Cyril Fletcher

Cyril Fletcher
Born	25 June 1913(1913-06-25) Watford, Hertfordshire
Died	2 January 2005(2005-01-02) (aged 91) St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands
Nationality	British
Occupation	Comedian

Cyril Fletcher (25 June 1913 – 2 January 2005) was an English comedian; his catchphrase was 'Pin back your lugholes'. He was most famous for his Odd Odes, which was a section of the television show That's Life!. Fletcher had first begun performing the Odd Odes in 1937, long before they first appeared on television (though he did appear on pre-World War II television).^[1] He came up with the idea when he was short of material for a radio show. The first Odd Ode was a comic, yet sentimental, reading of Edgar Wallace's war poem Dreaming of Thee. Following this broadcast he was given a regular programme on Radio Luxembourg; it was this show that brought him to national attention.

He also appeared as a panellist on the popular UK BBC panel show What's My Line? that ran from 1951 to 1963.

Fletcher was born in Watford, the son of a solicitor, who was the Friern Barnet town clerk.^[2] Following schooling at Friern Barnet Grammar School,^[3] where he first began to entertain by composing witty poems about his schoolmasters,^[4] he graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Fletcher was also a successful businessman, believing it to be important to diversify in such a fickle business as show business. He was the founder of Associated Speakers, an agency for after-dinner speakers, on whose books were the likes of the Duke of Bedford and Lord Longford, as well as himself.

His wife, Betty Astell, died in July 2005. They had a daughter, Jill Fletcher.

Selected filmography

• Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
• A Piece of Cake (1948)

References

1. ^ Alexandra Palace Television Society
2. ^ Fletcher, Cyril (1973). The Countryman: A Quarterly Review and Miscellany of Rural Life and Progress 73. Oxford: J.W. Robertson Scott. ISBN 0011-0272. page 47.
3. ^ Fletcher, Cyril (1978). Nice One Cyril: Being the Odd Odessey and the Anecdotage of a Comedian. London: Random House. ISBN 0-214-20581-9. page 19.
4. ^ Hayward, Anthony (3 January 2005). "Cyril Fletcher: Performer of 'Odd Odes' and 'That's Life'". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/cyril-fletcher-487740.html. Retrieved 2008-12-16. 

External links

• Cyril Fletcher at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Fletcher, Cyril
Alternative names
Short description	Comedian
Date of birth	1913-06-25
Place of birth	Watford, Hertfordshire
Date of death	2005-01-02
Place of death	St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands