主播大秀

Writer and musician, Bob Stanley, hears all about the presenters first encounter with the unpredictable comedian.

Last week, we heard about from part-time newsreader at the 主播大秀 to full-time announcer on the Light Programme, working on shows like Take It From Here. Soon after this, Brian's rich voice became part of one of the most beloved British radio shows. "Well, I wouldn't say I was part of it - I was only the announcer" he says, with characteristic modesty. It was only one of the most famous announcements in live radio history - "We present Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques, and Kenneth Williams in..." H-h-hancock's Half Hour.

"Tony was peculiar to say the least" remembers Brian. "Everybody else was quite wonderful. Lovely, friendly people he had around him, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr... I got very friendly there with Kenneth Williams and also Sid James, but not with Tony. "

Brian remembers one incident where there was an almighty bang offstage - Kenneth Williams had walked smack into a pillar but didn't miss a beat, and appeared on stage to deliver his inimitable ""Allo", with blood pouring down his face.

"The warm up was as much a tradition with this show as with any other, but it must have been unique in so far as the star of the show never took part in it. He'd just come in, solitary, and sit, huddled, and grumble about the script. Things like 'I can't make that work, they're not gonna laugh at that'. So I talked to the two writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, I said 'doesn't that worry you?' They said 'Nah! But you wait til he gets going with the crowd... we know what'll get a laugh'. And of course they did. They'd heard it all before, every week."