Frank Muir's Sketchwriters
by plwimsett | created - 06 Mar 2014 | updated - 07 Mar 2014 | PublicThese people wrote sketches in Frank Muir's (which see) Book of Comedy Sketches
1. Peter Cook
Actor | The Princess Bride
One of four stars of the London and New York revues Beyond the Fringe and Beyond the Fringe (with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, and Dudley Moore). Later created scatological comedy routine "Derek & Clive" with Moore.
The most popular writer in the book. Has several sketches which he wrote with Pieces of Eight-Not An Asp, Hand Up Your Sticks, Critic's Choice and One Leg Too Few; Beyond the Fringe-TVPM, Take a Pew, The Great Train Robbery.
2. Ronnie Barker
Actor | The Two Ronnies
Ronnie Barker's remarkable versatility as a performer can be traced back to his time in repertory theatre, where he was able to play a wide range of roles and develop his talent for accents, voices and verbal dexterity. It was during this time that he met Glenn Melvyn, who taught him how to stammer ...
Wrote sketches as Gerald Wiley-Doctor's Waiting Room.
3. Noël Coward
Writer | In Which We Serve
Noel Coward virtually invented the concept of Englishness for the 20th century. An astounding polymath - dramatist, actor, writer, composer, lyricist, painter, and wit -- he was defined by his Englishness as much as he defined it. He was indeed the first Brit pop star, the first ambassador of "cool...
Wrote revue sketches Sorry You've Been Troubled, Growing Pains and The Order of the Day.
4. Harold Pinter
Actor | Mansfield Park
Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate for Literature, was born October 10, 1930, in London's working-class Hackney district to Hyman and Frances Pinter, Eastern European Jews who had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Portugal. Hyman (known as "Jack") was a tailor specializing in women's ...
More famous for his plays, wrote Trouble in the Works.
5. Michael Palin
Writer | Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Michael Palin is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He was one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python.
After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over ...
Wrote Hendon, Forgery, Report on the Village Fete, Christmas Oath, for The Frost Report. Wrote Hello (Party sketch) for Two Ronnies.
6. Terry Jones
Writer | The Meaning of Life
Terry Jones was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of Dilys Louisa (Newnes), a homemaker, and Alick George Parry Jones, a bank clerk. His older brother is production designer Nigel Jones. His grandparents were involved in the entertainment business, having managed the local Amateur Operatic ...
Wrote Hendon, Forgery, Report on the Village Fete for the Frost Report. Wrote Hello (party sketch) for Two Ronnies.
7. David Nobbs
Actor | The Wedding Date
David Nobbs was born on March 13, 1935 in Orpington, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Wedding Date (2005), Tommy Cooper (1969) and The Frost Report (1966). He was married to Susan Bray and Mary Blatchford. He died on August 9, 2015 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK.
Wrote Repeats and Orgy and Less for Two Ronnies.
8. Dick Vosburgh
Writer | The Stanley Baxter Show
Dick Vosburgh was born on August 27, 1929 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Stanley Baxter Show (1963), Tommy Cooper (1969) and Planet Patrol (1963). He was married to Beryl Roques. He died on April 18, 2007 in London, England, UK.
Wrote (bad) secretary sketch for Frost Report, Sketcherism Spoon for The Frost Report.
9. Neil Shand
Writer | Carrott's Lib
Neil Shand was born on March 3, 1934 in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Carrott's Lib (1982), Mike Yarwood in Persons (1976) and Carrott Confidential (1987). He was married to Judith Keppel, Pamela Reeves and Mary Massie. He died on April 14, 2018 in Winteringham, North...
Co-wrote Strangers When We Meet for Two Ronnies.
10. Barry Cryer
Writer | The Stanley Baxter Show
Barry Cryer was born on March 23, 1935 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Stanley Baxter Show (1963), Tommy Cooper (1969) and The Russ Abbot Show (1986). He was married to Theresa Margaret 'Terry' Donovan. He died on January 25, 2022 in Northwick Park, Harrow...
Wrote Chancellor of the Exchequer and Nows at Ton for Two Ronnies,
11. Barry Took
Writer | Marty
Barry Took was born on June 19, 1928 in Muswell Hill, North London, England, UK. He was a writer and producer, known for Marty (1968), Laugh-In (1967) and Grubstreet (1972). He died on March 31, 2002 in London, England, UK.
Wrote the Educating Alec sketch with Marty Feldman.
12. Marty Feldman
Actor | Young Frankenstein
"I am too old to die young, and too young to grow up," Marty Feldman told a reporter -- a week before he died.
This beloved comedian, who poked fun at himself, as well as others, was born Martin Alan Feldman on July 8, 1934, in London, England. His parents were of Ukrainian Jewish heritage (from ...
Wrote the Educating Alec sketch with Barry Took.
13. Frank Muir
Writer | The Seven Faces of Jim
Frank Muir was born on February 5, 1920 in Broadstairs, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Seven Faces of Jim (1961), The Frost Report (1966) and Bachelor in Paris (1952). He was married to Polly McIrvine. He died on January 2, 1998 in Thorpe, Surrey, England, UK.
The creator of this book. Wrote the Balham sketch for Peter Sellers, and Common Entrance and the Private Lives sketch,. with Denis Norden.
14. Denis Norden
Writer | Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
Denis Norden was born on February 6, 1922 in Hackney, London, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), The Seven Faces of Jim (1961) and Every Home Should Have One (1970). He was married to Esther Avril Rosen (1921-2018). He died on September 19, 2018 in ...
15. Robb Wilton
Actor | Two's Company
Robb Wilton was born on August 28, 1881 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Two's Company (1936), The Love Match (1955) and It's Love Again (1936). He was married to Florence Palmer. He died on May 1, 1957 in London, England, UK.
Created The Day War Broke Out sketches.
16. Reginald Beckwith
Actor | Thunderball
Reginald Beckwith was born on November 2, 1908 in York, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Thunderball (1965), Curse of the Demon (1957) and Sword of Lancelot (1963). He died on June 26, 1965 in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
17. Alan Bennett
Writer | The Lady in the Van
Alan Bennett is an award-winning dramatist and screenwriter who is best known as a member of Beyond the Fringe (1964) (a satirical review that was a hit on both the London stage and on Broadway and featured fellow members Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore) and for his plays The Madness ...
18. Michael Bentine
Writer | The Sandwich Man
When he appeared at the London Palladium in 1948 sporting an untidy black beard he brought the house down with a 5 minute act using an antique chair back which became a ships rudder , a harp, a flag, a comb and a cows udder, He was booked for the Royal Variety show and looked set for stardom but 5 ...
19. Bob Block
Writer | Pardon My Genie
Bob Block was born on July 20, 1921 in Plymouth, Devon, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Pardon My Genie (1972), Galloping Galaxies! (1985) and Rentaghost (1976). He was married to Madeline Gamblin. He died on April 17, 2011 in the UK.
20. Tim Brooke-Taylor
Actor | The Goodies
Tim Brooke-Taylor was born on July 17, 1940 in Buxton, Derbyshire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for The Goodies (1970), At Last the 1948 Show (1967) and Engelbert with the Young Generation (1972). He was married to Christine Wheadon. He died on April 12, 2020 in Cookham, Berkshire...
21. Rob Buckman
Writer | Doctors and Nurses
Rob Buckman was born on August 22, 1948 in London, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for Doctors and Nurses (1979), Doctor on the Go (1975) and The Pink Medicine Show (1978). He was married to Patricia Shaw. He died on October 11, 2011 in aboard a transatlantic flight from London to ...
22. John Cleese
Actor | A Fish Called Wanda
John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...
23. Ian Davidson
Composer | Mission Top Secret
Ian Davidson is known for Mission Top Secret (1993), Crosstalk (1982) and Escape from Jupiter (1994).
24. Herbert Farjeon
Herbert Farjeon was born on October 27, 1879 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Ex-Flame (1930), The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946) and Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). He was married to Claribel Fontaine. He died on November 3, 1972 in San Marcos, California, USA.
25. Hermione Gingold
Actress | Gigi
One of stage, screen, radio and TV's most inimitable, irrepressible entertainers, Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was born in London on December 9, 1897, the daughter of an upscale Austrian-Jewish financier and English homemaker. The blue-eyed blonde loved to perform in school plays and made her ...
26. Harry Tate
Actor | Motoring
Harry Tate born Ronald Hutchison in Scotland in 1872. Tate worked for Harry Tate & Sons, Sugar Refiners before going on the theatre, and took his stage name from them. British comedian, made his stage debut at the Oxford Music Hall in 1895, becoming a highly well-known impressionist of popular ...
27. Michael Bentine
Writer | The Sandwich Man
When he appeared at the London Palladium in 1948 sporting an untidy black beard he brought the house down with a 5 minute act using an antique chair back which became a ships rudder , a harp, a flag, a comb and a cows udder, He was booked for the Royal Variety show and looked set for stardom but 5 ...
28. Doug Fisher
Writer | Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life
Doug Fisher is known for Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life (1964), Between the Lines (1964) and Ronnie Corbett in Bed (1971).
29. Irene Handl
Actress | The Italian Job
English character actress best known for her many portrayals of feisty cockney types, ranging from barmaids to landladies, charwomen to cooks. Unlike her working class screen personae, Irene's parentage was quite cosmopolitan, her father (Frederick) a Viennese banker, her mother (Maria) a French ...
30. Roger McGough
Writer | But Seriously, It's Sheila Hancock
Roger McGough was born on November 9, 1937 in Liverpool, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for But Seriously, It's Sheila Hancock (1972), Plays for Britain (1976) and At Lunchtime: A Story of Love (2011).
31. Jonathan Miller
Producer | Cosi Fan Tutte
Jonathan Miller was born on July 21, 1934 in London, England, UK. He was a producer and writer, known for Cosi Fan Tutte (1986), Sunday Night (1965) and Sensitive Skin (2005). He was married to Helen Rachel Collet. He died on November 27, 2019 in London, England, UK.
32. David Nobbs
Actor | The Wedding Date
David Nobbs was born on March 13, 1935 in Orpington, Kent, England, UK. He was a writer, known for The Wedding Date (2005), Tommy Cooper (1969) and The Frost Report (1966). He was married to Susan Bray and Mary Blatchford. He died on August 9, 2015 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK.
33. Nigel Rees
Writer | Cabbages and Kings
Nigel Rees was born on June 5, 1944 in England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Cabbages and Kings (1979), Harry Enfield and Chums (1994) and Amoebas to Zebras (1986).
34. Peter Shaffer
Writer | Amadeus
Peter Shaffer was born on May 15, 1926 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Amadeus (1984), Equus (1977) and The Public Eye (1972). He died on June 6, 2016 in County Cork, Ireland.
35. Peter Vincent
Writer | The Two Ronnies
Peter Vincent is known for The Two Ronnies (1971), Tommy Cooper (1969) and The Brittas Empire (1991).
36. Keith Waterhouse
Writer | A Kind of Loving
Keith Waterhouse was born on February 6, 1929 in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for A Kind of Loving (1962), Billy Liar (1963) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961). He died on September 4, 2009 in London, England, UK.
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