Editing Bob Monkhouse (section)

== Early life and career ==
Monkhouse was born on 1 June 1928<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findmypast.com/|title=Trace your Family Tree Online – Genealogy & Ancestry from Findmypast – findmypast.com}}</ref> at 168 Bromley Road, [[Beckenham]], [[Kent]], the son of chartered accountant Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse (1894–1957)<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-93022|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/93022|title = The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2004}}</ref><ref>The London Gazette, 21 February 1958, p. 1258</ref> and Dorothy Muriel Monkhouse (''née'' Hansard, 1895–1971). Monkhouse had an elder brother, John, who was born in 1922. Monkhouse's grandfather, John Monkhouse (1862–1938), was a prosperous [[Methodism|Methodist]] businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly.<ref name="BBC obit">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1958051.stm |title=Obituary: Bob Monkhouse |access-date=31 August 2008 |work=BBC News |date=29 December 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Viner |first=Brian |title=King Arthur, Attila the Hun and BobMonkhouse |journal=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/brian-viner/king-arthur-attila-the-hun-and-bob-monkhouse-755955.html |date=13 July 2004 |access-date=26 April 2010}}</ref> In a 2015 documentary, it was revealed that Monkhouse and his older brother suffered from [[Physical abuse|physical]] and [[verbal abuse]] by their mother.{{cn|date=June 2023}}

Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in [[Worthing]], [[Sussex]], and [[Dulwich College]] in south London, from which he was expelled for climbing the clock tower.{{cn|date=May 2025}} While still at school, Monkhouse wrote for ''[[The Beano]]'' and ''[[The Dandy]]'' and drew for other comics including ''[[Hotspur (comic)|Hotspur]]'', ''[[Wizard (DC Thomson)|Wizard]]'' and ''Adventure''.<ref name="Guardian obit" /> He established a comics writing and art partnership with Dulwich schoolmate [[Denis Gifford]] and the two formed their own publishing company, Streamline, in the early 1950s. Among other writing, Monkhouse wrote more than 100 ''Harlem Hotspots'' erotic novelettes.<ref name="Guardian obit" />

Monkhouse completed his [[National service]] with the [[Royal Air Force]] in 1948. He won a contract with the BBC after his unwitting RAF [[Group captain]] signed a letter that Monkhouse had written telling the BBC he was a war hero and that the corporation should give him an audition.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/124769.stm |title=BBC fooled into giving Bob his big break |access-date=31 August 2008 |work=BBC News |date=2 July 1998}}</ref>

Before establishing himself as a successful writer and comedian, Monkhouse appeared on stage in London, first as [[Aladdin]] in [[Aladdin (1958 film)|a stage show of the same name]] written by [[S. J. Perelman]] and [[Cole Porter]] and then in the first London production of the musical ''[[The Boys from Syracuse]]'' (Antipholus of Syracuse) in 1963 at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], alongside [[Ronnie Corbett]].<ref>London Cast Recording. The Boys from Syracuse. Decca Record Company Limited, 1963. LK 4564.</ref>