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DO YOU REMEMBER THE 40s?
- Thread starter The Baron
- Start date
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Sunday wouldn't have been Sunday with out it, would it Dennis. Cliff Michelmore and and Jean Metcalfe fell in love as we listened. 
H
harley
Guest
billy cotton
wakey wakeeeee
wakey wakeeeee
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
I can even remember his signature tune - it went like this
Da Da Da Da Dada Da Da Da Da Dada
Da Da Da Da Dada Da Da Da Da Dada
B
Beryl M
Guest
Children's Hour at 5 o'clock
jennyann
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Hi Di: Go to youtube.com and in the search put in Billy Cotton. The first video at the top of the list is from the Billy Cotton Band Show and Billy does a skit with Max Bygraves. It is very funny and brings you back to those times.
Then put in the search "Somebody Stole My Gal" Billy's Cotton's Band Show signature tune. There are several versions of the song by mostly jazz musicians. You can put any name you can think of going back quite a way and find something. I like Max Bygraves songs...hey, put him in the search too
I haven't done much work over the last few days listening to all this great stuff.
Then put in the search "Somebody Stole My Gal" Billy's Cotton's Band Show signature tune. There are several versions of the song by mostly jazz musicians. You can put any name you can think of going back quite a way and find something. I like Max Bygraves songs...hey, put him in the search too
I haven't done much work over the last few days listening to all this great stuff.
W
Wendy
Guest
I loved Round The Horn.......left hand down a bit cheify......they always hit the dock. What about Archie Andrews imagine trying to get away with a ventriloquist on the radio today.:shocked:
What about Archie Andrews imagine trying to get away with a ventriloquist on the radio today.:shocked:
Who remembers the wartime news bulletins? The early ones didn't register for me as I was too young. But later they started to.
It was the practice throughout that period for the newsreaders to identify themselves, not in pursuance of personality cults like today, but to encourage listeners to identify particular men - they were all men - and to recognise that these were genuine BBC broadcasts. I remember the names of several of them, Stuart Hibberd, Frank Phillips, John Snagge. Wilfred Pickles was also introduced in order to provide a more distinctive voice, so distinctive in fact that I do not remember him at all in that role. But my favourite, for whom I always listened out because I loved the silkiness and "niceness" of his voice, used to introduce himself as follows: "Here is the news and this is Alvanidel reading it". It was ages before I ever saw his name in print and realised that it was Alvar Liddell.
I wish I could remember more detail of some of the broadcasts in addition to the names of the readers. Just a couple of phrases have always stuck in my mind. "Fierce fighting along the River Don", sometimes shortened to "the Don". That seemed to crop up for a long time and it always seemed strange that there was somewhere - I didn't know where - a river bearing a boy's name. And, after every report of RAF activities "All our aircraft returned to base". Or less happy variations on the same theme.
I also remember the war correspondents, shouting into their bulky recording equipment in the desert or Italy or France, sometimes with the noise of battle in the background. Men like Howard Marshall, Godfrey Talbot, Frank Gillard and Richard Dimbleby.
I once asked my elder sister - who was in her early teens and was therefore the repository of all knowledge and wisdom - as to whether there would be news bulletins after the war, when, after all, there would be nothing to report. "Oh yes" she said, "when ships sink and things like that". She also told me about a particular miracle which occurred in peacetime. How there were regular broadcasts, not only talking about the weather (which was never currently mentioned on the news) but also telling you what it was going to be like TOMORROW!" I found this revelation hard to accept but eventually, after a long time, I found it to be true.
Anyone else remember these newsreaders and reporters?
Chris
It was the practice throughout that period for the newsreaders to identify themselves, not in pursuance of personality cults like today, but to encourage listeners to identify particular men - they were all men - and to recognise that these were genuine BBC broadcasts. I remember the names of several of them, Stuart Hibberd, Frank Phillips, John Snagge. Wilfred Pickles was also introduced in order to provide a more distinctive voice, so distinctive in fact that I do not remember him at all in that role. But my favourite, for whom I always listened out because I loved the silkiness and "niceness" of his voice, used to introduce himself as follows: "Here is the news and this is Alvanidel reading it". It was ages before I ever saw his name in print and realised that it was Alvar Liddell.
I wish I could remember more detail of some of the broadcasts in addition to the names of the readers. Just a couple of phrases have always stuck in my mind. "Fierce fighting along the River Don", sometimes shortened to "the Don". That seemed to crop up for a long time and it always seemed strange that there was somewhere - I didn't know where - a river bearing a boy's name. And, after every report of RAF activities "All our aircraft returned to base". Or less happy variations on the same theme.
I also remember the war correspondents, shouting into their bulky recording equipment in the desert or Italy or France, sometimes with the noise of battle in the background. Men like Howard Marshall, Godfrey Talbot, Frank Gillard and Richard Dimbleby.
I once asked my elder sister - who was in her early teens and was therefore the repository of all knowledge and wisdom - as to whether there would be news bulletins after the war, when, after all, there would be nothing to report. "Oh yes" she said, "when ships sink and things like that". She also told me about a particular miracle which occurred in peacetime. How there were regular broadcasts, not only talking about the weather (which was never currently mentioned on the news) but also telling you what it was going to be like TOMORROW!" I found this revelation hard to accept but eventually, after a long time, I found it to be true.
Anyone else remember these newsreaders and reporters?
Chris
Hi Moma P
I went to see Billy Cotton at the Birmmingham Hippodrome when I was a child. I remember them playing "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" which ended with them throwing cotton wool balls into the audience and then having them thrown back to them - it ended up as a good-natured cotton wool fight.
I think with your radio programme, you are thinking of The Navy Lark, with John Pertwee and Leslie Phillips. Round The Horne was the Kenneth Williams / Kenneth Horne show, also on in the early afternoons on Sundays. I don't know how they got away with the double-entendres in that show in those days - someone from the BBC said that, even today, some of the script would be cut.
Lots of these programmes can still be heard on BBC Radio 7 on Digital Radio or, even better, go to this web page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain
where you can find all the programmes for the last seven days and listen to them when you want. - The Goons, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Paul Temple, Journey Into Space, ITMA, even Dick Barton occasionally. The programme-mix changes every few weeks, so if you don't find the programme you want, it will probably come along later in the year although, of course, some will not have survived. Very few of Take It From Here, I'm afraid, but loads of Life With The Lyons unfortunately! Someone writing on the BBC7 site said that they used to edit audience laughter out of The Goon Show and edit it back into Life With The Lyons to make that programme sound funny!
I went to see Billy Cotton at the Birmmingham Hippodrome when I was a child. I remember them playing "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" which ended with them throwing cotton wool balls into the audience and then having them thrown back to them - it ended up as a good-natured cotton wool fight.
I think with your radio programme, you are thinking of The Navy Lark, with John Pertwee and Leslie Phillips. Round The Horne was the Kenneth Williams / Kenneth Horne show, also on in the early afternoons on Sundays. I don't know how they got away with the double-entendres in that show in those days - someone from the BBC said that, even today, some of the script would be cut.
Lots of these programmes can still be heard on BBC Radio 7 on Digital Radio or, even better, go to this web page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain
where you can find all the programmes for the last seven days and listen to them when you want. - The Goons, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Paul Temple, Journey Into Space, ITMA, even Dick Barton occasionally. The programme-mix changes every few weeks, so if you don't find the programme you want, it will probably come along later in the year although, of course, some will not have survived. Very few of Take It From Here, I'm afraid, but loads of Life With The Lyons unfortunately! Someone writing on the BBC7 site said that they used to edit audience laughter out of The Goon Show and edit it back into Life With The Lyons to make that programme sound funny!
brian baker
master brummie
wireless
used to listen to dick barton special agent and his side kick snowy ,do you remember quatermast experiment and if i remember rightly everyone tuned into the archers i think i have the right era i know at times listening to the radio and at th climax of the story's ether the battery or acumilator would start running down and we would gather round the wireless and strain our ear hoping we would not miss the end.
this is a great site bean on it many time's
brian
used to listen to dick barton special agent and his side kick snowy ,do you remember quatermast experiment and if i remember rightly everyone tuned into the archers i think i have the right era i know at times listening to the radio and at th climax of the story's ether the battery or acumilator would start running down and we would gather round the wireless and strain our ear hoping we would not miss the end.
this is a great site bean on it many time's
brian
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Jennyann, I've just been watching Billy Cotton and Max Bygraves on youtube, wonderful.
I recall Alvar Liddell, Chris. I can hear that lovely voice 'This is the nine o'clock news and this is Alvar Liddell reading it'. I don't remember Wilfred Pickles reading the news, but I read his autobiography where he wrote about his early broadcasts, and how proud he was to be asked to read it. He later fronted a programme with his wife Mabel, and Violet Carson who I think played piano for him, I've forgotten what it was called, but I'm sure someone will tell me. I know he always said 'What's on the table Mabel.'
I recall Alvar Liddell, Chris. I can hear that lovely voice 'This is the nine o'clock news and this is Alvar Liddell reading it'. I don't remember Wilfred Pickles reading the news, but I read his autobiography where he wrote about his early broadcasts, and how proud he was to be asked to read it. He later fronted a programme with his wife Mabel, and Violet Carson who I think played piano for him, I've forgotten what it was called, but I'm sure someone will tell me. I know he always said 'What's on the table Mabel.'
Icarus
Ancient Brummie
It was called 'Have a go Joe', Di. "Give him the money, Barney!"
Has anyone mentioned 'The Daring Dexters' yet? This one-off series was sandwiched between the Dick Barton series. Can't remember much about it except it had a circus theme and one of the characters was called 'old Meg'.
Has anyone mentioned 'The Daring Dexters' yet? This one-off series was sandwiched between the Dick Barton series. Can't remember much about it except it had a circus theme and one of the characters was called 'old Meg'.
Yes, Wilfred Pickles did read the news during WW II but was moved out of that job because his Northern accent (Lancashire?) was not cultured enough to fit in with the other newsreaders' Oxbridge pronunciation.
His programme "Have A Go" was a radio quiz show with members of a studio audience taking part in general knowledge questions with prize money. The amount of money was very small. It seems the BBC refused to put it up so Wilfred funded it from his own pocket - top prize, I think, was 21 shillings (a guinea). That's probably about £20 in today's value but hardly Deal or No Deal.
Violet Carson, who played the piano for the programme later went on to more fame as Ena Sharples in Coronation Street.
His programme "Have A Go" was a radio quiz show with members of a studio audience taking part in general knowledge questions with prize money. The amount of money was very small. It seems the BBC refused to put it up so Wilfred funded it from his own pocket - top prize, I think, was 21 shillings (a guinea). That's probably about £20 in today's value but hardly Deal or No Deal.
Violet Carson, who played the piano for the programme later went on to more fame as Ena Sharples in Coronation Street.
mike jenks
master brummie
Hi
The 1940's no Tele no Mobile Phones all we had was the
Radio.
PC 49 and Dick Barton. Life with the Lyons.
For some reason I missed the daily version of Dick Barton
but every Saturday I went to my Nans. She had a awful cat
called Fluff but around 10-00/11-00 I entered the world of Dick
Barton Special Agent. This went on for several years. Fluff the
cat was terrible. Alway's scratching and biting.
Anyway one day I put the Radio on and this strange Music
from a place called Ambridge echoed in the Room and a guy called
Dan Archer spoke. Where has Dick gone fiddled with Radio but Dick
had gone.
I learned later that the Goverment had decided that these type of programmes inc PC 49 were now not seen as PC. Thonk god for Journey into Space.
Great memories of the 40's possibly scraping into the early 50's.
Mike Jenks
The 1940's no Tele no Mobile Phones all we had was the
Radio.
PC 49 and Dick Barton. Life with the Lyons.
For some reason I missed the daily version of Dick Barton
but every Saturday I went to my Nans. She had a awful cat
called Fluff but around 10-00/11-00 I entered the world of Dick
Barton Special Agent. This went on for several years. Fluff the
cat was terrible. Alway's scratching and biting.
Anyway one day I put the Radio on and this strange Music
from a place called Ambridge echoed in the Room and a guy called
Dan Archer spoke. Where has Dick gone fiddled with Radio but Dick
had gone.
I learned later that the Goverment had decided that these type of programmes inc PC 49 were now not seen as PC. Thonk god for Journey into Space.
Great memories of the 40's possibly scraping into the early 50's.
Mike Jenks
Di.Poppitt
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Thanks Icarus, I don't think the name of the show would ever have come to me. Senior moments all to often these days
B
Brenda Barr Phillips
Guest
Does anyone remember "This is the man in black", it always started with a creeking door opening,...my brother and l would be sitting listening to it usually at a neighbours and it all sounded so real our imaginations ran into overtime,as these plays were always mysteries with a few ghosts here and there.....when it was time to leave and go home it would be dark so l let my brother lead me home as l always had my eyes shut....guess l thought with my eyes shut l would'nt see anything evil.....Brenda
M
mike-g
Guest
Valentine Dial the man in black.
Icarus
Ancient Brummie
Strange how we only think of Valentine Dyall as The Man In Black in 'Appointment With Fear'. He appeared in a few other radio and tv programmes too, including 'Dr Who', 'Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy' and 'The Goon Show'. He also had a few big-screen parts including the Bond film 'Casino Royale'.
S
Stitcher
Guest
I have a book about some of the celebs of this era, although they are not radio programmes will it interest anyone if I post them?
Alf
Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Trevor I posted this at the beginning of the thread so to save you going back this will bring it all back
https://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/index.htm
https://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/index.htm
S
Stitcher
Guest
Good God Alf, that stirred a few memories.
cookie273uk
master brummie
I lived with my Nan in Queens Rd Aston inthe 40s and one of my tasks was to take her wireless accumilator to somewhere in Church Lane and swap it for a fully charged one. I can only remember 4 stations (1) light programme (2) home Service (3) third programme (high brow) and (4) radio luxemburg. Eric
maggs
master brummie
I loved Round The Horn.......left hand down a bit cheify......they always hit the dock.
Don't forget 'Marlene' on this programme. 'Good evenin' each'
