Max Miller

Max Miller was many things, but ultimately he was a comedian. For more than 20 years he was the most popular comedian in the UK. 

He was a student of comedy, who honed his art to stay top of his profession.

Known as The Cheeky Chappie, cheekiness was a part of his stage persona. He wore clothes that no one else would wear and told jokes and stories that no one else would dare tell. Today he would be known as "edgy". 

His comedy could be seen as timeless, he was the archetypal Court Jester with permission to wear what he liked and say what he liked, within reason. His character would not be out of place as a jester in a comedy by Shakespeare or Moliere.

With his persona the most innocent phrase could be seen as the rudest double entendre. His audience was his friend, I used the word "was" as he generally seemed to talk to the audience as a single person. He was sticking it to the man, the man being some mythical character off stage that Miller would occasionally check to see if he was listening before carrying on with his story. 

He took the audience into his confidence, his act was almost a confidence trick, hoodwinking the audience into believing all his tales and laughing all the more for being allowed in on the jokes.

He could build a tension before he set foot on stage, such was the strength of his character. When he did appear, he would play on the tension, his longer jokes would start off slow, a little throwaway line along the way, building up more and more, getting nearer to the audience, reaching out to the crowd over the edge of the stage, checking backstage, pausing, pacing, bringing them in more until the crescendo of the punchline. Anyone who doesn't think telling a joke can be an art form has never watched Max Miller. Even in the little footage that exists you can see the mastery of Miller.

Max Miller died on May 7 1963 just as The Beatles were having their first number one hit single. He may not have reached the worldwide heights of the popularity of The Beatles but he remains as one of the greatest British entertainers and for 3 decades he sold out theatres across the UK as the number one comedian in the country.

Born in 1894, Miller was of the same generation as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, where Chaplin and Laurel had started as comedians early in life, Miller didn't get started in showbusiness until he was 26. Prior to this he had a series of jobs and also served in India and Mesopotamia during the First World War, he had brushes with entertaining and had held thoughts of singing and telling stories for a living. Such thoughts obviously fluorished during the war, alongside concert party performances, a determined Miller (still then known as Harry Sargent, his birth name) set off for London to start his stage career.

His first shot was in a talent show with a prize of £6 and a week's professional engagement. Miller came second to a much older act who wasn't well enough to do the week's work, Miller stepped in. His career didn't grow from there though, in fact it stalled in London, where he struggled to find more work, so he headed back to his Brighton home town and there secured work as a comedian for £3 a week.

On that summer season Max met a woman who 2 years later became his wife, Kathleen Marsh. Kathleen was a singer at the time but later gave up her career to concentrate on managing Max's, she was a strong force in the management of his business interests and his career. A career which was based largely at this time on revue shows, this often meant Max had to perform with others, not something that he enjoyed. Max needed to be the centre of attention and often annoyed his co-stars by upstaging them. Max's preference was variety and a new agent secured him more solo bookings in variety theatres. Some biographies at this point have a high of Miller's career being a 1931 Royal Variety Performance, yet the records I have seen don't show a Miller Royal Performance until 1937, before the new King George VI, Miller dressed for the occasion in red, white and blue with white shoes and hat.

Miller was most at home in the theatre yet his career took him into radio, films and even a recording career. In radio, Miller had limited success, a BBC ban that lasted for five years in the 1940s didn't help. Miller performed a joke live on air that had not been in the script he was meant to use, the risque joke didn't go down well with the bosses. Some claim that the joke is apocryphal and not one that Miller would have told, yet it is the only one ever attached to the story;
"I was walking along a narrow mountain pass - so narrow no one else could pass you, I saw this beautiful blonde walking towards me, a beautiful blonde with not a stitch on, well, I didn't know whether to toss myself off or block her passage".

The Cheeky Chappie appeared in 14 films between 1933 and 1942, the only truly worthy Miller vehicles were the two films as Educated Evans, Educated Evans and Thank Evans. Miller was often cast as an unsympathetic character and in films he once again showed his dislike of working with others. The only other high of his film career was his very first picture, a 3 minute segment as a salesman of songs opposite John Gielgud, his downfall in the success of this was being given free reign to improvise his part, in future roles this didn't go down too well against actors who had learnt the script and didn't veer from it.

His recording career was also of mixed success, he did record many singles for HMV and had some successful live albums. "Max at the Met" which was recorded in 1957 when some considered Max to be past his prime is one of the best live recordings by a comedian and is still available today on both CD and to download.

Miller's act was predominantly comedy but there was always a song or two, his signature tune was "Mary From The Dairy", a typical Miller song:

I'm known as the Cheeky Chappie,
The things I say are snappy.
That's why the pretty girls all fall for me.

I don't do things contrary
My love will never vary,
Ask Mary from the Dairy -
Here's the key.


I fell in love with Mary from the Dairy,
But Mary wouldn't fall in love with me.
Down by an old millstream
We both sat down to dream

Little did she know that I was thinking up a scheme.
She said let's pick some buttercups and daisies,
But those buttercups were full of margarine.
She slipped and we both fell
Down by a wishing well,
In the same place where I fell for Nellie Dean.


"Now on our farm," said Mary from the Dairy,
"We've got the finest cows you've ever seen.
I don't do things by halves
I'll let you see my calves,
And they're not the same shape calves as Nellie Dean's

The later years seemed to be a battle between Max and television, as televisions were switched on in every home in the UK an evening at the theatre became a luxury. Max was aware though that an appearance on tv would put paid to him doing the act live again and despite his talent, Max was not a prolific writer, he used much the same act for over 20 years.

Max's prediction that "when I'm dead and gone, this game's finished" proved accurate as the variety halls Miller loved so much have all but ceased to exist and the decline started a good ten years before Max died.

Everything I've read about Max Miller has always mentioned one of his catchphrases "There'll never be another" to point out that it is the case. Whether future generations have provided anyone with the talent of Max Miller is debatable, but the environment within which Max thrived no longer exists. In modern times he would have struggled to stay top of his game for so long without writing too much new material, yet his undeniable natural talent would certainly have seen him rise to the top in any generation.

Eric Morecambe described Max's act as "a study in brilliant simplicity", Arthur Askey said "he was the finest front-cloth comic ever" and Tommy Cooper said he would "never miss an opportunity to see him, you could see those blue eyes of his from the back of the gallery. As an artist there was no one to touch him".

Sadly there aren't too many visual recordings of Max, this one is from one of his films, Hoots Mon.

Oliver Hardy

As I had a Stan Laurel entry, there has to be an Oliver Hardy entry.

A young and dapper Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy was commonly known as "Babe", a nickname he claimed was given to him by an Italian barber who over enthused about his baby face. The name stuck and it was generally only onscreen that he was referred to as Ollie.

He was born Norvell Hardy on January 18 1892 in Harlem, Georgia. He added the name of his late father in his early teens and used it as his first name for the rest of his life.

His mother ran a small hotel and the young Hardy would often be found 'lobby watching' sat quietly watching guests going along with their business. Significant parts of his early life were his attendance at a military college and singing lessons, cinema and theatre also began to creep into his life. By the time he was 18, Hardy was managing a local cinema.

Watching the films on the (probably not so) big screen, Hardy thought he could do better and headed to Florida where part of the movie industry was. Working for Lubin Pictures, Hardy was cast as the 'heavy' in many films, he worked for 3 years in Florida and then moved to New York where he worked on Billy West comedies. West made films mimicking (or even copying) Chaplin and Babe was always the opposing heavy, West's films stopped in 1918 and with the end of those Hardy headed to California.

Oliver Hardy was a great comic actor, yet he often spoke as though he was just a helping hand, interviewed in 1954 by Laurel & Hardy biographer John McCabe, Hardy was surprised he was even being interviewed;



there's very little to say, Stan can fill you in on all the comedy stuff done in the pictures.. I didn't do very much outside of doing a lot of gags before a camera and play golf the rest of the time

"a lot of gags before a camera", amazingly modest when those gags were some of the most memorable in the history of cinema.

Hardy's career in Hollywood was a succession of playing the heavy against some of the leading comics of the day, most notably Larry Semon. Inevitably Hardy tried to shake off the heavy role yet it wasn't until he was teamed with Stan Laurel that he could finally do that. Always a big man Hardy made a lot of effort to move gently and elegantly.

The partnership and teaming of Stan & Ollie will appear in a future entry, as far as Hardy's solo work, when teamed with Stan from 1927, Hardy only worked with Stan, except for 3 movies.

In 1939 after a contract dispute with studio boss Hal Roach, Stan parted company with the studio but Hardy had time on his contract. By all accounts Roach tried to break up Laurel & Hardy by putting Roach in a film alongside fading comedy star Harry Langdon, Zenobia. Zenobia wasn't a great success, although it has some funny moments, audiences just wondered where Stan was.

After Laurel & Hardy had more or less finished making films (the ill fated Utopia was to come in 1951), Hardy made another two films. After forming a friendship with John Wayne doing some charity work, Hardy appeared alongside the Duke in his feature film The Fighting Kentuckian (1950). Hardy was given the chance to do some serious acting in this film and doing it well. He also had an hilarious cameo role in the Bing Crosby film Riding High, playing with type as a heavy gambler.

You can see some of that appearance below




Ten days before Laurel & Hardy were due to start filming a TV series (their first) in 1956, Oliver Hardy had a mild stroke, sadly there was a more serious stroke to come and for several months,  he made vain attempts at recovery, ending with his death in August 1957.

Speaking of Babe's death, Stan commented "I hope wherever he is now that he realises how much people loved him".

Deryck Guyler

Deryck Guyler may not be the biggest names in comedy but he has one of the more immortal voices, his voice still appearing on The West End stage and an imitation of it regularly on television.



Most known to viewers for his roles as Corky the policeman in long running sitcom Sykes and as Norman Potter in Please Sir!

He worked with many of the great names of entertainment, The Beatles, John Gielgud, Morecambe & Wise and the mighty Fred Dibnah.

His work ranged from comedy on tv, radio and film to straight acting and music (an accomplished washboard player he backed Shakin' Stevens on 3 tracks of an album).

His west end immortality is as the news announcer in The Mousetrap (the long running theatre play), his voice was in the very first show in 1952 and remains in it to this day. On television, his voice (mimicked by Bob Mortimer) is the voice of the Churchill dog ("oh yes"). Guyler was much sought after as a voice over.

Deryck Guyler

My personal favourite was his title role as The Laughing Policeman in a 1970s children's tv series.

The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin

Originally spanning 3 series, the first series of The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin was based on the novel The Death of Reginald Perrin by David Nobbs and adapted for television by the author.

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin

This was a much darker sitcom than most British comedies of the time (the first series went out on the BBC in the autumn of 1976). The central character was portrayed by Leonard Rossiter who rather uniquely was also starring in another hit sitcom, Rising Damp over on ITV.

The strength of Rossiter's character acting gave no problems to the audience seeing him in two very different roles.

In Reggie Perrin, Rossiter was given the task of playing a depressed and confused middle aged man on the verge of a breakdown and playing it seriously and for laughs. The scripts obviously helped but very few actors could have made Reggie such a loved and remembered character.

When discussing casting ideas Nobbs had thought Ronnie Barker would be a good lead, however a busy Barker was unavailable and BBC head of comedy Jimmy Gilbert suggested Leonard Rossiter.

There's a nice little website with a full series breakdown and other information here.

Whilst the central character was pivotal, the supporting cast were excellent and it is difficult to find any flaws with them.

Pauline Yates was Reggie's wife Elizabeth, she was calm and cool headed, probably the most sensible character, yet she occasionally showed her own eccentricities. Her greetings to Reggie both at the start and end of his working day added to Reggie's frustrations with his repetitive life.

Probably the most famous of the support characters is CJ, played by John Barron. I will know use the phrase that has become a part of the English lexicon, I didn't get where I am today without knowing a good catchphrase when  hear it. CJ was the embodiment of the 'system' Reggie wanted to escape from.

Then there was Reggie's family, daughter Linda and son in law Tom ("I'm not a people person"), brother-in-law Jimmy (The fabulous Geoffrey Palmer) who was often having a cock-up on some front or other, usually the catering front, in the first series there was also glimpses of Reggie and Elizabeth's son Mark, the out of work actor. Ironically Mark didn't appear in the second season his character getting work on a theatre tour meant the actor portraying him ended up out of work.

Reggie's co workers were his much lusted after secretary Joan Greengrass (Coronation Street's Sue Nicholls), the inept Doctor, Doc Morrissey and the yes men David Harris-Jones (Super) and Tony Webster (great).

Leonard Rossiter agreed to do a second series if writer David Nobbs would first write that as a novel too, believing that this added to the style of the sitcom. I'm inclined to think that series 2 is better than the first one.

If you haven't seen The Fall & Rise then buy the box set or catch it somewhere.


So without too many spoilers, here is Reggie ordering an Italian lunch



and a nice day at the zoo

Elizabeth I

Queen Elizabeth was not actually reknowned for her comedy work. It is rumoured that she once did a ten minute set at the Glasgow Empire in between Bruce Forsyth and Ken Dodd but neither of them will verify it.

This particular comedy entry however refers to the rather splendid portrayal of everyone's favourite Elizabethan by Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II.

A full Blackadder entry will be arriving shortly, for now let's look at Queenie in action.

First is an extract from Blackadder Back and Forth that was originally shown in The Millennium Dome


A little interaction with Nursie




and a little bit more...

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is a british sitcom focussing on the Home Guard during the Second World War. It also contains one of the funniest incidental sitcom characters of all time, Mr. Blewitt, played by Harold Bennett.

Dad's Army was an ensemble piece, unusual in sitcom its finished product was even better than it appeared on paper. It is certainly the oldest sitcom to be consistently repeated on the BBC and achieve good ratings. Between 1968 and 1977 there were 80 episodes, there were also radio episodes (many were rerecordings of TV shows), a touring stage show and a feature film.
The characters were the driving force of the show, each one had their own unique mannerism or catchphrase that enhanced the plot.

At the head of the platoon was bank manager Captain George Mainwaring played by Arthur Lowe. Lowe had been in another long running role as Arthur Swindley in Coronation Street, one time love of Emily Nugent (now Emily Bishop). His stage acting saw him appearing at The National Theatre alongside John Gielgud at the request of Laurence Olivier. He also did the voice over for The Mr. Men cartoons (not that they were cartoons as such, but that's for another day). Lowe's portrayal as Mainwaring was a masterpiece in characterisation, where other actors would have just shown the pompous side, Lowe made him more real. With Lowe's portrayal Mainwaring was occasionally insecure and sometimes brave. His relationship with his upper class deputy bank manager and platoon sergeant Arthur Wilson inspired some of the series funniest moments.

Wilson was played by John Le Mesurier, an experienced stage and screen actor, appearing in over 200 films and TV series. Sergeant Wilson was the calm and polite English gentleman, his pauses and looks of despair were worthy of Oliver Hardy or Jack Benny. Le Mesurier had worked with Clive Dunn previously and took the role as Wilson when he heard Dunn was to play Corporal Jones.

Clive Dunn played the veteran Jack Jones who by day helped the people of Walmington on Sea with their meat ration. He also managed to secure the position of Corporal due to owning the platoon's transport, his butcher's van. As one of the youngest in the cast Dunn played the oldest member of the platoon having fought in the Sudan under General Kitchener. Dunn also provided many of the series more memorable catchphrases, "They don't like it up 'em" and "Don't panic, don't panic".

Dunn played the oldest character in the show, the oldest actor was Arnold Ridley who played Private Godfrey. Born in 1896, Ridley had been a successful playwright and actor. The character of Godfrey was beautifully portrayed as the charming and humble Englishman. Wilson and Godfrey would quite happily have talked the Germans out of the war with tea and cucumber sandwiches.

John Laurie was the classical actor who believed that Dad's Army was a little beneath him artistically, he would occasionally complain that of all the great Shakespeare he had performed he would be "remembered for this bloody rubbish". The character he played was Private Frazer, a stereotypical dour and stingy Scotsman, again the character and the humour were heightened by the expert portrayal of the actor. The darker side of his character, who was also an undertaker, would not have been out of place in the earlier Hitchcock films in which Laurie appeared.

Jimmy Beck played the spiv, Private Walker, with a little nod to George Cole's Flash Harry of the St Trinian's films. Beck was seemingly indifferent to the war, except when it earnt him a few bob and this didn't endear him to Mainwaring. Beck died (aged 44) during filming of the sixth series in 1973.

Ian Lavender played Arthur Wilson's 'nephew' (writer Jimmy Perry says that he was indeed Wilson's illegitimate son).

The seven above were the core of the series, they were the "Dad's Army", Walmington On Sea also had the Vicar and his verger and the Chief Air Raid Patrol Warden/greengrocer Hodges, probably a bigger enemy to Mainwaring than Hitler. There were also funny women folk too, notably Mavis Pike, "friend" of Arthur Wilson and Mrs Fox who was married to Jack Jones in the final episode.

The series was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, once the cast was in place it may look as though it would have been easy to write. In some ways I'd say that was true, but I wouldn't like to take anything from the writers, the plots and dialogue were perfectly crafted. Perry was in the Home Guard (the character of Pike was based on himself) and had also written the part of Walker to play himself (he was later talked out of it).

The theme tune was recorded by Bud Flanagan, who's voice was recognisable as a singer of many wartime tunes, Run Rabbit Run, Hang All Your Washing On The Siegfried Line and British music hall classics such as Underneath the Arches, which he sang with his partner Chesney Allen. The Dad''s Army theme was not an old song however but a newer one co-written by Jimmy Perry especially for the show. Flanagan died shortly after the airing of the last episode of the first series.

Dad's Army is a pretty good insight into the British life, with the snobbery and insecurities of class and age brought to the fore. Even a little ahead of it's time, it wasn't until 1990 that a poorly educated former bank manager from a working class background made it to Prime Minister, though John Major was never quite as pompous as Captain Mainwaring, I could quite easily see Michael Portillo standing alongside him, "The ERM? do you think that's wise Prime Minister?".

Tommy Cooper

The biographer John Fisher has in my opinion written the most definitive book on the great British comedian, so I'd heartily recommend this book. There is of course Wikipedia too which has biographical information, some of it is even true. Writing about Tommy Cooper both as a person and as an act is difficult for someone who grew up loving and admiring this giant of comedy.
Yet Cooper was not all he seemed, his personal life was something of a mess, shortly after he died it became public knowledge that for almost 20 years he had continued an affair with his personal assistant, add that to his alcoholism and excessive stinginess it is difficult to feel any warmth. Those who knew him well also admit this was the case but Cooper had an unquantifiable charm that overflowed into his performing. Even Cooper himself was often bemused as to why he got laughs at moments when he was being serious.
I was fortunate enough to see one of Tommy's live shows, the show started in total darkness with an off stage Tommy trying to find his way onto the stage, the image of him all suited and fezed up trying to work his way onto the stage, opening and closing various doors along the way, had the audience in hysterics before he even made it onto the stage. Tommy Cooper was a rare comedian who's appearance alone (and even lack of it) could raise a laugh.
His whole body was the comic, not just his voice or his eyes, his feet were hilarious, his conjuror's hands were amusing, even his hair sticking out from under the fez was funny.
As I mentioned, details of his personal life left a part of me not liking him too much and the tales of hid professional life had a similar effect. By all accounts Cooper liked to use and pay for other people's material and tricks, yet if he could manage it he would get by without paying. In his earlier days he managed to use material he had seen and heard whilst in the USA it would be difficult to imagine him getting away with that today.
Whilst I haven't any details (or even facts!) to hand I have heard tales of other performers having seen Tommy doing their material and deciding to stop doing it themselves, Cooper was doing it better and funnier. When a joke was told by Tommy Cooper, whether he had written it or not (more often not), it became a Tommy Cooper joke.
He has been immortalized in statue form in his home town of Caerphilly and below is a stamp with a Gerald Scarfe drawing of Tommy on, one of 5 comedians selected to be pictured (Eric Morecambe, Peter Cook, Les Dawson and Joyce Grenfell were the others), below that are a few videos, there are hundreds of Tommy Cooper's around. He died in 1984 and remains one of the most popular British comedians, remembered affectionately by the vast majority of the British public.