Peter Brough (26 February 1916 – 3 June 1999) was an English radio

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 ...

who became a well-known name to audiences in the 1950s. He is associated with his puppet

Archie Andrews Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom,

Early career

Peter Brough’s father, Arthur Brough, was a ventriloquist and a frequent performer on the variety stages around London. Brough senior gave up performing in the early 1920s and concentrated on a textile business. Young Peter left school at 15 and worked for a Bayswater department store called Whiteleys, first as an errand boy and later as a counter salesman. He emulated his father by developing his ventriloquist skills, which he continued to practice whilst working at Whiteleys. Early press reports show Brough entertaining the patients at Acton hospital on Christmas Day, 1935. He continued entertaining at clubs and at concerts in the Acton area and by 1939 he was becoming a regular on the variety stage. His stage performances increased and in 1941 he was described as “England's Most Successful Young Ventriloquist”. He acted as a compere in the 1940 film ''Cavalcade of Variety'' featuring Billy Cotton and his band.

Radio days

Brough began his radio career in 1944 in ventriloquism but in 1950 he debuted Archie, a mischievous child who domineered his mentor. Archie's chief characteristics were his

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

-tailored blazers and manic eyes. Archie followed in the tradition of the American ventriloquist

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters C ...

and his dummy Charlie McCarthy. His radio series based around the character – '' Educating Archie'' – featured in support the likes of Dick Emery,

Freddie Sales Frederick Harry Sales ( Walker; 27 November 1920 – 15 November 1994) was an English comedian and actor. Life He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, into a show business family, and took the surname Sales from that of his paternal grandmother. H ...

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

, Tony Hancock,

Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series ''Sunday Night ...

Harry Secombe Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...

, Max Bygraves, Beryl Reid and even a young

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy ...

as the girlfriend of Archie;

Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...

was one of the series' main writers in the early 1950s. The show often averaged 15 million listeners, and a fan club had 250,000 members. Brough published his autobiography "Educating Archie" in 1955.

TV work

Because of the success of his radio show, Brough made his debut on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

in 1956 in the BBC sitcom ''Here's Archie'' which co-starred Irene Handl and

Ronald Chesney Ronald Chesney (born René Lucien Cadier; 4 May 1920 – 12 April 2018) and Ronald Wolfe (born Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff; 8 August 1922 – 18 December 2011) were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s sit ...

. The show was written by the latter and Ronald Wolfe, who would later team up on British

sitcoms A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' The Rag Trade'' and ''

On the Buses ''On the Buses'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast on ITV from 1969 to 1973. It was created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, who wrote most of the episodes. It spawned three spin-off feature films and a stage version. Desp ...

''. Two years later, Brough was on ITV in ''Educating Archie'', utilising the same team as before, although

Marty Feldman Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for his prominent, misaligned eyes. He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on the ITV sitcom ''Bootsi ...

took some of the writing credit as well. The TV appearances exposed his limitations as a ventriloquist, as his lips were frequently seen to move. In later years a critic remarked, "Ventriloquism on the radio - I could have done that." By 1961, Brough decided to retire Archie following the death of his father, also a ventriloquist, and he then took over the family's textile and menswear business. His TV appearances were sporadic from then on. He died on 3 June 1999 and was buried in Maldon cemetery in Essex. In November 2005, the original Archie Andrews doll was sold at auction in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by t ...

for £34,000.

Family

Brough married twice: first in 1940 to Peggy Franklin (one son, one daughter; marriage dissolved), second to Elizabeth Chantler (died 1994; one son, one daughter). His son Chris Brough, became a record producer and was married to the singer, actress and TV presenter

Ayshea Brough Ayshea (born Ayshea Hague, 12 November 1948) is a British singer, actor and television presenter. Biography Born in Highgate, London, and educated at Arts Educational School, London, Ayshea was trained in ballet, music, drama and dance. She mad ...

in the 1970s. His daughter, Romey Brough is an internationally collected artist with work in the Tate Gallery Archive.

References

External links