Diana Morrison (broadcaster)

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''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a

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. ...

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radio comedy Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic element ...

programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured

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 o ...

in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other characters orbited. The programmes were written by

Ted Kavanagh Henry Edward Kavanagh (7 March 1892 – 17 September 1958) was a British radio scriptwriter and producer. Ted Kavanagh was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1892. He initially studied medicine in Edinburgh before pursuing a career as a writer. H ...

and produced by

Francis Worsley Francis Frederick Worsley (2 June 1902 – 15 September 1949) was a radio producer for the BBC who was known for producing the radio comedy series ''It's That Man Again'' (ITMA) from 1939 to 1949. As a young man, he was briefly a first-class c ...

. Handley died during the twelfth series, the remaining programmes of which were immediately cancelled: ''ITMA'' could not work without him, and no further series were commissioned. ''ITMA'' was a character-driven comedy whose satirical targets included

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

dom and the proliferation of minor wartime regulations. Parts of the scripts were rewritten in the hour before the broadcast, to ensure topicality. ''ITMA'' broke away from the conventions of previous radio comedies, and from the humour of the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

s. The shows used

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s in a novel manner, which, alongside a wide range of voices and accents, created the programme's atmosphere. The show presented more than seventy regular characters during its twelve seasons, most of them with his or her own

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

. Among them were the bibulous Colonel Chinstrap ("I don't mind if I do"), the charlady Mrs Mopp ("Can I do you now, sir?"), the incompetent German agent Funf ("this is Funf speaking"), the courtly odd-job men Cecil and Claude ("After you, Claude—no, after ''you'', Cecil"), the Middle-Eastern hawker Ali Oop ("I go—I come back"), and the lugubrious Mona Lott ("It's being so cheerful that keeps me going"). To keep the show fresh, old characters were dropped and new ones introduced over the years. ''ITMA'' was an important contributor to British morale during the war, with its cheerful take on the day-to-day preoccupations of the public, but its detailed topicality—one of its greatest attractions at the time—has prevented it from wearing well on repeated hearing. The show's lasting legacy is its influence on subsequent BBC comedy. ''ITMA's'' innovative structure—a fast-moving half-hour show with musical interludes and a cast of regular characters with popular catchphrases—was successfully continued in comedy shows of the 1950s and 1960s, such as ''

Take It from Here ''Take It from Here'' (often referred to as ''TIFH'', pronounced – and sometimes humorously spelt – "TIFE") is a British radio comedy programme broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audie ...

'', ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 19 ...

'' and ''

Round the Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The fo ...

''.

Background

The comedian

started as a

comedian before becoming a regular feature on

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

from 1924. By the end of the 1920s he was, according to the writers Andy Foster and

Steve Furst Steven Jonathan Furst (born 3 September 1967) is a British comedian, actor and writer. He appeared in the Orange mobile phone cinema adverts in the UK (with Brennan Brown), playing the role of Eliot, a spoof studio executive, and has appeared ...

, a household name in Britain; his popularity continued into the 1930s. The scriptwriter

was a fan of Handley and wrote a script for a comedy sketch for him in 1926. Handley liked the work and bought it; it was the start of a professional relationship that lasted until Handley's death in 1949. Although the BBC featured many comic acts in its variety programmes, it had no regular comedy series until early 1938, when ''

Band Waggon ''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the thir ...

'' and ''

Danger! Men at Work ''Danger - Men at Work!'' was a British radio comedy programme, broadcast by the BBC over seven series between 1939 and 1947. The show was written and produced, at first, by Max Kester and Anthony Hall, with later series by Kester alone. It was ...

'' began. The former, which ran for three series in 1938 and 1939, was a particular success; John Watt, the BBC's director of variety, wanted a successor and decided that Handley would be the right person to present it. In June 1939 Handley, Kavanagh and the producer

met at the

Langham Hotel The Langham, London, is one of the largest and best known traditional-style grand hotels in London, England. It is situated in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place, London, Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regent's Park. ...

, London to discuss ideas for a sketch show to meet Watt's criteria. They decided to emulate the quick-fire style of American radio programmes such as the '' Burns and Allen Show'', although with a much more English quality. Initial plans were to call the new programme ''MUG''—the "Ministry of Universal Gratification"—but Worsley preferred ''ITMA''. "ITMA", or "It's That Man Again", referred to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, and the term was used as a headline to describe him by

Bert Gunn Herbert Smith Gunn (3 April 1903 – 2 March 1962) was a British newspaper editor. Biography Born in Gravesend, Bert Gunn worked as a reporter for the '' Kent Messenger'', and then the ''Straits Times'' in Singapore. He returned to the U ...

, the editor of ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

''.

Format

''ITMA'' was a character-driven comedy and contained parody and satire, unlike previous British radio comedy. The programme's satirical targets during the war were government departments and the ostensibly petty wartime regulations, although the programme "never challenged authority but instead acted as a safety valve for the public's irritation with bureaucracy, wartime shortages, queues and the black market", according to the cultural historian Martin Dibbs. The Laugh!- the Recording of the Radio Comedy 'itma', London, England, UK, 1945 D24424

The Laugh!- the Recording of the Radio Comedy 'itma', London, England, UK, 1945 D24424

According to Foster and Furst ''ITMA'' was "entirely new, breaking away from the conventions of both radio and music hall comedy". It relied on Handley's quick-fire delivery of the humour, with his "near-miraculous technique". The writer and producer John Fisher, in his examination of 20th century comedians and comedy, highlights ''ITMA''s "speed of delivery, its quick-fire succession of short scenes and verbal non-sequiturs, all breaking away from the traditional music hall sketch orientation of ''Band Waggon''". The broadcasts had an average of eighteen-and-a-half minutes of dialogue into which Kavanagh would attempt to write one hundred laughs—an average of a laugh every eleven seconds. Between the comic scenes there were usually two musical interludes in each show: the first purely orchestral and the second featuring a song from the current resident singer. The storylines for each week were thin, and the programme was written to have Handley at the centre interacting with a cast of recurring characters, all of whom had their own catchphrase or phrases. The catchphrases were used deliberately to help the listening public to identify which of the characters was speaking. The programme was broadcast live each week and many of the show's

s were done live alongside the actors. For ''ITMA'' a sound effect was not a shorthand way of setting a scene for a listener, but "as a means of punctuating the rapid progress of events ... doing the work of words, and permitting an extraordinarily economical drama for a medium that relies on words—and sounds", according to the academic

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...

. The variety of characters and sounds was key to Kavanagh, who wrote that he wanted:

to use sound for all it was worth, the sound of different voices and accents, the use of catchphrases, the impact of funny sounds in words, of grotesque effects to give atmosphere—every device to create the illusion of rather crazy or inverted reality.

The scripts were written during the week of broadcast to ensure topicality. The year after ''ITMA'' ended. Kavanagh reflected "I myself cannot understand some of the jokes. They were skits on a nine-days wonder—a headline of that day's paper, and dead the following week. Every programme is an accurate reflection of the war situation at the time." Some parts of a script were rewritten in the hours leading up to a broadcast as the news changed. Kavanagh visited army camps and factories to listen to the patois and slang, the current jokes doing the rounds, as well as complaints and frustration, and used the material in the show. In this manner, Worsley considers that ''ITMA'' was "the closest radio had come to the everyday jokes that ordinary people have always made". As the programme matured, Kavanagh changed the flow of the programme away from the disjointed collection of scenes or sketches and towards a more defined storyline.

Broadcasts

Pre-war

Series 1: July to August 1939

The first series of ''ITMA'' was planned to be a trial run of six shows of 45-minute duration, broadcast fortnightly. They began on 12 July 1939, performed at a BBC sound facility, either at

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...

, or St. George's Hall. The shows were broadcast live on the

BBC National Programme The BBC National Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing the earlier BBC's experimental station 5XX – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the Home Service, two days before the outbreak ...

at 8.15 pm. The programme was set on a ship able to broadcast radio programmes, with Handley as the station controller and presenter. He was accompanied by Cecilia Eddy, Eric Egan and Sam Heppner. The show included a quiz hosted by

Lionel Gamlin Lionel James Gamlin (30 April 1903 – 16 October 1967)Lionel Gamlin at IMDb
Retrieved 29 October 2012. ...

. In an article in the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' that accompanied the first programme, Worsley described the premise of the show: Handley "gets hold of a ship, equips it with a transmitter and studio, and sails the Seven Seas scattering broadcast culture (Handley brand) and 'commercials' (any brand)". Music was provided by the Jack Harris Band, who had been performing at London hotspots, including the

Café de Paris Café de Paris may refer to: Establishments *Café de Paris (London), a London nightclub * Café de Paris, Chicago, a Chicago nightclub * Café de Paris (restaurant), Geneva * Café de Paris (Rome), a bar in Rome, Italy * Café de Paris (Cubzac-les ...

and the

London Casino The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc ...

. With a tense international situation in mid-1939, Kavanagh was careful to avoid writing in political jokes, or any material too topical or sensitive. Handley was known to keep to a script, with little or no

ad-libbing In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The r ...

to worry the producers. The fourth episode of ''ITMA'' was broadcast on 30 August. When 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 ...

broke out on 3 September, the remainder of the series was cancelled. The show had been of limited success, and Worsley thought it was likely to have been "another broadcasting flop".

Wartime

Series 2: September 1939 to February 1940

The BBC had planned for the outbreak of war, and once it was declared, the Variety Department was moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The relocation meant some of the original performers were not available; a new cast was assembled from those who had moved to Bristol and who had received the requisite

security clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...

from the Ministry of Information. Handley was accompanied by Vera Lennox,

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

Sam Costa Samuel Gabriel Costa (17 June 1910 – 23 September 1981) was an English singer, entertainer and broadcaster. Initially a popular singer in the British dance band, dance band era and a comic actor on the show ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'', he ...

and

Jack Train Jack Train (28 November 1902 – 19 December 1966) was a British comic actor best known for his appearances as a variety of eccentric characters in the BBC radio series ''It's That Man Again'' (''ITMA''). Life and career Train was born in ...

, and the music for the second series was by the

Jack Hylton Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" a ...

Band, conducted by

Billy Ternent Billy Ternent (10 October 1899 – 23 March 1977) was a British orchestra leader, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, best known for backing Frank Sinatra and his work at the London Palladium. Biography Ternent was born Frederick William Tern ...

and supported by the Rhythm Octet. With the idea of a broadcasting ship now too improbable during wartime, the premise of the programme changed to have Handley as the head of the fictional Ministry of Aggravation and Mysteries, where he worked in the Office of

Twerps ''TWERPS'' (''The World's Easiest Role-Playing System'') is a minimalist role-playing game (RPG) originally created by Reindeer Games (whose sole product was the ''TWERPS'' line) and distributed by Gamescience. Presented as a parody of the co ...

. Other changes to the format included dropping the quiz section of the programme—which Worsley thought held up the flow of the show—replaced by "Radio Fakenburg", a spoof of

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 ...

. The running time was reduced from the 45 minutes of the first series to half an hour, and remained so though all the subsequent series. A blackout was in place for evenings and nights, and all cinemas and theatres had been closed by the government; such measures provided a boost to the listening figures for the show. The writer and comedian

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 Horn ...

writes that the success also came from the programme's "self-assurance and cheerful optimism

hich was Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District (Ijrud County), Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 72 ...

a welcome relief in that time of fear and uncertainty". The second series of ''ITMA'' finished in February 1940 and the show went on a nationwide tour that kept it off the air for nearly 18 months, except for one special edition in May 1940. Took notes that the show lacked the impact it had on radio, as Handley's performances were more intimate through a microphone than in a theatre.

Series 3 and 4: June 1941 to May 1942

While ''ITMA'' was absent from the airwaves, the German bombing campaign had included Bristol, which triggered a move of the Variety Department to Bangor, northwest Wales in April 1941. When series three began broadcasting in June 1941, Kavanagh had introduced more characters, and set the show in the fictional seaside town of Foaming-at-the-Mouth with Handley as its mayor, renaming the programme, briefly, ''It's That Sand Again'', before it reverted to ''ITMA''. There were also changes in the cast. Denham and Costa had both joined the armed forces since the previous series; new actors were brought in, including Horace Percival, Dorothy Summers, Clarence Wright and

Fred Yule Frederick Robert Yule (7 October 1893, Norfolk – 11 December 1982, Southend-on-Sea) was an English character actor, comedian and singer, mainly known for his appearances in post-war BBC Radio programmes such as ''ITMA'', ''Ray's a Laugh'', ''Ba ...

. Series 3 ran for six weeks, ending on 25 July 1941. Series 4 followed two months later, beginning on 26 September. The programme was attracting 16 million listers by this stage, and was the most popular programme the BBC Variety Department had ever broadcast. During programme five, listeners heard the explosion of two

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s that had been dropped on Bangor, landing half a mile (0.8 km) from the studio, instead of in the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

. Although the actors continued after a brief pause, the programme had been taken off the air and replaced with music. In April 1942 ''ITMA'' provided a command performance at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

in the presence of

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

and his queen on the occasion of the 16th birthday of Princess Elizabeth. It was, notes Worsley, the first Royal Command Radio Show. The royal family were fans of the programme; a member of the Royal Household said that if the war were to end between 8.30 and 9.00 pm on a Thursday night none of the household would dare to tell the King until ''ITMA'' had finished.

Series 5 and 6: September 1942 to July 1943

Series 5 started in September 1942 and ran for twenty weeks. One of the programmes in November was broadcast on the

BBC Forces Programme The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944. History Development Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional radi ...

to the soldiers in North Africa, the first time the show had been transmitted to the troops. The shows became increasingly topical and up-to-the-minute. Worsley began experimenting with the size of the audience to see which worked best. He tried in the theatres and cinemas of Bangor and

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...

to get an audience of 2000, and in the studio in Bangor with 200; he also tried with no audience, and settled on 200 as the right number. The premise of the show changed again with Handley ejected as the mayor of Foaming-in-the-Mouth, and now the manager of a munitions factory. Several new characters were introduced, including Colonel Chinstrap, a dipsomaniac retired army officer voiced by Train. Before the sixth series began recording, a film version, ''

It's That Man Again ''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other cha ...

'', was released. Starring Handley and including many of the radio programme regulars, it was written by Kavanagh and

Howard Irving Young Howard Irving Young (April 24, 1893 – February 24, 1952) was an American screenwriter and playwright.Marshall p.297 During the 1930s and 1940s he worked on a number of British films. Selected filmography * '' A Million A Minute'' (1916) * '' Mi ...

and directed by

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and Film director, director. Born in Lambeth, south London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era ...

. ''

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 ...

'' considered it difficult to transpose a radio show format onto a cinema screen, but thought Forde "manages his difficult task extremely well". As a consequence, the reviewer thought the film "achieves at least a partial success through the extravagance of its own craziness". The scenario of the programme changed again for series six, when, following a decision to move the munitions factory underground, a

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

spring was tapped and Foaming-in-the-Mouth became a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

Series 7 and 8: October 1943 to June 1945

The Royal Navy during the Second World War A21267

In the latter part of 1943 the Variety Department finished a relocation back to London. Series 7 of ''ITMA'', which began in October that year, was recorded in the

Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development ...

at Piccadilly Circus. The show restarted without Train, whose health, which had been worsening for some time, broke down completely; he spent a year in a sanatorium in North Wales recovering. Worsley took the decision to rest Train's characters rather than have another actor portray him; although he was criticised for the decision, he said "any imitation was to my mind as paste to real diamonds". The series included broadcasts for each of the three forces: in January 1944 ''ITMA'' was broadcast from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

base at

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

, a show for the

Royal Air Force 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 ...

was recorded at the Criterion in February, and an Army edition from the Garrison Theatre at the

Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, is a barracks of the British Army which forms part of Woolwich Garrison. The Royal Regiment of Artillery had its headquarters here from 1776 until 2007, when it was moved to Larkhill Garrison. History In 171 ...

. Series 8 began in September 1944 with a special show from the

Wolseley Motors Wolseley Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in early 1901 by the Vickers Armaments in conjunction with Herbert Austin. It initially made a full range, topped by large luxury cars, and dominated the market in the Ed ...

factory in Birmingham, but the show was not well received, and it was decided not to have any further broadcasts away from the studio. Train returned to the cast, but at the end of 1944 Worsley was hospitalised for seven months. The production duties were taken up by

Ronnie Waldman Ronald Hartley Waldman (13 May 1914 – 10 March 1978) was a British radio presenter and television executive for the BBC. Biography Born in London, he was the eldest son of Michael Waldman OBE JP, a sometime Mayor of Hackney, and was educa ...

until Worsley returned in May 1945. His first programme back was ''V-ITMA'', the special edition show of 11 May 1945, which celebrated the end of the war in Europe. The series came to an end a month later, after a run of 39 weeks.

Post-war

Series 9 to 12, post-war: September 1945 to January 1949

The Laugh!- the Recording of the Radio Comedy 'itma', London, England, UK, 1945 D24429

For the start of the post-war ''ITMA''s, Handley, Kavanagh and Worsley decided to change many of the cast to keep the show fresh; Dorothy Summers, Sydney Keith,

Dino Galvani Dino Galvani (born Candido Galvanoni; 27 October 189014 September 1960) was an Italian-British actor, who made his career in Britain on stage and radio and in films. He is remembered for his role in the popular BBC radio comedy series ''ITMA'' fr ...

and Horace Percival were all released from the show and replaced by Hugh Morton, Mary O'Farrell,

Carleton Hobbs Carleton Percy Hobbs, OBE (18 June 1898 – 31 July 1978) was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations in a series of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas (1952–1969), ...

and Lind Joyce; Clarence Wright returned to the programme. The premise of the show changed too: Handley left Foaming-in-the-Mouth and became the governor of the fictional island of Tomtopia. The story line towards the end of series 9 centred on a government investigation of the administration on Tomtopia; the series ended in June 1946 with Handley leaving Tomtopia to return to Britain. A prequel programme to series 10, "Whither Tomtopia?", was based in the idea that Handley had "to face an enquiry into his governorship" of the island. He faced questions from, among others,

Dilys Powell Elizabeth Dilys Powell, CBE (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British film critic and travel writer who contributed to ''The Sunday Times'' for more than 50 years. Powell was known for her receptiveness to cultural change in the cinema and ...

—the film critic from ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''—the medical spokesman Dr Charles Hill and the author

A. G. Street Arthur George Street (7 April 1892 – 21 July 1966), who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an England, English farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber. His best-known bo ...

; the programme was chaired by Sir William Darling, MP. The remainder of the series dealt with Handley living in the fictional Castle WeeHoose in Scotland, where he was building a rocket to take him to the moon. In about week six of the series, the rocket was launched, but crash-landed on Tomtopia, where a new governor—Percy Palaver, played by

Deryck Guyler Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and ''Sykes''. Early life Guyler was born in Wallas ...

—was in charge. Series 11, which began in September 1947, had the final recruit to the ''ITMA'' cast:

Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...

, who played Ella Phant and Sophie Tuckshop. She became so nervous during the audition that Handley held her hand, which she found made her more nervous. Handley's health was beginning to decline by the end of the 38-week series, and it was suggested that series 12 should be delayed. He said no, and ''ITMA'' began again in September 1948. On 9 January 1949, three days after the sixteenth episode of the series—the 310th episode of ''ITMA''—Handley died suddenly of a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. The news was announced on that evening's radio, at the close of the Sunday evening repeat of the show, by the Director General of the BBC, Sir William Haley, who insisted on making the announcement himself. Without its star, ''ITMA'' was cancelled; Took observes that Handley "was so much the keystone and embodiment of the actual performance that ''ITMA'' died with him".

Leading characters

The main character was always Handley's, whether as manager of the pirate radio station, head of the Office of Twerps, Mayor of Foaming-at-the-Mouth, factory manager, Governor of Tomtopia or down-and-out. He remained the fast-talking central figure, around whom all the other characters orbited. Took comments that it is impossible to put them into order of popularity: "They were all successful. Everyone had their own favourite". Some of the best known are described below, in order of first appearance in the show.

Funf

Funf, "the enemy agent with the feet of sauerkraut", was the earliest of the show's major supporting characters, making his debut in the second programme of the second series. He was an incompetent German agent, ''ITMAs response to a national scare in 1940 about a supposed "

fifth column A fifth column is any group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. According to Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz, "fifth columns" are “domestic actors who work to un ...

" in Britain. He would telephone Handley to make dark threats, in a sinister, hollow voice, which Train produced by speaking across the top of an empty glass held next to the microphone. Handley's verbal dexterity continually left Funf in confusion. Funf, described by the media historian

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

as "the greatest of all war-time characters", became what Worsley called "a national craze" and helped to make the German propaganda machine a source of public ridicule in Britain.

The Diver

The Diver was drawn from a real-life figure familiar to Handley's generation of Merseysiders. The one-legged diver and swimmer Frank Gadsby was well known at New Brighton in the first decades of the 20th century for high-diving off

the pier ''The Pier'' is a 2011 Irish romantic drama film written and directed by Gerard Hurley and starring Karl Johnson, Hurley and Lili Taylor. Cast * Karl Johnson as Larry McCarthy *Gerard Hurley as Jack McCarthy *Lili Taylor Lili Anne Taylor ...

, watched by what the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

'' called "countless boatloads of people" He would solicit donations with phrases appropriated by his caricature in ''ITMA'': "Don't forget the diver, sir, don't forget the diver. Every penny makes the water warmer!" In ''ITMA'' the Diver was what Worsley called a "crossing" character: he would cross a scene for a few seconds, often to interrupt Handley at a particularly inopportune moment:

Cecil and Claude

Two ceremonious odd-job men—also broker's men—who talked in rhyme: :Cecil: After you, Claude – :Claude: No, after ''you'', Cecil :Handley: Cut out the etiquette—you've a big job to do. :Cecil: Do you want us to push your chair, Mr Mayor? :Claude: It'll need a new tyre, sire. :Handley: No. I want you to go round to the lighthouse and lend a hand erecting our Foaming Fun Fair. :Cecil: Will there be swings and things? :Claude: There'll be coconut shies I surmise. :Handley: Yes, and merry-go-rounds, you hounds ... :Cecil: Then we'll have a dekko Sir Echo. :Claude: We'll have a penn'orth Sir Kenneth.

Ali Oop

Ali Oop was a caricature of a Middle-Eastern hawker, persistently trying to sell improbable goods to Handley: :Ali Oop: Please mister, you give me permission to peddle on your pier? :Handley: Certainly not. :Ali Oop: Any other town I peddle where I like. :Handley: Ah, but we're very particular here. :Ali Oop: You give me licence—I give you very funny toy. Make loud noises when sat on. :Handley: They used to laugh when I sat down at the piano. You get out of here and take your penetrating effluvia with you. :Ali Oop: I go—I come back.

Sam Scram and Lefty

Sam and Lefty were two American characters, both nominally gangsters, but of a conspicuously uncombative kind. Sam, Handley's bodyguard, was prone to panic: :Sam: Boss, boss, sumpin' terrible's happened! :Handley: Don't tell me the Scharnhorst has come up again? :Sam: No, there's a tough-looking guy outside, boss. :Handley: Has he got a broken handcuff on one wrist? :Sam: Yes, boss! :Handley: And a bludgeon in the other? :Sam: Yeah, boss! :Handley: And crime written all over his face? :Sam: Yeah, boss! :Handley: It's my brother: send him in. Lefty was of a nervous disposition. At a fairground shooting gallery with Sam: :Lefty: I got the gun—they're going to get the woiks. ... Missed 'em! :Sam: I thought you were a dead shot with one of dem tings. :Lefty: Aw—it's me noives, I tell ya—its me noives. When Train was ill during series 7, Lefty was temporarily replaced by Butch Scram, Sam's brother, played by Bryan Herbert.

Mrs Mopp

Although Mrs Mopp, the charlady, was in fewer than half the series of ''ITMA'', she was one of the best-loved characters, and was remembered long after the show finished. She would burst through Handley's door, usually when least convenient, and hoarsely ask, "Can I do you now sir?" She regularly brought Handley peculiar presents, nominally edible as a rule, beginning with some carrot jelly she had sieved through her jumper. In the show recorded before a

audience she brought him "a Bosun's Blancmange". At the end of their scenes together she would bid him "Ta-ta for now", soon abbreviated to "TTFN". :Mrs Mopp: Can I do you now, sir? :Handley: Well, if it isn't Mrs Mopp the vamping vassal with the tousled tassel. I thought you told me you were called up? :Mrs Mopp: Well, sir, I had me medical. :Handley: And were you passed A.1? :Mrs Mopp: Oh no, sir. I'm passed sixty-two. :Handley: You don't look a day over sixty-one. I mean, were you passed fit? ... :Mrs Mopp: No, sir—I was examined by a lady doctor. She wanted me to remove my bonnet. :Handley: Disgraceful! I expect she wanted to open a false front. :Mrs Mopp: I wouldn't let her meddle with my modesty vest, sir. I said, "You must take me as you find me". The Labour sent me to you, sir. :Handley: The Labour? That's capital. I'll put you in charge of the sock exchange. :Mrs Mopp: Oh, thank you, sir. I brought this for you. :Handley: Isn't that nice. What is it—an engineer's indiscretion? :Mrs Mopp: No, sir, it's an overseer's 'otpot. :Handley: Thank you, Mrs M. There'll be an 'otpot in the Old Tom tonight. :Mrs Mopp: Ta-ta for now. At their last meeting Mrs Mopp bade Handley "TTFN", to which he responded, "NCTWWASBE"—"Never Clean The Window With A Soft-Boiled Egg". After being written out of ''ITMA'' she had her own series of quarter-hour programmes, ''The Private Life of Mrs Mopp'', written by Kavanagh.

Commercial Traveller

The Commercial Traveller, like the Diver, was a "crossing" character, distracting Handley from the business at hand with his irrelevant sales patter: :Traveller: Good morning. :Handley: Good morning :Traveller: ''Nice'' day. :Handley: No. :Traveller: Any helicopters, motor cars or washing machines? :Handley: Yes, please. :Traveller: You can't have them—they're only for export. :Handley: What have you come here for, then? :Traveller: So that I can call again. Good morning. :Handley: Good morning. :Traveller: ''Nice'' day.

Signor So-So

Handley's scatty secretary was planned as an Italian equivalent of Funf, but "his chronic mismanagement of the English tongue proved too endearing and he remained at Handley's side as a well-loved language joke". His incurable tendency to

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...

s caused him to address a female character: "Ah, you attract me like a maggot! Let me cuss you on both cheeks". His verbal infelicities became infectious and regularly caused Handley's character to trip over his words: :Handley: Now, So-So, you are an architect, aren't you? :So-So: Oh yes, Mr Hagglemuch. I am an unqualified artichoke. I have built many sky-scrappers, and bolks of falts. :Handley: Bolks of falts? :So-So: Yes—luxury falts. :Handley: Now listen, you leaning tower of Pisa, you can say bolks of falts as easy as I can. :So-So: You mean blocks of flats. I have also built a villain in the country. :Handley: A villain? :So-So: Yes, a semi-detached villain. ... Come this way. This is your office. I will finish it. :Handley: Listen, So-So, leave the finishing—er—furnishing of this to me. Any more of your basic English and I'd go mad. :So-So: Oka-da-doke.

Colonel Chinstrap

The bibulous Colonel Chinstrap was a retired army officer, perpetually on the look-out for a free drink. ''

'' commented that his voice "carried the unmistakeable aroma of vintage port and brandy". An unnamed prototype of the character appeared in the third series: :Handley: Didn't I meet you in Rumbellipoor, sir? :Train: You did not, sir. I was never there. :Handley: Then you must have a double. :Train: Thanks, I will. The character reappeared in the fifth series, now identified as Colonel Humphrey Chinstrap; he rapidly became one of the show's most popular features. He would "mishear" an innocent remark as an invitation to a drink: The catchphrase, "I don't mind if I do", was not new, but ''ITMA'' brought it into widespread popular use. The Colonel had a life beyond ''ITMA''. Train ("assisted by Colonel Chinstrap") made a gramophone record of a song called "I don't mind if I do" in 1949; Chinstrap and his ''ITMA'' colleague Major Mundy offered comments on the Lord's Test Match in two short broadcasts in June 1949; Train, playing Chinstrap, co-starred in the 1950 comedy series ''The Great Gilhooly'', and appeared weekly on television in late 1951 and early 1952 with scenes from the Colonel's life story. In 1952

Evans Brothers Evans Brothers Ltd (or Evans Brothers Limited) was a British publishing house that was part of the Evans Publishing Group UK. The firm first published teacher training materials and in later years broadened its catalogue, publishing children's bo ...

published Chinstrap's autobiography—ghost-written by Kavanagh, with a foreword by Train. In a 1954 BBC radio programme he featured in ''The True Story of Humphrey Chinstrap (Col. Retd.)'', "the authentic history of a warrior who penetrated the darkest jungles of Whitehall and Wooloomooloo armed only with a sword and a corkscrew". Train twice made guest appearances as Chinstrap in ''

'' (1957 and 1959).

Mona Lott

Mona Lott (subsequently, after her marriage, Mona Little), the lugubrious laundress, was among the later creations to feature in the show, appearing in the last three series. She would regale Handley with her latest woes, her doleful demeanour in ludicrous contrast with her mantra, "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going". For Mona, a domestic disaster such as a burst water tank would become increasingly calamitous, until her husband ... Among other catastrophes recounted by Mona were her brother-in-law, a champion runner, walking in his sleep and getting half-way to

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

before anyone could catch him, and, when on a train journey, "I put me head out of the window to look at the view, and the mail-bag catcher caught me. Before I knew where I was I found myself on the platform between a sack of fertiliser and a dead duck".

Sophie Tuckshop

Sophie Tuckshop was a replacement for a less successful character, Ella Phant. Jokes about the latter's size did not work well on radio because the light and girlish voice of the performer, Hattie Jacques, did not suggest a heavyweight. She described Sophie as "a terrible child who never stopped eating, with the inevitable sickening results". :Sophie: I had such a lovely dream last night—I dreamt the bed was made of marzipan and the mattress was marshmallow and the sheets were jelly and the pillows embroidered with lovely sugar violets. :Handley: Stop! Once more we halt the roar of Sophie's Tuckshop to tell you of some of the interesting things that are In Tum Tonight! Carry on, Bicarb!

Other characters

Kavanagh and the ''ITMA'' team caricatured people of all ages, both sexes, and many nationalities, classes and professions. There were spoofs of national and regional types, including Johann Bull, a conspicuously Teutonic German agent trying to pass himself off as English; Chief Bigga Banga of Tomtopia, who spoke no English and Wamba M'Boojah who spoke with the grandest of

Oxford accent Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...

s, having been a BBC announcer; the American publicity agent, Luke Slippy; Hari Kari, a Japanese caller whose gibberish only Handley could understand, and his compatriots Bowing and Scraping. From the British regions there were the Scottish Tattie Mackintosh (and her mother); the Welsh Sam Fairfechan ("Hello, how are you? As if I cared") and his family; and the

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Frisby Dyke, with a strong

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 dis ...

accent, puzzled by some of Handley's longer words ("What's a concentrated cacophony?"), but usually winning their weekly battle of wits. Leading female characters included three secretaries to Handley in his various capacities: Cilly, Dotty (her sister), and the formidable but soft-hearted Miss Hotchkiss; Mrs Lola Tickle, Handley's first charlady; the shy Lady Sonely; Banjeleo, Bigga Banga's daughter and translator; Nurse Riff-Rafferty, Handley's old nanny, with a fund of embarrassing stories of his early years; Naieve, Major Mundy's old-fashioned daughter; the "pert poppet" Poppy Poopah; Ruby Rockcake who ran the railway buffet: "No cups outside!"; the generously proportioned Ella Phant; and the two unnamed Posh Ladies, whose conversations were strewn with "dahlings" and always ended with the cry, "Taxi!" Military figures in addition to Colonel Chinstrap included his puritanical nephew Brigadier Dear, mortified by his uncle's excesses; and Major Mundy, a British expatriate on Tomtopia with an unreconstructed 19th-century mindset. Among the mock authority figures were Sir Short Supply, a strangulated-voiced bureaucrat; the Town Clerk, a north-country official who would offer "have a cher, Mr Mer", later Mer himself; Fusspot, an official whose name was self-explanatory; two characters with a habit of repeating the ends of their sentences: the Man from the Ministry and Inspector Squirt: "I'm Inspector Squirt—I said Squirt"; and Percy Palaver, appointed governor of Tomtopia in Handley's absence, and notable for his generally unintelligible speech punctuated with "oomyahs" and "harrumphs". Professions and occupations were represented by, among others, the announcer at Radio Fakenburg; Atlas, the hypochondriac strongman; Bookham, a variety agent; Curly Kale, a chef who hated food and loved dreadful old jokes; Dan Dungeon, the jocose tour guide at Castle Weehouse; Farmer Jollop; Lemuel the office boy; Norman the Doorman; and Vodkin and Vladivostooge, two mad scientists. Eccentrics included Basil Backwards ("Sir, morning good! Coffee of cup. Strong too not. Milk have rather I'd"); George Gorge, a champion glutton; Comical Chris, a persistent would-be joker; Mark Time, a nonagenarian whose response to anything was, "I'll have to ask me dad"; Mr Sninch-of-Puff, a man who spoke in

spoonerism A spoonerism is an occurrence in speech in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase. These are named after the Oxford don and ordained minister William Archibald Spooner, w ...

s; and Whats'isname, a man who struggled to recall the simplest nouns, and had the same effect on Handley.

Performers

The list is not exhaustive: members of the cast played many other roles, mostly one-off, unnamed, and sometimes not even human; the singers, the orchestra and the musical director, Charles Shadwell, sometimes had lines in the script. From time to time guests appeared on the show. There were recurring characters who were mentioned frequently but were never heard, such as Peter Geekie, or appeared regularly but were not given a name, such as Carleton Hobbs's man whose banal weekly tales began and ended "Ain't it a shame, eh? Ain't it a shame?" and Hugh Morton's speaker whose sentences began softly and ended in a deafening shout. :Sources: Foster and Furst (1999); Gifford (1985) and Kavanagh (1975).

Catchphrases

The following are among the best known of the catchphrases from the show. Some became common currency among the general public for many years; others were more ephemeral. One—"TTFN"—remained in frequent use throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st, latterly being used in chat rooms, emails and newsgroups to sign off a message or posting. "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going" also remains in use, seen in British newspapers many times in the first two decades of the 21st century.

Reputation

''The Times'' commented that ''ITMA'' "achieved a humour of universal appeal and found eager listeners in every rank of society". A 2002 history of Britain in the first half of the 20th century called the show "the most celebrated wartime radio programme ... praised by intellectuals for its surrealism and wordplay, but loved by the mass listening public for its delirious silliness". The size of the audience was unprecedented; one historian records that more than sixteen million people listened to ''ITMA'' every week", and another that "a staggering 40 per cent of the population" regularly tuned in. But the show was not without its critics. Took quotes hostile letters to ''

'': "Why should the producers in the Variety department assume that the listeners are a body of half-wits? The puns served up last night in "ITMA" were an insult to anyone's intelligence" (1939) and "I am constantly amazed by the number of otherwise intelligent people who rave about this programme. I have tried to discover some sort of level of culture or intelligence from which ''ITMA'' fans are drawn—but in vain" (1944). In 1947 a Scottish MP,

Jean Mann Jean Mann JP (née Stewart; 2 July 1889 – 21 March 1964) was a Scottish Labour Party politician and a campaigner for better housing and planning. She was the third female Labour MP in Scotland. She was elected into the House of Commons on 5 ...

, referred to Handley—or his character—as a "twerp". In the show's early days critical response was not uniformly enthusiastic. The radio critic of ''

The Manchester 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 ...

'' wrote in December 1939 that amusing as the show could be, "it is beginning to pall by its regularity and its attachment to the same style of humour". By the end of the last series, in 1949, writers in the same paper were comparing ''ITMA'' to the comedies of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

and

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

, as "a brilliant, penetrating commentary on our times ... enlightening millions of people—a cunningly dispensed and cleverly administered medicine for the lesser ills of society". A contemporary critic observed that ''ITMA'' was entirely original and avoided stock characters: Historians of the show acknowledge that the topicality that was one of ''ITMAs strengths has prevented it from wearing well. Kavanagh himself admitted that reading his old scripts he could not work out what some of the jokes were about. Even while the show was still running, its producer, Worsley, said that recordings of earlier series "seem curiously dusty and faded, like an album of old photographs". In a 2013 study of British comedy, John Fisher emphasises the influence of ''ITMA'' on later comedy shows by virtue of "its speed of delivery, its quick-fire succession of short scenes and verbal non-sequiturs, its surrealist overtones, all breaking away from the traditional music hall sketch orientation of ''Band Waggon'', and anticipating ''

Take It From Here ''Take It from Here'' (often referred to as ''TIFH'', pronounced – and sometimes humorously spelt – "TIFE") is a British radio comedy programme broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audie ...

'', and even more so ''

'' and ''

''".

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

Books

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Episodes

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Gramophone records

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Journals

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Magazines

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Newspapers

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Websites

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External links

* * * {{British Comedy Guide, radio, itma BBC Radio comedy programmes BBC Light Programme programmes 1939 radio programme debuts 1949 radio programme endings