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Pat Dixon

2022-06-19T22:33:14Z

2A00:23C7:2909:5801:69AB:8EA0:110A:E592:

{{for|Pat Dixon (comedian)|Pat Dixon (comedian)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
[[File:Pat Dixon (BBC Producer).jpg|thumb|200px|right|<div style="text-align: center;">Pat Dixon</div>]]

'''Patrick Kenneth Macneile Dixon''' (15 June 1904 – 8 October 1958) was an English radio producer for [[BBC Radio]].

== Biography ==
Dixon was born on 15 June 1904; his parents were Professor [[William Macneile Dixon]]<ref name="Times obit" /> (1891–1946) and Edith (née Wales, ?–1945).<ref name="WMD in WW" /> He was educated at [[Winchester College]] and [[Christ Church, Oxford]].<ref name="Times obit" />

Dixon worked for a time as a journalist with the [[The Herald (Glasgow)|''Glasgow Herald'']],<ref name="Glasg Hrld" /> and then in the publicity section of [[Gaumont British]] before moving to the advertising agency Mather & Crowther.<ref>{{cite news|last=Meynell|first=Francis|title=Pat Dixon|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=14 October 1958|author-link=Francis Meynell|location=London|page=13}}</ref> He joined the [[BBC]] in October 1940 as a producer and, in the summer of 1948, produced ''Listen, My Children'', a series which included [[Harry Secombe]] and [[Benny Hill]] in the cast.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=96}}{{sfn|Secombe|1997|p=166}} At the end of 1948 he produced the radio series ''Third Division'', which was broadcast in early 1949; the shows were written by [[Frank Muir]] and [[Denis Norden]] and the cast included Secombe, [[Michael Bentine]] and [[Peter Sellers]].{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|pp=95-96}} Bentine noted that Dixon was "scholarly and intelligently humorous ... and as radical in his approach to comedy as we were",{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=105}} while Muir considered him "a terrific chap, and a rebel ... he started all sorts of ideas and shows.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|pp=105-06}}

In 1951 Dixon agreed to a request from [[Spike Milligan]] to record an audition tape which included Milligan, Sellers, Bentine and Secombe; he passed the tape on to the BBC planners and stressed that a series would be an asset to the corporation. They agreed and ''Crazy People'' was produced, which was subsequently re-named ''[[The Goon Show]]'', although Dixon was not the producer.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=34}} Dixon had a further impact on the show as he introduced [[Max Geldray]] and [[Ray Ellington]] into the format.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=114}} Towards the end of the sixth series of ''The Goon Show'', the regular producer, [[Peter Eton]], left the show to work on [[BBC television]]: Dixon became the show's producer for the remaining six episodes.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=124}} Dixon was less disciplinarian that Eton in his approach,{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=166}} although there was some friction with Milligan and Eton returned to produce the first two shows of series seven, before Dixon completed the rest of the 25 episode series.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=126}}{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=173}} His last ''Goon Show'' was broadcast on 28 March 1957.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=126}} During his tenure as ''Goon Show'' producer, Dixon came under pressure from the BBC to ensure no overtly political preferences or jokes were in the script; he resented such coercion, and wrote to the Assistant Head of Variety, "I think it is very dangerous to have these subtle encroachments on free speech".{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|pp=174-75}} Spike Milligan considered that Dixon was, "the only producer ... who knows what the ''Goon Show'' is all about".{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=184}}

Dixon worked with [[Tony Hancock]], when he produced the first episode of the fifth series of [[Hancock's Half Hour]], ''The New Radio Series''.{{sfn|Webber|2011|p=137}} He also produced the series ''Ignorance is Bliss'' and ''These Foolish Things''.<ref name="Times obit" /> Dixon also worked again with Michael Bentine on the first series of ''Round the Bend in Thirty Minutes''.

He died of cancer on 8 October 1958, aged 54.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=63}}<ref name="Times obit" />

== Selected credits ==
* ''[[Take It From Here]]'' (Radio)
* ''[[It's That Man Again]]'' (Radio, 1941–44)
* ''Tom Arnold's Hoop-La!'' (Radio, 1944–45)
* ''It's a Pleasure'' (Radio, 1945)
* ''Our Shed'' (Radio, 1946)
* ''Ignorance is Bliss'' (Radio, 1947–1949)
* ''Night Comes too Soon'' (Film script, 1947)
* ''Listen, My Children'' (Radio, 1948)
* ''Third Division'' (Radio, 1949)
* ''The Bradens'' (Radio, 1950–1956)
* ''Let's Settle For Music with the Baker's Dozen'' (Radio, 1952-?)
* ''In All Directions'' (Radio, 1952–55)
* ''Starstruck'' (Radio, 1955)
* ''Finkel's Café'' (Radio, 1956)
* ''These Foolish Things'' (Radio, 1956)
* ''[[The Goon Show]]'' (Radio, 1956–1957)
* ''Passing Parade'' (Radio, 1957)
* ''Round the Bend in Thirty Minutes'' (1957–58)
* ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]'' (Radio, 1958)

== Notes and references ==

'''Notes'''

{{notes|30em}}

'''References'''

{{reflist
| colwidth = 25em
| refs =

<ref name="Glasg Hrld">
{{cite news|title=BBC Variety Producer|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OjY1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3061%2C4899261|newspaper=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]|date=9 October 1958|location=Glasgow|page=9
}}
</ref>

<ref name="Times obit">
{{cite news|title=Obituary: Mr. Pat Dixon|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=10 October 1958|location=London|page=89
}}
</ref>

<ref name="WMD in WW">
{{cite web|title=Dixon, William Macneile|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U224724|work=[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=16 August 2012|location=Oxford
}} {{subscription}}
</ref>
}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}

* {{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Humphrey|author-link=Humphrey Carpenter|title=Spike Milligan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dF9zDXmpsI0C&pg=PP1|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|location=London|year=2004|isbn=978-0-340-82612-6}}
* {{cite book|last= Secombe|first= Harry |author-link=Harry Secombe|title=Arias and Raspberries: An Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yiFCb4oecMIC&pg=PA3|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Pan Macmillan]]|location=London|year=1997|isbn=978-0-330-35463-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Webber |first= Richard |title= Fifty Years of Hancock's Half Hour |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c3-gxwTNLaIC&pg=PP1 |publisher=[[Random House]]|location=London|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4464-0998-5 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Wilmut|first1=Roger| last2=Grafton|first2=Jimmy|authorlink1=Roger Wilmut|authorlink2=Jimmy Grafton|title=The Goon Show Companion: A History and Goonography|publisher=[[Anova Books|Robson Books]]|location=London|year=1981|isbn=0-903895-64-1}}

{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{BFI|4ce2bb3a25162|name=Pat Dixon}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Pat}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:British radio producers]]
[[Category:The Goon Show]]

Peter Eton

2022-06-19T22:30:12Z

2A00:23C7:2909:5801:69AB:8EA0:110A:E592:

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
[[File:Peter Eton.jpg|thumb|200px|right|{{center|Eton at a [[Goon Show]] recording}}]]
'''Peter Randolph Eton''' (28 May 1917 – December 1979) was a producer for BBC radio and television. He was invalided out of the navy after being wounded during the [[Dunkirk evacuation]] and joined the BBC.

He worked at the Variety Department of the BBC from 1951 onwards and oversaw a number of radio series, notably ''[[The Goon Show]]''.

He died in December 1979, at the age of 62.<ref>''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007''</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=New Society |date=1981 |publisher=New Society Limited |page=442 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmwpAQAAIAAJ|language=en |quote=Ironically, both Jack Pulman and Peter Eton died in 1979 – Pulman in July, Eton in December.}}</ref>

==Biography==
Eton studied art before working as an artist and film art director; he joined the Royal Navy at the outbreak of [[World War II]],{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=45}} but was invalided out after he was injured by shrapnel during the [[Dunkirk evacuation]].{{sfn|Took|1981|p=41}} Eton joined the [[BBC]] in 1941 in the [[BBC Transcription Services|London Transcription Service]]—a wartime propaganda unit within the BBC—as a producer.{{sfn|Took|1981|p=41}} After spending time as a features and drama producer, he moved to the Variety Department in 1951.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=45}}{{sfn|Took|1981|p=41}}

In 1951 Eton worked with Spike Milligan on ''Bumblethorpe''; Milligan wrote the series with [[Larry Stephens]] and [[Peter Ling]], and the cast included Milligan himself, [[Robert Moreton]], [[Kenneth Connor]], [[Graham Stark]], [[Valentine Dyall]], [[Alfred Marks]], [[Bernard Miles]], [[Eric Barker]], [[Jack Train]] and [[Tony Hancock]].{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=109}} In the summer of 1952 Eton had pushed within the BBC for a series for [[Tony Hancock]], with the premise of Hancock playing an "estate-agent-cum-bachelor-town-councillor"; a pilot script was commissioned, but the series never materialised.{{sfn|Webber|2011|p=25}} Hancock's biographer John Fisher suggests that Eton was the first person in British broadcasting to use the term "[[situation comedy]]", in a memo dated 31 March 1953, suggesting the format as the ideal vehicle for Hancock's comedic style.{{sfn|Fisher|2008|p=138}}

In 1952 Eton took over as producer of ''[[The Goon Show]]'', a position he held until 1956. He insisted that the Goons rehearsed properly and pushed for better facilities for the show;{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=128}} Spike Milligan noted that "Peter Eton was the one guy that used to beat the shit out of the sound-effects boys to get the right atmosphere."{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=128}} Towards the end of the sixth series of the Goons, Eton left the show to move to television production and his role was taken by [[Pat Dixon]],{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=166}} although he returned to produce the first two shows of Series 7 after friction between Dixon and Milligan.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|p=126}}{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=173}} In 1954 he then produced the BBC radio series ''The Starlings''.{{sfn|Wilmut|Grafton|1981|pp=52-53}}

Eton was married to Squirrel.{{sfn|Carpenter|2004|p=219}} He died at his home in Sussex in December 1979, aged 62.<ref name="Obs: Eton" />

==Selected credits==
* ''Picture Parade'' (Radio, 1946–48)
* ''This BBC'' (Radio, 11 November 1947—Special programme to mark the BBC silver jubilee)
* ''Bumblethorpe'' (Radio, 1951)
* ''Meet the Huggetts'' (Radio, 1953-1957)
* ''[[The Goon Show]]'' (Radio, 1952–1956)
* ''The Starlings'' (Radio, 1954)
* ''My Wildest Dream'' (Radio, 1955)
* ''[[The Army Game]]'' (TV, 1960)
* ''[[Bootsie and Snudge]]'' (TV, 1960–63)
* ''[[Foreign Affairs (1964 TV series)|Foreign Affairs]]'' (TV, 1964)
* ''Colonel Trumper's Private War'' (TV, 1961)
* ''Comedy Four'' (TV, 1963)
* ''[[A Little Big Business]]'' (TV, 1963–65)
* ''Mr. Aitch'' (TV, 1967)
* ''[[Carry On Christmas Specials]]'' (TV, 1969 & 1970)
* [[Quest for Love (1971 film)|''Quest for Love'']] (Film, 1971)
* ''Le Petomane'' (TV, 1979)

== References ==
{{reflist
| colwidth = 25em
| refs =

<ref name="Obs: Eton">
{{cite news|title=Producer dies|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=6 January 1980|pages=3}}</ref>

}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}

* {{cite book|last=Carpenter|first=Humphrey|author-link=Humphrey Carpenter|title=Spike Milligan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dF9zDXmpsI0C&pg=PP1|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|location=London|year=2004|isbn=978-0-3408-2612-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Took|first=Barry|author-link=Barry Took|title=Laughter in the Air: An informal history of British radio comedy|publisher=[[Anova Books|Robson Books]]|location=London|year=1981|isbn=0-563-17197-9}}
* {{cite book|last= Webber |first= Richard |title= Fifty Years of Hancock's Half Hour |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c3-gxwTNLaIC&pg=PP1 |publisher=[[Random House]]|location=London|year=2011|isbn=9781-4-4640-998-5 }}
* {{cite book|last= Fisher |first= John |title= [[Tony Hancock]]. The Definitive Biography |publisher=[[Harper Collins]] |location=London |year=2008 |isbn=978-0 00-726677-7 }}
* {{cite book|last1=Wilmut|first1=Roger| last2=Grafton|first2=Jimmy|authorlink1=Roger Wilmut|authorlink2=Jimmy Grafton|title=The Goon Show Companion: A History and Goonography|publisher=[[Anova Books|Robson Books]]|location=London|year=1981|isbn=0903895641}}

{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{BFI|4ce2ba2d37f33|name=Peter Eton}}
* {{IMDb name}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eton, Peter}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:British radio producers]]
[[Category:BBC radio producers]]
[[Category:The Goon Show]]
[[Category:British film producers]]
[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II]]

Wallace Greenslade

2022-06-19T22:21:05Z

2A00:23C7:2909:5801:69AB:8EA0:110A:E592:

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
[[File:Wallace Greenslade.jpg|thumb|200px|right|{{center|Wallace Greenslade}}]]

'''Wallace Frederick Powers Greenslade'''<ref>GRO Register of Births: SEP 1912 8b 1671 ORMSKIRK – Wallace P. Greenslade, mmn = Powers</ref> (1 July 1912 – 21 April 1961), also known as '''Bill Greenslade''',<ref name="Book">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSVnDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Bill+Greenslade%22+bbc&pg=PT218|title=The Double Act: A History of British Comedy Duos|first=Andrew|last=Roberts|date=26 November 2018|publisher=History Press|isbn=9780750990295}}</ref> was a [[BBC]] radio [[announcer]] and [[News presenter|newsreader]]. He is best remembered for being the announcer—and frequently the [[Double act|straight man]]—for the BBC radio comedy series ''[[The Goon Show]]'' for eight series from 1953 to 1960.

==Life==
Greenslade was born in [[Formby]], [[Lancashire]] (now part of [[Merseyside]]). During the [[World War II|Second World War]], he served for two and a half years as a [[lieutenant commander]] in the [[Royal Naval Reserve]]. He also worked as a [[purser]] with the [[Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company|P&O Line]].<ref name="Times Obit" />

In 1945 Greenslade joined the [[BBC]], where he began in the European Service, as presentation assistant and newsreader. In 1949 he was appointed a [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] announcer before becoming a newsreader in both radio and television from November 1955. In addition to ''The Goon Show'', he was announcer for ''The Great Gilhooly'', ''Star Show'' and ''Variety Playhouse''. He appeared as a castaway on the [[BBC Radio]] programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' on 12 December 1952.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/87894b4f#p009yc0n |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Bill Greenslade |work=[[BBC Online]] |publisher=BBC |accessdate=25 July 2014}}</ref> He was one of the original team of [[BBC Television]] newsreaders appearing from July 1954 to May 1957. His well-known trademark was always taking off his glasses at the end of each bulletin. In May and June 1960 he presented the [[Today (BBC Radio 4)|''Today'']] programme for two months before his death.<ref name="Guardian obit" />

Physically a large rotund man, "the massive Greenslade" a colleague once called him, he died suddenly at his home at [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]], in April 1961, aged 48 from a heart attack.<ref>GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1961 5g 637 SURREY .W. – Wallace F. P. Greenslade, aged 48</ref> Following a funeral service at St Mary's [[Oatlands, Surrey|Oatlands]], near Weybridge, he was buried at Brooklands Lane Cemetery, Weybridge. At the subsequent [[funeral|memorial service]], his BBC colleague [[John Snagge]] gave an address. Greenslade left a wife, Carol.<ref name="Times Obit" />

==Legacy==
A radio play, ''Ying Tong – A Walk with the Goons'', was broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on 4 April 2007, referencing Greenslade, who was also the subject of an episode of ''The Goon Show'', "The Greenslade Story", broadcast in December 1955.<ref name="Book"/>

==References==
{{Reflist
| refs =
<ref name="Times Obit">
{{cite news|title=Obituary: Mr. W. Greenslade|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=22 April 1961|location=London|page=13
}}
</ref>
<ref name="Guardian obit">
{{cite news|title=BBC announcer dies suddenly|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=22 April 1961|location=London|page=3
}}
</ref>
}}

==External links==
* {{BFI|4ce2ba56cf017|name=Wallace Greenslade}}
* {{IMDb name}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenslade, Wallace}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists]]
[[Category:People from Formby]]
[[Category:People from Weybridge]]
[[Category:Radio and television announcers]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II]]
[[Category:The Goon Show]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Reserve personnel]]