From Chaucer to Carry On to Clary, Britons have long lapped it up. So to speak. And a master such as the late Humphrey Lyttelton made almost anything sound unspeakably filthy.
From Chaucer to Carry On to Clary, Britons have long lapped it up. So to speak. And a master such as the late Humphrey Lyttelton made almost anything sound unspeakably filthy.
When Humphrey Lyttelton was described in a newspaper as the "purveyor of blue-chip filth to middle England", he took it as a compliment. And, curiously, it was meant as one.Lyttleton with his jazz hat on
When Humphrey Lyttelton was described in a newspaper as the "purveyor of blue-chip filth to middle England", he took it as a compliment. And, curiously, it was meant as one.
The presenter of the panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, who died last Friday, would get a roar from the audience every time he mentioned its most popular game, Mornington Crescent. But when he began: "Samantha tells me she has to nip out now..." there would be the silence of delicious anticipation. It felt like Lyttelton's solo.
The presenter of the panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, who died last Friday, would get a roar from the audience every time he mentioned its most popular game, Mornington Crescent. But when he began: "Samantha tells me she has to nip out now..." there would be the silence of delicious anticipation. It felt like Lyttelton's solo.
What followed was often so smutty that the BBC felt it could only be heard on Sunday lunchtimes, weekday early evenings, and by millions of people who would otherwise claim not to know a single dirty joke.
What followed was often so smutty that the BBC felt it could only be heard on Sunday lunchtimes, weekday early evenings, and by millions of people who would otherwise claim not to know a single dirty joke.
Samantha is the show's scorer, and has an active social life. She once trained opera singers - "having seen what she did to the baritone, the director is keen to see what she might do for a tenor," as Lyttleton put it - while her baking instructor "popped her bread rolls straight into his mouth and he's promised to try her muffin next week". Of a builder, "she was pleased to see his tender won, but was startled when it suddenly grew to twice its size". Samantha is a qualified croupier and often works at an exclusive Soho club where gamblers pay top money to pay roulette all day and poker all night Humphrey Lyttelton
Samantha is the show's scorer, and has an active social life. She once trained opera singers - "having seen what she did to the baritone, the director is keen to see what she might do for a tenor," as Lyttelton put it - while her baking instructor "popped her bread rolls straight into his mouth and he's promised to try her muffin next week". Of a builder, "she was pleased to see his tender won, but was startled when it suddenly grew to twice its size". Samantha is a qualified croupier and works at an exclusive Soho club where gamblers pay top money to pay roulette all day and poker all night Humphrey Lyttelton
Equally startled was Lyttelton, who every week managed to seem the victim rather than the perpetrator, a nice old man who had been slipped a verbal whoopee cushion by the impertinent comics he was reluctantly forced to keep in line.
Equally startled was Lyttelton, who every week managed to seem the victim rather than the perpetrator, a nice old man who had been slipped a verbal whoopee cushion by the impertinent comics he was reluctantly forced to keep in line.
Barry Cryer, a panellist on the Radio 4 show since it started, and a friend of Lyttelton's for more than 50 years, says: "He had this tired, patrician air about him and he would read the lines with an air of complete innocence.
Barry Cryer, a panellist on the Radio 4 show since it started, and a friend of Lyttelton's for more than 50 years, says: "He had this tired, patrician air about him and he would read the lines with an air of complete innocence.
"It wouldn't have worked if he had done it in a knowing way. It was a shared experience with the audience, as he only seemed to realise what he had said at the same time as they did. He had this brilliant gift of appearing not to know what he was doing."
"It wouldn't have worked if he had done it in a knowing way. It was a shared experience with the audience, as he only seemed to realise what he had said at the same time as they did. He had this brilliant gift of appearing not to know what he was doing."
This became his act, but it was how the jazz musician had actually felt when he was unexpectedly asked to chair a panel game. As he drove to the first show, he felt bewildered, embarrassed and grumpy.
This became his act, but it was how the jazz musician had actually felt when he was unexpectedly asked to chair a panel game. As he drove to the first show, he felt bewildered, embarrassed and grumpy.
"I've hung on to that particular thought since 1972," he told an interviewer last year. Even though he soon grew to love the programme, the persona never changed.
"I've hung on to that particular thought since 1972," he told an interviewer last year. Even though he soon grew to love the programme, the persona never changed.
So while it might not have looked like a performing style, it was a very good one.
So while it might not have looked like a performing style, it was a very good one.
Ooo and er
Ooo and er
David Benson, an actor who has written and performed one-man West End shows about Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd, says performers have capitalised on their audience's reaction in different ways.
David Benson, an actor who has written and performed one-man West End shows about Kenneth Williams and Frankie Howerd, says performers have capitalised on their audience's reaction in different ways.
"Howerd [did] the mock outrage 'how dare you' approach. Benny Hill and Max Miller would give a cheeky smile as if to say 'Aha! Your minds are as dirty as mine!' There are many ways to play it, but of course it all begins and ends with good writing." The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon Mercutio in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
"Howerd [did] the mock outrage 'how dare you' approach. Benny Hill and Max Miller would give a cheeky smile as if to say 'Aha! Your minds are as dirty as mine!' There are many ways to play it, but of course it all begins and ends with good writing." The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon Mercutio in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Those comedians are long gone, and were it not for Lyttelton, it would be easy to think of British innuendo as being a century or so of history that first got its end up in the music halls, rubbed up against some saucy postcards along the way, then had a final, brilliant (de)flowering with Private Widdle and co in the Carry On films.
Those comedians are long gone, and were it not for Lyttelton, it would be easy to think of British innuendo as being a century or so of history that first got its end up in the music halls, rubbed up against some saucy postcards along the way, then had a final, brilliant (de)flowering with Private Widdle and co in the Carry On films.
But try this for size, Samantha. What is the "small miracle that hangs near a man's thigh, stiff, strong, bold, brassy and pierced in front"?
But try this for size, Samantha. What is the "small miracle that hangs near a man's thigh, stiff, strong, bold, brassy and pierced in front"?
Shame on you. It's a key, or a sheath for a dagger. Actually, we can only guess the clean half of the double entendre because it was written by an Anglo-Saxon monk more than 1,000 years ago.Chaucer also loved a bit of innuendo, although the naughty bits were deleted from the editions at my school, and Shakespeare had a Benny Hill moment when he had Romeo's friend Mercutio saying "the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon". A few quick twists of the wrist and it comes off in a couple of seconds... Mind you I haven't had it off in ages, so it was very stiff this morning A lens cap, as described to Viz's Finbarr Saunders
Shame on you. It's a key, or a sheath for a dagger. Actually, we can only guess the clean half of the double entendre because it was written by an Anglo-Saxon monk more than 1,000 years ago.Chaucer also loved a bit of innuendo, although the naughty bits were deleted from the editions at my school, and Shakespeare had a Benny Hill moment when he had Romeo's friend Mercutio saying "the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon". A few quick twists of the wrist and it comes off in a couple of seconds... Mind you I haven't had it off in ages, so it was very stiff this morning A lens cap, as described to Viz's Finbarr Saunders
Innuendo has always been with us, because it has always been useful. Brett Mills, a lecturer in film and television studies at the University of East Anglia and an expert on situation comedy, says: "It allows us to refer to sex - a very repressed topic, especially in England - but as it's done comedically it doesn't have the power or impact that a serious statement about sex might have."
Innuendo has always been with us, because it has always been useful. Brett Mills, a lecturer in film and television studies at the University of East Anglia and an expert on situation comedy, says: "It allows us to refer to sex - a very repressed topic, especially in England - but as it's done comedically it doesn't have the power or impact that a serious statement about sex might have."
So while the BBC guidelines used to warn programme makers to avoid innuendo "at all costs", writers and performers have never been able to live without it. The Goon Show got round the ban with phrases like "pink oboe" and "vermillion sock", which had been used in the armed forces but of which BBC managers were ignorant.
So while the BBC guidelines used to warn programme makers to avoid innuendo "at all costs", writers and performers have never been able to live without it. The Goon Show got round the ban with phrases like "pink oboe" and "vermillion sock", which had been used in the armed forces but of which BBC managers were ignorant.
By the time Porridge came on screen in the 1970s, there was much more sexual innuendo permitted, but swearing was still tightly controlled, so a new word - "nerk" - had to be invented as a term of abuse.
By the time Porridge came on screen in the 1970s, there was much more sexual innuendo permitted, but swearing was still tightly controlled, so a new word - "nerk" - had to be invented as a term of abuse.
Still at it
Still at it
But in societies that now talk about little except sex, do we still even need innuendo? And when she saw the sizeOf his hot meat piesIt very near turned her head Ernie (the fastest milkman in the West) by Benny Hill
But in societies that now talk about little except sex, do we still even need innuendo? And when she saw the sizeOf his hot meat piesIt very near turned her head Ernie (the fastest milkman in the West) by Benny Hill
Yes, one reason being that even in places like Britain, we can't talk about it in every situation. ''There is more innuendo flying around the average office than in a decade of Carry On films," says Benson.
Yes, one reason being that even in places like Britain, we can't talk about it in every situation. ''There is more innuendo flying around the average office than in a decade of Carry On films," says Benson.
It also allows the odd "dog whistle" to be broadcast to an adult audience. For those who think Dr Who is just for kids, a sly reference to Captain Jack Harkness's sexuality can seem like a reward for watching.
It also allows the odd "dog whistle" to be broadcast to an adult audience. For those who think Dr Who is just for kids, a sly reference to Captain Jack Harkness's sexuality can seem like a reward for watching.
The fact that Benny Hill's character Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West, "gets his cocoa" with Sue three times a week means that a tale of promiscuity and murder sits comfortably on my two-year-old daughter's music compilation, along with Nellie the Elephant and You're a Pink Toothbrush - although Graham Norton could do wonders with the latter.Here come the naughty bits...
The fact that Benny Hill's character Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West, "gets his cocoa" with Sue three times a week means that a tale of promiscuity and murder sits comfortably on my two-year-old daughter's music compilation, along with Nellie the Elephant and You're a Pink Toothbrush - although Graham Norton could do wonders with the latter.Here come the naughty bits...
Dr Mills says a less restrictive climate might make innuendo less necessary. "There's still a lot of pleasure from it - Julian Clary says very obviously rude things, to the point where's there's almost no innuendo, and the pleasure is in that excess."
Dr Mills says a less restrictive climate might make innuendo less necessary. "There's still a lot of pleasure from it - Julian Clary says very obviously rude things, to the point where's there's almost no innuendo, and the pleasure is in that excess."
Cryer says there was a reaction against the innuendo-filled 60s and 70s, and a feeling that "why don't they say what they mean?" But he says that missed the point - the best innuendo still works because the audience admires its skill and enjoys working out the meaning.
Cryer says there was a reaction against the innuendo-filled 60s and 70s, and a feeling that "why don't they say what they mean?" But he says that missed the point - the best innuendo still works because the audience admires its skill and enjoys working out the meaning.
He says Lyttelton's air of innocence, and his immense popularity, enabled him to take the curse off what he was saying - meaning that Lyttelton defused the content - but it may also be true that he took the curse off innuendo itself, for those who had come to think of it as naff.
He says Lyttelton's air of innocence, and his immense popularity, enabled him to take the curse off what he was saying - meaning that Lyttelton defused the content - but it may also be true that he took the curse off innuendo itself for those who'd come to think of it as naff.
As Samantha might have said, what a useful tool it is. The March Hare may have urged Alice to "say what you mean", but in our more confusing world, we will always need a way of saying what we don't mean.
As Samantha might have said, what a useful tool it is. The March Hare may have urged Alice to "say what you mean", but in our more confusing world, we will always need a way of saying what we don't mean.
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