Press clippings
More names join the 2024 Chortle Comedy Book Festival
...from Carry On films to tips on writing stand-up and more.
Chortle, 16th February 2024Electric Head duo win Big Finish script writing competition
The winners of The Big Finish Comedy Playhouse Script Writing Competition have been announced, with Cy Henty and Alan Ronald - known as The Electric Head - winning the inaugural Galton & Simpson Godfathers of Comedy Award for their script The Cracks Are Showing.
British Comedy Guide, 30th November 2023Behind the scenes secrets of Carry On movies revealed including how Sid James was the perfect gent & filming sex scenes
A surprising sex scene filming secret has been revealed.
Emily Fairbairn & Natasha Harding, The Sun, 17th November 2023Big Finish Comedy Playhouse competition launched
The Big Finish Comedy Playhouse Script Writing Competition, which is endorsed by the estate of legendary comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, is in search of "hilarious scripts which are suitable for a pilot episode of an audio production".
British Comedy Guide, 16th January 2023Tony Slattery publishes his memoir
Comedian Tony Slattery, who has had a highly-publicised battle with mental health and substance abuse, is to publish his debut memoir with Simon & Schuster later this year.
British Comedy Guide, 16th March 2022Forgotten Heroes Of Comedy extract: Hovis Presley
A hefty new book out today, Forgotten Heroes Of Comedy, is the culmination of a long-term passion project from comedy historian Robert Ross, paying an affectionate tribute to some of the finest, funniest and most fascinating names in the business from both sides of the Atlantic. From Dick Emery to forgotten Stooge Shemp Howard, Hollywood golden girl Thelma Todd to Italian film-maker Mario Zampi. In this exclusive extract about one of the more contemporary names in collection, Ross pays tribute to the late, great Hovis Presley.
Robert Ross, Chortle, 8th October 2021New play about Williams and Fielding debuts
A new play examines the strained professional relationship between Carry On legends Kenneth Williams and Fenella Fielding. Carry On! Screaming Queens has been written by comedy historian Robert Ross, who has penned several books about the film franchise.
Chortle, 25th May 2021Liz Fraser obituary
The actor Liz Fraser, who has died aged 88, specialised in comedy in a career that stretched from cough and spit parts in 1950s Ealing Studios films to a guest star suspect in the latest series of Midsomer Murders (2018). She also worked with Tony Hancock and Sid James, and starred in the classic I'm All Right Jack (1959) with Peter Sellers, but her long and varied career was almost inevitably overshadowed by her membership of the Carry On team.
Robert Ross, The Guardian, 11th September 2018The Great Yorkshire Fringe Launch Gala review
Not quite everyone was glued to the football last night. Though some audience members clearly managed to divide their attention between the comedy gig launching the Great Yorkshire Fringe and events at the Otkritie Arena, given how quickly news of Colombia's late equaliser spread around the room.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 4th July 2018Crowd funding "Forgotten Heroes of Comedy"
Robert Ross has written books on the Carry On films, Fawlty Towers, Marty Feldman, The Goodies, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Sid James, Monty Python - the list goes on and on and on. But his latest book Forgotten Heroes of Comedy is not being handled by a 'traditional' publisher. It is being 'crowd-funded' by Unbound.
John Fleming, The Huffington Post, 28th October 2012