Arthur Askey (June 6, 1900 - November 16, 1982) was a prominent British comedian. June 6 is the 157th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (158th in leap years), with 208 days remaining. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A comedian (also comedienne, female) is a person who attempts to make people laugh through a variety of methods, normally through joke telling, or a stream of funny banter. ...

Arthur Bowden Askey was born in Liverpool. He was very small at 5' 2" (1.6m) and wore distinctive horn rimmed glasses, with a breezy, smiling personality. He served in the forces in World War I and performed in army entertainments. His career began in the music halls, but he rose to stardom in 1938 through his role in the first radio sitcom, Bandwagon on BBC, prior to which radio comedy had consisted of broadcast standup routines. It had begun as a variety show, but had been unsuccessful until Askey and his partner, Richard Murdoch, took on a larger role in the writing. Askey's humour owed much to the playfulness of the characters he portrayed, his improvising and his use of catchphrases, as parodied by the Arthur Atkinson character in The Fast Show. Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough on Merseyside in north west England, on the north side of the Mersey estuary. ... Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Bandwagon may refer to: any of several observable copycat behaviours, as used in the phrase to jump on the bandwagon; see bandwagon effect and bandwagon fallacy. ... Richard Pryor hits the money line A stand-up comedian or stand-up comic is someone that performs in comedy clubs, usually reciting a fast paced succession of amusing stories, short jokes and one-liners, typically called a monologue. ... Richard Stinker Murdoch (1907-1990) was a British comedian. ... A catch phrase is a phrase or expression that is popularized, usually through repeated use, by a real person or fictional character. ... The Fast Show is a BBC comedy Sketch show programme which ran from 1994 to 2000. ...

His catchphrases included "Hellp playmates!" "I thank you" (pronounced "Ay-Thang-Yew")and "Move along the bus please."

During World War II, Askey starred in several Gainsborough Pictures comedy films, notably The Ghost Train (1941), "Charlie's Aunt," "I Thank You," "Back Room Boy," "King Arthur Was A Gentleman," "Miss London Ltd.," and "Bees in Paradise." When television arrived, he made the transition well, his first TV series was "Before Your Very Eyes!" (1952) named after another of his catchphrases. In 1957 writers Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell revived the Bandwagon format for Living It Up, a series that reunited Askey and Murdoch after an absence of 18 years. He also made many stage appearances as a pantomime dame. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe... The Ghost Train is a British play. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ...

His recording career included "The Bee Song" and his theme tune, "Big Hearted Arthur," (which was also his nickname).

His last film was the British softcore porn film Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse (1978), starring Debbie Ash. Soon afterwards, he was forced to give up performing, and had both legs amputated due to circulatory problems before his death.

External link

• http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/hisaskey.htm
• http://uk.imdb.com/name/nm0039450/