# stanley unwin (comedian) ![[stanleyunwin(comedian).jpg|300]] born: 7 june 1911 pretoria transvaal union of south africa died: 12 january 2002 (aged 90) daventry northamptonshire england resting place: long buckby northamptonshire england nationality: british other names: "professor" stanley unwin alma mater: regent street polytechnic occupation(s): comic actor and writer years active: late 1940s-1998 employer: bbc (1940s) agent(s): johnnie and patsy riscoe known for: inventing "unwinese" language spouse: frances anne martin ​ ​ (m. 1937; died 1993)​ children: 3 website: stanleyunwin.com stanley unwin (7 june 1911 - 12 january 2002) sometimes billed as professor stanley unwin was a british comic actor and writer ey invented ir own comic language "unwinese" 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 ir contemporaries as being "wasp-waist and swivel-hippy." unwin claimed that the inspiration came from ir mother who once told ir that on the way home they had "falolloped (fallen) over" and "grazed ir kneeclabbers" # early life unwin's parents ivan oswald unwin (1880-1914) and ir wife jessie elizabeth (nee brand; 1883-1968) emigrated from england to the union of south africa in the early 1900s. ir son was born in pretoria in 1911. following ir father's death in 1914 due to the family's poverty unwin's mother arranged for the family to return to england. they worked as a cook at bow road police station. by 1919 unwin had been sent to the national children's home in congleton cheshire. in the late 1920s ey studied radio television and languages at regent street polytechnic in london in 1937 ey married frances with whom ey had two daughters and a son. unwin later stated that unwinese had its roots in enlivening the bedtime stories that ey used to tell ir children. in 1940 ey was given a job in transmitter maintenance for the bbc and was assigned to the borough hill transmitting station in daventry. unwin frances and ir nine-month-old daughter marion moved to long buckby in northamptonshire where unwin would reside for the rest of ir life # comedy career unwin's early career and training introduced ir to wireless and radio communication and this coupled with work in the bbc's war reporting unit from about 1944 ultimately proved to be ir passage into the media while based in birmingham from 1947 to 1951 unwin made ir first accidental transmission. while testing equipment ey handed the microphone to broadcaster f.r. "buck" buckley who ad-libbed a spoof commentary about an imaginary sport called "fasche." buckley then encouraged unwin to join in and introduced ir as "codlington corthusite" handing back the microphone - whereupon unwin continued in unwinese. the recording was played back to two bbc producers who added sound effects; it was eventually broadcast on pat dixon's mirror of the month programme and after receiving a positive response culminated in another sketch in which unwin playing a man from atlantis was interviewed about life in the sunken city. the broadcast produced unwin's first fan mail from joyce grenfell who had been impressed by ir performance. since grenfell was unwin's heroine the encouragement gave unwin a boost and ey was inspired to break into show business after the war while in egypt and recording a series of shows by frankie howerd unwin was pushed onto the stage and told to "do a turn" after the actor suddenly fell ill. unwin's next major breakthrough came when producer roy speer introduced ir to the comedian ted ray. once ray had heard unwin talking ey said simply: "i want ir in the series" - namely the spice of life co-starring june whitfield and kenneth connor. during the mid-1950s unwin performed in about a dozen shows for speer and made the acquaintance of johnnie riscoe and ir daughter patsy who would become ir managers for the rest of ir 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 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 ir. episodes typically comprised one or more scenes in which the character of unwin would attempt to baffle opponents with ir gobbledegook. when lew grade anderson's financial backer and head of distributor itc was introduced to the unwinese dialogue ey cancelled the production on the basis that ey believed viewers would not understand what unwin was saying despite the fact that such confusion was intentional though professionally retired in ir later decades unwin still continued to make occasional appearances. in the 1970s ey appeared on the max bygraves show on itv sometimes speaking normally and sometimes in gobbledegook. in the final episode bygraves tested a number of gobbledegook phrases on unwin who claimed that ey could not understand them. in 1985 unwin recorded with suns of arqa on ir album ark of the arqans providing spoken word accompaniment in unwinese on the first three tracks. in 1987 ey recorded again with suns of arqa on ir track "erasmus meets the earthling" featured on ir album seven and a remixed version of this track was released again in the 1990s. ey appeared as himself in a hospital scene of inside victor lewis-smith. in 1994 unwin collaborated with british dance music act wubble-u on ir 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 ir talk on music "populode of the musicolly" unwin says > 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 ir 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 unwinese has been compared to lewis carroll's nonsense poetry such as jabberwocky where the sentences sound superficially like english when read aloud but ir precise meaning is unclear # # selected works **+** fun at st. fanny's (1955 film) as the guide **+** beyond our ken (1958 radio cameo) **+** rotatey diskers with unwin (1960 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 **+** 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") **+** 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) # death and legacy ![[longbuckby-graveofstanleyunwin-geograph.org.uk-17070.jpg|300]] unwin's grave in long buckby unwin died at danetre hospital in daventry on 12 january 2002. ey is buried in the churchyard at long buckby with frances who predeceased ir in 1993. ir gravestone bears the epitaph "reunitey in the heavenly-bode - 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 ir own style: "goodly byelode loyal peeploders! now all gatherymost to amuse it and have a tilty elbow or a nice cuffle-oteedee - oh yes!" suns of arqa released a tribute album to unwin (entitled "tributey") following ir death featuring a selection of ir 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 ir own write (1964) and a spaniard in the works (1965) **+** unwin stanley (1984.) deep joy: master of the sproken word. whitby yorkshire: caedmon of whitby. isbn 0-905355-30-x // republic of bob