It was an art form developed in the Victorian Music Halls where artists
like Stanley Holloway made it into a working class culture. Young and
old in pre-war days memorised their favourites like ‘The Lion And
Albert,’ ‘Sam Small’ or ‘The Runcorn Ferry’ and they became a powerful
morale booster on the home front during the war. Despite ‘Albert’ being
written by a Scotsman and performed by a Londoner, it was always
performed in a Northern accent and fittingly, made its debut in front of
a Tyneside audience. Gary's original Geordie texts are sometimes cleaned
up so they can be understood by the rest of the world - and sometimes
converted into Lancashire or Yorkshire dialects to suit various
performers.
Whether it’s because the Northern dialect makes comedy sound funnier or
Northern humour travels well is yet to be decided. In keeping with
tradition, and drawing inspiration from the entertainment that packed
the halls before television, ‘Fairly
Truthful Tales’ recreates and refreshes the art of the
comedy monologue. Encouraging older audiences and readers to value their
own memories whilst enriching the cultural life of the young, ‘Fairly
Truthful Tales’ ensures a vivid part of our
comedy heritage is not lost.
"In the great tradition of North
Country monologues. It's absolutely perfect radio,
because the fun stems from the pictures that build up in your
mind
- It always brings a tremendous response" Desmond Carrington
BBC Radio 2 'All Time Greats'
