Various – A Box Of British Humour – 4 CD

Track Listing:

CD1:
Noël Coward: 1. Mrs Worthington - 2:06   Gillie Potter: 2. Heard at Hogsnorton - The Truth About the BBC - 8:25   Flotsam and Jetsam: 3. King Canute - 3:04   Frankie Randall: 4. The Old Hiker - 7:18   Billy Bennett: 5. The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog - 3:06   John Tilley: 6. Maudie the Racehorse - 4:31   Norman Long: 7. Ten Pahnds Dahn - 3:30   Harry Tate: 8. Fishing - 6:53   Jack Hodges: 9. Everything Is Fresh Today - 3:12   Western Brothers: 10. The Old School Tie - 3:55   Stanley Holloway: 11. Recumbent Posture - 4:05   Reginald Gardner: 12. Trains - 6:33   Norman Long: 13. On the Day That Chelsea Went and Won the Cup - 3:04   Billy Russell: 14. On Behalf of the Working Classes - 12:32

CD2:
Elsie and Doris Waters: 1. At the Court of Good Queen Bess - 3:24   John Tilley: 2. London Transport Board - 4:13   Noël Coward: 3. Mad Dogs and Englishmen - 2:54   Douglas Byng: 4. I'm the Pest of Budapest - 2:53   Ronald Frankau: 5. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven - 3:31   A. J. Alan: 6. Percy the Prawn - 6:24   Ernest Butcher: 7. Peaceful Street - 3:23   Murgatroyd And Winterbottom: 8. Clothes - 3:28   Oliver Wakefield: 9. Keeping a Stiff Upper - 3:26   Billy Bennett: 10. Nell - 3:04   Norman Long: 11. My Little Austin Seven - 2:45   Noël Coward: 12. The Stately Homes of England - 3:21   Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and Company: 13. Band Wagon - 20:35   Ronald Frankau: 14. When You've Fellows Like Me in the Force - 3:31   Billy Bennett: 15. She Was Poor, But She Was Honest - 3:05   Stanley Holloway: 16. Upp'ards - 3:01

CD3:
Norman Long: 1. We Can't Let You Broadcast That - 3:09   Murgatroyd and Winterbottom: 2. Pets - 3:32   Oliver Wakefield: 3. Play Up and Pay the Dame - 3:41   Max Miller: 4. Max Miller in the Theatre - 17:49   Western Brothers: 5. Bad Show, Chaps - 3:23   Florence Desmond: 6. The Deepest Shelter in Town - 2:44   Happidrome: 7. The Rain Came Pitter-Patter Down - 3:30   8. When Moaning Minnie Moans No More - 3:28   9. The Baby in the Flat Up Above - 3:38   10. Let Me Tell You - 3:40   11. Let's Have Another One - 3:42   12. Our Up-To-Date Farm - 3:40   13. Out in Indiah - 3:42   14. Napoleon's Retreat - 3:34   Gracie Fields: 15. The Biggest Aspidistra in the World - 2:40   Tommy Handley: 16. Who Is That Man (Who Looks Like Charlie -Chaplin?) - 2:37   Western Brothers: 17. Lord Haw Haw of Zeesen - 3:16

CD4:
Flotsam and Jetsam: 1. Is 'E an Aussie, Lizzie, Is 'E? - 3:08   Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch: 2. The Proposal - 8:44   Norman Long: 3. Where Does Poor Pa Go in the Blackout? - 3:11   Tommy Trinder: 4. Tommy Trinder's Stage Show - 11:54   Tommy Handley: 5. It's That Man Again - 3:20   Max Miller: 6. Max with the Forces - 19:27   Stanley Holloway: 7. The Food Demonstration - 3:17   Robb Wilton: 8. The Home Guard - 6:33   Noël Coward: 9. Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans - 3:14   Jack Warner: 10. If Only I'd Put an X Instead of 1 - 3:03   Will Hay: 11. What Does It Matter? - 9:02

Reviews:

1. AllMusic - Rob Theakston
Before there were names like Monty Python, Gervais, Jack Benny, and Morcambe dominating the history of British humor, there were names like Noël Coward, Murgatroyd and Winterbottom, and Happidrome who paved the way in the '30s and '40s and created the golden era of British comedy. A Box of British Humour is an ambitious, four-disc document of that era and comprehensive in nature, including every single big name during their performance peaks. Largely culled from radio and theater performances, this box set is essential for students of humor and will delight (albeit properly and refined in the true English way) from start to finish.