The BBC Radio Comedy Round the Horne (staring Kenneth Horne), was tremendously popular throughout the 1960s.

Two of the most successful characters were the Camp Omipalonis (effeminate homosexuals) Julian (Hugh Paddick) and Sandy (Kenneth Williams). This all too likely duo trolled (walked) on to rapturous applause, then proceeded to make Kenneth Horne the but of all jokes. Their cries of "Oooooh, in’t he bold!" (Kenneth Horne being a little follicley challenged) and widespread use of Polari (gay slang) had the audiences whooping with delight.

Julian and his friend Sandy are pure stereotypes, the sort of image that for many years the gay community tried to shake off. Now I feel we can accept this type of "send up" of our sexuality and the camp queens out there (you know who you are). It is possible that, at a time just before the decriminalisation of homosexual acts here in the UK, friendly, non-threatening portrayals of homosexual men (especially in such a popular radio series) had a beneficial effect on the psyche of the Nation.

Anyway, Julian and Sandy were fun. Below there's a RealAudio clip of unrehearsed Kenneth Williams (again making fun of the long suffering Kenneth Horne). The RealAudio format looses a little in quality, but allows the sound clip to be compressed into just a few kilobytes. If you don’t have a RealAudio player you can download one for free by clicking the link at the beginning of this paragraph.

Quick Clip - 28k - Running time 28sec
(c) British Broadcasting Corporation

To order a copy of the complete Julian and Sandy cassette, Round the Horne,
or any other BBC Radio Collection Products, write to...
Radio Collection, BBC Enterprises, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London W12.

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© John Roulston-Bates, 1996.