Titter Ye Not... Memorial Plaque to be unveiled to
comedy legend Frankie Howerd in York
York Civic Trust
The Rt Hon the Lord Mayor of York
and The Great Yorkshire Fringe
announce the unveiling of a memorial plaque in York to
Frankie Howerd comedian, star of radio, stage and screen
by Mark Addy York’s Cultural Ambassador
The unveiling will take place at 6.30pm on Tuesday 26th July 2016
53 Hartoft Street, York, YO10 4BN
Born in York in 1917, Frankie Howerd OBE had a career spanning six decades as one of Britain’s best-loved comedy greats.
Famous for the catchphrases “Oooh, no missus” and “Titter ye not”, he was a regular on TV where his audience was measured in the many
millions and in the movies he made the nation laugh in the Carry On and St Trinian’s films and “Up Pompeii”.
He was born in York at the City Hospital and spent his first two and a half years in a terraced house, 53 Hartoft Street, York. With relatives
remaining in the city, he would later returned frequently for family holidays. In his later years, he spoke of his great fondness for the city.
A campaign was recently launched to finally erect a plaque to him in his home city. Public subscriptions to The Frankie Howerd Memorial
Plaque fund were supplemented by takings from a special film screening a year ago at the inaugural The Great Yorkshire Fringe.
At this year’s Great Yorkshire Fringe, his life and career are being celebrated as one of the north’s greatest ever comedy talents
as part of The Great Northern Comedy Trail, with members of the public currently voting online for their favourite northern funny men and
women of all time.
Councillor Dave Taylor, Lord Mayor of York, said: “I’m delighted that Martin Witts and The Great Yorkshire Fringe supported the idea of erecting a plaque to Frankie at his very first home in Fishergate. Now with Martin’s and the York Civic Trust’s generous help, we’re finally making
the idea a reality.”
David Fraser, Chief Executive of York Civic Trust, said “For generations to come, people will see this plaque and know that the son of a soldier
and chocolate worker from the city went on to become a familiar and well-loved national figure in British popular culture, spreading joy and
happiness with his unique comedy for decades.”
FRANKIE HOWERD OBE (1917-1992)
comedian, star of radio, stage and screen, spent his
very early years in York.
Frankie Howerd was born Francis Alick Howard in York
on 6 March 1917. His father, Francis Alfred William
Howard, was a regular soldier and his mother, Edith,
nee Morrison, worked at the Rowntree chocolate
factory. Frankie lived his first two and a half years in a
terraced house, 53 Hartoft Street, in what he described
as ‘a poorish area of the city near the River Ouse’. He
later said he had only one memory of living in York and
that was of falling down the stairs, an experience which
left him with a life-long dread of heights! With relatives
in York, however, he did return again and again for
family holidays and later in life spoke of his fondness
for the city.
His father was posted to Woolwich and the family
settled in Eltham, where a brother, Sidney, and sister
Bettina (known as Betty) were born. At the age of 11
Frankie won one of two London County Council
scholarships to the newly opened Shooters Hill
Grammar School, where his best subject was
mathematics. He attended his local church regularly
and, at the age of 13, became a Sunday school teacher
and joined the Church Dramatic Society. In one of its
productions he made his stage debut and felt then that
he wanted to become an actor. Always nervous and
shy, and with a stutter he fought hard to overcome, he
plucked up courage to also take part in school plays
and eventually decided he would audition for RADA.
This, overcome with nerves, he failed miserably, but
realised that his future might lie in comedy. He a
ppeared with local concert parties whilst earning a
living taking small clerical jobs, hiding scripts among
his papers to learn lines whenever he could.
War intervened and, in 1940, Frankie was called up to
serve in the Royal Artillery. He was stationed at
Shoeburyness and soon became very popular as an
entertainer with his fellow service personnel. Later in
the war he had success with a civilian concert party
called the Co-oddments, touring the Southend-on-Sea
area and hoped to continue his burgeoning career
when he was posted to Germany. He tried auditioning
for concert parties there but to no avail, until he was
seen by Major Richard Stone, who was to become
a leading theatrical agent after the war. He liked
Frankie’s routine and sent him off with a concert party
to entertain the troops. He now changed the spelling
of his surname, thinking that Howerd would catch the
eye as a possible misspelling, even if he were bottom
of the bill!
After he was de-mobbed in1946 Howerd appeared at
the Stage Door Canteen in Piccadilly Circus, a popular
meeting-place for allied troops. Here he was spotted by
a theatrical agent, Stanley ‘Scruffy’ Dale, who worked
for Jack Payne, and was put under contract. He
auditioned for the BBC radio comedy and music show
“Variety Bandbox”, making his first broadcast on the
show on 3 December 1946. Howerd was an instant
success and quickly became one of the most popular
entertainers in the country, broadcasting regularly
and touring the music-halls. However, because Jack
Payne had manipulated his initial contract to his own
advantage, Howerd received only a small percentage
of his fees. Ten years later, after a long court case, he
was able to free himself from this contract and retrieve
some of the money he had earned. Stanley Dale,
having left Payne, now became Howerd’s personal
manager.
Frankie Howerd’s life and career celebrated as part of The Great
Northern Comedy Trail at The Great Yorkshire Fringe 2016
By 1951 Howerd and Dale, joined by Eric
Sykes, who wrote most of Howerd’s radio
scripts, had formed F. Howerd Scripts Ltd,
which later became Associated London Scripts.
The directors list, which included the best
known of the script writers of the time was:
Dale, Howerd, Sykes, Ray Galton and Alan
Simpson, Johnny Speight, Tony Hancock, and
Spike Milligan. However, Dale following in
the footsteps of his former employer, Payne,
was found to be pocketing money to which he
was not entitled, was ejected from Associated
London Scripts and had no further dealings with
Frankie Howerd.
Over the years Howerd had many successes
and was a great favourite of the royal family,
particularly of Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother, appearing at Royal Variety Performances eight times between 1950 and 1978. He was
conspicuously untidy in appearance and wore
a very unflattering toupee. His long sagging
face with unkempt eyebrows, mournful eyes
and pouting lips was sometimes likened to that
of a bloodhound, sometimes to a camel. He
adopted an ‘over the garden wall gossip’ type
of performance with many a conversational
innuendo—a constant banter addressed to
the camera or to individual members of the
audience, full of risqué double-entendres. He
would feign complete surprise that anyone
could possibly find in his ‘innocent’ comments
anything remotely funny. Seemingly always
floundering and fussy, his delivery was punctuated with carefully rehearsed ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’,
and catchphrases with which the nation soon
became familiar, among them : ‘the best of
British (luck)’ and ‘titter ye not, missus’
There was a period of several years in the late
1950s and early 1960s when Frankie Howerd’s
career seemed to have dipped and he was
offered little work, but his friends Eric Sykes,
Marty Feldman, Johnny Speight and Ray
Galton and Alan Simpson stood by him, even
writing scripts for him without fee. A life-line was
extended by Peter Cook, who, having
recently opened his nightclub The
Establishment, booked Frankie Howerd to
perform there and liked his act. This led to him
appearing on “That Was The Week That Was”,
where he was an instant success, with such
topical remarks as ‘David Frost—you know,
the one who has his hair on backwards’, and
‘Robin Day—hasn’t he got cruel glasses?’ This
one television appearance had Howerd back at
the top once again where he remained until his
death. He was awarded an OBE in 1977.
It was not until after he died that the public became aware that Howerd was gay. His mother
did not know and, as active
homosexuality was illegal in England and Wales
until 1967, his career could have been ruined
had the news leaked out. His partner for the
last 35 years of his life was Dennis Heymer
(1929–2009), a waiter at the time they met, but
later Howerd’s manager.
Frankie Howerd’s life and career celebrated as part of The Great
Northern Comedy Trail at The Great Yorkshire Fringe 2016
Howerd died in hospital of heart failure on 19 April 1992, still working on a series of one-man shows for Central Television. He was buried
in the churchyard of St Gregory’s Church, Weare, near his Somerset home on 29 April. A plaque to his memory was placed on his London
house in 1993, unveiled by two life-long friends, Cilla Black and June Whitfield. It was proposed that a similar one be added to his Hartoft
Street home in York, but funding did not materialize until 1999, when Comic Heritage Charitable Trust organized a weekend of celebrations,
including a black-tie dinner hosted by York’s Lord Mayor. Former colleagues and friends, and sister, Betty, came to York for the weekend of
March 27th and 28th 1999 to pay tribute to Frankie Howerd and to raise money for charitable causes. A blue plaque was placed, not in
Hartoft Street but on the Cumberland Street entrance to the Grand Opera House, where it was thought that the general public was more
likely to see it. It is still there and reads quite simply ‘Frankie Howerd OBE 1917-1992. Son of York’.
A selection of a few of Frankie Howerd’s many successes :
Radio:
Variety Bandbox (1946-1950)
The Frankie Howerd Show (1953-1956)
Television :
The Howerd Crowd (1952 and 1955, script by Eric Sykes)
Nuts in May (1953, script by Eric Sykes)
That Was The Week That Was (1962, script by Galton, Simpson, and Speight)
Up Pompeii (2 series 1970, script by Talbot Rothwell).
Film: The Runaway Bus (1954)
The Lady Killers (1955)
The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery (1966)
Several Carry on films.
Up Pompeii (1970).
Stage
Pardon my French (1953-4) a revue at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
Charley’s Aunt (1955-6) a farce at the Globe, Shaftesbury Avenue
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Old Vic (1957-8). Frankie played Bottom.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963–5) a musical at the Strand Theatre.
And many summer seasons and pantomimes
Sources
Barry Took, ‘Howerd, Frankie (1917–1992)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2014
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51134, accessed 2 April 2016]
Frankie Howerd, On the Way I Lost It an autobiography, W H Allen 1976
John Fisher, Funny Way to be a Hero , Preface Publishing 2013
Graham McCann, Frankie Howerd, Harper Collins 2004
Yorkshire Evening Press April 20th 1992, April 5th 1993, February 25th 1999, March 29th 1999
Author: Dinah Tyszka, York Civic Trust
Notes for Editors
The Great Yorkshire Fringe
Martin Witts is not only the brainchild behind The Great Yorkshire Fringe currently entertaining thousands of people in Parliament Street,
but he is also the owner of The Museum of Comedy in London. The Great Yorkshire Fringe runs until 1 August when it will culminate in two
events to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s charities: the Yorkshire Day Festival will be a family fun day with professional children’s
entertainers from 11am-4pm, with The Lord Mayor’s Secret Ball providing more adult music and comedy from 5-11pm. All of this will take
place in The White Rose Rotunda - a fabulous 1890s Spiegeltent in Parliament Street. Tickets are still available from The Great Yorkshire
Fringe.
York Civic Trust
York Civic Trust, celebrating its 70th anniversary this month, is a membership organisation open to all who wish to protect and enhance
York’s architectural and cultural heritage, to champion good design and to advance the high place which York holds amongst the cities of the
world. It has the objectives of “Promoting Heritage—Shaping Tomorrow”. Over the years the Trust has put up over a hundred plaques to the
places and people of York.
Mark Addy
Addy was born in the Tang Hall area of York, Yorkshire, and was educated in the city. His ancestors have lived in York since at least 1910,
when his great-grandfather was living there. His father Ian spent his working life as a glazier at York Minster. From 1982 to 1984, Addy
attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and has forged a hugely successful career as an actor in film and television, with starring roles
in The Full Monty, The Thin Blue Line, Game of Thrones, Still Standing, and Atlantis among many others.
For further details, contact
David Fraser Chief Executive York Civic Trust
[email protected]
01904 655543 or 07860 706282
National press enquires
Kevin Wilson
Kevin Wilson Public Relations
[email protected]
07884 368697