Kenway and Young were a British

comedy duo A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...

popular in the 1930s and 1940s. They were a married couple, Helen Hemmings Young ( McCartney; 23 March 1905 – 25 June 2001), who performed as Nan Kenway, and Douglas Joseph Young (19 December 1900 – 29 November 1972), who also wrote their scripts.

Careers

Helen "Nellie" McCartney was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, Australia. She studied music at the

Sydney Conservatorium The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and known by the moniker "The Con") is a heritage-listed music school in Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the ol ...

, and won a piano scholarship to the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at Gr ...

, moving to England in 1924. There, she took

elocution Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelli ...

lessons because of her accent, and as a result developed an interest in performing on stage. "Variety Artist from England", ''The Age'', Melbourne, 17 December 1949, p.6
/ref> She joined

Ronald Frankau Ronald Hugh Wyndham Frankau (22 February 1894 – 11 September 1951) was an English comedian who started in cabaret and made his way to radio and films. Family Frankau was born in London, the third child of Arthur Frankau, son of Joseph Fran ...

's "Cabaret Kittens" concert party, and at an engagement in

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...

met Douglas Young. He had been born in London, and worked in the City and on a newspaper, before taking to the stage. They started working together, making their first appearances on experimental

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 ...

television programmes in 1932, Search, Kenway and Young, ''Radio Times'', BBC Genome
Retrieved 2 March 2021 and married the following year. Unlike many earlier performers, they built up their popularity through radio appearances, rather than stage work. They developed an act, scripted by Young, consisting of short comic sketches in which they represented various characters, and also highlighted Kenway's piano playing. As a pianist, she was said to be responsible for popularising the ''Concerto Symphonique'' by Litolff.Roger Wilmut, ''Kindly Leave the Stage: The Story of Variety 1919-1960'', Methuen, 1985, , p.144 They made many appearances on BBC radio during the 1930s, particularly on the show ''Trolley Bus'', in which they appeared as the characters Mr Grice – a food-obsessed old rustic character, with the catchphrases "Very tasty! Very sweet!" and "It makes yer think!" – and Mrs Yatton, landlady of the Startled Hare. Denis Gifford, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , p.145 In 1940, they had their own series, ''Very Tasty – Very Sweet''. They also appeared, developing the same characters, in the popular satirical revue programme ''Howdy Folks?'', written by Douglas Young and Eric Barker. The show continued through the war years, and in later years teamed Kenway and Young with

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...

. As well as their frequent radio appearances 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 ...

, they toured France, India and south east Asia as part of ENSA, and were the opening act at the special Radio Command Performance held in 1942 to celebrate Princess Elizabeth's sixteenth birthday. They also continued to tour on the British theatre variety circuit. Hilary Young, "Nan Kenway and Douglas Young: A Music Hall Diary 1945", ''British Music Hall Society''
Retrieved 22 March 2021 They toured Australia in 1949, and continued to make occasional radio appearances on both the BBC and Radio Luxembourg in the early 1950s, their final radio show being in 1954.Gifford, 1985, p.304 Douglas Young died in Surrey in 1972, aged 71. Kenway continued to live in Surrey, and died in 2001, aged 96, in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

References

External links

Kenway and Young
''Very Tasty - Very Sweet!'', 1940 short film {{DEFAULTSORT:Kenway and Young English comedy duos Married couples