by Louis Barfe
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Author’s interview with Marcus Plantin, 4 March 2005.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
32 Ibid.
33 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
34 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
35 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
36 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
37 Author’s interview with Paul Smith, 20 May 2005.
38 Author’s interview with Paul Smith, 9 June 2005.
39 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
40 Author’s interview with Marcus Plantin, 4 March 2005.
41 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
42 Author’s interview with Paul Smith, 20 May 2005.
43 Paul Hamilton, Peter Gordon and Dan Kieran (eds.), How Very Interesting: Peter Cook’s Universe and All That Surrounds It (Snowbooks, London, 2006), pp. 127–8.
44 Jeremy Isaacs, speaking on The Real Hughie Green (Channel 4, tx: 7 August 2001).
45 Kenny Everett, with Simon Booker, The Custard Stops at Hatfield (Collins Willow, London, 1982), p. 110.
46 Author’s interview with Steve Jones, 10 November 2005.
47 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 In any case, it was twenty-five years too late to be outraged, as Dan Farson had reported from a nudist colony in his 1950s Associated-Rediffusion show Out of Step.
53 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
CHAPTER NINE
1 The special cyclorama lighting trough was replicated at the new premises.
2 Author’s interview with William G. Stewart, 22 March 2006.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
10 Docherty, Running the Show (1990), p. 160.
11 Author’s interview with Alan Boyd, 8 June 2005.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Author’s interview with Harold Fisher, 17 November 2004.
19 Ibid.
20 Roy Hudd, with Philip Hindin, Roy Hudd’s Cavalcade of Variety Acts (Robson Books, London, 1997), p. 138.
21 Author’s interview with John Fisher, 11 May 2006.
22 Ibid.
23 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
24 Author’s interview with John Fisher, 11 May 2006.
25 Nash remains the only man to have been both head of comedy and head of variety at the BBC.
26 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
27 Ibid.
28 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
29 ‘Maximum Fine For The BBC Over TV Death Plunge Stunt’, The Times, 17 April 1987.
30 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
31 Author’s interview with Michael Leggo, 20 October 2004.
32 Ibid.
33 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
34 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
35 Author’s interview with Michael Leggo, 20 October 2004.
36 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds 29 September 2004.
37 Ibid.
38 Ibid.
39 Author’s interview with Michael Leggo, 20 October 2004.
40 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
41 Ibid.
42 Later to become one half of the partnership behind Endemol.
43 Author’s interview with David Liddiment, 3 March 2005.
44 Author’s interview with Jan Kennedy, 20 April 2005.
45 Alexei Sayle’s Stuff, series 3, Show 1 (BBC, tx: 3 October 1991).
46 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
47 The Young Ones, ‘Sick’ (BBC2, tx: 12 June 1984).
48 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
49 Ibid.
50 Penny Dwyer went on to become an eminent metallurgist before dying in 2003, far too young.
51 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
52 A Bit of Fry and Laurie series 2, show 6 (BBC2, tx: 13 April 1990)
53 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
54 Filthy Rich and Catflap, (BBC2, tx: 21 January 1987).
55 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
CHAPTER TEN
1 Author’s interview with Brian Tesler, 23 February 2005.
2 Author’s interview with Marcus Plantin, 4 March 2005.
3 Author’s interview with Stewart Morris, 1 April 2005.
4 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
5 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
6 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
7 Author’s interview with David Liddiment, 3 March 2005.
8 Author’s interview with Jim Moir, 19 July 2006.
9 Author’s interview with David Liddiment, 3 March 2005.
10 Author’s interview with Roger Ordish, 22 October 2004.
11 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
12 Author’s interview with David Liddiment, 3 March 2005.
13 Author’s interview with Stewart Morris, 1 April 2005.
14 Author’s interview with Noel Edmonds, 29 September 2004.
15 Author’s interview with Sir Bill Cotton, 29 September 2004.
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While I have aimed to be comprehensive in this book, space constraints mean that it is not exhaustive. Fortunately, many aspects of light entertainment history have been covered in loving detail by other books, many of which I have consulted. Anyone wanting to know more about specific acts is advised to track down copies of Mander and Mitchenson’s British Music Hall, Roy Hudd’s Cavalcade of Variety Acts and Roger Wilmut’s typically thorough and engrossing Kindly Leave the Stage, all of which are heavily illustrated. Apart from the books listed below, I drew extensively on listings magazines, particularly the Radio Times and TV Times, and industry journals like Broadcast, The Stage and Televisual. I have also watched and listened to many hours of archive material. Some of this is commercially available and I’ll be keeping track of relevant archive DVD releases, online clips and other developments at my website http://www.louisbarfe.com.
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Index
3-2-1, 302–3
24 Hours, 214, 221
32 Feet, 285
Abbot, Russ, xiii, 267, 288, 301, 318, 327, 341
Aberfan disaster, 154
Abicair, Shirley, 88
Adams, Annie, 8
Adelphi Theatre, 94–5
Adler, Larry, 219
Adrian, Max, 66
Aeolian Hall, 49, 52, 54, 184
African Queen, The, 299–300
After Hours, 140
Afton, Richard, 61–2, 65, 73, 266
Agate, James, xi
agents, 41–2, 85
Aherne, Caroline, 344
Ainsworth, Alyn, 135, 267, 294, 308–9
Aitken, Sir Max, 155
Alberts, the, 183
Aldred, Michael, 176
Alexander, Ghislaine, 86
Alexandra Palace, 30–3, 57–64, 67, 69, 122, 183, 250, 309, 354
Alfredo, 280
Alhambra Palace, 4
Ali, Muhammad, 215, 269
All Gas and Gaiters, 213
All Our Yesterdays, 65
Allan, Elkan, 164–6, 174–80
Allen, Chesney, 18, 20, 95
Allen, Gracie, 139
Allen, Jerry, 47
Allen, Keith, 329
Allen, Tony, 329
Allen, Woody, 181, 198, 244
’Allo ’Allo, 93
‘Almost Like Being in Love’, 220
alternative comedy, 327–36
Ambrose, Bert, 181
American Federation of Musicians, 75, 186
Ammonds, John, 49, 137–8, 185, 202, 232, 238, 258, 283
and ITMA, 36–7
and Morecambe and Wise, 147, 233, 235–6
Anderson, Clive, 346
Anderson, Walter, 61, 65
Andrews, Archie, 46, 56, 64
Andrews, Eamonn, 67, 109, 206, 212, 272–4
Andrews, Julie, 252–3
Anglia Television, 85, 99, 190, 339
animal acts, 11–12, 62
Annan, Lord, 269
Ant and Dec, 353
Aquarius, 222
Archers, The, 91
Are You Being Served?, 334
Argent, Douglas, 117
Armchair Theatre, 138
Armstrong, Garner Ted, 293
Armstrong, Louis, 22, 139, 246
Armstrong-Jones, Antony, 139, 193
Army Game, The, 97
Arnold, Doris, 33
Arnold, Sue, 158
Arrol, Don, 155
Arthur Haynes Show, The, 135
Ashe, Arthur, 215
Ask Pickles, 73, 102, 277–8, 282, 305
Askey, Arthur, 34–6, 95, 133, 146
Aspel, Michael, 237, 275
Assia, Lys, 156
Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), 82, 85–7
Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC), 86–7, 174, 244
and Elstree Studios, 133
and franchise rounds, 190–2, 270–1
and The Golden Shot, 224–7
and Mike and Bernie Winters, 145–6, 150, 152
and pop music, 173–4
rivalry with ATV, 140–2, 144–5, 226, 244
and Tommy Cooper, 254, 271
and World of Sport, 205–6, 212, 274, 278
Associated Broadcasting Development Company (ABDC), 83–4, 87, 89
Associated London Scripts, 56
Associated TeleVision (ATV), 87–8, 96–7, 174, 244
and Benny Hill shows, 272
and Billy Cotton, 106
Brian Tesler and, 108–12, 138, 192, 270, 274–5
demise, 297
export programmes, 153–6
and franchise rounds, 190–2, 195–6, 271
and The Golden Shot, 224, 226
under Lew Grade, 153–6
and Morecambe and Wise, 146, 148–50, 153, 231, 233–4
and The Muppets, 252–3
musical directors, 134–5
and New Faces, 277
rivalry with ABC, 140–2, 144–5, 226, 244
and satire boom, 163–5
and Royal Variety Performance, 138–9
and salaries, 299
acquires Stoll Moss group, 155
Associated-Rediffusion, 84, 87, 89, 91–3, 95–6
and franchise rounds, 191–3, 224, 270
and pop music, 174–6
profitability, 182
rebranding as Rediffusion London, 177–81
and satire boom, 164–7
studios, 133–4
Association of Cinematographic Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT), 337
Astaire, Fred, 258, 268
Astley, Rick, 348