old radio programmes in pre TV days

@annodomini - Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch were in Band Waggon, not Much Binding, for which the regular cast was Murdoch with Kenneth Horne and Sam Costa and Maurice Denham : the last two were also in the first series of ITMA...

TIFH, with Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley originally had Joy Nicholls as the third member of the cast. When she left (I think she went back to Australia?) they recruited two ladies to fill her shoes, Alma Cogan for the singing, and June Whitfield for the comedy. Alma was heard in the Glums sketches, as Mrs Glum, upstairs, only ever heard as distant shrieks...

I like the sound of The McFlannels!

Much Binding was spun off from Forces Merry-go-round, alopng with Stand Easy (Charley Chester and Arthur Haynes) and Waterlogged Spa, with Eric Barker, Pearl Hackney and Jon Pertwee.

Waterlogged Spa - was that 'What does it matter what you do, as long as you tear 'em up?' - a sudden memory. The postman?

I remember all those mentioned with much fondness. The Clitheroe Kid was another favourite, I once passed Jimmy Clitheroe in the street in Halifax, as I was on my way to the dentist,and was shocked to see that his face was quite lined. A few years ago on Cromer Pier I saw a ventriloquist called Steve Hewlett, who had the original Archie Andrews puppet as part of his act. Apparently it was sold in 2005, and the new owner needed someone to do the voice. It is quite creepy to see it- but why did a ventriloquist on the radio never seem at all strange?

I wondered if The McFlannels would be mentioned, so glad you did Anno.
We used to listen to two way family favourites on a Sunday and I always wondered what Singapore would be like. I found out many years later. I loved that place.

@Daisy - yes the Postman; Jon Pertwee doing the voice he later used as Worzel Gummidge! "Buglin' buglin' - the 'ole time buglin'..."

@grandimars - some unkind people would say that Peter Brough was no ventriloquist! Sandy Powell, on Brough telling him where he would be working next week, said "Oh, you'll do well there - the lighting's terrible..."

In the USA, Edgar Bergen, with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd had been broadcasting for years, in the Chase & Sanborne Coffee Hour programme - Charlie had memorable arguments with WC Fields.

Thanks, Feetle, I stand corrected. I'm sure there was another comedy series with Arthur Askey but can't think what it was.

Apart from Band Waggon, you mean? That was the BBC's very first regular comedy show - actually it was predominantly a music show, with Jack Hylton's band and singers, with about ten minutes, total, of comedy.

It was going to be cancelled, so Askey and Murdoch took over the wrioting, and it became an enormous success. I've not, so far, come across another Askey radio series - Arthur was a very early TV performer - even for Logie Baird's mechanical system - and after WWII was very creative in that field.
Before Your Very Eyes was the title of one such series. His daughter, Anthea, did work in radio in at least one series I recall, Wrinkles with Tom Mennard and Ballard Berkely.

I'm trying to remember the name of a radio series broadcast in the 1940s. It was four men (I think) who debated topics in a mock serious way but never came to any kind of conclusion. I thought it was funny; and I think the title was clever in some way. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Daisyanswerdo
Mr soop remembers The Brains Trust. However, he says that it was a serious programme.

Feetlebaum, my husband remembers holidays at Hunstanton in the early 50, with children's entertainers Uncle Dennis and Auntie Jean. Uncle Dennis did a vent act behind a huge microphone so you couldn't see his lips moving!

Daisyanswerdo : Possibly Ignorance Is Bliss, with Harold Berens, Gladys Hay and Michael Moore? Questionmaster was Stewart MacPherson, And there was always crazy music, from Doctor Crock and the Crackpots, or Sid Milward and the Nitwits...

Later on there was Does The Team Think? with a panel of comedians, say Tommy Trinder, Jimmy Edwards and Cyril Fletcher - an excuse for them to top one another as they pretended to discuss questions from members of the audience.

Then there was Al Read, and Ted Lune with his letters from his Mam, both very funny men.

What was the point of having a ventriloquist on the radio??

I know it sounds loony - but as I said above, it had been popular in the USA, with Charlie McCarthy swapping insults with WC Fields.

Mr Fields, is that your nose or are you eating a tomato?

Why you animated hitching post - take him away Edgar, he's full of sap...

...and so on. Besides, it's cheap - you pay opne performer and get two characters!

When I was a child I didn`t realise that Archie Andrews was a dummy!

mrsmopp; I was just thinking the same thing .

I LOVED 'Journey into space'! It started me on reading SF, and I have ever since. That was Radio Luxembourg of course, and I even managed to get it at my granny's house in Wales...

ITMA
Dick Barton
Round the Horn (was that where the Glums were?)
Children's Hour!

Alie; you didn't watch Pathfinders in Space on the telly did you? I'm still not finding people who watched it [it can't have just been me?]

Something I missed - but I'm sure it wasn't your imagination, Tegan!

I remember the Lord of the Rings on radio, but that might have been later - anyone remember that?

The Glums were in Take it from Here, Alie.

AlieOxon - Journey Into Space wa the handiwork if Charles Chilton,who died recently. One of the best producers the BBC ever had.

The Navy Lark and Round the Horn had me in stiches when I was young. I used to listen to those avidly as my father would not have a television fearing it would distract me from my studies.

Yes, thank you feetlebaum, it was Ignorance is bliss - I remember the name Harold Berens. Does the team think? is another clever title, and I enjoyed that too. I think I've mentioned before the effect The Box of Delights had on me, and I wish today's children could experience the excitement and total absorption into the world of that programme. We had never seen television then. I think it was a 12-part serial, and I believe it's gone for ever.

I once spent an evening in the company of four pro comics, one of whom was Harold Berens. I didn't say a word all night - just laughed until I ached!

The others were Joe Church, George Martin and our host Billy McComb. A memory I treasure.

My mother always used to listen to a programme called 'Sing Something Simple' on a Sunday (what else?!) night. Only we children always caroused 'Sing Something Sinful'. We thought we were ever so daring