Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead
Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead, a comedy sketch show for radio, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 15 February 1971. Two series of eight episodes were broadcast, the second was transmitted from 21 July 1972. In addition, there were two "specials". A Christmas special, entitled 'Lines From My Grandfather Christmas's Forehead', was broadcast on 24 December 1971; and a compilation of selected items from past editions, under the title 'Just A Few Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead', was broadcast on 27 August 1977.
The show starred Ronnie Barker and featured Terence Brady and Pauline Yates, with Gordon Langford at the piano. Some editions also featured guitarist Dick Abell.
Each programme was a sequence of comedy sketches, monologues and comic songs. The writers were credited on each recording but the items they wrote were not named, so identifying the author of a particular item is difficult. Among the writers was one Gerald Wiley, which was a pseudonym used by Ronnie Barker to submit material without using his own name, so as to find out whether the producer genuinely thought his material was good enough to use - and much of it was.
The show's content is difficult to define. The wry humour was askance/off-the-wall/tangential, and certainly different from most comedy of the time. It was not even announced as a comedy, but as 'a sequential entertainment for radio'. The nearest relatives might be Monty Python, or The Goons.
Items included:
- Barker as a 17th century man with two heads
- a couple talking about curtains
- a pianist playing a difficult piece and failing at the last note or two
- a sketch with Barker as an encyclopedia salesman in the Garden of Eden ('one bite and you're a PhD')
- a sketch about a lodger and commercial traveller called Roger
- a wistful little poem about the retirement of Mr Babbage (using rhymes ending in '-idge' throughout)
- a spoof newspaper report about court proceedings, sending up the euphemistic language used in certain tabloids
- a song with the first line "I took my love to Turnpike Lane"
- a spoof of the Queen's Christmas Message, as written and delivered by a milkman
- an elephant delivered as a Christmas present.
- a summary of Hamlet in verse, as follows:
In olden Scandinavia when standards of behaviour Were rather lax and income tax was tuppence in the ducat Denmark's democratic king one day became a static king He went to rest, became nonest, in fact, he kicked the bucket
He had is seemed been victimised, the reason for his quick demise Developed from a charming trick of Brother Claude, the thug Who, while the King was sleeping sound, came silently a-creeping round And dropped a deadly poison in the royal Danish lug
Then to the queen a flirty gal he whispered, 'Listen Gerty gal Now I'm the king and everything we might as well be one So, when we've had the funeral, or even rather sooneral Oh Gert be mine' to which Gert said, 'It might be fun'
(much more all the way to...)
And while the bodies dropped around Horatio who'd popped around To see the end and superintend came through the palace doorway With Fortinbras and legions of hairy great Norwegions Who trampled in with pomp and din and claimed the throne for Norway
The moral of the story boys is don't be death or glory boys Don't try to rule or maybe you'll find you are apt to bungle Don't bother with detection lads, just stick to introspection lads Be kind be good and if you would, try not to stab your ungle.
