Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
British comedian who began with Christmas party impersonations, progressed through semi-pro club acts, and eventually performed in professional theatre and army
On the island
Eight records
Let's Face the Music and DanceFavourite
Irving Berlin (composer) / Nat King Cole (performer)
No reason/quote given in transcript.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:00What part of England do you come from?
Benny, what part of England do you come from? Southampton.
Presenter asks
0:10What gave you your first interest in the theatre?
It was probably um Christmas Days. Stood up in the corner with funny hats on making mum, dad and aunties and uncles laugh with little impersonations of film stars and Ned Sparks and Gord Mark and all that lots of.
Presenter asks
0:50You left school and decided to do that professionally?
Uh yeah, well no, no, not immediately because it was always at the back of my mind. But I had various jobs. I worked for a coal company and I worked on a milk round and during this time um I used to do still do the semi-pro work but was getting better paid for it … Eventually I found I was getting more money from my semi-pro entertainment work than I was from the actual job during the day. So I packed it all up, sold my drum kit … Came to London and got a job as a property boy … I made my first professional appearance actually at uh East Ham Palace on the Wednesday first house.
Presenter asks
6:13Now you're top of the tree in a whole lot of media — a West End show, the Benny Hill Show on television, radio and films. Are you happy with things as they are, or have you any particular ambition?
Well, I'm quite happy with things as they are at present because, you know, I'm not over ambitious, you know, but I I do think the sensible thing to do is to specialize … I think that this coming year I will lean more and more towards television not just as a performer but also as a presenter of shows as a a writer an encourager shall we say of new comics and new scriptwriters and so on.
Presenter asks
7:05No ambition to play Hamlet?
Oh no, no, no, none at all.
Presenter asks
7:14What happened when you saw that girl at the fairground?
I asked my cousin Chris, you know, all about her and he explained, you know, where she lives and everything … the next Christmas holiday that came up, the very first day of the holiday … I walked all the way into Eastleigh, stood at the end of Market Street, watched this girl go into the shop with her father's lunch, come out with the empties, you know, and go away. And that was my … day made. And I did that day after day, right through the holidays. Six miles there, six miles back. Rain, shine, hail, storm, snow, a lot.
“It was probably um Christmas Days. Stood up in the corner with funny hats on making mum, dad and aunties and uncles laugh with little impersonations of film stars and Ned Sparks and Gord Mark and all that lots of.”
“There has been no big opportunity. It's been, you know, very slowly going up. And I hope it'll be just as slow coming down.”
“I spent all day writing television material. I had a feeling then that television was going to be the thing that that would do more for me than anything else.”
“He pulled one out. He said, that's alright. Read it. Work it for me. And I worked it for him. And he said, well, you've made me laugh in the office here, you know, and I like the way you work it. Would you like your own show? And I said, yes … and he gave me my own show three weeks from that day.”
“I think that this coming year I will lean more and more towards television not just as a performer but also as a presenter of shows as a a writer an encourager shall we say of new comics and new scriptwriters and so on. See if a new comic comes on television instead of me worrying about him doing me out of a job I can say good I'm glad he's getting on because I'm helping him to get there.”
“My first ever romance, the biggest I think I've ever had. I was twelve and she was fourteen, and I saw this lovely girl in a green coat and dark brown hair on a merry go round at an Eastleigh Fairground … and I fell like mad for this girl.”