Arthur Bowden Askey CBECBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:*Calgary Board of Education, public school board for the city of Calgary, Alberta...
(6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was a prominent
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
.
He was born at 29 Moses Street,
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
,
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, he was the elder child and only son of Samuel Askey (d.1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (d.1949), of
KnutsfordKnutsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in North West England...
,
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
. Six months after his birth the family moved to 90 Rosslyn Street, Liverpool. Askey was educated at St.
Arthur Bowden Askey CBECBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:*Calgary Board of Education, public school board for the city of Calgary, Alberta...
(6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was a prominent
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
.
Life and career
He was born at 29 Moses Street,
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
,
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, he was the elder child and only son of Samuel Askey (d.1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (d.1949), of
KnutsfordKnutsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in North West England...
,
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
. Six months after his birth the family moved to 90 Rosslyn Street, Liverpool. Askey was educated at St. Michael's Council School (1905–11) and the Liverpool Institute for Boys (1911–16) famed for winning an egg and spoon race at a school sports day. He was very small at 5' 2" (1.6m), with a breezy, smiling personality, and wore distinctive horn-rimmed glasses. He served in the forces in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and performed in army entertainments. After work as a clerk for Liverpool Corporation, Education Department, he was in a touring concert party and the
music hallMusic hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
s, but he rose to stardom in 1938 through his role in the first regular radio comedy series,
Band WaggonBand Waggon was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first season featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. In the second season, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third season added Diana Clare for two episodes.Band Waggon was the first comedy show to...
on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, prior to which radio comedy had consisted of broadcast
stand-upStand-up comedy is a style of comedy where a comedian performs for a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. It is usually performed by a single comedian with the aid of a microphone, either hand-held or mounted on a stand...
routines. It had begun as a variety show, but had been unsuccessful until Askey and his partner,
Richard MurdochRichard Bernard Murdoch was a British comedic radio, film and television performer.Richard Bernard Murdoch attended Charterhouse School. He then appeared in Footlights whilst a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge...
, took on a larger role in the writing. Askey's humour owed much to the playfulness of the characters he portrayed, his improvising and his use of catchphrases, as parodied by the Arthur Atkinson character in
The Fast ShowThe Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...
. His catchphrases included "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" (pronounced "Ay-Thang-Yew"), and "Before your very eyes".
In the early 1930s, Askey appeared on an early form of BBC
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
— the spinning disc invented by
John Logie BairdJohn Logie Baird was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first working television system, also the world's first fully electronic colour television broadcast...
that scanned vertically and had only thirty lines. Askey had to be heavily made up for his face to be recognisable at such low resolution. When television became electronic, with 405 horizontal lines, Askey was a regular performer in
varietyA variety show or variety entertainment is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and comedy skits, and normally introduced by a compère or host. The variety format made its way from Victorian era stage to radio to television...
shows.
During World War II, Askey starred in several
Gainsborough PicturesGainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London. The studio was active between 1924 and 1951. Built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway it was later...
comedy films, including
Band WaggonBand Waggon was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first season featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. In the second season, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third season added Diana Clare for two episodes.Band Waggon was the first comedy show to...
(1940), based on the radio show,
Charley's (Big-Hearted) AuntCharley's Aunt is a 1940 film starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch as Oxford 'scholars'. The film is one of many to be made based on the farce Charley's Aunt. The film features Will Hay sidekicks, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. Phyllis Calvert also appears in the film....
(1940),
The Ghost TrainThis article is about the play. For other uses, see Ghost train The Ghost Train is a British play, written in 1923 by Arnold Ridley, who much later played Private Godfrey in Dad's Army....
(1941),
I Thank YouI Thank You is a 1941 British comedy film, produced by Gainsborough Pictures, directed by Marcel Varnel, starring Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. It is set in London during World War II at the time of the Blitz. The leads are a couple of out of work variety entertainers who use great...
(1941),
Back Room Boy (1942),
King Arthur Was a GentlemanKing Arthur Was a Gentleman is a 1942 British musical comedy film, directed by Marcel Varnel, starring Arthur Askey as Arthur King. Set during World War II, the plot involves the diminutive Arthur joining the army to prove himself to his girlfriend Susan , who is in the same unit as him...
(1942),
Miss London Ltd.Miss London Ltd. is a British musical comedy film, directed by Val Guest, starring Arthur Askey as the head of an escort agency in wartime London. He is assisted in this role by Evelyn Dall and soon has railway clerk Anne Shelton on the books...
(1943), and
Bees in ParadiseBees in Paradise is a British musical comedy film, directed by Val Guest, starring Arthur Askey. It is set on a mysterious island in the South Atlantic where scantily clad warrior women hold all the power and men are regarded as disposable beings useful for breeding purposes...
(1944) as well as the popular
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
musicalMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Follow the GirlsFollow the Girls is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Eddie Davis and music and lyrics by Dan Shapiro, Milton Pascal, and Phil Charig....
. When television arrived, he made the transition well — his first TV series was
Before Your Very Eyes! (1952), named after his catchphrase. In 1957 writers
Sid ColinSid Colin was an English screenwriter, working for both television and the cinema. He is best known for the television comedies Up Pompeii! and The Army Game and the film Percy's Progress....
and
Talbot RothwellTalbot Nelson Conn Rothwell, OBE was an English screenwriter.Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He had a variety of jobs during his early life: town clerk, police officer, and Royal Air Force pilot....
revived the
Band WaggonBand Waggon was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first season featured Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. In the second season, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third season added Diana Clare for two episodes.Band Waggon was the first comedy show to...
format for
Living It UpLiving It Up was a black-and-white British sitcom starring Arthur Askey that ran for nine episodes from 1957 to 1958. It was written by Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell. It was made for the ITV network by Associated-Rediffusion...
, a series that reunited Askey and Murdoch after 18 years. He also made many stage appearances as a
pantomime dameA pantomime dame is a traditional character in British pantomime. It is a continuation of en travesti portrayal of female characters by male actors in drag. They are often played either in an extremely camp style, or else by men acting 'butch' in women's clothing...
.
His recording career included "The Bee Song" and his theme tune, "Big-Hearted Arthur", (which was also his nickname). During the 1950s and 1960s he appeared in many sitcoms including
Love and KissesLove and Kisses was a black-and-white British sitcom that aired on ITV in 1955. It was written by Glenn Melvyn, who also starred in it. It was made for the ITV network by Associated-Rediffusion and was a spin-off series from the film The Love Match which was also written by and starred Glenn...
,
Arthur's Treasured VolumesArthur's Treasured Volumes was a black-and-white British television series that aired on ITV in 1960. Starring Arthur Askey, it was written by Dave Freeman and was made for the ITV network by ATV....
and
The Arthur Askey ShowThe Arthur Askey Show was a short-lived black-and-white British sitcom starring Arthur Askey that ran for six episodes in 1961. It was written by Dave Freeman...
. However, in 1940 a sonmg he intended to record "It's really nice to see you Mr Hess" (after Hitler's deputy fled to Scotland) was banned by the War Office.
He continued to appear frequently on television in the 1970s, notably as a panellist on the
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
talent show
New FacesNew Faces is a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 7 July 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, Birmingham...
, where his usually sympathetic comments would offset the harsher judgments of fellow judges
Tony HatchTony Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger, and producer...
and
Mickie MostMickie Most, born Michael Peter Hayes , was a successful English record producer, with a string of Number One singles with his own RAK Records, and with acts such as The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, and Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group.-Early career:Most was born in Aldershot, Hampshire...
. He also appeared on the comedy panel game
Joker's Wildthumb|200px|Host Barry Cryer on Joker's WildJoker's Wild was a UK comedy panel game that was produced by Yorkshire Television and broadcast for eight series on ITV from 1969 to 1974...
.
His last film was
Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse (1978), starring Debbie Ash. Soon afterwards, he was forced to give up performing, and had both legs amputated owing to circulatory problems. His daughter,
AntheaAnthea Shirley Askey was an English actress who was a popular television actress of the 1950s.Anthea Askey was born in Golders Green, London to the comedian and actor Arthur Askey, and his wife Elizabeth May Swash . In many of her television roles she would star with him...
, by his marriage to Elizabeth May Swash (m. 1925, d. 1974), was also an actress and often starred with him. For many years, he was an active member of the
Savage ClubThe Savage Club, founded in 1857 is a gentlemen's club in London.-Background to the name:Two possible explanations are known to exist for the club's name....
(a London Gentlemen's club).
Private EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, currently edited by Ian Hislop. Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic of public figures deemed incompetent, inefficient or corrupt, and has become a self-styled "thorn in the side" of...
magazine in the 1970s regularly made the comment that he and the Queen Mother had "never been seen in the same room together" - referring to the fact that they were both of about the same height, and suggesting that he was the Queen Mother in drag.
Askey is buried in
Putney Vale CemeteryPutney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in London is surrounded by Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park, and is located within forty-seven acres of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 1938...
.
Biographies
- Arthur Askey (autobiography). Before Your Very Eyes (London: Woburn Press, 1975) ISBN 0713001348
- Kurt Ganzl. The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (New York: Shirmer Books, 2001) pp. 75 ISBN 0028649702
External links