Denis Mostyn Norden (6 February 1922 – 19 September 2018) was an English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during 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 ...

. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the

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 ...

comedy programme ''

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 ...

'' with

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

. Muir and Norden remained associated for more than 50 years, appearing regularly together on the radio panel programmes ''

My Word! ''My Word!'' is a British radio quiz panel game broadcast by the BBC on the Home Service (1956–67) and Radio 4 (1967–88). It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured the humorous writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden, k ...

'' and '' My Music'' after they stopped collaborating on scripts. He also wrote scripts for

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

films. He presented television programmes on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

for many years, including the nostalgia quiz ''Looks Familiar'' and

blooper A blooper is a short clip from a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms o ...

shows ''

It'll be Alright on the Night ''It'll be Alright on the Night'' is a British television bloopers programme screened on ITV and produced by ITV Studios. It was one of the first series created with the specific purpose of showing behind the scenes bloopers from film and TV. ...

'' and ''Laughter File''.

Early life and career

Norden was born as Denis Moss Cohen into a Jewish family in Hackney, in London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. His parents were George Cohen, a tailor specializing in bridal gowns, and his wife Ginny (née Lubelsky), who was of Polish heritage. The family name was changed by deed poll to Norden while Denis was a child. He was educated at Craven Park Elementary School and the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , speciali ...

where he was a contemporary of

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

. Upon leaving school, he worked as a

stagehand A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production. General S ...

, moved into cinema management by the age of 17 and quickly progressed to be the manager of a cinema in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. He also organised variety shows. He joined 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 ...

during the

and was a wireless operator with a signals unit. His writing career began in the Royal Air Force when he wrote for troop shows. Whilst preparing for one of these shows in 1945, Norden, accompanied by fellow performers

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 ...

and Ron Rich, went to a nearby prison camp in search of stage lighting; the camp turned out to be the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concent ...

, which had recently been liberated by the Allies. Norden, Sykes and Rich organised a food collection amongst their comrades to feed the starving camp inmates. After the war, Norden wrote material for comedian

Dick Bentley Charles Walter "Dick" Bentley (14 May 1907 – 27 August 1995) was an Australian-born comedian and actor of radio, stage and screen. He starred with Jimmy Edwards in '' Take It From Here'' for BBC Radio. He was a staple of and pioneer of radio, ...

, before meeting

(who wrote for comic actor

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 ...

) in 1947; they were brought together by producer

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 ...

. Muir and Norden's first joint venture was a radio show for both performers, '' Take it from Here!'', which they scripted from 1948 to 1959. They went on to write many successful radio and television scripts, including ''

Whack-O! ''Whack-O!'' is a British sitcom TV series starring Jimmy Edwards, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and broadcast from 1956 to 1960 and 1971 to 1972. The series (in black and white) ran on the BBC from 1956 to 1960 and (in colour) from 19 ...

'' (1956–1960) and three series of ''

Faces of Jim ''Faces of Jim'' was a black-and-white British comedy television series starring Jimmy Edwards, June Whitfield and Ronnie Barker, with each episode being an individual half-hour sitcom. The first series aired as ''The Seven Faces of Jim'', the se ...

'' (1961–1963) which were vehicles for Jimmy Edwards. They also wrote the satirical sketch ''

Balham, Gateway to the South "Balham, Gateway to the South" is a comedy sketch that parodies cinema travelogues by presenting the South London suburb of Balham as an exotic locale. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden for the short-lived BBC radio series ''Third D ...

'' for the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

. The sketch, which had originally been broadcast in 1948 as part of a comedy series called ''The Third Division'' and which featured actor

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, O ...

, was later performed by

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 ...

for his LP, ''The Best of Sellers'' (1959). In the early 1960s, Muir and Norden wrote the sitcom '' Brothers in Law'', an early series featuring

Richard Briers Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television. Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...

, and its spin-off ''

Mr Justice Duncannon ''Mr Justice Duncannon'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC TV from 18 January to 22 February 1963. It is a spin-off of '' Brothers in Law'' and stars Andrew Cruickshank as a London judge. The entire series was wiped and is no longe ...

''. In 1964, their writing partnership ended, as Muir moved into management 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. ...

...

Early life and career

ITV presenter

Retirement and legacy

Personal life

Death

Bibliography

References

External links