George Roper
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This is an article about the British comedian. For information on the British sitcom character, see Man About the House.
George Roper (May 15, 1934-July 1, 2003) was an English stand-up comedian, best known for his appearances in the long-running UK television series The Comedians.
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[edit] Early history
He was born George Francis Furnival in Liverpool to a working class family of Irish descent, to parents who were staunchly Roman Catholic. In conversation with the writer Ken Irwin (Laugh With The Comedians, Wolfe Publishing/TV Times ISBN 0723404895 ) in 1972, he remarked that "the rough and ready upbringing of Catholics in Liverpool brings out the humour in a family":
He’s another comic who has known poverty. There were five children in the Roper family, three girls and two boys. Dad saw a lot of life – he was a window cleaner. ‘Times were hard when I started at school, in the early war years,’ says George. ‘We never went without, but a jam-butty was often a meal.’
He left school at the age of fifteen to join the Merchant Navy as a galley boy, then as steward. Later he served his national service in the Royal Air Force (RAF), based in Eindhoven, Holland. It was during this period in Holland that Roper began to sing with big bands at RAF concert parties.
He married Linda Groves in December 1968, and they had three children: Nicholas, Louise and Matthew.
[edit] Career
Working mainly in the North West England region, Roper began to sing semi-professionally in clubs and hotels during the early 1960s while supporting himself in various jobs, but soon found his real talent lay in performing comedy. He was encouraged by the music hall comedian Sandy Powell. In his stage act the number of songs soon constricted and the gags expanded. By 1965 he was drawing sizeable audiences in the booming club and casino scene of Manchester. Regular at Manchester's Cabaret Club were the young reporter Michael Parkinson and Johnnie Hamp, a producer from Granada Television, who said of Roper, "It wasn't necessarily the gags he told, it was the face. There was always a twinkle in the eye." [1]
Hamp was on the look-out for new acts for a new show, which was to become The Comedians, a groundbreaking television series which ran on and off from 1971 to 1993. Filmed in Manchester before a live audience, the programme consisted mainly of Northern club comedians telling jokes. It was a major success at the time, though the jokes told often contained racist or sexist stereotypes. This was acceptable on British TV during the Seventies but would not be acceptable today. Nevertheless, the show stands as a major social document of the era. Ken Irwin:
The Comedians are totally and unashamedly outrageous in all that they do. This is why they have succeeded. Nothing, or no one, apparently, is sacred. And their jokes prove it. They joke about nothing and everything. Anyone and everyone. They joke about false teeth and parrots and homosexuals virtually in the same breath. They joke about Catholics and Protestants. They joke about Pakistanis, the Irish and the Jews. They joke about Enoch Powell, the Queen and the Pope. When they go out in front of the cameras, it is invariably a no-holds-barred encounter with the British viewing public. You can either take it… or switch over to another channel. Viewing figures have already conclusively proved that viewers, who are always the final judges in these things, stay tuned in.
Yet upon his death in 2003, The Times said of Roper's humour:
With his off-beat and sometimes surreal humour, Roper was an oddity in the series. His jokes were clean, inoffensive and were usually centred on "wellies" (wellington boots). Everyone wore "wellies" in Roper's jokes. "Even the Queen wears wellies when it's raining, doesn't she?" he quipped. "And some people wear wellies when it isn't." His fascination for "wellies" stemmed from a brief spell spent working as a builder's labourer.
In June 1971 he was one of a group of artists invited to perform in a televised Royal Gala Performance at the Liverpool Empire in the presence of the Queen. The show featured only Liverpool-born performers and marked the opening of the Mersey Tunnel. George Roper later made a number of notable television appearances including The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Celebrity Squares and The Grumbleweeds Radio Show. In 1980 he performed on the experimental comedy show Here Comes Channel 8 (taking a look into the future of television, set in 1999) alongside Spike Milligan, Rula Lenska and Michael Bentine. He was also a regular comic performer on the ITV gameshow 3-2-1.
By the 1990s, comic tastes in the UK had changed quite radically, and many variety performers who filled the television schedules often found work difficult to come by. Roper was still in demand in clubs and in summer shows. He could also be seen as a contributor to documentaries including Heroes of Comedy. He appeared regularly in the Spanish resort of Benidorm, sharing the headline spot at the Talk of the Town with jazz musician Eric Delaney. He frequently performed for expatriates in Hong Kong and the Middle East. He also toured Australia several times, where The Comedians made him a star.
[edit] Death
George Roper died of cancer in 2003 at the age of 69. The previous year had seen him reunited with his co-stars from The Comedians for a long season at the Blackpool Opera House. His final stage appearance was at the Liverpool Empire in May 2003.
[edit] Trivia
- Director Jonathan Miller originally wanted George Roper to play the part of Dweedledum to Bernard Manning's Tweedledee in his 1972 film Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.
- Roper is the great-nephew of music hall comedians Cullen and Carthy.
- Lenny Henry recently cited George Roper among his early influences in comedy.
