[This is the thirteenth of a series of articles giving a
brief description of each of the 26 ancient Anglican cathedrals coupled with a
sketch of a person, activity or institution connected to the area]
Chester Cathedral
stands in a rather cramped site in the centre of the historic City of Chester with its echoes
of Roman Britain and with its ancient walls and medieval (now mainly Victorian)
picturesque Rows. Although the Cathedral has been pulled about a great deal
over the centuries and extensively restored, it is full of interest and has
many memorable features.
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| Chester Cathedral |
Chester
is a relatively small cathedral and is built in the local sandstone, an excellent
medium for decorative work but “friable” (i.e. easily crumbling), and very
vulnerable to industrial pollution, requiring constant maintenance.
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| The Nave at Chester |
The building is disparate, with most architectural styles
being represented. The original Norman Benedictine abbey of 1093 was largely
concealed by the Early English Gothic of 1283 onwards giving us the fine broad
Nave vaulted only in wood rather than stone. The elegant Chapter House, judged
by Pevsner as“the aesthetic climax of the cathedral” is in the same style as is
the Lady Chapel, which boasts a stone vault.
In my view, the Decorated Choir is the most attractive part
of the cathedral, even though it was extensively remodelled by George Gilbert
Scott, the Victorian apostle of Gothic Revival. In particular the woodwork of
the pinnacled choir stalls and the naturalistically carved misericords
(probably the finest set in England)
are admirable.
Choir Stall and
misericord
The early 16th century saw the building of the
fine Perpendicular central tower, later battlemented by Scott and the Cloisters
date from the same period: a unique 17th century Consistory Court room for cases under
canon law survives. A very extensive renovation was necessary to save the
decrepit cathedral in Victorian times and the cathedral retains a rather
Victorian air, especially evident in the stained glass. Chester is by no means faultless – there is
much jarring asymmetry, with the wide South Transept and hardly any North
Transept – but it is a vibrant building, witness to the inevitable turbulence
of 900 years of English history.
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Chester
has been the home town of some distinguished cultural figures like architect
Sir John Vanbrugh and conductor Sir Adrian Boult, not to mention the current
James Bond, Daniel Craig and TV comedians Hugh Lloyd and Russ Abbot. However I
want to recall the Radio comedians and one of the typical figures of that era
adopted the name of the city – I refer to “cheerful” Charlie Chester.
The Golden Age of radio comedy in Britain was roughly the 30 years
from 1940 to 1970. During World War Two, families depended on the BBC radio for
information and for morale-boosting entertainment and, in the austere years of
peace that followed, it took a long time before TV overhauled the radio.
Charlie Chester became a household name with his Forces radio show and his
post-war Stand Easy still aimed at an
Army audience, which ran until 1951. Chester,
who was in the cheeky-chappie Max Miller mould, worked on until the 1990s as a
disc-jockey and commentator.
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| Charlie Chester |
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| Tommy Handley |
Probably the most popular radio show of the immediate
post-war years was It’s That Man Again (ITMA) featuring fast-talking Liverpudlian
comedian Tommy Handley, ably assisted by Jack Train (catch-phrases “ I don’t
mind if I do”, or “This is Funf speaking”) and the charlady’s “TTFN” (Ta-Ta for
now) which has entered the vernacular. Sadly Handley died early of a heart
attack in 1949.
Ted Ray was another Liverpudlian and his Ray’s a Laugh delighted listeners in the
1950s together with other popular comedy shows like Life with the Lyons (with American husband and wife team Ben Lyon
and Bebe Daniels) and Educating Archie
featuring Peter Brough and his ventriloquist’s dummy Archie Andrews. It is
probably true that the audience was not very discerning and was easily pleased,
but people needed to be cheered-up in those thread-bare times.
There were many programmes of recognisable quality. Kenneth
Horne, who was a successful businessman, had joined with Richard Murdoch at the
end of the war to perform in Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh
set in an RAF station, always featuring a comic topical song to top and tail
the show. He moved on to Beyond our Ken
1957-64 followed by Round the Horne
1965-68. Horne was a master story-teller and the show was littered with double entendres; Kenneth Williams
contributed a treasury of funny voices and the hilarious camp sketches
involving Julian and Sandy.
Another consistently amusing show was Take It from Here starring handlebar moustached Jimmy Edwards,
Australian Dick Bentley and first Joy Nichols and later June Whitfield. The
1948-61 show was written by ultra-talented Frank Muir and Denis Norden. The
highlight for me was The Glums, with
Mr Glum (Edwards) having to cope with lovelorn but dim-witted Ron (Bentley)
courting his daughter Eth (Whitfield), always starting off with “Oh, Ron………”
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| Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Horne |
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| Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield |
The Goon Show,
that great cult BBC Radio comedy, ran from 1951 to 1960, starring and largely
written by Spike Milligan with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe (Michael Bentine
too at the start). It was surreal, occasionally incomprehensible and well reflected
Milligan’s anarchic humour. The 3 protagonists had various personae – Milligan (Eccles), Secombe (Neddie Seagoon) and Sellers
(Bluebottle), the latter famously whingeing “You dirty rotten swine, you have
deaded me!” The Goons had a powerful influence on subsequent zany comedy.
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| Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe |
By the 1960s, the lure of television became too strong. The
artistes were paid better (or could get better paid by ITV) and the programme
budgets were larger. Typical was Tony Hancock, whose hilarious Hancock’s Half-hour on radio was wildly
popular, but he transferred to TV. The BBC Home Service and Light Programme
closed down in 1967 and were rebranded soullessly as Radio 4 and Radio 2.
There are now so many radio and TV channels that mass audiences
for one offering no longer exist. Before they are forgotten, I happily pay
tribute to the constant amusement the BBC served up with its quick-fire
scripts, signature tunes, catch-phrases, funny voices and bizarre
sound-effects, comfortably enjoyed as you drove your car, relaxed in your
armchair or steeped in your bath. Heaven!
SMD
11.11.12
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2012
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