Barney Colehan (19 January 1914 – 21 September 1991) was an English radio and television producer, best known for producing and directing '' The Good Old Days'' throughout its 30-year transmission on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

Early life

Colehan was born Bernard Colehan in 1914 in

Calverley Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about from Leeds city centre and from Bradford, and lying north of the town of Pudsey. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4, ...

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

. His father worked in a

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

and his mother was a

charwoman Charwoman, chargirl, charlady and char are occupational terms referring to a paid part-time worker who comes into a house or other building to clean it for a few hours of a day or week, as opposed to a maid, who usually lives as part of the ho ...

. He had a younger brother Edward Joseph Colehan, who was a qualified Pharmacist, and manager of the retail dispensary and chemist's shop for Chas F Thackray Ltd, Great George Street, Leeds He was educated at St Bede's Grammar School. He left school when he was 16 and began working in a

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

. He also began pursuing his interest in theatre, acting and directing with a local amateur operatic society, of which he became a president in the 1930s. In 1939, at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he joined the army. While in military service, he sent radio scripts to the

British Forces Network The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselv ...

in London, which resulted in him being recruited by the variety department. He soon became a producer for the Network. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. He left the army in 1947.

Career

Returning to civilian life, Colehan moved into working for the BBC. He first came to prominence in 1948 as the producer responsible for the radio quiz programme '' Have A Go'', hosted by

Wilfred Pickles Wilfred Pickles, Order of the British Empire, OBE (13 October 1904 – 27 March 1978) was an English actor and radio presenter. Early life and personal life Pickles was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. ...

. The programme was recorded on location at

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s and

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

s across the UK. Colehan would personally hand the prize money to the winning contestant, in response to the audience cry of "Give him (or her) the money, Barney!" As a light entertainment producer Colehan produced the first programme when television arrived in the

North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...

in 1951. One of his early successes was ''

Top Town Top Town was a New Zealand game show series where teams from different towns in New Zealand competed in various obstacle challenges against each other, along the lines of the earlier British series ''It's a Knockout''. The show first ran in New ...

'', a talent show pitting contestants from neighbouring towns against each other. His longest running success was '' The Good Old Days'', which started in 1953 and was on air for 30 years, making it the longest-running light entertainment programme ever broadcast. Colehan tested his idea for a television variety show with a pilot broadcast in 1952 from the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds, entitled ''The Story of the Music-Hall''. Colehan also came up with the idea of dressing the audience in Edwardian costumes. Many high-profile entertainers appeared on the show, including

Morecambe and Wise Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English stand-up comedy, comedian, actor and singer. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer" and was primarily known for his live stand-up comedy, stand-up pe ...

and

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

. The programme was hosted by

Leonard Sachs Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor. Life and career Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated ...

. The show eventually became so popular that the waiting list for tickets had to be closed, when it rose to a total of 25,000 people. Colehan was also involved in other major television successes. Colehan had the idea in 1963 of making a TV version of

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English media personality and DJ. He was known for his eccentric image, charitable work, and hosting the BBC shows ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. A ...

's popular

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show ''Teen and Twenty Disc Club''. He produced the pilot which later became ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. In August 1966, Colehan brought ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...

'' to the screen which ran for 16 years under his watch. In 1981, he was made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

for services to entertainment. The following year, he was awarded the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters Gold Badge for lasting contribution to the UK's entertainment industry. He retired from the BBC in 1983, after the last broadcast of ''The Good Old Days''. In 1985, he directed a television special for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

entitled ''Don't Say Goodbye, Miss Ragtime!'', which featured various performances of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

music on a riverboat. Barney suffered a stroke whilst playing golf (Otley), his favourite pastime, and died on 21 September 1991 in hospital at Rawdon, near

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Personal life

Barney Colehan, who was married to Monica, had two children named Margaret and Eileen. He was a resident of Yorkshire and never lived outside of the area, despite his extensive travels. Additionally, Barney was a member at Otley Golf Club. Furthermore, he has two great granddaughters named Cara Liptrot and Madeline Liptrot.

References

External links

"Yorkshire at the heart of broadcasting!" Article on the BBC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colehan, Barney 1914 births 1991 deaths BBC people English radio producers English television producers People from Pudsey People educated at St. Bede's Grammar School 20th-century English businesspeople