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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 v ...
to have his own personal microphone.


Early life

Born in
Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the 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 Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...
.


Entertainment career

Aged 13, Alan became a call-boy at the Hippodrome Theatre in
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 ...
, 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 HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Category B men's local prison, located opposite Hammersmith Hospital and W12 Conferences on Du Cane Road in the White City in West London, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's ...
, London. Alan made his television debut with Lord Charles on the
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 exam. ...
...
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''. 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 James Mulgrew (born 17 October 1945), known professionally as Jimmy Cricket, is an Irish comedian. He first came to prominence as a comedian in the 1970s and has had his own shows on television and radio. Early life and career Cricket was bor ...
. 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 Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
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 199 ...
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 ''Bootsie and Snudge'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV for three series from 1960 to 1963, with a fourth in 1974. The show is a spin-off of '' The Army Game'', a sitcom about soldiers undertaking national service, and follows two of the m ...
'', 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 Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...
, 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 ''The Sooty Show'' is a British children's television series, created by Harry Corbett, and produced for the BBC from 1955 to 1967, and then for ITV from 1968 until 1992. The show, part of the ''Sooty'' franchise, focuses on the mischievous a ...
– Soo's Party Problem'' (1983) * '' Mike Reid's Mates and Music'' (1984) * ''
Bobby Davro Robert Christopher Nankeville, known professionally as Bobby Davro (born 13 September 1958), is an English actor and comedian. He made his television debut in 1981 followed by breakthrough in ''Live from Her Majesty's'' (1983); this was follow ...
'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 ''Celebrity Squares'' is a British comedy game show based on the American comedy game show ''The Hollywood Squares, Hollywood Squares''. It first ran from 20 July 1975 to 7 July 1979 and was hosted by Bob Monkhouse, then—also hosted by Mon ...
'', ''
Give Us A Clue ''Give Us a Clue'' is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two ...
'', ''
Family Fortunes ''Family Fortunes'' is a British television game show based on the American game show ''Family Feud''. The programme ran on ITV from 6 January 1980 to 30 December 2002. A celebrity version, ''All Star Family Fortunes'', followed from 2006 to 2 ...
'', '' 3-2-1'', ''
Bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...
'' 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,
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' ...
(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