There is no doubt that there is a distinctive Northern sense
of humour. In the South, the “cheeky chappie” in the Max Miller, Jim Davidson,
David “Del Boy” Jason mould holds sway; the Scots enjoy Billy Connolly‘s
raucous and hyper-energetic patter. “Scouse” (Liverpudlian) humour is of its
own quick-fire impenetrable kind, fortified by Ken Dodd and Jimmy Tarbuck. But Up (sorry, “Oop”) North, to the denizens
of Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, the humour has a touch of the graveyard
with a bleak view of the human condition peppered with ripe expressions and
accents combined with a wry acceptance of the absurd perils and setbacks of
life. I wish to pay tribute to some of its most attractive protagonists.
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| Robb Wilton |
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| Norman Evans |
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| Frank Randle |
Northern humour flourished in the music halls and early
leading figures included Everton’s Robb
Wilton (1881-1957), famous for his Lancashire-accented monologues – a
typical Northern love of language – often delivered as from incompetent
official functionaries. Norman Evans
(1901-62), from Rochdale, was an excellent radio comedian, and as gossipy Fanny
Fairbottom, anticipated by a generation Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s
“Cissie and Ada” with his sketches “Over the Garden Wall”. Another golden oldie
was Frank Randle (1902-57) from
Wigan, playing the subversive underdog, with famous sketches as a Grandpa or as
a Drunk. He clashed with the Blackpool Watch Committee, who banned his act and
he retaliated by throwing his false teeth into the audience and bombarding
Accrington from the air with toilet rolls!
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| George Formby |
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| Hylda Baker |
Quintessentially Northern were George Formby and Hylda
Baker. George Formby (1904-61) from
Wigan was at the peak of his popularity in the 1930s and 1940s on stage and
screen. Henpecked in life by his formidable wife Beryl, he affected a toothy,
gormless persona, with a giggly
Lancashire accent dropping double entendres promiscuously, a great
purveyor of lengthy “shaggy dog” jokes. Most of all he was loved for his
suggestive songs accompanied on his ukulele - “When I’m cleaning Windows” or
“With my little stick of Blackpool Rock” and his delightful signature tune
“When a certain little Lady comes by”.
Hylda Baker
(1905-1986) from Farnworth, Lancs, achieved her immortality as Nellie Pledge in
the TV series Nearest and Dearest, producing
Pledges Pickles. Hylda’s speciality was scatterbrain malapropisms as in “I can
say this without fear of contraception” or on being asked what time is it,
responding “It’s quarter past….I must get
a little hand put on this watch!”
In the 1960s to 1990s three Northerners kept up their
region’s proud traditions. Everyone loved lugubrious Les Dawson (1931-93) from Manchester, master of wife and
mother-in-law jokes:
I was lying in bed the other morning playing a
lament on my euphonium when the wife, who was prising her teeth out of an
apple, looked back at me and said softly, 'Joey.' She calls me Joey because she
always wanted a budgie. She said, 'I'm homesick.' I said, 'But precious one,
this is your home.' She said, 'I know, and I’m sick of it’
This is
typical Les Dawson, surreal language, gravelly
Mancunian accent, deadpan delivery and an audience in stitches. Perhaps his
best lines came from his “Cissie and Ada” duo with Roy Barraclough, both in
drag where the marginally more refined Cissie corrects the gaffes and
misunderstandings of Dawson’s Ada, energetically adjusting her ample bosoms –
referring to a hysterectomy as a “Hysterical
rectummy”!
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| Les Dawson |
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| Victoria Wood |
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| Eric Morecambe |
Victoria Wood
(1953- ), from Prestwich, is a multi-talented artiste, with a more bitter-sweet
flavour, the thinking lady’s Hylda Baker, bringing femininity to Northern
comedy. Eric Morecambe (1926-84) from
Morecambe naturally, became, with his stooge Ernie Wise, a national treasure as
his TV shows won a huge UK audience. Eric always carried with him his air of
injured innocence, fighting against the injustices of his life in the
traditional Northern comic manner – mind you, he was also a seasoned
song-and-dance man and knew all the music-hall tricks.
There were some Northern artistes who went too far. Bernard Manning (1930-2007) from
Manchester blotted his copy-book with his stereotypical racist jokes and rank
bad taste; an example, to give a flavour of Manning unbuttoned, is:
'Seriously folks, I didn't mean that. My
grandfather died at Auschwitz' - crowd goes quiet - 'very sad. He fell out of
the machine gun tower'.
Another
offender is Roy “Chubby” Brown (1945-
) from Grangetown, Yorks, who packed them in at the South Pier at Blackpool
from the 1990s. His act is as blue as the Med and could not possibly be quoted
on this family blog. One of his more toned-down shows was called Clitoris Allsorts, so you get the
picture.
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| Bernard Manning |
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| Roy "Chubby" Brown |
Northern comic style continues to prosper. We can enjoy the curious nasal
accents and high pitch of Johnny Vegas
(1970 - ) from St Helens with his surreal rants. Peter Kay (1973-) from Farnsworth is by some measure the most
successful stand-up comedian ever, his shows selling out massively.
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| Johnny Vegas |
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| Peter Kay |
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| Alan Bennett |
However to me the epitome of Northern humour
is to be found in the gentle performances and thoughtful prose of hugely
talented Alan Bennett (1934 - ) from Armley, Leeds. He has an instinctive feel
for Northern family life and for the values of past generations, all conveyed
in a dry ironic way. Just as Scotland is nothing without England so England
needs the unique culture and stimulus of the North, of which I and surely many
others have the happiest memories.
SMD
12.07.2014
Text
Copyright © Sidney Donald 2014
Links:
Rob
Wilton www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GQe8CKCrbg
Norman
Evans
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQZm3mlaowM
George
Formby www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmAeijj5cM
Hylda
Baker www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne2aDX4oO04
Les
Dawson www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVLtJxBqtSA
Eric
Morecambe www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjdJszBbY8
Johnny
Vegas www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mme2ntl4IU
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