Celebrating 50 Years of Round The Horne

One of my all time favourite radio shows is the classic comedy sketch series Round The Horne. Originally broadcast between 1965 and 1968, the series starred Kenneths Horne and Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Douglas Smith. And now the classic scripts are being revived at the Museum of Comedy for the show's 50th anniversary.

Here are more details about the show from the Museum of Comedy's website:


From 1965 to 1968 there wasn’t a bigger radio programme in Britain than the ground-breaking Round the Horne.  For half an hour every Sunday afternoon, audiences of up to 15 million people would gather around the wireless to listen to Kenneth Horne and his merry crew get up to all sorts of mischief.

With its infamous movie spoofs and hilarious regular characters such as Rambling Sid Rumpo, Charles and Fiona, J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, and Julian and Sandy, Round the Horne was one of the biggest and best radio comedy shows of all time, and still endures today, 50 years on.

So come and take a step back in time to the BBC’s Paris Studios and experience this comedy classic live.

Original scripts by Barry Took and Marty Feldman

Compiled and directed by Tim Astley

“a superb evening’s entertainment and I left the theatre wanting more” – British Theatre Guide

“everyone on stage seems to be having great fun and so does the audience” – Spencer Media

“does a splendid job of recreating this extraordinary show… sterling performances from all” – Do More Mag

“Colin Elmer's Kenneth Williams was hilarious and endearing" - Reading Chronicle

“Jonathan Hansler does a truly remarkable job of emulating Hugh Paddick” – Get West London

“I laughed so much… I was in danger of being led out of the theatre” – Scene One

This sounds like a fantastic show, a great tribute to the original stars and a chance to wallow in some good old fashioned nostalgia. I will definitely be getting along to the Museum of Comedy to check this out for myself. The show is running now and is playing until 12 March.

For more information and tickets, you can visit the Museum of Comedy Website

 

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Let's Go Round the Horne!

Some classic Kenny for a Friday morning! I love Kenneth's radio performances in Round The Horne. He really was a master of the medium and I still can't believe quite how much they got away with given it was the mid-1960s!

Here, first of all for your delectation is Kenneth giving his all as Rambling Syd Rumpo: 

And if that wasn't enough to get you tittering, here's a bit of my own personal favourites. Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick as the truly outrageous Julian and Sandy. This still makes me laugh today. The use of Polari might be rather lost of modern listeners but I absolutely adore this:

British radio comedy just doesn't get any better than this. Such a shame that the show was brought to an abrupt end by Kenneth Horne's sad death in 1969. It came at a time when Carry On favourite Joan Sims was just about to join the team following Betty Marsden's decision to leave. How interesting that might have been.

Thankfully we still have these wonderful recordings! BBC Radio 4 Extra regularly repeat classic episodes.

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