Leonard Henry Ruming (15 March 1890 – 6 January 1973), known as Leonard Henry, was an English comedian, actor, and radio broadcaster.

Biography

Born in Lambeth, London, he first performed as a comic entertainer in concert parties in 1912. He made his first radio broadcast in 1926, and thereafter appeared regularly on the BBC. He also played in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...

s, and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

plays. He was known for monologues containing comic '' non sequiturs'', funny voices and noises, and increasingly outlandish lists, for instance of those attending a function. He was the first person to blow a raspberry on British radio,

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 ...

, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , pp.113-114 and was also reputed to be able to make an impromptu joke on any subject suggested by his audience. He wrote and starred in his own

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own dur ...

s, including ''Humouresque'' and ''April Foolishness'', and was a regular performer in ''Charlot's Hour'', the first regular weekly light entertainment programme on British radio, starting in 1928. He hosted the radio version of the 1932

Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commis ...

. He was one of the most popular British radio comedians of the early 1930s, "Leonard Henry", ''Windyridge CDs''
Retrieved 18 February 2021 and was twice voted top in a newspaper poll of favourite radio personalities. He appeared in

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s, "Leonard Henry, 1929", ''British Pathe''
Retrieved 18 February 2021 and in the longer films ''The Musical Beauty Shop'' (1930) and ''

The Public Life of Henry the Ninth ''The Public Life of Henry the Ninth'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Bernard Mainwaring and starring Leonard Henry, Betty Frankiss, and George Mozart. This film was the first film made by Hammer Productions, and was Henry's film d ...

'' (1935). The latter film, now lost, in which Henry took the leading role, was the first one to be made by

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve class ...

. He also composed songs, and continued to appear regularly on BBC radio as a comedian and later as a compere of programmes, including ''

Housewives' Choice ''Housewives' Choice'' was a BBC Radio record request programme, broadcast every morning between 1946 and 1967 on the BBC Light Programme. It played a wide range of mostly popular music intended to appeal to housewives at home during the day. ...

''. His autobiography, ''My Laugh Story'', was published in 1937. In 1969, he was still well enough known to be the featured guest on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

''. Leonard Henry, Search, ''BBC Radio Times''
Retrieved 18 February 2021 Leonard Henry died in London in 1973, aged 82. Ted Kavanagh, "The Birth of ITMA", in ''Tommy Handley'', 1949, excerpted at ''Transdiffusion.org''
Retrieved 18 February 2021

References

External links

1929 performance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Leonard 1890 births 1973 deaths English male comedians Comedians from London