If you haven’t heard Stanley Unwin before, you should be advised that his is a singular talent, more of a distant (and very English) relation to Slim Gaillard and James Joyce, fallolloping kaleidoscopic compressions of the English language as it gave forth in this. Let that be advised.
Stanley Unwin’s official site (many excellent audio clips, records and memorabilia scanned at useful resolutions).The juiciest find was England Joys All Concentrate a clutch of eleven short pieces he recorded for the BBC for something called Think of England, in 1999, when Unwin was 88. Also, this little gem from Unwin’s Guardian Obituary:
Often styled “The Professor”, he would talk at length on subjects like “What is the use of atoms?” or “How many beans make five?” Very occasionally, his humour was rendered straight, as when he was asked about castrati during a music lecture. “I’m not cut out for that sort of thing,” he instantly replied.
Fantastic – Stanley Unwin is one of those people I love but keep forgetting about for some reason. Maybe because he doesn’t get mentioned enough. Thanks for reminding me.
Stanley is Unique!
I´ve just been listening to his delightful and very creative version of Goldilocks. I seem to remember an eccentric rendering of Cinderella. I´m sure it must be one of his too as the term “sisty uglers” has stuck in my memory indelibly and that certainly sounds like an Unwinism!