SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Classic BBC radio comedy series presented by Kenneth Horne. In each show two out of work gay chorus boys Julian (Paddick) and Sandy (Williams) enact a sketch where their entrepreneurial businesses are visited by Horne. In this episode, in a sketch entitled Bona Bookshop, Jules recites the Seven Ages of Man speech from As You Like It in palare with heartfelt and shrill encouragement from Sandy. The climax is the account of ‘second childishness . . nanti Hampsteads, nanti minces, nanti riah, nanti everything’.

Series

Round the Horne

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Radio

Transmission details

21 Apr 1968 (Channel: BBC Light Programme)

Duration

30 mins

Credits

Producer

John Simmonds

Writer

Barry Took; Brian Cooke; Johnnie Mortimer

Cast

Hugh Paddick	Julian (Jaques)
Kenneth Horne
Kenneth Williams	Sandy

Additional Details

Production type

Sitcoms/Variety

Plays

As You Like It

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes

Available from retailers on the compilation tape/CD The Bona World of Julian and Sandy issued 1996.

General

Polari (or palare) is a mixture of Lingua franca, Italian, Romany, backslang, rhyming slang, and thieves’ cant. Originating in the 18th century, it was a constantly developing form of language, with a small lexicon of about 20 words (including bona, ajax, eek, cod, naff, lattie, nanti, omi, palone, riah, zhoosh, TBH, trade, vada), with over 500 other less well-known items. Polari was used by coster-mongers, actors, and in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s by the gay subculture.. It was used primarily to disguise homosexual activity from potentially hostile outsiders [Wikipedia]. Terence Hawkes in his article ‘Nanti Everything’ in Bryan Reynolds and William N. West (eds) Rematerializing Shakespeare; Authority and Representation on the Early Modern Stage, (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p130-8 analyses the speech concluding that in proposing polari slang as an alternative to Shakespearean language, the ‘outlawed’ homosexual characters call for ‘acceptance into and recognition by the culture that has outlawed them’.

History

Broadcast in series 4, episode 9.

Reviews

Professor Terence Hawkes in a shaksper.net discussion list posting 2 February 1999 writes: ‘The ‘Seven Ages of Omi’, as delivered by Hugh Paddick, with shrill encouragement from Kenneth Williams has, in my view, classic status. Wholly outrageous yet - momentarily and astonishingly- moving, its climax is the account of ‘second childishness . . nanty Hampsteads, nanty minces, nanty riah, nanty everything’.

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Archive

Name

British Library Sound Archive

Email

listening@bl.uk

Web

http://www.bl.uk/nsa External site opens in new window

Phone

020 7412 7676

Fax

020 7412 7441

Address

96 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DB

Online Retailer

Name

bbcshop.com

Web

http://www.bbcshop.com/ External site opens in new window

Phone

0870 241 5490

Fax

01795 414 555