Monthly Archives: October 2019

The Golden Age of Radio Comedy

On the 30th of October 48 members attended the Forum meeting in the church centre, the largest number for the current season.

The guest speaker was Geoff Twentyman from Bradford whose subject was The Golden Age of Radio Comedy. This trip down memory lane described the development of comedy programmes from the early days of radio in the 1920s to the 1960s with Geoff concentrating on five of his favourites from the period 1945 to 1960. Each description included pictures of the stars and an audio recording of an excerpt from the show.

The first programme was Take It from Here which featured Jimmy Edwards, Joy Nicholls and Dick Bentley although Joy, a singer and comedienne, was soon replaced by Alma Cogan and June Whitfield.

The second programme was Educating Archie which featured Peter Brough and his ventriloquists dummy Archie Andrews. Brough’s skill as a ventriloquist was best featured on radio.

The third programme was The Goon Show. The original programme starred Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers although Bentine dropped out after the first series. We then moved on to Hancock’s Half Hour which featured Tony Hancock and some equally famous co-stars such as Sid James and Kenneth Williams.

The final programme was the Al Read Show which was a one man show featuring Al Read in many domestic situations.

Forum Vice Chairman Duncan proposed a vote of thanks to Geoff Twentyman for a highly entertaining presentation.

West Yorkshire Police Economic Crime Unit

On the 23rd of October the Forum welcomed as guest speaker Kay Bainbridge who works as a police civilian with West Yorkshire Police Economic Crime Unit in Wakefield.

Kay’s job title is Victim Care and Prevention Officer and her talk was on Fraud Prevention. She described her role in fraud prevention and the operation of Action Fraud, a national reporting system operated by the City of London Police.

Forum members were asked how many of them had been the victims of computer fraud and a number admitted to this. Kay then analysed the methods of computer fraudsters and cold-calling telephone fraudsters. She advised members on ways to recognise fraudulent e-mails and the situations where victims are likely to lose considerable amounts of money.

Kay also detailed how members should recognise and deal with cold-callers. The best advice was – Ring Off!! Another modern fraud is Money Mules when victims are tempted into money laundering by the promise of large amounts of money being put into their accounts although the victims are mostly young people and they may suffer serious legal consequences.

A lively discussion followed until Forum Vice-Chairman Duncan Verity was forced to close the meeting by proposing a vote of thanks to Kay Bainbridge and her helper Liz Dixon.

Famous for 12 Minutes

On the 9th of October the Forum welcomed Malcolm Johnson as guest speaker. His talk was titled “Famous for 12 Minutes? (A reality TV experience)”.

The title was based on a famous Andy Warhol quotation – everyone is famous for 15 minutes, the difference in time being explained by reality TV being interrupted by commercial breaks.

Malcolm, a 65-year-old retired teacher, did not drive a car, the family driving duties being carried out by his wife. During a party at which he drank a few beers he accepted a challenge to compete in a TV reality programme called Undriveables in which non-drivers were taught to drive and took their test in a very short time.

Of the 12,000 applicants 12 were accepted including Malcolm. Being an ex-teacher Malcolm passed the theory examination with ease and he then signed a contract with the production company. The conditions attached were far-reaching and strict but the participants were paid only £1.

Malcolm showed a recording of the show which was shown on ITV between two episodes of Coronation Street. The driver training around the streets of Liverpool included many mistakes and Malcolm did not expect to pass his test but he did, the only one of the twelve participants to do so. This was proved by the fact that he had driven himself to the meeting.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Malcolm Johnson for a most entertaining morning.

The Great Train Robbery

The Forum’s Vice Chairman Duncan Verity has a large collection of video presentations with which he occasionally entertains members as an alternative to employing a guest speaker.

For the meeting on the 2nd of October he selected a feature titled The Great Train Robbery which dealt with the famous occasion on the 8th of August 1963 when £2.6 million in used banknotes was stolen from a secure railway carriage on the West Coast main line in Buckinghamshire.

The video was unusual in that it featured a commentary by Bruce Reynolds who was the leader of the gang of robbers and had planned the enterprise. The robbery went according to plan except that one of the robbers seriously assaulted the train driver.

The gang returned to their hideout, a nearby farmhouse, before sharing out the cash and dispersing. Reynolds had arranged for the farmhouse to be burnt down but this didn’t happen which left much evidence which enabled the police to arrest all the gang except for Reynolds who escaped to Mexico along with his family.

However, when funds ran short, he returned to England to continue his criminal career and he was arrested by the police.

After members added their reminiscences Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Duncan for providing excellent entertainment for the meeting.

Trip Down Memory Lane

On the 25th of September 40 members attended at the Church Centre.

The guest speaker was Keith Barber from Morley who gave a presentation titled Trip Down Memory Lane illustrated by an interesting selection of slides.

Keith described his childhood in Leeds in the area around Tetley’s brewery which he described as very happy even though there was not much money around.

He was born at the start of the second World War and described life playing in bombed-out buildings and enduring gas mask training at school. He reminded members about the street corner grocers in Leeds and the variety of playground games enjoyed by children of that era.

We were reminded about the strictures of rationing which was not fully abandoned until 1954. Keith described the VE Day celebrations in his neighbourhood.

He then moved on to the early days of his marriage when home entertainment consisted of listening to the radio in front of an open fire until they acquired a second-hand television. Programmes started at five o’clock and finished with the national anthem at half past ten with a mid-evening break for an intermission.

Keith’s talk was enjoyed by members as it awoke many memories.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Keith Barber for a most amusing presentation.

Comedy of the Good Old Days

On the 18th of September the Forum held its second meeting of the new season.

The speaker was Trevor Moody who travelled from Huddersfield to entertain the members with a video presentation titled Comedy of the Good Old Days.

This featured 13 extracts from comedy performances from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s which Trevor described as the golden age of comedy. The oldest performance was George Formby singing When I’m Cleaning Windows in 1940. This was followed by many famous names such as Morecambe and Wise, Benny Hill, Dave Allan and Larry Grayson and extracts from situation comedies such as Dad’s Army,Some Mothers Do Have’em and Carry On Camping.

The most recent extract was a very old Spike Milligan receiving an award shortly before his death.

The Forum’s Deputy Chairman Duncan Verity proposed a Vote of Thanks to Trevor Moody for an entertaining presentation.