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Al Read


GillMar

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Is anyone old enough, as I am, to remember Al Read?

"I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'"

Not Sheffield, I know, but very endearing.

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Is anyone old enough, as I am, to remember Al Read?

"I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'"

Not Sheffield, I know, but very endearing.

I remember hearing him on the wireless when I was very young. my mother used to listen to him

while she was baking. I remember the catch phrase and as the years went on I once saw him

on the black & white TV. A funny man, didn't he do some sketch about going to the racers?

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Is anyone old enough, as I am, to remember Al Read?

"I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'"

Not Sheffield, I know, but very endearing.

"I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'" was Ken Platt's catch phrase rather than Al Read's :rolleyes:

I remember him being on Workers Playtime.

Al Read used to say "Right Monkey"

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I remember Al Read and Ken Platt but often muddle them up these days! Ken platt used to pop up in tv sit coms from time to time. Wiki mentions the Liver Birds, but I've a vague idea he was in Last of the Summer Wine at one time, or is that another 'senior moment'?

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I remember Al Read and Ken Platt but often muddle them up these days! Ken platt used to pop up in tv sit coms from time to time. Wiki mentions the Liver Birds, but I've a vague idea he was in Last of the Summer Wine at one time, or is that another 'senior moment'?

I've got copies of every Summer Wine produced except the pilot episode " Of Funerals & Fish" and I don't remember Ken Platt in any of them.

Are you thinking of Eli Duckett ( Danny O'Dea ) perhaps, or Nora's husband Wally ( Joe Gladwin ) ?

HD

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I've got copies of every Summer Wine produced except the pilot episode " Of Funerals & Fish" and I don't remember Ken Platt in any of them.

Are you thinking of Eli Duckett ( Danny O'Dea ) perhaps, or Nora's husband Wally ( Joe Gladwin ) ?

HD

Thanks HD, confirmation of another 'Senior moment'!

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I've got copies of every Summer Wine produced except the pilot episode

HD

Wish I had.

I've been watching the re-runs on (Yesterday?) recently.

Undoubtedly the best ones are the Foggy, Clegg and Compo years.

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Wish I had.

I've been watching the re-runs on (Yesterday?) recently.

Undoubtedly the best ones are the Foggy, Clegg and Compo years.

I agree, Foggy was the perfect foil for both the other two. But I think it's a shame they didn't call it a day when Bill Owen died. It was never the same post-Foggy, but with Compo gone as well it's a poor shadow of it's former self.

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Wish I had.

I've been watching the re-runs on (Yesterday?) recently.

Undoubtedly the best ones are the Foggy, Clegg and Compo years.

I've got agree with you there, but the later ones are still worth watching with the notable exception of those episodes featuring the dire Russ Abbot.

I think Frank Thornton took a good part as Truely of the Yard and Keith Clifford ( Billy, a direct descendent of Robin Hood ) didn't appear in many episodes but was always funny. Of course Brian Murphy is a fine comic actor whatever he appears in.

The initial episodes with Michael Bates as Blamire were entirely different to later episodes with some very well observed social commentaries and very little of the later slapstick. Some of the language was a bit ripe at the time as well.

I didn't think Bert Kwouk fitted in particularly well despite being a fine actor. Tom Owen eventually fitted in well when he was re-introduced as Compo's mystery son, he had made one very brief appearence years ago drawing money from a cashpoint.

Many of the plots were re-cycled several times over the years but it didn't detract from the show for me.

My wife and I work our way from start to almost finish but we don't bother with the Russ Abbot ones. You can't beat them for easy going light comedy.

We are gradually replacing our frayed VHS tapes with commecial DVD's as they become available.

HD

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"I won't take me coat off, I'm not stoppin'" was Ken Platt's catch phrase rather than Al Read's :rolleyes:

I remember him being on Workers Playtime.

Al Read used to say "Right Monkey"

Thanks for that vox , I couldn't sleep last night for thinking of someone who used to say

" Right Monkey " . Like GillMar I get Ken Platt and Al Read mixed up.

Their voices were similer, does anyone know where they were both from?

One of them used to say " Ju Ju Just a minute " but which one that was I don't know.

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Thanks for that vox , I couldn't sleep last night for thinking of someone who used to say

" Right Monkey " . Like GillMar I get Ken Platt and Al Read mixed up.

Their voices were similer, does anyone know where they were both from?

One of them used to say " Ju Ju Just a minute " but which one that was I don't know.

Can't help there Ukelass but I do know that Ken Platt was a George Formby wannabe when he started out.

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I've got copies of every Summer Wine produced except the pilot episode

WOW!!!!

Last of the Summer Wine is one of BBC's longest running comedy programmes, starting in 1972 and running almost to the present year.

That would be one hell of a big collection of recorded material HD.

How many half hour episodes are we talking about here?

If you were to watch them all, one after the other, in chronological order, how long would it take?

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One of them used to say " Ju Ju Just a minute " but which one that was I don't know.

Not the original comedian, but in later years Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers used the exact same phrase, said in a silly childish voice, both when he was messing around on stage with the Dreamers in a silly song like "Who wears short shorts?" or in his childrens TV show "Little Big Time".

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WOW!!!!

Last of the Summer Wine is one of BBC's longest running comedy programmes, starting in 1972 and running almost to the present year.

That would be one hell of a big collection of recorded material HD.

How many half hour episodes are we talking about here?

If you were to watch them all, one after the other, in chronological order, how long would it take?

There were only 295 episodes according to Wikiwotsits. Most of them were 30 minutes long but some of the specials were much longer and two films "Getting Sam Home" and "Uncle of the Bride" are around 90 minutes.

If you ran them end to end I reckon they would last about a week.

There are a number of websites devoted to the series and they all provide episode lists. I've ticked off the ones we've got and the only one we haven't got is the pilot episode which as far as I know has never been released in VHS or DVD format.

Series 3 through to Series 19 have been released on DVD up to now, but we have series 1 & 2 on BBC marketed & produced VHS.

Series 20 through to the final series 31 will presumably eventually be available.

The Boxsets normally cover a couple of seasons but they are out of kilter with the actual broadcast seasons for some reason.

I guess if you added them all up they would run for about a week if played end to end.

HD

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There were only 295 episodes according to Wikiwotsits. Most of them were 30 minutes long but some of the specials were much longer and two films "Getting Sam Home" and "Uncle of the Bride" are around 90 minutes.

If you ran them end to end I reckon they would last about a week.

There are a number of websites devoted to the series and they all provide episode lists. I've ticked off the ones we've got and the only one we haven't got is the pilot episode which as far as I know has never been released in VHS or DVD format.

Series 3 through to Series 19 have been released on DVD up to now, but we have series 1 & 2 on BBC marketed & produced VHS.

Series 20 through to the final series 31 will presumably eventually be available.

The Boxsets normally cover a couple of seasons but they are out of kilter with the actual broadcast seasons for some reason.

I guess if you added them all up they would run for about a week if played end to end.

HD

So you really are the World's most ardent Last of the Summer Wine fan, - how sad is that! as it says in your interests list to the right of your posts.

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Guest binsted71

Thanks for that vox , I couldn't sleep last night for thinking of someone who used to say

" Right Monkey " . Like GillMar I get Ken Platt and Al Read mixed up.

Their voices were similer, does anyone know where they were both from?

One of them used to say " Ju Ju Just a minute " but which one that was I don't know.

Al Read used to say "Ju Ju Just a minute".

From Wikipedia:

Al Read (3 March, 1909–9 September, 1987) was a popular British radio comedian active throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Read was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire and was a sausage maker in his father's business. He became known as a popular after dinner speaker with wry and well-observed humour in clubs. In 1950 Read made his radio début on the BBC. His comedy was based around the monologue form, but he also became known for dialogues in which he played both voices. His humour was observational and was about northern English working class people, often in a domestic situation.

The Al Read Show was one of the most popular radio comedy shows in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Up to 35 million people listened to it each week. His catchphrases "Right Monkey" and "You'll be lucky, I say you'll be lucky!" were well known. In 1963 he headed a variety format for ITV called Life and Al Read which was apparently unscripted and was broadcast live. In 1966 another ITV series called Al Read Says What a Life! was broadcast. He also worked extensively on the variety stage. It was generally considered that sound radio was his best medium[citation needed].

In 1954 he appeared high on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. In 1959 he appeared with comedian Jimmy Clitheroe in the Royal Northern Variety Performance, in the presence of the Queen Mother, at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.

The introduction to his radio show was usually "Al Read: introducing us to ourselves"; and he himself described his work as "pictures of life". His monologues were perceptive about the human condition; Many of his monologue recordings are still available from the BBC

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So you really are the World's most ardent Last of the Summer Wine fan, - how sad is that! as it says in your interests list to the right of your posts.

Mia Culpa

HD

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Here's a link to an Al Read show that was re-broadcast by BBC7 in 2006.

Listening back to it, I can hear where John Savident got his inspiration for Fred Elliott's mode of speech, "I SAY MODE OF SPEECH"!

http://www.4shared.c...eed_310506.html

John Savident as Fred Elliott the butcher in Coronation Street

There's a character, I say there's a character.

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