British Comedy Guide

Beyond Our Ken

SPOILER ALERT........Ooops too late Whistling nnocently

Nope, I give up.

I have searched and searched to try and find out who the man is standing at the back next to Hugh Paddick in the photo in the Quiz 22 Question 7 photo.

He's clearly not Bill Pertwee or Douglas Smith

Couldn't be the young Ron Moody, could it?
He was in the pilot, apparently...

In the two minutes I took to find the photo and come back to this page I find I've been usurped! Yes, it's Ron Moody. He was replaced by Bill Pertwee after the first series as he had theatre commitments.

Quote: Lazzard @ 3rd November 2018, 10:52 AM

Couldn't be the young Ron Moody, could it?
He was in the pilot, apparently...

So it is! Not obvious though to me and would never have got that - and there was me thinking I was good at spotting early UK comedy talent. Thank you Lazzard.

Well it was a matter of deduction really.
Took a list of all the cast members and (after a detour through the Frazer Haynes Four and various producers!!) found the only one unaccounted for was Mr. Moody.
Elementary, my dear Hercules (to mix my fictional detective metaphors)

Quote: Lazzard @ 4th November 2018, 11:26 AM

Elementary, my dear Hercules (to mix my fictional detective metaphors)

Trays bone moni me

What catchphrases were in Beyond Our Ken? I remember "The answer lies in the soil".

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 24th November 2018, 11:00 AM

What catchphrases were in Beyond Our Ken? I remember "The answer lies in the soil".

"Well, I think the answer lies in the soil" is from Beyond our Ken, for sure.

The only others I can think of are both from Kenneth Williams.

He imported "Ere, stop messin' about" to Beyond our Ken from Hancock, and he also played the character of an old bloke who, for dramatic and comedic purposes, had a different occupation every week and when asked how long he'd been doing the job would almost invariably reply "Thirty-five years".

I say almost invariably because, occasionally, just to catch the audience out, he'd come up with a significantly different period of time - which always got a huge laugh.

Thanks. The Wikipedia entry mentions a predecessor to Julian and Sandy, but doesn't mention any catchphrases.

Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 25th November 2018, 10:04 AM

The Wikipedia entry mentions a predecessor to Julian and Sandy.

That would be Charles and Rodney, two gentlemen the like of whom were entirely unknown to most radio listeners of the day.

They were very much the forerunners of Julian and Sandy.

The differences between the two pairs were that Charles and Rodney normally worked as a pair of gentle rather effeminate souls without the need of an extra character and each week's sketch was based on some activity that the two of them were engaged in together. Julian and Sandy were much more camp and much more "in your face" (if you'll pardon the expression) and their weekly adventure was based on Kenneth Horne accidentally running into them as they plied their trade as whatever sort of business persons they were being in that particular week. The three-way interaction was invariably brilliantly written and brilliantly performed.

Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne were (at their best) among the cleverest and funniest radio programmes I've ever heard in my life.

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