BARRY CRYER

Although the name of Barry Cryer doesn't instantly spring to mind as a top comedy force, he is, and everybody who has a TV has seen his material, they just haven't scanned the end credits and realised it. Born in Leeds in 1935 (the typing error has been corrected!) he attended Leeds University reading English, but was more intersted in performing.

His professional debut was at the Leeds City Varieties Theatre and from there he went on to the, now infamous, Windmill Theatre in London (We never closed). He has been in a number of things, but has written for virually anything that is somthing. His writing credits include material for Bob Hope, George Burns, The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson, Kenny Everett, Bruce Forsythe, David Frost, Mike Yarwood, Rory Bremner and Jasper Carrott.

If this was not enough, he has also colaboratively penned series like Hello Cheeky and appears regularly on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, less frequently on Just a Minute (both the radio and TV versions) and was the chairman of Joker's Wild in the 70s. Another type of chairman he has been was at the Players Theatre in London where music hall lives on, and footage of him 'in the act' was shown in the film 'A Little of What you Fancy' on the 3rd January this year.

Never idle, he toured the country with Willie Rushton performing their show, Two Old Farts in the Night, which was subsequently released on video, and after Willies death, has been touring with his own show, That Reminds Me. This latter is available from Laughing Stock on Double cassette (ISBN 1 897774 826), and consists of the recordings of a show at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. He was also the host for the Stand Up Show on BBC TV a while back, and in 1998 wrote his Autobiography of sorts - You Won't Believe This But... (not to be confused with the soft porn film, You won't believe this butt!!!! - sorry that is what you get for trying to top a master!), which was published by Virgin (ISBN 1 85227 682 7 - £12.99 in hardback).

Last Autumn, Radio 4 broadcast Barry Reading his book on a weekday morning, and for those who missed it, the Radio Collection had released a double cassette running to 130 mins. This is almost double the time from the broadcasts and is a must!. The tape is available in March priced £8.99 (ISBN 0563 553 383)