- George Roper
"This is an article about the British comedian. For information on the British sitcom character, see"
Man About the House . Infobox Comedian
name = George Roper
imagesize =
caption =
pseudonym =
birth_name =
birth_date = birth date|1934|05|15
birth_place =Liverpool ,England ,UK
death_date = death date and age|2003|07|1|1934|05|15
death_place =
medium =Stand-up comedy
nationality =
active = Early 1960s – 2003
genre =
subject =
influences =
influenced =
spouse =
notable_work = "The Comedians "
Early history
He was born George Francis Furnival in
He’s another comic who has known poverty. There were five children in the Roper family, three girls and two boys. Dad saw a lot of life – he was a window cleaner. ‘Times were hard when I started at school, in the early war years,’ says George. ‘We never went without, but a jam-butty was often a meal.’
He left school at the age of fifteen to join the Merchant Navy as a galley boy, then as steward. Later he served his
He married Linda Groves in December 1968, and they had three children: Nicholas, Louise and Matthew.
Career
Working mainly in the
Hamp was on the look-out for new acts for a new show, which was to become "The Comedians", a groundbreaking television series which ran on and off from 1971 to 1993. Filmed in Manchester before a live audience, the programme consisted mainly of Northern club comedians telling jokes. It was a major success at the time, though the jokes told often contained racist or sexist stereotypes. This was acceptable on British TV during the Seventies but would not be acceptable today. Nevertheless, the show stands as a major social document of the era. Ken Irwin:
The Comedians are totally and unashamedly outrageous in all that they do. This is why they have succeeded. Nothing, or no one, apparently, is sacred. And their jokes prove it. They joke about nothing and everything. Anyone and everyone. They joke about false teeth and parrots and homosexuals virtually in the same breath. They joke about Catholics and Protestants. They joke about Pakistanis, the Irish and the Jews. They joke about Enoch Powell, the Queen and the Pope. When they go out in front of the cameras, it is invariably a no-holds-barred encounter with the British viewing public. You can either take it… or switch over to another channel. Viewing figures have already conclusively proved that viewers, who are always the final judges in these things, stay tuned in.Yet upon his death in 2003, "
With his off-beat and sometimes surreal humour, Roper was an oddity in the series. His jokes were clean, inoffensive and were usually centred on "wellies" (wellington boot s). Everyone wore "wellies" in Roper's jokes. "Even the Queen wears wellies when it's raining, doesn't she?" he quipped. "And some people wear wellies when it isn't." His fascination for "wellies" stemmed from a brief spell spent working as a builder's labourer.
In June 1971 he was one of a group of artists invited to perform in a televised Royal Gala Performance at the Liverpool Empire in the presence of the Queen. The show featured only Liverpool-born performers and marked the opening of the
By the 1990s, comic tastes in the UK had changed quite radically, and many variety performers who filled the television schedules often found work difficult to come by. Roper was still in demand in clubs and in summer shows. He could also be seen as a contributor to documentaries including "Heroes of Comedy". He appeared regularly in the Spanish resort of
Death
George Roper died of
Trivia
*Director
*Roper is the great-nephew of music hall comedians Cullen and Carthy.
*
External links
*imdb name|id=1094041|name=George Roper
* [http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/314197?view=credit Filmography and credits] -
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030722/ai_n12705863 Obituary] - "
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,999525,00.html Obituary] - "
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