Talk:Kenneth Horne

work outside radio

Should Horne's narration of the life of Handel on Concert Hall 'Introduction to Music' IME 32 10 inch LP (Kenneth Horne tells the story of his life and music) be mentioned under other work? Cg2p0B0u8m (talk) 19:22, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Stage show

In March 2016 I noticed that the 'Legacy' section of this page had, for two years or more, contained significant misinformation about the stage show 'Round the Horne... Revisited', specifically regarding the first actor to play Horne in that show (together with the TV film spun off from it and various other incarnations). Rather than citing Jonathan Rigby (as Wikipedia previously did before the overhauling of the page circa 2014), the section cited Stephen Critchlow. That the performer was actually Rigby is verifiable via numerous sources, including every single newspaper review of the London run from 2003-05, the on-screen credits of the BBC Four version (which is available on YouTube) and the official website of the Royal Variety Performance. On top of this, Rigby is quoted several times in Barry Johnston's 2006 Horne biography, a book that is regularly cited elsewhere in the Wikipedia article. Even production photos from the period are available on the web as corroboration. http://geraint-lewis.photoshelter.com/gallery/ROUND-THE-HORNE/G0000ndxvb8Z3qR0/ I made the necessary corrections and, to prevent any further misunderstanding, added numerous cast-iron citations, including some of the ones mentioned above. However, on looking at the page again today I found that this version, including the citations, had been scrapped and the incorrect account reinstated. I have duly restored the factual version but am puzzled as to why this misinformation keeps appearing. After all, these events are from not much more than ten years ago; they're hardly shrouded behind a veil of antique mystery. The real situation can be verified from a host of very recent sources. By the same token, the incorrect version is flatly contradicted by those sources. Clamias (talk) 17:25, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Post stroke

According to 'TV Mirror' magazine, Horne was to return to broadcasting as chairman of BBC-TV's 'Get Ahead' on 27 March 1958 (before 'Twenty Questions' in April). Kmm1965 (talk) 00:29, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Horne’s ashes

I’ve recently added a footnote on the internment of Horne's ashes at Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens. I think the location of his ashes is sufficiently notable to warrant a mention. However, I may have gone a little far in shoe-horning in a mention of the Church of St Giles, Stoke Poges. It adds a bit more detail, and we don’t have an article on the Gardens themselves but others may think the Gray’s Elegy bit strays rather off-topic. I have to confess that I was motivated partly by wanting to add links to St Giles, which I’ve recently started. Anyways, just to say that I will entirely understand if other editors chose to trim the footnote. KJP1 (talk) 13:28, 25 September 2022 (UTC)

I am pleased to see it is given as a footnote. I hadn't (blame it on being fag end of my day) noticed it when I in good faith added the fact in the main text after discovering him mentioned in the wikipedia article on the Memorial Gardens yesterday. It was reverted afterwards but I take on board the reason given. BTW, 'internment' should read 'interment' although the former word gets used in malapropism about burials.Cloptonson (talk) 05:01, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

The article already says his ashes were “interred” - there is no use of the words “internment”, “intern” or “interned”. - SchroCat (talk) 05:57, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

I was commenting for benefit of my predecessor should they still be a live contributor.Cloptonson (talk) 17:03, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Cloptonson - While your attention is drawn to this page, and the one we now have for Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens, do you happen to have any detail on the interment of Alexander Korda? His DNB entry says he was interred at Golders Green, but a number of other sources, including that for Horne, say he is now at Stoke Poges. I wonder if his ashes were subsequently moved? I flagged the query on the Korda page some time back, but got no response. KJP1 (talk) 17:11, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

p.s. I make the internment error all the time - as I did at the Korda page! KJP1 (talk) 17:13, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

It is legally possible for ashes to be moved from a crematorium to elsewhere in this country. I understand the removal of ashes from a crematorium would by documented by it.Cloptonson (talk) 17:22, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

I agree - either an error re. GG, or a subsequent re-internment are both possibilities. I shall just have to keep searching. I went many years ago to Worcester Cathedral to pay my respects to Mr Baldwin - I always thought WSC’s judgement, “better if he had never lived”, verged on the harsh! But now I’m straying from the proper subject of Mr Horne’s Talkpage. KJP1 (talk) 17:33, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

BTW even the Oxford DNB can have errors. It has stated Sigmund Freud was "cremated at the Jewish crematorium at Golders Green" (possibly a conflation with the adjacent Jewish Cemetery although Freud's ashes can be visited at the crematorium) whereas in fact it is a secular crematorium.Cloptonson (talk) 05:36, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

Service in the RAF

"In November 1940 he was promoted to flight lieutenant,[27] and to squadron leader a year later."

One para later:

"In March 1943 Horne was posted to the Air Ministry in London, with the acting rank of wing commander. On 26 April 1944 he was promoted to the war substantive rank of squadron leader.[34]"

Which on the face of it is puzzling: 1) I'm not sure how one gets 'promoted' to Sqn Ldr from Wing Co., especially after having already 2) served as Sqn Ldr for the previous two-and-a-half years.

I don't have access to all the source materials for Horne's service career, but the entry in the cited London Gazette issue reads:

Promotion.

Sqn. Ldr. (temp.) granted the rank of Sqn. Ldr. (war subs.): — C. K. HORNE (90766). 26th Apr. 1944.

Perhaps someone better placed could clear this up? Redpaul1 (talk) 08:46, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Hi Redpaul1, as I wrote the article (much as it stands), the errors are mine, but I thought I'd followed the sources - even through they were not terribly clear on the point, from what I'll remember. I'll dig them out and go over them all again to see if it's down to their confusion or mine - probably the latter! Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 09:21, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks. Appreciated. Possibly the changes in status from 'temp' to 'acting' to 'war substantive' accounts for the 'promotion' from Wing Co to Sqn Ldr? Redpaul1 (talk) 12:16, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

This is the source for the promotion to Wing Commander, but it doesn't seem to fit with what the Gazette says, so I think the easiest step to take is to remove the words "with the acting rank of wing commander", which I've done. This should make it all a little more logical now. Cheers - SchroCat (talk) 17:17, 22 March 2026 (UTC)

Recollections of the LSE

I was intrigued to read of Horne's dissatisfaction with Stephen Leacock's performance as a lecturer at the LSE:

"Horne enrolled at the London School of Economics in October 1925, where his tutors included Hugh Dalton and Stephen Leacock; he was dissatisfied with his time at the university and called Leacock "one of the most boring lecturers I ever came across"."

Partly because Leacock was regarded as one of greatest humorists of his day, a model for both Jack Benny and Groucho Marx; but also because when Horne was at the LSE, Leacock was serving as the head of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada (a position he held from 1908 to 1936).

Leacock was indeed in England in late November / early December 1925, but only to accompany his wife, Beatrix, who came to consult a breast cancer specialist in Liverpool (in vain, she died there on December 14, and was laid to rest in St James' Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Dec 23, 1925).

So, did Horne simply misremember or there was a different Stephen Leacock working at the LSE alongside Hugh Dalton?

Again, I don't have access to the sources. Maybe someone better-placed (SchroCat?) could clear this up also. Thanks. Redpaul1 (talk) 13:30, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I'll have to check, but what is there is a reflection of the sources, so there may be a simple explanation there (maybe Leacock spent a year in London on exchange, or was a visiting or guest lecturer); either way, I'll see what the sources say. - SchroCat (talk) 13:43, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks again - and sorry for putting you to so much trouble! Redpaul1 (talk) 13:50, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I've had a look at this, and the two sources in which this is referred to both make the connection with Leacock being the Canadian economist. You can see both sources here and here. Both are unequivocal in making the connection and don't leave any room for doubt, so I'm not sure what else we can do here. - SchroCat (talk) 17:03, 22 March 2026 (UTC)