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Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with
Denis Norden 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. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the ...
endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote
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 ...
's ''
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 by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, a ...
'' for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio quizzes ''
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 Norde ...
'' and '' My Music'' for another 35. Muir became Assistant Head of Light Entertainment at 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. ...
...
in the 1960s, and was then
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
's founding Head of Entertainment. His many writing credits include editorship of ''The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose''.


Birth and early life

Muir was the second son of steam tug engineer Charles James Muir (1888–1934), originally from
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and his wife Margaret, daughter of ship's carpenter Harry Harding. Harry Harding had died young at sea; his widow, Elizabeth Jane (née Cowie) subsequently married Frank Herbert Webber, a former lighthouse inspector and licensee of the Derby Arms Hotel and pub at
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. The pub was operated by his widow for 22 years after Webber's death. Muir was born in the pub, and spent part of his childhood in
Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...
, London. Charles Muir left his seafaring occupation after marrying, and took up unskilled work such as extending Ramsgate's railway and loading stores onto naval vessels; he finally took a job with a firm at Leyton, supervising their machinery, and died of pneumonia when Frank Muir was a schoolboy. Margaret Muir ran a small sweet-shop across the road from the Derby Arms. His aunt was
Rose Muir A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
(d. 1970),
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
; she and her brother were orphaned at a young age, and when he went to sea she had remained in New Zealand and taken a low-status position at
Christchurch Hospital Christchurch Hospital is the largest tertiary hospital in the South Island of New Zealand. The public hospital is in the centre of Christchurch city, on the edge of Hagley Park, and serves the wider Canterbury region. The Canterbury District He ...
, serving as Matron from 1916 to 1936, and ending up as its Superintendent. In later years, whenever his dignified speech patterns caused listeners to assume that he had received a
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
education, Muir would demur: "I was educated in E10, not
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
". He attended Leyton County High School for Boys, though prior to this he was a pupil at
Chatham House Grammar School (May Chatham House Flourish) , established = 1797 , free_label_3 = Merged , free_3 = 2011 , closed = , type = Grammar schoolAcademy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = , head ...
, in
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, whose notable alumni include former Conservative Prime Minister
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
. He left school prematurely aged fourteen and a half at his father's death, due to the necessity of earning an income to support the family. Muir claimed that, when interviewed to join the RAF, he was "a weedy 6 feet 6 inches" but that he later "stabilised at a bent 6 feet 4 inches".


Early career

Muir 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 ...
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 ...
and spent several years in the photographic technical school taking slow-motion film of parachute jumps on a project intended to decrease the frequency of parachutes failing (sometimes called a 'Roman Candle'). His work provided the manufacturers with the information they needed to improve both the equipment and the training, which was very effective in reducing the number of failures as well as the fatality and injury rate. He was also assigned to take pictures of the agents of the
Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...
(SOE) for identity documents at the training centre at
RAF Ringway 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) an ...
. Muir, as a photographic technician, was posted to Iceland, which was then a Danish possession under British occupation, and while there, he did some work for the forces radio station. Also while stationed in Iceland – as he described in his memoirs ''A Kentish Lad'' – Muir suffered a medical condition which required the surgical removal of one
testicle A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoste ...
.


Writing for radio

Upon his return to civilian life, he began to write scripts for
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 ...
. When Edwards teamed up with
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, ...
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 ...
, Muir formed a partnership with
Denis Norden 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. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the ...
, Bentley's writer, which was to last for most of his career. The vehicle created for Bentley and Edwards, ''
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 by the BBC between 1948 and 1960. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, a ...
'', was written by Muir and Norden from 1948 until 1959; the last series in 1960 used other writers. For ''TIFH'', as it became known, they created "
The Glums ''The Glums'' is a British television sitcom which first aired on ITV in 1979. It had its origins in a segment of the 1950s radio show ''Take It from Here''.Morgan-Russell p.3 The characters were revived as part of '' Bruce Forsyth's Big Night' ...
", a deliberately awful family, which was the show's most popular segment. For ''TIFH'', Muir and Norden wrote the phrase, "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", later used by
Kenneth Williams Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 Car ...
in ''
Carry on Cleo ''Carry On Cleo'' is a 1964 British historical comedy film, the tenth in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, and Jim Dale are present and Connor made his l ...
''. In his autobiography ''A Kentish Lad'' Muir expressed disappointment that he and Norden were never credited for it. Muir and Norden continued to write for Edwards when he began to work for BBC television with the school comedy series '' Whack-O'' and the subsequent 1960 film
Bottoms Up! ''Bottoms Up!'' is the second album by jazz group The Three Sounds featuring performances recorded in 1958 and 1959 and released on the Blue Note label.
, and in the anthology series ''
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 ...
''. With Norden, in 1962, he was responsible for the television adaptation of Henry Cecil's comic novel '' Brothers in Law'', which starred a young
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 ...
''. The pair were invited to appear on a new humorous literary radio quiz, ''
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 Norde ...
''. In the final round Muir and Norden each told a story to "explain" the origin of a well-known phrase. An early example took the quotation "Dead! And never called me mother!" from a stage adaptation of ''
East Lynne ''East Lynne'' is an English sensation novel of 1861 by Ellen Wood, writing as Mrs Henry Wood. A Victorian best-seller, it is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot, centring on infidelity and double identities. There have ...
'' by Mrs Henry Wood, which became the exclamation of a youth coming out of a public telephone box which he had discovered to be out of order. In early broadcasts of ''My Word!'' the phrases were provided by the quizmaster, but in later series Muir and Norden chose their own in advance of each programme and their stories became longer and more convoluted. This became a popular segment of the quiz, and Muir and Norden later compiled five volumes of books containing some of the ''My Word!'' stories. Frank Muir was also, like Norden, a contestant on the ''My Word!'' spinoff, '' My Music''. As a television personality, Muir's unofficial trademark was a crisply knotted pink
bow tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that th ...
.


Later career

In 1954 Muir founded an amateur dramatic society, Thorpe Players, in the village of
Thorpe, Surrey Thorpe is a village in Surrey, England, between Egham, Virginia Water and Chertsey. It is centred WSW of Charing Cross and its land adjoins the circle of the M25, near the M3 — its ward covers . Its traditional area with natural bou ...
where he lived for many years. He was a writer and presenter on many shows, including the 1960s
satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
programmes ''
That Was the Week That Was ''That Was the Week That Was'', informally ''TWTWTW'' or ''TW3'', is a satirical television comedy programme that aired on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced, and directed by Ned Sherrin and Jack (aka John) Duncan, and pr ...
'' and ''
The Frost Report ''The Frost Report'' is a satirical television show hosted by David Frost. It introduced John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, and Ronnie Corbett to television, and launched the careers of other writers and performers. It premiered on BBC1 on 10 March ...
''. He was well known to
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
audiences as a team captain on the long-running BBC2 series ''
Call My Bluff ''Call My Bluff'' is a British panel game show based on the short-lived US version of the same name. It was originally hosted by Robin Ray and later, most notably, by Robert Robinson. Its most prominent panellist was Frank Muir. Format The g ...
''. Muir found unexpected household fame when he undertook voice-overs for advertisements, including Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut chocolate ''("Everyone's a Fruit and Nut case"'', to the tune of the ''Danse des mirlitons'' from Tchaikovsky's ''
The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...
''). Other popular advertising campaigns of the period in which Muir appeared included
Batchelors Batchelors is a popular brand of predominantly dried food products. The Bachelors company was founded in 1895 in Sheffield, England by William Batchelor, initially specialising in canned vegetables. It released its first dried soup in 1949, an ...
' Savoury Rice ''("Every grain will drive them insane!")'', a coffee advert in which he used the phrase ''"impending doom"'', and Unigate milk ''
Humphreys Humphreys may refer to: Places * Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge, Arkansas-Mississippi * Camp Humphreys, U.S. Camp in South Korea *Humphreys, Missouri *Humphreys County, Mississippi * Humphreys County, Tennessee * Humphreys County Airport, Tennessee * ...
''. In the 1960s Muir was Assistant Head of Light Entertainment at the BBC and in 1969 joined
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
as Head of Entertainment. In 1976 Muir wrote ''The Frank Muir Book: An irreverent companion to social history'', which is a collection of anecdotes and quotations collected under various subjects including "Music", "Education", "Literature", "Theatre", "Art" and "Food and Drink". (In the United States, this book is titled "An Irreverent Social History of Almost Everything.") A similar format to ''The Frank Muir Book'' was used in his BBC radio series ''Frank Muir Goes Into...'', in which
Alfred Marks Alfred Edward Marks OBE (born Alfred Edward Touchinsky; 28 January 19211 July 1996) was a British actor and comedian. In his 60-year career, he played dramatic and comedy roles in numerous television programmes, stage shows and films. His self- ...
read the quotations, linked verbally by Muir. He published books based on these series. His ''The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose'', which again uses a similar format with more scholarly aspirations, was published in 1990. Muir was appointed
Commander 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 ...
CBE in the
1980 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1980 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...
. In 1992, for
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, he was the host of ''
TV Heaven ''TV Heaven'' is a series of 13 theme nights shown on Channel 4 in early 1992, celebrating the best of archive British television, which was hosted by Frank Muir. Twelve of the evenings each focused on programmes from a particular year from t ...
'', a season of evenings dedicated to television programmes from individual years. In 1997, Muir published an autobiography, ''A Kentish Lad''.


Personal life and death

In 1949 Muir married Polly McIrvine (d. 2004). They had two children: Jamie (born 1952), a TV producer, and Sally (born 1954), who co-founded the Muir and Osborne knitwear design company, and is married to the journalist and author
Geoffrey Wheatcroft Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft (born 23 December 1945) is a British journalist, author, and historian. Early life and education Wheatcroft is the son of Stephen Frederick Wheatcroft (1921–2016), OBE, and his first wife, Joyce (née Reed). He w ...
. Muir died in
Thorpe, Surrey Thorpe is a village in Surrey, England, between Egham, Virginia Water and Chertsey. It is centred WSW of Charing Cross and its land adjoins the circle of the M25, near the M3 — its ward covers . Its traditional area with natural bou ...
, on 2 January 1998 aged 77. In November 1998, ten months after his death, he and Denis Norden were joint recipients of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Writer of the Year Award. Muir's widow, Polly, died in Surrey on 27 October 2004, aged 79.


Bibliography

* ''Christmas Customs and Traditions'' (1975) * ''The Frank Muir Book: An Irreverent Companion to Social History'' (1976); US title, 'An Irreverent and Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of Almost Everything'' * ''A Book at Bathtime'' (1982); US title, ''An Irreverent and Almost Complete Social History of the Bathroom'' * ''The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose from William Caxton to P. G. Wodehouse: A Conducted Tour'' (1990), compiled and edited by Muir * ''The Walpole Orange: A Romance'' (1993) – * ''A Kentish Lad: The Autobiography of Frank Muir'' (1997) ;Series * ''
What-a-Mess ''What-a-Mess'' is a series of children's books written by British comedy writer Frank Muir and illustrated by Joseph Wright. The title character is a dishevelled, accident-prone Afghan Hound puppy, whose real name is Prince Amir of Kinjan. Th ...
'' series, illustrated by
Joseph Wright Joseph Wright may refer to: *Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), English painter *Joseph Wright (American painter) (1756–1793), American portraitist *Joseph Wright (fl. 1837/1845), whose company, Messrs. Joseph Wright and Sons, became the Metro ...
– children's books; adapted as animated TV series 1979, 1996 * '' My Word! Stories'' series, by Muir and Denis Norden – story collections


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, Frank 1920 births 1998 deaths People educated at Chatham House Grammar School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English autobiographers English male comedians English radio personalities People from Ramsgate English television personalities Rectors of the University of St Andrews Royal Air Force personnel of World War II People from Leyton People from the Borough of Runnymede Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century English comedians