My Word - Series 18 Omnibus (Part One)

The first five episodes of the eighteenth series of the BBC Radio Four comedy panel show My Word, originally broadcast in early 1968, featuring Frank Muir, Denis Norden, Dilys Powell and Anne Scott-James with host Jack Longland.
0:00 - Series 18 Episode 1, 17th January 1968
Definitions: Agrimotor, Axillary, Micron, Bathometer
Odds & Ends: Beelzebub; Bottom, Quince, Flute & Snout (Forenames & Trades); Michelangelo's Surname
Quotations: "Fear no more the heat o’ the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages; thou thy worldly task hast done, home art gone and ta’en thy wages...", "He thus became immensely rich, and built the splendid mansion which is called The Cedars, Muswell Hill, where he resides in affluence still...", "He thought he saw a kangaroo that worked a coffee-mill: he looked again, and found it was a vegetable-pill...", "Welcome, wild north-easter, shame it is to see..."
Why, Why & What: Comparisons Are Odorous, Esoteric, Hudibrastic Rhyme, Tom Bowling
Phrases: "Kind hearts are more than coronets...", "My work is left behind..."
27:45 - Series 18 Episode 2, 24th January 1968
Definitions: Megaton, Nosography, Sybil, Mangelwurzel
Quotations: "Four grey walls and four grey towers overlook a space of flowers, and the silent isle imbowers...", "When she is by I leave my work (I love her so sincerely), my master comes like any Turk and bangs me most severely; but let him bang his belly full...", "And she made him a feast at his earnest wish, of eggs and buttercups fried with fish - and she said 'it's a fact the whole world knows...'", "But children, you should never let your angry passions rise; your little hands were never made..."
Origins: Diamond, Dundreary Whiskers, Armageddon, Solecism
Phrases: "Legs are staple products...", "Blow you Jack, I'm alright..."
55:32 - Series 18 Episode 3, 31st January 1968
Definitions: Microseism, Macromania, Klepht, Ignivomous
Origins: Draw Blank, Nice As Ninepence, It's Not On, Not Up To The Mark
Odds & Ends: Omnibus Train, Useless Parliament, Blue Ribbon Army, Tallyman
Phrases: "I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles...", "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery..."
1:21:16 - Series 18 Episode 4, 7th February 1968
Definitions: Cryogeny, Cavy, Chignon, Iritis
Origins: Play To The Gallery, Panties, Turnspit, Stuck Up
Quotations: "And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom, and a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings, till they rise again, as they were a new bell's boom...", "So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, so deep in luve am I; and I will luve thee still, my dear...", "Down along the rocky shore, some make their home; they live on crispy pancakes of yellow tide-foam...", "When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, and merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks, when turtles tread, and rooks and daws, and maidens bleach their summer smocks..."
Phrases: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating...", "I wouldn't leave my little wooden hut for you..."
1:46:58 - Series 18 Episode 5, 15th February 1968
Definitions: Blottesque, Bobbery, Extirpate, Julep
Who, Why & What: Scrivener's Palsy; Michael Angelo Titmarsh; Mr Pumblechook, Joe Gargery & Mr Jaggers; Hugh Lofting
Odds & Ends: Newgate Fringe, Paddington Fair, Excruciating Pain, Kissing Crust
Quotations: "Don’t Care didn’t care, Don’t Care was wild, Don’t Care stole plum and pear like any beggar child; Don’t Care was made to care, Don’t Care was hung...", "Boys and girls come out to play, the moon doth shine as bright as day...", "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride...", "And when it was night, so sad was their plight, the sun went down and the moon gave no light, they sobbed and they sighed and they bitterly cried..."
Phrases: "And I was desolate and sick of an old passion...", "A soft answer turneth away wrath..."

[@paulhough5941]

If only Auntie Beeb could broadcast quiz and comedy of such a calibre these days. Thank you hugely for sharing these with us.
Strangely Radio 4Xtra doesn’t broadcast them for some reason.

[@hughvane]

The same could - and should - be said of so much British comedy of yesteryear. As I said of the late members of of My Music ... "of their likes we may never hear again".

[@crabbyoldman8209]

"megaton ...it wounds like an American word; I don't think it's a genuine word..." What a myopic, narcissistic, bigoted thing to say.