Bob Monkhouse

I hadn’t planned this post until I saw the fascinating documentary The Secret Life of Bob Monkhouse on BBC4 last night. For many people of my generation we grew up with Bob the host rather than Bob the comic. I still remember settling down on Sunday afternoon to watch The Golden Shot.

What was most fascinating was the vast archive of films, tv and radio that Bob had amassed, with many programmes thought lost/wiped by the broadcasters. I’ve got nowhere near as much material as Bob had, and probably nothing as significant to the archivists. I know some of my recordings aren’t in the BBC archives and its these rarer items that probably haven’t been repeated that I’m posting on this blog.

With that in mind here’s Bob Monkhouse on the Radio 2 panel game Punch Line broadcast on Thursday 17 September 1981. I assume Bob wrote his own punch lines, though they may have been provided by sketch writers Raymond Harris, Bernard Cranwell and George Evans. The programme is presented by Leslie Randall with fellow guests Kenneth Connor and Dilys Laye. The announcer is Chris Aldred.