Archie Andrews was a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

's dummy used by ventriloquist Peter Brough in

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

shows in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps the most popular show in its radio format was called ''

Educating Archie ''Educating Archie'' was a BBC Light Programme comedy show which was broadcast for nearly ten years between June 1950 and February 1960, mostly at lunchtime on Sundays. The programme featured ventriloquist Peter Brough and his doll Archie Andr ...

'', regularly attracting over 15 million listeners. Archie was invariably dressed in a broad-striped blazer, and addressed the ventriloquist as "Brough". The television scripts were written by

Marty Feldman Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was known for his prominent, misaligned eyes. He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on the ITV sitcom ''Boot ...

and Ronald Chesney. The radio show had a children's fan club that at one time had 250,000 members. Among future stars who appeared on the show were

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

Dick Emery Richard Gilbert Emery (19 February 19152 January 1983) was an English comedian and actor. His broadcasting career began on radio in the 1950s, and his self-titled television series ran from 1963 to 1981. Life and career Richard Gilbert Emery was ...

, Max Bygraves, Harry Secombe,

Benny Hill Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English comedian, actor, singer and writer. He is remembered for his television programme ''The Benny Hill Show'', an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double ente ...

Beryl Reid Beryl Elizabeth Reid, (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996), was a British actress of stage and screen. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for ''The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performan ...

and 14-year-old Julie Andrews. During this period Max Bygraves together with Archie Andrews/ Peter Brough recorded "The Dummy Song" which is still available on Max Bygraves' compilation albums. Archie went missing several times. *In 1947, he was in Peter Brough's car when it was stolen from Lower Regent Street,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, but found two days later in a garden in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

. *He was left in the rack of a railway carriage at Chatham, but a

railway porter A porter is a railway employee. The role of a porter is to assist passengers at railway stations, and to handle the loading, unloading, and distribution of luggage and parcels. In the United States the term was formerly used for employees who atte ...

sent him back by taxi in time for his show. *In 1951, Brough was travelling to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

to compere the televised Northern Music Hall at the Theatre Royal, Leeds, with Archie in his suitcase. Brough went for dinner in the dining car, and whilst away the carriage in which he had been sitting was taken off the train and went on to Bradford. Unable to locate the puppet, at the venue Brough went through a revised script without the dummy. A £1000 reward was offered and he was returned. It is claimed that many Archies were made over the years and that two currently reside with puppet collector David Wilde. However, it is also claimed that only one Archie was made and that he was made in 1942. The mould from which he was made is believed to have been destroyed during the Blitz of World War II. Archie was sold at auction in 2005 for £34,000.

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Archie Andrews, the ventriloquist's puppet
Andrews, Archie Puppets {{Puppet-stub

See also

References

External links