Alf Garnett was a fictional character on the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, the ITV sitcom Till Death... and later In Sickness and in Health. He has enjoyed a career outside of situation comedy, most recently appearing in a chat show named The Thoughts of Chairman Alf. Image File history File links Sir_Alf_Garnett. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Til Death Us Do Part (also known as Till Death Us do Part)1 was a BBC television sitcom series written by Johnny Speight that ran from 1964 until 1974. ... It has been suggested that Channel 3 (UK) be merged into this article or section. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Till Death. ... In Sickness and in Health was a BBC television sitcom sequel to the highly successful Til Death Us Do Part. ... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ...

The character, played by actor Warren Mitchell, was reactionary, mean-spirited, selfish, bigoted, racist, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic, (Warren Mitchell is in fact Jewish himself). In In Sickness and in Health he also displays homophobia largely because he gets a black homosexual whom he calls "Marigold" as his home help. The home help calls him "Bwanha" . Generally Alf blamed his problems on everybody else. His family was the usual target of his anger and frustration. On the show, Garnett was regularly ridiculed for his illogical views and hypocrisy by his family, but he stubbornly refused to admit he was wrong. Warren Mitchell, (born 14 January 1926, Stoke Newington, London) is a British-born actor with Australian citizenship. ... It has been suggested that Racial supremacy be merged into this article or section. ... Misogyny () is hatred or strong prejudice against women. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... Homophobia is the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. ... Hypocrisy is the act of condemning another person, where the stated basis for the criticism is the breach of a rule which also applies to the critic and of which the critic is in breach to a similar or greater extent. ...

To add entertainment to the show, Alf was outraged when his daughter, Rita (played by Una Stubbs), decided to marry Michael, her long-haired, unemployed boyfriend (played by Anthony Booth) from Liverpool, a Catholic of Irish descent; precisely the type of person Alf most hated - the "Scouse Git" he called him. Una Stubbs (born 1 May 1937 in Leicester) is an English actress and former dancer. ... Tony Booth Antony George Booth (born October 9, 1931 in Liverpool, better known as Tony Booth) is an English actor, best known for his role in the BBC series Til Death Us Do Part. ... Liverpool skyline. ...

Even though Alf was a working class man, forever complaining that he worked and worked and yet lived somewhere near the poverty line, he was a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party (though not Margaret Thatcher - he believed that a woman's place was at home "... chained to the bloody kitchen sink!" and blamed Thatcher's husband Denis for not telling her "to keep her place"!). His biggest reason for being a Conservative was not that he loved and admired the rich people, but that he fully rejected the policy of the Labour Party, believing them to pretend to represent the working classes, whilst all they would do when in power is feather their own nests. He supported West Ham United (his local club) as well as being an admirer of the Queen and the Royal Family. This however, did not stop him from criticising them when he thought they deserved it. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), is the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... West Ham United Football Club are an English football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London and play their home matches at The Boleyn Ground. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... Members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony The British Royal Family is a shared royal family. ...

The British public loved Alf Garnett - since everyone knew such a reactionary figure within their own locality - although the television show was heavily criticised for the character's prejudices. Writer Johnny Speight often commented that the character was supposed to be a figure of ridicule, but admits that not all viewers saw the satiric elements of the character. The character's name has become a standard description of anyone ranting at the world in general, and has even found its way into politics, Oswald Mosley dismissing Enoch Powell after his Rivers of Blood speech as "a Middle Class Alf Garnett". Johnny Speight (June 2, 1920 - July 5, 1998), was a TV scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (November 16, 1896 – December 3, 1980), was a British politician known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. ... Simon Heffers biography of Enoch Powell, published in 1999 John Enoch Powell, MBE, PC, (June 16, 1912 – February 8, 1998) was a right-wing British politician and Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) between 1950 and February 1974, and an Ulster Unionist MP between October 1974 and 1987. ... Badge supporting Powells Rivers of Blood speech. ...

It has been suggested that the selection of Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett was due to him looking very similar to Sir Rudyard Kipling, who has also been perceived as a paternalistic racist; however this theory falls flat on two counts. Firstly, Mitchell was not the first choice of producer Dennis Main Wilson for the part. It was initially offered to Peter Cook, Leo McKern and Lionel Jeffries, but they all turned it down or were unavailable. Secondly, few members of public would have realised what Kipling looked like - however, they were familiar with Mahatma Gandhi, whom Mitchell's Alf Garnett bore a startling resemblance to, and which made for a hilarious juxtaposition. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India, and best known today for his childrens books, including The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pooks Hill (1906); his novel... Dennis Main Wilson (born 1924, died 1997) was producer of The Goons and Hancocks Half Hour for BBC radio and Till Death Us Do Part for BBC television. ... Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian. ... Image:Number Two. ... Lioniel Jeffries (born 10 June 1926 in London) is a British character actor and film director. ...

Alf Garnett was the direct inspiration for Archie Bunker in the American sitcom All in the Family. Archie Bunker on the cover of TV Guide (August 8-14, 1981) Archie Bunker was a fictional character in the long-running and top-rated American television sitcom All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunkers Place. ... All in the Family is a popular and acclaimed American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 until April 8, 1979, when the final original episode aired. ...

Trivia

• Mitchell left the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with a trained actors voice. A life-long, committed socialist - the total opposite to Alf! - he sold Socialist newspapers on street corners, shouting his wares in his beautifully trained voice. It was only when he realised why people weren't buying his newspapers that he developed Alf's voice, to appear more "working class".
• Johnny Speight had initially avoided anti-semitism in Alf Garnett's rants for fear of offending the Jewish Warren Mitchell. However, Mitchell pointed out that such a bigoted character would almost certainly be anti-semitic, and so Garnett became as vocal about Jews as any other minority group.