It Makes Me Laugh

Show

Scripted programme in a series.
JP alerts his listeners to this programme in the 29 April 1980 show, giving the original broadcast date and time (12 noon), and refers to it again in the 06 May 1980 show. It was repeated on 16 May 1981.
The extracts are read by Victoria Plum and Jon Glover.

Introduction

(JP: 'Several years ago, my mother, something of a hoarder, presented me in a small private ceremony with all of my school reports. I must confess that they made unpleasant and deeply disturbing reading. But I won't bore you with details. The only one which concerns us here is the first of them, written when I was four years old. I should explain that my real name is John Ravenscroft, rather than John Peel, but this didn't prevent the headmistress, a Miss Jones, from observing:)
(Strident and educated Scottish voice): 'Robin has failed to make much impression in his first term.')
(JP: 'Rereading this recently, I was truly delighted with Miss Jones' observation, feeling that it confirmed my own rather lugubrious view of myself, and it serves today to indicate the direction in which we are, I hope, going to stroll together. Not for me the great blockbusters of humour: P.G. Wodehouse, James Thurber, Robert Benchley, the Goons, Tony Hancock or Fawlty Towers, although each of these has had me in fits on occasion. But somehow, extracts from these writers and shows don't really work for me. I have to enjoy the whole as a whole, and the task of isolating moments from books and records has proved difficult and painful.)

List Of Extracts Read

01: Poem, 'Pan Dons His Sweater' (Robert Harding)
(JP reveals that this was chosen in lieu of a Richmal Crompton 'Just William' story. He was forbidden to read them at public school, but they were the origin of his first child's name.)
02: J.B. Morton (Beachcomber), 'A Bonfire Of Weeds'
03: extracts from publisher's blurb for Ernie Weatherall, 'Rock'N'Roll Girl'
04: Evelyn Waugh, 'Decline And Fall'
05: Vivian Stanshall, 'Sir Henry At Rawlinson End'
06: Jerome K. Jerome, 'Three Men On The Bummel'
07: Monty Python And The Holy Grail
08: Private Eye, 'Colemanballs'
09: Assorted graffiti
10: Stephen Pile, 'The Book Of Heroic Failures'

Conclusion

(JP: 'Well, that's it for me...no belly laughs, perhaps, but I never was much of a chap for the belly laugh: more of a wry smile and a whispered, "Your round, I think". I hope you will have at least chuckled, heard something that was new to you, and that, all in all, Robin has on this occasion, made an impression. Goodbye.')
(15 minutes of Edward Greenfield's 'Turntable'.)