Denis Norden - Interview - Good Afternoon - 1975

[@ClipontheEar]

‘Make him laugh and [a reader] will think you a trivial fellow, but bore him in the right way and your reputation is assured.’ Somerset Maugham. And that is why Muir and Norden, as many, many episodes of ‘My Word’ and ‘My Music’ demonstrate, are two of many over-looked writers of genius. Because they chose to amuse instead of instruct or deplore or correct the world. Humour can be a great corrective, but these two creative artists were gentle, erudite, contemplative men, not angry, self-alienated enemies of society. And so they shall be forgotten.

[@bonnie3447]

I enjoyed reading that 👍

[@omblackwell1183]

“And so they shall be forgotten.” Not so. I remember Norden’s own line about Tony Hancock. “He brings back the echoes of remembered laughter.” Surely a richer legacy than that left by politicians, actors, film directors, economists, soldiers and writers of turgid prose?

[@Stoic-Col]

Ah, nostalgia, it's not what it used to be! That interview passed by so, so quickly. I enjoyed that immensely. Thank you very much.

[@MrDavey2010]

Heartwarming & gentle. Thank you all.

[@jeffhawkins1293]

Dennis Nordon.....witty, intelligent and interesting

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

He used to appear after a pall of smoke in the opening sequence of Looks Familiar...where we learned a great deal about stars and their life in show business...Very good Ilkie.

[@Loverboy19691]

RIP Denis.

[@movesky6696]

it'll be alright on the night sad miss denis norden

[@jamesbomd3503]

It's so funny because I met him in a paper shop at 8:00 o'clock in the morning Just off Soho Square it was In the early 2000s And he was tall but he was so old and his ankles were thick wow he looks so young here

[@ysgol3]

Brilliant, thank you !

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

He did a programme for a long time in which he met people who worked with Al Jolson and although they didnt like him as a person as a performer he was second to none. And whatever you see of him in films or hear on records neither of these does justice to him. It was not Casino de Paris but rather Go Into Your Dance.

[@jnuttso1]

who are these ladies who come round and wipe the phones when they smell funny lol denis had along good career in tv and radio rip denis

[@ClipontheEar]

Telephone sanitisers. Yes, they existed. See ‘Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.

[@PaddyWV]

Along with Eric Sykes, he visited one of the Nazi death camps as they were being liberated, but not before the people had all gone. To witness that and still have any sense of humour is something in itself, it's almost understandable that you might find a bolt hole for comedy in your life. It's almost as much about Mavis as it is about Denis? 🤔

[@jamesbomd3503]

He looks familiar. I wonder if he was in any old war movies

[@paulashe7460]

As a youngster I never understood the subtly of his writing

[@paulashe7460]

RIP a true great

[@alex-xz2dm]

@Lord Dookster and itv so much that last year all the best was shown in tribute a big loss for itv

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

Yes it was based on supreme erudition and downright naughtiness...

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

I'm.the.only Yiddishe Momma in the Irish Fusiliers...

[@garyfrancis6193]

1975?

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

He used to extract braying ass like laughter from his audience but took a while to warm up his jokes..

[@adrinathegreat3095]

Look at that old sideboard with the vase on, years ago everyone had something like this in their house but most people took it to the tip or set fire to it in the back garden and replaced it with something modern. I find those who yearn for the past often live in homes where all signs of the past are completely removed, they are the reason we have lost the past, the youngster of today can't be blamed for not driving around in 1950s cars or having valve radios and outside bathrooms, the generations before them destroyed it all

[@michaelw2816]

Norden epitomises the backward-looking nostalgia mentality of the UK. If you grew up in the 70s it was all about how everything was better in the olden days. If it wasn't the 40s it was the 50s. Elvis Presley had THREE top ten singles in the 1977, then year of punk rock.

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

Who can forget the cultural nadir established by him on the episode of My Music where he sang Are You Lonesome Tonight transposed into a lewd parody? His true colours showed and we forgot he had written Balham Gateway to the South...

[@omblackwell1183]

“His true colours”. The lyrics to the ‘lewd parody’ were not written by Norden but by an anonymous woman in the ATS. Before you get puritanical, get your facts right.

[@rhodiusscrolls3080]

@@omblackwell1183 Are you Jewish yourself then your people practically invented pornography and I enjoyed Denis music hall vulgarity at the best of times Far from being a Puritan I think it was a great way to yah boo sucks at Steve Race who had absolutely no sense of humour and was constantly drawing his own veil over anything vaguely blue or double entendre. Why he went along with the Scottish pretence of Ian Wallace He was a proficient singer but dry as a bone when made a raconteur Should you be interested to hear when my brother tried to sing the Lonesome lyric in a local Conservative club his contract was threatened with cancellation Most people go for the mess Elvis once made of it but maybe neither should savage the words in the way they have. There are rude versions of Smoke Gets InYour Eyes and Denis never dared Hitler Has Only Got One Ball but Danny La Rue did and so on if you want to kick Getmans when they're down Noel Coward cried Let's not be beastly to them but have you noticed his words about Assistance from the Jews?. with Dont you think her bust is too developed for age and then uncensored in some lifts Christ Mrs Worthington Dont Put Your Daughter on the Stage His was the fabulous phrase The potency of cheap music. Good on you and thanks. Heres To The Next Time ,