Ronnie Barker's More Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead

Ronnie Barker stars in four episodes of the comedy sketch show, as heard on BBC Radio 4.

Here's a further cornucopia of clever comedy, featuring sketches, monologues, poems and songs in this 'sequential entertainment for radio'.   The sketches on this recording include: a bizarre slice of Shakespeare, a poem for a man with a plan, and a forgetful actor. There are also people who use lots of words - but say very little. As well as a musing pianist, we also hear a two-headed 'Great Eccentric', a spoof Paul Temple, and wires get crossed on the telephone.   Co-written by Gerald Wiley (the pseudonym used by Ronnie Barker) and many others, this sophisticated cabaret-cum-sketch-show contains plenty of witty wordplay.   Starring Ronnie Barker, with Terence Brady, Pauline Yates, Josephine Gordon and Dick Abell.

Two Ronnies, The Volume 2 (Vintage Beeb)

Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett star in highlights from their BBC TV series.

The Two Ronnies was one of Britain's most successful comedy sketch shows, and dominated the TV schedules for sixteen years between 1971 and 1987. This second compilation of classics from the much-loved show includes such sketches as 'Mispronounciation'; 'Night, Night; Cheers'; 'Cricket Commentators'; 'Train of Events'; and not forgetting 'The News According to The Two Ronnies'. There's also 'All in a Day's Wonk'; 'Sex Equalit'y; 'Pam Ayres'; 'The Castaway'; and 'You're Welcome, Milord'. Taken from the TV series The Two Ronnies, first transmitted June to August 1976. Due to the archive nature of the source material, the sound quality may vary.

Ronnie Barker's Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead

Here’s a cornucopia of clever comedy, featuring sketches, monologues, poems and songs in this ‘sequential entertainment for radio’.   Among the sketches, Mr Serpent, a sales rep in the Garden of Eden, tries to flog a knowledge course to Eve (‘one bite and you’re a PhD’). A doctor has to give some bad news, but gets more emotional than the patient, and there’s love among the road reports.   There’s an exclusive interview with ‘Charlie Chaplin’, some lavatory humour (a sketch set in a manager’s washroom), how to learn baby talk and 'Analysis Through the Looking-Glass'.   A baptism causes naming problems, while among the songs is 'What Am I Going To Do About You?' (‘You’re like Everest with all its icy crags, I don’t think I’ll get over you somehow.’)   Co-written by Gerald Wiley (the pseudonym used by Ronnie Barker), David Nobbs and Harold Pinter, this sophisticated cabaret-cum-sketch-show contains plenty of witty wordplay, and is vintage Ronnie Barker.   Starring Ronnie Barker, with Terence Brady, Pauline Yates and Gordon Langford.

Two Ronnies, The It's Goodnight From Me

A selection of classic jokes, one-liners and sketches from the much-loved comedy duo.

For nearly twenty-five years the two Ronnies were a TV institution, a much loved double-act but each with his own inimitable, individual appeal.   Who could forget Ronnie Barker's hilarious pispronounciation, Mr Corbett's witty monologues, the risqué limericks, the puns, the patter and the parody?   So enjoy another fun-filled feast of verbal fireworks - inspired classic comedy from the two one-offs who said goodnight but not goodbye.

Ronnie Barker

Terence Brady

Pauline Yates

Full Cast

Selected Episodes from the Classic BBC Radio Comedy Sketch Show

Eight episodes of the vintage BBC Radio comedy starring Ronnie Barker 
 
Created by Ronnie Barker and producer John Fawcett Wilson, Lines From My Grandfather’s Forehead ran for two series on BBC Radio 4 from 1971-72, winning a Writers' Guild Award for best radio comedy series. Scripted by Gerald Wiley (the pseudonym used by Ronnie Barker) and a team of writers including David Nobbs and Miles Kington, this ‘sequential entertainment for radio’ featured sketches, monologues, music and poems. 
 
Among the hilarious sketches performed here, you’ll meet a struggling vicar, a Welsh birthday card poet, a perplexed psychoanalyst and a forgetful actor, and learn about the life of a great Englishman. There’s also an odd romantic tryst, a grave digger’s wedding, a bizarre slice of Shakespeare and a spoof of Paul Temple, and we hear the facts of life from the Minister for Population. Plus, treat your ears to an operatic train announcement, a poem for a man with a plan, the Aurora Borealis Waltz and a song about a beautiful – but sadly teetotal – maid…. 
 
Brimming with witty wordplay, this cornucopia of clever comedy stars ‘The One Ronnie’ – Ronnie Barker – with Terence Brady, Pauline Yates, Ann Beach and John Graham. 
 
NB: Some of the humour on this recording reflects the era in which it was first broadcast 
 
Cast and credits 
Starring Ronnie Barker 
With Terence Brady, Pauline Yates, Ann Beach and John Graham 
Pianist: Gordon Langford 
Banjo: Dick Abell 
Written by John Graham, David Nobbs, David McKellar and Peter Vincent, Donald Monat and June Dixon, Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks, Pete Spence, Chris Allen, David Climie, Allan Scott and Chris Bryant, Tony Bilbow, Mike Fentiman, Chris Miller, Robert W. Service, Gordon Langford, Arnold Brown, Donald Churchill, Don Currell and Andy Kelvin, Charles Griffin, Miles Kington, Roy Lomax, Max Harris, Terence Brady, Peter N Christie, Bert Fisher, Christopher Langham, Katie Moss, Guy Boas, Kevin Paul and Harold Arpthorp, Peter Campbell, Ted Clayton and Patrick Ennis, Frank A Terry and Gerald Wiley 
Produced by John Fawcett-Wilson 
With thanks to Keith Wickham of the Radio Circle for supplying some of these audio recordings 
 
 
Copyright © 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Lines from My Grandfather’s Forehead

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