Steptoe and Son Quiz Book , livre ebook

Andrews UK - Mark McCaighey

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152 pages

English

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Those world famous rag and bone men - Albert and Harold Steptoe are back in this original and entertaining quiz book based on the award winning BBC TV sitcom. The show's' creators and writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson have penned an exclusive 'Foreword' to sit alongside the six hundred questions that cover all 57 television episodes and both movies from this phenomenal series. Steptoe and Son and their carthorse Hercules, first trundled onto British TV screens in 1962. It wasn't long before viewers fell for the scrapping junkmen and the Steptoes were soon pulling in regular weekly audiences of over 20 million, peaking at 28 million. So, whether you've been a fan of the sitcom for many years or have recently discovered it why not enjoy spending some more time in the company of Albert and Harold and see how much you can remember from the unforgettable Steptoe and Son by adding this book to your cart.

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	12 août 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785382123
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Title Page
THE STEPTOE AND SON QUIZ BOOK
Mark McCaighey

Publisher Information
Published in 2015 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Mark McCaighey to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2015 Mark McCaighey
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Cover design by John and Mark McCaighe y
Cover photo by Evening News/Associated News/REX

Foreword
by Ray Galton OBE and Alan Simpson OBE
It gives us great pleasure to welcome this volume into the lexicon of world literature.
This is the second time in over 40 years that a book of questions about Steptoe and Son has been published. In 1971 Longman Imprint Books chose it as a subject of a Higher Education exam on English drama. We were very flattered as normally such exercises were based on the works of Walpole, Trollope, Bernard Shaw and all that mob. Although the questions concerned were of a highfalutin variety, psychological, philosophical and the such, this volume makes a fine companion piece to its predecessor. In both cases we couldn’t answer at least half of the questions. Nohap - thickheads of the world unite.
And so, read enjoy and memorise. Mastermind , Eggheads and The Chase await you. Fill your boots. Our normal cut of ten per cent will of course apply.
March 2014.

Introduction
Welcome to The Steptoe and Son Quiz Book , a celebration of one of the most popular British sitcoms to have graced our television screens. An immediate success when it began in 1962, Steptoe and Son was one of the first TV shows that could be classed as a ‘must see’ event, watched by the majority of the nation week after week. Blending great comedy with elements of tragedy, scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson managed to break the mould of traditional sitcoms and by doing so set a new benchmark for other shows to reach. The love hate relationship between rag and bone men Albert (Wilfrid Brambell) and Harold Steptoe (Harry H Corbett) ran for fifty-seven episodes on BBC television from 1962 to 1974 with two spin-off movies in the early seventies.
In this book you’ll find six hundred questions covering every episode and the two Steptoe films. Included amongst the chronological questions for each episode and the movies are multiple choice ones and true or false statements.
So, whether you’ve been a fan of the show for many years or have recently discovered it why not enjoy spending some more time in the company of Albert and Harold and see how much you can remember from the unforgettable Steptoe and Son .

The Offer that was Too Good to Scrap
In 1961 comedy scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson were made an offer that was just too good to write off. They were presented by Tom Sloan, the then BBC Head of Light Entertainment with a unique opportunity. They were offered ten half hour prime-time TV comedy slots to fill in any which way they desired. They could choose the cast and even direct, produce or star in them. Bowled over with this proposition, Ray and Alan accepted immediately. Tom’s only proviso was to use his title Comedy Playhouse .
They decided that every show would be just that, a one-off play with a completely different cast for each story. This idea particularly appealed to the writers as it gave them the opportunity to work with actors, which they preferred as opposed to comedy performers like Tony Hancock with whom they had very successfully written for on both radio and TV from 1954 to 1961.The benefit of writing for actors was that they could touch on certain subject matters and opinions, especially political ones, that comics in those days sometimes preferred to avoid.
Armed with this new found freedom of speech the boys started writing their ten shows, all was going well until they came up against writer’s block on the fourth one. A week went by and they just could not think what to write about, so in order to rid themselves of this temporary inability Ray thought of doing a little mental exercise that they sometimes did in such situations. He would propose writing about a couple of people in the same profession, amongst his suggestions were two rag and bone men. Alan liked the idea and started typing about this pair who at that stage had no names or background but were just simply a couple of characters arguing with each other in a junkyard.
After having typed up about ten pages they thought this is all very amusing but who are these people and where is it all heading. They read back over the pages and it became clear that one character was older than the other. The question was are they brothers, business partners or what? Then suddenly like a shaft of light it came to them - they were father and son.
Now that Ray and Alan had distinguished these characters, they completed the Comedy Playhouse script and entitled it The Offer . It didn’t take long for the writers to think of which actors they would like to cast as father and son as they had admired the acting talents of Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett for some time and felt they would be ideal in the roles.
They contacted BBC Producer Duncan Wood, who they had previously worked with on the Hancock TV shows and enquired about the availability on these two actors. Duncan replied that Wilfrid was available, but Harry was at Bristol Old Vic playing Henry IV. The script was sent to both actors with the result that they were keen to take on the roles, so much so in Harry’s case that he persuaded the powers to be at Bristol Old Vic to give him a week off from playing a king so that he could be a rag and bone man.
On Friday the 5 th of January 1962 at 8.45pm on BBC Television, the British public were introduced to these two sparring rag and bone men and also heard for the first time the immortal signature tune Old Ned by Ron Grainer. The tune proved to be such an instant favourite with viewers that Pye records released it as a single in the same year, even before a series was commissioned.
The two actors were an instant and perfect match and the playhouse episode was representative of what was to come. Albert displaying more concern for Hercules the cart horse than for his own flesh and blood and Harold feeling trapped, used and under-appreciated.
Although Harold was somewhat naïve when it came to the world beyond the yard’s gates, he could read his old man like a book. He knew all his selfish tricks, ploys and devious ways and the lengths he would go to in order to stop him from leaving. Albert on the other hand knew this, but it never stopped him from pulling his son’s emotional strings if the situation called for it. He would think nothing of having one of his so-called ‘heart attacks’ every time Harold wanted to break free, even if it was only temporarily as in a holiday.
The Offer proved so popular that only five months later in June 1962 series one emerged with five episodes and of course the title. Ray and Alan chose the name Steptoe from a photographer’s shop in Richmond, South West London called Steptoe and Figge . The new series was an enormous success across the nation and attracted audiences in excess of twenty million.
Series two followed in January 1963 with seven shows, one of the most memorable being The Bath . In this episode, audiences were granted to the sight of a puny Albert eating his dinner (which included pouring pickle onions from a big jar) whilst sitting in a tin bath located in the lounge.
This lowly behaviour didn’t stop the Steptoes from reaching the royal heights of approval, as they were asked to perform in that year’s Royal Variety Performance on November 20 th . Their appearance at the Prince of Wales Theatre was a ten minute sketch in which the Steptoes get into trouble for totting at Buckingham Palace.
It was a rush job for Wilfrid and Harry to learn the sketch as the two actors only received the piece the day before the royal performance. At four o’clock that afternoon the duo gathered for a read through in Wilfrid’s flat. The next day Ray and Alan were present to see the act take shape at the first dress rehearsal. As expected, the specially written material was the highlight of that year’s Royal Variety Performance.
Pye Records made arrangements to tape a sound recording of the sketch live on stage, but it was a worrying time for the recording engineers simply because it was done live. The problem being if either of the characters had moved off mike the whole thing would have been ruined. As it was, the audience applause drowned everything out at several points and Harry had to re-record some of his lines over these parts.
The recording was successfully achieved and Pye Records wisely decided not to waste any time and rush-released the recording as an EP entitled Steptoe and Son at the Palace . This became, at eleven minutes total playing duration one of the longest singles ever released up to that time and reached number twenty-five in the chart over the 1963 Christmas period. A novel with the same title also appeared, adapted by Gale Pedrick.
Series three soon followed with seven episodes in January 1964, beginning with Homes Fit for Heroes in which Harold places Albert into a retirement home so that he can sail around the world on a sloop with nine others for two years. The series also