Band Waggon

'Big-Hearted' Arthur Askey, Richard 'Stinker' Murdoch and Lewis the goat live happily on the roof of the BBC: this was the premise of the 'Band Waggon' radio show, though the format was expanded for the cinema to take in a haunted castle, spies, etc. This mouldy bit of (just) pre-war England, with its jokes about long-forgottengardening correspondents, at least mirrors the European situation by its confusion over whether the heavies are Russian or German. Askey's stridency and the way he keeps sticking out his bum by way of a funny walk will irritate all who don't keep bound copies of the Dandy, Beano and Radio Fun.