My Word - Series 9 Omnibus (Part One)

The first four episodes (and two preceding) of the ninth series of the radio comedy panel show My Word, originally broadcast on the BBC Home Service in the twelve months up to summer 1962.

Due to the relatively unchanging cast and paucity of information on recording venues, it's difficult to place episodes of My Word in sequence with precise broadcast dates, even with the help of contemporary radio listings. However, every effort has been made to present these old editions in chronological order.

0:00 - Series ?? Episode ??, circa 1961*
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, E. Arnot Robertson
Definitions: Borsch, Kelt, Apodictic, Excoriate
Words For: a blouse and a biscuit; introduced beneath the skin; a hatred of marriage; an unbranded calf/yearling and a masterless person
Quotations: "A thousand hearts beat happily...", "Men, some to business, some to pleasure take...", "And how can man die better than facing fearful odds...", "Early one morning, just as the sun was rising..."
Writing Style: "Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you...", "Notwithstanding these admonitions, she did eat sixteen quarters, two bushels, three pecks and a pipkin full...", "It's not given to us all to become famous...", "The English have no respect for their language and will not teach their children to speak it..."
Characters: Betsy Trotwood, Justice Shallow, Peter Jackson, Doctor Petrie
Phrases: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...", "The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea..."

*This episode of indeterminate date appears to be one of the later editions featuring Arnot Robertson, prior to her death in September 1961.

27:42 - 1961 Christmas Special, 25th December 1961
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, Dilys Powell
Definitions: Hyperphysical, Luge, Saturnalia, Pipper
Party Games: Crambo, Loo, Snapdragon, Up Jenkins
Quotations: "At Christmas I no more desire a rose...", "How bless'd, how envied were our life...", "Ring out wild bells to the wild sky...", "On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me..."
Origins: Pantomime, Mistletoe, Turkey, Christmas Tree
Phrases: "A new broom sweeps clean...", "He who laughs last laughs longest..."

55:38 - Series 9 Episode 1, 1st July 1962
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, Dilys Powell
Definitions: Henna, Chiliad, Huckle, Penstock
Rhyming Slang: Sky, Whistle, Apples, Rosie
Quotations: "Can storied urn or animated bust...", "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought...", "Souls of poets dead and gone...", "I took the oars: the Pilot's boy, who now doth crazy go..."
Origins: Upon My Davy, Dibs, Darbies, Basic English
Phrases: "Seated one day at the organ...", "The old folks at home..."

1:23:20 - Series 9 Episode 2, 8th July 1962
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, Dilys Powell
Definitions: Agoraphobia, Lovage, Logomachy, Niton, Nainsook, Pentastich, Beadledom, Friseur
Quotations: "I had a little pony, his name was Dapple Grey...", "The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow...", "Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday...", "As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives..."
Nicknames: The Man Of Blood & Iron, The King Of Terrors, The King Of The King, Monsieur De Paris
Origins: Brains Trust, Bourgeoisie, Digs, Breakers Ahead
Phrases: "With all her faults, I love her still...", "He flies through the air with the greatest of ease..."

1:50:48 - Series 9 Episode 3, 15th July 1962
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, Dilys Powell
Definitions: Ostreophagist, Thews, Invigilate, Scaphoid
Initials: DV, FSR, Ibid, SAA
Quotations: "Our revels now are ended...", "O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!", "The stubborn spear-men still made good their dark impenetrable wood...", "Did ye not hear it? No; 'twas but the wind..."
Origins: Aunt Sally, Lick Into Shape, Pagan, Wild Goose Chase.
Rhyming Slang: Minces, Bird, Chevy, Salmon
Phrases: "Honi y soit qui mal y pense...", "Against the undivulged pretence I fight..."

2:18:16 - Series 9 Episode 4, 22nd July 1962
Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain, Dilys Powell
Definitions: Rivière, Hydroponics, Orcadian, Nectary
Words For: a place for keeping insects; a kind of peach; a diminutive subterranean spirit; to discourage and to press herrings
Quotations: "It was the schooner Hesperus...", "She was a Phantom of delight when first she gleamed upon my sight...", "Had we never lov'd sae blindly...", "Curly locks! Curly locks! Wilt thou be mine?"
Origins: Vaudeville, Claptrap, Concert Pitch, Bread & Circuses
Phrases: "There never was a good war or a bad peace...", "Bring down the curtain, the farce is over..."