“I wanna tell you a story…”

“I wanna tell you a story…”

One of the first things I talked about on ‘Round the Archives’ was ‘Tell Me Another’, which was then being shown on Talking Pictures TV.

It’s basically a half hour show produced by Southern, in which different celebrities talk to writer Dick Hills about various subjects.

Warren kindly gave me the DVD of Series One and Two of ‘Tell Me Another’ for Christmas and I watched the whole of the first series over the course of one weekend.

It features a wide range of guests including Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, Ted Ray, Michael Bentine and a certain Jon Pertwee.

He tells all of his usual stories, which you will have heard if you ever had the pleasure of hearing his one man show or seen him at a ‘Doctor Who’ convention.

Many of these stories feature the mispronunciation of his surname.  One featuring a stage door keeper in New York, who referred to him as Jan Putrid. Thinking that the man was talking to someone else Jon carried on walking, only to be called again: “Hey, you! Jan Putrid! Letter for you!”. It sounds better from the original source, of course.

There is also a complicated story from Michael Bentine about his early war service as an ARP volunteer, which included a stint manning an ambulance that went terribly wrong… Again, it must be heard from the original source for the full effect.

So, if you are interested in the stars of light entertainment and variety from the mid-20^th century then I’d advise you to give it a go.

(By Lisa Parker)