Peter Brough
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Peter Brough (26 February 1916 – 3 June 1999) was an English radio
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 ...
who became a well-known name to audiences in the 1950s. He is associated with his puppet
Archie Andrews Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom,
.


Early career

Peter Brough’s father, Arthur Brough, was a ventriloquist and a frequent performer on the variety stages around London. Brough senior gave up performing in the early 1920s and concentrated on a textile business. Young Peter left school at 15 and worked for a Bayswater department store called
Whiteleys Whiteleys was a shopping centre in Bayswater, London. It was built in the retail space of the former William Whiteley Limited department store, which opened in 1911 as one of London's first department stores, and was one of the main department ...
, first as an errand boy and later as a counter salesman. He emulated his father by developing his ventriloquist skills, which he continued to practice whilst working at Whiteleys. Early press reports show Brough entertaining the patients at Acton hospital on Christmas Day, 1935. He continued entertaining at clubs and at concerts in the Acton area and by 1939 he was becoming a regular on the variety stage. His stage performances increased and in 1941 he was described as “England's Most Successful Young Ventriloquist”. He acted as a compere in the 1940 film ''Cavalcade of Variety'' featuring
Billy Cotton William Edward Cotton (6 May 1899 – 25 March 1969) as Billy Cotton was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio a ...
and his band.


Radio days

Brough began his radio career in 1944 in ventriloquism but in 1950 he debuted Archie, a mischievous child who domineered his mentor. Archie's chief characteristics were his
Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...
-tailored blazers and manic eyes. Archie followed in the tradition of the American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy
Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy is Edgar Bergen's famed ventriloquist dummy partner. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930, was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo, and monocle. The character was so well-known that his popularit ...
. His radio series based around the character – ''
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 ...
'' – featured in support the likes of
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 ...
, Freddie Sales,
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 ...
,
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, ...
,
Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-non ...
,
Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series '' Sunday Nig ...
, Harry Secombe, Max Bygraves,
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 even a young Julie Andrews as the girlfriend of Archie;
Eric Sykes Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor, and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
was one of the series' main writers in the early 1950s. The show often averaged 15 million listeners, and a fan club had 250,000 members. Brough published his autobiography "Educating Archie" in 1955.


TV work

Because of the success of his radio show, Brough made his debut on
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 ...
in 1956 in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
sitcom ''Here's Archie'' which co-starred
Irene Handl Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father ...
and Ronald Chesney. The show was written by the latter and Ronald Wolfe, who would later team up on British sitcoms ''
The Rag Trade ''The Rag Trade'' is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor. The scripts were wr ...
'' and ''
On the Buses ''On the Buses'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast on ITV from 1969 to 1973. It was created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, who wrote most of the episodes. It spawned three spin-off feature films and a stage version. Desp ...
''. Two years later, Brough was on ITV in ''Educating Archie'', utilising the same team as before, although
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 ...
took some of the writing credit as well. The TV appearances exposed his limitations as a ventriloquist, as his lips were frequently seen to move. In later years a critic remarked, "Ventriloquism on the radio - I could have done that." By 1961, Brough decided to retire Archie following the death of his father, also a ventriloquist, and he then took over the family's textile and menswear business. His TV appearances were sporadic from then on. He died on 3 June 1999 and was buried in Maldon cemetery in Essex. In November 2005, the original Archie Andrews doll was sold at auction in
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
for £34,000.


Family

Brough married twice: first in 1940 to Peggy Franklin (one son, one daughter; marriage dissolved), second to Elizabeth Chantler (died 1994; one son, one daughter). His son Chris Brough, became a record producer and was married to the singer, actress and TV presenter Ayshea Brough in the 1970s. His daughter, Romey Brough is an internationally collected artist with work in the Tate Gallery Archive.


See also

*'' Archie's the Boy'' (radio programme)


References


External links

BBC news article about Peter Brough upon his death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brough, Peter 1916 births 1999 deaths English puppeteers English radio personalities English television personalities People from Shepherd's Bush British puppeteers Ventriloquists