Ray Alan (18 September 1930 – 24 May 2010) was an English

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

and television entertainer from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated primarily with the dummies Lord Charles and Ali Kat and later with the puppets Tich and Quackers. Lord Charles was the first

ventriloquist's dummy Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

to have his own personal microphone.

Early life

Born in Greenwich, London, Alan was educated at Morden Terrace School,

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

.''Who's Who on Television'' (1982), ITV Books, Michael Joseph, p.6, Alan was introduced to the world of entertainment at a young age, entering a talent contest at the age of five at his local Gaumont cinema.

Entertainment career

Aged 13, Alan became a call-boy at the Hippodrome Theatre in

, where he started to do magic sets on stage between acts. He then started to entertain private functions, introducing ventriloquism into his act, along with playing the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

. Alan toured in

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

all over the world and performed once with

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

in 1954. Laurel had provided inspiration for the look of Alan's most famous creation, Lord Charles, who first appeared at a charity show in Wormwood Scrubs Prison, London. Alan made his television debut with Lord Charles on the

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

programme '' The Good Old Days'' in the 1960s and the pair regularly re-appeared on the programme. In the 1960s he also appeared on a children's programme ''Tich and Quackers'' with Tich, a small boy, and his pet duck Quackers. He also created the puppet character ''Ali Cat'' for the HTV series ''Magic Circle'' (1977). He was also the presenter for two years of the BBC show ''Ice Show''. In 1985 he was a special guest for

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

's birthday show at London's Lyric Theatre. In 1986 he presented a show on Channel 4 on ventriloquism, called ''A Gottle of Geer''. Alan continued to perform into his seventies, doing tours and also undertaking conference and corporate events. In 1998/1999 he entertained guests on the ''

QE2 ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (''QE2'') is a retired British ocean liner converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship, named as the second ship named ''Queen Elizabeth'', was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic ...

''. He also wrote for many shows, including a documentary entitled ''A Gottle of Geer'' 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 ...

, and the ITV show ''And There's More'' in 1985 which starred Jimmy Cricket. He took a break from stage work due to ill health but he did not rule out a return, if his health had permitted. His last stage appearance was in November 2008 when he performed at a special charity concert in Bridlington organised by his friend

Greg Knight The Right Honourable Sir Gregory Knight (born 4 April 1949) is a British politician, author and musician. He has served as the Conservative MP for East Yorkshire since 2001, having previously served as the MP for Derby North from 1983 to 1997 ...

who was MP for the town. At the end of his performance he received a standing ovation.

Writing

Alan wrote four novels: ''Death and Deception'' in 2007 and ''A Game of Murder'' in 2008 (both published by Robert Hale), ''A Fear of Vengeance'' (2010, published by FA Thorpe) and ''Retribution'' (2011, published posthumously by Robert Hale). He also wrote for

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

, Dave Allen and for the shows ''

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew, 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman, 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working i ...

'', ''

The Two Ronnies ''The Two Ronnies'' is a British television comedy sketch show starring Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. It was created by Bill Cotton and aired on BBC1 from April 1971 to December 1987. The usual format included sketches, solo sections, seria ...

'' and '' Bootsie and Snudge'', usually under the name Ray Whyberd.

Death

Alan died aged 79 on the morning of 24 May 2010. It is thought he stopped breathing overnight after complaining of feeling unwell at his home in Reigate, Surrey. His agent Peter Prichard said: "He passed away very suddenly."

Media appearances

Television

* '' David Nixon's Comedy Bandbox'' (1966) * ''The Tich and Quackers Show'' (1966) * ''Ice Show'' (1969) * ''Tell Me Another (1976–1978, guest, comedic anecdotal series)'' * ''Magic Circle'' (1977) * ''Three Little Words'' (c.1980) * '' The Sooty Show – Soo's Party Problem'' (1983) * '' Mike Reid's Mates and Music'' (1984) * '' Bobby Davro's TV Weekly'' (1987) Alan was also the presenter of the panel game ''

Where in the World Where in the World may refer to: * ''Where in the World?'' (Irish game show), a 1987-1996 quiz show on RTÉ One * ''Where in the World'' (UK game show), a 1983-1985 quiz show on Channel 4 * ''Where in the World?'' (album), a 1991 album by Bill F ...

'' and of the children's quiz show ''It's Your Word''. He also hosted ''Cartoon Carnival'' and made many appearances on later game shows such as '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Give Us A Clue'', '' Family Fortunes'', ''

3-2-1 ''3–2–1'' was a British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, from 29 July 1978 to 24 December 1988, with Ted Rogers as the host. It was based on a Spanish gameshow called '' Un, dos, tres... resp ...

'', '' Bullseye'' and ''

The Bob Monkhouse Show Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including '' The Golden Shot'', ''Celebrity Squares'', ''Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Earl ...

''. Alan also appeared on ''

The Des O'Connor Show ''The Des O'Connor Show'' is a British variety and chat show hosted by Des O'Connor which was broadcast on ITV from 1963 until 1973. History Associated Television produced the programme, which was recorded in black-and-white for the first six ...

'' and on ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

''.

Radio

* ''The Impressionists'',

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

(guest 1974–75; host 1980–88) *'' Just A Minute'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

(four appearances late 1970s) *

News Huddlines ''The News Huddlines'' was a BBC Radio 2 topical radio comedy, comedy sketch show starring Roy Hudd that ran for fifty one series from 1975 until 2001. Each episode lasted for half an hour and consisted of topical sketches, songs and one-liners. ...

(presenter for one show, 29 October 1975)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alan, Ray People from Greenwich English television personalities Ventriloquists 1930 births 2010 deaths Deaths from respiratory failure