Harry Enfield

Henry Richard Enfield (born 30 May 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer and director. He is known in particular for his television work, including ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'' and '' Harry & Paul'', and for the creation and portrayal of comedy characters such as Kevin the Teenager and "Loadsamoney".

Early life

Born in Horsham, Sussex, he is the eldest of four children (and only son) of English television, radio and newspaper journalist and presenter Edward Enfield and his wife, Deirdre Jenkins.

The Enfield family are descendants of the nineteenth-century philanthropist Edward Enfield. He was educated at the independent Arundale School in Pulborough, Dorset House School, Worth School, Collyer's Sixth Form College (all in West Sussex) and the University of York, where he was a member of Derwent College and studied politics. He squatted in Hackney and worked for a while as a milkman.

Career

Enfield first came to wide public attention when appearing on Channel 4's '' Saturday Live'' as several different characters created with Paul Whitehouse. These quickly entered the national consciousness. Among these characters were Stavros, a Greek kebab shop owner with fractured English; and Loadsamoney, an obnoxious plasterer who constantly boasted about how much money he earned. The Loadsamoney character was created in reaction to the policies of the Thatcher government of the day, and took on a life of its own, sampling the songs "Money, Money" from the musical ''Cabaret'' and "Money, Money, Money" by ABBA to spawn a hit single in 1988 and a sell-out live tour. In May 1988, Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock used the term ''loadsamoney'' to criticise the policies of the Conservative government and journalists began to refer to the "loadsamoney mentality" and the "loadsamoney economy".

As a foil to Loadsamoney, Enfield and Whitehouse created the Geordie "Bugger-All-Money" and in 1988 Enfield appeared as both characters during the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. In time Whitehouse and Enfield became disturbed that Loadsamoney was being seen in a positive light, rather than as a satirical figure, and they had him run over during a Comic Relief Red Nose Day show while leaving the studio after presenting host Lenny Henry with "the biggest cheque of the night"—a physically huge cheque for ten pence. Enfield created "Tory Boy", a character which portrayed a young male Conservative Member of Parliament (MP).

In 1989, Enfield realised a personal project, ''Norbert Smith - a Life'', a spoof on British theatrical knights "slumming" in the film industry. He also provided voices for the British satirical puppet show ''Spitting Image'', and starred as Dirk Gently in the BBC Radio adaptations of ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' and ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul''.

TV series

In 1990, Enfield developed his BBC
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