Editing Graeme Garden

{{short description|Scottish comedian and actor (born 1943)}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox comedian
 | name              = Graeme Garden
 | honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|OBE}}
 | image             = You'll Have Had Your Tea - Graeme Garden.jpg
 | caption           = Garden during a recording of ''[[You'll Have Had Your Tea]]'' in 2006
 | birth_name        = David Graeme Garden
 | birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1943|2|18|df=y}}
 | birth_place       = [[Aberdeen]], Scotland
 | death_date        =
 | death_place       =
 | education         = [[Repton School]]
 | alma_mater        = [[University of Cambridge]]
 | active            = 1964–present
 | spouse            = {{ubl
| Mary Grice
| Emma Garden
}}
 | children          = 3
 | medium            = [[Stand-up comedy|Stand-up]], radio, [[Theatre|stage]], television
 | notable_work      = ''[[I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again]]'' (1965–1973)<br />''[[Twice a Fortnight]]'' (1967)<br />''[[Broaden Your Mind]]'' (1968–1969)<br />''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]'' <br />(1970–1982) <br /> ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' (1972–)
 | website           =
 | footnotes         =
}}

<!--NO "Dr" PER WP:MOSBIO-->'''David Graeme Garden''' (born 18 February 1943) is a Scottish comedian, actor, author, artist and television presenter. He is best known as a member of [[The Goodies]] and a regular panellist on ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]''.<ref name=footlights>{{Cite book | author=Hewison, Robert | year        = 1983 | title       = Footlights!: A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy | location    = London | publisher=Methuen London | isbn          = 978-0-413-51150-8}}</ref><ref name=cv>{{cite web | author=Anon | date=2007 | title       = Graeme Garden: Biography, CV (acting), CV (writing) | website=rdfmanagement.com | url         = http://www.rdfmanagement.com/clients/graeme_garden.html
}}</ref><ref name=fringe>{{Cite book | author=Wilmut, Roger | year        = 1980 | title       = From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy, 1960–1980 | location    = London | publisher=Eyre Methuen | isbn          = 978-0-413-46950-2}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:ReptonSchool2007.JPG|thumb|right|Garden at [[Repton School]] in Derbyshire]]
Garden was born on 18 February 1943 in [[Aberdeen]], Scotland, and raised in [[Preston, Lancashire|Preston]], [[Lancashire]], England, only son (with a daughter) of {{ill|Robert Symon Garden|fr}} (1910–1982), an eminent orthopaedic surgeon who created the [[Garden classification]] of hip fractures, and his wife Janet Ann (née McHardy). R. S. Garden's parents, John and Elizabeth, farmed at [[Macduff, Aberdeenshire|Macduff]], [[Banff and Buchan]], Aberdeenshire.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 1500675 | pages=1750–1753 | volume=285 | issue=6356 | journal=[[British Medical Journal]] | title=Obituary|year=1982|author=Anon | doi=10.1136/bmj.285.6356.1750}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:378711/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E006528%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier|title = Garden, Robert Symon (1910 - 1982)}}</ref> Garden was educated at [[Repton School]], and studied medicine at [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]], where he joined the [[Footlights|Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club]] and served as its president in 1964, while also performing in the 1964 Footlights revue, ''Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of'' at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]].<ref name=footlights/>

Garden qualified in medicine but has never practised. Asked how he justified making jokes rather than saving lives, he answered:<ref name="WINKLER-2005">
{{Cite news
 |author      = Winkler, Michael
 |title       = Still Goodies . . . but oldies
 |series      = Entertainment: TV & Radio
 |pages       = (5 March 2005)
 |work        = [[The Age]]
 |url         = http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Still-Goodies----but-oldies/2005/03/03/1109700605326.html
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070910195549/http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Still-Goodies----but-oldies/2005/03/03/1109700605326.html
 |archive-date = 10 September 2007
 |location    = [[Melbourne]]
 |date        = 5 March 2005
 |url-status     = dead
 |df          = dmy-all
 |access-date = September 12, 2022
}}</ref>
{{Quote|I don't think I would have done it as well. It's an interesting question – whether you've contributed more to the vast store of human enjoyment by doing comedy or by being a doctor, but the answer for me is that I don't think I would have been as successful or as happy being a doctor.}}

==Career==

===Radio===

Garden was co-writer and performer in the BBC [[radio comedy]] sketch show ''[[I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again]]'' in the late 1960s. Garden was studying medicine during the first few series of the show, this commitment making cast membership difficult for him during the third series as he was following a [[midwifery]] course in [[Plymouth]]. However, he continued sending in scripts for the radio show by mail, and he rejoined the cast upon his return to his medical studies in London.<ref>''From Fringe to Flying Circus'' – 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980' – Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.</ref> On several occasions, his medical qualifications are lampooned in the show; in the 25th Anniversary Show, David Hatch asks him if he is still a writer. Garden: "Here's something I wrote this morning". Hatch: "It's a prescription". "Yes," says Garden, "but it's a funny one..."

Garden was a permanent panellist on the long-running BBC Radio improvisation show ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', in a cast which included [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], for almost fifty years. He also starred in and co-wrote, with [[Barry Cryer]], ''[[Hamish and Dougal|You'll Have Had Your Tea]]'', a direct spin-off of ISIHAC, and has contributed to several books from the series including guides to the game [[Mornington Crescent (game)|Mornington Crescent]].

Garden wrote for and appeared with [[Barry Cryer]] and [[Alison Steadman]] in the 1989 BBC radio comedy sketch show ''[[The Long Hot Satsuma]]''. Garden had a role in [[Paul B. Davies]]' 2000 radio play ''Spy Nozy and the Poets''. In 2001 and 2002, Garden wrote for and appeared in the BBC radio comedy sketch show ''The Right Time'', along with [[Eleanor Bron]], [[Paula Wilcox]], [[Clive Swift]], Roger Blake and [[Neil Innes]]. He was also script editor for ''[[The Hudson and Pepperdine Show]]''.

Garden is chair of the spoof radio game show ''Beat the Kids''. He has also appeared on the UK version of the improvisation television series ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway? (UK TV series)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'', which has a similar format. He was a co-writer of the BBC Radio 4 comedy ''[[Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off]]'', and in 2006, Garden co-devised and appeared on the [[BBC Radio 4]] comedy quiz show ''[[The Unbelievable Truth (radio show)|The Unbelievable Truth]]''. He also appeared in the BBC Radio 4  comedy series [[One_(radio_series)|One]], created by [[David Quantick]].

In 2003, Garden wrote the Radio 4 sitcom ''[[About a Dog]]'', based on an original idea by [[Debbie Barham]], with a second series in 2007.

Garden has appeared in several of [[Big Finish Productions|Big Finish]]'s ''[[Doctor Who]]'' audio dramas. In ''[[Bang-Bang-a-Boom!]]'' he plays Professor Fassbinder, a parody of [[Victor Bergman]] in ''[[Space: 1999]]''. In ''[[Max Warp]]'' he plays TV presenter Geoffrey Vantage, parodying ''[[Top Gear (2002 TV series)|Top Gear]]'' presenter [[Jeremy Clarkson]]. He also plays Abbot Thelonious (an alias of the [[Meddling Monk]]) in the [[Eighth Doctor]] audio play ''[[The Book of Kells (Doctor Who audio)|The Book of Kells]]'' in 2010, and subsequently returns as a recurring antagonist to the Eighth Doctor as the Monk (a role previously played on television by [[Peter Butterworth]]).

===Television===
Garden's best known television work is freeform sitcom ''[[The Goodies (TV series)|The Goodies]]'', which he wrote and performed along with [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]] and [[Bill Oddie]] from 1970 to 1982. The three appeared in the Amnesty International show ''[[A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick)]]'' (during which they sang their hit song "[[Funky Gibbon]]"). Garden and [[Bill Oddie]] co-wrote many episodes of the television sitcom ''[[Doctor in the House (TV series)|Doctor in the House]]'', including most of the first series episodes, and all of the second series episodes - as well as co-writing episodes of the subsequent ''[[Doctor at Large (TV series)|Doctor at Large]]'' and ''[[Doctor in Charge]]'' series. Garden was co-writer and performer in the sketch show ''[[Twice a Fortnight]]'' with [[Bill Oddie]], [[Terry Jones]], [[Michael Palin]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]], and also sketch show ''[[Broaden Your Mind]]'' with [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]], with [[Bill Oddie]] joining the cast for the second series.

In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science fiction sitcom called ''[[Astronauts (television)|Astronauts]]'' for [[Central Independent Television|Central]] which was shown on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]. The show was set in an international [[space station]] in the near future.

Garden was the voice of the title character in ''[[Bananaman (TV series)|Bananaman]]'' (1983), in addition to General Blight and Maurice of the Heavy Mob in the children's [[animated]] television comedy series, which also featured the rest of the Goodies team. The series parodied comic book super-heroes. Later, Garden wrote for the sitcom ''[[Surgical Spirit (TV series)|Surgical Spirit]]'' (1994). Graeme Garden has also presented three series of the [[BBC]]'s health magazine ''Bodymatters''.

Garden appeared in the political sitcom ''[[Yes Minister]]'', in the role of Commander Forrest of the Special Branch in the episode ''The Death List''. He also appeared as a television presenter in the ''[[Doctor in the House (TV series)|Doctor in the House]]'' episode "Doctor on the Box".

He was a regular team captain on the political satire game show ''[[If I Ruled the World (game show)|If I Ruled the World]]''. Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode and during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time ''The Goodies'' episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to refute this statement, and replied, "I couldn't disagree more... it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gNG4dsOX6c | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/4gNG4dsOX6c| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=If I Ruled the World clip #1 | date=29 October 2007|publisher=YouTube |access-date=2012-08-14}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2004, Garden and Brooke-Taylor were co-presenters of [[Channel 4]]'s daytime game show ''Beat the Nation'', in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. It was notable for its use of a "laugh track" instead of a studio audience. Garden has hosted the quiz game ''[[Tell the Truth (British game show)|Tell the Truth]]'' and presented a series of history programmes, ''A Sense of the Past'' for [[Yorkshire Television]].<ref>''The Best Medicine: Graeme Garden's Book of Medical Humour'', compiled and illustrated by Graeme Garden, published by Robson Books Ltd., London (1984), {{ISBN|0-86051-295-9}}</ref>

Garden writes and directs for the corporate video company [[Video Arts]], famous for its training films starring [[John Cleese]].

===Stage appearances===

Garden has a successful stage career, and has acted in several [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] productions, as well as London's [[West End of London|West End]]. He has also acted in several [[BBC Radio 4]] comedy drama series, and television drama including ''Peak Practice'' and ''[[Holby City]]''. Garden appeared with Tim Brooke-Taylor in the theatre production ''[[The Unvarnished Truth]]''.

He wrote several pantomimes for [[The Theatre Chipping Norton]] during the 1980s. <ref>[https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11317740.set-gave-chippy-national-fame/ Before the 'set' gave Chippy national fame] oxfordmail.co.uk. Retrieved on 24 August 2011.</ref>

In 1986 he appeared in a production of ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' by [[J B Priestley]] at the [[Royal Exchange, Manchester]].

Garden wrote a play called ''[[The Pocket Orchestra]]'' which ran in London in 2006. In August 2006, Garden and Brooke-Taylor joined up to perform at the [[Edinburgh Fringe]] in a show which looked back with some nostalgia to their work with the Goodies and in light entertainment.

== Personal life ==
Garden lives in [[Oxfordshire]] with his wife Emma, with whom he has a son, Tom. Garden also has a daughter, Sally, and a son, John, from his previous marriage to Mary Elizabeth Wheatley Grice.<ref>"''Who's Who on Television''" – Independent Television Books, London, England (1985). {{ISBN|0-907965-31-8}}</ref><ref>"''Who's Who on Television''" – Independent Television Books, London, England (1988). {{ISBN|0-907965-49-0}}</ref> His son John "JJ" Garden is the occasional keyboardist for the music group [[Scissor Sisters#Line-up|Scissor Sisters]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1448753.ece | work=The Times | location=London | title=Relative Values Graeme Garden and his son John | date=4 March 2007 | access-date=23 May 2010}}</ref> and shares songwriting credit on the song "The Other Side" from their 2006 album ''[[Ta-Dah]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/living/article60476.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413133032/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/living/article60476.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2014|title=Relative Values: Graeme Garden and his son, John|work=The Sunday Times |date=4 March 2007 | location=London}}</ref>

In 2002, Garden suffered an episode of the condition known as [[Bell's palsy]], where the muscles on one side of the face become paralysed.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bellspalsy.org.uk/graeme-garden.htm |title=Famous sufferers - Bell's Palsy UK website |access-date=10 February 2016 |archive-date=21 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121233545/http://www.bellspalsy.org.uk/graeme-garden.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was able to continue his work commitments and eventually made a full recovery after some months.

Garden was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[2011 Birthday Honours]] for services to light entertainment alongside his late comedy partner [[Tim Brooke-Taylor]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59808 |date=11 June 2011 |page=10 |supp=y}}</ref>

Garden is a patron of the disability charity ENRYCH – formerly Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers. The charity works to enable adults with a physical disability to enjoy culture, leisure, learning and sporting opportunities through partnership with a volunteer.<ref>[http://www.enrych.org.uk/about/rych-history Enrych history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520043834/http://www.enrych.org.uk/about/rych-history |date=20 May 2013 }}</ref>

==Bibliography==

An incomplete list includes:
* ''The Best Medicine: Graeme Garden's Book of Medical Humour'' compiled and illustrated by Graeme Garden, published by Robson Books Ltd., London (1984), {{ISBN|0-86051-295-9}}
* ''The Skylighters''
* ''The Seventh Man''
* ''Graeme Garden's Compendium of Very Silly Games''
* ''Stovold's Mornington Crescent Almanac''

Co-written with the other members of [[The Goodies]]:
* ''The Goodies File''
* ''The Goodies Book of Criminal Records''
* ''The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie''

Poetry:
* {{cite journal |year=2010 |title=The man who invented time travel |journal=[[Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine]] |volume=45 |page=101}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline|Graeme Garden}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/ "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" homepage] at BBC.co.uk
* {{IMDb name|id=0306660|name=Graeme Garden}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/g/garden_graeme.shtml Graeme Garden] – BBC Guide to Comedy
* [http://www.comedy-zone.net/standup/comedian/g/garden-graeme.htm Graeme Garden] – Comedy Zone
* [http://standanddeliver.blogs.com/dombo/2005/02/my_chat_with_gr.html Graeme Garden interview]
* [http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst664.html Graeme Garden] – The Gazetteer for Scotland
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/clue/interviews/team.shtml ISIHAC interviews with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Barry Cryer] at BBC.co.uk
* [http://www.webwombat.com.au/entertainment/dvds/tim-brooke-taylor-graeme-garden-goodies-interview.htm Graeme Garden Interview] Web Wombat Theatre
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051222030426/http://orangecow.org/pythonet/otherprepythonshows.html The Origin of Monty Python] – mentions Graeme and ISIRTA
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080921112136/http://footlights.org/1960.html "Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of"] – the 1964 Cambridge Footlights Club revue during the time when Graeme Garden was President of the Footlights, as well as being a member of the revue cast
* [http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2011/06/11/13455/obes_all_round... OBEs all round – Goodies pair honoured]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9510000/9510621.stm Graeme Garden thought that OBE letter was a bill]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160410120934/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8568812/Birthday-Honours-List-2011-in-pictures.html?image=6 Birthday Honours List 2011 in pictures]
* [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/goodies-pair-thrilled-with-obes-16010736.html Goodies pair "thrilled" with OBEs]
* {{cite magazine|magazine=New Scientist|author=Graeme Garden|title=How brave the new world?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igfZw5IzNHEC&pg=PA538|date=27 May 1971|publisher=Reed Business Information|page=535}}
* {{British Comedy Guide|people|graeme_garden}}

{{The Goodies}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garden, Graeme}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People educated at Repton School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College London]]
[[Category:Comedians from Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Male actors from Preston, Lancashire]]
[[Category:Scottish banjoists]]
[[Category:Scottish cartoonists]]
[[Category:Scottish comedy writers]]
[[Category:Scottish humorists]]
[[Category:Scottish illustrators]]
[[Category:Scottish male comedians]]
[[Category:Scottish male radio actors]]
[[Category:Scottish radio writers]]
[[Category:Scottish male stage actors]]
[[Category:Scottish male television actors]]
[[Category:Scottish television directors]]
[[Category:Scottish television writers]]
[[Category:Scottish male voice actors]]
[[Category:I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish comedians]]
[[Category:21st-century Scottish comedians]]
[[Category:British male television writers]]
[[Category:Comedians from Lancashire]]
[[Category:Male actors from Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Comedians from Aberdeen]]