Fantabulosa

It is another one of those idiosyncracies of the British way of life.

In the late 1960's, at a time when homosexuality was criminalised and not even the great and the good could escape the public scandalmongers if there was even the faintest whiff of an inappropriate liaison the most popular media characters were a very openly gay, camp and risque pair who attracted around 8 million radio listeners and on a sunday.

The introduction of the characters played by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Williams summed it all up; "Hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy".

A brainchild of writers Barry Took and the googley eyed Marty Feldman the couple made their first scripted appearance as out of work and down at heel actors who were forced to take menial tasks and jobs to make ends meet.

This characterisation was soon rejected by the editor of the recipient Hit radio show, Round the Horne and its main protagonist, Kenneth Horne in favour of a couple of outrageous chorus boys who soon became established as the nation;s favourites.

The comic genius of Paddick and Williams was the perfect challenge for the straight man role played by Horne and the Julian and Sandy featurette in the sunday broadcasts was a highlight throughout the long running series.

This saw various business activities and enterprises being attempted with naffness and cheery incompetence centred on Kenneth Horne ranging from dating agency to private detectives, travel agents and theatrical entrepreneurs.

What seems to have appealed to the British public was the safe and unthreatening manner of a lifestyle sector otherwise so villified and feared. The whole seedy portrayal of gay activity and apparent promiscuity was shrouded in mystery only serving to fuel public opinion.

Homosexuality was unimportant in the context of Julian and Sandy even though their language, packed with double entendres and camp, effete delivery was outrageous in the extreme.

The dramatic scenes were often manic with Julian being constantly badgered by Sandy into confessions as a very effective comic tool. The British seem to love innuendo and this was a main strand in the dialogue.

Kenneth Williams excelled in his high pitched voice and very dramatic performances in contrast to the rather dour and downtrodden Paddick.

The shows also saw the use of the slang language of Polari.

This is thought to have started amongst the travelling circuses and theatres in Europe before being adopted by, amongst others, the Gay Community as a form of secret communication to convey intentions and opinions whilst not drawing attention to excite persecution or legal sanction.

Key words appearing in the RTH scripts included "bona" for good, "varda", look, "dolly" pretty and "eke" face put to most effective use in a typical welcome "Bona to varda your dolly old eke". "Omi" referred to a man, "Palone" for woman and "Omie Palone"for effiminate man or homosexual.

The contribution through popular culture of Julian and Sandy did bring about a change in public attitudes and is widely regarded as having been a main catalyst to the decriminalisation of homosexuality by 1967.

In 1968 Round the Horne ended with the untimely death of Kenneth Horne but Julian and Sandy kept going for a few years, culminating in the last ever performance for a charity show in 1987 shortly before Williams' death.