Harry Secombe

Sir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE (8 September 1921–11 April 2001) was a Welsh entertainer with a noted fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in The Goon Show (1951-60), a BBC radio comedy series. He also appeared in musicals and as a prominent presenter of religious television shows in his last years.

Biography

Early life

Born in a council house in St. Thomas, Swansea, he was the third of four children of a grocer and a manageress. Secombe attended Dynevor School in the centre of Swansea.

His family were regular church-goers, joining the congregation of St. Stephen's Church in Danygraig. A member of the choir, at church socials from aged 12 he would perform a sketch entitled The Welsh Courtship, acting as "feed" to his sister Carol.

British Army

After leaving school, in 1937 he became a pay clerk at Baldwins store. In 1938 he joined the Territorial Army, serving as a Lance Bombardier in the Royal Artillery. Secombe referred to his unit as "The Five-Mile Snipers" during World War II, serving in the North African Campaign, Sicily and Italy.^[1]

He first met Spike Milligan in Tunisia. Milligan's artillery battery had a larger calibre artillery piece that was too big for the gun pits Secombe's unit's cannon had used. The rest of Secombe's battery had already moved and he was with the last elements in some tents at the foot of a cliff below their former position. The officers in Milligan's battery didn't bother to enlarge the pits. When Spike's cannon fired its first shell, the recoil drove the gun up out of the pit and over the cliff. Secombe recalled that when the weapon fell outside the tent, he and his mates thought, "My God! They're throwing cannons at us!" A moment later, the flap of the tent opened and Spike poked his head in and said in his Eccles' voice, "Has anyone seen a gun?" Secombe replied "What colour?"

When he visited the Falkland Islands to entertain the troops after the 1982 war, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant by his old regiment - 37 years after being demobbed.^[1]

As an entertainer

Secombe joined the cast of the Windmill Theatre in 1946, using a routine he made up in Italy about how people shaved. Secombe always claimed that his ability to sing could always be counted to save him when he bombed. Both Milligan and Sellers credited him with keeping the act on the bill when club owners had wanted to sack them.^{[citation needed]}

After a regional touring career, his first break came in radio when he was chosen as resident comedian for the Welsh series Welsh Rarebit, followed by appearances on Variety Bandbox and a regular role in Educating Archie.

Secombe's met Michael Bentine at the Windmill Theatre, and was introduced to Peter Sellers by his agent Jimmy Grafton. The four with Spike Milligan wrote a script titled Crazy People, which produced by Peter Ross of the BBC became the radio comedy The Goon Show. First broadcast on 28 May 1951, the show remained on the radio until 1960. Secombe was notable for playing Neddie Seagoon, the focus of many of the show's absurd plots.^[1]

While the success of The Goon Show meant he didn't need to do other work, he continued developing a dual career as a comedic actor and singer. At the beginning of his career as an entertainer, his act would end with a joke version of the duet Sweethearts, in which he sang both the baritone and falsetto parts. Trained under Italian maestro Manlio di Veroli, he emerged as one of the few bel canto tenors, and had a long list of best-selling record albums to his credit.^[1]

In 1958 he appeared in the film Jet Storm, which starred Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Richard Attenborough in the title role of Davy - the last feature film made at Ealing Studios.^[1]

The power of his voice allowed Secombe to appear in many stage musicals. This included 1963's Pickwick, based on Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, which gave him the number two hit single "If I Ruled the World" - his later signature tune. In 1965 the show was produced on tour in the United States, where on Broadway he garnered a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.^[1] He also appeared in 1967's The Four Musketeers, Mr. Bumble in Carol Reed's 1968 film of Lionel Bart's Oliver!, and in the Envy segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins.

Later career

Later in life, Secombe (whose brother Fred Secombe was a priest in the Church in Wales, part of the Anglican Communion) attracted new audiences as a presenter of religious programmes, such as the BBC's Songs of Praise and ITV's Highway. He was also a special programming consultant to Harlech Television.^[2]

He was knighted in 1981, and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference (in recognition of his rotund figure). In 1990, he was one of the few celebrities to be honoured by a second appearance on This Is Your Life, having had a first program produced in 1958.^[1]

Later life

Secombe suffered a stroke in 1997, from which he made a slow recovery, he was then diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 1998. After suffering a second stroke in 1999, he was forced to abandon his television career, but made a documentary about his condition in the hope of giving encouragement to other sufferers.^[3] Secombe had diabetes in the latter part of his life.

He died at the age of 79, from prostate cancer, in hospital in Guildford, Surrey in April 2001.^[4] His ashes are interred at the parish church of Shamley Green, and a later memorial service to celebrate his life was held at Westminster Abbey on 26 October 2001. As well as family members and friends, the service was also attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and representatives of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Anne, Princess Royal, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. On his tombstone is the inscription: "To know him was to love him."

The Secombe Theatre at Sutton bears his name in memory of this former local personality.^[5].

Family life

Secombe met Myra Atherton at the Mumbles dance hall. The couple were married from 1948 until his death, and had four children:

• Jennifer Secombe, married to actor Alex Giannini. She was also her father's agent.^[2]
• Andy Secombe, a voice and film actor, and an author
• David Secombe, a writer and photographer
• Katy Secombe, an actress

He was a member of the Savage Club, a London Gentlemen's Club in Whitehall Place. His niece, Joan Secombe, was a head of house at Bishop Luffa school, in Chichester.

Selected works

Singles

• "On with the Motley" (1955) UK #16
• "Bless This House" (1960) UK
• "If I Ruled the World" (1963) UK #18
• "This Is My Song" (1967) UK #2^[6]

Albums

• Sacred Songs (1962) UK #16
• Secombe's Personal Choice (1967) UK #6
• If I Ruled the World (1971) UK #17
• Bless This House: 20 Songs Of Joy (1978) UK #8^[7]
• Captain Beaky and His Band

Books

• An Entertaining Life. Foreword by HRH Charles, Prince of Wales. London: Robson Books (2004). Paperback: ISBN 1-861-05811-X, ISBN 978-1-86105-811-9.
• The Goon Omnibus (Goon For Lunch). London: The Companion Book Club (1978)
• Twice Brightly London: The Companion Book Club

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Harry Secombe

• Harry Secombe at the Internet Movie Database
• Harry Secombe biography from BBC Wales