Looking for Radio Show...

Hello everybody!

I'm looking for an episode of an old radio show, most probably from the BBC. I heard it only once on Radio South-Africa, in the 80s, I guess it must have been from the 60s or 70s originally.

The story is one of a man who wants to learn to play piano. Quickly. He offers a huge sum of money to the piano teacher who at first does not want to teach him, but then relents. It quickly becomes evident that this man has no musical talent, but that this lack of musical abilities is more than adequately compensated by an abundance of money. He massacres Beethoven's 9th symphony (or was it the 5th) on the piano, but he has to learn very fast: he needs to impress his "future fiancée" at supper the next day. The "teacher" was a woman.

It must have been a fairly short piece, probably 20 to 30 minutes. I can't recall who starred in this show, but I looked at all I could lay my hands on with Tony Hancock, Dudley Moore, Kenneth Williams, Les Dawson and could not progress further. I'd appreciate it if somebody could point me in the right direction, despite my poor recollection of the details.

Best regards.

Daniel :-)

Quote: Daniel Carollo @ January 11 2010, 7:48 AM GMT

The story is one of a man who wants to learn to play piano. Quickly. He offers a huge sum of money to the piano teacher who at first does not want to teach him, but then relents. It quickly becomes evident that this man has no musical talent, but that this lack of musical abilities is more than adequately compensated by an abundance of money. He massacres Beethoven's 9th symphony (or was it the 5th) on the piano, but he has to learn very fast: he needs to impress his "future fiancée" at supper the next day. The "teacher" was a woman.

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This sounds like a "cover version" of a Peter Cook & Dudley Moore sketch called 'The Music Teacher'. In the original (from Not Only But Also... c.1966) Peter plays the rich businessman and Dud the (male) Welsh piano teacher. It's a brilliant sketch, but I don't remember having ever heard it performed as part of another show, or having been expanded to a full show - it was about 6/7 minutes in the original. (Although the video of the sketch was wiped by the BBC - f**kers! - the audio of the sketch survives on various Cook & Moore compilations.)

Thank you so much for such a quick answer, Tim.

Now that you mention it, I'm not so sure anymore that the "teacher" would have been a woman. I'll try and listen to the Peter Cook & Dudley Moore sketch you mention, it makes it much easier now that you gave me something to look for (BBC comedy piano teacher drags a hooooge amount of hits, but it was fun to sieve through that).

I'll get back to you as soon as I've managed to figure out if it's the same I knew.

If it is you need Decca LK 4785

Try Ebay perhaps?

Tiiiiiiiim!

Oh he's gone.

Hello Daniel

I am another South African and I also remember the wonderful short comic sketch you refer to.
"The story is one of a man who wants to learn to play piano. Quickly. He offers a huge sum of money to the piano teacher who at first does not want to teach him, but then relents. It quickly becomes evident that this man has no musical talent, but that this lack of musical abilities is more than adequately compensated by an abundance of money. He massacres Beethoven's 9th symphony (or was it the 5th) on the piano, but he has to learn very fast: he needs to impress his "future fiancée" at supper the next day."

Did you or anyone else find it?

Guy

Over 5 years later? Good luck.

Learning to play the piano has never been easy but it was especially difficult in South Africa during the second half of the 20th Century as, in that country, all pianos had to have all the black keys on one side of the key board and all the white keys on the other.

Quote: Rood Eye @ 7th July 2015, 10:16 AM BST

Learning to play the piano has never been easy but it was especially difficult in South Africa during the second half of the 20th Century as, in that country, all pianos had to have all the black keys on one side of the key board and all the white keys on the other.

View original

Very good. Thank God Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson came along with their song "Ebony & Irony", teaching us that black and white people can live together in harmony on giant pianos.

Quote: Basil Rathbon @ 7th July 2015, 12:26 PM BST

Michael Jackson

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Wrong Motown child singer.

On here as mentioned quite a few years ago

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