Variety Bandbox

Variety Bandbox is a BBC Radio variety show transmitted initially in the General Forces Programme and then the Light Programme. Featuring a mixture of comic performances and music, the show helped to launch the careers of a number of leading British performers.

Variety Bandbox
Other namesVariety Band-Box
GenreVariety show
Running time45–60 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station
Hosted by
Original release27 February 1944 (1944-02-27)[1] – 26 September 1952 (1952-09-26)[2]
Audio formatMono

Presented by Philip Slessor, it became a feature of Sunday evenings for more than eight years between February 1944 and September 1952.[3] Hosting duties would later be taken over by Derek Roy.[4]

Amongst those who launched their careers on the show was Frankie Howerd, who first appeared on Variety Bandbox in 1947 following a provincial tour.[5] Howerd was to become a fixture of the show and honed his catch phrase-driven comedic style in these appearances.[3] Tony Hancock also featured on the show early in his career.[6] March 1950 saw the debut of a fortnightly series within the show called Blessem Hall which featured several characters voiced by a young Peter Sellers in one of his earliest performances, alongside Miriam Karlin.[3]

Arthur English, who debuted on the show in 1949, also gained prominence through his broadcasts and was for a time 'resident comedian' on the show, despite his tendency to upset the producers by also including visual gags in his act.[7] The show also provided Bill Kerr with his first break in the UK[8] whilst Max Wall was a regular performer on the show.[3] Although not a performer on Variety Bandbox, Eric Sykes began as a scriptwriter on the show.[9] As well as comedy Variety Bandbox also featured big band music with the likes of Ted Heath, Geraldo, Ambrose, Woolf Phillips, and Joe Loss all leading their orchestras.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Variety Band-Box". Radio Times. Vol. 82 no. 1065 (National ed.). BBC Publications. 25 February 1944. p. 7. Retrieved 16 February 2020 – via BBC Genome Project.
  2. "Variety Bandbox". Radio Times. Vol. 116 no. 1507 (Television ed.). BBC Publications. 26 September 1952. p. 19. Retrieved 16 February 2020 – via BBC Genome Project.
  3. Variety Bandbox
  4. Ray Galton & Alan Simpson interview
  5. Frankie Howerd
  6. Tony Hancock 1924-1968
  7. Arthur English obituary from The Independent
  8. Bill Kerr 1924-
  9. Eric Sykes
  10. Woolf Phillips obituary from The Guardian
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