Norman Shelley
Encyclopedia
Norman Shelley was an English
actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC
's Children's Hour
. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera
The Archers
.
Perhaps Shelley's single best-known role was as Winnie-the-Pooh in The Children's Hour adaptations of A. A. Milne
's stories; for many British people of the mid-20th-century, his is the definitive voice of Pooh.
Other roles for The Children's Hour
included Dr. Watson (opposite Carleton Hobbs
as Holmes) in a series of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle
's Sherlock Holmes
stories; Toad in Kenneth Grahame
's The Wind in the Willows
; and the role of Dennis the Dachshund in the specially written Toytown
series. Shelley also played the parts of Gandalf
and Tom Bombadil
in the 1955-6 radio adaptation
of J. R. R. Tolkien
's The Lord of the Rings
. In the 1973 BBC
television series Jack the Ripper
Shelley played Detective Constable
Walter Dew
.
in 1919, and in the early 1920s he toured with the Charles Doran Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Trebonius in Julius Caesar
and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. During the 1920s and early ’30s he worked principally in London, where he was most associated with Peter Godfrey
's experimental productions at the Gate Theatre Studio
.
Shelley first broadcast for the BBC in 1926, though he made his early radio reputation in Australia and New Zealand. He gradually shifted his interest from stage to radio, and in the late ’30s he established a reputation as a respected and versatile British radio actor. In 1937 he married Monica Daphne, née Brett. During the Second World War he was a member of the BBC's wartime repertory company, but left to serve as a ferry pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.
In the 1930s and 1940s he was a Children's Hour
regular, famous as Dennis the Dachsund in Toytown
, and as Winnie-the-Pooh
, whom he first played in 1939. He played Dr Watson to Carleton Hobbs
's Sherlock Holmes
over a 25-year period.
In the late 1950s he took part in recorded dramatized versions by Argo Records
of Alice in Wonderland (1958) and Through the Looking-Glass
, both directed by Douglas Cleverdon
and both starring Jane Asher
in the title role. For the same company he also recorded his impersonation of Toad in Wind in the Willows (1960) with Richard Goolden
as Mole.
Late in life he found new fame as Colonel Freddy Danby in the BBC radio serial The Archers
. He was still recording episodes of The Archers at the time of his death. He collapsed suddenly at Finchley Road tube station
, London, on 21 August 1980, and was declared dead in the Royal Free Hospital
, Hampstead. His wife had predeceased him; he was buried near her at Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire, on 28 August.
's most famous speeches to Parliament during World War II
were subsequently recorded for radio broadcast (the House of Commons not being at the time set up for location recording) not by Churchill, but by Shelley impersonating Churchill. Although the rumour has been promoted by controversial historian David Irving
to support his unflattering view of Churchill, there is a lack of supporting evidence, and many of Irving's specific claims have been disproven by other researchers. Shelley did record a performance of Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches
" speech, but that was several years after the speech was originally made, and there is no record of its having been broadcast as genuine Churchill (or, indeed, at all). He would, however, claim that he did once voice Churchill for an introduction to a wartime propaganda film for distribution overseas with Churchill’s permission. The Prime Minister could not find time for the necessary visit to the studio.
(Churchill did re-record most of his speeches at Chartwell
in 1949. The EMI
Engineer responsible has told the BECTU History Project that he used one of the then new BTR tape recorders and Churchill usually did this in bed and so they have a more relaxed air than the original broadcast. These are often what are heard when played today.)
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Children's Hour
Children's Hour
Children's Hour—at first: "The Children's Hour", from a verse by Longfellow—was the name of the BBC's principal recreational service for children during the period when radio dominated broadcasting....
. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
.
Perhaps Shelley's single best-known role was as Winnie-the-Pooh in The Children's Hour adaptations of A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
's stories; for many British people of the mid-20th-century, his is the definitive voice of Pooh.
Other roles for The Children's Hour
The Children's Hour
The Children's Hour may refer to:* The Children's Hour , a game box containing three games for children released by Parker Bros in 1961....
included Dr. Watson (opposite Carleton Hobbs
Carleton Hobbs
Carleton Percy Hobbs was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations between 1952 and 1969, and also starred in the radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour.Hobbs was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, into a...
as Holmes) in a series of adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
stories; Toad in Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
's The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
; and the role of Dennis the Dachshund in the specially written Toytown
Toytown
Toytown was a British radio series for children, based around a set of puppets created by SG Hulme Beaman, broadcast by the BBC for Children's Hour, which ran from 17:00 to 18:00 on the Home Service. There were also some short films made during the 1970s which were broadcast on ITV...
series. Shelley also played the parts of Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
and Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil is a supporting character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954 and 1955. In the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins and company meet Bombadil in the Old Forest...
in the 1955-6 radio adaptation
The Lord of the Rings (1955 radio series)
During 1955 and 1956, a condensed radio dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings was broadcast in twelve episodes on BBC Radio's the Third Programme. These radio broadcasts were among the first dramatisations of The Lord of the Rings, a book by J. R. R. Tolkien, the final volume of which, The Return...
of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. In the 1973 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
Shelley played Detective Constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
Walter Dew
Walter Dew
Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew was a Metropolitan Police officer who was involved in the hunt for both Jack the Ripper and Dr Crippen.-Early life:...
.
Life and career
He was born on 16 February 1903 at 4 Milton Chambers, Chelsea, London, the son of Frank Shelley, a painter, and his wife, Alice Campbell, née Glover. He took up stage acting on the advice of the actress and teacher Rosina Fillipi. His first appearance was at the Old VicOld Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1919, and in the early 1920s he toured with the Charles Doran Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Trebonius in Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
and Sebastian in Twelfth Night. During the 1920s and early ’30s he worked principally in London, where he was most associated with Peter Godfrey
Peter Godfrey
Peter Ronald Godfrey is an English former professional association football player. He played for Charlton Athletic, Exeter City and Gillingham between 1955 and 1967.-References:...
's experimental productions at the Gate Theatre Studio
Gate Theatre Studio
The history of London's Gate Theatre Studio, often referred to as simply the Gate Theatre, is typical of many small independent theatres of the period....
.
Shelley first broadcast for the BBC in 1926, though he made his early radio reputation in Australia and New Zealand. He gradually shifted his interest from stage to radio, and in the late ’30s he established a reputation as a respected and versatile British radio actor. In 1937 he married Monica Daphne, née Brett. During the Second World War he was a member of the BBC's wartime repertory company, but left to serve as a ferry pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.
In the 1930s and 1940s he was a Children's Hour
Children's Hour
Children's Hour—at first: "The Children's Hour", from a verse by Longfellow—was the name of the BBC's principal recreational service for children during the period when radio dominated broadcasting....
regular, famous as Dennis the Dachsund in Toytown
Toytown
Toytown was a British radio series for children, based around a set of puppets created by SG Hulme Beaman, broadcast by the BBC for Children's Hour, which ran from 17:00 to 18:00 on the Home Service. There were also some short films made during the 1970s which were broadcast on ITV...
, and as Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...
, whom he first played in 1939. He played Dr Watson to Carleton Hobbs
Carleton Hobbs
Carleton Percy Hobbs was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations between 1952 and 1969, and also starred in the radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour.Hobbs was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, into a...
's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
over a 25-year period.
In the late 1950s he took part in recorded dramatized versions by Argo Records
Argo Records (UK)
Argo Records was a record label founded in 1951 by Harley Usill , and musicologist Cyril Clarke with £500 capital, initially as a company specialising in "British music played by British artists" , but it quickly became a company primarily specialising in spoken-word recordings and other esoteric ...
of Alice in Wonderland (1958) and Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
, both directed by Douglas Cleverdon
Douglas Cleverdon
Douglas James Cleverdon was an English bookseller and radio producer, in both fields associated with numerous leading cultural figures in the United Kingdom.-Early life:...
and both starring Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
in the title role. For the same company he also recorded his impersonation of Toad in Wind in the Willows (1960) with Richard Goolden
Richard Goolden
Richard Goolden was a British actor, most famous for his portrayal of Mole from Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows...
as Mole.
Late in life he found new fame as Colonel Freddy Danby in the BBC radio serial The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. He was still recording episodes of The Archers at the time of his death. He collapsed suddenly at Finchley Road tube station
Finchley Road tube station
Finchley Road tube station is a London Underground station at the corner of Finchley Road and Canfield Gardens in the London Borough of Camden, North London. It is on the Jubilee Line, between West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage and on the Metropolitan Line between Baker Street and Wembley Park. It is...
, London, on 21 August 1980, and was declared dead in the Royal Free Hospital
Royal Free Hospital
The Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in Hampstead, London, England and part of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust....
, Hampstead. His wife had predeceased him; he was buried near her at Long Hanborough, Oxfordshire, on 28 August.
Churchill impersonation
A recurring rumour holds that some of Winston ChurchillWinston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's most famous speeches to Parliament during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were subsequently recorded for radio broadcast (the House of Commons not being at the time set up for location recording) not by Churchill, but by Shelley impersonating Churchill. Although the rumour has been promoted by controversial historian David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
to support his unflattering view of Churchill, there is a lack of supporting evidence, and many of Irving's specific claims have been disproven by other researchers. Shelley did record a performance of Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches
We shall fight on the beaches
We Shall Fight on the Beaches is a common title given to a speech delivered by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4th June 1940...
" speech, but that was several years after the speech was originally made, and there is no record of its having been broadcast as genuine Churchill (or, indeed, at all). He would, however, claim that he did once voice Churchill for an introduction to a wartime propaganda film for distribution overseas with Churchill’s permission. The Prime Minister could not find time for the necessary visit to the studio.
(Churchill did re-record most of his speeches at Chartwell
Chartwell
Chartwell was the principal adult home of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill and his wife Clementine bought the property, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, in 1922...
in 1949. The EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Engineer responsible has told the BECTU History Project that he used one of the then new BTR tape recorders and Churchill usually did this in bed and so they have a more relaxed air than the original broadcast. These are often what are heard when played today.)
Selected filmography
- East Lynne on the Western FrontEast Lynne on the Western FrontEast Lynne on the Western Front is a 1931 British comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Herbert Mundin, Mark Daly and Alf Goddard...
(1931) - Strawberry RoanStrawberry Roan (film)Strawberry Roan is a 1945 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring William Hartnell and Carol Raye. The screenplay was developed from the 1932 novel of the same name by Wiltshire author A. G. Street, at the time a very popular, well-known and widely-admired work...
(1945) - We of the West Riding (1945) - narrator
- Daughter of DarknessDaughter of Darkness (1948 film)Daughter of Darkness is a 1947 British film, with macabre overtones, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed and - in the central role - Siobhan McKenna...
(1948) - Blind Man's BluffBlind Man's Bluff (1952 film)Blind Man's Bluff is a 1952 British crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Zena Marshall, Sydney Tafler and Anthony Pendrell.-Cast:* Zena Marshall - Christine Stevens* Sydney Tafler - Rikki Martin* Anthony Pendrell - Roger Morley...
(1952) - The Price of SilenceThe Price of Silence (1959 film)The Price of Silence is a 1959 British crime film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Gordon Jackson, June Thorburn, Maya Koumani and Terence Alexander.-Cast:* Gordon Jackson - Roger Fenton* June Thorburn - Audrey Truscott...
(1959) - The Angry SilenceThe Angry SilenceThe Angry Silence is a 1960 British drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough. Screenwriter Bryan Forbes won a BAFTA Award and an Oscar nomination for his contribution...
(1960) - Very Important PersonVery Important Person (film)Very Important Person is a 1961 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin, and written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies. In the United States, the film was re-titled A Coming Out Party....
(1961) - A Place to GoA Place to GoA Place to Go is a 1963 British crime drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham and Michael Sarne. Set in contemporary Bethnal Green in east London it charted the dramatic changes that were happening in the lives of the British working-class at the time, fitting...
(1963)