Editing Stanley Unwin (comedian)

{{short description|British comic actor and writer (1911–2002)}}
{{About|the comedian|the publisher|Stanley Unwin (publisher)}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Stanley Unwin
| image         = Stanley Unwin (comedian).jpg
| caption       = 
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1911|06|07|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Pretoria]], [[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]], [[Union of South Africa]]
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2002|01|12|1911|06|07|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Daventry]], [[Northamptonshire]], England
| death_cause   =
| resting_place = [[Long Buckby]],<br />Northamptonshire, England
| other_names   = "Professor" Stanley Unwin
| nationality   = British
| alma_mater    = [[Regent Street Polytechnic]]
| occupation    = [[Comedian|Comic actor]] and writer
| years_active  = Late 1940s–1998
| known_for     = Inventing "Unwinese" language
| employer      = [[BBC]] (1940s)
| agent         = Johnnie and Patsy Riscoe
| spouse        = {{Marriage|Frances Anne Martin|1937|1993|end=d.}}{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
| children      = 3
| website       = {{URL|http://www.stanleyunwin.com/}}
}}
'''Stanley Unwin''' (7 June 1911 – 12 January 2002),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/15/guardianobituaries2|title = Obituary: Stanley Unwin|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 15 January 2002}}</ref> sometimes known as '''Professor Stanley Unwin''', was a British [[comedian|comic actor]] and writer.

He invented his own comic language, "Unwinese",<ref name="Stevens">{{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=403
}}</ref> referred to in the film ''[[Carry On Regardless]]'' (1961) as "[[gobbledygook]]". Unwinese was a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful and humorous ways, as in its description of [[Elvis Presley]] and his contemporaries as being "wasp-waist and swivel-hippy". Unwin claimed that the inspiration came from his mother, who once told him that on the way home she had "falolloped (fallen) over" and "grazed her kneeclabbers".

==Early life==
Unwin's parents, Ivan Oswald Unwin (1880–1914) and his wife Jessie Elizabeth ({{née}} Brand; 1883–1968) emigrated from England to the [[Union of South Africa]] in the early 1900s. Their son was born in [[Pretoria]] in 1911. Following his father's death in 1914, due to the family's poverty Unwin's mother arranged for the family to return to England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stanley-unwin-9150769.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stanley-unwin-9150769.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Stanley Unwin|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=17 January 2002}}</ref> She worked as a cook at [[Bow Road]] police station.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stanleyunwin.com/unwinese.htm|title = The World of Stanley Unwin}}</ref> By 1919, Unwin had been sent to the [[National Children's Home]] in [[Congleton]], [[Cheshire]]. In the late 1920s, he studied radio, television and languages at [[University of Westminster|Regent Street Polytechnic]] in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-76678|isbn = 978-0-19-861412-8|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/76678|year = 2006|last1 = Pointon|first1 = Michael|title = Unwin, Stanley (1911–2002), entertainer}}</ref>

In 1937, he married Frances, with whom he had two daughters and a son. Unwin later stated that Unwinese had its roots in enlivening the bedtime stories that he used to tell his children. In 1940, he was given a job in transmitter maintenance for the [[BBC]], and was assigned to the [[Borough Hill]] transmitting station in [[Daventry]]. Unwin, Frances and their nine-month-old daughter, Marion, moved to [[Long Buckby]] in [[Northamptonshire]], where Unwin would reside for the rest of his life.

==Comedy career==
Unwin's early career and training introduced him to wireless and radio communication, and this, coupled with work in the BBC's War Reporting Unit from about 1944, ultimately proved to be his passage into the media.

While based in [[Birmingham]] from 1947 to 1951, Unwin made his first, accidental, transmission. While testing equipment, he gave the microphone to broadcaster [[F.R. "Buck" Buckley]], who [[ad-libbed]] a spoof commentary about an imaginary sport called "Fasche". Buckley then introduced Unwin as "Codlington Corthusite", whereupon Unwin continued the sketch in Unwinese. The recording was broadcast on [[Pat Dixon]]'s ''Mirror of the Month'' programme and a favourable audience reaction led to the commissioning of another sketch in which Unwin, playing an inhabitant of [[Atlantis]], was interviewed about life in the sunken city. A letter of praise from [[Joyce Grenfell]], whom Unwin admired, gave him confidence and he determined on a career in show business.

After the war, while in [[Egypt]] and recording a series of shows by [[Frankie Howerd]], Unwin stood in for the comedian when Howerd fell ill. Unwin's next major breakthrough came when producer Roy Speer introduced him to the comedian [[Ted Ray (comedian)|Ted Ray]]. Once Ray had heard Unwin talking, he said simply: "I want him in the series"{{Spaced ndash}}namely, ''The Spice of Life'', co-starring [[June Whitfield]] and [[Kenneth Connor]].<ref name="Stevens"/> During the mid-1950s, Unwin performed in about a dozen shows for Speer and made the acquaintance of Johnnie Riscoe and his daughter, Patsy, who would become his managers for the rest of his career. By the end of the 1950s, Unwin had ventured into the film industry, being given a part in the [[Cardew Robinson]] film ''[[Fun at St. Fanny's]]'' (1956).

In 1968, Unwin was invited to narrate "Happiness Stan", a six song [[fairy tale]] about a boy of the same name, taking up the entire side two of the [[Small Faces]]' album ''[[Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake]]'', which reached number 1 in the [[UK Albums Chart]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Small Faces, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake | publisher = [[BBC]] | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/b3jw/ | access-date = 17 December 2013}}</ref>

In 1969, Unwin appeared in [[Gerry Anderson]]'s "[[Supermarionation]]" TV series ''[[The Secret Service]]'', both in person and as the voice of the puppet character Father Stanley Unwin, whose appearance was based on him. Episodes typically comprised one or more scenes in which the character of Unwin would attempt to baffle opponents with his gobbledegook. When [[Lew Grade]], Anderson's financial backer and head of distributor [[ITC Entertainment|ITC]], was introduced to the Unwinese dialogue, he cancelled the production on the basis that he believed viewers would not understand what Unwin was saying, despite the fact that such confusion was intentional.

Though professionally retired in his later decades, Unwin still continued to make occasional appearances. In the 1970s, he appeared on ''The [[Max Bygraves]] Show'' on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], sometimes speaking normally and sometimes in gobbledegook. In the final episode, Bygraves tested a number of gobbledegook phrases on Unwin, who claimed that he could not understand them.  In 1985, Unwin recorded with [[Suns of Arqa]] on their album ''[[Ark of the Arqans]]'', providing spoken word accompaniment in Unwinese on the first three tracks.  In 1987, he recorded again with Suns of Arqa on their track "Erasmus Meets The Earthling", featured on their album ''[[Seven (Suns of Arqa album)|Seven]]'', and a remixed version of this track was released again in the 1990s.  He appeared as himself in a hospital scene of [[Inside Victor Lewis-Smith]]. In 1994, Unwin collaborated with British [[dance music]] act [[Wubble-U]] on their single "Petal"; on its re-release in 1998, the track ranked number 55 in the UK Chart. In 1998, Unwin made a cameo appearance in the [[Aardman Animations]] series ''[[Rex the Runt]]'', as an accountant who speaks largely in fairly standard English, occasionally lapsing inexplicably into Unwinese.

===Unwinese===
Unwinese, also known as "Basic Engly Twenty Fido", was an ornamented and mangled form of English in which many of the words were deliberately corrupted in a playful and humorous manner, but which was still largely comprehensible to the listener. Unwin's performances could be hilarious yet disorientating, where the meaning and context were conveyed in a disguised and picturesque style. For example, in his talk on music, "Populode of the Musicolly", Unwin says:<ref name="elliott">{{cite book |last1=Elliott |first1=Richard |title=The Sound of Nonsense |date=28 December 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-5013-2456-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YzI7DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22stanley+unwin%22+carroll&pg=PT23 |language=en}}</ref>

{{quote|They do in fact go back to Ethelrebbers Unready, King Albert's burnt capers where, you know, the toast fell in and the dear lady did get a very cross knit and smote him across the eardrome excallybold. The great sword which riseyhuff and Merlin forevermore was the beginning of the Great Constitution of the Englishspeaking peeploders of these islone, oh yes.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wls9YlFpuLs "The Populode of the Musicolly"] on youtube</ref>}}

Unwinese has been compared to [[Lewis Carroll]]'s nonsense poetry, such as ''[[Jabberwocky]]'', where the sentences sound superficially like English when read aloud, but their precise meaning is unclear.<ref name="elliott"/>

===Selected works===
{{Div col}}
*''[[Fun at St. Fanny's]]'' (1955, film) as The Guide
*''[[Beyond Our Ken]]'' (1958, radio, cameo)
*''Rotatey Diskers with Unwin'' (1960, [[Long play|LP]] of Unwinese)
*''The Miscillian Manuscript'' (1961, travel journal in Unwinese, illustrated by Roy Dewar)
*''[[Inn for Trouble]]'' (1960, film) as Farmer
*''[[Carry On Regardless]]'' (1961, film) as Landlord
*''House & Garbidge'' (1962, book spoofing home and lifestyle magazines, with Dewar)
* Advertisement for India Autoways (TV/cinema) (1966) (car tyre manufacturer) with ''[[Raymond Baxter]]''
*''Rock-a-Bye Babel and Two Fairly Tales'' (1966, book of spoof nursery rhymes and fairy tales, with Dewar)
*''Unwin Time'' (1966, 13 x 5 mins series made by ATV Midlands) Professor Stanley Unwin explains the basics of a sport or hobby. Editions included The Skill of Boatyfloating, All Horse Trot and Jumpy, and All Fish and Dangley<ref>TV listings, Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1966.</ref>
*''[[Press for Time]]'' (1966, film) as Mr. Nottage (Town Clerk)
*''[[Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake]]'' ([[Small Faces]] album, 1968, as Narrator of Side 2)
*''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'' (1968, film) as Chancellor of Vulgaria
*''[[The Secret Service]]'' (1969, TV series) as Father Stanley Unwin
*[[Pirelli]] Tyres TV advertisement (1980, featuring slogan "Outstandifold in the wetty grippers")<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1759706.stm Stanley Unwin: Master of Nonsense (BBC, 14 January 2002)]</ref>
*''[[The Tube (1982 TV series)|The Laughing Prisoner (The Tube TV Special)]]'' (1987, TV, ''[[The Prisoner]]'' parody)
*''[[Just a Minute]]'' (1987, 1989; radio)
*''[[Shaun the Sheep Movie]]'' (2015, archive footage)
{{Div col end}}

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Long Buckby-Grave of Stanley Unwin - geograph.org.uk - 1707018.jpg|thumb|Unwin's grave in [[Long Buckby]]]]

Unwin died at Danetre Hospital in [[Daventry]] on 12 January 2002. He is buried in the churchyard at [[Long Buckby]], with Frances, who predeceased him in 1993. Their gravestone bears the epitaph, "Reunitey in the heavenly-bode{{Spaced ndash}}Deep Joy!".

A thanksgiving service was held at St Lawrence's Church in Long Buckby and ended with a rendering of "[[Bye Bye Blackbird]]" by John Percival and friends. The [[valediction]] had been prepared by Unwin's family in his own style: "Goodly Byelode loyal peeploders! Now all gatherymost to amuse it and have a tilty elbow or a nice cuffle-oteedee{{Spaced ndash}}Oh Yes!"

[[Suns of Arqa]] released a tribute album to Unwin (entitled "Tributey") following his death, featuring a selection of his works with the band over the years, as well as various interviews.

Unwin's work is considered to have been a significant influence on the two books written by [[John Lennon]]: ''[[In His Own Write]]'' (1964) and ''[[A Spaniard in the Works]]'' (1965).<ref>{{cite book |first=Chris |last=Ingham |title=The Rough Guide To The Beatles |page=220 |publisher=Rough Guides Ltd |edition=3rd |date=2009 |isbn=978-1-84836-525-4}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{Cite book|author=Unwin, Stanley |title=Deep Joy: Master of the Sproken {{sic}} Word |publisher=Caedmon of Whitby |location=Whitby, Yorkshire |year=1984 |isbn=0-905355-30-X}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|http://www.stanleyunwin.com/}}
* {{IMDb name|0881395|Stanley Unwin}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,633524,00.html Obituary in ''The Guardian'']
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/voices/media/stanley-unwin?size=4x3&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1 Video clip of Stanley Unwin on ''Parkinson'']{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051212234023/http://www.scbd.connectfree.co.uk/unwin/ |date=12 December 2005 |title=Stanley Unwin transcripts }}

{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Suns of Arqa}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unwin, Stanley}}
[[Category:1911 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century British writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic]]
[[Category:BBC people]]
[[Category:British comedy writers]]
[[Category:British male comedians]]
[[Category:British male film actors]]
[[Category:British male radio actors]]
[[Category:British male stage actors]]
[[Category:British male television actors]]
[[Category:British male voice actors]]
[[Category:People from Pretoria]]
[[Category:Constructed language creators]]
[[Category:20th-century British comedians]]
[[Category:Suns of Arqa members]]
[[Category:People from Long Buckby]]