1/5/2017
My Word!
Last Edited: 18202517-AugMayNovJun-20087 A Global British Comedy Collaborative document.
Edited by John Lucas
Table of Contents
Pilot 2
Series 1 (1957) 2
Series 2 (1957) 2
Series 18 (1968) 5
Series 19 (1968-69) 7
Series 24 (1973) 13
Series 25 (1974) 14
Series 26 (1975) 16
Series 27 (1976) 18
Series 28 (1977) 20
Series 29 (1978) 22
Series 30 (1979) 23
Series 33 (1982-3) 27
Series 34 (1983-4) 28
Series 35 (1984-5) 30
Series 36 (1985-86) 32
Series 37 (1987) 32
Index 37
My Word ran from 1956 to 1990. “Experimental” episodes were broadcast on the Midlands Service in June 1956. The first broadcast on the Home Service occurred on Tuesday, January 2, 19571 with chairman John Arlott, Frank Muir and Isobel Barnett vs. Nancy Spain and Denis Norden.
Panelists:
AF = Antonia Fraser
AM = Alfred Marks
ASJ = Anne Scott-James
BT = Barry Took
DN = Denis Norden
DP = Dilys Powell (1901-1995)
FM = Frank Muir (1920-1998)
IB = Isobel Barnett
IT = Irene Thomas
JW = John Wells
KW = Katherine Whitehorn
NS = Nancy Spain
Chairpersons (in order of appearance):
JA = John Arlott [1956-1957 only]
JL = Jack Longland (b.1905-d.1993)
JJN = John Julius Norwich
AF = Antonia Fraser
MOD = Michael O’Donnell
Compilers:
EJM = Edward J. Mason (not credited)
JL = Jack Longland
PM = Peter Moore
Producers:
TS = Tony Shryane
BJ = Bobby Jaye
PA = Pete Atkin
Explanation of dating and ordering: We do not have an official or authoritative episode list to serve as a guide for dating individual episodes. We have used a variety of clues to produce a draft ordering of the episodes:
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We have used the copies of the Radio Times in Australiian and American libraries to define the series dates, lengths and participants.
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Occasionally we are able to precisely date an individual show based on references to events chronicled elsewhere. Some of these references are Frank’s purchase of a villa in Corsica, Frank’s 25th wedding anniversary, and currency decimalisation. Sometimes a special venue or a participant substitution also provides a date.
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A fairly well-defined pattern of alternating Denis or Frank going first suggests where series boundaries or missing episodes occur in the recordings available.
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The repeat broadcast orders in Australia, New Zealand, and the US have been used as circumstantial evidence of the roder of original broadcasts. This is a large assumption – we know there are vagaries in the BBC Transcription Service order as originally distributed, in the US distribution channel (WFMT FineArts), and in the broadcast stations in Australia and the US.
THIS IS A DRAFT ORDERING OF EPISODES.
Corrections and suggestions are welcomed. Research by John Lucas, Martin Hood and Sandy Finlayson. Additional research, corrections and comments have been provided by Alexander Lucas, Jean-Joseph Cote, and Roger Bickerton.
Date
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Episode
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Program Details
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Cast
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Parameters
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Location
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S
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06-Jun-1956
| Pilot |
Broadcast on the Midland Home Service, 7-7:30 pm
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01-Jan-1957
| Series 1 (1957)
S01e01
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An edited repeat of the pilot episode
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8-8:30 pm, HS
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08-Jan-1957
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S01e02
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15-Jan-1957
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S01e03
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22-Jan-1957
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S01e04
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29-Jan-1957
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S01e05
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8:40-9 pm, 20 min only
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05-Feb-1957
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S01e06
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12-Feb-1957
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S01e07
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19-Feb-1957
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S01e08
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05-Aug-1957
| Series 2 (1957)
S02e01
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7-7:30 pm, HS
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12-Aug-1957
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S02e02
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19-Aug-1957
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S02e03
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26-Aug-1957
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S02e04
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8:05-8:25 pm, 2o min only
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02-Sep-1957
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S02e05
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09-Sep-1957
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S02e06
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04-Oct-1957
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S02e07
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9:45-10:15 pm
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11-Oct-1957
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S02e08
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18-Oct-1957
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S02e09
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25-Oct-1957
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S02e10
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01-Jul-1962
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S10e01
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100th Edition - "Seated one day at the altar" (Greg Linden)
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08-Jul-1962
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S10e02
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"With all her faults, I love her still" (Greg Linden)
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15-Jul-1962
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S10e03
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22-Jul-1962
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S10e04
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29-Jul-1962
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S10e05
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05-Aug-1962
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S10e06
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12-Aug-1962
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S10e07
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"Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner" (Greg Linden)
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19-Aug-1962
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S10e08
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26-Aug-1962
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S10e09
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"The age of chivalry is gone" (Greg Linden)
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #101
| -
Vocabularies: marginalia, roboright, Erse, paravane
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Verse: Gray’s “…Distant view of Eton College”, Gilbert Bab Ballads, Milton “Lysidas”, Shakespeare “Richard II”
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Origins and derivations: put the kibosh on, lay by the heels, Baedecker rains, cast sheep’s eyes
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“Two blacks do not make a white” (DN)/ “My bonny lies over the ocean” (FM)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 03-Jun-2004
27:43, 12995, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #102
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Vocabularies: Janeite, about-sledge, dan, wertherism
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Books and characters: Smee, Mr. Goldfinger, Mr. Slope, Abel Mankwitch
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Poetry and verse: Marlowe “The passionate shepherd and his love”, Carroll “Bruno and Sylvie”, Rossetti “The blessed damoiselle”, Shakespeare “Henry VIII”
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French and Latin sayings: cherche la femme, sic transit Gloria muni, mens sana in corpose sano, dulcie et decorum est
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“The die is cast” (FM) / “Keep right on to the end of the road” (DN)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 10-Jun-2004
27:20, 12820, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #103
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Vocabularies: romaunt, furbish, animacule, tort
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Descriptions: gorgons, Don Juan, Peter Pan, Shakespeare
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French and Latin tags: QED, if youth only knew…, O tempore o mores, morituri te salutem
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Origins and Derivations: haversack, a decent chap, delirium, checkmate
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“Sweet are the uses of adversity” (DN) / “The better part of valour is discretion” (FM)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 17-Jun-2004
27:42, 12989, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #104
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Vocabularies: emeritus, perigee, salacious, telearchics
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Who or What Was: Alatlanta, Atlantis, Bucephalus, Calypso
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Origins and Derivations: to lay it on with a trowel, to sail the high seas, to feel hipped, to browbeat
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Shakespeare: What You Will, Shakespeare’s children, plays with more than one part, a wound
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“Here’s to the girl with the pair of blue eyes” (DN) / “I wonder who’s kissing her now” (FM)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 24-Jun-2004
27:42, 12989, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #105
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Vocabularies: desiderata, ruth, siffleur, rumtum
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Rigins and Derivations: hooligan, moonraker, namby-pamby, knickerbockers
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Authors: George Eliot, Jack London, Harrison Amesworth, Thomas Hardy
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Who/Why/Where: The bell in Edmonton, ate mince and quince with a runcible spoon, Walrus doubts the strand can be swept, Winnie the Pooh
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“Oh what a beautiful morning” (FM)/ “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean” (DN)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 01-Jul-2004
27:17, 12793, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #106
| -
Vocabularies: gingival, flocsinocinihilipilification, meed, hymnody
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Shakeperean first lines: Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Merry Wives of Windsor
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Verse and Poetry: Ode to a Nightingale by Keats, Time I’ve Lost in Wooing by Thomas More, Hamlet, Goldsmith about Garrick
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Origins and Derivations: slough of despond, belfry, barracking, catchpole
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“Slow and steady wins the race” (DN) / “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” (FM)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 08-Jul-2004
27:37, 12951, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #107
| -
Vocabularies: rahat lakoom, jobation, fleming, hoky poky
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Court questions: court cupboard, court plaster, court of pied power, court of love
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Origins and Derivations: out Herod Herod, Clerk known as Nobby, italics, to peach on someone
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Who/Why/What/Where: rook as parson, Great Plague, Tennyson’s “The Revenge”, Herrick’s “Julia”
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“I will return” (FM)/ “Should auld acquaintance be forgot” (DN)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 15-Jul-2004
27:36, 12945, m
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MH D/L
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G
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1962-1964
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?
ABC #108
| -
Vocabularies: hagiolatry, sabreur, indigene, gnosis
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Verse and Poetry: Tennyson’s The Brook, Kingsley’s The Sands of Dee, Poe’s Annabelle Lee, Omar Khayaim
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Origins and Derivations: for a song, backroom boys, to be made a cat’s paw, baggage
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Call words: call a man out, call bird, call of the House, call day
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“All quiet on the western front” (DN) / “A little more than kin and less than kind” (FM)
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DP, FM, NS, DN
JL
EJM, TS
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ABC, 22-Jul-2004
27:17, 12794, m
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MH D/L
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G
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