Category: Entertainment

One of the most successful British sitcoms is ‘Red Dwarf’, which had 52 episodes in 1988-99 on BBC2 television before reprising on the Dave channel in 2009 with another 22 episodes to date. As always seems to happen for any space-related series, a cult following grew up around it.

The Lancastrian writers, Rob Grant (until 1995) and Doug Naylor, developed the story-line in 1983 from sketches they had written for a BBC radio comedy show and eventually BBC North gave them studio time. The plot concerns the adventures of the spaceship ‘Red Dwarf’ and, in later episodes, its launch, ‘Starbug’. The four crew members and ship’s computer could not be more wacky and incompatible on the face of it, a key element, since we also glimpse their occasional comradeship.

Craig Charles (1964-) plays Lister, the last human on board, who was saved from the initial deadly radiation leak by being in stasis; Chris Barrie (1960-) plays a hologram of his former self, Rimmer; Danny John-Jules (1960-) plays the Cat, evolved from Lister’s pet cat over the three million years that Red Dwarf has been adrift; and Robert Llewellyn (1956-) plays Kryten the robot. Both Norman Lovett (1946-) and Hattie Hayridge (1959-) have played Holly, the computer with a supposed IQ of 6,000.

(Top image: deviantart.com / CC BY-SA 3.0)

A carry-on is defined as a rumpus, a commotion, and this, with a big dose of fun, sums up the general idea of the 31 Carry On films made between 1958-78 and 1992. They parallelled the Hammer horrors in their time-frame and shoestring budget, except that they were the comedic side. There was even a parody horror, called ‘Carry On Screaming’ in 1966. Full of innuendo and slapstick, they were very popular in their first decade, but perhaps ‘carried on’ a little too long after their peak, instead of finishing in the early 1970s as Hammer had done.

Although poorly paid, there was a core group of actors and actresses for whom the series kept them in the spotlight, including Kenneth Williams (1926-88), Sid James (1913-76), Charles Hawtrey (1914-88), Joan Sims (1930-2001), Hattie Jacques (1922-80), Kenneth Connor (1918-93) and Barbara Windsor (1937-2020). Other comedy stars were also given cameo roles.

Producer Peter Rogers (1914-2009), and director Gerald Thomas (1920-93), were ever-present and every film was shot in 6-week slots at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, with only rare excursions to other locations. The films and various spin-offs, such as Christmas Specials, were repeated on television several times. Despite the predictable plots, they appealed to the silly, bawdy side of the British sense of humour.

(Top image: Luke David O’Rourke at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)

Sir A.J. Michael Eavis (1935-) was born and brought up in Pilton, Somerset, and inherited Worthy Farm, the family’s dairy farm there, when only 19. He and his second wife, then Jean Lord (1939-99), decided to host the ‘Pilton Pop, Folk & Blues Festival’ on their fields in 1970, inspired by attending an outdoor rock concert in Bath the previous year.

Charging £1 per ticket (including free milk!) and attracting 1,500 campers for the 2-day, loss-making experiment, they had no idea that Glastonbury Festival (“Glasto”), as it was re-named, would become the world’s biggest ‘greenfield’ musical extravaganza. The work of the farm continues around it, so there are regular ‘fallow’ years to give the land and village a rest, especially today when Festival capacity is 210,000. In the early years at least, the iconic pyramid stage doubled as a cow-shed!

Glastonbury Tor is on the horizon and Glasto is said to be situated on a Glastonbury ley-line. The Festival, now a 5-day event, has a hippy/New Age/socialist ideology and the current ticket price of £360 helps towards generous donations to local and other charities, e.g. WaterAid. Occasionally, the British weather attempts to cover everyone in mud but this only seems to add to Glasto-ites’ determination to return next time.

(Image: zzuuzz at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)

The British ‘sitcom‘ (situation comedy) began life on radio after WW2 but it quickly moved to television due to the benefits of retaining the same cast, writers and scenery week after week. Writers Galton & Simpson were its pioneers in the 1950s and the genre was so successful that it led to a ‘golden age’ spanning all of the 1970s/1980s. A slow decline in new series followed, although re-runs, DVDs and internet viewing of old shows remain popular.

To pick out just a few, from the 1960s there was:

• • • Till Death Do Us Part
    • Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
    • Dad’s Army

the 1970s:

• • • Some Mother Do ‘Ave ‘Em
    • Fawlty Towers
    • The Good Life
    • Porridge

the 1980s:

• • • Only Fools and Horses
    • Yes Minister
    • ‘Allo ‘Allo
    • Black Adder

and the 1990s:

• • • One Foot in the Grave
    • Ever Decreasing Circles
    • Vicar of Dibley

Like TV soaps, sitcoms are sometimes used as a vehicle for introducing and normalising certain social issues. ‘Love Thy Neighbour’ in the 1970s, for example, did a splendid job of ridiculing racist attitudes and showing our commonality. The ability to laugh at ourselves is at the heart of the TV sitcom, especially in a calamity of one sort or another.

(Top image from ‘Fawlty Towers’: Insomnia Cured Here at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-) from London and Sir Tim Rice (1944-) from Buckinghamshire, who met in 1965, revived British musical theatre with three remarkable hits in the 1970s; namely, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’  and ‘Evita’. None went directly to a stage production in those early days ~ even ‘Evita’ was a concept album first. Apart from a specially commissioned show called ‘Cricket’ (1986) for the Queen’s 60th birthday celebration at Windsor Castle, the two then worked separately with equal, or even greater, success.

Rice, the lyricist and more inclined towards pop music, collaborated with Benny and Björn from ABBA to create ‘Chess’ (1984) and teamed up with Elton John for Disney’s ‘Lion King’ (1994). He had previously worked with American songwriter Alan Menken on Disney’s spell-binding ‘Aladdin’ (1992) and the awards were a-plenty for these and other projects.

Lloyd Webber, the world’s most commercially successful composer, proved his passion for musical theatre by buying six London theatres including the Palladium and ploughing all profits back into their upkeep. Among his weighty portfolio of award-winning shows, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (1986) has a top spot in musical theatre history. ‘Cats’ (1981), ‘Starlight Express’ (1984) and even the UK’s 2009 Eurovision song are also under his belt.

(Images LtoR: Andrew Lloyd Webber by qwertyytrewqqwerty at Wikimedia Commons / CC0, Tim Rice by Thecharmschool/W. at snl.no / CC BY SA 4.0)

Dame Julie Andrews (1935-) was born in Surrey with a natural gift for singing. Her mother and stepfather brought her into their vaudeville act and with professional coaching of her 4-octave range, she was able to sing operatic arias by age 12. Her meteoric rise to fame was built not just on her amazing voice but also on ‘learning by doing’ as she progressed rapidly to musical theatre, then films, all at the highest, most competitive levels.

She was first heard nationwide on radio ~ particularly in ‘Educating Archie’ in 1950-52, where she met comedy actress Hattie Jacques (1922-80). After appearing on television and in various West End shows, Jacques recommended her for a leading role in Broadway’s ‘The Boy Friend’ in 1954-55. Next came ‘My Fair Lady’ in 1956-58 and more television.

Hollywood came a-calling with, of course, ‘Mary Poppins’ (1964) and ‘The Sound of Music’ (1965) among others. Andrews received many awards but it was quite overwhelming for her personally. Her second marriage was to American film director Blake Edwards with whom she made several films, including ’10’ (1979) and ‘Victor/Victoria’ (1982). With her daughter Emma she has written many children’s books and an autobiography, but her singing voice disappeared after an operation in a New York hospital in 1997.

(Image: Isabel Santos Pilot at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Raymond (Ray) Percy Galton (1930-2018) and Alan Francis Simpson (1929-2017) were both Londoners, both 6’4″ tall, both had tuberculosis as teenagers and, as was soon apparent on becoming friends in hospital in 1948, they shared the same sense of humour. This was borne out over the ensuing decades in their exceptional comedy script-writing partnership. Both received OBEs in 2000 “for services to TV comedy and drama”.

They approached the BBC as novices and there they were given time to hone their skills working with numerous different comedians. Luckily, one of these was Birmingham-born Tony Hancock (1924-68). ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ (1954-9) was one of Britain’s first radio sitcoms. Galton and Simpson developed the characters a lot over its 102 episodes, but kept as central Hancock’s role as a thick-skinned but gullible, pretentious, mostly out-of-work actor. In 1956 the show moved to television and this had 63 episodes up to 1961. ‘The Blood Donor’ (1961) is perhaps the most famous of these.

Then came another classic, ‘Steptoe and Son’ (1962-74), which started on television, then went to radio from 1966. Galton and Simpson’s innovation was to cast dramatic actors, not comedians, which lifted the comic pathos to new heights and allowed them to infuse social issues into the various calamities in the rag’n’bone men’s humble lives.

(Top image [cropped]: Hugo van Gelderen at Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)

In 1862 Henry Solly (1813-1903), a Presbyterian clergyman from London, founded the Working Men’s Club & Institute Union to oversee and gain philanthropic funding for the first working men’s clubs. Solly’s vision was that they would provide common ground for men of all stations in the industrial areas of Britain. Friendship, education and elevation of mind and spirit through convivial conversation, reading and writing were the aims of his mission.

The clubs were to charge small membership fees and be havens of after-work socialising and gentle recreation with no alcohol, no women, no politics, no preaching and no profits. However, it did not take long for beer to be permitted and wives allowed in on certain days. Gradually the social and entertainment aspects replaced the educational. Clubs also moved to being run as co-operatives with committees of annually-elected members who drew up the club rules and enforced them.

At their peak in the 1960s/70s, there were around 4,000 such clubs and some well-known singers such as Dame Vera Lynn (1917-2020) and Sir Tom Jones (1940-) began their careers in the concert rooms of working men’s clubs. They were the hub of the community, but de-industrialisation and the digital, in-home entertainment age has greatly reduced club numbers.

(Image: Elliott Brown at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

“Oh won’t you sign up your name
We’d like to feel you’re acceptable
Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable”  ~ The Logical Song (1979)

These lyrics came from the adolescent recollections of Roger Hodgson (1951-), co-founder of rock band Supertramp, which he formed in 1969 with Rick Davies (1944-), both from southern England. It was one of their most successful singles along with classics such as ‘Dreamer’ (1974), ‘Give a Little Bit’ (1977),‘Take the Long Way Home’ (1979) and ‘It’s Raining Again’ (1982).

The worldwide sales of their 20 albums and 28 singles number in the millions, with their 1979 LP ‘Breakfast in America’ being the outstanding peak of their careers. The other band members during Supertramp’s heyday were Glaswegian Dougie Thomson (1951-) on bass, Yorkshireman John Helliwell (1945-) on saxophone and clarinet, and their only American, Bob Siebenberg (1944-) on drums and percussion. Hodgson, Davies and Helliwell all played the electric piano which was such an important part of the Supertramp sound. Hodgson wrote most of the songs, though Davies also contributed.

Hodgson left Supertramp in 1983 and the band split up in 1988. There was a partial re-formation for two more studio albums, in 1997 and 2002, but aside from the odd tour with different line-ups, Supertramp has taken its auspicious resting place in rock’s history books.

(Top image of ‘Breakfast in America’ LP cover: Joe Haupt at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Given that youth sub-cultures (e.g. punk, hippy, emo, rocker) deliberately set out on an irreverent, anti-establishment path, Restoration Comedy (1660-c.1700) can be seen as an early example. After Oliver Cromwell‘s staid Puritanical rule, in which theatres were forced to close in 1642, the return of the flamboyant, pleasure-seeking King Charles II (1630-85) in 1660 inevitably opened the floodgates to young playwrights’ mischievous revelry in subverting society’s norms.

Their comedy plays were immoral, bawdy and rude. The plots mocked refined standards and appealed especially to young aristocratic circles, as they portrayed their way of behaving and talking, thereby re-introducing the line between them and the peasants. The topics were love, courtship, marriage and much infidelity. Conflict was represented in a ‘cape-and-sword’ swashbuckling style.

Aphra Behn (1640-89) from Kent, our first professional female writer, joined the ranks of Restoration playwrights with plays such as ‘The Amorous Prince’ (1671) and ‘The Rover’ (1681). Actresses also emerged for the first time, even playing male roles in figure-revealing breeches, much to the enjoyment of the men in the audience! Indeed, Nell Gwyn (1650-87), who played in ‘The Rover’, was an actress who famously became one of Charles II’s mistresses.

The pendulum swung back gradually to morality and serious drama after Charles died.

(Images LtoR: Nell Gwyn & Aphra Behn’s ‘The Rover’ title page / Public domain)

Londoner Sir Roger George Moore (1927-2017) was gifted with good looks, quick wits, charm and charisma. In TV interviews RADA-trained Moore would modestly deny that he was even a proper actor, describing feeling like “an overpaid schoolboy” on the film set, where he just wanted to “have fun”. In fact, he is remembered fondly as the star of many TV series and films, not least the seven in which he played James Bond, namely:-

1. ‘Live and Let Die’ (1973)
2. ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ (1974)
3. ‘The Spy who Loved Me’ (1977)
4. ‘Moonraker’ (1979)
5. ‘For Your Eyes Only’ (1981)
6. ‘Octopussy’ (1983)
7. ‘A View to a Kill’ (1985)

Fans of the previous incumbent, Edinburgh-born Sir Sean Connery (1930-2020) may have criticised the injection of humour into these classics, but this merely reflected Moore’s own character and style, and drew a new audience to the franchise. Those who appreciated his performances in TV shows such as ‘Maverick’ (1957), ‘Ivanhoe’ (1958), ‘The Saint’ (1962-69) or ‘The Persuaders’ (1971-72) watched the effortless transition of this cool, gentlemanly hero onto the big screen.

Outside of acting he worked in various capacities ranging from a model for knitwear brands (in his early days) to an Executive Director of Fabergé. He was also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and Monaco.

(Top image: Allan Warren at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)