My Word! was a British radio quiz panel game broadcast by the BBC on the Home Service (1956–67) and Radio 4 (1967–88). It was created by Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, and featured the humorous writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden, known in Britain for the series Take It From Here. The show was piloted in June 1956 on the Midland Home Service and broadcast as a series on the national Home Service network from 1 January 1957. The series also ran on BBC Television for one series from July–September 1960.
For decades the programme was also broadcast worldwide via BBC World Service and was relayed to an international audience though the BBC Transcription Services. A companion programme, My Music, ran from 1967 to 1993.
Background and first broadcasts In 1956, Edward J. Mason and Tony Shryane, respectively the writer and producer of the popular radio soap opera The Archers, decided that by way of a change they would devise and produce what Frank Muir called "a new kind of not-very-academic literary quiz".Muir, p. 209 The Aeolian Hall in London was booked for the recording of a pilot show, but at the last minute two of the four panellists were unexpectedly unavailable. Shryane sought the help of Muir and his writing partner Denis Norden, scriptwriters of the popular BBC comedy series Take It From Here, who were based in a nearby office. They thought of themselves as writers rather than performers, but at Shryane's urgent request they agreed to stand in for the absentees.Muir, pp. 209–210 Muir was partnered by Isobel Barnett – a panel show regular – and Norden by the journalist Nancy Spain. Mason set the questions, and the chairman was the cricket commentator and poet John Arlott, who was billed as "umpire". The pilot was well received by the audience in the hall and by listeners to its first transmission. The BBC commissioned a series, which was transmitted in early 1957. Muir and Norden had no intention of becoming regular panellists, but Shyrane persuaded them.
Arlott did not return for the second series, which began in August 1957. He was succeeded by Jack Longland, known to BBC listeners as the chairman of the panel show Country Questions and a regular team member on Round Britain Quiz and panellist on Any Questions?"Jack Longland", BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021 Although, unlike Arlott, Longland had no particular association with cricket he too was billed as umpire until 1962, after which he was billed as "in the chair", as were his successors."My Word: Longland: Umpire", BBC Genome. Retrieved 2 May 2021
Later series The programme ran for 38 series, until 1988. Muir and Norden were in every series, always on opposing teams. As Muir's partner, Barnett was succeeded during the first series by the novelist and critic E. Arnot Robertson. On Robertson's death in 1961 the film critic and Greek scholar Dilys Powell took her place until the show finished, when she was aged 87. Norden's first partner was Nancy Spain; after her death in 1964 she was succeeded by the journalist Anne Scott-James, and then from 1979 by the historian Antonia Fraser. In the one season in which Fraser took the chair her place as Norden's teammate was taken by Irene Thomas."My Word!", BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021
After 20 years in the chair, Longland retired from the programme at the end of the 1977 series. He was succeeded by John Julius Norwich for four series, followed by Fraser for a single series and finally Michael O'Donnell for the last five series, from late 1983 to 1988.
From time to time guests substituted for absent regulars. Neither Spain nor Powell ever missed a broadcast during their time as panellists, but Robertson and Scott-James missed one apiece, their absences covered respectively by Pamela Frankau and Katherine Whitehorn. Lionel Hale (one of the intended contestants in the pilot show)Muir, p. 210 deputised for both Muir and Norden in 1967 as did John Wells in 1975 and Barry Took on four occasions between 1978 and 1982. Ted Kavanagh took Muir's place for two programmes in 1957, and Edward Blishen stood in for Norden in two episodes in 1985. Fraser's absences between 1986 and 1988 were covered by Joan Bakewell, Victoria Glendinning, P. D. James, Libby Purves and Gay Search."The Home Service, Tuesday 1 January", Radio Times, 30 December 1956, p. 24; "My Word, 1957"; BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021; "My Word, Lionel Hale" BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021; "My Word! Barry Took"; BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021; "My Word, 1986"; BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021; "My Word! 1988", BBC Genome. Retrieved 3 May 2021
After Mason's death in 1971 Longland took over responsibility for compiling the questions, and was joined in that role by Peter Moore in 1972. After Longland's retirement Moore continued to set the questions until 1987. For the final season, in 1988, O'Donnell combined the roles of chairman and question-setter.
Content The two teams faced questions devised, for the first 21 series, by Mason, of whom Muir wrote:
Mason and his successors provided word games and literary quizzes covering vocabulary, etymology, snippets of poetry, and the like. In many series the opening round consisted of obscure words for the panellists to define: examples ranged from such words as auscultation, bumblepuppy, cabless and crinkum-crankum to defenestration, hebetude, hobbledehoy and katydid to lallation, macaronic, palmiped and rahat lokum, or scrimshaw, tatterdemalion, unau and widdershins.
In the final round, each team was asked to give the origin of a famous phrase or quotation. In early shows, once the real answers were given, Muir and Norden were invited to explain the origin of the phrase less seriously, in the form of a feghoot. An early example was the quotation "Dead! And never called me mother!" from a stage adaptation of East Lynne, which became the exclamation of a youth coming out of a public telephone box which he had discovered to be out of order.Muir, pp. 210–215 Later the first part of the round was dropped in favour of having the chairman simply announce the accepted origin of each phrase, thus opening up new fields of phrases that would have been too well known or too obscure to be posed as questions. In later series Muir and Norden chose their own phrases in advance of each programme, and their stories became longer and more convoluted.
The stories became a popular segment of the quiz. Examples included Norden's tale in which a young woman and a young man found themselves happily trapped in a sauna despite earlier assurances from the landlord that the faulty lock had been repaired: "Least said, soonest mended" became "Lease said sauna's mended".Muir, pp. 212–213 In another, "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip" became a story about Édouard Manet in a drunken doze in a beauty spot between a carp pond and Lover's Leap – "There's Manet asleep 'twixt the carp and the leap". In another, Muir confessed to forging fan letters purportedly from Monica Dickens, Val Gielgud, Asa Briggs and Fay Compton, so that "I am monarch of all I survey" became "I am Monica, Val, Asa, Fay".BBC TS Transcription at 21m 29s A Norden story explaining "Charity shall cover the multitude of sins" became a lament for his diminishing capacity for alcohol and consequent need to enunciate extremely carefully after drinking spirits: "Clarity shall cover the multitude of gins".Muir and Norden, p. 13
Series history A one-off pilot programme was broadcast by the Midland region of the BBC Home Service on 6 June 1956."The Home Service, Wednesday, 6 June", Radio Times, 3 June 1956, p. 30 When the series was launched on the national BBC network in January 1957, an edited edition of the pilot preceded the 14 new episodes."The Home Service, Tuesday 1 January", Radio Times, 30 December 1956, p. 24 SeriesDatesEpisodesHostRegular panelNotes/guests 11 Jan–21 May 1957Pilotshow + 14 John Arlott Isobel Barnett (pilot and episodes 2, 3 and 4),E. Arnot Robertson (episodes 1 and 5–14),Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Nancy Spain Pamela FrankauTed Kavanagh 2 5 Aug–25 Oct 195710 JackLongland Muir, Norden, Robertson, Spain 3 30 Apr–26 Aug 195813 Longland Muir, Norden, Robertson, SpainChristmasspecial25 Dec 19581LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, Spain46 May 1959–15 Jul 195911LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, Spain522 Dec 1959–22 Mar 196013LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, Spain622 Sep–16 Dec 196013LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, Spain74 Jun–30 Jul 19619LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, Spain817 Sep 1961–5 Nov 19618LonglandMuir, Norden, Robertson, SpainChristmasspecial25 Dec 19611LonglandMuir, Norden, Dilys Powell, Spain91 Jul–30 Sep 196213LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Spain102 Apr–25 Jun 196313LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Spain1126 Nov 1963–25 Feb 196414LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Spain"My Bard"24 April 19641LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, SpainShakespearequatercentenary special121 May–12 Jun 19647LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Anne Scott-James, Spain1330 Oct–18 Dec 19648LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James1411 May–27 Jul 196512LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James159 Nov 1965–16 Feb 196615LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James166 Sep–27 Dec 196616LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James174 Apr– 18 Jul 196715LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-JamesLionel Hale1817 Jan–15 Apr 196815LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James1911 Nov 1968–13 Jan 196910LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James2028 Sep–21 Dec 196913LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-JamesDickens edition26 Sep 19701LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James2115 Oct–31 Dec 197013LonglandMuir, Norden, Powell, Scott-JamesJohn Wells 22 27 Sep–27 Dec 1971 14 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 23 1 Oct–24 Dec 1972 13 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 24 2 Oct–25 Dec 1973 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 25 1 Oct–23 Nov 1974 13 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 26 30 Sep–30 Dec 1975 14 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James WellsKatherine Whitehorn 27 5 Oct–28 Dec 1976 13 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 28 5 Oct–28 Dec 1977 13 Longland Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James 29 27 Sep–20 Dec 1978 13 John Julius Norwich Muir, Norden, Powell, Scott-James Barry Took 30 26 Sep–19 Dec 1979 13 Norwich Antonia Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Took 31 28 Sep–21 Dec 1980 13 Norwich Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Took 32 30 Dec 1981–24 Mar 1982 13 Norwich Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Took 33 8 Dec 1982–2 Mar 1983 13 Fraser Muir, Norden, Powell, Irene Thomas 34 22 Nov 1983–31 Jan 1984 13 Michael O'Donnell Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell 35 4 Dec 1984–5 Mar 1985 13 O'Donnell Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Edward Blishen 36 31 Dec 1985–25 Mar 1986 13 O'Donnell Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Libby Purves, Gay SearchJoan Bakewell, P. D. James andVictoria Glendinning 37 17 Jun–4 Aug 1987 8 O'Donnell Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell 38 8 Aug–26 Sep 1988 8 O'Donnell Fraser, Muir, Norden, Powell Search and Glendinning Source: BBC Genome and Global British Comedy Collaborative."My Word!", Global British Comedy Collaborative. Retrieved 3 May 2021
Syndication and spin-offs