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Tommy Handley
Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme It's That Man Again ("ITMA") which ran between 1939 and 1949.
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went on the stage in his teens and after military service in the First World War he established himself as a comedian and singer on the music hall circuit. He became nationally known as a pioneer broadcaster. From 1924 onwards he was frequently heard on BBC variety programmes as a solo entertainer and an actor in sketches. In the 1930s Handley frequently performed on air with the comedian Ronald Frankau in a popular comedy act as "Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom".
Handley's greatest success came in 1939 with the BBC radio comedy show It's That Man Again, which, after an uncertain start, caught the British public's imagination and reached an unprecedentedly large audience. He starred as the good-natured, fast-talking anchor-man around whom a cast of eccentric comic characters revolved. The show was credited for its important part in keeping up morale in Britain during the Second World War.
Handley died suddenly in 1949, and ITMA was immediately cancelled.
Handley was born at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on 17 January 1892, the son of John Handley and his wife, Sarah Ann, née Pearson. John Handley, who is believed to have run a dairy business, died while Tommy was a baby. After leaving school Handley earned his living as a salesman, but developed a reputation as an amateur singer. He was determined to go into show business and became a professional singer in 1916. He toured briefly in the operetta The Maid of the Mountains, before being called up in 1917 into the Royal Naval Air Service. During the last two years of the First World War, he served in a kite balloon section and subsequently in a concert party entertaining the troops.
After the war, Handley auditioned for the impresario Rupert D'Oyly Carte, and impressed him with his performance of the Major-General's patter song from The Pirates of Penzance. Carte wrote to offer him a place in a new D'Oyly Carte touring company, but by the time the invitation arrived Handley was contractually committed elsewhere. He toured in musical comedy and in the music halls as a comedian and singer. He became known in the leading role of the officer in the sketch The Disorderly Room, a parody of military life, written by Eric Blore, in which military disciplinary proceedings were comically set to popular tunes of the day. The sketch remained in his repertory from 1921 to 1941, and according to Handley's biographer Ted Kavanagh "it must have been played on every music-hall stage in the country". In 1924 The Disorderly Room was included in the programme for the Royal Command Performance at the London Coliseum. The show was broadcast, and marked the beginning of Handley's radio career.
Handley was successful on the halls, but he was not a major star. His career took off as a broadcaster. He was a regular performer on the BBC from 1924 onwards – his biographer Barry Took calls him "a mainstay of its variety programmes" – as a solo entertainer, an actor in sketches and occasionally a producer. Much of his material was written by Ted Kavanagh, who devised comic monologues for him and worked with him on the broadcast revues that paved the way for their greatest success, It's That Man Again.
In 1929 Handley married the actress and singer Jean Allistone (Rosalind Jean Henshall, née Allistone, 1897–1958) whom he had met at the BBC. She had trained under Sir Herbert Tree, appeared in revues and musical comedies and, from 1925, was a pioneer broadcaster. The couple had no children.
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Tommy Handley
Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme It's That Man Again ("ITMA") which ran between 1939 and 1949.
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went on the stage in his teens and after military service in the First World War he established himself as a comedian and singer on the music hall circuit. He became nationally known as a pioneer broadcaster. From 1924 onwards he was frequently heard on BBC variety programmes as a solo entertainer and an actor in sketches. In the 1930s Handley frequently performed on air with the comedian Ronald Frankau in a popular comedy act as "Mr Murgatroyd and Mr Winterbottom".
Handley's greatest success came in 1939 with the BBC radio comedy show It's That Man Again, which, after an uncertain start, caught the British public's imagination and reached an unprecedentedly large audience. He starred as the good-natured, fast-talking anchor-man around whom a cast of eccentric comic characters revolved. The show was credited for its important part in keeping up morale in Britain during the Second World War.
Handley died suddenly in 1949, and ITMA was immediately cancelled.
Handley was born at Toxteth Park, Liverpool, on 17 January 1892, the son of John Handley and his wife, Sarah Ann, née Pearson. John Handley, who is believed to have run a dairy business, died while Tommy was a baby. After leaving school Handley earned his living as a salesman, but developed a reputation as an amateur singer. He was determined to go into show business and became a professional singer in 1916. He toured briefly in the operetta The Maid of the Mountains, before being called up in 1917 into the Royal Naval Air Service. During the last two years of the First World War, he served in a kite balloon section and subsequently in a concert party entertaining the troops.
After the war, Handley auditioned for the impresario Rupert D'Oyly Carte, and impressed him with his performance of the Major-General's patter song from The Pirates of Penzance. Carte wrote to offer him a place in a new D'Oyly Carte touring company, but by the time the invitation arrived Handley was contractually committed elsewhere. He toured in musical comedy and in the music halls as a comedian and singer. He became known in the leading role of the officer in the sketch The Disorderly Room, a parody of military life, written by Eric Blore, in which military disciplinary proceedings were comically set to popular tunes of the day. The sketch remained in his repertory from 1921 to 1941, and according to Handley's biographer Ted Kavanagh "it must have been played on every music-hall stage in the country". In 1924 The Disorderly Room was included in the programme for the Royal Command Performance at the London Coliseum. The show was broadcast, and marked the beginning of Handley's radio career.
Handley was successful on the halls, but he was not a major star. His career took off as a broadcaster. He was a regular performer on the BBC from 1924 onwards – his biographer Barry Took calls him "a mainstay of its variety programmes" – as a solo entertainer, an actor in sketches and occasionally a producer. Much of his material was written by Ted Kavanagh, who devised comic monologues for him and worked with him on the broadcast revues that paved the way for their greatest success, It's That Man Again.
In 1929 Handley married the actress and singer Jean Allistone (Rosalind Jean Henshall, née Allistone, 1897–1958) whom he had met at the BBC. She had trained under Sir Herbert Tree, appeared in revues and musical comedies and, from 1925, was a pioneer broadcaster. The couple had no children.