Denis Norden 1922-2018

[cloughie]

Just heard about the death of Denis Norden. His partnership with Frank Muir is what I will always remember him for, particularly the wonderful tales they used to tell of ‘My Word’. RIP Denis.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[BBMmk2]

Another great departure from us. He had a gentle kind of humour. RIP

[burning dog]

Sellers, Muir and Norden


"But Balham is not neglecting the cultural side. This is Eugene Quills, whose weekly recitals are attended by a vast concord of people. He has never had a lesson in his life. Such is the enthusiasm of Balham's music lovers that they are subscribing to a fund to send Eugene to Italy....... Or Vienna. .....Or..... anywhere.."

..........................................

Twit (Conway):
...... Um, my dream is one day to play Old Vic in Shakespeare.
Nancy (Lisbon):
Oh - how sweet! You are fond of Shakespeare?
Twit:
Eh?
Nancy:
Are you fond of Shakespeare?
Twit:
Er - we are just good friends.

[gradus]

'Broad bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign, stands Bal-Ham four-square on the Northern Line. Matched by no marvel save in eastern scene a rose-red city half as Golders Green.'
Lovely Denis, many thanks for the laughs over the years.

[LMcD]

Many years ago, we would to go to the Commonwealth Institute to watch recordings of 'My Music' hosted by Steve Race. One of the questions, put to Ian Wallace, involved a tenor being paid £10 just for singing the word 'Yes' (Si) on one side of a recording of 'Don Giovanni'. About 10 minutes later DN suddenly said 'I know a famous soprano who was paid £10 for saying "yes". For some reason this quip did not feature in the broadcast version....

[ardcarp]

[Serial_Apologist]

'Broad bosomed, bold, becalmed, benign, stands Bal-Ham four-square on the Northern Line. Matched by no marvel save in eastern scene a rose-red city half as Golders Green.'
Lovely Dennis, many thanks for the laughs over the years.

One of the cleverest parody quotes ever, that, and from the Victorian poet John Burgon. I'd always thought it to be from Eliot. Actually, truth to tell, I'd had that EP with "Balham" on the A side since I was at school, never realising it to be a quote from anywhere. The humour of Norden's generation, nowadays maligned as of no appeal to ours, was often full of learned references of that kind, one now realises; maybe our elders really were our betters where learning was concerned. Foursquare, on the Norden Line.

[Bryn]

Can anyone here recall the whole of his brilliant take on "A rose, is a rose, is a rose"? I remember the "Arose Cicero's" part, but not the rest. Was is perhaps "his heroes"?

[vinteuil]

Can anyone here recall the whole of his brilliant take on "A rose, is a rose, is a rose"? I remember the "Arose Cicero's" part, but not the rest. Was is perhaps "his heroes"?

... wasn't cirrhosis in there?

.

[Bryn]

That may well have been it. Thanks, but what was the whole phrase? It was so stunningly good, at the time, but so long ago.

[Lat-Literal]

So sorry to hear this news.

I thought, though, he had gone before now.

Also, the posts on "My Word" didn't quite resonate to me.

Forgetfulness.

But the names meant a lot re "My Music".

I think I need to revisit my comedy history to see the extent of his inputs which were no doubt considerable.

Denis Norden RIP -

[Keraulophone]

‘We are now entering Old Balham. Time has passed by this remote corner; so shall we.’

Such was the annihilation of my birthplace that I used to say I was born overlooking Clapham Common, which also happens to be true.

There are ten editions of My Music to be savoured on YT, eg https://youtu.be/2kfC80Tuobs Their speaking, and singing, voices were so distinctive. The chairman and panel are now reunited for eternal japes and gentle humour.

R.I.P. Denis and friends.

[LMcD]

‘We are now entering Old Balham. Time has passed by this remote corner; so shall we.’

Such was the annihilation of my birthplace that I used to say I was born overlooking Clapham Common, which also happens to be true.

There are ten editions of My Music to be savoured on YT, eg https://youtu.be/2kfC80Tuobs Their speaking, and singing, voices were so distinctive. The chairman and panel are now reunited for eternal japes and gentle humour.
R.I.P. Denis and friends.

Thank you, I shall take a trip down memory lane! The episodes which we saw were recorded at the start of the 1970s.

[BillMatters]

Can anyone here recall the whole of his brilliant take on "A rose, is a rose, is a rose"? I remember the "Arose Cicero's" part, but not the rest. Was is perhaps "his heroes"?

It was 'arrows, sees Harrow, Cicero'. All to do with a dream and being on a train at Harrow. Frank also did the same phrase as 'our roses arose, is a rose Cicero's?'

My favourite Denis saying was Descartes 'I think, therefore, I am' . The Descartes had organised a late night party and the egg and bacon flan was about to be eaten, to stop this Descartes writes a message saying 'I think they're for 1 a.m.'.