Muir, Frank, 1920-1998

The Frank Muir and Denis Norden Archive contains more than six hundred radio and television scripts by two gifted humorists acknowledged to be among the foremost British comedy writers of their age.

Denis Norden (b 1922) grew up in Hackney and originally pursued a career in cinema and theatre management in the 1930s. Although the pair were not to meet until 1947, he and Frank Muir (1920-1998) already had something in common as both served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and both spent much of their free time writing comedy material to amuse fellow servicemen. At the war's end, Muir landed a job with the British Broadcasting Corporation, writing comedy material for ex-airman Jimmy Edwards, and, in 1947, the scriptwriter Ted Kavanagh brought him together with Norden in the hope that the newly introduced pair might hit it off. It was the beginning of an outstanding thirty-year career, all of which is represented in the Archive, from their first major success, Take it from Here, which won the hearts of the British listening public in (1949?), to their television characters The Glums in the late 1970s. The intervening years produced such favourites as Bedtime with Braden, Gently Bentley (with Josephine Crombie and Alma Cogan) and the unforgettable Whack-O! series, described by the British Comedy website as 'undoubtedly one of the major successes of early British television'. 'Professor' Jimmy Edwards was the star, and sixty half-hour episodes were broadcast over eight series. The full scripts of some episodes classed as 'missing', including 'The Marchioness', are held at Sussex. The pair also scripted episodes of The Peter Ustinov Show . Muir and Norden were in constant demand for three decades; their partnership only began to wind down when Muir took a full-time executive role with BBC Light Entertainment. They were appointed CBE (Commanders of the British Empire) in 1980.

From the guide to the Frank Muir and Denis Norden Archive, 1948-1971, (University of Sussex Library)