Round the Horne

Round the Horne was one of the most influential BBC Radio comedy programmes, comparable to The Goon Show in its influence on other comedy programmes. It was transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968.

Cultural Impact

Like the Goon Show before it, Round the Horne fed off and contributed to the nation's vernacular. Obscure but innocent words like posset (a medieval drink made with curdled milk) became cues for instant giggling, especially among adolescents in school. Thus Rambling Syd Rumpo may say "Green grows the grunge on my Lady's posset", making it impossible to approach the murder scene in Macbeth (Lady Macbeth: "I have drugged their possets") with the seriousness it deserved.

Related Topics:
Goon Show - Posset

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The frequently used word futtock, meaning part of a sailing ship's rigging, while rarely encountered outside the radio show, had a spillover effect on words like fetlock, as well as its obvious phonetic similarity to a certain Anglo-Saxon obscenity. The word nadger, which may be an anatomical reference, was already known from the Goon Show (The Nadger Plague). It has now passed into computer slang, meaning to twiddle some feature in a concealed manner.

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In the long-term, mining obscure and invented words for double-meanings probably also led to the popularity of Larry Grayson

Related Topics:
Double-meanings - Larry Grayson

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, who preferred to use well-known words with phallic connotations (e.g. barge-pole) in his particular version of comedy. However, there is a well-established tradition of double-meanings in British comedy, examples of which can be found in the work of Max Miller. This in its turn may have been a reaction to Victorian prudery.

Related Topics:
Phallic - Max Miller - Victorian - Prudery

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