Editing Rambling Syd Rumpo (section)

==History==
The Rambling Syd sketches generally began with a short discourse on the nature of the song, which would inexorably follow. The discourses and the songs involved suggestiveness and [[double entendre]]. Rambling Syd was customarily introduced by [[Kenneth Horne]], who would set things up by (for example) inquiring as to the nature and origin of the song. Rambling Syd would usually respond with an "Ello, me dearios", before launching into the ensuing detailed explanation, which left a great deal to the imagination.

The songs themselves pushed and extended boundaries of sexual suggestiveness, using nonsense (or little-known) words such as "moolies" and "[[bollocks|nadgers]]" in suggestive contexts.<ref>'Nadgers' is one of many words with sexual [[innuendo]] which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s to evade strict [[BBC]] censorship. The etymology is uncertain, but possibly based on [[gonad]]. When Rambling Syd Rumpo on ''[[Round the Horne]]'' asked "What shall we do with the drunken nurker?", the answer he gave was, "Hit him in the 'nadgers' with the bosun's plunger...'til his 'bogles' dangle".</ref> Many of the words used by Rambling Syd were invented by the ''[[Round the Horne]]'' scriptwriters [[Barry Took]] and [[Marty Feldman]], who wrote the majority of the songs' [[lyrics]], based upon [[folk music|traditional folk song]]s.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=the-best-of-rambling-syd-rumpo-mw0000384835|pure_url=yes}}|title=The Best of Rambling Syd Rumpo|website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=13 June 2012}}</ref> Some were existing words used in a suggestive context, such as "artefacts" (often used in an archaeological context for things such as grave goods) and "nadgers", which had already appeared in ''[[The Goon Show]]''.

On 3 July 1967, Williams, in the guise of Rambling Syd, recorded a series of the songs before a live audience at [[Abbey Road Studios]].<ref name="Stevens 2">{{cite book	
|last= Stevens	
|first= Christopher
|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams
|publisher= John Murray
|year= 2010
|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5 
|page=225}}</ref> In his diary, Williams wrote that, "the laughter was so intrusive it broke up the rhythm of some of the songs". One of the producers told Williams that the audience had been given a party before the recording and most were drunk.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Kenneth Williams Diaries |page=618 |first=Kenneth |last=Williams |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1984 |isbn=0006380905}}</ref>

This is a lyrical excerpt of "Good King Boroslav", from a Christmas episode, ''Cinderella'', first broadcast on Christmas Eve 1967:

:''Good King Boroslav looked out,''
:''On the night of {{Not a typo|grungers}},''
:''Saw them {{Not a typo|wurdling}} round about,''
:''Armed with rubber plungers,''
:''Brightly shone their artefacts,''
:''Red their possets glowing,''
:''He knew not from whence they came, '' (switches back into suggestive accent)
:''But 'e knew where they were going!<ref name="Ganderbag"/>

In 1975, Williams starred with [[Leslie Phillips]], [[Lance Percival]], [[Miriam Margolyes]] and others, in the short-lived radio sketch show ''Oh, Get On with It'', based on a pilot episode entitled ''Get On With It'', which also featured appearances by Rambling Syd.<ref name="Stevens 3">{{cite book	
|last= Stevens	
|first= Christopher
|title= Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams
|publisher= John Murray
|year= 2010
|isbn = 978-1-84854-195-5
|page=282}}</ref>

[[Sid James]] portrayed "The Rumpo Kid" in the film ''[[Carry On Cowboy]]'' (1965) starring alongside Kenneth Williams.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/466186/|title=BFI Screenonline: Carry On Cowboy (1965)|website=Screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>