The Library of Spanking Fiction: Wellred Weekly
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Articles
Items of interest regarding all things spanking
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'Professor' Jimmy Edwards and 'Whack-O!' 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
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