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Episode details

Radio 4 Extra,30 May 1961,30 mins

From 30/05/1961

Whack-O!

Available for 30 days

**** 4 Extra marks 70 years since Whack-O! began on BBC TV When a rival school moves next door to Chiselbury, Professor Jimmy Edwards is determined to close it down. Starting life on BBC TV before transferring to radio, Chiselbury School is run "for the sons of gentlefolk". Devious and cane-swishing headmaster, Professor James Edwards, MA never misses a trick when it comes to exploiting the students and their parents. Sports pitches are given over to growing vegetables, which the boys nurture for their head to sell. Classes never exceed 95 pupils - 50 if private tuition is paid for at five guineas extra. It's only thanks to the efforts of the devoted deputy head, Mr Pettigrew, that the school exists at all. Written for BBC TV by Frank Muir and Denis Norden. Adapted by David Climie. Starring: Professor Jimmy Edwards Arthur Howard June Whitfield Roddy Maude-Roxby Roger Shepherd David Lott Brian Thomas Producer: Edward Taylor First broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in May 1961.

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