SERIES THIRTEEN

MARCH JUNE 1972

THE NAVY LARK, SERIES THIRTEEN

MARCH-JUNE 1972
EPISODES ONE TO THIRTEEN
Larking again Caldicot, Phillips and Murray: 8.2pm. Although the days of radio series gaining
major promotion in the new-look Radio Times were long past, as the fourteen officers and
175 men aboard HMS Troutbridge set sail on another series of nautical mishaps, the Radio 2
listings pages carried an in character photograph of Lieutenant-Commander Murray and SubLieutenant Phillips attempting not to be overheard by Captain Povey to emphasise the return
of the long-running Senior Service sitcom for its thirteenth series.
Following a temporary demob from HMS Troutbridge after the twelfth series in 1971, the
three stars of The Navy Lark Stephen Murray, Leslie Phillips and Jon Pertwee continued to
be in massive demand for their notable acting talents. Stephen Murray recorded the play The
Grass Widows for Anglia which was broadcast in ITVs Playhouse strand in August. After the
poor reception to the technically ambitious stage play of The Avengers which he had directed,
Leslie Phillips travelled to work in South Africa for some time, and then began to tour in a
revival of his 1968 stage comedy The Man Most Likely To in November, prior to a new West
End run at the Duke of York Theatre from December. Jon Pertwee had recorded a pilot for
a new Radio 4 panel game called Right or Wrong? in June and followed this up with further
editions over the summer as well as appearing on the Radio 2 nostalgia quiz Sounds Familiar;
from September 1971, he was also kept very busy starring in his third series of BBC1s sciencefiction adventure serial Doctor Who.
Producer Alastair Scott Johnston continued to dabble with a variety of radio productions,
notably the Radio 4 series Queens Counsel which starred Kenneth Moore as Simon Crawford
QC and was broadcast in August and September 1971. Meanwhile, writers Lawrie Wyman
and George Evans were forging ahead with their writing partnership by submitting comedy
scripts elsewhere. They contributed three scripts to Just the Job, a short-lived Radio 2 sitcom
starring Donald Sinden and Bernard Cribbins which was produced by Edward Taylor and

featured frequent Navy Lark guest voice Elizabeth Morgan. They also had a script accepted for
the successful Thames sitcom And Mother Makes Three about a widowed mother. Beyond
broadcasting, Lawrie and George were also looking at taking The Navy Lark back to the cinema,
following the spin-off which had quickly been filmed after the shows successful dbut in
1959. A potential script entitled The Navy Game was prepared and pitched to Peter Rogers,
the producer of the successful Carry On film franchise on which both Leslie Phillips and Jon
Pertwee had worked. We wrote a screenplay, but Peter didnt like it at all, George told Richard
Webber in 50 Years of Carry On (Century: 2008), He liked the second half of the script better so
asked whether wed just write a general naval comedy. We rewrote the first half and sent it in: [Carry
On director] Gerald Thomas loved it, but Peter didnt and decided against making it.
Meanwhile, the Comedy Parade pilot for The Motorway Men by Peter Child and Peter
Matthews, which had aired in March 1971, had spawned a series produced by Alastair Scott
Johnston. Eight editions were made during the autumn, starring Milo OShea as Irish a
trade union shop steward in a road gang alongside Richard Davies as the Welshman Randy
and James Beck as the Cockney Steve. The shows also featured Richard Caldicot as the senior
figure of Mr Fairfax along with Nigel Graham (a regular in The Big Business Lark), Amanda
Murray (the daughter of Stephen Murray who had made an appearance in The Navy Lark) as
Gladys, and Anthony Sagar (from The Embassy Lark) as Hanson. The series aired on Radios 1
and 2 at 8.02pm on Wednesdays from 2 February; the signature tune was New Town by Ivor
Slaney and Alan Lewis from the 1969 Conroy Library LP Orchestral Themes.
The first edition of the new series of The Navy Lark to be taped concerned Mr Murray, SubLieutenant Phillips and CPO Pertwee being used to test out wartime escape conditions. The
usual cast reassembled for the thirteenth run of shows which started recording at the Paris
Theatre on Sunday 2 January 1972. Of the rest of the cast, Heather Chasen had continued with
work in British sex movies such as Commuter Husbands as well as appearing on stage in Richard
III, Tenniel Evans had been featuring on stage in Home and Beauty and in the BBC2 serial The
Shadow of the Tower, and Michael Bates had worked on an edition of BBC1s Menace anthology.
One guest character in the first script which had been introduced to make use of Jon
Pertwees vocal talents was the Commandant of a Royal Marine training camp, a rather camp
character who delivered such sarcastic phrases as Oh you clever boy and who proved very
popular. The dialogue also had references to the now defunct American soap opera Peyton

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Place which was still proving popular on ITV regions such as Granada. The following Sunday,
the recording saw the team joined by guest star June Whitfield in the role of the German
beauty Frieda. With a considerable career in television and radio comedy since the 1950s
which included Take It From Here, Before Your Very Eyes, Hancock, More Faces of Jim, Beggar My
Neighbour, The Jimmy Logan Show (written by George Evans), The Best Things in Life and Scott
On, June had also worked with Alastair Scott Johnston on Variety Playhouse in 1962 and
Crowthers Crowd in 1963. Jon Pertwees Vice Admiral Burwasher was back talking to himself,
now often obsessing about the Green Stamps which had been given with purchases at Tesco
grocery stores since 1963. The start of the show also found Heather Chasen commenting on
how much she had enjoyed watching the controversial BBC2 serial Casanova by Dennis Potter,
which had drawn complaints from social activist Mary Whitehouse when broadcast in late 1971.
When the third edition of the new series was recorded on Sunday 16 January, Jon Pertwees
commandant voice from a fortnight earlier was pressed into service again for what would
become a new recurring character the sinister Oriental head of a terrifyingly efficient
espionage organisation who was known only as the Master. Attempting to carry out the
Masters bidding were three incompetent agents known as Numbers One, Two and Three (and
named in the script as Chop, Suey and Chow), played respectively by Tenniel Evans, Michael
Bates and Richard Caldicot. The episode also saw another shift in the status quo as LieutenantCommander Murray and his wife Rita moved out from boarding with Ritas parents and found
themselves relocated as next-door-neighbours to Captain Povey and his domineering wife
Ramona on Trafalgar Close. Continuing the in-jokes of the previous years, CPO Pertwee again
found himself being teased for his apparent obsession with Doctor Who
Writer Lawrie Wyman made his final appearance in The Navy Lark when he revived the
Dumbo character who phoned from Intelligence in the fourth edition, recorded on Sunday 23
January; Michael Bates also reprised a character from the earliest days of the show in 1959, a
dubious French smuggling contact of the expansive Pertwee clan called Pierre, while there was
also a reference to Peregrine Pertwee of the MOD, a lieutenant heard during the sixth edition
of the previous run. On this show, Leslie Phillips also played McTavish, a Scots helmsman, while
his usual alter-ego Sub-Lieutenant Phillips made reference to judicial figures such as Margaret
Lockwood (then playing barrister Harriet Peterson in the Yorkshire Television courtroom
drama Justice) and Chief Ironside (the lead character in the US police drama Ironside played by

Raymond Burr, who had starred for years as defense lawyer Perry Mason).
The Master and his terrifyingly efficient espionage organisation were back in the sixth
show, taped on Sunday 6 February. Returning to The Navy Lark for this edition was Elizabeth
Morgan, a good friend of George Evans who had previously guested on episodes since early
1969 and had been a regular in the sister show, The Big Business Lark. One of her roles in
this new script was as Pussy Abundance, a James Bond-style femme fatale named after the
character Pussy Galore in the 1959 novel (and 1964 film) Goldfinger.
The seventh edition taped on Sunday 13 February 1972 was another landmark for the
long-running series when the tape of Sub-Lieutenant Phillips kidnap was the first BBC
Light Entertainment programme to be recorded in stereo. Experimental broadcasts using
two separate sound channels had taken place since 1959 on Network Three and BBC TV
followed by periodic stereo radio programmes on Radio 3 from 1967, and it was now
planned that Radios 2 and 4 would start to transmit in stereo from the autumn of 1972. This
venture was, however, a one-off to understand how best to undertake a recording of a live
audience comedy. No further episodes would be made in this manner for the time being; the
production of radio sitcoms in stereo would restart around 1975 with shows like Radio 4s
adaptation of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?. The seventh show of the run also marked
the first appearance of another new character for Michael Bates in the form of Vice Admiral
Prout, an elderly and apparently quite meek officer whose gentle and humble comments
would soon give way to a tirade of angry rhetoric about his own importance. The script also
had comments about broadcaster David Frost who was then appearing on chat shows both
for LWT in the UK and for Group W stations in the USA.
The eighth edition, performed on Sunday 20 February, saw the familiar characters
transposed into a historical setting at the time of Admiral Lord Nelson, a device used on various
shows since the fourth series in 1961. The dialogue for this show saw Hardy played by Stephen
Murray commenting on the involvement of actress Vanessa Redgrave with the illegal civil
rights march in Ulster on Sunday 6 February, and also humming snatches of Stranger in Paradise
from the 1953 musical Kismet. In late February, the plan to record on Sunday 12 March was
changed because Jon Pertwee was required for filming on Doctor Who and instead a double
recording was scheduled to conclude the run of thirteen episodes on Sunday 19 March.

June Whitfield boarded The Navy Lark again on Sunday 27 February, this time as Madam
Elvira, one of Pertwees many dubious aunts. This story sent up the Nationwide Festival
of Light, a short-lived British Christian movement which had held mass rallies against the
permissive society in London during September 1971 and whose leading figures were social
campaigner Mary Whitehouse and journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.
Two shows were recorded on Sunday 5 March the first at 8.30pm as usual and the
latter at 9.15pm. The Master made another return for the first recording in which Mr
Phillips commented on his encounters with the head of the terrifyingly efficient espionage
organisation in previous episodes. The long-running talent show Opportunity Knocks hosted
by Hughie Green which had originated on the BBC Light Programme in 1949 and was now
a success for Thames Television formed the basis of the plot for the eleventh show which
revisited Captain Poveys obsession with farmyard animal impersonations established the
previous year. The overall narrative in which it was discovered that Mr Phillips could only
sing The Cobblers Song from the 1916 musical Chu Chin Chow in a rich baritone if he had a
cold was remarkably similar to Doberman the Crooner, an edition of The Phil Silvers Show
sitcom which had helped inspire The Navy Lark (the episode in question had not aired on the
BBC since 1959). The Marvin Ellis character previously played by Leslie Phillips in admiralty
board meetings during the 1971 series was dropped and now replaced by a variation on
helmsman McTavish a stereotypical mean, dour Scot called Captain McDoom.
The final two shows were taped on Sunday 19 March, bringing the recordings to an end.
The series then aired from the following weekend, running in broadcast order with the
exception of the first two programmes which were transposed to allow guest star June
Whitfield to appear in the opening instalment. Occupying its usual 2.02pm slot on Sundays,
The Navy Lark replaced the fourth series of sound adaptations of Steptoe and Son at both
Sunday lunchtimes, and for the Monday evening repeat at 8.02pm on the combined station
of Radios 1 and 2. The Radio Times promoted the new series with some artwork of an anchor
on the programme billing, while also noting that Leslie Phillips was still in The Man Most Likely
To and that Richard Caldicot could similarly be seen on stage in No Sex Please Were British,
which continued to be a huge success at the Strand. The Radio 2 repeat billing on Monday 27
was adorned with a photograph of Murray, Phillips and Povey while a photo of WREN Chasen
was then used to emphasise the billing for the broadcast of Sunday 16 April.

Almost two million listeners tuned in to Radio 2 for the shows return; this was generally
comparable with the popularity at the end of the 1971 series. The first show also attracted
a Reaction Index score of 57, some way below the higher scores in the series early years;
the following weeks edition was also analysed in this manner, and managed to attain a
marginally better 59.
During the run of the series, Jon Pertwee promoted the show on Radio 2s Late Night Extra
on Wednesday 19 April; he had also recorded further editions of Right or Wrong? during the
spring which made its debut on Radio 2 the following day. In late May, CPO Pertwee, Sub-Lt
Phillips, Captain Povey, WREN Chasen, Lt Bates and AB Tiddy could be found staging a mock
ceremony at the Little Venice Boat Afloat Show on the Regents Park Canal. This was an event
organised by the Admiralty Board in which two Navy barges had been dressed as nuclear
submarine HMS Renown and missile destroyer HMS London, which would subsequently be
used in recruiting drives for the Senior Service.
Although slumping as low as 1.2 million for the edition of Sunday 30 April, the show
hovered at just under two million listeners for most of the run. Then ratings rose sharply for
the penultimate edition, achieving 2.2 million listeners; 2.1 million then tuned in for the final
escapade in the current series.
The thirteenth series of The Navy Lark concluded its Radio 2 run on Sunday 18 June, after
which it was replaced by The Ken Dodd Show. Nine shows from this run were then selected
for delayed repeats on Radio 4 in the late summer, broadcasting on Fridays at 12.25pm
from 4 August 1972 as a replacement for the long-running panel game Twenty Questions.
Kicking off the reruns, the Radio Times printed a shot of Mr Phillips being incompetent with a
sextant for the Radio 4 listing of the first edition. The first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,
eleventh, twelfth and thirteen shows aired again (except in Wales) through to 29 September,
whereafter the slot was given to the Petticoat Line in which the female panel gave more
responses to listeners letters. Stephen Murray, Jon Pertwee and Leslie Phillips had been
whoosh-bang-all-gone-Pertwee! for the last time in that series of The Navy Lark but they
would soon be back in another.
Programme notes, episode synopses and cast
biographies researched and written by Andrew Pixley

The Navy Lark Appreciation Society can be contacted at:

The Navy Lark Appreciation Society, Honeysuckle Cottages,
Little Street, Yoxford, Suffolk IP17 3JQ
Web address: www.navylark.org.uk

EPISODE SYNOPSES

THE NAVY LARK - SERIES THIRTEEN

MARCH-JUNE 1972
Episodes written by Lawrie Wyman and George Evans
Incidental music for the series was by Tommy Reilly and James Moodie [13].
Announcer: Michael de Morgan
Produced by Alastair Scott Johnston
Regular cast unless indicated: Stephen Murray, Leslie Phillips and Jon Pertwee with Richard
Caldicot, Heather Chasen, Tenniel Evans and Michael Bates
Note: none of the episodes were originally given titles. The ones here have been adopted for easy
reference and are in line with previous commercial releases
Due to the age and, in some cases, the off-air source of these recordings, the sound quality may at
times vary

EPISODE ONE: The TV Documentary

Broadcast 26 March 1972 (recorded 9 January 1972)

With June Whitfield

Vice Admiral Burwasher informs the crew of Troutbridge that a BBC Television film crew will be
coming aboard Troutbridge to shoot a documentary about the sinking of the German frigate
Gezundheiten. While the crew don German uniforms to fire their guns, Sub-Lieutenant Phillips
takes a shine to the leading actress, the beautiful Frieda.

EPISODE TWO: The POW Escape Exercise

Broadcast 2 April 1972 (recorded 2 January 1972)
Murray, Phillips and Pertwee are driven away in a truck to a mysterious location as part of Exercise
Escape POW. Lord Quirk has a new scheme to simulate wartime conditions, and the trio are sent
to a Royal Marine Commando Camp as guinea pigs to test out means of escape.

EPISODE THREE: Number Ones Married Quarters

Broadcast 9 April 1972 (recorded 16 January 1972)

After staying with his in-laws where all notion of romance is forbidden, Commander Murray is
delighted when he and Rita are allocated married quarters. Meanwhile Mr Phillips must learn how

to use ANNIE (Automatic Nautical Navigation Instrument Equipment) in Hong Kong, with the new
equipment being targeted by the Master and his terrifyingly efficient espionage organisation.

EPISODE FOUR: The Newhaven-Dieppe Smuggling Run

Broadcast 16 April 1972 (recorded 23 January 1972)

With Lawrie Wyman

Nunkie knows all about a courtesy visit being made to France by Troutbridge, and needs Pertwee
to deliver some booze which he owes Mad Pierre. This will involve keeping the Admiral incapable
each night so that he is unaware that his motor yacht is being used to convey the illicit liquor
between Newhaven and Dieppe.

EPISODE FIVE: The Bumble Spit Lighthouse Affair

Broadcast 23 April 1972 (recorded 30 January 1972)
Mr Phillips is as usual full of excuses when HMS Troutbridge collides with the Bumble Spit Light
Vessel, which will then need to be repaired. Meanwhile, Mr Murray is upset because Rita is away
competing in a gymkhana, and she has arranged that in her absence he should be looked after by
Henry and Ramona Povey.

EPISODE SIX: The Tonipouhaha Treasure

Broadcast 30 April 1972 (recorded 6 February 1972)

With Elizabeth Morgan

During a meeting at the MOD in Whitehall, it is decided that HMS Troutbridge should go and
show the flag in the South Seas with a visit to Tonipouhaha. However, Lord Quirk is unaware that
his two WRENs are agents of the Master and the Master is unaware that the buried treasure
discussed by the crew is a figment of Mr Phillips bizarre imagination

EPISODE SEVEN: The USA Navigator Swap

Broadcast 7 May 1972 (recorded 13 February 1972)
A top level MOD meeting informs Sub-Lieutenant Phillips that he is to take part in an exchange of
key navigating personnel with the US Navy: he will join the warship General Lincoln III at Chatham.
However, the Master plans to kidnap Leslie in a scheme using Number 5, the exotic and sultry
Tanya, and to sell him to the Forbodians.

EPISODE EIGHT: Son of a Sea Lord

Broadcast 14 May 1972 (recorded 20 February 1972)
Sub-Lieutenant Phillips attends his promotion board for an advancement that is years overdue,
insisting that if these were the days of Admiral Lord Nelson, then his talents would not have been
ignored. Soon, he is imagining what he would have been like as the legendary naval figure, carrying
on with Lady Hamilton and employing a bit of the old Left sail down a bit

EPISODE NINE: Hypnotising Ramona

Broadcast 21 May 1972 (recorded 27 February 1972)

With June Whitfield

Captain Povey seeks out help from CPO Pertwee regarding a problem; he has a friend who
borrowed his wifes bicycle and ended up being reported by the dockyard police for speeding
and careless pedalling. To deal with Ramona Povey, Pertwee enlists the help of his Aunt Elvira, the
World Famous Hypnotist at the Gosport and Havant Annual General Carnival

EPISODE TEN: The Master of Sardinia

Broadcast 28 May 1972 (recorded 5 March 1972)
HMS Troutbridge is returning from Sardinia when Goldstein reports a couple of stowaways, one of
whom is a woman. These are the missing scientists Professors White and Hall who have been held
captive in an underground laboratory for six months to work on a revolutionary nerve gas by
none other than the Master!

EPISODE ELEVEN: Opportunity Knockers

Broadcast 4 June 1972 (recorded 5 March 1972)
Lord Quirk launches Its Your Opportunity Knockers, a talent show to make service life more popular
in a bid to follow similar Army and Air Force initiatives. While Captain Povey is eager to represent
the flotilla with his farmyard impersonations, the Troutbridge crew are amazed to discover that the
cold-stricken Mr Phillips can offer a superb baritone singing voice

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EPISODE TWELVE: Friday the 13th

Broadcast 11 June 1972 (recorded 19 March 1972)
Its Friday the thirteenth. Poveys radiator starts leaking and he needs to report it, Murray gets
trapped in a lift with the attractive WREN Simpkins, Rita has a traffic accident on her way to
choose Steviekins birthday present with Mr Phillips, and Pertwee donates some dubious blankets
to the local hospital

EPISODE THIRTEEN: The New NAAFI

Broadcast 18 June 1972 (recorded 19 March 1972)
A bargain at Uncle Ebenezers War Surplus Emporium goes wrong for Pertwee when the wrong
person hijacks the lorry, and a supply of booze is rapidly needed for Sir Willoughbys opening of a
new NAAFI. At the same time, Professor Clark of the Special Development Laboratory has created
an indestructible shell, which will be tested by HMS Troutbridge.

BONUS ITEM
THE MOTORWAY MEN: Show 7
Broadcast 15 March 1972 (recorded 28 November 1971)
Starring Milo OShea as Irish, Richard Davies as Randy and James Beck as Steve with Richard
Caldicot (Mr Fairfax), Bill Pertwee (Ponsonby), Anthony Sagar (Hanson), Peter Stephens (The
Surveyor), Amanda Murray (Air Traffic Controller), Nigel Graham (The Minister).
Written by Peter Child and Peter Matthews
Producer: Alastair Scott Johnston
Fairfax Construction wins a contract to extend the runway at London Airport and hopes to
acquire more work of this nature by impressing the Minister with successful completion within
seven days. Unfortunately only Number 9 Gang Irish, Randy and Steve is available, and Fairfax
orders Hanson and Ponsonby to run their new assignment like a military operation

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BIOGRAPHIES
Stephen Murray
Stephen Murray was born in Lincolnshire in September 1912, and he made
his professional acting debut in Much Ado About Nothing in Stratford in
1933. After working at Birmingham Rep, Westminster Theatre and at
the Old Vic, Stephen was commissioned as an Army officer during the
war. After 1945, Murray returned to the theatre and focused initially on
directing, touring Europe with his controversial interpretation of King
Lear. On stage, Stephen appeared in On the Rocks, School for Scandal and
Six Characters in Search of an Author, although his favourite performance
was as George in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in Edinburgh in 1965. On
television, he starred in plays such as Thunder Rock and Marriage Lines. Stephen died
in April 1983 at the age of 70.

Jon Pertwee
The son of playwright Roland Pertwee, Jon was born John Devon Roland Pertwee
in Chelsea in July 1919. A keen performer, he trained at RADA in the 1930s
and was soon in demand on stage for his versatile character work. After
wartime Naval service, Jon entered radio by accident where his vocal
talents made him a star in The Waterlogged Spa and
Up the Pole amongst others. His film career included movies like Murder
at the Windmill, Will Any Gentleman? and several of the Carry On... films
while on television he was best known as the Third Doctor in Doctor
Who, the titular scarecrow in Worzel Gummidge and as the host of
Whodunnit? A showman all his life, Jon died in New York in May 1996.

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Leslie Phillips
Despite his famous well-bred ladies man persona, Leslie Phillips was born
in the working class environs of Tottenham in April 1924. A child actor at
the Italia Conti School, he made his debut in Peter Pan at the Palladium.
Picking up his cultured tones from officers in the Durham Light Infantry,
Leslie appeared in comedy movies including The Smallest Show on Earth,
early Carry On films and taking over the Doctor series. On television,
he starred in Our Man at St Marks and Casanova 73 while his film work
includes Out of Africa and Empire of the Sun. Awarded an OBE in 1998, he
recently achieved acclaim with his one-man show On the Whole Lifes Been
Pretty Good.

Richard Caldicot
Born October 1908 in London, Richard Caldicot enjoyed a long acting
career, often playing irritable authority figures. In demand in both comic
and serious roles, his movies included The Million Pound Note, Room at
the Top and The VIPs, while on television he was seen in If the Crown Fits,
Moody in ..., Steptoe and Son, Pet Pals, The Beverly Hillbillies, Vanity Fair,
Coronation Street, Fawlty Towers, Minder, Bergerac, Lord Peter Wimsey and
Casualty. He was the only cast member of The Navy Lark to appear in the
short-lived television version, HMS Paradise, and on radio he also featured
in The Motorway Men. Working to the end of his life, Richard died in
October 1995.

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Heather Chasen
Born July 1927 in Singapore, Heather Chasen and her mother escaped on
the last ship to leave before the Japanese occupation. Trained at RADA,
she did a lot of stage work including a tour with Frankie Howerd in
Hotel Paradiso, appearing with Dame Sybil Thorndyke in Call Me
Jackie and receiving a Tony nomination as the New York lead of A
Severed Head. On television she appeared as Caroline Kerr in The
Newcomers and as Valerie Pollard in Crossroads. On stage, she has
enjoyed seasons at Chichester, done open-air Shakespeare at Regents
Park and appeared in The Mountain Women at the Royal Court.

Michael Bates
Born in December 1920 in Jhansi in what was British India, Michael Bates was
versed in many languages and dialects which made him much in demand
as a character actor. Entering films in the 1940s he appeared in Im All Right
Jack, Bedazzled, Oh! What a Lovely War, A Clockwork Orange and No Sex Please
Were British amongst others. On television, his first starring sitcom was
Turnbulls Finest Half-Hour, followed rapidly by the role of Cyril Blamire in Last
of the Summer Wine. Diagnosed with cancer in 1975, Michael continued to
work, appearing as Rangi Ran in It Aint Half Hot Mum through to his death in
January 1978.

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Tenniel Evans
Born in May 1926 in Nairobi, Welshman Tenniel Evans spent his
childhood in Kenya before settling in England. His great-uncle was the
illustrator Sir John Tenniel and his great-great-aunt was Marian Evans
(George Eliot). On television, he appeared in series such as The Plane
Makers, Budgie, War and Peace, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Yes
Minister, The Citadel, Inspector Morse, Casualty and Heartbeat, as well as
featuring regularly in Shine on Harvey Moon, The Two of Us and One by
One. Tenniel also performed on stage across England in everything from
Shakespeare to modern drama. Before his death in June 2009, Tenniel spent
his later years as a clergyman, writing an autobiography about his childhood
called Dont Walk in the Long Grass.

Lawrie Wyman
Rather than serving in the Royal Navy, Lawrie Wyman was actually a lance-corporal
in the Army. After the war, he started writing comedy for radio and television with
shows like Happy Go Lucky and The Lighter Side. Teaming up with Len Fincham, he
wrote for Morecambe and Wise, and Jimmy Jewell and Ben Warriss. Concurrent with
The Navy Lark he wrote So Ill Tell You and The Motor Way, and he transferred The Navy
Lark to TV as HMS Paradise. On radio he also wrote The Embassy Lark, The Big Business
Lark and Just the Job, the latter with his new co-writer, George Evans, with whom he
collaborated on scripts for Bless This House, Love Thy Neighbour and Carry On Dick.

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George Evans
Born in Cardiff, George Evans moved to Sutton in 1959 where his work during
a guest spot was noted by Jon Pertwee, after which George wrote material for
Jon to perform on series such as Starlight Rendezvous and London Lights, as well
as songs for LPs such as Songs for Vulgar Boatmen and Worzel Gummidge Sings.
After early credits writing with Derek Collyer on radios Were in Business, he was
script associate on The Rag Trade and contributed to shows such as Crowthers
Crowd, The Arthur Haynes Show, The Alfred Marks Show, This is Your Jim, Roy Hudd, The
Reluctant Romeo, The Dick Emery Show, Its Mike and Bernie and Punch Line. He died
of pneumonia in April 2009, aged 84.

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