Someone once told me ‘Luck occurs when opportunity meets experience’.
I was reminded of this recently while listening to BBC Radio 4 Extra – home of vintage comedy and drama.
I’m a latecomer to the station, so I have two large boot-shaped bruises on my backside from kicking myself for missing out on hundreds of old comedy shows over the years.
Radio 4 Extra celebrated the life and work of the comedian, actor and writer Eric Sykes, with a series of archive interviews and clips from some of the many radio shows he wrote for in the 1950s.
In one episode, he told a cautionary tale about the time he was writing scripts for Frankie “Titter Ye Not!” Howerd in the early 50s.
Even then, not content with being Britain’s highest paid scriptwriter, Eric had ambitions to be a comedian and Frankie knew this – and also knew Eric wasn’t ready at that point in his career.
So, rather than be blunt with Eric, during a writing session Frankie subtly suggested Eric should read Frankie’s script out loud to give Frankie ‘A better idea of how it sounds’ while Frankie taped it.
Eric, eager to show that he could deliver a funny line, jumped at the chance and read the 30-minute script while Frankie recorded it, nodding occasionally.
Titter he did not!
Elated, Eric finished, absolutely certain that Frankie would surely now give him a regular spot on his show. Frankie rewound the tape and suggested they listen to it. Eric, still ‘buzzing’ from the experience, was delighted and couldn’t wait to hear the ‘hilarious’ script read by himself.
After just five minutes of listening to his expressionless, flat Northern voice killing dead every potentially funny line, Eric told Frankie, “Please, Frankie. Turn it off!”.
He realised Frankie had just shown him he didn’t have what it took to be a comedian . . . at that point.
He and Frankie continued to work together for many years and Eric’s luck eventually changed when his vast experience gave him the opportunity to became one of the titans of British comedy.
He just had to wait his turn!