Marge Green (credited as Brown Owl in her first appearance) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Pat Coombs from 9th May 1989 to 8th February 1990. Introduced in 1989, elderly Marge is scripted as comical and timid. The character was one of many to be axed in 1990 when Michael Ferguson took over the role as executive producer from her introducer Mike Gibbon.
Patricia Doreen Coombs (27th August 1926 – 25th May 2002) was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, film and television sitcoms and Children's ITV's Playbox and Ragdolly Anna. Her authorised biography, written by Andrew Ross, was published in 2021.
Marge is first seen in May 1989 as a friend of Dot Cotton (June Brown) and Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin). Marge works at the Bed & Breakfast as a cleaner, first for (the unseen) Doris then for Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement). When poor health forces Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) to give up working at the launderette, Marge works there in her place for a few months, but always succeeds in muddling up the service washes. Marge is an elderly spinster and as well as her day job cleaning she also holds the position of Brown Owl for the unruly Walford Brownies until Mo Butcher (Edna Doré) relieves her of her duties. Mo's tenure is brief, however, as she is sacked for lying about her age.
Ethel May Skinner is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gretchen Franklin. Ethel also features in a 1988 EastEnders special episode, entitled "CivvyStreet", set on Albert Square during World War II, in which she is played by Alison Bettles. Ethel is an EastEnders original character and in the early years she can always be found wandering the neighbourhood with her adored pug Willy. She and Dot Cotton (June Brown) are lifelong friends, and although they wind each other up, they are completely dependent on each other. Ethel trusts Dot so much that she even asks her to help her die in 2000 after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Christmas Dinner - EastEnders - Civvy Street - BBC
Christmas Dinner - EastEnders - Civvy Street - BBC
Marge is timid and a bit of a soft-touch and tends to be bossed around by the more domineering personalities on the square, such as her friend Mo. Marge lives at 93 Victoria Road and devotes her life to caring for her sickly 93-year-old mother, Florence Maisie Green. This is a massive strain on her, particularly when her mother's health suddenly deteriorates after a second stroke in December 1989. Noticing that Marge is becoming exhausted with the palliative care of her mother, her friends, Dot, Ethel and Mo, take her on holiday to Clacton where they all take part in a dancing competition. Marge attracts the attention of a senior bachelor, Mr Conroy, but she has led a sheltered life and is too shy to allow the romance to develop. Nevertheless, Mr Conroy persists and ends up proposing, which Marge regretfully turns down because of her commitment to her mother. Soon after, however, Marge receives news that her mother has died and she subsequently decides to accept Mr Conroy's proposal. Unfortunately for Marge, he has already departed, so she returns to Walford alone.
Although Marge is devastated to lose her mother, her friends help her through it and she eventually comes to look forward to a future where she can concentrate on her own needs instead of caring for others. However, the following year, Marge's cousin Fred (Richard Addison) arrives in Walford and cons her into becoming his invalid mother's companion on a cruise ship. Despite Mo warning her against it, Marge feels obligated to care for her sick relative and in February 1990, she leaves Walford.
Pat Coombs and Peggy Mount.
Born in Camberwell, South London, Coombs was one of three children; her father worked in insurance for the Employers' Liability, the forerunner of Commercial Union. Coombs attended the County School for Girls in Beckenham, Kent. After leaving school, she began her working life as a student kindergarten teacher, but soon a keenness to act prompted her to take drama lessons during the Second World War with her friend and neighbour Vivien Merchant. At the age of 19 she won a scholarship to train as an actress at LAMDA, where she subsequently taught dialect.
Camberwell is a flourishing South London district neighbouring Peckham, Walworth and Elephant & Castle, Herne Hill, Dulwich, and Brixton.
RADIO.
She first made her name in the post-war era of radio variety as 'Nola', the dim and put-upon daughter of Irene Handl in Arthur Askey's Hello Playmates; their double-act had started as a guest spot on Bob Monkhouse's show. Coombs also gained experience as a comedy stooge in radio shows alongside Ted Ray and Charlie Chester.
Pat Coombs in "Don't Drink the Water".
An early television break came when she appeared with Tony Hancock in an episode of his series Hancock's Half Hour (1957). She followed this with regular appearances in The Cyril Fletcher Show (1959) and later she became a regular performer in The Dick Emery Show. She also starred in the sitcoms Barney Is My Darling (1965–66) alongside Irene Handl and Wild, Wild Women (1969) alongside Barbara Windsor. She also appeared in the BBC's 13-part adaptation of Dombey and Son as Lucretia Tox.
Bob Monkhouse. Robert Alan Monkhouse OBE (1st June 1928 – 29th December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Wipeout.
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone.
Cyril Fletcher (25th June 1913 – 2nd January 2005) was an English comedian, actor and businessman. His catchphrase was 'Pin back your lugholes'. He was best known for his "Odd Odes", which later formed a section of the television show That's Life!, a role for which he was approached in error. So successful was he however, that he stayed on the show from 1973 to 1981. He first began performing the Odd Odes in 1937, long before they first appeared on television (though he did appear on pre World War II television).
The Dick Emery Show is a British sketch comedy show starring Dick Emery. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1963 to 1981. It was directed and produced by Harold Snoad. The show was broadcast over 19 series with 166 episodes. The show experienced sustained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. The BBC described the show as featuring 'a vivid cast of comic grotesques'. Frequent performers included Pat Coombs, Victor Maddern, Deryck Guyler, Roy Kinnear, Joan Sims and Josephine Tewson.
Dick Emery - the driving test full version
Dick Emery - the driving test full version.
Dick Emery - the milkman
Dick Emery - the milkman.
Dick Emery Show - The Family Way
Dick Emery Show - Family Way.
The Dick Emery Show - Red Letter Days (18.03.1972)
The Dick Emery Show - Red Letter Days (S11E02 - 18 March 1972)
Wild, Wild Women is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC from 1968 to 1969. Shot in black-and-white, it starred Barbara Windsor and was written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney.
Dombey and Son is a 1969 English drama serial directed by Joan Craft based on the 1848 novel by Charles Dickens. It tells the story of a wealthy shipping business owner who, after the death of his wife and only son intended to take over the business, neglects his daughter, only to reconcile with her shortly before his own death. The series survived the BBC's wiping policy and was released to DVD in 2017 by Simply Media.
Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect.
This period sitcom, set in 1902, was a variation of The Rag Trade, which was also written by Chesney and Wolfe. Barbara Windsor, who also starred in The Rag Trade, played Millie, a cockney woman who led the women in a milliner's shop. The storylines focused around the conflict between the female workers and the management, Mr Harcourt and his apprentice Albert. Reflecting the mood of Britain in the late 1960s, the women adopted a new feisty spirit not seen in most characters in The Rag Trade. In the pilot the women were shown as strong supporters of the suffragette movement, but it was decided not to make much of this in the series. The series failed to attract the same popularity as The Rag Trade, and was decommissioned after the first series. Only episode 3 still exists and 6 episodes are missing.
Apollo 11 Moonwalk (BBC Lost Tapes)
Apollo 11 Moonwalk (BBC Lost Tapes)Using two sources, both audio cassette recordings, this is a reconstruction of the BBC TV broadcast covering the moonwalk of Apollo 11. As is widely known, the actual video tape recording of this event has been lost, presumed recorded over or wiped. In the BBC studio were James Burke (who is heard for the majority of the moonwalk), Patrick Moore and Cliff Michelmore. The audio recordings are not the greatest quality and the content must be accepted as incomplete as both recordings contained editing between the astronauts transmissions. But, perhaps, this is the most complete record of this even available to date. With thanks to the Furniss family for lending the audio cassettes.
A significant proportion of early television programming was never recorded in the first place. Early broadcasting in all genres was live and sometimes performed repeatedly. Due to there being no means to record the broadcast or, later, because the content itself was thought to have little monetary or historical value it was not deemed necessary to save it. In the United Kingdom, early programming was lost due to contractual demands by the actors' union to limit the rescreening of performances. Apart from Phonovision experiments by John Logie Baird, and some 280 rolls of 35mm film containing some of Paul Nipkow television station broadcasts, no recordings of transmissions from 1939 or earlier are known to exist.
A Super 8mm camera is a motion picture camera specifically manufactured to use the Super 8mm motion picture format. Super 8mm film cameras were first manufactured in 1965 by Kodak.
The ability for home viewers to record programming was extremely limited before videotape; although a home viewer could record the video of a broadcast onto 8 mm film throughout television history or record the audio of a broadcast onto audiotape beginning in the 1950s, one could generally not capture both on the same medium until super-8 debuted in the 1960s. Home movies of this kind are exceptionally rare. Audio recordings are more common and numerous copies of otherwise lost television broadcasts exist.
Out of 253 produced episodes of Doctor Who, the BBC had not a single original copy left. “Television meant being live, over, and done with,” says Richard Molesworth, a BBC historian and author of Wiped!, a detailed chronicle of how the channel discarded a large chunk of Doctor Who history. “When videotape came about in the late 1950s, it wasn’t seen as a means of preservation or as an archival format," he tells Mental Floss. "It was in case a program was to be repeated in a short period of time—days or weeks.” Because tapes often came out of a show’s budget, wiping old episodes and reusing them saved money. Barely any episodes from the entire first season of The Avengers, for example, are believed to have survived; Z Cars, a popular cop drama, was also snuffed out. The BBC would erase the tapes and reuse them to save money not considering the historical value.
In 1983, a Mormon Church in London was cleaning out its basement when several BBC film cans, including two episodes of Doctor Who, were discovered among the clutter. In 1985, A Who fan named Ian Levine found several episodes idling in a Nigerian television station. Two more episodes were returned to the BBC after being found at a yard sale. On a few occasions, Sue Malden Television Archive Selector was able to retrieve episodes that had been seized by BBC employees simply because they were fans of the show.
Fireman Mark Wissett along with Tracy Landon, Laura Roberts, Denis McCann from the 4th Rishton Brownies group getting fire alarms for their auction to raise money for the Blue Peter Wishing Well Appeal in 1988.
According to Writer Colin Brake, the storyline involving Marge and the unruly Brownies was intended to be fun, but references to Brownies behaving badly caused great offence to the Brownie movement, and an official complaint was made and upheld. The broadcasting commission said the EastEnders Brownie episodes "came near to parody," were unfair to the Brownies and harmed the Girl Guides' image. The BBC had to make a public apology for the misinterpretation of the movement. Brake has suggested that the mishap was a "salutary lesson to those in the script department to be very vigilant in ensuring, as far as possible, that no group or individual was offended by an unintentional slight in a script."
In 1989, she appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. For a year she played Marge Green, Brown Owl of the Walford Brownies' pack, where she worked closely with EastEnders regulars June Brown, Edna Doré and Gretchen Franklin. Coombs's character was introduced as part of a deliberate attempt to bring humour into the programme, which had come under attack for being too depressing. The character subsequently became one of many to be axed in 1990 following the appointment of new executive producer Michael Ferguson. Coombs was said to be extremely upset that the character of Marge only lasted for one year, but the producers felt there was no place in the programme's new plan for a character "whose prime function was to be comic relief". There should be more elderly people on television..
Following her stint in EastEnders, Coombs went on to guest in the BBC comedy Birds of a Feather, Boon and the BBC medical drama Doctors in 2001, which was her last appearance on screen. According to The Guinness Book of Records she holds the record for the largest number of takes for a TV commercial. According to Coombs: "I just couldn't remember the name of the product."
Edna Lillian Doré (née Gorring; 31st May 1921 – 11th April 2014) was a British actress. She was known for her bit-part roles in sitcoms and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in EastEnders from 1988 to 1990.
From Left to Right,
Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson, Lesley Joseph
Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run.
birds of a feather s11 ep5 (115) tracey's choice
Coombs had also appeared in many films, including A Stitch in Time (1963), Carry On Doctor (1967), Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Cucumber Castle (1970) starring the Bee Gees, Ooh... You Are Awful (1972) with Dick Emery, and Spike Milligan's Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (1972), as well as the movie versions of Till Death Us Do Part (1969), On the Buses (1971) and Dad's Army (1971). She also had a minor uncredited role as Henrietta Salt in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971.
birds of a feather s11 ep5 (115) tracey's choice
Norman Wisdom femulates in the 1963 film "A stitch in Time".
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE (4th February 1915 – 4th October 2010) was an English actor, comedian, musician and singer best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring a hapless character called Norman Pitkin. He was awarded the 1953 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles following the release of Trouble in Store, his first film in a lead role. Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were the only ones with Western actors permitted to be shown by dictator Enver Hoxha. Charlie Chaplin once referred to Wisdom as his "favourite clown".
Enver Hoxha (1908-1985) was the communist dictator of Albania for much of the Cold War. Under Hoxha’s leadership, Albania became an eastern European model of Stalinist Russia, marred by brutality and political oppression.
Wisdom later forged a career on Broadway in New York City and as a television actor, winning critical acclaim for his dramatic role of a dying cancer patient in the television play Going Gently in 1981. He toured Australia and South Africa. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a hospice was named in his honour. In 1995, he was given the Freedom of the City of London and of Tirana. The same year, he was appointed OBE and was knighted five years later.
Actors Warren Mitchell (left) and Dandy Nichols in a scene from the television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, 1968. (Photo by Radio Times/Getty Images)
After a relatively unsuccessful partnership with Peggy Mount in the television series Lollipop Loves Mr Mole (ITV, 1971), the two women found a better platform for their talents when they were reunited in Yorkshire Television's You're Only Young Twice (1977–81), set in a home for the elderly; the actresses became close friends. During her long career Coombs made two contributions to Dad's Army. In 1970 she played Mrs Hall in the first film adaptation, and in 1975 she played the dual part of Marie and the Clippie in the radio adaptation of "A Soldier's Farewell".
Image Left: Lollipop Loves Mr Mole.
If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else
If Only I Had My Mind on Something Else. Bee Gees
Dad's Army is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; a feature film released in 1971, a stage show and a radio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally.
Dad's Army - The Movie: Church Scene
Dad's Army - The Movie: Church Scene.
The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age (hence the title Dad's Army), medical reasons or by being in professions exempt from conscription. Most of the platoon members in Dad's Army are over military age and the series stars several older British actors, including Arnold Ridley, John Laurie, Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier. Younger members of the cast included Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn (who, despite being one of the younger cast members, played the oldest guardsman, Lance Corporal Jones) and James Beck (who died suddenly during production of the sixth series in 1973). Other regular cast members included Frank Williams as the vicar and Bill Pertwee as the chief ARP warden.
Full Metal Jacket - 1986
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder as candymaker Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The film tells the story of a poor child named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) who, upon finding a Golden Ticket in a chocolate bar, wins the chance to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory along with four other children from around the world.
Gene Wilder and Peter Ostrum - Peter Gardner Ostrum born November 1st, 1957) is an American veterinarian and former child actor, whose only film role was as Charlie Bucket in the 1971 motion picture Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Pure Imagination Gene Wilder (1971)
Ostrum was 12 years old when selected by talent agents for Willy Wonka. Though he enjoyed the experience of shooting the film, he opted not to sign a three-film contract when it was over. After eschewing a career in film and theater, Ostrum became reluctant to speak about his one starring role. In 1990, he began an annual tradition of speaking to schoolchildren about the film, and he became a subject of interest again when the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released to theaters.
WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Pure Imagination Gene Wilder (1971)
Ostrum became interested in his family's horses when he returned from shooting Willy Wonka, and was particularly influenced by the veterinarian who tended to them. He received a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984. As of 2021, Ostrum practiced and lived in Glenfield, New York with his wife Loretta (née Lepkowski), having raised two children.
Super Gran is a fictional series about a grandmother with super powers. Initially a series of books written by Forrest Wilson, a children's television show was adapted by Jenny McDade and produced by Tyne Tees Television for Children's ITV. The title character was played by Gudrun Ure, with Iain Cuthbertson as her nemesis, The Scunner Campbell. It originally ran from 1985 to 1987. Two series, each consisting of thirteen episodes, were produced, alongside a Christmas special. All episodes have been released on DVD by Network. The show inspired two computer games.
The show was filmed in various locations around North East England, including Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, South Shields and Beamish Museum. Inventor Black's laboratory was housed in an empty church on Tynemouth Front Street, which became Land of the Green Ginger. Sets were housed in an old warehouse in North Shields; its corrugated roof caused sound difficulties when it rained. A stone cottage in Church Way, Earsdon, near Whitley Bay, was used as Super Gran's home. A huge crane used to hoist Super Gran into her flying position was parked in the neighbouring school.
Whitley Bay Pebble Stacks.
Dozens of stacks of pebbles have been built on a beach by people doing their daily exercise during the coronavirus lockdown. Press Association photographer Owen Humphreys has been taking pictures as the towers on the beach at Whitley Bay in North Tyneside have been added to. "While people are taking their daily lockdown exercise, they have kept adding pebble sculptures transforming the beach," he said.
Childrens TV
Coombs was also a regular on children's television. Hers was one of the voices heard in the children's series Ragdolly Anna (1982–87), she played Policewoman Pat in Mooncat and Co (1984–85) and voiced one of the puppets in the children's show Playbox (1988) alongside Keith Chegwin. She was seen in Rainbow (1981–82), The Basil Brush Show (1977–79) and Supergran, and joined Stanley Baxter to play Miss Flavia Jelly in the first two series of Mr Majeika (1988–89), among many others.
Mooncat and Company
Spanish City - Whitley Bay
The Central Lower Promenade, from the book Whitley Bay Remembered, by Charlie Steel, Summerhill Books.
Beamish Museum is the first regional open-air museum, in England, located at Beamish, near the town of Stanley, in County Durham, England. Beamish pioneered the concept of a living museum. By displaying duplicates or replaceable items, it was also an early example of the now commonplace practice of museums allowing visitors to touch objects.
BEAMISH MUSEUM | How To Spend A Day At The Living Museum of the North - An Unmissable UK Attraction!
BEAMISH MUSEUM | How To Spend A Day At The Living Museum of the North - An Unmissable UK Attraction!
The museum's guiding principle is to preserve an example of everyday life in urban and rural North East England at the climax of industrialisation in the early 20th century. Much of the restoration and interpretation is specific to the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, together with portions of countryside under the influence of industrial revolution from 1825. On its 350 acres (140 ha) estate it uses a mixture of translocated, original and replica buildings, a large collection of artifacts, working vehicles and equipment, as well as livestock and costumed interpreters.
Super Gran (1985) SE1 EP5 - Supergran and the Super Match
Super Gran (1985) SE1 EP5 - Supergran and the Super Match
Mooncat and Co (Series 1) Shop 05 Jul 1984
The museum has received a number of awards since it opened to visitors in 1972 and has influenced other living museums. It is an educational resource, and also helps to preserve some traditional and rare north-country livestock breeds.
Mooncat was a puppet character who, as his name suggests, was a cat from the moon. He appeared on ITV from 1981 to 1985 in the series Get Up and Go! and the follow-up Mooncat and Co produced by Yorkshire Television. Mooncat was created, designed, and initially operated and voiced by David Claridge, who later went on to create, voice and operate Roland Rat.
Mooncat and Co (Series 1) Shop 05 Jul 1984.
The series revolved around Mooncat learning about life on Earth. Subjects covered included shapes, movement, being careful and taking turns. The format regularly included Reid and Boxer explaining an everyday subject to Mooncat and looking at a film about it on his Moon Machine through either the round, square or triangle screen. Then there would be a story about Billie, a little girl who had toys which came to life - these were Woodley a dog (presumably real), Monkey, Mrs Pinkerton-Trunks an elephant and Mr Milford Haven, a lion. This was usually narrated by Reid but occasionally by Boxer who accompanied the story with dramatic piano riffs in the style of an old black-and-white movie.
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Taking place in a world where toys come to life when humans are not present, the plot of Toy Story focuses on the relationship between an old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll named Woody and a modern space cadet action figure, Buzz Lightyear, as Woody develops jealousy towards Buzz when he becomes their owner Andy's favorite toy. Other toys include Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex, and Hamm amongst others..
Similarities arise here as the story about Billie, a little girl who had toys which came to life - these were Woodley a dog (presumably real), Monkey, Mrs Pinkerton-Trunks an elephant and Mr Milford Haven, a lion. Toy Story has Andy with Woody not Woodley and his toys also come to life, Maybe Disney got the idea for the franchise from Mooncat and Company..
Not Buzz Lightyear but Robottrio..
A song would then follow with music composed and played by Stephen Boxer on guitar before the episode was wrapped. Initially, Reid, Boxer and Mooncat lived in the same house but, as the series progressed with Stephen going to live and work in a playgroup. Despite this, Boxer continued as a co-presenter often talking about his work at the playgroup with an accompanying short film of this.
The focus of these stories is Mr Majeika, a teacher at St Barty's Primary School, a typical English primary school. However he is no ordinary man, as is apparent when he flies into Class Three's boring lesson on a magic carpet, which he then turns into a bicycle, confounding the headmaster: Mr Majeika is a wizard! "People don't believe in wizards nowadays, so naturally they don't often pay them to do some work."
Mr Majeika Series 3 Episode 5 - 'I've Grown Accustomed to His Face'
Mr Majeika Series 3 Episode 5 - 'I've Grown Accustomed to His Face'
Mr Majeika Series 1 Episode 2 TVS Production 1988
Mr Majeika Series 1 Episode 2 TVS Production 1988
— Mr Majeika
He thereafter astounds them with magical trickery which bring lessons to life, whether it is providing chips during dinner for all the children, or turning the nasty Hamish Bigmore into a frog for his insolence. Whatever the consequences, Class Three are sure that with Mr Majeika around, they will not be bored again. A recurring character is Wilhelmina Worlock, a witch who first appeared as a music teacher and has turned up regularly since in various disguises.
Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author. Baxter began his career as a child actor on BBC Scotland and later became known for his British television comedy shows The Stanley Baxter Show, The Stanley Baxter Picture Show, The Stanley Baxter Series and Mr Majeika. Baxter has also written a number of books based on Glasgow.
In the television series, Mr Majeika is an irrepressible wizard, sent to "Britland" from the planet Walpurgis because he failed his O-level sorcery exam for the seventeenth time. He drops into the sleepy village of Much Barty, finding a post at St Barty's School as Class Three's new form-teacher, where he quickly befriends two of the children, Melanie Brace-Girdle and Thomas Grey. Both of these characters are also in the books, but Melanie is a much less important and very different type of character in the books, and is replaced by another character as female lead, Jody. Also in the books, Thomas has a twin brother called Pete.
Majeika enters into his magic with reluctance, however, because he is trying hard to behave himself on Earth, and because the Worshipful Wizard of Walpurgis is keeping an eye on him from above. All the same, trickery becomes more and more necessary, leading Majeika, Melanie and Thomas into some remarkable adventures. Their fun is despised, but usually prompted, by the horribly spoilt Hamish, a pupil so ghastly that his mere presence caused the resignation of the previous class teacher and frightened off the 79 applicants for the post. But one waggle of Mr Majeika's oddly tufted grey hair is all that it takes for Bigmore to be put firmly in his place.
Basil Brush, the glove puppet fox, first starred in his own programme, The Basil Brush Show, on 14 June 1968. Basil was already well known to viewers from his appearances on The Nixon Line with David Nixon. He was assisted on the first programme by Mr Rodney, Rodney Bewes. Guests included Manfred Mann, The Niberco Brothers and Robert Bartlett. Basil's posh voice - said to be modelled on Terry Thomas - habit of laughing at his own jokes and his catchphrase "boom boom" exasperated his sidekicks but proved a hit with children and adults.
Basil was created by Ivan Owen from a puppet designed by Peter Firmin. Owen was always at great pains to maintain the illusion that Basil was a real fox and steadfastly kept out of the limelight himself. Basil was supported by a succession of straightmen after Bewes, notably Mr Derek (Fowlds), Mr Roy (North), Mr Howard (Williams) and Mr Billy (Boyle). Later, Basil was a regular on Crackerjack. Basil's popularity was such that he often shared top billing in pantomime and summer season with human stars.
Image: Basil Brush and "Mr Derek" (Derek Fowlds) in 1969.
Basil Brush and the Airbed (1976) | BFI
An Interview With Basil Brush | Good Morning Britain
An Interview With Basil Brush | Good Morning Britain
Basil Brush and the Airbed (1976) | BFI
Boom Boom! Basil Brush comes to the rescue of potential careless bathers in this COI (Central Office of Information) film, trading bad puns and banter with his erstwhile comic partner Roy North. Basil was voiced and operated by Ivan Owen, a publicity-shy actor who remained anonymous during the puppets career and never gave interviews or allowed himself to be photographed. It has been reported that he modelled the voice on the comic actor Terry-Thomas. (Alex Davidson) Banksy the street artist does the same.
Ivan Owen died in 2000. However Basil outlived him, surviving largely unchanged. In recent years he has teamed up with Barney Harwood to present Basil's Swap Shop and Basil and Barney's Game Show on CBBC.
Coombs other television work included Beggar My Neighbour (1966-68), Don't Drink the Water (1974–75), Up Pompeii! (1970), Till Death Us Do Part (1966–75) and its sequel In Sickness and in Health (1990, 1992) and The Lady is a Tramp (1983), in the last of which she co-starred with Patricia Hayes in a series set among 'down-and-outs'. Coombs was also the subject of This Is Your Life in 1978, and appeared regularly as a guest on Noel Edmonds's Saturday night entertainment show Noel's House Party (1992–95) and on the game shows Blankety Blank and Celebrity Squares (1975–79), returning for its revival in 1993–94.
A rare picture of Ivan Owen - Basil's operator and voice throughout his hey-day - who grew up in Dartford.
Noel's House Party, Series 3, Episode 19
Noel's House Party, Series 3, Episode 19
Basil's first TV appearance alongside Spike McPike, another Peter Firmin creation, in 1962.
Basil performed his first summer season in Margate. Picture: Thanet District Council
Blankety Blank - Series 8 Episode 2
Blankety Blank - Series 8 Episode 2
Leslie Dawson (2nd February 1931 – 10th June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
Les Dawson was born at Collyhurst, Manchester, on 2 February 1931, the only child of bricklayer Leslie Dawson (2 August 1905 - 10 April 1970) and Julia Nolan (14 January 1908 - 29 September 1957) who was of Irish descent. His first job was in the parcels department of the Manchester Co-op. He worked briefly as a journalist on the Bury Times.
Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22nd December 1948) is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented various radio shows and light-entertainment television programmes across 50 years, originally working for the BBC, later Sky UK and Channel 4. His television work includes Top of the Pops (1972–1978), Multi-Coloured Swap Shop (1976–1982), Juke Box Jury (1979), Top Gear (1979–1980), The Late, Late Breakfast Show (1982–1986), Telly Addicts (1985–1998), The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow (1988–1990), Noel's House Party (1991–1999), and Deal or No Deal (2005–2016).
Very old Top Gear - Very young Jeremy Clarkson and Tiff Needell
Very old Top Gear - Very young Jeremy Clarkson and Tiff Needell - I believe this to be from 1988/9 judging by the cars on it. (Clarkson being born 1960 i guessed his age)
Coombs never married or had children. She said that twice she came close to marrying, but was not sure enough to proceed. She once remarked: "I've never been wildly ambitious; I think if I'd been married, my career would have gone out of the window."
Coombs was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 1995, and became an active campaigner for the National Osteoporosis Society. Her Christmas appeal letter raised £100,000 for the charity's research. She had just completed a role for Radio 4 alongside Roy Hudd and June Whitfield in Like They've Never Been Gone when she died on 25 May 2002, aged 75, from emphysema in Denville Hall actors' home, a west London nursing home to which she had moved to be close to her friend Peggy Mount, who had died six months earlier.