大象传媒

I think it was January 1946 that one cold frosty morning I arrived at Highfield. This was the lower school Dept. of Wintringham Grammar School, situateed next to Barrat's recreation Ground. There was an unusual quiet on the white frosted playground and groups of small boys and girls were standing in clusters talking in hushed voices. Normally the pupils would have exploited the icy playground surface by making slides amid much noise and excitement. The reason for this subdued activity was that the death of Tommy Handly had been announced on the radio that morning.
The comedian, Tommy Handly, ranked almost alongside Winston Churchill as one of the great morale boosters of the 2nd. World War. His regular radio show I.T.M.A. was listened to by almost the whole of the nation. Catchphrases from it became part of everyday language. This show lifted everybody's spirits in the darkest days of the war. Everyone on that school playground,that morning, felt, I think, that the deaath of Tommy Handly was allmost akin to the death of a family member. I winder now if anyone else was with me on that school playground on that day.
David Peers.

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