51 years ago:
Carry On Matron (UK)
A gang of thieves plan to make their fortune by stealing a shipment of contraceptive pills from Finisham maternity hospital. They assume disguises and infiltrate the hospital, but everything doesn't go according to plan. The hypochondriac consultant Sir Bernard Cutting, Matron and the doctors and nu...
1972-05-05
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/24571
#CarryOnMatron #GeraldThomas #SidJames #KennethWilliams #JoanSims #Movies

61 years ago:
Twice Round the Daffodils (UK)
Twice Round the Daffodils is a 1962 British comedy drama film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Juliet Mills, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston, Kenneth Williams, Ronald Lewis, Andrew Ray, Joan Sims and Jill Ireland. A new group of patients arrive at a hospital to be treated for tuberculosis where...
1962-04-02
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/105656
#TwiceRoundtheDaffodils #GeraldThomas #JulietMills #DonaldSinden #KennethWilliams #Movies

[1976] The Kenneth Williams Show - Courtroom sketch from the sole surviving episode of The Kenneth Williams Show.

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

#OldBritishTelly #KennethWilliams

[1961] Tonight - A young Kenneth talks to Derek Hart. He recalls a rather unusual version of Moby Dick directed by Orson Welles that led to trouble in the front row of the theatre...

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

#OldBritishTelly #KennethWilliams

[1974] Good Afternoon Special - Mavis Nicholson introduces a special edition of the 1970s daytime chat show Good Afternoon. This edition contains interviews between Nicholson and comedy greats Morecambe and Wise, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and Kenneth Williams.

https://youtu.be/VNZay0BSybE

#OldBritishTelly #MavisNicholson #EricMorecambe #ErnieWise #PeterCook #DudleyMoore #kennethWilliams

And my final point: Comedy requires brilliant writing. It does not matter how talented the performers may be if the scripts are mediocre.

Perhaps the pairing of Ted Ray and Kenneth Williams really was unworkable from the start, but whatever the reasons for the show's failure, it is certainly the case that 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' is not an example of classic British radio comedy.

#BettyWitherspoon #TedRay #KennethWilliams #BBCRadio4Extra #comedy

Some of the dialogues tried to use the 20-year age difference between Ray and Williams to generate humour.

Williams, however, was already approaching his late 40s when 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' was created, so Williams was himself 20 years older than the new generation of British comic performers coming to the fore in the 1970s.

The dialogues present two mismatched performers who seem woefully out-of-touch with the times and each other.

#BettyWitherspoon #TedRay #KennethWilliams

Not all 'classic' radio comedies are classics. Case in point: 'The Betty Witherspoon Show' starring Ted Ray and Kenneth Williams, currently being rebroadcast on #BBCRadio4Extra.

I have tried three times to listen to episodes and have never made it through the opening dialogue between Ray and Williams. The dialogues are painfully unfunny, with Ray in his typical persona and Williams, well I'm not sure what he was trying to do.

('Toot' continues.)

#BettyWitherspoon #TedRay #KennethWilliams

[1981] Tomorrow's World - Tomorrow's World guest presenter Kenneth Williams explains how his nifty new thermocouple-powered watch works. "Marvellous, innit?".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn67tMxBi5Y

#OldBritishTelly #TomorrowsWorld #KennethWilliams

[1981] Willo the Wisp - Cartoon narrated by Kenneth Williams. It became popular with children and adults as it bridged the gap between the end of weekday children's programming and the early evening news.

"The Thoughts of Moog", Moog discovers the power of thought, enjoying himself until he reveals to Evil Edna what he's thinking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVY78S014d0

#OldBritishTelly #WilloTheWisp #KennethWilliams

[1985] North Sea Ferries - Kenneth Williams provides the voice-over in this advert. "No you mustn’t laugh but some people driving to the continent still head south with the crowds & forget about the clear roads to Hull & North Sea Ferries!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY4QvY2D9To

#OldBritishTelly #KennethWilliams #NorthSeaFerries

Listening to Kenneth Williams doing his Rambling Syd Rumpo routine way back when, it’s hilarious, the audience are so drunk they’re laughing at the wrong bits, random words before he gets to the double entendre. And god knows, few people have ever out-double-entendred Kenneth Williams. #humour #kennethwilliams #lgbtq https://open.spotify.com/track/6fuxXYxJu4rX0oOBFHJqPu?si=n2rvh_wpR82dV98N7O1qkw

[1986] TV-am - Nanette Newman cooks aubergine for Kenneth Williams.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzpXdu44E44

#OldBritishTelly #NanetteNewman #KennethWilliams

Make Mine Mink is a charming feelgood 1960 British comedy starring the great Terry-Thomas. This time he’s the leader of a gang of very unlikely crooks. They bumble their way into all sorts of trouble.

This movie is absolutely delightful. Sheer joy from start to finish.

My review: http://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2017/10/make-mine-mink-1960.html

#TerryThomas #HattieJacques #FilmMastodon #ClassicMovies #BritishCinema #Comedies #ComedyMovies #KennethWilliams

[1975] Going Places - Actor Kenneth Williams gives a personal view of Bloomsbury, from the rows of elegant Georgian houses surrounding Bedford Square, to Cromer House where he lived as a child in cramped conditions.

https://youtu.be/YAqf9Xv6uZs

#OldBritishTelly #KennethWilliams

[1981] Willo the Wisp - “Cats and Dogs”, Evil Edna has decided to make it rain clones of Carwash and the Moog. The clones of Carwash and the Moog seem to run amuck, so Mavis Cruet gets rid of them, much to Evil Edna’s annoyance. So she makes everything dark in revenge. Voiced by Kenneth Williams.

https://youtu.be/pgYMZqCmG-E

#OldBritishTelly #KennethWilliams #EvilEdna