Product Description

These CDs contain volumes one, two and three of "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", the ad-libbed multi award-winning BBC Radio 4 series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9104 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-04
• Released on: 2002-11-04
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 6
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

I'm sorry I can't recommend it enough
Believe me you will not regret buying this.
The show starts off fairly slow in the first series but it really comes into its own in the more recent series.
The show works very well with incredibly funny contestants such as Graeme Gardener, Tim Brooke Taylor and Barry Cryer. You cannot forget to mention the superb Humphrey Lyttelton and his dead pan delivery. The show is now and the refreshed by some new faces appearing for a few shows, these include people such as Stephen Fry and Paul Merton.

Pleasant Memories - but not accurate ones
I listened to - and indeed taped - the show from almost the beginning of its run in the seventies. Whilst it's lovely to hear it again, as my tapes have all but worn out, the major disappointment for me is that this collection, and others in the series, are edited - and not very well or very thoughtfully. I still have the originals on tape, so it's not my memory playing tricks.
Two examples:
In a Good News, Bad News round, Tim says "Good news: I've just had a jacuzzi", after which Willie can be heard to mutter "Yes, I'm sorry about that". Why? Because in the original show, the Gargle Gargle round saw Willie making a mess of "I'm forever blowing bubbles" and apparently spraying Tim with water. In this CD the round has been replaced with a different edition of Gargle Gargle, which renders Willie's comment somewhat inexplicable.
In another edition, Humph introduces Barry's Close Quote with "I'm a bit nervous about this one, but we'll forge ahead: Blow wind, and crack your cheeks..." to which Barry adds "but for God's sake put the cat out first". Much laughter. Then at the end of the show Humph closes with "When the censor's been at this it should make 3 minutes of riotous fun." Neither of these make sense, until you know that a round of calypso and blues has been removed. Graeme and Barry's Birthday calypso had gone:
"I'd got no silver balls for my birthday cake,
I used ball bearings instead and that was a mistake
I ate a big slice, then put on my funny hat
I bent over and farted and shot the cat".
Willie's opening line to the Floyd on Cookery blues was then
"Woke up this morning, bent over, farted, shot the cat..."
And that's why the close quote was risky and the censor may have had something to say.
It's hard to believe that these were removed due to reasons of decency - especially as far ruder words appear later in the collections, and these days 'fart' is acceptable on children's TV, although it would have been near the knuckle for Radio 4 at the time.
It also makes one wonder how complete the other episodes are - sadly I didn't commit them all to memory or tape.
Personally I would also have liked to have heard more editions with Late Arrivals; but none of the above prevents me from listening to this time and again, as it's still one of the funniest shows ever to have appeared on radio.