Britain is still a country for and says "Happy Birthday" to an old laughter maker and 'King of the Clipboards' called Denis Norden

The radio and tv comedy writer and presenter, Denis Norden is 90 years old today.

What you possibly didn't know about Denis, that he :



* was born in Hackney, East London, educated at the 'City of London School' at the same time as the writer Kingsley Amis, was 'considered to have a fine academic brain' and was well regarded by his peers.

* left school, worked as a stagehand then moved into cinema management and, by the age of 17, had organised variety shows, then joined the Royal Air Force in the Second World War and began writing comedy for shows for the personnel.









* after the War, co-wrote the radio show 'Take It From Here' with Frank Muir from 1948 to '59 and went on to write many successful radio and television scripts, including 'Whack-O!' and 'Faces of Jim' as vehicles for Jimmy Edwards.

* co-wrote the satirical sketch 'Balham, Gateway to the South' for the BBC Third Programme in 1958 using the voice of Peter Sellers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RTWk9QIKS0

* first broadcast 'It'll be Alright on the Night' in 1977, with out-takes from film and tv linked with his witty comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2w4u_ivJKA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye4z35ymylY&feature=related

* narrated his 'Laughter File', in the 1990's, with spoof and real adverts, practical jokes, live television mistakes and oddities which he said, "tickled our fancies, just when they needed tickling".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdPS9-zbqJc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr1rEFF1-IY

* suffers from macular degeneration and in 2009, joined Peter Sallis and Eric Sykes as a patron of the Macular Disease Society.