Category: The Lost BBC

AS we have seen many times in this series, the Second World War produced a great number of talented performers who honed their skills entertaining the troops. One of the … Continue readingVariety Bandbox

A MAJOR figure on the BBC between the wars and and helping to keep up morale during the second was the multi-talented, understated and urbane bandleader Henry Hall. Hall was … Continue readingHenry Hall

PROBABLY the least likely concept for a radio show is a ventriloquist act. Yet Educating Archie was a huge success and was a springboard for a roll-call of comedy talent. The series … Continue readingEducating Archie

OFTEN films have been made as a spin-off from radio or TV series, but this week’s choice was the other way round: a radio programme that was a spin-off from … Continue readingMeet the Huggetts

SEEN by many as the forerunner of Doctor Who, The Quatermass Experiment was the first original adult science-fiction TV production in Britain. Preceded by a warning that it was unsuitable … Continue readingQuatermass

IN the days before television, many hotels and restaurants offered live performances of light music by trios, quartets or slightly larger ensembles. Usually the room would be adorned with palms … Continue readingGrand Hotel

MANY of us remember Dixon of Dock Green on TV, in which Jack Warner played the oldest copper on earth. But he was not the BBC’s first bobby on the … Continue readingThe Adventures of PC 49

IT probably doesn’t sound all that funny now, with its catchphrases and topical references, but ITMA (It’s That Man Again) helped Britain get through the war. It was a shared experience which … Continue readingThe Lost BBC: ITMA

LAST week we left the lad himself, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, in 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, enjoying huge success with the radio series Hancock’s Half Hour. This had started … Continue readingHancock’s Half Hour (2)

OUR time-travelling London Routemaster double-decker bus rattles to a halt today outside 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam. Wherein resides Mr Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, lugubrious subject of Hancock’s Half Hour. … Continue readingHancock’s Half Hour