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{{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&nbsp;– 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&nbsp;... 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&nbsp;... 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&nbsp;... 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''.<!-- https://books.google.com/books?id=1wsbAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Pat+dixon%22+%22round+the+bend%22&dq=%22Pat+dixon%22+%22round+the+bend%22&source=bl&ots=aoMryj-vUh&sig=lSVP1SlvIYR2lNZccw7eIoAFTjs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eDMvUKTvKdO00QWwo4HoDA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ -->

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]]