Monday, February 21, 2011

Lord Bonkers' Diary: How I anticipated The King's Speech by 50 years

Lord Bonkers offers us his further recollections of the early days of commercial television.

Not every moving television programme meets with the success it deserves. In the early days of the Rutland ITV franchise we screened an hilarious comedy series ("On the Throne") based upon the Abdication crisis.

Sid James made a fine George V, with lovely Peggy Mount playing Queen Mary; there were also roles for such sterling actors as Julian Orchard and Hugh Lloyd. The outstanding figure, however, was a newcomer by the name of Ronnie Barker, who captured the stutter of the Duke of York (who became George VI in the course of the series) down to a T.

Yet it proved impossible to commission a second series when the Queen Mother let it be known that she did not care for the programme one bit. Yet I remember thinking at the time that Pat Coombs’ portrayal of her was distinctly charitable.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10.

Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary...

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