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Classic radio comedy links

The programmes covered in radiohaha are, and are likely to remain, exclusively drawn from the 1980s and 90s.  Several people have expressed disappointment that this period manages neatly to exclude just about all the well-known and fondly-remembered shows from radio comedy’s history.  Which is a very fair point.  But, as mentioned in the faq, it’s not my period and I’m not up to the task of trying to cover the preceding forty-odd years in the same way (and I reckon the “Golden Age” deserves a different kind of site in any case).  Luckily, it’s in the nature of the internet that some of the most popular classic shows have sites or information pages devoted to them already — here’s a list of the ones I’ve found:

Band Waggon
1938 - 1939
An excerpt from the show can be found at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/humour/Bandwaggon.Html

ITMA
1939 - 1949
There has to be an It’s That Man Again site out there somewhere, but I’m damned if I can find you one.  There’s more than half a dozen highly fascinating organisations with the initials ITMA though.  In contrast to which:

The Goon Show
1952 - 1960
Too many sites to mention, and a newsgroup as well: a list is available at http://humorlinks.com/humorlinks/goons.htm

Hancock’s Half Hour
1954 - 1959
General information on Tony Hancock’s various shows at http://www.achilles.net/~howardm/tony.html
Tony Hancock Appreciation Society at http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nnac/index.html

Beyond Our Ken
(?)
Information at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/Humour/Beyondken.Html

Round The Horne
(?)
Information and extracts at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/Humour/Roundhorne.Html
Julian and Sandy Tribute Page at http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/fabulosa/page6.htm

The Men From The Ministry
1962 - 1977
Episode list at http://www.btinternet.com/~shawweb/stephen/comedy1.htm

I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again
1963 - 1973
Comprehensive unofficial site at http://www.anglia.ac.uk/~operag/humour/isirta/index.html
The Radio Prune tribute site at http://www.ens.gu.edu.au/robertk/radio/prune.htm now appears to be working, and contains links to some other bits and bobs

The Burkiss Way
1976 - 1980
Complete episode guide at http://www.mb21.co.uk/ether.net/radio/burkiss.html

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
1978 - 1980
Too many links pages to mention, never mind too many sites: the most comprehensive is probably the one at http://www.en.com/users/xvr27/otherguide2.html


If you have any more links for this list, please send them to me at jbsumner@yahoo.com.  And if anybody has plans to set up their own classic radio comedy site (or knows of one that I haven’t unearthed), get in touch and we can discuss some kind of bridging system...

James Sumner, November 1998