You Lucky People!

In the first of a two-part series, Robert Ross looks back on 100 years of BBC comedy, starting with 1922-71

- Robert Ross

It was the manic, bearded disc jockey Kenny Everett who dubbed the corporation “Auntie Beeb”; Goon Peter Sellers elongated her to “the Beeb Beeb Ceeb”, while the reassuring calm of Terry Wogan cheekily revealed the old girl’s bloomers.

Now, celebrating 100 years of educating and entertaining, from November 1922, the BBC’s comedy legacy is a world-beating gold standard. The fragments of Television Centre still echo to endless cries of: “You silly old moo!”, “Don’t tell him, Pike!”, and “I don’t believe it!” but it all started with a scant few of the population gathered around tiny wooden wireless sets, transfixed as much by the murky yellow glow as the quavering comic voice of Billy Beer, the very first comedian to perform on the then British Broadcasting Company.

Broadcasting on 16 November 1922, just the second ever day of broadcasts, Beer’s style was a rambling comic monologue: The Parish Magazine, a wry, sideways look at life in his sleepy village. Hilarity ensured.

Less than a fortnight later, the rotund Norman Long performed a selection of his silly songs on the variety show The Cat’s Whisker. Long was a hit and was swiftly invited back.

Before long, the great and the good of variety turns from the music halls were queuing up to perform their funnies: ageing pros such as John Henry and Robb Wilton dusting off tried-and-tested stage routines, and awkwardly delivering them into a BBC branded microphone. For those tuning in at home, it was live entertainment within their own sitting room.