The Old Un’s Notes
✻ Blankety Blank, the panel game of yesteryear, is back.
The presenter is Bradley Walsh. Here’s hoping he can emulate the masterly Terry Wogan, who presented the first show from 1979 to 1983 – or the comic genius Les Dawson, presenter from 1984 to 1990.
Almost 30 years after Dawson’s premature death in 1993, aged only 62, his fans can console themselves with the book Les Dawson’s Cissie and Ada, by Terry Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft was Dawson’s scriptwriter from 1978 to 1983.
Cissie Braithwaite and Ada Shufflebotham, two Lancashire ladies with considerable bosoms, often heaved to the side, were created and played by Dawson and Roy Barraclough (1935-2017).
In a posthumous introduction to the book, Barraclough writes, ‘Cissie and Ada were based on the “Over the Garden Wall” character created by Lancashire music-hall star Norman Evans (1901-61).’
Among other scriptwriters on the show were David Nobbs (creator of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) and Oldie favourite Barry Cryer.
