On the 30th of October 48 members attended the Forum meeting in the church centre, the largest number for the current season.

The guest speaker was Geoff Twentyman from Bradford whose subject was The Golden Age of Radio Comedy. This trip down memory lane described the development of comedy programmes from the early days of radio in the 1920s to the 1960s with Geoff concentrating on five of his favourites from the period 1945 to 1960. Each description included pictures of the stars and an audio recording of an excerpt from the show.

The first programme was Take It from Here which featured Jimmy Edwards, Joy Nicholls and Dick Bentley although Joy, a singer and comedienne, was soon replaced by Alma Cogan and June Whitfield.

The second programme was Educating Archie which featured Peter Brough and his ventriloquists dummy Archie Andrews. Brough’s skill as a ventriloquist was best featured on radio.

The third programme was The Goon Show. The original programme starred Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers although Bentine dropped out after the first series. We then moved on to Hancock’s Half Hour which featured Tony Hancock and some equally famous co-stars such as Sid James and Kenneth Williams.

The final programme was the Al Read Show which was a one man show featuring Al Read in many domestic situations.

Forum Vice Chairman Duncan proposed a vote of thanks to Geoff Twentyman for a highly entertaining presentation.