Tim Brooke-Taylor
Encyclopedia
Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE
(born 17 July 1940) is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights
club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964. Becoming wider known to the public for his work on BBC Radio with I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
, he moved into television with At Last the 1948 Show
working together with old Cambridge friends John Cleese
and Graham Chapman
. He is most well known as one member of The Goodies
, starring in the TV series
throughout the 1970s and picking up international recognition in Australia
and New Zealand
. He has also appeared as an actor in various sitcoms, and has been a panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
for nearly 40 years.
, Derbyshire, England, the grandson of Francis Pawson
, a parson
who played centre-forward for England's football team in the 1880s. His mother was an international lacrosse
player and his father a solicitor. He was expelled from primary school at the early age of five and a half. Brooke-Taylor was schooled at Winchester College
and studied at Pembroke College
at the University of Cambridge. There he read Economics and Politics before changing to read Law, and mixed with other budding comedians, including John Cleese
, Graham Chapman
, Bill Oddie
and Jonathan Lynn
in the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club
(of which Brooke-Taylor became President in 1963).
The Footlights Club revue, A Clump of Plinths was so successful during its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, that the show was renamed as Cambridge Circus
and the revue transferred to the West End in London, and then later taken to both New Zealand
and to Broadway in the United States in September 1964. He was also active in the Pembroke College drama society, the Pembroke Players
.
Radio with the fast-paced comedy show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
in which he performed and co-wrote. As the screeching eccentric Lady Constance de Coverlet, he could be relied upon to generate the loudest audience response of many programmes in this long-running series merely with her unlikely catchphrase "did somebody call?" uttered after a comic and transparent feed-line, as their adventure story reached its climax or cliffhanger
ending. Other members of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
were John Cleese
, Bill Oddie
, Graeme Garden
, David Hatch
and Jo Kendall
.
In the mid-'60s, Brooke-Taylor performed in the TV series On the Braden Beat with Canadian
Bernard Braden
, taking over the slot then-recently vacated by Peter Cook
in his guise as E L Wisty. Brooke-Taylor played a reactionary right-wing city gent who believed he was the soul of tolerance.
In 1967, Brooke-Taylor became a writer/performer on the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show
, with John Cleese
, Graham Chapman
and Marty Feldman
. The famous "Four Yorkshiremen
" sketch was co-written by the four writers/performers of the series. The sketch was one of the few sketches which survived the destruction of the series (by the tapes being wiped), by David Frost
's Paradine Productions (which produced the series), and the sketch appears on the DVD of At Last the 1948 Show. The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch has also been performed during Amnesty
concert performances (by members of Monty Python
– occasionally including other comedians and actors in place of Monty Python regulars – notably Rowan Atkinson
and Alan Rickman
), as well as being performed during Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
and on other Monty Python shows. Footage of Tim Brooke-Taylor and John Cleese, from At Last the 1948 Show, was shown on the documentary special Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyers Cut)
.
Brooke-Taylor also took part in Frost's pilot programme How to Irritate People
in 1968, designed to sell what would later be recognised as the Monty Python style of comedy to the American market. Many of the sketches were later revived in the Monty Python TV series, notably the job interview sketch where Brooke-Taylor played a nervous interviewee tormented by interviewer John Cleese. The programme was also notable as the first collaboration of John Cleese
and Michael Palin
.
In 1968–1969, Brooke-Taylor was also a cast member and writer on the television comedy series Marty
starring Marty Feldman
, with John Junkin
and Roland MacLeod
. A compilation of the two series of Marty has been released on a BBC DVD with the title of The Best of Marty Feldman.
At around the same time, Brooke-Taylor made two series of Broaden Your Mind
with Graeme Garden
(and Bill Oddie
joining the series for the second season). Describing itself as "An Encyclopedia of the Air", this series was a string of comedy sketches (often lifted from I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again), linked (loosely) by a weekly running theme. Unfortunately, nothing but a few minutes of film inserts exist for this programme, though home-made off-air audio recordings survive for both seasons. Its success led to the commissioning of The Goodies
, also with Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden. First transmitted on BBC2 in November 1970, The Goodies was a huge television success, running for over a decade on both BBC TV and (in its final year) UK commercial channel London Weekend Television
, spawning many spin-off books and successful records.
During the run of The Goodies, Brooke-Taylor took part in the BBC radio series Hello, Cheeky!
, a bawdy stand up comedy show also starring Barry Cryer
and John Junkin
. The series transferred to television briefly, produced by the UK commercial franchise Yorkshire Television
.
He also appeared on television in British sitcom
s, including You Must Be the Husband
with Diane Keen
, His and Hers with Madeline Smith
, and Me and My Girl
with Richard O'Sullivan.
Brooke-Taylor also appeared regularly in advertisements, including the Christmas commercials for the Brentford Nylons chain of fabric stores, and in a public information film for the now-defunct E111 form.
In 1971, he played the short, uncredited role of a computer scientist in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
. After the end of The Goodies on UK television, Brooke-Taylor also worked again with Garden and Oddie on the animated television comedy series Bananaman
, in which Brooke-Taylor was the narrator, as well as voicing the characters of King Zorg of the Nurks, Eddie the Gent, Auntie, and Appleman. He also lent his voice to the children's TV series Gideon
.
Tim appeared, with Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden, in the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
(during which they sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon"), and also appeared in the Amnesty International show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
in the sketches "Top of the Form" (with John Cleese, Graham Chapman, John Bird
, John Fortune
, Rowan Atkinson
and Griff Rhys Jones
), and "Cha Cha Cha" (with John Cleese and Graham Chapman).
Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie also appeared on Top of the Pops
with their song "Funky Gibbon". Brooke-Taylor also appeared with Graeme Garden in the theatre production of The Unvarnished Truth
.
Other BBC radio programmes in which Brooke-Taylor played a part include the self-styled "antidote to panel games" I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
which started in 1972, and Tim still appears regularly. On 18 February 1981 Brooke-Taylor was the subject of Thames Television
's This Is Your Life
.
Graeme Garden was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World. Tim Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode, and, during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to rebut this statement, and replied "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago." This was followed by uproarious applause from the studio audience.
In 2004, Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden were co-presenters of Channel 4
's daytime game show, Beat the Nation, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. He has appeared on stage in Australia and England, usually as a middle-class Englishman. Around 1982, he branched out into pantomime as the Dame in Dick Whittington. He is also the author (and co-author) of several humorous books based mainly around his radio and television work and the sports of golf and cricket
. He also took part in the Pro-Celebrity Golf television series (opposite Bruce Forsyth
). Brooke-Taylor appeared on the premiere episode of the BBC
golf-based game show Full Swing
.
Brooke-Taylor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
.
Brooke-Taylor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
for services to light entertainment.
as Rector between 1979 and 1982.http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Tim_Brooke-Taylor
He is an honorary Vice-President of Derby County FC
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 17 July 1940) is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964. Becoming wider known to the public for his work on BBC Radio with I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
, he moved into television with At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...
working together with old Cambridge friends John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
and Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
. He is most well known as one member of The Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
, starring in the TV series
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
throughout the 1970s and picking up international recognition in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. He has also appeared as an actor in various sitcoms, and has been a panellist on I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
for nearly 40 years.
Early life and education
Brooke-Taylor was born in BuxtonBuxton
Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...
, Derbyshire, England, the grandson of Francis Pawson
Francis Pawson
Francis William Pawson was an English footballer who earned two caps for the national team between 1883 and 1885, scoring one goal. Pawson played club football for Cambridge University. His grandson is the comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor....
, a parson
Parson
In the pre-Reformation church, a parson was the priest of an independent parish church, that is, a parish church not under the control of a larger ecclesiastical or monastic organization...
who played centre-forward for England's football team in the 1880s. His mother was an international lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
player and his father a solicitor. He was expelled from primary school at the early age of five and a half. Brooke-Taylor was schooled at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and studied at Pembroke College
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
at the University of Cambridge. There he read Economics and Politics before changing to read Law, and mixed with other budding comedians, including John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
and Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
in the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University....
(of which Brooke-Taylor became President in 1963).
The Footlights Club revue, A Clump of Plinths was so successful during its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, that the show was renamed as Cambridge Circus
Cambridge Footlights Revue
The Cambridge Footlights Revue is an annual revue by the Footlights Club - a group of comic writer-performers at the University of Cambridge. Two of the more notable revues are detailed below.-"A Clump of Plinths" — "Cambridge Circus":...
and the revue transferred to the West End in London, and then later taken to both New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and to Broadway in the United States in September 1964. He was also active in the Pembroke College drama society, the Pembroke Players
Pembroke Players
Pembroke Players is an amateur theatrical society in Cambridge, England, founded in 1955 and run by the students of Pembroke College, Cambridge. It is the most active College drama society in the University, staging 10-15 drama productions and comedy smokers every year. It is also the only College...
.
Career
Brooke-Taylor moved swiftly into BBCBBC
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...
Radio with the fast-paced comedy show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
in which he performed and co-wrote. As the screeching eccentric Lady Constance de Coverlet, he could be relied upon to generate the loudest audience response of many programmes in this long-running series merely with her unlikely catchphrase "did somebody call?" uttered after a comic and transparent feed-line, as their adventure story reached its climax or cliffhanger
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
ending. Other members of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus...
were John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
, Graeme Garden
Graeme Garden
David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...
, David Hatch
David Hatch
Sir David Hatch was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive positions, including Head of Light Entertainment , Controller of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4 and later Managing Director of BBC Radio.- Education :He attended St John's School, Leatherhead and...
and Jo Kendall
Jo Kendall
Jo Kendall is a British actress.She played Desdemona in a production of Othello at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge in 1962.In August 1963 she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in the Cambridge University revue Cambridge Circus directed by Humphrey Barclay, alongside Graham...
.
In the mid-'60s, Brooke-Taylor performed in the TV series On the Braden Beat with Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Bernard Braden
Bernard Braden
Bernard Chastey Braden was a Canadian-born English actor and comedian.Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and educated at Magee Secondary School, Kerrisdale, Vancouver. He produced plays on CJOR Vancouver in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He married Barbara Kelly in 1942 and they moved...
, taking over the slot then-recently vacated by Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
in his guise as E L Wisty. Brooke-Taylor played a reactionary right-wing city gent who believed he was the soul of tolerance.
In 1967, Brooke-Taylor became a writer/performer on the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London...
, with John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
, Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman
Graham Arthur Chapman was a British comedian, physician, writer, actor, and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.-Early life and education:...
and 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...
. The famous "Four Yorkshiremen
Four Yorkshiremen sketch
The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch is a parody of nostalgic conversations about humble beginnings or difficult childhoods. Four Yorkshiremen reminisce about their upbringing, and as the conversation progresses, they try to outdo one another, their accounts of deprived childhoods becoming increasingly...
" sketch was co-written by the four writers/performers of the series. The sketch was one of the few sketches which survived the destruction of the series (by the tapes being wiped), by David Frost
David Frost (broadcaster)
Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE is a British journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and daytime TV game show host best known for his two decades as host of Through the Keyhole and serious interviews with various political figures, the most notable being Richard Nixon...
's Paradine Productions (which produced the series), and the sketch appears on the DVD of At Last the 1948 Show. The "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch has also been performed during Amnesty
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
concert performances (by members of Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
– occasionally including other comedians and actors in place of Monty Python regulars – notably Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
and Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
), as well as being performed during Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a 1982 concert film in which the Monty Python team perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl. The show also included filmed inserts which were mostly taken from two Monty Python specials, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus, which had been...
and on other Monty Python shows. Footage of Tim Brooke-Taylor and John Cleese, from At Last the 1948 Show, was shown on the documentary special Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyers Cut)
Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyers Cut)
Monty Python: Almost the Truth is a 2009 television documentary series in six parts that cover the members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python from Flying Circus to the present day. The series highlights their childhood, schooling and university life, and pre-Python work...
.
Brooke-Taylor also took part in Frost's pilot programme How to Irritate People
How to Irritate People
How to Irritate People is a 1968 television broadcast written by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. Cleese, Chapman, and Brooke-Taylor also feature in it, along with future Monty Python collaborators Michael Palin and Connie Booth.In various sketches, Cleese...
in 1968, designed to sell what would later be recognised as the Monty Python style of comedy to the American market. Many of the sketches were later revived in the Monty Python TV series, notably the job interview sketch where Brooke-Taylor played a nervous interviewee tormented by interviewer John Cleese. The programme was also notable as the first collaboration of John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
and Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
.
In 1968–1969, Brooke-Taylor was also a cast member and writer on the television comedy series Marty
Marty (TV series)
Marty is a British television sketch comedy series, with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Roland MacLeod, Mary Miller and Peter Pocock which was made in 1968...
starring 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...
, with John Junkin
John Junkin
John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...
and Roland MacLeod
Roland MacLeod
Roland MacLeod was an English actor of film and television.He appeared as a vicar in John Cleese's film A Fish Called Wanda and The Last Remake of Beau Geste....
. A compilation of the two series of Marty has been released on a BBC DVD with the title of The Best of Marty Feldman.
At around the same time, Brooke-Taylor made two series of Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind
Broaden Your Mind is a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, joined by Bill Oddie for the second series...
with Graeme Garden
Graeme Garden
David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...
(and Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
joining the series for the second season). Describing itself as "An Encyclopedia of the Air", this series was a string of comedy sketches (often lifted from I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again), linked (loosely) by a weekly running theme. Unfortunately, nothing but a few minutes of film inserts exist for this programme, though home-made off-air audio recordings survive for both seasons. Its success led to the commissioning of The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
, also with Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden. First transmitted on BBC2 in November 1970, The Goodies was a huge television success, running for over a decade on both BBC TV and (in its final year) UK commercial channel London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
, spawning many spin-off books and successful records.
During the run of The Goodies, Brooke-Taylor took part in the BBC radio series Hello, Cheeky!
Hello, Cheeky!
Hello Cheeky was a series broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979. It was written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, and John Junkin, with music by the Denis King Trio, and produced by David Hatch, Richard Willcox, and Bob Oliver Rogers.There were also three Christmas...
, a bawdy stand up comedy show also starring Barry Cryer
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer OBE is a British writer and comedian. Cryer has written for many noted performers, including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory Bremner, George Burns, Jasper Carrott, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Dick Emery, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsyth, David Frost, Bob Hope, Frankie...
and John Junkin
John Junkin
John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...
. The series transferred to television briefly, produced by the UK commercial franchise Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
.
He also appeared on television in British sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
s, including You Must Be the Husband
You Must Be The Husband
You Must Be the Husband is a British comedy television series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor in the title role of Tom Hammond, and Diane Keen as his wife, Alice Hammond, with Sheila Steafel as Alice's literary agent, Miranda Shaw....
with Diane Keen
Diane Keen
Diane Keen is an English actress.Keen is possibly best known for her starring roles in the British TV drama Doctors which she has been in since 2003 , and in the 1970s comedy series The Cuckoo Waltz and Rings on Their Fingers.-Personal life:Keen has one daughter, actress Melissa Greenwood, from...
, His and Hers with Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949 in Hartfield, Sussex) is an English actress and comedienne. She was a model in the 1960s, and appeared in many comedy films Madeline Smith (born 2...
, and Me and My Girl
Me and My Girl (TV series)
Me and My Girl was a 1980s British television situation comedy starring Richard O'Sullivanwhich centred on the challenges faced by a widower raising his adolescent daughter. It was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 1988.-Plot:...
with Richard O'Sullivan.
Brooke-Taylor also appeared regularly in advertisements, including the Christmas commercials for the Brentford Nylons chain of fabric stores, and in a public information film for the now-defunct E111 form.
In 1971, he played the short, uncredited role of a computer scientist in the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
. After the end of The Goodies on UK television, Brooke-Taylor also worked again with Garden and Oddie on the animated television comedy series Bananaman
Bananaman
Bananaman is a British comic book fictional character. He originally appeared in Nutty as the backpage strip in Issue 1, dated 16 February 1980 drawn by John Geering.-Original strip:...
, in which Brooke-Taylor was the narrator, as well as voicing the characters of King Zorg of the Nurks, Eddie the Gent, Auntie, and Appleman. He also lent his voice to the children's TV series Gideon
Gideon (TV series)
Gideon was an late 1970s/early 1980s animated UK children's television series.This basic animation was centered around Gideon, a duck with an unusually long neck...
.
Tim appeared, with Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden, in the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)
A Poke In The Eye is the title of the first show in what became the iconic Secret Policeman's Ball series of benefit shows for human rights organization Amnesty International...
(during which they sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon"), and also appeared in the Amnesty International show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was the fourth of the benefit shows staged by the British Section of Amnesty International to raise funds for its research and campaign work in the human rights field...
in the sketches "Top of the Form" (with John Cleese, Graham Chapman, John Bird
John Bird (actor)
John Bird is an English satirist, actor and comedian.-Early life:Born in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, and educated at High Pavement Grammar School, Nottingham, Bird briefly joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain, while still at school...
, John Fortune
John Fortune
John Fortune is a British satirist, comedian writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John...
, Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Atkinson
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
and Griff Rhys Jones
Griff Rhys Jones
Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...
), and "Cha Cha Cha" (with John Cleese and Graham Chapman).
Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie also appeared on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
with their song "Funky Gibbon". Brooke-Taylor also appeared with Graeme Garden in the theatre production of The Unvarnished Truth
The Unvarnished Truth
The Unvarnished Truth is a 1978 play by British author Royce Ryton.A comedy drama, The Unvarnished Truth opened in London's West End at the Phoenix Theatre in 1978, starring Royce Ryton, Jo Kendall, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor. It later went on a national tour...
.
Other BBC radio programmes in which Brooke-Taylor played a part include the self-styled "antidote to panel games" I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service...
which started in 1972, and Tim still appears regularly. On 18 February 1981 Brooke-Taylor was the subject of Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
's This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
.
Graeme Garden was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World. Tim Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode, and, during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to rebut this statement, and replied "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago." This was followed by uproarious applause from the studio audience.
In 2004, Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden were co-presenters of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's daytime game show, Beat the Nation, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. He has appeared on stage in Australia and England, usually as a middle-class Englishman. Around 1982, he branched out into pantomime as the Dame in Dick Whittington. He is also the author (and co-author) of several humorous books based mainly around his radio and television work and the sports of golf and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. He also took part in the Pro-Celebrity Golf television series (opposite Bruce Forsyth
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson, CBE , commonly known as Bruce Forsyth, or Brucie, is an English TV personality...
). Brooke-Taylor appeared on the premiere episode of 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...
golf-based game show Full Swing
Full Swing
Full Swing may refer to;* Full Swing , a short lived British game show hosted by Jimmy Tarbuck in 1996 and involving golf* An episode of the FLCL animated video series, see List of FLCL episodes...
.
Brooke-Taylor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...
.
Filmography
| Year | Show/Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964-73 | I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again was a BBC radio comedy programme which originated from the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus... |
Various Characters | Also a writer |
| 1967-68 | At Last the 1948 Show At Last the 1948 Show At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions , in association with Rediffusion London... |
Various Characters | Also a writer |
| 1968 | How to Irritate People How to Irritate People How to Irritate People is a 1968 television broadcast written by John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. Cleese, Chapman, and Brooke-Taylor also feature in it, along with future Monty Python collaborators Michael Palin and Connie Booth.In various sketches, Cleese... |
Various Characters | Also a writer |
| 1968 | Marty Marty (TV series) Marty is a British television sketch comedy series, with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Roland MacLeod, Mary Miller and Peter Pocock which was made in 1968... |
Various Characters | Also a writer |
| 1968-69 | Broaden Your Mind Broaden Your Mind Broaden Your Mind is a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, joined by Bill Oddie for the second series... |
Various Characters | Also a writer |
| 1970-82 | The Goodies The Goodies (TV series) The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was... |
Tim | Also a writer |
| 1971 | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy... |
Computer Scientist | |
| 1972 - | I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to ISIHAC or Clue, is a BBC radio comedy panel game broadcast since 11 April 1972 at the rate of one or two series each year , transmitted on BBC Radio 4, with occasional repeats on BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC's World Service... |
Himself | |
| 1973-79 | Hello Cheeky | Himself | Also a writer |
| 1981 | The Secret Policeman's Other Ball | Tracy | |
| 1984-88 | Me and My Girl Me and My Girl (TV series) Me and My Girl was a 1980s British television situation comedy starring Richard O'Sullivanwhich centred on the challenges faced by a widower raising his adolescent daughter. It was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 1988.-Plot:... |
Derek Yates | |
| 1987-88 | You Must Be The Husband You Must Be The Husband You Must Be the Husband is a British comedy television series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor in the title role of Tom Hammond, and Diane Keen as his wife, Alice Hammond, with Sheila Steafel as Alice's literary agent, Miranda Shaw.... |
Tom Hammond | |
| 2010 | Tangled | Old Man | (voice) |
Personal life
Brooke-Taylor married Christine Weadon in 1968 and they have two sons, Ben and Edward. He lives in Berkshire.Brooke-Taylor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth Realms were announced on 7 June 2011 in New Zealand and 11 June 2011 in United Kingdom to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2011.-Privy Councillors:...
for services to light entertainment.
Footlights presidency
Other information
Tim Brooke-Taylor served the University of St AndrewsUniversity of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
as Rector between 1979 and 1982.http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Tim_Brooke-Taylor
He is an honorary Vice-President of Derby County FC
Derby County F.C.
Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
.
External links
- Tim Brooke-Taylor – BBC Guide to Comedy
- Tim Brooke-Taylor – The Museum of Broadcast Communication
- Tim Brooke-Taylor – London Speaker Bureau
- Tim Brooke-Taylor biography – Personally Speaking – Norman Phillips Organisation
- Tim Brooke-Taylor – BBC – I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue
- Tim Brooke-Taylor – TV Comedy People
- Tim Brooke-Taylor Interview Web Wombat Theatre
- ISIHAC interviews – with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Barry Cryer
- The Origin of Monty Python – mentions Tim, ISIRTA and "At Last the 1948 Show"
- Radio Ha Ha interview – Tim discusses his career in Episode 1 of Australian comedy podcast Radio Ha Ha
- "A Clump of Plinths" – the 1963 Cambridge Footlights Club revue – later renamed "Cambridge Circus" (this was the Footlights revue during the time when Tim Brooke-Taylor was President of the Footlights. Tim was also a member of the revue cast.
- OBEs all round - Goodies pair honoured
- Graeme Garden thought that OBE letter was a bill
- Birthday Honours List 2011 in pictures
- Goodies pair "thrilled" with OBEs