When
Tim Astley’s grand-father gave him a cassette of a 1960s radio comedy series
called Round The Horne, it set in motion a life-long love affair with the show
that has resulted in a hugely successful live staging that arrives in Edinburgh
next week. Using original scripts by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, Astley’s
production for his Apollo Theatre Company recreates the original live radio
format to revisit an iconic programme that helped set a template for sketch
comedy that continues today.
“I
was twelve when I was given the cassette of Round The Horne,’ says Astley. “My
grand-father said he thought it might be something I’d quite like, and it
opened me up to this whole new world which has stayed with me since then. Of
course, at that age, I certainly didn’t understand all the jokes. It was only
much later I realised how clever they are in terms of what they got away with.”
Running
for four series’ between 1965 and 1968, Round The Horne’s ensemble cast was led
by Kenneth Horne, and featured Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden
and Bill Pertwee, along with announcer Douglas Smith. Together, the team
brought to life a series of regular characters who landed in the show each week
in assorted situations. These included dubious sounding folk singer Rambling
Syd Rumpo, played by Williams, ‘walking slum’ J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock
(Williams again) and TV chef and fashion reporter Daphne Whitethigh, a pastiche
of Fanny Craddock, played by Marsden.
Arguably
most memorable of all were Julian and Sandy, the flamboyant duo of out of work
actors played by Williams and Paddick, whose innuendo-laden exchanges were
peppered with polari, the slang used since the nineteenth century to protect gay
sub-culture. While polari dates back as far as Shakespeare referencing it in
Henry IV, Part Two, given that homosexuality was still illegal during the years
Round The Horne was originally aired, to introduce polari unto an estimated
fifteen million homes each week was an act of quiet subversion.
This
wasn’t the only thing from Round The Horne to ruffle establishment feathers,
with the inclusion of Queen Victoria in a sketch based around the centenary of
the crumpet angering Conservative MP Cyril Black enough for him to complain to
the BBC.
“You
listen to what they get away with, and you sometimes wonder how they got it
past the censor,” says Astley, “although not everyone will have understood
polari, and with Rambling Syd Rumpo, none of the language he used was actually
saying anything rude, but it sounded absolutely filthy.”
Round
The Horne didn’t come from nowhere. Horne had been the compere of 1957 radio
show, Variety Playhouse, which was scripted by Took with his then writing
partner, Eric Merriman. Once that show came to an end, Merriman and Took
prepared a pilot for a new show, Beyond Our Ken, which, as well as being led by
Horne, also featured Williams, Paddick and Marsden, plus Ron Moody.
Following
a delay in recording after Horne suffered a stroke, Beyond Our Ken ran over
seven series, with Took departing after the first two, by which time Moody had
been replaced by Pertwee. With Horne wanting to keep the team together, Took
returned with Feldman to create the pacier and more satire-led Round The Horne.
They stayed for three series’, before the writing was taken over by Johnnie
Mortimer and Brian Cooke.
Apollo’s
Round The Horne began its life in 2015 as a nod to celebrating the programme’s
fiftieth anniversary. Astley’s production ran in London for eight weeks, and
gave rise to follow-up shows staged in a similar way based on The Goons and Hancock’s
Half Hour. Returning to Round The Horne for what is now is fourth UK tour,
Astley and Co have tapped into the same appeal for the show that saw it named in
a Radio Times poll as the third best radio show of any genre, and the best
radio comedy series of all.
“I think round The Horne
had a huge influence on future generations of comedy writers and performers,”
Astley says. “The most obvious is the effect it had on the portrayal of
gay people. Its two most popular characters, Julian and Sandy, were two
openly gay characters, played by gay actors, beloved by the British public at a
time when homosexuality was still a crime. Julian and Sandy undoubtedly helped
to soften attitudes and pave the way for other gay and camp comedians and
characters like Larry Grayson, Dick Emery and John Inman's Mr Humphries in Are
You Being Served.
“Aside from this, the
show has a whole undoubtedly had a huge influence on sketch comedy and really
popularised the format that has become standard, that of having a group of
regular characters who, each week, are in different situations, many of whom
with catchphrases and running jokes.”
All
sixty-seven episodes of Round The Horne have been released on CD in much the
same way as the cassette that first introduced Astley to the show was, and the
original broadcasts are regularly repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. While these
remain a joy, the stage show is a different experience for aficionados and
novices alike.
“With something as
special and as beautifully crafted as Round The Horne, we need to keep it alive
in some way,” says Astley. “By doing our show, we’re breathing life into the
original scripts in a new way, and long may it continue.”
Round
The Horne, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Monday, 7.30pm.
The Herald, March 14th 2020
ends
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