Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Humorous writer and assistant editor of Punch magazine, best known for his weekly contributions and handling of the paper's middle pages.
On the island
Eight records
It's entirely my own fault. You know, my my loving parents thought they'd have to do something for me if I had no idea, and this meant a nice, easy life, finished at three, pension to sixty.
I didn't, not at all. I couldn't be serious about it, for one thing. I can't get serious about the idea of people making a living by moving someone else's money from one place to another.
But I did have a lot of fun. I suppose partly because I didn't take it seriously. I had more fun in a way than I do now.
And I Never Had Any Real Drive to Do It
And I never had any real drive to do it. What I wanted to be more than anything was an actor.
But Oddly Enough, It Was the Bank That Started Me on Writing
But oddly enough, it was the bank that started me on writing because uh the Branch managers, I think, got a bit fed up with having me around, and I finally graduated to a job on the Banks House magazine.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:27What was it your first ambition to be?
I had absolutely no ambition.
Presenter asks
0:30What did you become when you left school?
I went into the bank.
Presenter asks
0:35Did you take to it [the bank]?
I didn't, not at all. I couldn't be serious about it, for one thing. I can't get serious about the idea of people making a living by moving someone else's money from one place to another. You know.
Presenter asks
1:07How early did you have ambitions to write?
We're pretty late. And I never had any real drive to do it. What I wanted to be more than anything was an actor.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
Presenter asks
What put an end to your banking career?
Well, Punch asked me to quit the bank, which I wasn't sorry to do, and join the staff, which of course I was delighted to do.
Presenter asks
4:47What do you think is the secret of Punch that it's lasted four times that [thirty years] already?
I should think that it is because it keeps hitching up his ideas into modern times, you see, and modern idioms. And I think Bernard Hollywood writes it now. has given us a particularly big hitch since he came, because he realized that in this sort of world with bombs and famines and international tensions and Mr. Kay warns Mr. K, you know. Even a funny paper can't ignore this. These things have got to be dealt with. sometimes in a completely serious way. And a lot of Punch's humour is serious. In fact, somebody once said that it isn't primarily humorous paper. It uses humour to say what he wants to say.
“I had absolutely no ambition.”
“I couldn't be serious about it, for one thing. I can't get serious about the idea of people making a living by moving someone else's money from one place to another.”
“What I wanted to be more than anything was an actor.”
“I think really I'm a miniaturist. I think when you've written a thousand words so often that the brain stops ticking at the thousandth, you know.”
“Frankly, I'm rather surprised to have got where I am, wherever that is, and I think if I can just keep things ticking over as they are, that's probably my ambition.”