I.T.M.A.

A full day away from home with my sister, my niece and her husband organising my sister’s new car, with not much time or opportunity for a blip. So I thought I’d show you one of my collection of vintage books connected to the history of BBC Radio.

This is a limited edition book written by Francis Worsley, the producer of the famous wartime radio show, ITMA, which stood for “It’s That Man Again”. This phrase was often used about Hitler in the 1930’s when he perpetrated some new outrage. In fact the phrase had been borrowed from the USA, where it was used pejoratively by the Republicans about F.D. Roosevelt. The show’s star, Tommy Handley, was depicted as the head of the Ministry of Aggravation and Mysteries, where he worked in the Office of Twerps. After the end of the war, the show continued to be broadcast until 1948, attracting audiences as high as 15 million. It spawned a host of catchphrases such as “can I do you now sir ?”, “after you Claude, no after you Cecil”, “I don’t mind if I do” and “it’s being so cheerful that keeps me going”. The cast included many unlikely sounding characters, including Mona Lott, Ali Oop, Mrs Mopp and Colonel Chinstrap. When Hattie Jacques joined the cast in 1947 she portrayed Ella Phant and Sophie Tuckshop. The Liverpool-born actor Deryck Guyler played Frisby Dyke, taking the name from a Liverpool store. My copy of the book is hand signed by Francis Worsley and Ted Kavanagh, who was the show’s writer. I have a postcard somewhere in my archive which is hand signed by Tommy Handley, which I can’t locate at the moment. Handley died suddenly on 9th January 1949, aged 56, bringing the show to an end. There is an extra page inserted at the front of the book which reads “this book was produced with Tommy Handley’s co-operation a few weeks before his death. Intended as an appreciation of him and ITMA, it becomes a souvenir of a show you loved “.