WHICKER'S WORLD : 'The Trainers' (1968)

Brilliant stuff, thanks for posting, alun.

Yes,brother sent me it the other day,absolutely marvellous piece of nostalgia.

Why are the workriders wearing flat caps?

When men were men!

The sun was never in the jockeys eyes in those days either.
Never saw a fence dolled off

Great nostalgia and not a grain of sand,
Never knew the Halls trained at Middleham. They must have moved to Towton at some later date. Every time I drive through Towton my wife talks about the battle and I talk about Sam Hall.

Interesting look at a bygone era. No one training hundreds of horses. How many of today's 16 year olds weigh under six stone ?

Hearing him talk about the excessive price paid for Vaguely Noble reminds me of the reaction of most who thought the price was ridiculous but who actually won the Arc that year.

Thanks Alun
Enjoyed watching that, Whickers World always on in our house when I was a kid

Great stuff. I never have a winner if the level crossing gate is closed either.

So there you have it, the only people who make money out of the game are bookmakers and jockeys!

It does seem ? unfair that trainers and jockeys get the same percentage of the prize money, given the trainer has much greater overheads compared to a jockey.

And historically, given some trainers tend to come more upper crust backgrounds, you might have thought it would have been fixed decades / centuries ago that they'd be the ones getting a larger slice of the pie.

Luciano - yes 'Whicker's World' was also compulsory viewing in our house.


For those of you who enjoyed that racing-related episode, you may also like this one if you have access to BBC iPlayer.

Whicker's World at the Kentucky Derby, a programme from 1967.

.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00lgz6f/whickers-world-conflict-in-kentucky

And yes the flat caps of the work riders caught my eye as well !

Can't be spending good brass on crash helmets for mere work rider underlings.

Thanks for posting, alun.

Charlie Hall tained at Towton, near Tadcaster. Handy for Wetherby.

Sam Hall trained at Spigot Lodge (Karl Burke is there now), outside Middleham, though it's just as near to Leyburn, a much bigger town. He moved there in 1968, having previously trained at nearby Brecongill stables, which Sally took over, I think.

The horse Aimi Macdonald had with him was, I think, a filly called Weep No More. It won on its 2nd outing as a 2yo - a maiden at Newcastle, trained by Sam, and ridden by Ernie Johnson.

...that was 1970 though, so if the film was made in '68, she may have had others with him.

...she had Brand New with him. It was 2nd in the Convivial maiden at the Ebor meeting in 1968, and might have won it but for hanging badly. It then did nothing until coming 2nd in the Britannia at Ascot off 7-6 (beaten both times by Harry Wragg horses), then next time won the Harry Peacock Trophy at Newcastle.

Thank you Ged for that information.

I have susequently been able to determine that the day 'Whicker's World' filmed Aimi McDonald and Lionel Blair at York was Friday July 12th 1968.

The Lovely Aimi's horse BRAND NEW was unplaced in the 3-30 Timeform Anniversary Cup, starting at 33/1.

The two winners for Sam Hall were Hamood in the 3-00 Walmgate Handicap, at 11/8 fav ridden by Ernie Johnson and Ashiq in the 5-00 Monkgate Stakes, 10/11 fav ridden by J Larkin.

Towards the end of the programme we hear the result of the 5th race that day via the Public Address system, informing us that Bestrath won the Fishergate H'cap at 8/1 (E Johnson) with Ashford Lea (L Piggott) second at 13/8 fav.

We also hear a bet being struck on Ravenroyd who finished last of 3 in the 5-00.

Great historical info. on here and many ancient memories of mis-spent childhood sparked.
Thanks all.
As a PS I thought the very little sixteen year old lad of Hartigan's looked absolutely scared stiff when asked to speak as he led a horse round the yard.  Not pleasant to witness.

These days there would be an apology for casually racist language, except these days there wouldn't have been any.

The 467 race meetings a year, wow 
Saturated now

How tiny was that stable lad ''Scouse'.  ?  There are kids born bigger then him nowadays

And no Sunday racing, with a two-month break if you followed the jumpers, and a 3.5-month break if you followed the Flat.

Every meeting was an event. Indeed, every race was. And then there was the longing and anticipation for the start of a new season. Oh ...

and you could watch none of it and had to rely on the written word of others. I can see the good sides but I wouldn't go back.

Me neither. Bookmaker betting only, no thank you very much.

That was the whole point. It was something special. You got every single big meeting on the telly (for free). But on top of that was the thrill of going racing, especially on a working day, and knowing you were seeing something the rest of the working population was dreaming of. And ifyou  made the effort, used your bin and saw something the close-up writers missed (or couldn't include for libel reasons), you'd get the full benefit later on. It wouldn't be fed on a plate for every lazy sod to see on the telly.

You had dozens of wealthy, opinionated men competing against each other on the basis of half an hour looking at the Life in the car park before racing. A hell of a lot easier to beat their 130% books than taking on the whole world at 101% on here.

*used your binoculars

Total lack of opportunities compared with now as no place only markets, no laying, no extra places and no in running either.  And all at 130% + markets. Did you go racing regularly when this film was made in the 60s, screaming?

No. Bookmakers didn't take bets from six-year-olds! But I was following the sport from the racing pages (my dad was foreign, with terrible English, so he nagged my mum to teach me to read and write when I was four or five, so I could help him sort out his bets).

Ged was you at Middleham in 1968, I worked for Bill Murray in 1970 he trained across the road from the peacock stables. If you did you will remember little wacka Marshal who was an apprentice at that time.

And when you bought the Sporting Life it said on the front " colours for tv races " but it was words

clayfield - no I've only visited as a tourist. Stayed in the village for a few days.

I like the way the trainers plead poverty like all good businessmen - ''you can't make any money training horses''

They must believe that we think they do it for the pleasure.

Like the bookmaker says to a client, as he takes his cheque for losing bets.

''It's only a bit of fun.''

I saw Alan Whicker at a Guest House in Bognor many year ago, with the actress Thora Hird, i don't know if they were an item.

I think they just shared a lift from time to time.

I saw Alan Whicker at a Guest House in Bognor many year ago, with the actress Thora Hird, i don't know if they were an item.

You are quite close Dambuster. The information I was given by an unimpeachable source (Jack Parnell) is that Alan, Thora, Wilfred Hyde-White and (inevitably) Queenie Watts were in a perpetual menage-a-quatre situation, where all possible combinations were explored.

The apex of all this swapping was reportedly that fatal night when Queenie and Thora were sharing a room in a rather sub-prime B&B in Cromer. Alan was banging on the door furiously, desperate to join in with the writhing lubricious shenanigans. Wilfred of course had more direct ideas. He shinned up a drainpipe start b*ll**k naked and opened their window from the outside and jumped in between the entwined couple. 

It was of course the THIRD window he'd actually opened that night, leaving at least two maiden aunts and the then Archbishop of Canterbury reaching for the smelling salts,

The story was famously repeated by Kenneth Williams years later on the 'Going For A Song' programme to a bemused Arthur Negus, later himself of course famous for being one of QW's many toyboys.

Whicker holidayed exclusively at millionaire's playgrounds. He wouldn't have known what a B&B even was.

Plumpton Result
14 Aug 1987
« 3:45 » ALAN WHICKER APPRECIATION SOCIETY NOVICES' HURDLE
(3yo) 2m Firm 9 hdles
£1,408.10

    HORSE/SP    AGE    WGT    TRAINER/JOCKEY    OR    TS    RPR   

1          Calapaez 7/4F    3    10-9     Miss B Sanders    —    *    *    »
S Sherwood
   


2    dist      Gold Justice 7/2    3    10-9     Peter Makin    —    *    *    »
R Dunwoody
   


3    10      Young Lochinvar 15/2    3    10-9     R J Manning    —    *    *    »
Martin Kinane
   


«    4    3      Midnight Strike (USA) 16/1    3    10-9     J H Baker    —    *    *    »
A Webb
   
_______________________________________

What memories! The sun shining, that wonderful front-running grey Calapaez winning by a furlong and dozens of men in horn-rimmed glasses and tropical leisurewear enjoying the sport.

And somewhere I still have an ante post voucher for Midnight Strike to win the 1991 Champion Hurdle.

Some of our older racing fans may remember there was actually a racehorse named Whicker’s World operating in the 70s.

WW’s 2YO season was in 1970, trained by W Murray. It first tasted success in the Sapper Plate at Ripon on the evening of June 3rd, ridden by D Buckle and picked up its share of wins for several seasons afterwards, almost always on the Northern tracks.

The horse later moved stables and had a fairly thin time of it over hurdles.

I don’t think the Great Man of International Travel on other people’s money had a share in the horse.

alun2005 20 Jan 22 18:49 

I saw Alan Whicker at a Guest House in Bognor many year ago, with the actress Thora Hird, i don't know if they were an item.

You are quite close Dambuster. The information I was given by an unimpeachable source (Jack Parnell) is that Alan, Thora, Wilfred Hyde-White and (inevitably) Queenie Watts were in a perpetual menage-a-quatre situation, where all possible combinations were explored.

The apex of all this swapping was reportedly that fatal night when Queenie and Thora were sharing a room in a rather sub-prime B&B in Cromer. Alan was banging on the door furiously, desperate to join in with the writhing lubricious shenanigans. Wilfred of course had more direct ideas. He shinned up a drainpipe start b*ll**k naked and opened their window from the outside and jumped in between the entwined couple.

It was of course the THIRD window he'd actually opened that night, leaving at least two maiden aunts and the then Archbishop of Canterbury reaching for the smelling salts,

The story was famously repeated by Kenneth Williams years later on the 'Going For A Song' programme to a bemused Arthur Negus, later himself of course famous for being one of QW's many toyboys.
--------------



I had to re-post that - alun2005 ...

- quite brilliant and most amusing.

Left wondering, though ... Where was Robert Morley whilst all this was going on? - other than marooned at the bottom of the drainpipe - no doubt.

Robert Morley was living with Doris Hare at the time, he was well under the thumb

Onlooker - thank you for those generous remarks. Most kind.


As the name Robert Morley has been raised, indulge me please as I re-post a 2013 observation of mine following a disappointing visit to that year's Arc de Triomphe meeting...


It made me pine for the golden days of the mid 70s when Wilfred Hyde White and Robert Morley were the Parisian pacesetters and the men who set the scene. Every man wanted to be them, every woman wanted to be on their arm.

Do you remember that time when Wilfred, absolutely blitzed out of his brains from a wild Saturday night out at the Crazy Horse, and down around 50,000 Francs from the roulette wheel, went cruising the Bois de Boulogne and then straight to the track with around half a dozen long-haired lovelies in miniskirts and boots, at least one of which was later identified as a woman.

They all quickly joined Robert Morley who had of course secured the finest private box in the grandstand, and the pair legendarily proceeded to sniff, snort, swill, and sh*g everything in sight, finally destroying the box just before the gendarmes arrived. Sadly, the 20,000 francs they'd jointly invested on Dahlia in the Arc came to nought.

I still have that photo from the next day's paper of Wilfred, stark b*ll*ck naked, grinning impishly and giving it the big thumbs up for the photographers of "L'Equipe", while a gendarme attempted placed his helmet strategically to maintain Wilfred's modesty.

Where are the men of style like that in today's moribund racing scene?

Those were the day alun

I was at a summer evening meeting at Doncaster mid 70's, Robert Morley had a runner and I was stood near him on the stand,he'd got those miniature type bins I seem to think,horse was called Trample,absolutely hosed up by about 7 lengths,he didn't lower his bins until the filly had passed the post then as he walked down the steps to greet his winner a chap turned to him and said "well done Me Morley" who without breaking stride replied "Thank you,what a triumph for British sportmanship",still cracks me up today.

Weren't they just Dambuster ?!!

I am also pining for the 1970s days of 'World of Sport', when they used to feature the Wrestling before the fooball results came in.

Do you remember the undefeated Tag Team of Wilfred Hyde-White and Robert Morley?  Morley was of course known as 'The Hardest Man On The Cobbles' during his Newham years, famously sorting out Lenny McLean in an East End 'straightener'. I remember one week when some mouthy female spectator was giving them a load of verbal abuse, Wilfred bared his backside at her in full viw of the TV cameras, just before Doris Hare frogmarched the woman into the ring and proceded to pull the woman's fragrant panties down for good measure so that Morley could spank her cross his knee. Thankfully Kent Walton captured the moment in one of his typical dignified commentaries.

You tell today's cossetted kids all that and they won't believe you.

Nope they never would, Didn't they fight the tag team of Mick Mcmannus and Jeremy Brett ?

Dambuster, sadly I never saw that much-discussed bout. Instead I was watching Harry Carpenter and Alan Weekes playing for the World Topless Darts Championship on 'Grandstand' on the other side. Harry won 2-1 despite getting 3 pierced ni**les after some horrendous bounce-outs and had to be attended to by wife Karen afterwards. She sang the National Anthem quite beautifully before it was 'Game On'.


As I recall David Coleman was presenting that day, what with Frank Bough being a bit tied up at Mistress HeilHitler's place.

Cheers Ribero, that was a lovely story about Robert.

Sadly I only ever saw Robert Morley once in the flesh, and by good fortune he was with his trusty racing  pal Wilfred Hyde White in tow.   

It was in Autumn 1966 when Jimi Hendrix first came to London, shortly before he made that meteoric leap to superstardom.

I was in a pub in Genteel Newham one night (“The Goose and Haemorrhage”) which used to have 'live' bands playing. The night I was there Hendrix turned up without his usual band (The Experience) but instead with Wilfred Hyde-White (drums), Jack Parnell (bass) Robert Morley (accordion) Jack Douglas (a big pile of easily smashed plates) and Queenie Watts caterwauling on vocals (in a manner later brazenly copied by Yoko) for an impromptu jam session. 

Fantastic night, everyone on top of their game, and even Pan's People jumped up on stage to cut some shapes.

Wilfred in particular easily outshone Hendrix, and finished the performance by setting fire to his drums, before going home with ALL the dancers. Years later at Monterey, Hendrix would set fire to his guitar onstage in homage to his old mentor. 

Very good Alun!

some fantastic stories here, thanks for sharing!
Robert Morley quote.
There is little to compare with the thrill of standing next to the creature in the winner's enclosure avoiding his hooves and receiving the congratulations of the press, your trainer and friends who backed it. What makes the experience so satisfying is that you, the owner, have had absolutely nothing to do with the horse winning.

Cheer Stewart,can just see him saying that,loved Robert Morley,brilliant in Those magnificent men in their flying machines.

Here we are, Gentlemen

David Ashforth's wonderful Citation to the 'devilish-duo' - published 12 years ago ... Enjoy.


ROBERT MORLEY and WILFRED HYDE-WHITE, instantly recognisable figures in their day, both appeared in huge number of plays and films, partly the result of trying to satisfy the demands of Ladbrokes and the Inland Revenue.
It was a difficult task, with Morley managing to avoid the need to emigrate or appear in the bankruptcy court, and Hyde-White not managing to.

I have fond memories of visiting Morley at Fairmans, the actor's family home at Crazies Hill, near Henley-on-Thames.
It was 1991, Morley was a comfortable 83, sitting in a deckchair at the end of the garden, smoking a cigar and intermittently pondering the scrapbook that rested on his lap.
"No, I don't go to the theatre anymore," he said, when I asked him if he did, "but I go to the occasional memorial service." I can still remember the distinctive cadence of his voice, the perfection of the pause.

Warm-hearted, witty and whimsical, an instantly endearing man, Morley was bred to bet.
His father, Major Robert Morley, was an accomplished loser, and took Robert junior to the casinos in Deauville and Monte Carlo, as well as to their local racecourse at Folkestone, to demonstrate how it was done. Major Morley could either gamble or own racehorses, but not both. So when he took his son to Tattersalls' Sales and presented himself as a prospective buyer the action was confined to inspecting the horses in their boxes. There wasn't any money to actually buy one.

Intent on a career in acting, Morley presented himself at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where Helen Haye, an established actress, found the efforts of his group unbearable to watch.
"Not a winner in this lot," she'd say, turning her attention to The Sporting Life, "perhaps I can spot one at Sandown Park."
It was a habit Morley soon adopted, eventually consolidating his links to the sport by marrying the daughter of Herbert Buckmaster, a director of Ladbrokes.

Hyde-White, five years older, had no racing connections, his father being canon of Gloucester Cathedral.

When Wilfrid expressed an unwelcome interest in acting, canon White dispatched him to uncle Joe Fisher White, himself an actor, to dissuade him.
Fisher White, 54, took Wilfrid in his chauffeur-driven limousine to visit his 24-year-old mistress. "I was very impressed," Hyde-White recalled. "I thought, the sooner I'm an actor, the better. I wanted Rolls-Royces, mistresses and racehorses." Later, he would have all three. Like Morley, Hyde-White set off for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he learned two things - "First, that I couldn't act; second, that it didn't matter."

Both Hyde-White and Morley regularly played themselves, urbane English gentlemen with a flair for light comedy and a champagne lifestyle, to which acting was a generally agreeable, if uncertain, passport.
Early in his career, Morley joined the Cambridge Festival Theatre Company, whose director, Norman Marshall, remarked that he was "as unpromising an actor as I have ever seen". Marshall changed his mind after Morley registered a string of successes in the late 1930s and 1940s. When Edward, My Son, a play Morley co-authored, was a long-running success, he bought his first racehorse and called it The Gloomy Sentry, after a line in the play.

In 1951, Morley appeared in the classic film The African Queen as the Reverend Samuel Sayer, brother of Katharine Hepburn's prim missionary. The Reverend suffered an early death, which left Morley free to take Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart's wife, to the races. Celebrities were different in those days. Bacall was approached by only one racegoer, a policeman.

Morley became friends with John Huston, the film's director. Inevitably, Huston was also taken racing, to Newmarket's July meeting - "except for the flies, it was delightful".
Morley persuaded Huston to buy the winner of a selling race. "I said, 'bid for it, John,' and the horse immediately fell down dead." Huston, as he tended to in hopeless situations, offered the reassuring opinion, "He'll be just fine."

On another memorable day, the same year, at Worcester, Evan Williams, the trainer of The Gloomy Sentry, told Morley, "We're going in." The Gloomy Sentry won by a shorthead.

"Going in was a wonderful experience," Morley recalled. "It involved standing in the winner's enclosure after having done absolutely nothing." Two years later, Williams retired. "His wife couldn't bear to meet the owners," Morley explained.

Hyde-White, meanwhile, spent his early acting days working for Tom Walls' theatre company at the Aldwych. It was a good match because Walls divided his time between working as an actor-manager and as a racehorse trainer.

In 1932, he won the Derby with his own April The Fifth. Six years later, Hyde-White appeared in the film I've Got A Horse and, somewhere along the way, attracted the attention of Dorothy Paget, the eccentric owner of Golden Miller.

Paget would book a box at the theatre, arrive when the play was over and the cast were taking their bow, then escort Hyde-White to the Cafe de Paris to discuss racing.
Morley was once invited to join them. He watched, in amazement, as the pair became so immersed in discussing breeding that Paget uncharacteristically postponed her attack on the lobster thermidor, then asked Noel Coward to delay his cabaret performance to enable them to finish their conversation. When Coward pointed out that he wasn't actually due to perform that evening, Paget offered to pay him anyway.
Morley asked Hyde-White if he didn't think Paget's behaviour a bit strange, to which Hyde-White replied, "Wouldn't you be strange, if you owned Golden Miller?" Racing was a subject so close to Hyde-White's heart that, according to Morley, "his enthusiasm for performing in Shakespeare never recovered from the shock of being asked to rehearse while the Derby was being run."

In 1954, now regular racing companions, Morley and Hyde-White appeared together in a play called Hippo Dancing and a film called The Rainbow Jacket, filmed largely on racecourses, with both men playing owner-stewards. It provided ample opportunity for experiencing the real thing and, when Hippo Dancing proved to be a success, it was agreed that Wednesdays' matinee performances at the Lyric Theatre would be moved to Thursdays, an adjustment that enabled Morley and Hyde-White to watch Never Say Die win the Derby.

Combining afternoon racing with evening acting was difficult, but Morley and Hyde-White were determined. "It was wonderful fun watching the 4.30 and then trying to get back to the West End in time for the evening performance, especially if the 4.30 was at Wolverhampton," Morley recalled. "They used to hold the curtain for us, which was an added thrill."

The following years were full of work and play, with Hyde-White's career peaking in 1964, when he played Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady. In constant demand, the money rolled in and, during the 1960s and early 1970s Hyde-White had horses in training with Ian Walker, enjoying success with Soft Collar, Lend An Ear and Three Sevens.

While Morley described himself as "a nervous punter", Hyde-White was a reckless one. When they went racing together, which was often, Morley would occasionally venture £100, a sizeable sum at the time. Hyde-White's approach had more zeros. "He put £1,000 on every time one of his horses ran," Morley recalled, "but it became difficult for the bookmakers to compete with the Inland Revenue."

By the time Hyde-White appeared in The Jockey Club Stakes, which enjoyed a successful run on Broadway in 1973, he had moved to the USA. When Morley asked his friend why he was moving, Hyde-White replied, "I really cannot stand another winter in England with the income tax and Violetta [his girlfriend]." Then Hyde-White paused and apologised. "Sorry, that was a very caddish thing to say about the income tax." In 1979, Hyde-White returned to face the wrath of the Inland Revenue, which entailed several bankruptcy hearings.

At one, the official receiver asked why Hyde-White was staying at the Savoy Hotel. "Two reasons, dear chap," Hyde-White replied. "One, it is the finest hotel in London and, two, it is the nearest to Carey Street." "But how are you going to pay for it?" asked the incredulous receiver. "Well," said Hyde-White, "you're the financial expert. You tell me."

At another hearing, held during Royal Ascot, the official receiver attempted to establish how Hyde-White had managed to get through so much money.
Having failed in his attempt, the receiver asked, "If you cannot tell us how you spent such a large sum in so short a time, perhaps you could tell us what will win the Gold Cup at Ascot this afternoon, since I understand you would already like to be on your way?"
"Of course, dear fellow," said Hyde-White, welcoming the change of subject, and recommending Le Moss. "But only have a small bet. We don't want to have to change places, do we?" LE MOSS won and, in 1980, Hyde-White cleared his tax debts but by then, well into his seventies, prosperity was beyond recall.
He returned to California, where Morley periodically visited him, combining the visits with trips to Las Vegas, a favourite venue. In 1985, Hyde-White moved into the Motion Picture and Television Hospital but his debonair wit and love of racing survived. When a visitor asked if he ever watched any of his old films, Hyde-White exclaimed, "Good God, no. I'm not as ill as that," but when Royal Ascot came around, he put on a top hat, tails and a carnation.

Morley was better off, partly because, for ten years from the early 1970s, British Airways paid him handsomely for a series of commercials screened in America.
He remembered, fondly, being told during filming, "I'm sorry, Mr Morley, we can't get you into the Ritz for lunch today. Will the Dorchester be all right?" During the 1980s, Morley also presented a successful television programme in the US, called Celebrity Chefs. "The celebrities cooked something, and I added the salt."

Never out of work, Morley entertained himself, and others, with several more racehorses, latterly trained by Freddie Maxwell and Ray Laing; Anything and Just Ennis, Greek Skittle and Trample, Bobby Dazzler and, finally, Class Struggle. "Nearly all my horses won, once," Morley remarked. "They weren't monotonous winners. To be an owner, you have to have hope. After that it needs faith and a certain amount of charity. It's very good for your character."

When Laing offered little encouragement for Bobby Dazzler's prospects at Epsom in 1984, Morley backed him anyway, at 12-1, and thoroughly enjoyed the success, along with his final one, when Class Struggle won a seller at Windsor, at 14-1, in 1988.

Hyde-White died in 1991, aged 87, and Morley the following year, on Derby day, aged 84.
He left instructions that his credit cards be buried with him. Margaret Morley, his daughter-in-law, arranged for a bench at Windsor racecourse, "his spiritual home," to bear Morley's name.

After our meeting, Morley wrote me a charming letter, which I cherished. When my car was broken into, and my briefcase stolen, the letter went with it. I didn't mind about the other things that were taken, but I minded about the letter.

Great stuff, onlooker.  I had completely forgotten about Ray Laing the trainer.

Great find Onlooker.

Wilfred :  "I wanted Rolls-Royces, mistresses and racehorses."



An exemplary man we would ALL do well to emulate.



A real shame though that Ashworth didn't cover the fierce competition between the two men for the kinky favours, the lubricious tastes and unquenchable appetites of the wonderful Dame Margaret Rutherford.

Thanks onlooker,remember it,absolutely brilliant,my favourite is "first,that I couldn't act,second,that it didn't matter",what a difference from the pretentious luvvies of today,also a reminder of what a cracking journalist David Ashforth is.

Fantastic onlooker - many thanks.

Best thread pisted on here for years, wonderful read thank you all.

Posted!

It was my pleasure Stewarty

glorious. I wonder if the bench is still there. Must have a look next time.

stewarts rise - you read/sounded like the moustachioed gendarme in Allo!  Allo! 

Just had Holiday on the buses on Itv3, quite what the attraction of Doris Hare and Queenie Watts was has rather escaped me!

Doris and Queenie were Well regarded by WHW and RM .

The "On The Buses" spin-off movies were truly HIGH ART and just HAVE to be seen.

The first one simply called "ON THE BUSES" was a giggle-packed romp that perfectly captured the zeitgeist of what was becoming 'The Permissive Age'. No cow was too sacred for the team to slaughter, and women bus drivers do not exactly get the respect they deserve.

The second film "MUTINY ON THE BUSES" is the true meisterwerk of the three. A work that is fit to stand with Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers.

Sex-crazed clippies very much to the fore, and the Manager of the Bus Company enjoys entertaining them in his office after hours and thinks nothing os spending the firm's petty cash on replacement tights that he damaged in the first place. The film also features the Greatest Darts Match Ever Played.

By the time of the third film "HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES" there are no rules. If the bus company had decided to go to Outer Space on holiday, no-one would have blinked an eye.  Absolutely fantastic carnage from start to finish, and jam-packed with familiar faces in supporting roles as mentioned above.


Here's a clip from 'Mutiny" though that never fails to make me laugh. Blakey and the tights-removing Manager of the bus company have installed a radio-controlled communications system in an attempt to keep tabs on the drivers. What they don't know is that Conductor Jack has somehow interfered with the signals, which is something of a minor miracle for a man whose knowledge doesn't seem to go much beyond 'crumpet'.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECzCL97E28w

'Mutiny on the Buses".

The Darts Match - with Doris Hare very much to the fore.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMO0cHEEI5w

Did you ever hear Bob Grant speak.?  He sounded like Quentin Crisp and dressed like him as well

Yes, bizarre vocal sound wasn't it? 

I cannot leave the subject of 'On The Buses' without drawing attention these fantastic and affectionate tributes to the series by Harry Enfield.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q1uHcGTK8k


.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H02J61Ma5A

I want a Bronco Fugsmade (only £2.99).

As endorsed by Arsenal's "Georgie Charles" so can't be bad.

Thank you alun wonderful show. Bookies betting to a 140% book on each race. Only les landes in jersey does that now.

Keep yourself in good company and your horses in bad company

Funny how whicker was so sexist to that blond female trainer

Here's Wilfred in 'Carry On Nurse'.

He was by far the best man qualified for this role, since all it basically involved him just repeating his daily real life rituals with hs three 'nurses' Doris, Queenie and Dame Margaret.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfKE7I-UtlA