Summary
Ken Dodd explains to Matthew Parris why movie legend Stan Laurel inspired him to get into comedy.
Born Stan Jefferson into a theatrical family, in Lancashire, he later moved to the United States, where talent and a leg of lamb helped forge the Laurel & Hardy partnership.
They became the last big comedy sensation of the silent era but took to talkies like "ducks to water" and were mobbed by fans and reporters everywhere they went.
Features archive clips, including their memorable performance of The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine.
With comedy historian, Glenn Mitchell.
Producer: Toby Field
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2012.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult? |
| 0:06.0 | What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are? |
| 0:10.0 | I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. I saw a footprint and that really gave me gusmas. |
| 0:16.4 | Or people who knew me. Emme, I remember every secret, every lie. I'm the only one who knows the truth. |
| 0:23.0 | Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003. |
| 0:27.0 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | Thank you for downloading this great Lives Podcast from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:35.0 | For more information and details of other podcasts, just visit BBC.co. |
| 0:40.0 | UK slash Radio 4. |
| 0:42.0 | This week's Great Lives is about a young comedy performer called Stan Jefferson. |
| 0:48.9 | In London in 1910 Stan was understudy to Charlie Chaplin in comedy and Presario, Fred Carno's latest production, Jimmy the Fearless. |
| 0:58.0 | Chaplin decided it wasn't up to scratch and pulled out. |
| 1:02.0 | On the eve of the opening, Stan stepped into the breach. |
| 1:06.5 | The show was a tremendous and immediate hit and Stan Jefferson emerged as one of the great comedy |
| 1:12.1 | talents of the 20th century. |
| 1:14.0 | Or Stan Laurel, as he became known. |
| 1:18.0 | The Laurel of Laurel and Hardy. |
| 1:20.0 | Jefferson and Hardy just doesn't have that ring does it? |
| 1:23.0 | As a little boy in the 1950s when birthday party agencies |
| 1:27.0 | would come to children's parties and project a Laurel and Hardy film onto a portable screen, |
| 1:32.0 | I could never remember which one was Laurel and which |
| 1:34.8 | was Hardy. |
... |
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