@staffordquips
Author of Bigamy Killed the Radio Star - BBC comedy pioneer John Henry. Also from Fantom: 'Wilson, Keppel & Betty - Too Naked for the Nazis' & 'It's Friday, It's CRACKERJACK!' https://www.fantompublishing.co.uk/product/bigamy-killed-the-radio-sta
A year ago today, the last #DramaOn3 was broadcast on #BBCRadio3 #RIP
However, while the campaign to stop the axe did not succeed (and the promised monthly, extended dramas on #BBCRadio4 never really materialised) Drama on 3 still exists on #BBCSounds
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b... (1/3)
Here's a mystery for #WorldBookDay. In 1933 it was claimed that Wilson and Keppel's Betty was a novelist and short story writer using the name B. Knox. I've yet to find any of her fiction. Have you?
Much more on the sand dancing trio in Too Naked For The Nazis. www.amazon.co.uk/Wilson-Keppe...
Happy #WorldBookDay
It's been almost a year since #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 came out. And to celebrate, here are a few reviews of my award-winning book – including a brand new one at the end (1/6)
I do hope the 7 o'clock listing is a misprint.
This is a fabulous listen 📻
Mollie was a pioneer of comedy writing - and she's still going strong. No longer a 'holy ghost writer' - but still writing sharp quips for friends and family at the age of 90!
Her story should be much more widely known #Herstory #BeyondOurKen #BBCRadio4Extra
Hurrah! This plopped through the letterbox this morning.
Not only is it always a thrill to see my work in print (Chapter 10), but I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the book.
Many thanks to Duncan Lees and Liz Oakley-Brown for all their help and support.
#Shakespeare #RadioDrama
My 2008 documentary Thoroughly Modest Mollie (the Salvation Army ghostwriter) debuted on Radio 4 Extra this week. I really enjoyed writing the Beyond Our Ken spoof at the start, for Horne soundalike Jonathan Rigby, Bernard Cribbins and original BOK member Bill Pertwee.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Cover of Too Naked For The Nazis
I mean, here's the book about them. How can you not want to read on with a title like this?? <Hurries off to amend library list>
"A stage comedian can use the same piece of patter for ten years. On the wireless it is ‘killed’ after one night. If you don’t hear a new joke every day, it means that you haven’t a wireless set." (John Henry 1934)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
"If a man can’t keep away from the theatre once he’s had a taste of it, how much less can he keep away from the theatre where the biggest audience of all awaits him – the broadcasting studio?" (John Henry 1926)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
Finally, if you want to celebrate #WorldRadioDay with an audio play, search Drama on 3 on BBC Sounds and you’ll find a wealth of great productions ranging from Shakespeare to Churchill – and a wide range of original and adapted drama in between.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
Enjoy! (3/3)
And as it is #WorldRadioDay I can’t miss the opportunity to mention my book #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 – perfect for anyone interested in #RadioDrama
As well as paperback, it's now on Kindle too: www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeare-...
It's also been awarded Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2025 📘📻 (2/3)
Happy #WorldRadioDay 📻
Earlier today I was one of the speakers at a fab event for audio/radio researchers celebrating this. Such a wide range of really interesting people.
My paper looked at how new audio drama producers are unaware of its history and are devising techniques that already exist (1/3)
"I thought of the thousands of listeners and, after a convulsive gulp, heard a voice that I didn’t recognise as mine repeating lines that seemed vaguely familiar but not at all funny." (John Henry's first broadcast 1923)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
“Ohh, he’s looping the loop! Tell the driver to stop. I want to get out here.”
(John Henry and Blossom broadcasting live from a biplane flying over London in 1924)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
Elderly man adjusts a vintage radio on a wooden table while an elderly woman watches attentively, both dressed in early 20th-century attire.
Anything good on the wireless? 📻
For World Radio Day, a 1950s reproduction magic lantern slide by Harry Penhaul. By 1939, 3/4 of UK homes had a radio — the heart of family life, sharing news, music, and laughter before streaming existed! 🎶
#WorldRadioDay #VintageRadio #Nostalgia #RadioHistory
The radio is in a glass display case but it is attached to headphones which hang on a hook on the outside of the case so that people can listen to the radio. The base of the radio is wooden.
This is the spare crystal displayed inside the tin it was bought in. It is on the right and is a silver nugget of metal on a bed of cotton wool. On the left is the lid of the tin. It says “wireless dept. Permanite. Regd trade mark no 438341. Crystal. A.W. Gamage, Ltd. Holborn. London. E.C.1.”
This is our working crystal radio and spare permanite crystal. You can listen to the radio in our Sargent Gallery. #WorldRadioDay
Two women listening to the radio
#WorldRadioDay: Women tuning in for news of #CharlesKingsfordSmith’s round-the-world flight https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000599776. He landed at Portmarnock before completing his historic journey in California: https://www.nli.ie/news-stories/stories/exploring-aviation-ireland-nli-collections
Joe Murgatroyd picked up my wireless set and shook it. ‘It's finely made, but there's too much wire,’ he said. ‘The aerial is the first thing to fix,’ he said. ‘Where do you keep your roof?’ (John Henry 1924)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
"I’ve got a fine wireless set that I made myself. A lot of people like me prefer to make their own wireless sets, rather than buy one that will work." (John Henry 1925)
#WorldRadioDay #BigamyKilledTheRadioStar
www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...
As ever, had a fab time at #WolseyWriters earlier, this time talking #RomeoAndJuliet
Thanks to all who came 🎭
If you want more on the play, I can recommend:
#InOurTime www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Radio R&J www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
#ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧
#Shakespeare #RadioDrama #AudioDrama
My biography "Bigamy Killed the Radio Star" as modelled by Ahir Shah on last night's Mock the Week.
#MockTheWeek
All three of my Fantom Books (Bigamy Killed the Radio Star, It's Friday It's Crackerjack, and Wilson Keppel & Betty: Too Naked for the Nazis) are in the Fantom sale, running until the end of January.
www.fantompublishing.co.uk/product-cate...
Lovely chat with Sarah Lilley on BBC Radio Suffolk this morning about #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 and winning a Choice Outstanding Academic Title award.
You can hear the interview in full on #BBCSounds starting at about 1hr 40: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Or you can listen to this snippet...
A very happy new year, courtesy of a fantastic Christmas present - this Radio Times tinplate calendar. Any idea when these were made? (It can't be later than 1960, because Radio Times changed its logo in 1961.)
New year, new series of posts on #AudioDrama
For 2026 I'm going to avoid #Shakespeare and suggest new plays and adaptations, including some by his contemporaries.
January: Love and Information by Caryl Churchill.
Available for free on #BBCSounds
#RadioDrama #DramaOn3
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
At 5:40 on this BBC Radio 4 Extra repeat episode of The Right Time - a sketch I have no memory of writing! I had to look up the script to check it was actually mine.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Possibly my favourite #CharlesParis series is on #BBCRadio4Extra at the moment - The Cinderella Killer.
If you like a reference to #Shakespeare and his contemporaries you'll enjoy this snippet where Charles' agent tells him he's been offered a part in a verse drama 📻🎭
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...
This year several writing projects have come to fruition – the most significant of which has been my book, #ShakespeareOnTheRadio💀🎧 Thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social for the support – and to anyone who’s bought it. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shakesp...
#Shakespeare #AudioDrama #RadioDrama
A truly fascinating article that is, especially the ‘Crackerjack’ part.
Good one, Alan!
