The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly


Wellred Weekly
Volume 1, Number 8 : June 3, 2012
 
Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking

'Professor' Jimmy Edwards and 'Whack-O!'
by cayenne

Who remembers 'Professor' Jimmy Edwards? In Great Britain at least, this charming man has become something of a gay and spanko icon. To the rest of the world, he is a more obscure figure.

He was a war hero - awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his bravery. His handsome handlebar moustache hid scars from wartime plastic surgery, the result of a Douglas Dakota (Skytrain) air crash in Arnhem in 1944. He was a member of the Handlebar Club (which celebrated those distinguished moustaches) and also The Guinea Pig Club (for plastic surgery pioneers).


He led a long and distinguished stage career. Primarily a comic actor, he was also a talented writer. He started acting at the Cambridge Footlights, before moving to the stages of his home city of London. He appeared in numerous radio and TV shows. Older readers may recall his famous character Pa Glum in the TV series Take It From Here. He devised and frequently appeared in the radio Any Questions? parody that was Does The Team Think? This successful format was revived by the BBC decades later, chaired by Vic Reeves.

Jimmy is best remembered for his politically incorrect BBC TV series Whack-O! in which he played the drunken, gambling, blustering, cane-wielding headmaster of Chiselbury school. He cut a fine, dashing figure as he flexed his cane menacingly and bullied the schoolboys, teachers and governors alike. In this role, he has surely been an inspiration to more than one generation of British tops. For many adult schoolboys, there is a part of them which is forever Chiselbury. You can find clips of a black and white episode of the show on YouTube. One of the boys he threatens to cane (surnamed Wendover as in "Bend over, Wendover") is played by Mitch Mitchell, later renowned as the drummer of popular beat combo The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

There were also radio episodes of Whack-O! and a spin-off feature film called Bottoms Up!. All these were scripted by odd couple Denis Norden and Frank Muir, who really should have known better! Copies of the feature film and radio shows are available to buy via the net, although your writer is not convinced that they are official releases. Rather harder to find are episodes of the TV series (most were wiped on the orders of philistines at the BBC) and Jimmy's books Take It From Me and Six Of The Best. Colour episodes of the slightly renamed Whacko! are rarest of all.


Jimmy worked with many of the leading comedy stars of post-war Britain, such as Tony Hancock, Eric Sykes, June Whitfield, Ronnie Barker, Tommy Cooper and Arthur Lowe. He was a master of the euphonium, tuba and cane. My own connection with this special man is that as a lad, I saw him in pantomime in Oxford. (Oh yes I did!) It was a very good show, as I remember.

Jimmy was in many ways the typical English gentleman. He had a taste for fox-hunting, brass bands and there was a misguided and failed attempt to become a Tory MP. Bizarrely, he served as rector at Aberdeen University back in the 1950s.

On a more serious note, it's quite conceivable that the Whack-O shows gave the impression that caning was harmless fun, and I dare say some real victims had a very rude awakening as a result! The Headmaster Ritual is not easily forgotten, is it? Despite this, many remember the Prof with affection. After all, the lighter side of corporal punishment was widely appreciated at the time, as was evident in British comics like the Beano and the Dandy.


In later years, and despite a marriage, Jimmy was the victim of a cruel "outing" as a gay. What a disgraceful way to treat a war hero.

You can read more about the man and Whack-O at separate Wikipedia pages and even dear old "Auntie" BBC has a web page devoted to Whack-O! And if you find yourself in gay old Brighton or Hove, you might like to seek out the bus named after the great man. Think of Jimmy and his cane as you rest your bottom down on the bus seat!

Jimmy left us for the great study in the sky way back in 1988. Rest In Peace, Professor!




 
9 comments:
bendover said...
Cayenne,

It's amazing what I just learned. I would have never guessed the war hero thing. I do remember seeing him in a few older movies. It's truly a shame how people tend to be judgmental to others without looking back at their own burned bridges.

Bottoms Up does ring a bell as well.

Thanks,

B
3 June 2012 23:23
jimisim said...
I remember loving Whacko as a young boy, especially the hapless Pettigrew who I think was once whacked by mistake.
I remember that a children's charity called the Bluebirds held a fancy dress party each year in the Guildhall. I persuaded Mum to make me a Jimmy Edwards costume- an academic gown made up from old WW2 black-out curtains, a mortar board from cardboard, a plastic joke shop moustache, and a small garden cane-which Mum kept strict control of-promising that if I hit my sister with it then she would whack me with it much harder,.
To our amazement I won my age category and had my photo in the local paper.
Mum was a dab hand with the sewing machine, every year my sister danced in the amateur panto and for a month the dining room was full of organza and sequins.
Thanks for the memories-Jimi.
4 June 2012 00:15
DannySwottem5 said...
I can remember watching the black and white episodes and I have a few clips which I watch now and again. They are a bit rickety by today`s standards but still possess the power to bring a smile to my face. Everything from the aptly named Chiselbury school " for the sons of gentlefolk " to the gentle, at times very silly, action that unfolded was something quite unique.
Jimmy Edwards was a consummate comedy actor and he fitted his role in Whack-O like a hand in a glove.

Thanks for the slice of nostalgia cayenne.

DS.
4 June 2012 01:16
Lincoln said...
Ironically, I don't recall the late great Jimmy Edwards ever caning anyone! Something always seemed to intervene to stop it happening.
4 June 2012 08:54
oldtom said...
I well remember all of the shows mentioned though had no idea he was a war hero. I don't think any boy of a generation that would have seen him 'caning' a boy on film would have the slightest doubt that the experience was not as depicted. I can still remember the sting of the cane on both hand and bottom and can't say I ever thought it pleasurable or funny. I do remember seeing a film of him in headmaster role in which he was exceedingly kind to a new boy experiencing his first night away from home so he wasn't always the tyrant. A very good article thank you.
4 June 2012 13:22
blimp said...
Thanks Cayenne. Entertaining piece. He was nothing like any headmaster I remember more is the pity. A great trip down memory lane.
4 June 2012 18:37
flopsybunny said...
Even those of us born a few decades after Jimmy Edwards remember him with a smile. I wonder if you can still get hold of those black and white clips. Thanks for an interesting article.
5 June 2012 20:59
TheEnglishMaster said...
Thank you for a very entertainingly written and informative article. My brother and I have a slim connection, too, in that our late Dad knew JE in the Cambridge Footlights days. I vaguely remember his TV appearances from my youth.
10 June 2012 23:16
Targetarear said...
I learned about Jimmy Edwards' wartime exploits from reading an article in 'Airfix Magazine' by aircraft historian Michael Bowyer about the Dakota/Skytrain in RAF service.
Bowyer even mentioned the loss of half of that moustache but not the subsequent plastic surgery.

UK readers may wish to know (or may already know) that BBC Radio 4 Extra reguarly runs repeats of Take It From Here with Jimmy Edwards playing the lazy, boozy Pa Glum alongside Dick Bentley as his gormless son Ron and June Whitfiled as Ron's fiancee Ethel. ("Ooh Ron; Oh Eth")
19 August 2012 16:53

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