Editing Round the Horne (section)

===Kenneth Horne===
The persona adopted by the writers for Horne was not greatly different from his real-life one,{{sfn|Massingberd|2006}} and largely the same as that of his ''Beyond Our Ken'' character: the urbane, unflappable, tolerant but sometimes surprised central figure, around whom the other characters revolved.{{sfn|Hackforth|1976|p=107}}{{sfn|Took|1998|p=25}}{{sfn|Alexander|1997|p=139}} ''[[The Times]]'' called Horne the "master of the scandalous double-meaning delivered with shining innocence",{{sfn|"Mr Kenneth Horne: Witty Radio and TV Entertainer". ''The Times''. 15 February 1969}}{{refn|Horne was on record as saying, "If ever I see a double entendre, I whip it out".{{sfn|Massingberd|2006}}|group=n}} and in ''Round the Horne'' he combined the role of straight man to the flamboyant Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo and J.{{space}}Peasmold Gruntfuttock with that of genial host of the show. Feldman called him "the best straight man I had ever seen", who nonetheless had "a lot of funny lines";{{snf|Feldman|2016|p=137}} [[Jonathan Rigby]], who played Horne in a stage show, ''Round the Horne&nbsp;... Revisited'', thought him "a stand-up comedian with a posh accent&nbsp;... part of his genius was that he was able to be himself".{{sfn|Massingberd|2006}}

Horne introduced some programmes by reading out the answers to last week's (non-existent) questions:
:The answer to question one: complete the first lines of the following songs –  "If I Were a Blackbird I'd&nbsp;..." The answer is I'd Whistle and Sing, and I positively will not accept any other suggestion. The second song was "There's a Rainbow Round My&nbsp;..." Now we got an amazing number of replies to this. We haven't had so many since we asked you to complete "Over My Shoulder Goes&nbsp;..." Really, it makes it very difficult for us to keep up the high reputation for sophisticated comedy we've never had.{{sfn|Took|Coward|2000|p=39}}
At other times he would give a short lecture on justly forgotten figures from history, such as Robert Capability Lackwind, allegedly the inventor of [[Toad in the hole|Toad in the Hole]],{{sfn|Took|Feldman|1974|pp=32–33}} or Nemesis Fothergill, known to ornithologists – and the police – as the Birdman of Potter's Bar.{{sfn|Took|Coward|2000|pp=26–27}} In many episodes his opening slot was announcing the day's forthcoming events, such as International free style gnome fingering at the five-minute Hippo Wash Brompton Oratory, [[Swan Upping]] at Downham and Swan Downing at Upham, and the two-man Rabbi bob sled championship down the escalators at Leicester Square tube station.{{sfn|Took|1998|p=159}}{{sfn|Took|1989|p=217}}{{sfn|Took|Feldman|1974|p=116}} He would close the programmes by commenting on the final sketch, or announcing a competition to complete a limerick with two fecund opening lines ("A young market gardener from Bude, Developed a cactus quite lewd&nbsp;...") or with a public service announcement such as this police message:
:If any passer-by in [[Soho#Sex industry|Lisle Street]] last Saturday night witnessed a middle-aged man stagger out of the Peeperama strip club and get knocked down by a passing cyclist, would you please keep quiet about it as my wife thinks I was in Folkestone. Goodbye. See you next week.{{sfn|Took|Feldman|1974|p=61}}