Just like the flotsam and jetsam we might find on a beach, so the human memory throws up random relics of times past. Back in 1961, my father bought an unusual 45 disc which for a few weeks he played interminably on our "Dansette" record player. At the time, it seemed so absurd - such daring "alternative" comedy - written by Peter Cook and performed by Kenneth Williams...."if all the Chinamen in the world linked hands".
I had looked for this recording before within the internet's seemingly endless ersatz library shelves yet it was only this afternoon that I rediscovered it. For me it is imbued with the sense of a more innocent world and reminiscent of a time when I was just a tousle-haired eight year old boy in the bosom of my family, in the heart of rural East Yorkshire. And there was mum and dad and my three brothers and Oscar the cat and we lived in a house without central heating and I played football and climbed trees and cycled for miles and the television had only two channels and they were in black and white. "Crackerjack", "The Black and White Minstrel Show", "Sunday Night at the London Palladium"...No wonder my nose was usually buried in books.
And so I give you Kenneth Williams with "Interesting Facts". Enjoy it or sleep...
How, er, interesting! And you say your father played this interminably for four weeks? Poor dear. You must have gone mad.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting fact I learned from this very interesting recording is that arable lands are lands filled with Arabs.
Very droll, Yorky.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting? I got to 1.30 minutes before I lost the will to beachcomb the deserted beaches of Chaing Mai, where I reckon this was washed up.
ReplyDeleteI think better use would be made of it, melted into a bowl. On the bedside table it could sit waiting for your return at the end of a another exciting day in paradise. Your remaining baht could be deposited there, safer than any bank.
LLX
It is an interesting fact that I had never come across this little gem before. I must make a not of it in my interesting facts notebook.
ReplyDeleteCOMMENTATORS I wasn't saying it would be wonderful for the modern listener.It was a little piece of history from 52 years ago. Things were different then.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. I've just read all the comments. I thought it was funny. I think I must belong to a past age.
ReplyDelete