Peter Brough
Encyclopedia
Peter Brough was an English
radio ventriloquist who became a well-known name to audiences in the 1950s. He is associated with the puppet Archie Andrews
.
, London
, Peter began his radio career in 1944 in ventriloquism (audiences didn't mind the fact that you couldn't see him) but in 1950 he debuted Archie, a mischievous child who domineered his mentor. Archie's chief characteristics were his Savile Row
tailored blazers and manic eyes.
Archie followed in the tradition of the American
ventriloquist Edgar Bergen
and his dummy Charlie McCarthy.
His radio series based around the character - Educating Archie
- featured the likes of Dick Emery
, Freddie Sales, Benny Hill
, Tony Hancock
, Hattie Jacques
, Bruce Forsyth
, Harry Secombe
, Beryl Reid
and even a young Julie Andrews
as the girlfriend of Archie; Eric Sykes
was one of the series main writers in the early 1950s. The show often averaged 15 million listeners, and a fan club boasted 250,000 members.
in 1956 in the BBC
sitcom Here's Archie which co-starred Irene Handl
and Ronald Chesney. The show was written by the latter and Ronald Wolfe, who would later team up on classic British sitcoms The Rag Trade
and On the Buses
.
Two years later, Peter was on ITV
in Educating Archie, utilising the same team as before, although Marty Feldman
took some of the writing credit as well. The TV appearances exposed his limitations as a ventriloquist, as his lips were frequently seen to move. In later years a critic remarked aptly, "Ventriloquism on the radio - I could have done that."
By 1961, Peter decided to retire Archie following the death of his father, also a ventriloquist, and he then took over the family's textile and menswear business. His TV appearances were sporadic from then on. He died in 1999.
In November 2005, the original Archie Andrews doll was sold at auction in Taunton
for £34,000.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
radio ventriloquist who became a well-known name to audiences in the 1950s. He is associated with the puppet Archie Andrews
Archie Andrews (puppet)
Archie Andrews was a ventriloquist's dummy used by ventriloquist Peter Brough in a radio and television show in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. In its radio format it was called Educating Archie. The bizarre concept of delivering a ventriloquist act, a visual humour, by radio, an audio medium,...
.
Radio days
Born in Shepherd's BushShepherd's Bush
-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Peter began his radio career in 1944 in ventriloquism (audiences didn't mind the fact that you couldn't see him) but in 1950 he debuted Archie, a mischievous child who domineered his mentor. Archie's chief characteristics were his Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
tailored blazers and manic eyes.
Archie followed in the tradition of the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ventriloquist Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
and his dummy Charlie McCarthy.
His radio series based around the character - Educating Archie
Educating Archie
Educating Archie was a BBC Light Programme comedy show broadcast from June 1950 to February 1958 on Sunday lunchtimes featuring ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andrews. The programme was successful despite a ventriloquist on radio seeming strange, though in the United States, Edgar...
- featured the likes of Dick Emery
Dick Emery
Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...
, Freddie Sales, Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...
, Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
, Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
, Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
, Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
, Beryl Reid
Beryl Reid
Beryl Elizabeth Reid, OBE was a British actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Born in Hereford, England in 1919, Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools.-Career:Reid applied for and was accepted in a revue in...
and even a young Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
as the girlfriend of Archie; Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes, CBE is an English radio, television and film writer, actor and director whose performing career has spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and/or performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Peter...
was one of the series main writers in the early 1950s. The show often averaged 15 million listeners, and a fan club boasted 250,000 members.
TV work
Due to the success of his radio show, he made his debut on televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
in 1956 in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Here's Archie which co-starred Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
and Ronald Chesney. The show was written by the latter and Ronald Wolfe, who would later team up on classic British sitcoms The Rag Trade
The Rag Trade
The Rag Trade was a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978.The scripts were by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, a period variation of The Rag Trade....
and On the Buses
On The Buses
On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...
.
Two years later, Peter was on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in Educating Archie, utilising the same team as before, although Marty Feldman
Marty Feldman
Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...
took some of the writing credit as well. The TV appearances exposed his limitations as a ventriloquist, as his lips were frequently seen to move. In later years a critic remarked aptly, "Ventriloquism on the radio - I could have done that."
By 1961, Peter decided to retire Archie following the death of his father, also a ventriloquist, and he then took over the family's textile and menswear business. His TV appearances were sporadic from then on. He died in 1999.
In November 2005, the original Archie Andrews doll was sold at auction in Taunton
Taunton
Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
for £34,000.
External links
- Television heaven - some information on Educating Archie.
- BBCi Guide to Comedy - list of Peter Brough shows.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4459700.stm - BBC news story on the auction of Archie Andrews, 22 November 2005
- Peter Brough and Archie Andrews @ Ward's Book of Days