time, such as the quiz and talent-show host
.
Freeman was teamed with Hill from the second series, in 1956, and also appeared on screen when the star made one-off shows for
. He was later responsible for most of the scripts when Hill starred in three series of a
...