Harry Secombe @ FashionState.Com

FashionState.Com salutes...

Clown Prince of Wales

Harry Secombe

1921-2001

"My voice is not so much 'bel canto' as 'can belto'." - Harry Secombe

Aside from a World War, it was an otherwise fine morning in North Africa that morning in 1943. Then a 25-pounder gun fell from the sky nearly smack-dab on Harry Secombe's gun unit at the bottom of a hill. Inside a covered lorry, young Secombe made ready to surrender when the back flap on the lorry was opened, and a gangly, helmeted soldier asked, "Anyone seen a gun?" Secombe's reply was immediate: "What color?"

It was the first meeting between Harry and a man named Spike Milligan, but it was not destined to be their last. After the war, meetings at the Grafton Arms pub linked up Harry's friend Michael Bentine with Spike and a young impressionist named Peter Sellers - all of them off-beat comics and performers, their humor post-war edgy and anarchic. And it was through chance meetings with and through Harry Secombe that BBC Radio's best-loved comedy program, "The Goon Show", found its catalyst.

Harry was a comic originally from Swansea, whose exaggerated yet good-natured, rapid-fire Welsh vocal booming and infectious giggle made Harry's character Neddy Seagoon the obvious choice to replace Michael Bentine's Osric Pureheart as "The Goon Show"'s hero savant. Of the Goon trio of Milligan, Sellers, and Secombe, Harry was the easiest-going of them, the one who enjoyed the experience of radio stardom and entertaining people just for itself the most.

Harry was comfortable with his audiences and more secure than his comrades-in-Goonery over the humor of the jokes and puns and outlandish situations their characters weekly bore before ever-larger audiences. After "The Goon Show" went off the air in 1960, Harry was able to expand his comic edge and roots with his talent of singing, starring in musicals such as "Pickwick", from which came the song that was to become his signature tune, "If I Ruled the World".

Harry was a man generous with his time and attention when it came to charities and benefits, and because of his philanthropic work and his contribution to British culture as a citizen of the first order, he was knighted in 1981, much to the surprise of his wife Myra and their family and to the delight of Harry's swarms of long-standing and dedicated fans.

Even afterwards, the indefatigable "Sir Neddy" would not rest on his titled laurels. He performed for the troops in the Falklands in 1983, continued charitable work for organizations dedicated to diabetics and spastics, and capped his television career with a 10-year run as presenter of the Christian program, "Highway". Having focused his singing primarily on gospel songs and spirituals, his audience was already well established, and at every turn, Harry attempted to be a good example to folks of faith - smiling, welcoming, warm, and not afraid to laugh, even sometimes at life's miseries. Even when he suffered from the stroke later in life that ended his television career, he filmed a documentary about his experiences in order to encourage fellow sufferers through their own trials, fears, and frustrations.

"Anyone who, for 25 years, has built a career on such tenuous foundations as a high-pitched giggle, a raspberry and a sprinkling of top 'Cs' needs all the friends he can get," Sir Harry once said about himself. Yet it was also his great heart and his generosity that garnered him so much affection over the years, and reading the tributes about Sir Harry after his death in 2001, one senses the loss of a friendly, national presiding genius and personal mate, but one whose sunny disposition and tremendous laugh and big heartedness always leave people with a smile.

Special Feature!!

FASHIONSTATE.COM SALUTES "THE GOON SHOW"

FashionState.Com's Secombe Snaps

WILD ABOUT HARRY

Links - Websites & Fansites

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BBC Wales Hall of Fame
BBC Wales' Knight in Shining Humor has his own place of honor.

The Heritage Foundation
This charitable organization that works with celebrities has a special section put aside for fun-loving philanthropist Harry Secombe.

Union Square Music
A review of Harry's "Highway of Life" CD.

University of Wales, Swansea
Harry's home city fetes his memory with a commemorative plaque. More info here.

Wales Online: Sir Harry Secombe - A Tribute
Wales' top online journal pays homage to its favorite comic son. Has links to Amazon.co.uk (where you can buy Harry's books, movies, and CDs) and a tribute page.

Obituaries

BBC News: Sir Harry Secombe dies
Several articles and a couple of audio clips are featured at the BBC's obituary of Harry Secombe. (Also in Welsh.)

British Theatre Guide
The announcement of the death of actor Harry Secombe.

Diabetes.Org
Sir Harry was President of Diabetes UK. Here is a tribute to him.

Entertainment Insiders
The obit from April 2001 features an entry on Harry.

Explore Gower
In-depth bio of Harry's life.

The Guardian (U.K.)
Info on Harry and his life, his career, and his charity work.

Multimedia News (Australia)
More info on Harry's work apart from the Goons.

Television Heaven
A wonderful, affectionate and detailed tribute to "Sir Neddy Seagoon".

Thomas Crosbie Media (Ireland)
A short bio in remembrance of Harry.

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