photos from the lost world of british light entertainment

https://i.imgur.com/FkLi58I.png

https://images.static.press.net/v2/image/preview/29591a57e5409eca219e30a78e96a35c/2.23807974.jpg?1

Actor Stephen Lewis from On the Buses is lifted by the Dymo Dollies (l-r) Daphne Hodge, Liz Donnelly, Elaine Norton and Lesley Brown, outside the Royal Albert Hall. They helped launch a treasure trail in which teams from the National Association of Youth Clubs raced around London.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYEhB1HXkAAgj1_.jpg:smallhttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYEhB1HXkAAgj1_.jpg:small

https://i.imgur.com/DKJ1D8j.png

https://www.regisautographs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Scan-112-e1567945800772.jpeg

larry grayson looking like he was really into throbbing gristle

https://historichamilton.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/ted-rodgers-cadzow-street-1985.jpg

Ted Rogers at the re-opening ceremony of a branch of the Cavendish Woodhouse furnishing shop chain in Hamilton, 1985.

larry grayson looking like he was really into throbbing gristle

Awesome, love Larry + TG.

The GENeration Game.

this thread rules

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/08/benny_hill-300x300.jpg

https://televisionheaven.co.uk/assets/sez_les_004-1584277477.jpg

https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-1500/160596b/925c5a86/wedding-of-les-dawson-and-tracey-roper-at-lytham-st-annes-britain-jul-1989-shutterstock-editorial-160596b.jpg

https://i2-prod.southportvisiter.co.uk/incoming/article10580879.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200c/LESDENNIS.jpg

https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-1500/5894146a/d2c07b4e/the-end-of-television-programme-opportunity-knocks-presenter-hughie-green-with-some-of-the-stars-who-gained-success-on-the-tv-talent-show-peters-lee-tony-holland-neil-martin-bernie-flint-duane-family-millican-nesbitt-freddie-parrot-face-shutterstock-editorial-5894146a.jpg

https://televisionheaven.co.uk/assets/look_mike_yarwood_003.jpg

the forensically bad impressionist

"Millican & Nesbitt are a British vocal duo, comprising Alan Millican and Tom Nesbitt." What, they're still alive!?!?! GTF!

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1wYixwjlvOw/WQRIdX39exI/AAAAAAAACW4/d54wjJKekHM3dtv-nPrqPejlZJqe6xkNgCLcB/s1600/XXX-328689.jpg

https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/wm-preview-1500/9131195a/e0ac7d56/ventriloquist-roger-de-courcey-right-and-nookie-bear-winners-of-the-tv-talent-show-new-faces-box-762-805061711-a-jpg-shutterstock-editorial-9131195a.jpg

xp
big collars ... big cohonies! They remind of a time when park bench alcoholics still dressed in suits!

I was going through an interesting google image search wormhole related to this thread that led me to pics of Jayne Mansfield hanging out in the Batley Frontier club.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616JM5ZNiuL._AC_.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/0C-BIccykzQUYaYed4BSzZUfZK4RC6Dj1BvGQZXlSCRvFxOL3i8KB1If619MA999aJPYtGaIHLEP28szJsktMg1ohndz2-zVB5Mf2xZvi88b1d1QEQ

https://archivetvmusings.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/paul-84-03.jpg

Paul Daniels Christmas special where he attempts to teach Robert Maxwell the art of making a million quid disappear, such hubris from the novice.

https://img.discogs.com/-N1n_KMdGJS6905sdfDV_P_gMYc=/fit-in/600x624/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5676311-1399644403-7077.jpeg.jpg

it's comforting that some of these guys are still around, and embracing new technology

you can get a personalised video message from Freddie "Parrot-Face" Davies for £30 on Cameo : https://www.cameo.com/funnybones?qid=1623712897

The Bachelors have been doing performances via Zoom during lockdown

https://i.imgur.com/wAtXnfp.jpg

The Bachelors' website has a huge archive of photos of them with pretty much every light-entertainment person you can think of http://www.thebachelors.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.tvcream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/1980.jpg

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A1WGAX/jimmy-clitheroe-and-danny-ross-A1WGAX.jpg

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/english-comedian-jimmy-clitheroe-dressed-as-a-school-boy-balancing-on-picture-id481560067?s=2048x2048

https://worstmoviesevermade.com/wp-content/media/2014/07/wheeltappers-shunters_crop.jpg

the search results for 'the clitheroe kid' on getty images features a picture of Ian Brady halfway through https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/photos/the-clitheroe-kid

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.discogs.com%2FJimmy-Edwards-Jimmy-Edwards-At-The-Top-Of-The-Pubs%2Frelease%2F5726720&psig=AOvVaw0SQ_1zrGTLAAVByoYyX7SH&ust=1623831503086000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCJjKtfGZmfECFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

https://img.discogs.com/s6df7OgLhOIsMYcBptuFWrVOBPg=/fit-in/600x586/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5726720-1432645463-8038.jpeg.jpg

I'm guessing that's not the Joe Henderson who recorded for Blue Note - but I wish it was!

That Batchelors site is amazing mix of period detail, such as


People queued around the block in London to see 'The Bachelors Show' causing Traffic Jams in Victoria. the Bachelors did a 4 Month Season at The Victoria Theatre in London when 'The Black and White Minstral Show' was taken off due to a Labour Government ruling that the price of an existing product could not be increased.

Was trying to work out when they last had a hit record… 67/68?

Leapy Lee looks like a hoot.

lol was about to post Joe Henderson eh?

relevant twitter account

The divine Diana Dors, 'Please Sir's Carol Hawkins and Liz Gebhardt, and Olive from 'On The Buses'. pic.twitter.com/OTmZW91Gn4

— Who's Lionel With Today? (@WhoLionel) September 14, 2018

A Freddie Mercury impersonator,Kerry Katona, Brain May/Jim Baines off Crossroads and Big Heather from Eastenders. pic.twitter.com/ArKYjr5iJR

— Who's Lionel With Today? (@WhoLionel) February 17, 2019

Remembering the laughs with Prince Philip and Dickie Davies! pic.twitter.com/qPe7yrXbJe

— Who's Lionel With Today? (@WhoLionel) April 9, 2021

Yes, Lionel Blair is still alive.

dickie davies, too

Maybe one for the 'Horrible 70s stars of BBC light entertainment album titles like I've Got My Own Album To Do' thread?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71h-Z7GmU7L._AC_SX425_.jpg

Brain May

Dear Danny, Pet, Lennie Bennett...

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/webimg/QVNIMTE3MjQyNjIz.jpg?width=640

the best thread

Misread that as 'remembering the laughs with Philip K Dick'.

it's comforting that some of these guys are still around

A case in point...

https://img.discogs.com/z0niBEpvmWlN4ZGOm0F3rCVf3A0=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-8848330-1516000229-2131.jpeg.jpg

72 of his greatest hits? Are we sure that's enough?

Apparently the Joe Henderson on that album is this guy.

Pretty sure I posted one of his albums on the WRONG DUDE thread.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/65scBdC3SDA/sddefault.jpg

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/images-a.jpimedia.uk/imagefetch/http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/webimage/Prestige.Item.1.88975723!image/image.jpg?crop=982:524,smart&width=990

going slightly offtopic here, a global megastar like Louis Armstrong at the Batley Variety Club seems like an unusual event considering the town is in such decay now. The flash wideboy owner of the club offered Dean Martin the small fortune at the time of £45 000 to play there as well and his agent responded he wouldn't get out of bed for a piss for that pittance!

There's a 2021 release by DJ Herzbeat feat. Roger Whittaker on Spotify. I made it through 35sec, so you don't have to.

What if I really want to?

amazing that a 70s Radio 1 DJ is neither the dodgiest David Hamilton nor the dodgiest Diddy

OTM

i could swear Tarby died at least a decade ago

He's about to go on tour.

Misread that as he’s about to go in an hour!

Seems the right thread for this.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/article/2024/may/04/i-killed-a-man-gyles-brandreth-says-rod-hulls-death-was-his-fault

"he wanted to watch the football, but his Sky aerial wasn’t transmitting properly."

tbf it was actually Rupert Murdoch who was indirectly responsible for Rod Hull's death, it was one of his employees who did a shoddy Sky installation and that's why the fucker died!

the one time I had Sky, the installation was abysmal. The dish was hanging off my wall because it had been fixed to the rendered insulation rather than to the house bricks. When a sky employee arrived he said he can't fix the problem because Sky don't supply him with long enough coaching screws to fix to the brick. He said if you just pop down to B+Q and get some 100mm coaching screws then I will come back today and fix it. I said ffs please tell me this is some kind of fucking joke, no he was completely serious.

Speaking to John Cleese on the latest episode of his Rosebud podcast, Brandreth said: “I killed a man. It was Rod Hull, the emu man.”

Imagining Brandreth saying this like Robert Shaw delivering the "Mr Hooper, that's the USS Indianapolis" line in Jaws

> his Sky aerial wasn’t transmitting properly.

transmitting?

(we have the same problem at home. then my dad goes outside and scares the jackdaws away and that fixes it)

ghastly thread

Gyles Brandreth didn’t kill Rod Hull – I did, claims ex-Countess

Brandreth has always looked to me like a mf with some dark secrets, even seeing him as a kid on TVAM.

Lord Longford head hunted him for research imo p0rn when he was only 22.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/fyi/284/gyles-brandreth-talks-porn/

"So, Cliff Richard and I, the Bishop, the Archbishop, and the Rabbi all gathered at a room at London University. Lord Longford welcomed us, and then he distributed filthy magazines and we sat there, the Bishop, the Archbishop, the Rabbi, me, Cliff Richard in a circle with Lord Longford, flicking through these disgusting magazines going, 'Oh, no, oh' no!' (...) anyway, God, this went on for several months."

extremely interesting (I'll never believe that CF is clean, i'm afraid)

er CR

Seems like you should take anything Gyles Brandreth says with handfuls of salt.

the last thing you want while you're examining porn is a handful of salt

I've got a faint memory of Harry Enfield doing a parody of Brandreth or his type, wearing a knitted jumper with I AM A GIT on the front using the catchphrase "how mildly whimsical". At least it reminded me of him. Can't remember where I saw it.

https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2022/242/146165381_ce20efbb-3995-4274-8da1-fe6738c6f40c.jpeg

Pere Lachaise?

that is one fucked up gravestone!

Yeah, no Cuddles

Also "upto" all one word.

Cuddles banned because he hates that duck

That was his fourth wife btw. Regardless of his material I always thought Keith Harris was a really good ventriloquist.

will Bob Carolgees have a gravestone that refers to Spit The Dog as a real life character that has also passed away by default? Maybe just me, but I find this shit very weird.

probably a bad example there, not really one of the ventriloquist community

I like the implication that Orville has been buried with Harris, like the servant of an Egyptian Pharaoh, in order to attend to him in the afterlife (or possibly the other way round)

I imagine Cough the Cat will not appear on any Bob Carolgees headstone.

tbf Orville was over 200 years old in duck years

Amusingly this is that grave's second appearence on this thread!

Upon the death of Keith Harris Orville regenerated into a new, secret form, and is currently engaged in the process of transmuting his latest human servant. Nasty!

From age nine Harris appeared on his father Norman's knee as a "dummy" in his ventriloquist act.[6][7]

Other way round but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzlvFRYYSLU

I've got a faint memory of Harry Enfield doing a parody of Brandreth or his type, wearing a knitted jumper with I AM A GIT on the front using the catchphrase "how mildly whimsical". At least it reminded me of him. Can't remember where I saw it.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JrGvBcxo2oQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGF4gRShyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCw2V8cDkXlG5Nxw_hqUmxcogxItg

"A reminder that the BBC One ident for Christmas 1993 literally has to be seen to be believed."

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jjkzilhmaloqzp4yutbovcrb/post/3lbuademx5s2e

that feels like the end of an era in lots of ways - the final series of the The Paul Daniels Magic Show would go out spring-summer 1994 (it was followed by Paul Daniels's Secrets, but that went out in a weekday slot rather than Saturday and only lasted one series), last Bruce Forsythe hosted series of the Generation Game was also 1994. The Little and Large show had already finished up in 1991.

Heh, this one came up on my YT feed today and I had to double check it wasn't a parody:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U8kAVYxmw0

30 YEARS AGO TODAY: with Brucie four shows from the end of his Generation Game tenure, games involve Royal Navy members with plastic logs, Christmas cracker building and a Moulin Rouge finale judged by the epitome of Parisian class, Su Pollard. https://t.co/Eg1uPDGiO5

— Why Don't YouTube? (@whydontyoutube) December 3, 2024

On this day 30 years ago, the Playstation was released. pic.twitter.com/dOmIqyTw7g

— Web Design Museum (@WebDesignMuseum) December 3, 2024

these tweets appeared on my feed just a minute apart, bizarre to think think the Playstation and Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game briefly co-existed, gives me the same kind of feeling as remembering that Harriet Tubman was alive at the same time as both Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan.

My recollection is that Bruce Forsyth had a second wind at around that time. Bruce Forsyth and Bob Monkhouse. In the 1980s and early 1990s they were bywords for old-fashioned overly-slick naffness, but at some point in the Britpop years the collective culture decided that there was still a place for them. Paul Daniels never had the same level of rehabilitation for whatever reason. Noel Edmunds likewise, although he was of a younger generation. Although he did have a comeback with Deal.

Or was it a few years later? Wikipedia suggests that Forsyth's appearance on Have I Got News For You in 2003 brought him back to public attention, but I remember that Monkhouse guest-presented a few episodes of The Big Breakfast in the mid-late 1990s and was pretty good.

I suppose if you were very young Forsyth and Monkhouse might have come across as a post-postmodern parody of Vic Reeves. It probably helped that they didn't have the kind of old-school 1970s creepiness of other light entertainment stars from the past, such as Jimmy Savile, who was also still around at the time.

The reason it didn't happen for Paul Daniels is he was an outspoken bitter unpleasant cunt. Bruce on the Generation Game 30 years ago must've been a tawdry lolstslalgia callback, he'd left years before and Larry Grayson was hosting in the 80s at the latest

... I was going to say followed by Jim Davidson, lest we forget, but he came after Brucie's 2nd stint in charge.

also it's weird that i don't remember Bruce ever getting much creepy pushback even tho he had a history of marrying women at least a generation (no pun intended) younger than him

also thanks Tom i think my trauma brain bits have erased Jim Davidson from that show

Yeah given Bruce Forsyth was presenting Strictly till 2014 and The Generation Game has been on as recently as 2018 (with Mel and Sue! Missed that), the PlayStation thing doesn't strike me as that odd

I remember, sometime in the late 90s, seeing Paul Daniels doing tricks to an audience of two people at Brent Cross, standing on a bench outside where Athena used to be. Sad!

I can’t recall a period where BBC wasn’t full of self referential oldies or club comedians, or at least the spirit of the those types. I guess the most gruesome period was actually when the younger hosts were in primetime slots - Davidson on Big Break and GG, and Noel on Noel’s House Party. It felt inescapable - any Saturday night where you didn’t get invited out felt doubly depressing as a result. I mean, it was so bad even Chris Evans (!) felt like a breath of fresh air

Also God Tenko reunion looks like the dullest show ever made