Kenneth Horne - WikiHQ

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Charles Kenneth Horne (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (1944–1954), Beyond Our Ken (1958–1964) and Round the Horne (1965–1968).

The son of a clergyman who was also a politician, Horne had a burgeoning business career with Triplex Safety Glass, which was interrupted by service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. While serving in a barrage balloon unit, he was asked to broadcast as a quizmaster on the BBC radio show Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer. The experience brought him into contact with the more established entertainer Richard Murdoch, and the two wrote and starred in the comedy series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. After demobilisation Horne returned to his business career, and kept his broadcasting as a sideline. His career in industry flourished, and he later became the chairman and managing director of toy manufacturers Chad Valley.

In 1958 Horne suffered a stroke and gave up his business dealings to concentrate on his entertainment work. He was the anchor figure in Beyond Our Ken, which also featured Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and Bill Pertwee. When the programme came to an end in 1964, the same cast recorded four series of the comedy Round the Horne.

Before the planned fifth series of Round the Horne began recording, Horne died of a heart attack while hosting the annual Guild of Television Producers' and Directors' Awards; Round the Horne could not continue without him and was withdrawn. The series has been regularly re-broadcast since his death. A 2002 BBC radio survey to find listeners' favourite British comedian placed Horne third, behind Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan.

Biography

Early life

thumb|upright|Horne's father, nonconformist minister and Liberal MP [[Silvester Horne]]

Kenneth Horne was born Charles Kenneth Horne on 27 February 1907 at Ampthill Square, London. He was the seventh and youngest child of Silvester Horne and his wife, Katherine Maria ' Cozens-Hardy. Katherine's father was Herbert Cozens-Hardy, the Liberal MP for North Norfolk who became the Master of the Rolls in 1907 and Baron Cozens-Hardy on 1 July 1914. Silvester, a powerful orator, was a leading light in the Congregationalist movement, as minister at the Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road from 1903 and, from 1910, chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. Between 1910 and 1914 he was the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich.

By 1913 Silvester was suffering from continual poor health. He resigned his position at the tabernacle on medical advice in January 1914, and intended to resign his parliamentary seat. On a speaking tour of the US and Canada he lectured at Yale University, and then travelled to Toronto; as the ferry he took entered harbour, he collapsed and died, aged 49; Horne was aged seven at the time. In the initial months of the conflict—the Phoney War—Horne's duties were undemanding, and he formed a concert party from his friends and colleagues. In November 1940 he was promoted to flight lieutenant, and to squadron leader a year later. In early 1942, the BBC producer Bill McLurg asked whether the RAF station at which Horne was based could put on an edition of his programme Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer. Horne was ordered to put on the show, and he made his broadcasting debut on 16 April 1942, as the compere. Although the standard of the talent on the show was not high, McLurg was impressed with Horne's presentation, especially the way he hosted the programme's quiz; he invited Horne to be the programme's regular quizmaster, a role the latter fulfilled on over fifty Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer quizzes over the next two years. In January 1943 he became one of the show's regular comperes and presented the entire show for the first time.

In March 1943 Horne was posted to the Air Ministry in London. On 26 April 1944 he was promoted to the war substantive rank of squadron leader. Continuing to broadcast on Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer, he also began to write sketches for the programme, and make broadcasts on other shows, including the Overseas Recorded Broadcasting Service (ORBS), to be transmitted to British forces in the Middle East. His work with ORBS brought him into contact with Flight Lieutenant Richard Murdoch, who he jokingly introduced in one broadcast as "the station commander of Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh"; with a great deal in common in their backgrounds and a similar sense of humour, the pair quickly formed a friendship. Horne informed Murdoch of a squadron leader vacancy in his section at the Ministry, and Murdoch became his colleague. Murdoch, a professional actor and entertainer for 12 years before the war, recognised Horne's talent as a performer, and used his contacts to secure him more broadcasting work.

Ack-Ack, Beer-Beer came to an end in February 1944 when the BBC decided to direct their programming at the general armed forces, rather than the barrage balloon crews. A month later Horne and Murdoch had expanded the idea of the remote and fictitious Royal Air Force station, Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh. The pair took the idea to the BBC producer Leslie Bridgemont who was responsible for the show Merry-go-Round, which featured, in weekly rotation, shows based on the Army, Navy and RAF. Bridgemont included a Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh section in Merry-go-Round on 31 March 1944; Horne played "an officer so dim that even the other officers noticed", with Murdoch as his harassed second-in-command and Sam Costa as an "amiable chump who always got things wrong".

During 1944 Horne met and fell in love with Marjorie Thomas, a war widow with a young daughter. He was divorced in early 1945, and he and Thomas were married in November that year, three months after he had been demobilised.

Postwar, a double career: 1945–1958

On his return to civilian life, Horne resumed working at Triplex, and was promoted to the position of sales director. Despite his subsequent joint career in broadcasting and business, his commercial activities always took precedence. He declared that his work on radio was only a hobby, and that he would give it up before his business career. He combined his two roles by working full-time, and writing scripts with Murdoch at weekends.

thumb|upright|[[Sam Costa, the "amiable chump" of Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh]]

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh had gained sufficient popularity over its run of 20 Merry-go-Round episodes to be given its own 39-week series beginning in January 1947. With the coming of peace, the supposed RAF station became a civil airport, and the show continued much as before, written by and starring Horne and Murdoch, with Sam Costa. Maurice Denham—described by Murdoch as a vocal chameleon—joined the cast and played over 60 roles. The programme became popular, with audiences of 20 million, and ran for four series until September 1950.

After his death, Horne was eulogised in The Times as "a master of the scandalous double-meaning delivered with shining innocence",

Sources

External links

Kenneth Horne at the British Film Institute