Albert Frederick Modley (3 March 1901 – 23 February 1979) was an English variety

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers

* Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Barker (occupation), Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Cheerleader * Circus arts, Circus perform ...

and

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Biography

He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, but moved to

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

with his family as a child. His father, known as 'Professor Modley', ran a gymnasium, and gave exhibitions presenting strongmen such as

Eugen Sandow Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, ; 2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia. He was born in Königsberg, and became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. Aft ...

. Albert Modley won

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is the variant of boxing practiced in clubs and associations around the world, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as at the varsity sports, collegiate level. Amateur boxing bouts comprise three ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

competitions as a youth, but did not follow his father's profession as a physical trainer. Debbie Cain, "Biography: Albert Modley", ''AlbertModley.co.uk''
Retrieved 3 February 2023 Instead, he began work as a delivery boy and then as a railway porter, entertaining in local

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s in his spare time. He made his stage debut at

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, and his London debut in 1931. He started working in a

double act 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, often highlighting differences in their characters' ...

with Harry Korris, until 1934. Wearing an oversized peaked cap, and described as "one of the finest

Yorkshire dialect Yorkshire dialect, also known as Yorkshire English, Broad Yorkshire, Tyke, or Yorkie, is a grouping of several regionally neighbouring Dialect, dialects of English language, English spoken in Yorkshire. Yorkshire experienced drastic dialect ...

comedians", he appeared in a wide variety of

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

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s, and summer shows. He sometimes performed as a

one man band A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical or electronic contraptions. One-man bands also often sing while they perform. The simplest type of "one-man ban ...

, with drums,

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and trumpet. From 1940 he toured with his own show, "On with the Modley". From 1949, he became successful on

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

as the resident comedian and host on '' Variety Bandbox''. In 1974, he acted in a television adaptation of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

's ''Across the Bay''. He died in Morecambe in 1979, at the age of 77.

Works

Babes in the Wood Babes in the Wood is a traditional English children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents ent ...

(1932/33,

at the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

) *

Dick Whittington Richard Whittington ( March 1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal,Will of Richard Whittington: " I leave to my executors named below the entire tenement in which I live in the parish of St. Michael Paternoster Royal, Londo/ ...

(1933/34, pantomime at the Princes Theatre in

) *

Mother Goose Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...

(1936/37, pantomime at the Alhambra in

) *

(1939/40, pantomime at the Alhambra in

) * Cinderella (1941/42, pantomime at the Empire Theatre,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

.) * Bob's Your Uncle (1942,

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

) *Mother Goose (1946/47, pantomime at the Empire Theatre, Sheffield.) *

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...

(1949/50, pantomime at the Alhambra in

) * Up for the Cup (1950,

) * Take Me to Paris (1951,

) *Humpty Dumpty (1951/52, pantomime at the Empire Theatre, Sheffield.) * Cinderella (1953/54, pantomime at the Empire Theatre, Sheffield.) * The Good Old Days (BBC TV series 1959 and 1968) * The Leslie Crowther Show (1971, TV series) * "

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

" Sunset Across the Bay (1975, TV drama) * All Day on the Sands (1979,

)

Trivia

*Modley is well known for his catch phrase "Eeeeeeehh! Isn't it grand when you're daft?!" He made appearances on BBC TV's long running Old Time Music Hall series, The Good Old Days, often poking friendly fun at his home town Morecambe, famous for its huge sandy beaches, with lines such as '' They're going mad in Morecambe, they've found sand !'' - and - '' Sometimes when the tide goes out, it doesn't bother coming back !'' He also performed a well loved tram driver/ conductor routine, conversing with comical imaginary passengers. *The final issue of the UK's Comic Cuts magazine featured a cartoon of Modley on its cover. This was the magazine's last and 3,006th edition, a world record until it was beaten by

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oc ...

's 3,007th edition in July 1999.

References

External links

* 1901 births 1979 deaths British comedians 20th-century British comedians {{UK-comedian-stub