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That Was Satire That Was: The Satire Boom of the 1960s
Forty years ago, at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival, four young men walked on to a stage and produced a flow of staggeringly inspired comic genius. In Beyond the Fringe, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett created a satirical revue which amazed the critics and the public, selling out night after night.
Soon the satire virus The Establishment Club, 'London's first satirical nightclub', opened its doors in Soho; a scruffy yellow pamphlet calling itself Private Eye became available in certain London coffee bars. Eventually even the BBC woke up to the fact that comedy was changing, and inaugurated the satirical Saturday night television programme That Was the Week That Was. For a few months everyone wanted to be a satirist.
Carpenter has talked to the people involved, including Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Ned Sherrin, Richard Ingrams and the late John Wells. He has woven their stories together with a wealth of comic material - including sketches from Beyond the Fringe which never made it to London, much of the hilarity from That Was The Week That Was, and fascinating stuff from the BBC archives - to create a narrative which brings vibrantly alive this key period of British life.
Soon the satire virus The Establishment Club, 'London's first satirical nightclub', opened its doors in Soho; a scruffy yellow pamphlet calling itself Private Eye became available in certain London coffee bars. Eventually even the BBC woke up to the fact that comedy was changing, and inaugurated the satirical Saturday night television programme That Was the Week That Was. For a few months everyone wanted to be a satirist.
Carpenter has talked to the people involved, including Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Ned Sherrin, Richard Ingrams and the late John Wells. He has woven their stories together with a wealth of comic material - including sketches from Beyond the Fringe which never made it to London, much of the hilarity from That Was The Week That Was, and fascinating stuff from the BBC archives - to create a narrative which brings vibrantly alive this key period of British life.
378 pages, Hardcover
First published July 10, 2000
41 people want to read
About the author
Humphrey Carpenter
99 books89 followersHumphrey William Bouverie Carpenter was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J.R.R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inklings. He won a Mythopoeic Award for his book The Inklings in 1982.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 6, 2017
Enjoyed reading this very much and then checking out some of the comedy sketches on youtube starring Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Beyond the Fringe, That was the week That Was.
June 28, 2017
Very interesting.
February 10, 2011
a must read not for everyone
January 19, 2016
Ok book about satire boom in early sixties
June 19, 2014
An essential book to have on hand if you write comedy and in particular - satire.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews