"When I was a child, the Galloping Gourmet was one of the high points of my television-watching life: it wasn’t merely a programme but an event, family viewing just as much as Morecambe and Wise. Those of my vintage and above will know exactly what I’m talking about. It was such a good-natured cookery programme, flamboyant, full of bonhomie, a lot of butter and wine and it all led up to the drama of the final moments, when Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet himself, would pluck someone out of the audience (inevitably female, I seem to remember) to come up and eat the meal he’d cooked with him. I’ve never forgotten the excitement, and yet I have never remembered a thing he cooked, apart from a hazy memory of sauce pans bubbling with cream or foaming with butter." - Nigella LawsonMany happy returns to one of the great entertainers of 1970s daytime BBC telly, Mr Graham Kerr - who [happily; I didn't realist he was still with us] celebrates his 85th birthday today!
By way of a little celebration, here's the man himself in full "gallop":
Graham Kerr (born 22nd January 1934)
I was fascinated by that arch in the kitchen to the left of him!
ReplyDeleteLOL - Little Old Lady!!
He was good wasn't he?
Sx
He was faboo - Britain had never seen anything like him, used as we were to the sheer scariness of Fanny Cradock and the no-nonsense domestic science-based advice provided the likes of Zena Skinner and Marguerite Patten. Suddenly, here's a man skipping around furniture, setting fire to things and acting all flirty around the ladies, and we loved him for it! Jx
DeleteHe moved to Canada and taped the show here. The show was a huge hit here.
ReplyDeleteApparently the Canucks head-hunted him from New Zealand, where he previously lived. He became huge in the UK too (he was born here), and recorded a lot of programmes for the BBC as well. Jx
DeleteMy mom watched him, and I enjoyed watching it with her.
ReplyDeleteI was just a kid when he was on telly, too - which makes it all the more remarkable that we are celebrating his birthday today (as I thought he died years ago; probably getting him a bit mixed up with Robert Carrier...)! Jx
DeleteLoved him to bits
ReplyDeleteI knew you would! Jx
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