The Forgotten Heroes of Comedy

Last night I was taking photos at an event put on my publishers, Unbound, in London. It was an evening with Terry Jones, member of the legendary Monty Python team and director of three of the only four films considered offensive enough to be banned in Ireland (answer at the foot of the page).

All photos: copyright Stevyn Colgan

However, Terry was there to support a fantastic book project by Robert Ross, a prolific writer about TV and film and a comedy history encyclopaedia on legs. Robert wants to put together a book about the comedians that, for whatever reason, most of us have forgotten. These aren't obscure fringe acts; many were huge in their day but, for some reason, they've faded from public memory. People like Arthur Haynes, once ITV's most popular comedian, now almost completely erased from TV history:



Or Freddie Frinton, seen here in his famous Dinner for One. This is a comedy sketch that the Guinness Book of Records reported as the most frequently repeated TV programme of all time. That's because German TV stations have shown it every Christmas since it was recorded in 1961. It's become as much a traditional part of Christmas TV fare in Germany as Morecambe and Wise and showings of It's a Wonderful Life are here. And yet, who remembers him here in his native Great Britain?



Or how about Harry Worth? Those of you of a certain age will probably remember the opening titles of his TV show - that bit with the window glass. We all had to copy it, much to many shopkeepers' annoyance. I know I did.



Or, let's come more up to date with the amazing Hovis Presley, the performance poet. Remember him? Or what about acrobatic comedy team, The Jovers?





As was discussed last night - with some excellent MCing from the comedian Dan Schreiber - there doesn't seem to be any one single reason why one comedian or comedy team achieves long-lasting fame while others don't. It's not simply about popularity; Hale and Pace were HUGE in their time, as was Jimmy Clitheroe, and Dick Emery ... but when do you ever see their shows repeated? When do you hear their names mentioned on history of comedy type programmes?

What about Mel Blanc? He created over 1000 different voices - including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd -  but who remembers him as a comedian? He was a stalwart of the Jack Benny show:



Robert's book will feature over 100 of these forgotten brilliant people and, not only that, a host of big comedy names like Tim Brooke-Taylor, Roy Hudd, Michael Palin, Ross Noble, Chris Addison, Bernard Cribbins and many more will be championing them in the book. On stage last night we had two of the champions - Terry and Katy Brand - but there were more in the audience including brilliant stand up and Red Dwarfer Hattie Hayridge.

This is a book project that most publishers are wary of. 'Why would we commission a book about people who are forgotten?' they say. It's because they're forgotten that the book needs to be written you oafs! Thankfully, publishers like Unbound are driven by more than just celebrity culture and passing popularity fads. They put the decision over whether a book gets published back into the hands of readers.

You can see Robert's pitch (featuring Terry and the brilliant Barry Cryer) here on the Unbound website. You can also pledge money to help make it a reality and get your name in the book. Pledge a bit more and there are all kinds of treats in store.

Help make this book happen. And help these great but, sadly, forgotten comedians to get the recognition they deserve.

And, while you're at it, why not help to fund Katy Brand's first novel Brenda Monk is Funny too?

Oh, and Terry's banned films? Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life and Personal Services. The one he didn't direct was The Last Temptation of Christ.

Tales from the Far Side

Mention of Gary Larson yesterday made me seek these out - the two animated specials of Tales of the Far Side. Glorious.

Sign Post Part 2

Back here in July I shared with you some of my favourites from my rather huge collection of signed books. Here are a few more that are particularly special to me.

To kick off, some wonderful doodles by comic artist Frank Quitely. Now, if you're not into comics, his name probably won't mean much to you. But, trust me, he's one of the best. That's why he's trusted with drawing titles as iconic as Batman, The Avengers and Judge Dredd. He's also a genuinely lovely guy and when I was attempting to kickstart (in the days before Kickstarter) a new British comics imprint in the late 1990s, he was hugely supportive and even donated front cover art for our first issue. I'm so pleased he's gone on to great things. Here's a bunch of doodles he did on the inside cover of my copy of DC's Batman: The Scottish Connection (Bigger Betty was the name of the publishing company) along with another Bats-related pencil sketch.

Two other artists who were massively influential on me were Willy Rushton and Gary Larson. I was lucky enough to meet Willy before he died. His pen technique and acid wit made him one of my favourite cartoonists of all time. I've never met Gary and probably never will but I do have the next best thing (well, if you don't count owning an original!). An American police colleague knew I was a fan and asked him to sign a copy of his first volume of Far Side cartoons for me. I was ecstatic to receive it.

I have quite a lot of books signed by comedians - I'm lucky that my work means that I meet a lot of comedians -many of them, sadly no longer with us. I have been privileged to meet people like Ronnie Barker, Sir Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes and so many more. Here are three of my prized treasures: a signed copy of Kenneth Williams' Acid Drops, a signed copy of my favourite book ever, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine and the inside back cover of my copy of Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic by the incredible Terry Jones. Thankfully, Terry is still very much with us and this has to be the best author glossy ever.

I'll post some more soon :)

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible

My blog has been a bit quiet of late and, for that, I apologise. But I do have a good reason. Well, I think I do. The first half of my year is taken up with stuff like QI and The Museum of Curiosity but from July through to the New Year, like most freelancers, I have to get in as much paid work as I can. I also need to work on whatever book project I'm currently engaged in.

It just so happens that this year FOUR books are competing for my attention; three that I've been working on for some time and one new one, a novel. It's just a curious coincidence that they're all starting to come together at the same time. So, what I've had to do is pick one and say 'I'll finish this one first. Then move onto the next. And so on.' So, for the past month, I've pushed my proboscis to the quern and have hunkered down to finish the novel. And I'm nearly there. It's very exciting.

After that, there's a book project that I'm also pitching as a possible TV series. And another novel ... that might also be pitched as a TV series. And a rather more sensible book that is related to The Skeptical Bobby talk that I've been performing all over the UK for the past nine months (and still am - Leicester, London and Liverpool in the next seven days!).

And I have a few art jobs to complete. And I have to read loads of books as I'm a judge for the 2014 Transmission prize. And I have a couple of paintings on the go - when I get any free time!

So bear with me ... normal service will be resumed as soon as possible :)

Big Down Under

I often hear the question posed: 'How come Australia has so many of the world's most venomous creatures living there?'

It is true that Oz seems to have more than its fair share of bitey and stabby nasties: They have funnel-web and redback spiders, blue-ringed octopus, death adders, tiger snakes and taipans. The most venomous sea snake - Belcher's - lives in the seas around Australia, as do the stone fish and box jellyfish, and even the platypus has venom in its cockspur-like rear claws. But why do they need to carry so much poison?

The answer often suggested is that creatures developed venom to counter the threat posed by predatory creatures that no longer exist - the extinct so-called Australian megafauna. So let's look at that theory for a moment. Firstly, what kinds of creatures were the megafauna?

When I was at school I clearly remember learning all about mammoths, woolly rhinos, mastadons, sabre-toothed cats and other big extinct mammals like brontotherium, giant ground sloths and the staggeringly massive paraceratherium (seen here in comparison with a modern African elephant).

 

But I don't recall being told about the big animals in the southern hemisphere except, maybe, giant carnivorous birds like the moa and aepyornis.

 

I was robbed!

 

Austrailia had some amazing prehistoric giants ... and I am pretty sure that many of you will have never heard of them either. Let me point out a few stars (we'll start small and work up):

 

 

Say hello to Zaglossus hacketti. This was an echidna, an egg-laying spiny anteater, the size of a sheep. There was also a type of platypus called Obdurodon dicksoni that was twice the size of its surviving cousin.

The largest fossil marsupial found to date is the mega-wombat Diprotodon optatum that grew to at least three metres long, two metres high at the shoulder and weighed up to two tonnes.

 

 

This whopping great feller below was called Procoptodon goliah, a type of short-faced kangaroo that grew 2–3 metres (7–10 feet) tall, and weighed up to 230 kilograms. Procoptodon has become better known in recent years after the character of Raz appeared in the film Ice Age: Continental Drift.

 

 

Related to the kangaroos but quite different in form was the curious-looking Palorchestes azael, a tapir-nosed, heavily clawed creature the size of a cow. You wouldn't want to laugh at it to its face.

 

 

Pushing the slider up the dangerous scale we come to Thylacoleo carnifex, the so-called 'marsupial lion', that was the size of a modern leopard. Although totally unrelated, its skull is remarkably cat-like and boasts large slicing pre-molars. It had a retractable thumb-claw and massive forelimbs. It was almost certainly carnivorous and, bizarrely, lived in the trees.

 

 

Finally, we come to the real monsters. Top of the Australian food chain was a host of terrifying, large, flightless birds including the largest - Dromornis stirtoni, (Stirton's thunder bird) that stood three metres tall and weighed about 500 kilograms - and my personal favourite, Bullockornis planei, nicknamed the 'Demon Duck of Doom'.

 

 

This was a carnivorous, predatory bird related to modern ducks and geese, that had a skull bigger than a horse's. Wow.

 

 

The only animals that could compete with the birds were the reptiles, such as the 7 metre (23 feet) long goana lizard Varanus priscus, the 7 metre long crocodile Quinkaka,  a genus of land turtle called Meiolania measuring 2.5 metres (8 feet) in length, and a 10 metre long hunting snake called Liasis.

 

 

Amazing aren't they? However, no Australian fossil animals are anywhere near as big as the fossil animals found elsewhere. So is it really a strong argument to say that the large number of highly venomous Oz animals evolved because of megafauna?

 

One competing theory claims that it's actually due to Australia's physical isolation. Any isolated community will develop a unique flora and fauna. So maybe somewhere along the evolutionary time line, the tactical use of venom took precedence over the use of strength and speed. So while animals elsewhere in the world became bigger, stronger and/or faster, Australian animals were developing techniques which allowed them to hunt effectively while remaining small in size.

 

Another theory claims that it's due to climate. Many Australian venomous animals are cold-blooded and live in desert or grassland areas. They are at the mercy of the continent's frequent droughts; some areas often go months or years without decent rainfall. This means that prey animals become scarce so, if a carnivorous animal misses an opportunity to feed, it may be the last chance they ever have (even though many cold-blooded animals can live for long periods between meals). By using venom that quite often contains paralysing toxins, the hunter will usually only need to get one good bite or sting to fell its prey. Consequently, the energy spent on producing venom is economically well-spent.

 

We should also consider the fact that referring to these animals as 'highly venomous' is somewhat anthropocentric. While their venom can kill us or make us very ill, it often has a much less potent effect on other species that have evolved alongside them in the same ecosystem. Humans have only been on Australian soil for a short blip of geological history after all.

 

So it seems, after some research, that there's no single definite answer to the question but plenty of sensible, well-argued possible answers. It's probably a combination of several factors, including the megafauna.

 

As for me? I just wish the Demon Duck of Doom were still around.

The Transmission Prize

November begins with the rather exciting news that I've been asked to be one of the judging panel for the 2014 Transmission Prize. This is an award made by Salon London for innovative thinking and the communication of new ideas. I met my fellow judges last night and a very eminent group of people they are.
 

 

 

Joanna Ellis is Associate Director at The Literary Platform, an online magazine and consultancy that works with publishers, developers, literary organisations and academic institutions on a wide range of digital publishing projects.

Ella Berthoud is an author of The Novel Cure, a literary remedy for ailments through bibliotherapy – a system of recommending books as a form of therapy. Berthoud studied English at Cambridge University, and is an accomplished painter, and is on the faculty of The School of Life.

David Tong is a professor of theoretical physics at DAMTP in Cambridge, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and joint recipient of the 2008 Adams Prize. He is Adjunct Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Juliet Russell is a singer, composer and on of the UK’s leading vocal coach, most recently heard on BBC1’s The Voice. She co-founded Sense of Sound and consistently works with some of the UK’s most illustrious artists and companies.

Helen Bagnall is an international award-winning writer of screen, books and digital storytelling, having worked for The National Theatre, RTE, Sony Pictures, Penguin Books and Fiver. She has twice won the KidScreen award for best TV film for teens.  

Diccon Towns trained as a sculptor before moving to London to pursue a career in graphics. He is currently Head of Internet Technologies at a leading UK software house, and responsible for Salon's Digital Strategy.

Exciting!

Castiglione: Lost Genius and Gifted - Two new exhibitions

It's not often I can say: 'I was at Buckingham Place this morning when ...' but this morning I could. I was at a private view of two new exhibitions that open to the public shortly in the Queen's Gallery.

The first is Castiglione: Lost Genius, the first ever major exhibition of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's work in the UK. The title of the exhibition is apt; Castiglione (1609-1664) was a brilliant draughtsman and there are 90 of his oil sketches and prints on display, many of them painted in coloured oil directly onto the paper without pencil or charcoal guidelines or preparatory drawings. Several of the pieces are mounted in such a way that you can see front and back of the paper and the bleed through.

Castiglione had a somewhat turbulent and violent life - mostly of his own making it seems - which may be why he's been almost written out of art history. He even looks cross in his own self-portrait:

He was also something of an innovator and can be credited with the invention of the monotype; a printing technique that, as the name suggests, produces a single good print. Any subsequent copies are inferior or 'ghost' copies. There are several of his monotypes on display in the gallery.

We were given a rather splendid and informative walkthrough by senior curator Martin Clayton whose knowledge and passion brought the man to life. Then it was time for tea and pastries before looking at the second exhibition.

The second exhibition - and very much the one that floated my boat - is called Gifted and consists of more than 100 original works on paper, gifted from the Royal Academy of Art to the Queen for the Golden Jubilee. The exhibition boasts work by Tracey Emin, John Hoyland, Humphrey Ocean, Dvid Hockney, Anish Kapoor, Grayson Perry, Chris Orr, Zaha Hadid, Gillian Ayres, Lord Foster and many, many more. And none of them have ever been seen by the public before. It's a delicious treasure-trove of 20th century art.

Do go and have a look if you're in London. The exhibitions open tomorrow, November 1st and run until 16th March 2014.

Full details here (Castiglione: Lost Genius) or here (Gifted). One ticket covers both exhibitions (they're housed in different rooms of the same gallery) and there's stuff for the kids too with printmaking and iPad art to create in a resources room.

Pale Blue Dot - Revisited

Carl Sagan's amazing soliloquy from Cosmos set to new music and video by the smart people at The Sagan Series. It quite took my breath away.

Autumn Art Sale

I need to de-clutter so I'm selling off some paintings. All are original acrylic paintings on box canvasses. Price includes packaging and courier collection and delivery. If you're interested in any, mail me at Stevyncolgan@mac.com and we'll sort it out. Apologies for the watermarks; so much of my stuff gets used without permission these days that it's become a necessity (see here and here).

The Greendale Chainsaw Massacre (Postman Pat's Bloody Day) - 20" x 16" x 0.75" - £75

Arr! Pod - 20" x 16" x 0.75" - £75

But is it Art?? - 20" x 16" x 0.75" - £50

Bipolar Bears - 20" x 16" x 0.75" - £75

Lord of the Rainbows - (Large!)39" by 27.5" box canvas - £100

April Showers - (Large!) 35" x 27" box canvas - £100

Boys in Blue - Step by Step

Another painting in my Cliché Britain series. This one was a little different. The four previous painting - Meat and Two Veg, Vicars and Tarts, Fisherman's Friends and Teacher's Pet - were all completed in full colour on 50.5 x 40.5cm (20" by 16") box canvases:

 

However, while painting Teacher's Pet, I found myself wondering if I could do a painting that is monochromatic. The obvious thing to do was something in sepia or shades of grey but no subject (or attendant cliché) jumped out at me. But then the phrase Boys in Blue occurred to me and the painting virtually jumped fully formed into my head. Plus, I had a couple of sketches left over from when I did the prize painting for Constable Colgan's Connectoscope:

So, here's the sketch and first blocking in. I decided to use a smaller 30 x 40cm canvas and to mask off an outer frame (with masking tape - what else?) so that the finished portrait would look something like an old-fashioned photo:

My first idea was to make the helmet comically small, such as those you buy from joke shops. But, as the painting progressed, it became obvious that a full sized helmet would work better and the painting would fit better into the series. So I resized it and began to build up the depth of colour and shading.

I took some liberties with the word 'blue' by adding a touch of quinacridone magenta (which has some blue in it) to the background. It's such a beautiful colour and it helped lift the figure off the canvas. I took off the masking tape at this point and painted in some eyes, buttons and collar numbers.

The final job was to tidy up generally, sort out the asymmetric sideburns, and shrink the helmet badge which, I realised, was way too big. For accuracy there should also be a chin strap ... I'm not sure what to do about that. Sigh. I'll probably just leave it. Any road up - here's the finished painting:

And, yes, I know it bloody looks like me again. Apparently. I must address this with the next painting.